Newcomer / Intro Supercruise, unexplainable speedup, what just happened?

[travisdh1]

I don't know if this has been discussed or not (sorry, but this is faster for me than spending 2 hours looking through search results). Last night while I was purposely manually piloting in supercruise. Getting close to my destination I lined back up to my destination using the 8-ball, and started slowing down...... only to have the speed indicator go to full throttle and blow by my destination by 20LS.

Is there a reason for this, or was it just horrible driving on my part?

 

[flAzer]

going on a limb here but fairly sure: GRAVITY.

 

[travisdh1]

going on a limb here but fairly sure: GRAVITY.

If that was the case AWESOMESAUCE. I was headed for a navigation relay near a star, makes sense.

 

[Faded Glory]

If you don't slow down soon / fast enough, for whatever reason the ship accelerates and you overshoot your target. Generally if the time to destination readout goes below 0.06 you are going too fast.

 

[travisdh1]

If you don't slow down soon / fast enough, for whatever reason the ship accelerates and you overshoot your target. Generally if the time to destination readout goes below 0.06 you are going too fast.

So we've got the classic "Lawn Dart" situation like the F-14's fly by wire system before they got the kinks worked out? If this really happens every time and not just around large, heavy gravity objects that's not so good. If you're telling the computer to slow down... well, you generally really want to slow down and not have the computer act like you just went to full afterburner!

 

[flAzer]

That's kinda why it feels like Gravity since stations have mass (i.e. Mass Lock).. but again, just going even further out on a limb here

 

[Iskariot]

The celestial bodies have gravity wells that influence your speed.
I very often use gravity wells for breaking when I approach a station.
When you leave a gravity well your speed will quite suddenly increase.

 

[travisdh1]

The celestial bodies have gravity wells that influence your speed.
I very often use gravity wells for breaking when I approach a station.

I wish I were that confident in my flying ability! I always seem to get too close and drop out of supercruise.

 

[Sapient6]

I don't know if this has been discussed or not (sorry, but this is faster for me than spending 2 hours looking through search results). Last night while I was purposely manually piloting in supercruise. Getting close to my destination I lined back up to my destination using the 8-ball, and started slowing down...... only to have the speed indicator go to full throttle and blow by my destination by 20LS.

Is there a reason for this, or was it just horrible driving on my part?

Watch more closely: you aren't speeding up.

As you approach your destination (and to a somewhat lesser extent: gravity wells that are not your destination) both your maximum SC speed and the rate at which you can decelerate decrease. When you are very close to your destination the combination of those effects results in your engines racing and your speed indicator (which in SC is expressed in relation to your maximum speed) shoots upwards, but your actual speed is decreasing (expressed in km\s).

 

[Shuruga]

I agree that this is likely gravity related. I tend to try to approach stations from the "pole" of a planet and not to "swing by" close to the planet if I can avoid it. From the top, try to shoot for a spot a little inside the ring where the station is orbiting and pull up towards the station when you are approaching the plane of the ring. Then you are also more likely to approach from the letterbox side.
Another good rule of thumb is, since the speed scale is logarithmic, I accelerate towards the station at full throttle until the distance is reduced to 10 times my current speed by numbers (e.g. distance 200 Ls - speed 20c, 20 Ls - 2c). As soon as I hit that magic speed ratio, I throttle down to about the second blue speed indicator from the bottom. Works like a charm. That way I will perfectly close in without overshooting at maximum possible speed and staying constant at that distance/speed ratio. Adjust speed as little as needed to stay at this ratio and you will be safe. If I did get impatient or didn't pay attention (i.e. overshoot) I fly a looping or an inverted "T" to decelerate more quickly.

 

[PiLhEaD]

going on a limb here but fairly sure: GRAVITY.

Yes, agreed, that's what it's supposed to mimic.

Alas, I get the exact same effect approaching a 'weak signal source' - aka a solo ship - in deepish space, so be warned.

 

[Iskariot]

I wish I were that confident in my flying ability! I always seem to get too close and drop out of supercruise.

You need to get quite close to be pulled out of supercruise.
I assure you that you will get a feel for it. Just play around with it.
This is great stuff to master. I hope FD will eventually build more stuff like this into flying in supercruise.

 

[who?]

Watch more closely: you aren't speeding up.

As you approach your destination (and to a somewhat lesser extent: gravity wells that are not your destination) both your maximum SC speed and the rate at which you can decelerate decrease. When you are very close to your destination the combination of those effects results in your engines racing and your speed indicator (which in SC is expressed in relation to your maximum speed) shoots upwards, but your actual speed is decreasing (expressed in km\s).

