Help with Quest

[DeweyQ]

First day playing... I accepted the contract to find the Navy's lost "item". I fly to the nav point and look around, then start flying concentrically around the nav point. I see no item... only other ships. Any hints?

[Aures]

Don't change your direction, the mission is designed so that you can find it by just flying straight. Jump to the destination with no lateral or vertical velocity so you head directly towards the nav point when you exit the jump. Keep flying until a purple blip shows up on your radar (might happen immediately, might have to get close to or pass the nav point). Fly towards the purple blip, pass close enough to it and the contract will complete.

[Aures]

I think the direction is pretty random, I doubt that it is more likely to be on the opposite side of the waypoint to where you are. It is generally near the plane of the ecliptic though, I forgot to mention you should face in the direction of the ecliptic before jumping. You can often get lucky no matter what bearing on the ecliptic in you jump in on, many times I have seen the purple blip as soon as I jump and had to turn around to pass near it.

[Maarschalk]

Yes, Aures is right on this one. Welcome to the game and forum DeweyQ....hope to see you out there.....

[DeweyQ]

Thanks all! I will look up plane of ecliptic since I am unfamiliar with that term.

[Edited on 2010-Nov-10 by DeweyQ]

[SeeJay]

Originally posted by DeweyQ
Thanks all! I will look up plane of ecliptic since I am unfamiliar with that term.

[Edited on 2010-Nov-10 by DeweyQ]

If I understands it correct the ecliptic is the 360 degree around you (equator).

What I think Aures means is that the pink blip will appear on this circle around you
and not above or below you. At least it will be close to it.

[Pyroka]

Its 0 on the vertical pitch ladder on the HUD.

Welcome to the forum and the sim, hope to se you out there

[Aures]

Yes it is just a shorthand way of saying 0 on the vertical pitch ladder. Technically it refers to the orbital plane of the solar system defined in various ways but it is often extended to any stellar system or even to pure coordinate systems. It is a convenient way of saying any direction in a spherical coordinate system with an inclination of 0. Traditionally in scifi and space sims the coordinate plane is defined relative to the orbital (or rotational) plane of a stellar (or planetary) system. Evochron doesn't technically have anything as fancy as orbital planes but the way most systems in Evochron are set up their ecliptic is identical with the plane defined by an inclination of 0.

I forget sometimes that that kind of jargon is not familiar to a lot of people. If you run across any scifi that refers to the ecliptic that is what they are talking about, being on or off the main plane of a stellar system in terms of position, direction or orbit inclination. It generally isn't a meaningless buzz word (like polarisation, inversion, radiation or just about anything else as used in later Star Treks) but a real term that gives you some information about what is going on in the story.

Technically there is a difference between orienting to the ecliptic and being in the ecliptic. Orienting to the ecliptic means your direction is parallel to the plane of the ecliptic and does not depend on your position. Being in the ecliptic means your position is actually in the ecliptic plane and does not depend on your direction. Speaking about facing towards or away from ecliptic can be used to describe looking toward or away from the direction of the ecliptic plane.

It can get a little confusing but what is usually meant (and what I almost always mean) is a pitch ladder reading of 0. In Evochron you might hear someone use it to refer to being at a positive (or negative) Y/SY value and facing towards lesser (or greater) Y/SY values but I haven't seen it yet. I have seen people use it to refer to having an SY coordinate other than 0 as being off the ecliptic as well.

Talking about the ecliptic only makes sense for the space coordinates used in Evochron. The coordinates used in planetary atmospheres don't have an equivalent because they are defined relative to the center of the planet.

I thought I was using a convenient short hand but after reading my own explanation I'm not sure it is a useful term for instructing new players. I might still use it casually when there is no risk of misunderstanding but I think I will generally just say vertical pitch ladder 0, SY=0 etc instead from now on.

[Marvin]

I think they mean the galactic equator or horizon. Whenever you exit a jump gate or dock at a station, your ship's attitude is automatically re-set to the horizon.

[Dormin]

When I was doing those quests, I would go to nav point and then would center a purple blip on my screen. After a few minutes I would be able to see the item in question approaching.