Cadet II/Ship control
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Steering your ship using Alleg physics
One of Allegiance's charms is its semi-realistic physics engine. It is not truly Newtonian space physics but is "Newtonian enough" to capture some of the essence of flying in space. This lesson is intended to clear up misconceptions, and recommend some strategies for proper steering in Allegiance.
Basic concepts
Drag
In "True Newtonian" physics any space object subject to a brief acceleration will speed up then drift forever at that top speed. An object subject to a constant acceleration will constantly speed up and never reach a top speed (until you get close to light speed and start having to mess around with "Relativistic" physics).
To change direction an object must first "bleed off" all the speed it has gained in its original direction. For instance if it wants to do a U-turn it must first accelerate in the opposite direction until it stops, then it further acceleration will get it moving the other way. If it wants to do a right-hand turn then it must not only accelerate to the right, it must also accelerate backwards to get rid of its forward movement - if it just accelerated to the right it would end up moving at a 45 degree angle because the rightwards movement and the forward movement would combine.
Allegiance physics functions pretty much the same, except that Allegiance space has an incredible amount of space debris that acts as "drag" on your ship (you can turn on Debris under the graphics options). This drag means that your ships require constant acceleration to keep moving, if you turn your engines off then your ship will drift to a stop. You also have a top speed when the drag against the front of your ship equals the propulsion from your engine.
Tip: One of the best analogies for how Allegiance ships work is that they are all flying underwater.
Throttles vs thrusters
Your throttle only controls your main engine at the rear of the ship, and it is nearly always more powerful than your side-thrusters. The throttle controls how much of your engine power is going to the main engine when the side-thrusters are not being used, and it's effectively a 'cruise control'. At 50% throttle you will accelerate forwards at half the rate you normally do and reach a top speed half of your normal top speed.
You also have side-thrusters that allow you to travel left, right, up, down, forwards and backwards. If you press down on a side-thrust key then all of your engine power is diverted into this direction - however it is a lot more inefficient. Depending on your ship and your faction then these side-thrusters can range from 25% to 100% as powerful as the main engine.
If you press down on two side-thrust keys at the same time then 50% of your engine power is diverted into each direction.
Overuse your side-thrusters in an un-agile ship and the constant diversion of power from your main engine will slow you down and make you a sitting duck. Many veterans hold the forward side-thrust key at the same time they are using one of the others, so that 50% of engine power is diverted into the more powerful main engine at the rear of the ship.
Auto-engaging thrusters
In some situations your side-thrusters will engage to control your movement automatically. Unlike if you use the side-thrust key manually, when they are doing this they don't use 100% of the engine power if it's not required, which can mean you maintain a higher speed for longer.
One such situation is when you use vector lock. When you engage vector lock all your thrusters operate to maintain your current direction of motion despite the direction you are facing. If you face the same direction as your vector lock, then it will use 100% of your powerful rear thruster. If you face precisely sideways, it will use 100% your side thruster. If you face somewhere between these two extremes it will use some side-thrust power and some main engine power.
No matter how efficient vector lock is at splitting the power between thrusters the fact is that your side thrusters are weaker, and facing any direction except your vector lock then you will begin slowing down. Many veterans believe that the advantage of traveling in one direction while shooting in another is more than offset by the disadvantage of being a target that is moving in a straight line (easy to aim at) and being a target that is slowing down (easier to aim at).
Changing your throttle setting will also auto-engage thrusters - when you reduce throttle not only does your main engine cut power, but your rear thrusters will automatically engage to slow your ship at the maximum rate. Similarly, your rear thrusters will auto-engage whenever your current forward speed exceeds your throttle setting. This is why bombers with good acceleration (such as tf) are difficult to ram - they are very good at slowing down to their normal speed!
Turning and the G-indicator
A common operation that automatically engages thrusters is turning. Turning engages your side thrusters to cancel your old vector, while your main thruster begins propelling you in a new direction. As a result your speed drops (less forward thrust) and your ship carves out a little arc in space.
The G-indicator (also known as "momentum vector" and shown as 
on the screen) always indicates the direction your ship is currently "drifting". The location of the G-indicator can give you a clue as to how close you are to completing a turn, when it is centered the turn is finished, if it's a long way off the screen then most of your main engines thrust is working directly against your old vector!
Tip: Holding on forward thrust when you turn will override the side thrusters auto-engaging. This means you won't lose as much speed as you turn, although on the other hand your arc will be a lot wider. It can be useful if you're trying to loop around a sector while someone is chasing you.
Acceleration vs agility
Agility is a measure of how quickly your ship can change the direction it is facing. Acceleration is a measure of how quickly your ship can change the direction it is moving.
Ships with high acceleration can curve around in tight turns, and start/stop on a dime. It doesn't take long for their G-indicator to align with their nose of their ships. Interceptors are the best example of a ship with great acceleration, which is mostly due to their low mass as opposed to anything else. On the subject of mass, the more you carry the worst your acceleration gets - try packing your scout full of Large Shields then launching from base - it's an experience not to be missed!
Ships with high agility can whip around much faster than other ships, making it easier to keep the enemy in front of their crosshairs. However an unwary pilot can find that they have turned their ship too far away from their G-indicator and their side thrusters are now overworking, slowing themselves down.
For many ships, gentle turns allows the ship's acceleration to keep pace with its agility. A gentle turn will keep the G-indicator near the centre of the screen. With more drastic turns a ship's agility outpaces its acceleration, causing your ship to move in an arc while the thrusters work to change your direction.
