Newcomer / Intro New Pilot, trying Tutorials, Ship Feels Slow/Sluggish

[Star Ferret]

Greetings all...

Just picked up the ED Commander Pack a couple days ago, while it was on sale on Steam...

Haven't had much time to try it until today, and I decided to do the Training Missions to get started.

However, my starter ship feels very slow and sluggish when it comes to turning, etc... it takes a very long time to turn.

I'm on the Advanced Combat Training mission, and I can't keep up with the target ship thats running much faster and seems more maneuverable then me. It takes just forever to turn my ship around to try to bring the target back under the cross hairs to fire on it... and by the time I do, its behind me again.

I try adjusting my speed to see if that might help my ship turn quicker but it only makes things worse. Evening the strafing trusters seem very slow and sluggish and don't seem to do much at all to help keep the target in sight.

Is there some sort of trick to get the ship to move quicker?

Or am I just plagued with the old curse of "its the starter ship, its supposed to be like that!" and should I just skip these "training missions" and jump right in and work towards getting myself a better and more maneuverable ship?

For the record, I am using keyboard and mouse, to play...

 

[Star Ferret]

I should add...

I reconfigured my controls so my Mouse can be used to pitch up/down and turn right/left...

While the Keyboard is used for strafe up/down & left/right and thrust forward/back.

Cause that just feels a more natural way to control my ship to me.

 

[xondk]

Ships have weight, Elite uses newtonian physics, meaning you need to compensate for drift or allow ship computer to do it (default flight mode, flight assist on)
It also vastly depends on your ship setup. Sidewinder is quite nimble as things go.

 

[Dsign]

The most simple thing to get the best turn capacity is to set your speed in the blue portion of your speed indicator, this is the speed at which you ship turns the best !
After time you will learn some new tricks to improve even more your movements: flight assist off, combine upward and downward thrust,...
Enjoy the game !

 

[Gator Country]

Don't rely on yawing (turning right and left) to steer your ship - that's what it sounds like you're doing to me. Practice rolling and pitching into your target, and you'll find your ship is much more responsive. It'll feel kind of clumsy rolling and pitching into turns at first, but you'll quickly pick up the knack for it with practice. Only use yaw to "fine tune" your course once you're nearly lined up with where you want to go.

In fact, the Sidewinder (the starter ship) is one of the most maneuverable ships in the game.

 

[SeaFireliv]

?

For the record, I am using keyboard and mouse, to play...

My advice would be to change to a joystick, even for a space sim. The mouse is a horrible way to control craft that rely on moving around in a 3D world. You won`t get the `feel` or the `reach` and I`ll bet my bottom pound this is why your ship (which should be nifty) feels sluggish.

 

[Star Ferret]

Appreciate the responses from everyone!

I'll work on it some more... figure if I can't take down a beginners level NPC, in a Training mission, then yeah.. I aint ready to go out and start the actual game quite yet! LOL

Also...

My advice would be to change to a joystick, even for a space sim. The mouse is a horrible way to control craft that rely on moving around in a 3D world. You won`t get the `feel` or the `reach` and I`ll bet my bottom pound this is why your ship (which should be nifty) feels sluggish.

You know, I haven't used a Joystick since I had an Atari back in the early 80's! LOL

 

[Rocky-451]

Besides the good suggestions already mentioned, practise pip management. Four pips to ENG will make your ship turn a lot faster.

 

[Hooplah]

Greetings,

While using a HOTAS is my style I've been taken out while I was learning with a player using a keyboard and mouse when I wasn't paying attention! It is all about "Becoming one with the controls".

You are just getting started and there is SO MUCH to learn! The tutorial ships are really good at getting a player into the basics of combat flight but they don't reveal everything. Thrusters (another set) left, right, up, down is just as important as the standard left, right, up down controls. One can avoid incoming fire as well as getting on a target's six with thrusters (combined with other controls). Flight Assist off/on is also a necessity especially with larger slower to maneuver ships. PIPs to weapons when firing, SYS to keep the shields up when taking hits, and ENG to get position on a target or get the heck out of Dodge when needed is also part of the combat strategy.