Yeah, it sounds counter-intuitive when you're listening to your engines.. when you're slowing down but your engines sound like they're racing.

But you have no brakes in space nor air resistance to slow you. So if you want to slow down you need some form of reverse thrust, which I assume is what we hear when we're approaching a target at too high a velocity. Well, either that, or Frontier just decided an engine racing sound makes a great audio cue that you should slow down!

I'd love it if genuine slingshots were possible to boost beyond the supercruise limit (or even just accelerate faster to it), doing it effectively and safely would be a skill in its own right.

 

[Sapient6]

I'd love it if genuine slingshots were possible to boost beyond the supercruise limit (or even just accelerate faster to it), doing it effectively and safely would be a skill in its own right.

That would require gravity be added to the game. On the one hand I WANT THAT. On the other, maybe I'd prefer if it were added after my visit to Sag A is complete...

 

[Hellhawk666]

...
Is there a reason for this, or was it just horrible driving on my part?

Horrible driving

Nah, just joking (sort of). It's one of the most common things in the game to overshoot a target in supercruise. Exactly when you need to start throttling back is dependent on your velocity at any given time (unsurprisingly).

For the most part when travelling around systems where the planets are less than 20k LS apart you won't achieve really high speeds, so you are usually OK to travel at maximum thrust until you get to within about 600-800ls. At that point pull back on the throttle to bring the velocity indicator down a couple of bars into the "blue safety zone". As your distance decreases, keep slowing down slightly until your speed is just under the mid point of the blue zone by the time your distance is around 100LS.

You might see the velocity indicator spike occasionally, but it will return to the safety zone quickly. Think of the throttle as being like a governor on your speed. At just under 50% in the blue zone your FA will adjust speed to keep you automatically decelerating at the right amount for a safe entry and you will never go into overshoot.

If you are going too fast and the throttle is not "governing" your speed, the periodic velocity spikes cannot be contained and you'll get into a runaway feedback loop, which makes your speed become uncontrolled and you'll overshoot.

TIP: If you go into overshoot speed and can't slow down, dip your nose until the target appears as an empty circle in the nav compass. Your speed will instantly drop very fast back to a managable level. Raise the nose again and continue on at safe speed.

Alternatively, intentionally overshoot the target and again your speed will immediately drop. Execute a 180 turn and approach as normal. Some pilots do this as a routine approach to stations so they end up facing the entry slot.

The one thing I wish we could do is slingshot around gravity wells to increase velocity for a long-haul trip. Climbing out of a gravity well up to super-light speed can be really tedious sometimes.

 

[travisdh1]

You need to get quite close to be pulled out of supercruise.

I've actually noticed this. I'm currently hanging out in a binary system in solo where the nav beacon is right beside a white dwarf (like so close you get the overheating warning when you enter supercruise to a dock.) If I forget to pull the 8ball off a bit while heading in it'll pull me out every time, and then I get the whole engine racing/speed indicator shooting up deal. I didn't have that happen to me last night, so I'm not sure what the actual speed readout is when that happens yet or try the "fix it" maneuver yet. I really like fighting in the area, the really bright light about as close as you can get and still not worry to much about running into it is kinda nice.

 

[who?]

That would require gravity be added to the game. On the one hand I WANT THAT. On the other, maybe I'd prefer if it were added after my visit to Sag A is complete...

Hah, I hear ya.

It would be very cool though... Pirates are on your tail, just about to interdict you and you're losing the battle to shake them. Then you spot a nearby planet, this is your only hope.. Disengage safeties, floor the throttle and head right for the planet. Proximity and Impact warnings sounding like crazy, but now there's no automatic override. At the last second, pull away for a near miss, but the planet's gravity has you and starts swinging you.. speed is building, every bolt and weld and seam in the ship is stretching and groaning, but you come around the other side of the planet at 1,000c leaving those pirates in your wake.

... though I too would like to earn a bit of a nest-egg before I start ploughing head-first into planets

 

[travisdh1]

Hah, I hear ya.

It would be very cool though... Pirates are on your tail, just about to interdict you and you're losing the battle to shake them. Then you spot a nearby planet, this is your only hope.. Disengage safeties, floor the throttle and head right for the planet. Proximity and Impact warnings sounding like crazy, but now there's no automatic override. At the last second, pull away for a near miss, but the planet's gravity has you and starts swinging you.. speed is building, every bolt and weld and seam in the ship is stretching and groaning, but you come around the other side of the planet at 1,000c leaving those pirates in your wake.

... though I too would like to earn a bit of a nest-egg before I start ploughing head-first into planets

That sounds like SO much fun, assuming you have enough in the bank to cover insurance. I know my first few times trying I'd be a pancake!