Atmosphere Acceleration

Exeneva · Post by **Exeneva** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:14 pm

Approximately, what is the maximum speed you can fly in a planet atmosphere with shield boosting, shield boost x5, and a Leviathan?

This is mainly for combat purposes, as I was able to powerslide in the Leviathan (not as easy to do in a Levy than a Talon) about 1600, shields boosted constantly. Any faster and I was afraid that the enemy fire would be getting to me.

[Edited on 3-12-2008 by Exeneva]

Post by **Vice** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:26 pm

In a ship that big, you can generally only coast for short bursts at high speed since cruise is limited to about 750-850, which is safe in atmospheres. So you have to hit the afterburner, then turn off the IDS, which means you'll eventually start to slow down from the drag, so you'll usually need to use the burner in short bursts with either the IDS on or off to maintain a high speed. Smaller ships can often coast over 1000, so it's easier for them to maintain a high speed consistently in atmospheres. 1500 in a Leviathan is pushing it, 1600 is probably close to the limit, maybe 1700-1800 for short bursts, but you'll have to watch your shield arrays carefully.

Exeneva · Post by **Exeneva** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:26 pm

Yeah, the shield boosts are what kept me alive as I saw fire coming from my ship the whole time. It's like pulling a superman in space except in the atmosphere.

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:21 pm

With IDS off it also puts your ship in a free fall. You dont get any damage as long as you dont use the thruster. Im not sure about the rate of decent but it seems to be a little faster then the safe decent speed. If you keep an eye on your altitude you can get some good hits on an enemy while their chaceing you down and still pull out at the last minute.

Ive played around with the atmosphiric combat a bit and come up with some rather interesting manuvers lol. Hard to say how well they would work against players but they work well with the AI.

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:06 am

Yeah, atmospheric combat certainly is fun. I'd love to see some more emphasis on atmospheric flight, like more realistic physics and stuff.

Exeneva · Post by **Exeneva** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:20 pm

Originally posted by tha_rami
Yeah, atmospheric combat certainly is fun. I'd love to see some more emphasis on atmospheric flight, like more realistic physics and stuff.

Agreed. Being able to play like a flight sim while in the atmosphere would be very cool.

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:23 pm

Yeah, at least more like a flightsim. I don't really like being able to do loopings while rolling while barely having speed.

Mechanical · Post by **Mechanical** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:48 pm

I imagine the ships are more brick-like in their aerodynamics than plane-like.

Perhaps more helicopter-like dynamics would be good. All the same, I think it's more of a fly-by-wire implementation where your thrusters are constantly, and without your direct control, interpreting your control input to keep you going the way you want to be going.

From a pure gameplay side though, yeah I would like to see the atmospheric flight more involved and differentiated from space-flight than it is now.

ed: I haven't tried this, but if you're flying with a slightly upward angle of attack and at a considerable velocity, when you turn off your IDS will your ship follow a parabolic trajectory or will it just drop like a brick. Every time I've disengaged my IDS in an atmosphere it seems like I just dropped, all of a sudden but it's hard to gauge based purely from the cockpit view. I should try it from the flyby view.

ed2: No, now that I think of it you must follow a parabolic trajectory. I remember before that Vice said you could actually orbit a planet if you managed to get everything just right. It's exceptionally difficult though, I've tried it a bunch of times and it's never worked.

[Edited on 3-16-2008 by Mechanical]

Exeneva · Post by **Exeneva** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:46 pm

Barrel rolls, anyone?

Mechanical · Post by **Mechanical** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:59 am

Barrel rolls!

It would be kind of cool if you could use your thrusters to put your ship into a spin. I don't know why, but it would be cool.

azpatriot · Post by **azpatriot** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:29 am

Originally posted by Mechanical
Barrel rolls!

It would be kind of cool if you could use your thrusters to put your ship into a spin. I don't know why, but it would be cool.

You can through rudder control, it takes some practice though. Pitch out to either the left or right then slowly pull back on your stick and kick in the rudder in the appropriate direction. Once you have the corkscrew maneuver going then turn off your IDS and kick in the afterburner and you should have a flat spin.

Don't get too dizzy lol!