Basic flight - Revision history

Nozmajner: /* Autopilot */ adding image of the rmb radial menu, and updating the text about it

2021-06-01T12:06:50Z

‎Autopilot: adding image of the rmb radial menu, and updating the text about it

Nozmajner: /* Prograde marker */

2020-05-29T08:26:00Z

‎Prograde marker

Nozmajner: /* Set Speed mode */ updating the keys

2020-05-29T08:21:15Z

‎Set Speed mode: updating the keys

Nozmajner: /* Lateral movement */ Updating the directional keys

2020-05-29T08:20:43Z

‎Lateral movement: Updating the directional keys

Nozmajner: /* Rotation controls */ Updating the rotation keys

2020-05-29T08:18:43Z

‎Rotation controls: Updating the rotation keys

Copenhagen Bram: right click on the mouse no longer functions like a joystick, more like a mouse cursor or mouselook in gzdoom

2019-03-01T01:14:01Z

right click on the mouse no longer functions like a joystick, more like a mouse cursor or mouselook in gzdoom

Copenhagen Bram: Edited the 'If you overshoot, then press '''[Enter]''' to increase it to zero.' part at the 'Undocking and first steps' paragraph to reflect that the speed automatically stops at 0, preventing you from overshooting.

2019-03-01T01:04:46Z

Edited the 'If you overshoot, then press '''[Enter]''' to increase it to zero.' part at the 'Undocking and first steps' paragraph to reflect that the speed automatically stops at 0, preventing you from overshooting.

Nozmajner: changing the image

2017-08-14T08:42:08Z

changing the image

Nozmajner at 20:05, 16 October 2016

2016-10-16T20:05:43Z

Nozmajner at 20:02, 16 October 2016

2016-10-16T20:02:15Z

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 === Autopilot ===
-Before you do any flying around, it's useful to mention how the autopilot can be used, so if you drift away, you can get back to the station easily. You need to have an Autopilot equipment installed to be able to use it. The ship you get at any starting point already has it, but you need to install it yourself when you buy a new vessel. You can bring up the Autopilot interface with the Comms button or '''[F4]'''. If you have the station selected (Left Mouse left to it's label), you will have several options:
+For stations, you will have several options:
 *1: '''Request Docking clearance''': You need to request this if you want to land or dock to a spaceport or orbital station. It expires after about 5 minutes, so don't fool around too much.
 *2: '''Autopilot: Dock with the space station''': Instruct your autopilot to land/dock on the navigation target. It will approach it first if it's far away. It requests clearance automatically.
 *3: '''Autopilot: Fly to the vicinity of &lt;nav target&gt;''': Instructs the autopilot to fly close to the navigation target and stop. You can use this to get back if you fly too far.
 You can turn off the autopilot by switching flight mode. It switches to Set Speed mode on it's own if it finished it's task.

@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 ==Prograde marker==
-The prograde marker is a quite useful tool with some additional tricks to it. It shows the direction you are traveling, and if you have a navigation target, it will show which direction you are traveling to relative to it, not to mention your speed towards it. (Green marker)
+The prograde marker is a quite useful tool with some additional tricks to it. It shows the direction you are moving, and if you have a navigation target, it will show which direction you are traveling to relative to it, not to mention your speed towards it. (Green marker)
 One simple trick to it is that when you are accelerating, the Prograde marker will move towards your crosshair. Or you can imagine it like you are pulling it. Decelerating is the opposite, you push the marker away from the crosshair (or pulling it towards the other side, since you are practically accelerating to that direction). This little trick makes course fine-tuning a bit easier.

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 Before doing anything, let's turn away from the station, but keep it on either side of the view, so you can more easily feel our speed while you are flying around.
-In Set speed mode you can increase the desired speed with '''[Enter]''' and decrease it with '''[Right Shift]'''. It will stop changing the value when you reach zero, and you need to press and hold it again to set it past zero. Do not increase it above 150m/s now, so we don't get too far from the station (which can cause a certain problem we will talk about soon). You can go backwards if you set it to a negative value. The speed is always relative to your reference object, which should be the station right now. The reference object is always displayed above the scanner, next to the speed display.
+In Set speed mode you can increase the desired speed with '''[Enter/T]''' and decrease it with '''[Right Shift/G]'''. It will stop changing the value when you reach zero, and you need to press and hold it again to set it past zero. Do not increase it above 150m/s now, so we don't get too far from the station (which can cause a certain problem we will talk about soon). You can go backwards if you set it to a negative value. The speed is always relative to your reference object, which should be the station right now. The reference object is always displayed above the scanner, next to the speed display.
 You will notice that as soon as you start your engines, a rhombus (or diamond) icon appears, and it chases the crosshair if you turn your ship. It shows the direction you are moving, and it's called the Prograde marker. If you have a navigation target selected, it will become green and also shows your speed relative to it. And if you are not in the Reference frame of the target, the green one might not align with the white Prograde marker, but I will elaborate on that later.

