Greetings,
Another thread (like I could find it again) suggested that supercruise assist is slower than manual as the throttle is in the blue zone versus max throttle manually flying in. So I did a test to an outpost 600LS from the sun. The timing started dropping out of hypercruise at the sun and ended dropping out of supercruise at the station. The station was a direct approach for both runs with no flying around the planet. An outpost was used with no need for precision flying lining up with an orbiting station mailslot before dropping out of supercruise.
Upon arrival and after lining up with the station supercruise assist was immediately activated setting the throttle to the blue zone and letting it complete the run. It completed the run dropping the approach speed 7 seconds out. Manual supercruise used max throttle dropping the approach speed to the blue zone 7 seconds out. A highly engineered Python was used with grade 5 dirty drives and drag drives effect. It makes a difference versus stock ships. The results:
2:40 with supercruise assist
2:35 with manual supercruise
Given the human factor and possible time difference to move away from the sun towards the station a 5 second difference is negligible. The results suggest that with the same parameters the approach velocities between the two are identical. Perhaps other tests with an outpost 6000LS or more out would be better. The ultimate test would be going to Hutton Orbital in Alpha Centauri to get that free Anaconda and coffee mug! Warning...Research this before believing that last sentence.
Add in more complex systems, gravity wells along the way, flying around a planet to get to an orbiting station, lining up with an orbiting station mailslot and I suggest that precision flying will be faster than a supercruise assist direct approach. An example is going to a planetary station where the supercruise assist will enter orbit around the planet (very cool by the way) but doesn't setup for the best station approach. Manual will be a much faster approach especially when trying to get to orbital cruise before another ship can interdict you because of all that "tasty cargo". Still assist can be used then manually taking over for the final approach.
Bottom line it seems that the approach velocities are the same for now. If a player has excellent flying skills then supercruise assist can be fun and very useful. If a new player depends upon supercruise assist then there will be times when they are not happy with the results.Learning to fly well and ALWAYS understanding your surroundings is always better.
As for supercruise assist orbiting a planet that might come in handy when using the detailed surface scanner firing probes to map a planet finding all the POIs IF we are still in supercruise and not orbital cruise. Maybe not. I haven't tried this yet but someone else could start a new thread about it. Anyway thanks to Frontier for the new toys to play with.
Regards to All
Another thread (like I could find it again) suggested that supercruise assist is slower than manual as the throttle is in the blue zone versus max throttle manually flying in. So I did a test to an outpost 600LS from the sun. The timing started dropping out of hypercruise at the sun and ended dropping out of supercruise at the station. The station was a direct approach for both runs with no flying around the planet. An outpost was used with no need for precision flying lining up with an orbiting station mailslot before dropping out of supercruise.
Upon arrival and after lining up with the station supercruise assist was immediately activated setting the throttle to the blue zone and letting it complete the run. It completed the run dropping the approach speed 7 seconds out. Manual supercruise used max throttle dropping the approach speed to the blue zone 7 seconds out. A highly engineered Python was used with grade 5 dirty drives and drag drives effect. It makes a difference versus stock ships. The results:
2:40 with supercruise assist
2:35 with manual supercruise
Given the human factor and possible time difference to move away from the sun towards the station a 5 second difference is negligible. The results suggest that with the same parameters the approach velocities between the two are identical. Perhaps other tests with an outpost 6000LS or more out would be better. The ultimate test would be going to Hutton Orbital in Alpha Centauri to get that free Anaconda and coffee mug! Warning...Research this before believing that last sentence.
Add in more complex systems, gravity wells along the way, flying around a planet to get to an orbiting station, lining up with an orbiting station mailslot and I suggest that precision flying will be faster than a supercruise assist direct approach. An example is going to a planetary station where the supercruise assist will enter orbit around the planet (very cool by the way) but doesn't setup for the best station approach. Manual will be a much faster approach especially when trying to get to orbital cruise before another ship can interdict you because of all that "tasty cargo". Still assist can be used then manually taking over for the final approach.
Bottom line it seems that the approach velocities are the same for now. If a player has excellent flying skills then supercruise assist can be fun and very useful. If a new player depends upon supercruise assist then there will be times when they are not happy with the results.Learning to fly well and ALWAYS understanding your surroundings is always better.
As for supercruise assist orbiting a planet that might come in handy when using the detailed surface scanner firing probes to map a planet finding all the POIs IF we are still in supercruise and not orbital cruise. Maybe not. I haven't tried this yet but someone else could start a new thread about it. Anyway thanks to Frontier for the new toys to play with.
Regards to All
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