Questions about the hud

[archie456]

Hi,

I have a few questions about things in the HUD which I'd like to know what they do.

They are:

1. Underneath the scanner in the middle there is a yellow block - whats this - it disappears when you do a hyperspace jump and come back when you reenter normal space.

2. The fat bar to the right of the scanner is your speed - whats the thin bar to the right of that?

3. Whats the thin bar to the left of your speed? I guess its something to do with hyperspace as it only fills up when you hyperspace jump.

4. Between the fat bar which is your fuel and the words 'FUEL 1.44/h' there is a thin bar which seems to decrease as time goes on - whats this?

I'd really appreciate the answers to this as I've been scratching my head for sometime...!

Cheers.

 

[Chazzie]

hello!

1. scanner range marker
2. Turn speed - keep it in the blue for best turn speed
3. your heat signature - (how easy you appear to other players)
4. you current reserve fuel which powers your ships systems - thin bar refills from main tank when empty, both bars empty = dead,

 

[archie456]

I thought some of those items we other items!

See the attached pic, so I can make sure we're talking about the same things.

1. scanner range marker

The block is circled, it never seems to move for me, how does it show the scanner range? If I get a better scanner does it do something?

2. Turn speed - keep it in the blue for best turn speed

Isn't this the purple thing in the image to the left of the speed bar, I'm referring to the thing on the right.

3. your heat signature - (how easy you appear to other players)

Its not shown on the attached image so I've dashed it in - if this is how other players can see me why does it only appear when I hyperspace jump?

4. you current reserve fuel which powers your ships systems - both bars empty = dead.

I see, does not the reserve drain after the main fuel tank? They both seem to go down together...?


Also, one other question I forgot - Why do I keep being told to slow down - it seems to say this when there is no reason at all to slow down??

Thanks.

 

[Thetele]

http://hosting.zaonce.net/elite/website/assets/ELITE-DANGEROUS-GAME-MANUAL.pdf manual page 10->

1 is your scanner range or more like zoom. page up and page down keys are default keys to change it. Go to RES and play with it to see difference. I believe scanner setting scanner logarithm or linear change how this works.

2. From manual. This graphic displays a number of details about your ship’s speed. The large segmented bardisplays your current speed.Directly to the right is your throttle
bar. The pin on this bar represents your current throttlesetting, and the size of the bar represents your throttle range, based on the number of “pips”allotted to the ENG capacitor, the size of your ship and the power of your engines.To the right of the speed bar is a “sweet spot” indicator shown in blue. When your ship’s speedis within this range it will have the best manoeuvrability and smallest turning circle

3.

4.The ------ is your total fuel in ships - is one ton. Note that ships with bigger fuel tanks the indicator for fuel in tank looks a little bit different.
________ kind of bar is the one ton of fuel that ship has reserved to use and is using in sc or normal flying. when doing jump to other system it will just take fuel from main tank. That fill up from main tank when its empty if main fuel tank has fuel.

But you should look at manual.

 

[Bacalao]

1. Underneath the scanner in the middle there is a yellow block - whats this - it disappears when you do a hyperspace jump and come back when you reenter normal space.

It indicates scanner range (left is smaller-or zoomed in, right is bigger-or zoomed out) it only affects the range of your scanner in normal space, page up and page down will change it, you can switch it between linear and logarithmic scale in the farthest right hand tab of the right hand panel (bound to the "4" key by default). It will be most apparent if you go to a res, sit in the asteroid ring and play with it.

2. The fat bar to the right of the scanner is your speed - whats the thin bar to the right of that?

That is your maximum throttle, it has to do with pips in normal space flight, the more pips to engines the bigger that bar gets, the higher your maximum cruising speed. Pips do nothing in supercruise so it is irrelevant there.

3. Whats the thin bar to the left of your speed? I guess its something to do with hyperspace as it only fills up when you hyperspace jump.

The thin bar to the left (blue and only a small portion) in normal and supercruise shows where you have the most maneuverability, it maxes out in hyperspace along with the other two bars because you're in hyperspace, everything is maxed, it's best not to pay attention to the instruments in hyperspace, they do odd things.

4. Between the fat bar which is your fuel and the words 'FUEL 1.44/h' there is a thin bar which seems to decrease as time goes on - whats this?

That is the fuel you are burning in supercruise/normal flight, when it empties it pulls from the main tank (big bar) but tends to do so slowly so you rarely notice it. Hyperspace jumps pull directly from the main tank. If you shut down lots of your modules in the right hand panel you'll notice that your 1.44/h decreases as you're consuming less fuel to power less things.

 

[Sapyx]

Fuel consumption: the reserve tank (thin bar) is consumed constantly when you're not docked; the consumption rate is what the "1.44/h" means: your ship is currently burning through 1.44 tonnes of hydrogen per hour. The reserve tank only holds 1 tonne of fuel; when it empties, it automatically refills itself with 1 tonne of fuel from your main tank, if you have it.

The consumption rate is really only important for ships with small fuel tanks, or if you're planning to spend a long time out in the black far from fuel sources - if you're flying to Hutton Orbital, for instance: it's a 1½ hour long supercruise; at 1.44 tonnes/hr, you'll need at least three tonnes total fuel in the tank before you set out.

 

[archie456]

Thanks for that.

What about my further question: Why does ED keep telling me to slow down - When I can see no reason to do so...

It even tells me to slow down when I'm a long way from my destination.

Cheers.

 

[drholliday]

http://hosting.zaonce.net/elite/website/assets/ELITE-DANGEROUS-GAME-MANUAL.pdf

page 10 and following.

 

[Sapyx]

It isn't actually asking or telling you to "slow down". It's telling you that it is slowing down, because it is passing closer to a massive object than the current speed can allow.

The Frame Shift Drive reacts differently to gravity than a "normal" spaceship flying in Newtonain space. A normal spaceship flying towards a planet will speed up as the gravity accelerates it. A Supercruising ship will actually slow down, as the gravitational spacetime compression interferes with perfect operation of the frame shift. This means that the closer you get to a massive object, the slower you are forced to go. But this involuntary slowing down is not instantaneous, the Frame Shift effect carries a kind of "inertia" allowing you to (temporarily) travel faster than the local "speed limit" while your ship is slowing down. The "Slow Down" message is telling you that this is happening.

Getting the "slow down" message when you're far from your destination means you're passing too close to another massive object - a planet, star or moon. Asteroid belts also count as "mass", even though you can't actually see them, and can cause the "slow down" message to appear when there isn't any other visible object nearby.

It is often worthwhile to plot a course that isn't a direct line to your destination, in order to avoid gravitational slowdowns enroute.

 

[archie456]

It isn't actually asking or telling you to "slow down". It's telling you that it is slowing down, because it is passing closer to a massive object than the current speed can allow.

I see, that makes sense - thanks for that.

But shouldn't the message say 'Slowing Down' or something similar - a red message that pops up in front of me saying 'SLOW DOWN' seems like its telling me to slow down...

 

[Clicker]

Getting the "slow down" message when you're far from your destination means you're passing too close to another massive object - a planet, star or moon. Asteroid belts also count as "mass", even though you can't actually see them, and can cause the "slow down" message to appear when there isn't any other visible object nearby.

Correct.

Plus...FD and David Braben are quoted as saying there are asteroids and comets in game but they haven't been able to do the graphics of those justice just yet, so you can't see them (ie they're not being rendered in game yet)...but they are there.

The "slow down" warning is appropriate as if you get too close to the object you can crash drop out of super cruise which can cause damage if you're going too fast (sic)!

Clicker