Orbital navigation? I have not the slightes clue HELP PLEASE

delnelrimnim

D
I am trying to navigate to a point on the surface of a planet. I only have the longitude and lattitude but I have NO CLUE on how to navigate to it. I am simply unable to navigate them without ANY HEADING!

How on earth can this be done? Nether can I decern my heading in supercruse, nor can I do exact 90degree turns.

I can not even get close as the coordinates go crazy afer a short time. I move the upper value close to 0 as that is the eaquator as I understand it and navigate on a course chaning it very very slowly trying to move my other coordinate close. As my view on the stars tells me I am flying in a straight line but after some moments, my upper degree value also moves very quickly as I travel.

I am not dicussing that it feels completly out of place that my starship has no navigational tool for that, and someone playing elite since 1984 will of course tell me, that that the game has to be that hard regarding this issue, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
enlighten me in how to nagivate according to those coordinates! As i spent 2 hours of my life circling around a planet with no avail taking up all my gametime for tonight, I go to bed now frustrated, and agitated by another game machanic driving me away from this game.
 

MadDogMurdock

MadDogMurdock
On the surface it's a bit easier because you have a heading at the top.

Drive toward 0 to increase the Latitude and towards 180 to decrease it.
Drive towards 90 to increase the Longditude and towards 270 to decrease it.
 

ThoroughlyLostExplorer

ThoroughlyLostExplorer
Obviously, a heading in orbital cruise is something I'd like to be made available soon. If the ship can show you coordinates, it can also show you a heading (except when exactly at either pole). Actually, there is no particular excuse not to be able to set the target marker at a particular coordinate location. We have a planet map, right?

Ranting aside, I do have a bit of a workaround to get to places, though it really feels silly.

I'm not a genius of navigation, and actually had to look up "longitude" when writing this. Please remember: Following a parallel of latitude (East or West, 90 or 270) will make you fly a circle over the ground (only the equator is also a geodesic / straight line); this effect becomes more pronounced near the poles. Maybe this has contributed to you getting lost?

I usually drop from orbital cruise to get a heading and turn to whichever cardinal direction (0, 90, 180, 270) seems more appealing. Normal flight is a good way to check that the cardinal direction chosen really does increase / decrease the coordinate you are looking to change as intended (yes, I check every time).

Then I re-enter cruise, accelerate by keeping to the "blue" region in angle against horizontal and try to keep the coordiate I am not changing stable. Often, I can also let it slowly tick into the direction I need it to move in. A joystick that twists to control whatever axis it is that is "up" from the pilot's seating position (z?) helps greatly to keep that second coordinate under control.

Depending on how confident I feel, I either drop from cruise again when the first coordinate has the desired value, or try to guess a 90 degree turn from terrain features. When I think about it, I usually drop from orbital cruise by accident as I try to decelrate. Then I align my ship in a cardinal direction, jump back into cruise and again rely on my twistable joystick to keep the coordinate I'm not changing fixed.

Obviously, when trying to reach a coordinate near either pole, it makes sense to first reach the correct latitude. Adjusting the longitude will then go rather quickly. Otherwise, you might find yourself going halfway around the planet along the equator to make the longitude change. Near the poles, in particular, remember that following a parallel of latitude will require you to fly in a circle.
 

JTM151

J
I get one of the numbers/coordinates correct and then i turn to find the direction that the number stops changing. Then I know i'm headed exactly N/E/S/W (depending on the coordinate im working on) and can work on the other number/coordinate.

It would be much easier if there was some sort of heading in orbital. No idea if there is an easier way :/
 

Leadfoot

Leadfoot
Rhinerium said:
The planet map needs to show you co-ords of the mouse cursor. Then you should be able to place a marker on the globe. Not having way-point navigation is silly.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Nice to have the grid map on the world but without numbers of any kind, it's just something pretty to spin in a circle, otherwise useless. Clicking on a coordinate making it a point you can head to is exactly what's needed here. Please have some rep.
 

Rhinerium

R
Leadfoot said:
My thoughts exactly. Nice to have the grid map on the world but without numbers of any kind, it's just something pretty to spin in a circle, otherwise useless. Clicking on a coordinate making it a point you can head to is exactly what's needed here. Please have some rep.
Click to expand...


HAHA! My power increases!
 

delnelrimnim

D
Thanks for your comments so far. I have tried to locate the spot in a similar way as suggested here. I tried to get near the aequator, dropped to the surface, tried to get my heading and returned to OC trying to hold the course but I am unable to to so. My plan was to reach the aequator (at lattitude 0, which is the first of the two degee values) and from there fly around the planet untill i got my longitude right. Then I would turn 90 degree left or right to adjust the lattitude. But I cant even reach the aequator exactly staying around 10 degee (plus or minus) and from there I can keep the lattidude stable for a moment after which it suddenly changes in a huge scale.
I do not understand how you manage to keep any course without a heading.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
I sympathise with OP and give a hearty +1 for either heading needing to be visible in cruise, or an alternative method of plotting a set of coordinates and navigating towards them being created. Not a problem when all you're doing is flying around looking for something awesome to land and have a look at but when you're trying to reach a specific spot it is absolutely infuriating.
 

MadDogMurdock

MadDogMurdock
Given the heading already exists in surface flight mode, it would seem to be simple to add that for orbital cruise in the next patch - here's hoping.

I'd love to see a lot more done with the surface map including the excellent waypoint suggestion made earlier - bring it FD!!
 

Kristov

K
After spending a few hours playing around with trying to find coords on moons out in the Pleiades to see some barnacles, I realized the easiest way to do is simply to come in around the equator while in SC, once you get within a few thousand klicks, you'll see your coords show up, BEFORE you enter OC, and that's when you need to see where you are. Your heading is mostly guesswork at this point, but once you have coords you can figure out heading quickly enough, before you ever hit OC, and start on the proper line up for what you are aiming for.

Now, once you get into OC, slow WAY down, it really helps, and try to fly at 2 to -2 ascent/descent, that helps keep you fairly 'flat' in relation to the surface, which really helps when trying to get on the proper heading. The higher up you are, the faster you'll be moving, so keep that in mind, when up high you'll overshoot your target real fast and you'll have a hell of a time getting your heading right as well.

Once I get in the general area of my target coords, I drop straight down and get out of OC. Once you do that, it's a lot easier to get your heading set right and get to your target coords. It can take a little bit, you are traveling around a moon or planet after all at far less speeds then we're used to traveling at, but after a bit of practice, it's not so hard to manage. I can get to my target coords within a few minutes now, provided I don't totally screw up and go to - instead of + :)
 

Rhinerium

R
I have just enough room on my desk a compass and protractor for route plotting. I am thinking of getting a sextant. Anyone have a good line on one? :p
 

Spdrmn7

S
We most DEFINITELY need a heading for orbital cruise...and the ability to use waypoints on the planetary surface map. Right now, planetary surface maps are completely useless (the ones without settlements...which is the majority). They don't help us with anything at all.
 

fish77

F
I just can't get my head around this, well I can in normal flight or the SRV (but takes that long I might as well set off walking from Earth ;) ) just can't get anywhere near where I need to be in OC, I've tried dropping out and using a Rhumb line calculator to get the bearing then return to OC but still don't get it,I make no movements apart from keeping the nose level and one of the co-ordinates will get to be where I want but the other will be miles off, I think I'm using the calculator right ie: latitude positive is north, negative is south and longitude positive is east, negative is west, so if I put my current co-ordinates and the destination co-ordinates into the calculator then change my bearing to the one given I should arrive at the destination if I keep in a straight line?

It's really doing my head in now as I've mainly been exploring but reached elite yesterday so have started doing other things and want to do the meta-alloy CG but cannot find any barnacles randomly flying/driving around and can't even get close to the co-ordinates given to known sites on here.
 

ruger_shooter

ruger_shooter
Kristov said:
After spending a few hours playing around with trying to find coords on moons out in the Pleiades to see some barnacles, I realized the easiest way to do is simply to come in around the equator while in SC, once you get within a few thousand klicks, you'll see your coords show up, BEFORE you enter OC, and that's when you need to see where you are. Your heading is mostly guesswork at this point, but once you have coords you can figure out heading quickly enough, before you ever hit OC, and start on the proper line up for what you are aiming for.

Now, once you get into OC, slow WAY down, it really helps, and try to fly at 2 to -2 ascent/descent, that helps keep you fairly 'flat' in relation to the surface, which really helps when trying to get on the proper heading. The higher up you are, the faster you'll be moving, so keep that in mind, when up high you'll overshoot your target real fast and you'll have a hell of a time getting your heading right as well.

Once I get in the general area of my target coords, I drop straight down and get out of OC. Once you do that, it's a lot easier to get your heading set right and get to your target coords. It can take a little bit, you are traveling around a moon or planet after all at far less speeds then we're used to traveling at, but after a bit of practice, it's not so hard to manage. I can get to my target coords within a few minutes now, provided I don't totally screw up and go to - instead of + :)
Click to expand...


Good advice, will try this myself. Have a +Rep for your help.
 

drholliday

D
I'm going to be the biatch saying that the original artwork overlay we saw but didn't get for Horizons would have neatly solved this. The one where you could overlay surface information directly over the planet in the HUD. Not only did it look great. It would also have been useful. Press a button, get the overlay be happy with everything navigation on the planet.
 
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