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 There are thrusters on your ship for each direction:
-*'''[I]''','''[K]''' for forward and backward
+*'''[W]''','''[S]''' for forward and backward
-*'''[J]''','''[L]''' for horizontal movement
+*'''[A]''','''[D]''' for horizontal movement
-*'''[U]''','''[O]''' for vertical.
+*'''[R]''','''[F]''' for vertical.
 Try out each of them while facing towards the station, so you can see your movement. Finish your flight around the station if you haven't already.

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 *You can rotate your ship using
-**'''[A]''' and '''[D]''' keys for yaw (horizontal rotation)
+**'''[J]''' and '''[L]''' keys for yaw (horizontal rotation)
-**'''[W]''' and '''[S]''' for pitch (vertical)
+**'''[I]''' and '''[K]''' for pitch (vertical)
-**'''[Q]''' and '''[E]''' for roll (longitudinal or bank).
+**'''[Q/U]''' and '''[E/P]''' for roll (longitudinal or bank).
 **'''[R]''' toggles rotation damping. If it's off, then the ship won't stop rotating automatically, and you have to counter the rotation by hand.
 *You can also point your ship using the mouse, by holding down the '''[Right Mouse Button]''' which will then allow you to move the direction of your vessel as easily as you would look around in a first person shooter, via a round, yellow cursor made up of two circles that moves as your mouse moves and tells your ship which way to point.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Undocking and first steps ==
-[[File:01 parts.png|right|600px|Tutorial basic view 01.png]] We could go trough the controls and HUD of the spacecraft first, but let's just make things more interesting by going head first and undock. You can do that by pressing '''[F5]''' on your keyboard, or the first button on the bottom right of the control panel (which cycles flight mode during flight). You have to wait for a few seconds, and your ship will leave the station automatically. The ship will start to thrust away from the station, but we don't want to get too far from it for now, so let's stop. Press '''[F5]''' until it says Set speed on the bottom right, then hold '''[Right Shift]''' or '''[g]''' until the counter reaches 0. Note that if you release and hold again '''[Right Shift]''' at this point, you will set a speed in reverse. (and then you can bring the speed back to 0 by holding '''[Enter]''' or '''[t]'''. Retract your landing gear with '''[F6]'''
+[[File:01 parts.png|right|600px|Tutorial basic view 01.png]] We could go trough the controls and HUD of the spacecraft first, but let's just make things more interesting by going head first and undock. You can do that by pressing '''[F5]''' on your keyboard, or the first button on the bottom right of the control panel (which cycles flight mode during flight). You have to wait for a few seconds, and your ship will leave the station automatically. The ship will start to thrust away from the station, but we don't want to get too far from it for now, so let's stop. Press '''[F5]''' until it says Set speed on the bottom right, then hold '''[Right Shift]''' or '''[g]''' until the counter reaches 0. Note that if you release and hold again '''[Right Shift]''' at this point, you will set a speed in reverse. (and then you can bring the speed back to 0 by holding '''[Enter]''' or '''[t]'''.
 This ''Set Speed'' mode tries to maintain the given speed in the direction you are facing, which can be quite helpful if you are used to flying in the atmosphere. We set it to 0, to stop the ship relative to the station.
@@ Line 29: / Line 30: @@
 **'''[Q]''' and '''[E]''' for roll (longitudinal or bank).
 **'''[R]''' toggles rotation damping. If it's off, then the ship won't stop rotating automatically, and you have to counter the rotation by hand.
-*You can also use your mouse as a joystick, by holding down the '''[Right Mouse Button]''' and moving your mouse. Note that as soon as you stop moving the mouse, the flight control system will try to stop rotation on that point.
+*You can also point your ship using the mouse, by holding down the '''[Right Mouse Button]''' which will then allow you to move the direction of your vessel as easily as you would look around in a first person shooter, via a round, yellow cursor made up of two circles that moves as your mouse moves and tells your ship which way to point.
 Try facing the space station, and then try to find and face Barnard's star and another station called High Security Prison Serenity. If you don't see any labels, you might pressed '''[TAB]''' accidentally. You cycle trough different display modes with it, so pressing it again first hides the dashboard, then brings it and the labels back. You can set any labeled object as Navigation target by clicking on it with your '''[Left Mouse Button]'''. Clicking on it again will de-select it.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 This tutorial assumes that you are using the [[Keyboard and mouse controls#In flight|default controls.]]
 ==Undocking and first steps==
-[[File:Tutorial_basic_view_01.png|right|600px]]
+== Undocking and first steps ==
 We could go trough the controls and HUD of the spacecraft first, but let's just make things more interesting by going head first and undock. You can do that by pressing '''[F5]''' on your keyboard, or the first button on the bottom right of the control panel (which cycles flight mode during flight). You have to wait for a few seconds, and your ship will leave the station automatically.
-The ship will start to thrust away from the station, but we don't want to get too far from it for now, so let's stop. Press '''[F5]''' until it says Set speed on the bottom right, then hold '''[Right Shift]''' until the counter reaches 0. If you overshoot, then press '''[Enter]''' to increase it to zero.
+[[File:01 parts.png|right|600px|Tutorial basic view 01.png]] We could go trough the controls and HUD of the spacecraft first, but let's just make things more interesting by going head first and undock. You can do that by pressing '''[F5]''' on your keyboard, or the first button on the bottom right of the control panel (which cycles flight mode during flight). You have to wait for a few seconds, and your ship will leave the station automatically. The ship will start to thrust away from the station, but we don't want to get too far from it for now, so let's stop. Press '''[F5]''' until it says Set speed on the bottom right, then hold '''[Right Shift]''' until the counter reaches 0. If you overshoot, then press '''[Enter]''' to increase it to zero.
 Retract your landing gear with '''[F6]'''

