Fastest way to approach station?

Gavin Burke

G
So I'm very inpatient and hate seeing an ETA 00:06 to a station for almost a minute, so I've tried bombing at the planet then pull up and use the gravity to slow me down at the last second, like so (ETA was 00:01 when I yanked back!)

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/Burke By Nature/video/23319204

Anyone got a faster method of approaching? I've tried emergency dropping when I'm right on the station but it always carries on flinging me right past...
 

fennster

fennster
Right after you cut the video, at 3mms away from station you can then shift back into full throttle and manage to disengage.

Not sure if you have tried that. I haven't timed it, but at best it will maybe save you a few seconds.
 

Mr T

Mr T
Apparently you can tell the angle the station is rotating on by using nebulas etc. in the skybox. I saw a youtube video about it but I haven't been able to place my hands on it just now. Obviously, you will have to have already been to that station to know which side it's on. I thought it was cool you could do that but it isn't something I've bothered with myself as I don't care about the timers running out (which is much less stressful).
 

Luponator

L
Not sure if this is worth the hassle- you end up at 0:06 again, anyways. I usually don't bother and approach at full throttle, then 75% at 0:08 or so and just ride it out. It is what it is :)
 

fennster

fennster
miketuppen said:
Apparently you can tell the angle the station is rotating on by using nebulas etc. in the skybox. I saw a youtube video about it but I haven't been able to place my hands on it just now. Obviously, you will have to have already been to that station to know which side it's on. I thought it was cool you could do that but it isn't something I've bothered with myself as I don't care about the timers running out (which is much less stressful).
Click to expand...

The stations move in orbit, around planets in orbit. The positioning of the skybox background will change overtime.

But the entrance of the station always is pointing towards the north pole of the planet it is orbiting.
 

zarrazee

zarrazee
I've tried several methods over the years

  • The 00:06/7 rule
  • Sling shotting around body (planet etc)
  • Spiralling to the station
  • Using the body's gravity to slow you down

TBH, none of them save a significant amount of time, maybe a couple of seconds. Now-a-days I just use the 00:06/7 rule; it's "stress" free, reliable and has little chance of overshooting.
 

Lupin

Lupin
Stations entry slot always faces planet.
The method I use as long as station over 500ls when you enter system or start your approach.

1. Full throttle until you reach ETA 00:07, then 70% full throttle (I have key definded for this).
2. Check where station is in it's orbit and make sure you are inside the orbital ring between planet (for example) and station.
3. Once inside orbit ring but not close to planet face station with planet behind you. Keep the orbital line of station with your gunsight.
This last step can be done while you wait for safe drop out of supercruise.

This drops you out of supercruise within sight of slot.

I then hit boost (Once) to get with 7.5km of station and request docking, deloying landing gear to slow ship as I near entry slot.

Outposts are a little harder to work out. But step 1 works the same, but you do not need to be between planet and outpost.
 

fennster

fennster
jgm said:
Surely not, otherwise you'd see the north pole of the planet as you left the station.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was not too clear on that.

What I mean is the station is in orbit around the equator.. but the the station is tilted with the slot pointing towards the north of the planet.
 

nordish

nordish
The moment you reach ~1mn/s you can return to full throttle. Will save you 1-2 seconds maybe? I don't care really, but there you can save some time. I usually tend to increase throttle already when it's at 1.2-1.3MN/s and try to stabilise it at 1MN when reaching nearly 2MN before station.
 

fennster

fennster
Underhook said:
North? in space?
Click to expand...

Yep, so if you face the planet at the equator the rotation goes right to left. The top would be considered the north.

Or if you were to view it from the north it would rotate clockwise on its pole.

But yes, really should be classed as positive and negative poles.
 
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JetsonRING

JetsonRING
The "6-seconds out" approach works

Gavin Burke said:
So I'm very inpatient and hate seeing an ETA 00:06 to a station for almost a minute, so I've tried bombing at the planet then pull up and use the gravity to slow me down at the last second, like so (ETA was 00:01 when I yanked back!)

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/Burke By Nature/video/23319204

Anyone got a faster method of approaching? I've tried emergency dropping when I'm right on the station but it always carries on flinging me right past...
Click to expand...

[noob] The "6 second" method is the best and fastest method for everyday approaches to space-stations and outposts. To my knowledge no other approach method or modification of this method saves more than a couple of seconds.

That being said, if one performs their approach over/under the poles of the planetary body the station is orbiting and levels out at the planet's equator facing away from the planet and pointed right at the station's door, when closing in on the station and lined-up you can increase throttle and try to keep the station centered in the HUD, disengaging low-wake when the "safe" indicator lights up. Tricky, you might overshoot and again, only saves a few seconds. o7
 
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Alec Turner

Alec Turner
Absolute fastest way is to come and join in with a few Buckyball Races because perfecting the approach to station and/or planet is one of the main ways of shaving those valuable seconds off your time and practice makes perfect.

Not sure when the next race is going to be (I might be doing one in a couple of weeks) but subscribe to our main thread and you'll see it listed there eventually ..

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193467-Buckyball-Racing-Club

Basically the planetary braking technique is the fastest. Max throttle towards the station until your ETA drops to around 0:05 or 0:04 and then skim past the planet (making sure to avoid the blue or yellow circle that indicates the emergency drop zone) so its planetary braking effect leaches your speed just enough to avoid an overshoot. It's part science and part art since the size and mass of the planet and the distance the station is away from the planet all affect how fast you can go and how close you need to be to the planet in order to achieve the perfect last minute deceleration.

This video (not actually one of ours) demonstrates it quite nicely ..

[video=youtube_share;CMGGFbmyMHw]https://youtu.be/CMGGFbmyMHw[/video]

A couple of other little tips are:

a) If you overcook it and are coming in too fast you can use either wild pitching motions or else a corkscrew approach (where you're constantly pitching up as far as you can but still spiralling in towards the station) in order to lose some speed.

b) If the station is a long way away from its orbital body (e.g. for stations orbiting stars such as those featured in our recent "Day of the Dead Stars" race) then temporarily de-selecting and then re-selecting the station can drop your speed at the last minute quite dramatically.

n.b. Even if you do overshoot, these 0:05 ETA approaches (followed by a nice loop back around and in to the station) are typically still faster than the steady 0:06 approach.

Other tips you might enjoy can be found at the Buckyball Flight Academy thread.
 
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IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
fennster said:
Magnetic poles don't always align with the poles of axis.
Click to expand...

This is also true. Relative North still exists in space too though - relative to a position on the ground of the planet in question.

Could you imagine how strange a navigation system might be on a planet where there was a considerable difference between the north magnetic pole and north axial pole?
 

Panticus

Banned
Panticus
Not all planets have magnetic fields. But it is true that a magnetic pole is unambiguous. The North magnetic pole of a planet is actually DEFINED as the pole that the N end of a magnet (compass) points towards. This means that technically, it is a South pole :)

(Earth's navigational magnetic North pole is a South pole as determined by the conventions of physics. And of course it doesn't quite coincide with the geographical north pole, but it is close enough. p.s. the ancients had compasses probably - lodestones - magnetite - floating on little rafts in a water bowl.)
 
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Ripbudd

Banned
R
6/7 is boooooring, if you have ship that can do hairpin turn i just max speed deselect target slow down turn around and continue. I never mastered this since station will not slow you down if you don't select it. I do it when im bored because 6/7 gets old fast.
 
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