Newcomer / Intro [Question] In SC, can you untarget a ship without losing your destination lock?

[drkaii]

Not a newbie but there isn't a general Q&A subforum.

When in supercruise, I have locked a station, and I like to target cycle all the other ships to see who they are and what they are doing.

But if you've selected a ship AND a station, when you get withing 1,000km of the station, you don't get any destination lock or "safe disengage".

Also, there's no button to deselect a ship - only way is to point at empty space and hit your forward target button, but this deselects the station too.



Is there something I'm missing? Is it possible to deselect your target without losing your destination lock?



It's really annoying, and even dangerous - if I am trying to avoid interdiction, I need to select the ship behind me to know what I am up against, as well as have an eye on where he is pointing. But then I need to do a number of distracting steps to be able to exit SC at a station: look at empty space, press target button, look left at nav panel, find the station in the list, lock it.

It's also annoying that you HAVE to use the nav panel to select a station in 99% of cases as if there is a wake, or a ship, or a planet anywhere near it, those take priority.



If there is no way round this, then I'll put it as a suggestion.

Also, mods, please move this to wherever it belongs - I have no idea

[SOLVED]:

Using the defaults bindings to demostrate.

Select the station as normal.
Press 'G' to cycle through the ships.

When you need to select the station again.
Press 'O' to select station again. (i.e. Select Next System on Route)

This is how I do it.

 

[Cmdr Delmonte[VR]]

When navigating between systems there is a "Bind" for selecting next waypoint, so if you check out a star or planet then press the bind it goes to your
next jump point, Not tired it in a local system ? maybe it will do the same thing and lock on to your last selected Nav point, Will test it later.

 

[furrycat]

"Next hostile" usually does the job. I suppose theoretically it might not work if you were in a system where you have a low reputation. Otherwise since the only way you can be "attacked" in supercruise is to be interdicted, when that isn't happening the bind has the result of selecting no ship and thus falling back to the waypoint.

 

[drkaii]

When navigating between systems there is a "Bind" for selecting next waypoint, so if you check out a star or planet then press the bind it goes to your
next jump point, Not tired it in a local system ? maybe it will do the same thing and lock on to your last selected Nav point, Will test it later.

Already tried - doesn't work. Thanks though

"Next hostile" usually does the job. I suppose theoretically it might not work if you were in a system where you have a low reputation. Otherwise since the only way you can be "attacked" in supercruise is to be interdicted, when that isn't happening the bind has the result of selecting no ship and thus falling back to the waypoint.

Cool, never thought of that! Would it work during interdiction? I guess once you are already being interdicted, it doesn't really matter.

 

[I and I Redeye]

Using the defaults bindings to demostrate.

Select the station as normal.
Press 'G' to cycle through the ships.

When you need to select the station again.
Press 'O' to select station again.

This is how I do it.

 

[drkaii]

Yep that works, and I guess Cmd Delmonte also said it and I was wrong. I'm sure I've tried it before but anyway, thanks for that!

 

[FrogsFriend]

I think the lack of a Safe-Drop notification only occurs when the ship you had targeted drops and leaves you targeted on its wake. If you press the cycle-next-target key it should switch to a another ship and the Safe-Drop message pops up.

I could be wrong though

 

[drkaii]

I think the lack of a Safe-Drop notification only occurs when the ship you had targeted drops and leaves you targeted on its wake. If you press the cycle-next-target key it should switch to a another ship and the Safe-Drop message pops up.

I could be wrong though

Don't think so but I've been wrong in this thread already. But for this, I'm pretty sure it never works - in fact I started this thread because it happened today and I'm certain my target was still in SC

 

[SushiCW]

Cool, never thought of that! Would it work during interdiction? I guess once you are already being interdicted, it doesn't really matter.

It'll target the interdictor at that point... but that's actually useful because it means you can immediately see who/what is after you and whether you should fight the interdiction or submit.

 

[Kitfox]

Curious. I do get the Safe Drop indicator despite almost always having another ship targeted.

You do need to be slow enough for it to appear though - sub 1mm/s if I remember correctly. i.e. have your throttle somewhere about half to three-quarters and it'll auto down to that speed anyway.
It's easy to miss as the distance/speed panel that you would have on the left is replaced by the target ship's info.

 

[drkaii]

Curious. I do get the Safe Drop indicator despite almost always having another ship targeted.

You do need to be slow enough for it to appear though - sub 1mm/s if I remember correctly. i.e. have your throttle somewhere about half to three-quarters and it'll auto down to that speed anyway.
It's easy to miss as the distance/speed panel that you would have on the left is replaced by the target ship's info.

I know how to drop to a target, wouldn't have such an advanced question if that was my problem! But yes, if it happens for you then there must be a mechanic behind it. Thanks for all the replies though, really appreciate my new found way to play

 

[Kitfox]

I know how to drop to a target, wouldn't have such an advanced question if that was my problem! But yes, if it happens for you then there must be a mechanic behind it. Thanks for all the replies though, really appreciate my new found way to play

Fair do.
Like I said, a curious one. To refer to your point here...

But if you've selected a ship AND a station, when you get withing 1,000km of the station, you don't get any destination lock or "safe disengage".
[SOLVED]:

...A picture is worth many words



See I have Solo Orbi' and the Cobra selected. I'm within 1000km of Solo and low speed. The 'Safe Disengage Ready' has popped up and when triggered, I'll drop at the station.
At a loss to explain why that doesn't happen for you, but then a lot of stuff doesn't work as expected sometimes with this game.