FA-OFF made the game way more interesting!

Red Fox Four

Red Fox Four
I've normally just flown using FA-ON (as I expect many do), both in combat and perhaps especially when landing.

Then there was a discussion on the forum here about FA-OFF maneuvers which further led into a discussion on whether FA-OFF or FA-ON is better for combat, or a combination of the two.

I found this quite interesting so yesterday I made a decision. Every single landing from now on will be done with FA-OFF in an attempt to learn this.

So I am in my Krait and my first attempts at landing FA-OFF was, to put it mildly, rather disastrous. Banging into the landing pad, flying backwards into the walls, ending up sideways at 200m/s and doing a flip over as the side of the ship gets caught on the diagonal hatches or whatever that is which gets raised from the floor when landing.

Eventually I did manage to slam the bird onto the pad.

But I kept it up the whole evening yesterday despite frustrating moments where I was really close to say 'screw this' and turn FA-ON again. Slowly it started to click for me. By the end of the evening I was doing pretty good landings, at least relative to when I started out.

But through all of it there is something about flying FA-OFF that makes it feel much more like a space game. With your ship floating slowly sideways as you try to gently adjust your speed using lateral and vertical thrusters and seeing the space station or the nearby planet gliding past makes it feel like you are in space. Fine tuning your thrusts to land gently on the pad makes it feel just like watching the videos when they are docking at the ISS. Slowly, carefully, gliding gently into position.

I have to admit that FA-OFF really put me into that "I'm in space feeling" and encourages me to play the game more.

This might seem silly, but I just wanted to put it out there. If you haven't tried FA-OFF flying then start tonight. Start simple and slow. I started out doing landings on an outpost since those have less things to bang into and lets you feel less stressed. Then move on to docking at the regular space station. And to avoid over-shooting as much simple remove all pips from your ENG so you don't have full power on the thrusts then take it slow and easy.

Yes, it will be frustrating in the start.
Yes, you will crash your ship numerous times.
Yes, you will feel like a clumsy clown.
Yes, you'll be demotivated and think "screw it, I'm just going to do FA-ON just to get it done".

But once you start to get the hang of it you'll really feel like you are in a space sim.

Tonight I am going to keep practicing the landings and afterwards I'll be heading out to a nearby asteroid field to try some maneuvers (which most likely will get me killed, but I'll be flying a crappy Sidewinder or Eagle so who cares about the rebuy cost anyways).

Again, it's really worth trying out.
 

Shir

Shir
It certainly is an accomplishment to be able to do that. I would also suggest flying and maneuvering in an asteroid field as a less punishing way of learning the ropes, it is actually less dangerous and stressful than landing
 

StalkerMac

StalkerMac
I normally mix it in normal play and especially during combat FA will give you a real advantage turning and drifting, most of the griefers mix it to try to get an advantage over you to stay behind the ships they are attacking

Fly safe Cmdr's
o7
 

Kami102

K
I like flying with FA-OFF too at times, especially when coming in for a landing. A FA-OFF landing is definitely a challenge everyone should do at least once :D

It seems like some love it and some just hate it with a passion I'm a little bit biased however as I use a HOTAS and the joystick makes FA-OFF flying MUCH easier than trying to fly with KB+M
 

Red Fox Four

Red Fox Four
StalkerMac said:
I normally mix it in normal play and especially during combat FA will give you a real advantage turning and drifting, most of the griefers mix it to try to get an advantage over you to stay behind the ships they are attacking

Fly safe Cmdr's
o7
Click to expand...

It's not just about the combat though.

For me it's the feeling when the ship is gliding around that really makes it hit home that you are in a zero gravity environment, aka space, and thus makes it way more immersive when flying.

Certainly the combat will be different as well, but just doing the simple things like landing or flying through an asteroid belt without the flight assist makes the game truly shine as a spaceship game.
 

Parmo

Parmo
What HOTAS or controllers are you using? And what are the bindings employed? For the thrusters that is.
Getting this right is half the battle in controlling a ship in any flight mode.

I've never got the hang of FA-OFF myself.

Your post shows just what determined, persistent effort can achieve. Thanks.
 

Red Fox Four

Red Fox Four
Parmo said:
What HOTAS or controllers are you using? And what are the bindings employed? For the thrusters that is.
Getting this right is half the battle in controlling a ship in any flight mode.

I've never got the hang of FA-OFF myself.

Your post shows just what determined, persistent effort can achieve. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I use T16000M.

The Throttle controls the forward/reverse throttle input and on the front of the throttle there is a small 360 degree stick which I can control using my pointing finger. I use that stick to control the vertical/lateral thrusts in all directions.

You can see the little stick on this image for the T16000M throttle.

s885922084547390625_p300_i8_w585.jpeg


The biggest thing people get wrong with FA-OFF is that when you use FA-ON then setting throttle to 50% forward would accelerate your ship to 50% and then hold it at that speed. This does not happen in FA-OFF. Instead how much throttle input you give determines how fast you want to accelerate, so even if you set your throttle to 10% forward it will keep accelerating up to max speed eventually. Which means you choose how fast you want to accelerate but once you reach your preferred speed you have to set throttle to idle again and then just glide.

But once you re-learn how to think about the throttle input it makes the rest a bit easier to control as well :)
 

Parmo

Parmo
Red Fox Four said:
I use T16000M.
...
But once you re-learn how to think about the throttle input it makes the rest a bit easier to control as well :)
Click to expand...

This is much appreciated. Thanks.[up]

I might it another go if time permits.

I've just got an X56 which I'm still battling to setup in the best way.:)
 

RymdLazer

RymdLazer
Been meaning to getting more fa-off time. I usually just use it sporadically when facing particularly swift opponents. But I'm sure it can be very pleasurable freeflight :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom