Maybe I just Suck

[Muss]

Is anyone else finding the lack of a compass frustrating as hell when looking for specific coords on a planet?

I would love to be able to tell my ships computer (which can plot a coarse of 1.798e+14Km) where I want to land on a planet and get a waypoint that is accurate to with in with in +/- 2 degrees.

Or maybe a nav beacon i can drop.

This whole in and out of orbital cruise to see my dam heading is ridiculous.

Or maybe i Just suck.

 

[777Driver]

Nope, it seems incredibly strange that they disable the heading indicator once you enter orbital cruise. I can understand at high altitudes, there is no reason to disable it a low altitude.

We should also be able to punch in planatery coordinates into the nav computer and create planatery waypoints... While I'm it, please give us the choice to disable ship auto launch. If i'm going mountain climbing or roaming in the SRV, i'd like to use my ship as a base camp.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Is anyone else finding the lack of a compass frustrating as hell when looking for specific coords on a planet?

I would love to be able to tell my ships computer (which can plot a coarse of 1.798e+14Km) where I want to land on a planet and get a waypoint that is accurate to with in with in +/- 2 degrees.

Or maybe a nav beacon i can drop.

This whole in and out of orbital cruise to see my dam heading is ridiculous.

Or maybe i Just suck.

The compass should be there in OC, would make my live all that much easier. Maybe not waypoints, but 'guessing where 90 degrees is' is an odd thing to do in a spaceship a thousand years in the future. Its a bit like the Olympic Games at the 400m sprint saying:"ah whatever, lets get rid of photo-finish and just eyeball it."

edit: hinja'd in the same minute

 

[Thetele]

Moving in orbital cruise is fast enough so no need to exit it to sc. And heading can bee seen when you fly lower than orbital cruise. Personally i don't have problems to find specific coordinates. But some way to navigate would be nice IF you have already mapped the planet or bought data for it.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

It was requested to have it anytime in SuperCruise close around Planets but didn't make it unfortunately.

So for the time being, it's guessworking and manually aligning to cardinal headings purely based on running Coordinates.
Good ol' TLAR (This Looks About Right) at work

 

[dudacious]

I agree with the OP - and to be honest I can't be bothered to faff on. I don't have much spare time (or much energy) these days. Admittedly I've only done it once or twice but it does seem a bit daft!

 

[Alex Brentnall]

1) Approach planet with the orbital lines horizontal across your screen and you in the middle of the planet. Similar to this but a bit higher so it's perfectly aligned.

http://i.imgur.com/bvRgj38.j

2) You now have X and Y but may be upside down relative to the planet. When you get into orbital cruise distance and get co-ordinates popping up cut your throttle to 0 and point towards the top of the planet. If Y increases you are orientated correctly, if it decreases roll 180 degrees making the north pole the south pole.
Travel vertically upwards or downwards to roughly the correct Y altittude.

3) Cut throttle and turn one way slightly (5-10 deg), do the same check with the X co-ordinate (positive/negative). Then turn and fly in said direction.

4) Aim to drop out of orbital cruise roughly 1 X or Y away from target destination. Glide should take you the rest of the way coming out pretty close to target.

Been doing this on Distant Worlds and had very few problems. Yes it takes a few minutes to orientate and check the co-ords are moving the correct way but its an easy way to get it right first time. There is a DW guide somewhere with proper pictures and explanations. Let me know if you want a link and I'll have a look around.

Edit: Yes a compass would make it a ton easier too

 

[777Driver]

1) Approach planet with the orbital lines horizontal across your screen and you in the middle of the planet. Similar to this but a bit higher so it's perfectly aligned.

All good advice mate, but don't you find it strange that we cruise along a planet at 30km and have an accurate heading reading, as soon as we switch to OC we lose the data. It just doesn't make sense.

During high orbit cruise (+500km) the heading data is invalid and not shown (even under normal propulsion), at low level it should be standard, no matter what mode of flight.

 

[Jedirogue]

Completely agree with OP. It makes no sense that you have coordinates and no way to tell which direction to travel to reach them. Turning until the coordinate starts to change in the direction you need it to go is more primitive than the flight sims of the mid 80s. This is something FD can easily fix.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

All good advice mate, but don't you find it strange that we cruise along a planet at 30km and have an accurate heading reading, as soon as we switch to OC we lose the data. It just doesn't make sense.

During high orbit cruise (+500km) the heading data is invalid and not shown (even under normal propulsion), at low level it should be standard, no matter what mode of flight.

Yeah, edited in my agreement. Thought I'd started with that but went straight for the alternative solution. A compass would be a good addition