Putting it all together takes time and patience as well as it changes with each ship upgrade in the game. The designers are devious! I suspect many starting out go for the weapons. While that is important having awesome flying skills allows a player to use any weapon effectively and understand its capabilities. That cannot be accomplished with poor flying skills relying on the weapon selections to make the day. So take that Sidewinder or whatever you are flying and fly it to the limits in the game starting with Nav Beacons, Low Rez sites, High Rez sites, and finally Conflict Zones. When it doesn't work read up on the tons of info on the Forum per how to use all these controls in combination at the right time and moment as well as how to use each one individually. Fly with Flight Assist off to get used to it even going for a station docking. In a Sidewinder you can die many times and get another one free but you will learn each time. Work the flight skills. Then in a few months you will be complaining on the Forum about how easy Combat is and MUST be buffed! Welcome to Elite Dangerous.

Regards

 

[Stealthie]

One other thing that might be an issue...

I set up my controls so the turret on my SRV is controlled by my mouse and I found that it was horribly sloppy and slow, as if there was some kind huge "mouse acceleration" variable at work.
When I looked at the controls again I realised that there was, indeed, a couple of sub-options for how mouse inputs are interpreted by the game.
Can't recall exactly what I changed but it was an option from a drop-down menu in the mouse options.

If there are similar options when using a mouse to control the ship that might be what's causing your problems.


But, seriously, ditch the mouse.
I know it is/was fashionable to use mouse control in some combat-oriented flight-sim's because they allow the player to change direction quickly but ED isn't that kind of game.
A joystick feels far more natural and you'll get much more fun out of playing the game with a joystick.

 

[Gator Country]

Appreciate the responses from everyone!

I'll work on it some more... figure if I can't take down a beginners level NPC, in a Training mission, then yeah.. I aint ready to go out and start the actual game quite yet! LOL

Also...



You know, I haven't used a Joystick since I had an Atari back in the early 80's! LOL

I highly recommend using a stick myself. It just makes the game so much more enjoyable, at least for me. You can get a decent quality, basic joystick for around $35-$40 - if you like flying with a stick and decide to stick with this game for a while you can always get a better one later.

You can get to be an excellent pilot using the keyboard and mouse only, but it's going to take quite a bit of practice and experience.

 

[the100thmonkey]

There are two different sets of controls for ship translation - thruster control and throttle control. Assuming that you are flying with flight assist on:

The throttle works in the same way that a car's throttle works - when it's set to a certain position, your ship will fly at the speed that corresponds to it, depending on how many pips you have assigned to engines.

The thrusters provide momentary bursts of thrust - the moment you take your finger off the thruster key, your speed will drop back to zero until you either change the throttle setting or fire another thruster.

In the Options > Controls menu, you'll see options to bind keys for "flight thrust" and "flight throttle" both need to be set. I recommend that, at the very least, you bind keys for 0%, 50%, 75% and 100% throttle. You might also want to bind keys to increase throttle and decrease throttle and one to reverse it.

Once you're comfortable with the bindings, hit the key for 50% throttle in flight. This will put your ship at the speed for optimal turn rate.

 

[bookmite]

Welcome to the wild black ...it's a truly fabulous "game " when and if you embrace it...very Addictive.

Just so you know the flight model is designed to have very slow yaw rates...( turning left of right ) but as others have said if you combine a roll in the turn, you can swing into position a lot faster.

And the way the npc's behave has been recently been rebalanced , I'm not sure if the training sessions account for that.

They now either run away or boost towards you and personally think it's much easier in game than it is in those training sessions .

Initially I think it's better to learn how to defend yourself rather than how to kill opponents, in the early days anyway .

Enjoy the game...it's a steep learning curve with very little hand holding, but you've certainly come to the right place...this is your guide to survival out there.

 

[SeeZaa]

its a pretty steep learning curve.. but the rewards are worth the effort

as for getting out there and doing it in the real game.. just go for it! the best advice i was ever given about this game when i 1st started playing went like this..

"dude, don't take it seriously.. seriously!! for the 1st few days try and screw up in as many different ways as you can. the 1st ship is cheap, a reset is cheap, and the lessons invaluable"

so that's what i did.. i died so many times, and in some crazy ways.. it was a real blast! and the lessons were great at a time when the stakes were low, and i really had nothing to lose

regards


*a few examples..

flying till i ran out of fuel

flying into the outside of stations

flying into the inside of stations

flying into stars

flying into authority ships.. repeatedly

firing on the outside of stations

firing on the...

well you get the idea

 

[Doogerie]

Hi mate I am also new i found if you slow down to the blue part of your throttle you should be able to turn a little faster I gave up on the Tutorials you can fly you are bassicly good to go in my eyes it is not the best ship I admit but it's something right?

