Newcomer / Intro Matching Target Velocity

[chrono2]

Is there a button to match target velocity, like there is in Star Citizen? I searched around the menus for a while, but to be honest it kinda just blurs together for me, and I find myself frequently overshooting my target by a mile because I overestimate their speed... I suppose the simple alternative is "Get good", but I'm lazy.

Also, if there is a button for it, does anyone know what it's bound to, if anything, on the stock X-55 profile?

 

[the100thmonkey]

There isn't one that I know of, but there should be.

It's very difficult to match speeds precisely in normal space without knowing your target/escortee's weight and thruster grade. It's even harder to do it in supercruise because that mode is pretty much constant acceleration/deceleration, and matching acceleration curves is practically impossible if the target has maxed their throttle.

Yes, with practice it becomes easier (I've spent the last two nights pretty much just practising escorting trading vessels), but it's still a fiddly solution to have the T6 slow down, then speed up as you nudge your throttle back and forth.

 

[ReaperAlex]

you can try using your vertical thrusters to help with the overshoot, if you get above or behind them you can even turn to face them for a nice big fat target to shoot at. in fact it's a situation i'm trying to get in to so i can shoot at sub modules without facing the main guns. nothing quite like riding the back of an anaconda whilst pounding it's power plant . be warned though that's where most of it's turrets are...

 

[Kuroshio]

While I loved "Match Target Speed" back in the days of X-Wing Alliance, I don't think it's really doable in ED's combat environment. There are too many different possible vectors to deal with - forward/backward, lateral, vertical, two of them combined, all of them combined, which one should the ship match? (And if you keep it to forward/rearward only, you'd get in trouble with sliding and turning opponents, because you have to be faster than them to stay on their six.)

It would be a nice addition for supercruise, though.

 

[streki]

As soon as you get close enough to your target, simply hold down vertical thrust (up or down) and then use your stick to keep a bead on them....keep that vertical thust button held down....then you can use your main (forward/backward) thrusters to maintain distance.

Its a bit simplistic, but it does the job.

After doing this for a while, my brain sort of snapped into 3D mode, and now I use all four trusters (up/down/left/right) much more effectively in combination with my main (forward/backwards) thrusters, and can dance around the bigger ships with ease.

I guess its just practice.

I've used match-target-speed in other games, but once you get used to using all 6 thrusters effectively, it gives you a far greater level of control for dog fighting in 6 axis.