Command Explanations

[bridgeburner]

After searching for "vector lock" on the wiki and not finding it, just thought I'd suggest adding definitions for some of the more vague commands on the keymap. Most of them are self-explanatory, but stuff like "drop chaff" , or "autopilot" deserve better explanation, given the complicated nature of the game. I'd happily fill these in myself, but I don't actually know what any of them mean yet. heh.

[raumvogel]

Autopilot takes you to what ever is targeted. (p) key

I don't think I've ever used "drop chaf". As you go along you will find what you're personal priorities are.® ripcord is used a lot. I map my thrusters to my keyboard using Madpeoples keymap instructions. He has a web site and blog for this kind of stuff. Keep at the wiki and the web site and you will become a better pilot a lot faster. Keep asking questions, we like players that want to learn instead of just flying around or giving up too easily. Feel free to PM me if you wish and I can answer further questions, or post questions in the Gameplay forum.

Welcome to the game.

[HSharp]

QUOTE (raumvogel @ May 4 2011, 05:47 AM) Autopilot takes you to what ever is targeted. (p) key

I don't think I've ever used "drop chaf".

Autopilot does take you to whatever is targeted and if targeted at a friendly base it will automatically dock your ship (if base has entrance).

Chaff is countermeasures which raum if you don't drop will get you killed by missiles.

Vector lock literally means it will lock your vector, vector being the direction your ship is heading which you can see in game as those two grey brackets [ ] so you can aim your ship in any direction but as long as vector lock is on you will still be going the same direction you were when you started vector lock (although you can still use boosters and side thrusters to change vector though it will slow you down) it doesn't have too much use in the game though.

The problem is just translation though, some people don't know what vector is or don't know chaff means countermeasures (and vice versa), I mean I didn't know for a while that parentheses meant round brackets (for Americans) so was truly confused when playing an old Starcraft custom game which had stuff like cost of unit in parentheses, the only solution is to look it up in the dictionary (or translation dictionary if english not first language) to understand it as then the commands become pretty straightforward, otherwise would probably have to do wiki entry on all the commands as I am sure they can be misunderstood in some way.

[bridgeburner]

Thanks for the info guys.

So HSharp, would using vector lock mean you could set your direction of flight, then turn to fire behind you without effecting your momentum?

[Andon]

In theory, sure. In practice, no. Each ship has side and rear thrusters - Which will slow you down to their maximum speed in that direction.

Example: You're in a ship with a max speed of 100 mps with rear thrusters of half your main thrusters. You travel at 100 mps and engage vector lock and turn around. Your speed will now drop until you're at 50.

[bridgeburner]

Ah, I see. So vector lock will just use whatever thrusters are available to keep you going in that direction, though they might be less powerful. Gotcha.