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 Let's see them in action! Press '''[F1]''' to switch to external view, and try to rotate the ship. You will see the maneuvering thrusters firing when you alter your course. You will notice that your main engines stop firing when you reach the speed you set, but they come alive for a while again if you turn a bit. That's right, you don't need to constantly apply thrust in the vacuum of space to maintain any given speed, since there's no medium to slow the ship down.
-===Lateral movement===
+=== Lateral movement ===
-[[File:Tutorial_basic_translate_03.png|600px|right]]
-Those maneuvering thrusters can be used for lateral movement too (or translation control if you like), which is quite useful for precise course corrections or even combat. Go back to internal view with '''[F1]''' and get back to about 2-3 km close to the station and stop.
+[[File:Tutorial basic translate 03.png|right|600px|Tutorial basic translate 03.png]] Those maneuvering thrusters can be used for lateral movement too (or translation control if you like), which is quite useful for precise course corrections or even combat. Go back to internal view with '''[F1]''' and get back to about 2-3 km close to the station and stop.
 *'''[I]''','''[K]''' for forward and backward
 *'''[J]''','''[L]''' for horizontal movement
 *'''[U]''','''[O]''' for vertical.
 Try out each of them while facing towards the station, so you can see your movement. Finish your flight around the station if you haven't already.
-These controls are overriding your Set Speed mode while you are holding them, so be careful, and again: don't hit the station. This overriding nature is especially dangerous close to the surface of a planet since it switches off the bottom thrusters, which are keeping you in the air)
+These controls are overriding your Set Speed mode while you are holding them, so be careful, and again: don't hit the station. '''This overriding nature is especially dangerous close to the surface of a planet since it switches off the bottom thrusters, which are keeping you in the air)'''
 ===Manual flight===

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 You can turn off the autopilot by switching flight mode. It switches to Set Speed mode on it's own if it finished it's task.
-===Set Speed mode===
+=== Set Speed mode ===
 You can cycle flight modes with '''[F5]'''. Choose '''Set Speed''' if you don't have that selected already.
-Set speed mode can be quite useful, since it's trying to maintain the speed you set in the direction the ship is facing, using the vessel's maneuvering thrusters. This is the closest you can get to the throttle control you can find in most flight and space games. Make sure you have the station targeted, so we always know, how far it is from us, and to which direction.
+You can cycle flight modes with '''[F5]'''. Choose '''Set Speed''' if you don't have that selected already. Set speed mode can be quite useful, since it's trying to maintain the speed you set in the direction the ship is facing, using the vessel's maneuvering thrusters. This is the closest you can get to the throttle control you can find in most flight and space games. Make sure you have the station targeted, so we always know, how far it is from us, and to which direction.
 Before doing anything, let's turn away from the station, but keep it on either side of the view, so you can more easily feel our speed while you are flying around.
-In Set speed mode you can increase the desired speed with '''[Enter]''' and decrease it with '''[Right Shift]'''. It will stop changing the value when you reach zero, and you need to press and hold it again to set it past zero. Do not increase it above 150m/s now, so we don't get too far from the station (which can cause a certain problem we will talk about soon). You can go backwards if you set it to a negative value.
+In Set speed mode you can increase the desired speed with '''[Enter]''' and decrease it with '''[Right Shift]'''. It will stop changing the value when you reach zero, and you need to press and hold it again to set it past zero. Do not increase it above 150m/s now, so we don't get too far from the station (which can cause a certain problem we will talk about soon). You can go backwards if you set it to a negative value. The speed is always relative to your reference object, which should be the station right now. The reference object is always displayed above the scanner, next to the speed display.
-You will notice that as soon as you start your engines, a rhobus icon appears, and it chases the crosshair if you turn your ship. It shows the direction you are moving, and it's called the Prograde marker. If you have a navigation target selected, it will become green and also shows your speed relative to it. And if you are not in the Reference frame of the target, the green one might not align with the white Prograde marker, but I will elaborate on that later.
+You will notice that as soon as you start your engines, a rhombus (or diamond) icon appears, and it chases the crosshair if you turn your ship. It shows the direction you are moving, and it's called the Prograde marker. If you have a navigation target selected, it will become green and also shows your speed relative to it. And if you are not in the Reference frame of the target, the green one might not align with the white Prograde marker, but I will elaborate on that later.
 Above 100 m/s, some lines will start to appear to visualize the direction and speed of the ship (if you have them enabled. See above). They are not space dust, but generated by the flight computer to help you orient your ship.