 

[Zeus Cubed]

Ditch tutorials.
Or at least, don't overworry about them. I am now able to go bounty hunting with success, but I still am not able to win the advance combat scenario... I sometime manage to take out the first adversary, but i. The next wave the 2 of them are still too much... but the actual game is not so heaviky centered on combat as you.might think...

 

[Hell Razor5543]

First, let me welcome you to the Elite: Dangerous Galaxy. My rule 2 is; Have Fun (it is just a game, but WHAT a GAME!).

The learning curve is so steep (it has an overhang!) that the mountain goats go around in teams, roped together (and even then they may fall off, but that means the Vultures get to eat!). However, when you master something, and do it well, the buzz is worth the effort. To my mind the most important skill to master is landing your ship. Until you can do this nothing else matters (how can you complete a mission, for example, if you killed yourself on landing?).

Now, Golden Rule 1, which is; Never Fly if you cannot cover the REBUY. REBUY is the insurance excess on your ship, and is 5% of the value of your ship (including all upgrades, but not the cargo). Any changes you make to a ship will affect the REBUY. You can see what your REBUY is on the Status screen (normally accessed by pressing key 4 when in cockpit view), bottom left, below Balance. If you get killed, and you can cover the REBUY, you will get a replacement ship identical to the one you lost (although the cargo bay will be empty). However, if you cannot cover the REBUY you may well end up back in a basic Sidewinder. Please do not let this happen to you, as the forum is littered with tales of woe when other Players have ignored Rule 1, and then got killed. This links to the latest I have seen;

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/324391-1-5-years-to-get-Anaconda-1-day-to-lose-it

You will, at various stages, upgrade your ship (buying is covered in the next paragraph). Be aware that all internal equipment has numbers and letters associated with them. The number is the Class, while the letter is the Rating. Until you have a good understanding of the Class make sure (when upgrading) to fit the same Class as the unit coming out. There are stories of Players who fitted a 1A FSD to their Sidewinder, thinking it would help increase the jump range, only to find that (as the FSD that came out was a 2 Class) they had REDUCED the jump range. The letter is for Rating, with E being the weakest and A being the strongest. However, there are two that confuse this somewhat. All D Rated equipment are very light (and are preferred by Explorers for this reason), while B Rated has heavy armour (which is great for combat specialists). I do not (at this time) intend to explain weaponry, as this is definitely a matter of personal preference.

When you decide to buy a new ship, try to have 200% of the purchase price first. That way you have enough for the ship, some basic outfitting, a couple of loads of cargo, and a couple of REBUYs (just in case). If you are trading in a ship, take it back to factory spec first. When you sell any ship you will always take a 10% hit on the value of the ship at the time of selling. However, if you take it back to factory spec first you get back the full amount that you paid for the upgrades (at this time, at least). Then, when you sell the ship, your losses will be reduced. For example, I have an A Rated Cobra MkIII worth 10Mcr. If I were to sell her now I would take a loss of 1Mcr. However, if I take her back to factory spec and then sell her my loss will be about 35Kcr.

Have fun, fly safely, and see you out amongst the stars. Feel free to ask any questions, we all had to learn somewhere, and those that care will answer all they can.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Welcome on the forums ! Commander

 

[Ashnak]

Since nobody has mentioned it so far - the advanced combat tutorial is exactly that - advanced.

Don't worry if you don't win it, it poses some problems for more advanced pilots than you (or me). Just dive in - the most important tutorials are those concerned with flying, hyperspace/friendship drive and landing (landing the right way round in three dimensions sometimes is a bit problematic...). Once you "got that", you can start in the real game. While you're still in your starter Sidey, all mistakes are free (i.e., when you die, you'll be back in the same starter Sidey, no money lost).

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Don't worry about the anti keyboard and mouse guys, they might be right but I have been using them for years in ED and have no problems flying like this.
.
Sounds to me that you are relying on the yaw axis, especially from the way you have re-bound the keys. Yaw is VERY slow. The ED flight model is based on aircraft so you should fly it like one so pitch and roll are the way to go (I.e. default bindings). It might feel weird but if you try to use yaw rather than roll you will not get very far.