Boosting
Your ship's booster (if it has one) simply provides additional forward thrust at the cost of fuel. It is a "strap on" component, rather than an integrated part of your ship's thrust system. You can not divert booster-generated thrust through a side thruster.
Note The retro-booster is an exception to this, it pushes thrust out of the rear thruster. In fact, you must hold on back-thrust (or have throttle set to zero) for the retro-booster to work at all.
Holding down the boost key will prevent your side-thrusters from automatically engaging, just like holding down forward thrust does - even if your current ship doesn't have a booster installed. Since your side-thrusters do not function while boosting if you wish to make a turn you must aim your ship much further into the turn to compensate. This is most commonly a problem when you are trying to intercept an enemy or race for an aleph while you're being shot at.
Tip: Imagine a boy racer drifting around a corner for an idea of how to aim your ship to make turns while boosting.
You can use this behavior to your advantage.
- Hold down the boost key just before you start to ripcord. Instead of spinning and slowing down, your ship will coast forward for most of the ripcord sequence.
- If you are out of fuel (or reloading fuel), you can hold down the boost key to replicate vector lock.
- As long as you're not boosting, you can throw yourself in one direction and use the boost key to "slide" in that direction while you turn your ship to engage an enemy. This isn't quite like vector lock (the drag in space will cause you to stop), but it is a quick/handy trick for those who master it.
Common flying problems
Over-steering
As we discussed, turning engages your side thrusters to cancel your previous direction of motion while your forward thruster propels you in a new direction. However sometimes you want to turn around quicker than this, for instance if you are trying to whip around a base to get in your green door.
You can do this by oversteering, which is turning farther than you intend to go. The more you oversteer, the more your main engine is pointing away from your old momentum vector and the quicker the engines can cancel it. Once your main engine has bled off most of your old momentum you can swing your nose back around to point in the direction you want to go (otherwise you really will oversteer!). You can tell when your old momentum has been bled off by keeping an eye on your g-indicator, when the g-indicator is pointing in the direction you want to go simply swing your nose around to face it.
Tip: Boosters are of great help while oversteering, since the additional thrust will let you almost-instantly cancel your old vector.
Of course, the question of "how much to oversteer" is important. You typically don't want to oversteer so much that your intended target is off screen, otherwise you can't keep an eye on your g-indicator to know when it lines up. But as you get to be a better pilot you can start oversteering at much steeper angles.
Example In this example the middle ship is turning normally, while the top ship is holding on forward thrust to maintain a higher speed, and the lower ship is oversteering.
Intercepting a target
There are many situations where you want to meet up with a target moving laterally across your screen, such as a stealth fighter wanting to intercept a miner traveling across the sector, or an interceptor wanting to kill a scout before it reaches the aleph. Plotting an intercept course with a distant target is not a trivial task for a human. However, with a few easy tips, you can improve your chances of "crossing the t" of an enemy's target (to use naval jargon).
The biggest tip is to not aim directly for the target, unless you are moving very fast and are reasonably close (ie. almost in gun range). If you aim directly for a distant target, you'll end up always turning to keep the target in the center of your screen. Since turning engages side thrusters and reduces your speed, you'll consistently end up falling behind the target as you get closer to it. This is a decent strategy if you want to leisurely line up and take a shot at a bomber's nans, or settle in for the right moment to unload on a miner. In a time-crunch situation, however, falling behind the target means that you'll be playing catch-up just as a miner gets to safety or a bomber begins unloading anti-base missiles.
Instead, you want to lead the target. Precisely how much to lead is hard to say. One method is to put the targetted ship off of the edge of the screen and monitor its motion as the distance to it closes. As the distance closes, the target ship should begin to work its way to the middle of the screen. If you're 1k from the target and it is still off the edge of your screen, make an adjustment and turn a bit towards the target. If the ship is halfway to the middle of your screen and you're 3k away, make another adjustment and turn away from the target. You'll probably have to make little adjustments as the distance closes. That's fine. Minor, periodic adjustments won't hurt your overall speed that much. Peeking in f3 helps if you can get away with it. Sometimes you can't, but it is a great help when you can.
Exploiting the forward thruster
It is frequently the case where you don't care exactly where you are going, so long as you are going fast. You might be a scout running away from a boosting interceptor, or a bomber wanting to travel vaguely in the direction of an enemy base. Either way, you can enjoy better results by manually engaging your forward thruster.
Recall that manually engaging any thruster causes the ship the maximize its thrust output, while also preventing any other thruster from auto-engaging. This feature can be exploited to make high speed turns without losing much speed. If you turn with your forward thruster engaged, your side thrusters will not try to cancel your old vector (and thus not divert any power from your forward thruster). The drag in space will allow you to still execute the turn, but it will take much longer. This is not something that I would try in the middle of an asteroid field: you stand a good chance of sideswiping a Helium rock (and entertaining the enemy). If you're at the edge of a sector and want to make a pursuer work harder to kill you, this the trick to use.
Your bomb/htt runs can also benefit from this technique. As mentioned above, your rear thrusters will automatically try to slow down a bomber/htt after it has been rammed. Holding down your forward thruster key will prevent this from happening, allowing you to maintain a higher speed for longer. It also prevents your side thrusters from trying to adjust from a wonky ram, letting you keep a higher speed at the cost of accuracy. The loss of accuracy is important to note, because even if you get really good rams, your bomber will be hard to steer with the forward thruster engaged. This is not a technique that I would use close to an enemy base, especially on an htt run. It also dangerous to use if the enemy has a skilled prox dropper. However, if you want to traverse an empty sector, or cover most of the distance to a base, this is a useful technique.
