There's your problem, right there.

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
I've been exploring around the core area and Colonia. Was out for a couple of months in my Asp, the Are We There Yet? and one thing was becoming apparent: I suck at landings.

After one such botched attempt left me with 35% hull I decided to investigate a little deeper (because surely I shouldn't be this bad), and found that upon leaving the bubble I'd forgotten to upgrade my thrusters.

I was still on 5E thrusters.

Which explains a few things.

So I'm on my way back to the bubble. Suspect I'll around there for a bit, then head back out into the black.

Ho hum, live and learn.
 

CMDR Pugwash

CMDR Pugwash
Major Klutz said:
Thusters give you more speed or better acceleration in space, but really don't make much difference on landings.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/218171-Thrusters-Acceleration-and-High-G-Planets
They might give you a bit more reaction time on planets under 0.3-0.5G but over that all thrusters are the same.

Landing with 4D thrusters on 9.7G https://youtu.be/0nErX1tFyC4
Click to expand...

So it begs the question, what's the point of fitting anything but D rated thrusters?
 
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marx

marx
CMDR Pugwash said:
So it begs the question, what's the point of fitting anything but D rated thrusters?
Click to expand...
Depends on the ship. On an Asp or an Anaconda? Not much. On a Courier? The point is even better forward speed, for planetary exploration or easy escapes from interdictions.
This is just for exploration, of course. For combat, you want your turning speeds as high as possible.
 

Major Klutz

Major Klutz
To put it in simpler terms ...
In space, better thrusters will give you better acceleration. Both main engines and RCS.

But, gravitational acceleration can and does overpower even the highest rated thrusters.
When that happens, the game cheats and overcharges the main engines and the ventral (vertical) thrusters to always give you a minimum limit of 5m/s acceleration no matter what.
Otherwise you would not be able to take off from high G planets with any ship or thrusters.

So, over ~0.5G, 5A thrusters will give you 5m/s over gravity but so will 4E thrusters.
Lateral, bow and dorsal thrusters are not overcharged, so there is no minimum thrust and over ~0.3G they will not hold you up. That's why when you nose down or bank steep, you will drop quickly.

Also, (if I understand correctly) this overcharge of the thrusters only happens with flight assist on. With FA off, you lose that minimum thrust and gravity takes over.
 
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disorganise

disorganise
Major Klutz said:
To put it in simpler terms ...
In space, better thrusters will give you better acceleration. Both main engines and RCS.

But, gravitational acceleration can and does overpower even the highest rated thrusters.
When that happens, the game cheats and overcharges the main engines and the ventral (vertical) thrusters to always give you a minimum limit of 5m/s acceleration no matter what.
Otherwise you would not be able to take off from high G planets with any ship or thrusters.

So, over ~0.5G, 5A thrusters will give you 5m/s over gravity but so will 4E thrusters.
Lateral, bow and dorsal thrusters are not overcharged, so there is no minimum thrust and over ~0.3G they will not hold you up. That's why when you nose down or bank steep, you will drop quickly.

Also, (if I understand correctly) this overcharge of the thrusters only happens with flight assist on. With FA off, you lose that minimum thrust and gravity takes over.
Click to expand...

Great explanation. I've seen it thrown about that you anything more that D-rated is a waste for exploration, but never saw a good (simple) explanation until now. I didn't like the (even more) sluggish feel of a T6 with D thrusters at the time I read something about this and went back to A....and stuck with A on the Asp as a result not remembering the arguments :)
 

MattG

MattG
Wait, so any benefit I feel with 5A thrusters over 4D in my Asp over planetary surface is in my head?
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
MattG said:
Wait, so any benefit I feel with 5A thrusters over 4D in my Asp over planetary surface is in my head?
Click to expand...
Not at all - you'll fly faster, turn faster, and have slightly better performance against gravity using thrusters other than main or bottom - it just won't directly keep you off the ground except for allowing you to turn to a favourable thruster a bit quicker.
 

Major Klutz

Major Klutz
MattG said:
Wait, so any benefit I feel with 5A thrusters over 4D in my Asp over planetary surface is in my head?
Click to expand...
Depends on the gravity. On low gravity plants (<0.3g) 5A thrusters will still have an advantage over 4E and your lateral and bow thrusters can still accelerate upward.
My point was simply that you don't need better thrusters to land safely. You'll always have 5m/s over gravity no matter what.
Take a closer look at this old (but still relevant) thread for more details. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/218171-Thrusters-Acceleration-and-High-G-Planets
 
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Duckfat

Duckfat
Not sure about other people, but I can attribute 90% of my own bad landings to impatience. The other 10% is either distraction or alcohol related.
 

NW3

NW3
Using a HOTA setup with an analog control for vertical thrusters is supposed to make landing on high gravity worlds a lot smoother/easier. I don't have a spare analog control (only digital), so unfortunately, I haven't been able to test this.
 

Qohen Leth

Qohen Leth
And yet I landed my Beluga on 9.77G shields off/no boost with my KEYBOARD.

So just have some common sense and you'll land you Asp anywhere.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Thanks folks. So, bottom line is that 5E are fine so far as landings are concerned, it's just boosting away from bad guys where they may be a bit wimpy?
 

SMcA

SMcA
NW3 said:
Using a HOTA setup with an analog control for vertical thrusters is supposed to make landing on high gravity worlds a lot smoother/easier. I don't have a spare analog control (only digital), so unfortunately, I haven't been able to test this.
Click to expand...

You are right it does make it smoother and you can set it to descend at a slow rate and just leave it.
 
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