Flight model in planets

[dxm55]

Been playing a while, and this question always nibbled at me.

Anyone here find it weird that your ship can basically stand on its nose or side while flying in around planets?
Almost like a magic helicopter or drone.

Thrusters to hover and support the mass/weight of the ship vs gravity appear to be mostly concentrated on the ventral hulls. So wouldn't it make sense that once we've enter planetary flight, the ship should not be able to hover at anything other than mostly level to the ground/horizon?

Just saying. If you're banked at a 90 degree angle, you should be falling to the planet and fast, depending on gravity. And you shouldn't be able to keep your nose 45 deg below the horizon and expect to maintain a static hover.

Just wondering.

 

[metatheurgist]

Have you tried that on a planet with 2+G?

 

[dxm55]

Yeah. You sink faster, even when level. But it scales.

What I'm saying is that even for planets with "normal" 1G or less, the ability for your ship to hover in any orientation is a bit unusual.

 

[Deaf Space]

most planets have micro gravity, a fully loaded anaconda could weigh as much as a fully loaded refrigerater (American frige)

 

[Jaggid Edje]

Just saying. If you're banked at a 90 degree angle, you should be falling to the planet and fast, depending on gravity. And you shouldn't be able to keep your nose 45 deg below the horizon and expect to maintain a static hover.

That's Flight Assist mostly though, which is firing vertical/horizontal thrusters automatically to keep you stabilized. Try the stunts with FA off and tell me how it goes.

(There's also some dev magic going on though, that makes your vertical thrusters automatically just a tad better than whatever the planet's G's require).

Additionally, you're wrong about the nose and side comment. On planets with high enough G, you will start to lose altitude if you don't maintain a horizontal-ish position. It's why tutorials for High G landing recommend you not to use roll. A sideways alignment is a good way to crash (cause those dev magic'd vertical thrusters can't save you if you're sideways).

 

[Gumwars]

Khun is one of the first systems (visiting Martuuk) where I encountered a well steep enough to cause my ship to continually accelerate as I descended. Nearly pancaked too, I did a full nose up + boost; pretty sure the singe mark on the ground is still there. I've read about higher gravity environments that are very difficult to navigate but haven't seen (or tried) to land on them. My only criticism is that I understand your ship will find level flight regardless of the gravity but will demand that you handle the ship carefully once that equilibrium is established. I do find it odd that in those situations your thrusters, regardless of class, will always get the job done.

 

[dxm55]

That's Flight Assist mostly though, which is firing vertical/horizontal thrusters automatically to keep you stabilized. Try the stunts with FA off and tell me how it goes.

(There's also some dev magic going on though, that makes your vertical thrusters automatically just a tad better than whatever the planet's G's require).

Additionally, you're wrong about the nose and side comment. On planets with high enough G, you will start to lose altitude if you don't maintain a horizontal-ish position. It's why tutorials for High G landing recommend you not to use roll. A sideways alignment is a good way to crash (cause those dev magic'd vertical thrusters can't save you if you're sideways).

That's what I was mainly getting at. Even with FA on, you should not be able to hover on 1G planets except fully level. This is primarily what I meant.


With FA off, you should be thrustless when not on the controls, so yes, subject to the gravity.
And yes, on higher G planets it is exacerbated. Well aware of that. Have pancaked myself a few times misjudging the gravity and ship's momentum on descent.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

That's what I was mainly getting at. Even with FA on, you should not be able to hover on 1G planets except fully level. This is primarily what I meant.


With FA off, you should be thrustless when not on the controls, so yes, subject to the gravity.
And yes, on higher G planets it is exacerbated. Well aware of that. Have pancaked myself a few times misjudging the gravity and ship's momentum on descent.

It depends on ships and thrusters class.
Most big ships with thrusters smaller than A will sink very fast with a bank angle >45° on high G planets.
Vertical thrusters got some kind of magic, I agree on this. Where the main thrusters fail they can still lift you up.