Flying with flight assist off is a lot of fun and makes the game feel much more realistic, I feel like I'm actually piloting a ship in space. However i'm always very aware that something is missing. A velocity vector heading in my HUD. For those of you that don't know what that is or are unsure, here's a picture: http://puu.sh/dFtzc/db8aec73ef.jpg
The yellow arrow points to where the plane's nose is pointing
The red arrow points to the Velocity Vector (the plane's true heading)
For the majority of the time, the ship's nose is not pointing in the direction of travel. There's a lot of strafing and sliding all over the place, even during docking. It can be very disorientating at times and I normally end up having to quickly switch the flight assist on just for a second to cancel out all relative velocity so so I can regain control. However if there was a velocity vector heading on my HUD, I will always know my direction of travel and will quickly be able to counter thrust in the appropriate directions to adjust my course as need be.
In my mind, this is how I see this tool being useful: Imagine you are floating in the station and you plan to land on a docking pad in front of you, It's slightly downwards at an angle. You thrust forwards and your velocity vector heading shows you are travelling straight forwards to where your nose is pointing - all good. When there is no longer an obstacle blocking your path to the pad such as control towers or scaffolding etc, you tap the downwards thrusters to drop that velocity vector straight on top of the pad on the ground below.
This is possible to do now without the velocity heading, however the only way to know your relative heading is to observe the "space dust" and/or static structures such as stations or asteroids around you. To me, this seems a little unrealistic given the technological advances that have been made since today. A full head's up display (HUD) is not necessary at all, but the simple things like a velocity vector for example would make a world of difference to those who often disable flight assist.
If this idea isn't received well by some people, then perhaps make it so the option may be toggled on or off.
I hope i've explained my idea clearly, thanks for reading.
The yellow arrow points to where the plane's nose is pointing
The red arrow points to the Velocity Vector (the plane's true heading)
For the majority of the time, the ship's nose is not pointing in the direction of travel. There's a lot of strafing and sliding all over the place, even during docking. It can be very disorientating at times and I normally end up having to quickly switch the flight assist on just for a second to cancel out all relative velocity so so I can regain control. However if there was a velocity vector heading on my HUD, I will always know my direction of travel and will quickly be able to counter thrust in the appropriate directions to adjust my course as need be.
In my mind, this is how I see this tool being useful: Imagine you are floating in the station and you plan to land on a docking pad in front of you, It's slightly downwards at an angle. You thrust forwards and your velocity vector heading shows you are travelling straight forwards to where your nose is pointing - all good. When there is no longer an obstacle blocking your path to the pad such as control towers or scaffolding etc, you tap the downwards thrusters to drop that velocity vector straight on top of the pad on the ground below.
This is possible to do now without the velocity heading, however the only way to know your relative heading is to observe the "space dust" and/or static structures such as stations or asteroids around you. To me, this seems a little unrealistic given the technological advances that have been made since today. A full head's up display (HUD) is not necessary at all, but the simple things like a velocity vector for example would make a world of difference to those who often disable flight assist.
If this idea isn't received well by some people, then perhaps make it so the option may be toggled on or off.
I hope i've explained my idea clearly, thanks for reading.
