Speed and vector matching between ships
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Old topic I'd like to revisit
https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/46243-speed-and-vector-matching-between-ships
Basically this is the ability to set relative dampeners (outside the ship or from the flight seat) to your locked target. Target a ship, set relative dampeners active and now the ship's dampeners (or your space buddy's) have zero set to match the target's motion. If they speed up or slow down or turn, the ship's motion adjusts automatically like the relative dampeners do when you exit your own ship.
Once set, closing distance and docking with the target should be a simple matter.
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Try disabling a moving ship and then 'trying' to maintain any sort of eyeballed vector and speed matching. It can be done, but last time I checked the technology level of the game included computers, which could do this automatically for you. It would be a massive improvement compared to 'shoot at enemy ship, it spins out of control away from you at 256m/s and you have the choice of 'should I take a half hour and try to catch up with that before it despawns, match everything perfectly, board and loot some stuff only to come out and find your own ship has drifted away since you had to leave your dampeners off to have it even stay close.
Or...accelerate, push a hotkey and the ship will dampener itself to maintain its exact distance from the ship at the point you hit the button, and you can accelerate manually to close the gap while the ship maintains a relative speed otherwise. Boy the second one sounds preferable having had to do the first one hundred of times on SE1.
Try disabling a moving ship and then 'trying' to maintain any sort of eyeballed vector and speed matching. It can be done, but last time I checked the technology level of the game included computers, which could do this automatically for you. It would be a massive improvement compared to 'shoot at enemy ship, it spins out of control away from you at 256m/s and you have the choice of 'should I take a half hour and try to catch up with that before it despawns, match everything perfectly, board and loot some stuff only to come out and find your own ship has drifted away since you had to leave your dampeners off to have it even stay close.
Or...accelerate, push a hotkey and the ship will dampener itself to maintain its exact distance from the ship at the point you hit the button, and you can accelerate manually to close the gap while the ship maintains a relative speed otherwise. Boy the second one sounds preferable having had to do the first one hundred of times on SE1.
KSP used a navball. You had your orientation on the navball, prograde, and retrograde markers. Then, when you got a target, you got the targets orientation, prograde, and retrograde marker put on it, as well. Helps out with that stuff. Also allows a 'baseline intercept' plot for combat. Like a pure, lead, or lag pursuit, based on ATA angles.
KSP used a navball. You had your orientation on the navball, prograde, and retrograde markers. Then, when you got a target, you got the targets orientation, prograde, and retrograde marker put on it, as well. Helps out with that stuff. Also allows a 'baseline intercept' plot for combat. Like a pure, lead, or lag pursuit, based on ATA angles.
And also, how is this useful? Two concepts are in there, maybe I can illustrate why it is important, from my admitted lay-persons understanding: This Navball is used for Orbital Rendezvous mechanics in space, and the other Intercept one is for starting on Basic Fighter Maneuvers.
1. Navball - The prograde/retrograde are self explanatory, but usually the orientation marker for your target is also key. This allows you to dock with a moving ship, connector to connector, Everytime. In pitch darkness. And lights out. Pretty handy for that, I think.
2. Intercept - The geometry solutions to gaining a stable position behind your moving target, with different speeds, closure rates, and aspects. Useful, but you need more information from the target to plan those solutions with any precision. The WW2 eyeball method can be used, to.
3. Rotating target - You need to cancel that out, though, as Wilhelm pointed out. How? AI does the math lol. Human directed? Two ways I can think of, mechanically or electric energy manipulation. Mechanically would be cables (post just came by Deon B for grappling lines, neat idea), landing gear, etc. Energy manipulation...tractor beam? Too 'woo-woo', how about using gravity generators to project an inertia dampening field? Drains rotational energy from the target, same idea on using them for setting up anti ballistic shields, via inertia dampener 'planes' as arranged by you.
And also, how is this useful? Two concepts are in there, maybe I can illustrate why it is important, from my admitted lay-persons understanding: This Navball is used for Orbital Rendezvous mechanics in space, and the other Intercept one is for starting on Basic Fighter Maneuvers.
1. Navball - The prograde/retrograde are self explanatory, but usually the orientation marker for your target is also key. This allows you to dock with a moving ship, connector to connector, Everytime. In pitch darkness. And lights out. Pretty handy for that, I think.
2. Intercept - The geometry solutions to gaining a stable position behind your moving target, with different speeds, closure rates, and aspects. Useful, but you need more information from the target to plan those solutions with any precision. The WW2 eyeball method can be used, to.
3. Rotating target - You need to cancel that out, though, as Wilhelm pointed out. How? AI does the math lol. Human directed? Two ways I can think of, mechanically or electric energy manipulation. Mechanically would be cables (post just came by Deon B for grappling lines, neat idea), landing gear, etc. Energy manipulation...tractor beam? Too 'woo-woo', how about using gravity generators to project an inertia dampening field? Drains rotational energy from the target, same idea on using them for setting up anti ballistic shields, via inertia dampener 'planes' as arranged by you.
I think this should be implemented as a more advanced autopilot feature rather than a simple "Match Velocity" command.
At the moment NPC ships mostly travel in straight lines, so matching velocity is often enough. However, I expect NPCs in the full release to have proper maneuvering capabilities and actively attempt to evade players. In that scenario, matching velocity once would no longer be sufficient, because the target could immediately change its course, acceleration, or orientation.
Instead, I would like to see a "Follow Target" or "Pursuit Autopilot" mode. The autopilot would continuously calculate the target's relative position, velocity, and acceleration vectors and adjust the player's ship accordingly to maintain pursuit or a desired standoff distance.
Of course, such a system should not guarantee a successful chase. The pursuing ship should still be limited by its own thrust, acceleration, and maneuverability. A target with superior acceleration or turning performance should be able to escape, while a ship with equal or better flight characteristics could successfully intercept and follow it.
In my opinion, this would be more future-proof than a simple velocity-matching feature and would remain useful as NPC behavior becomes more advanced.
I think this should be implemented as a more advanced autopilot feature rather than a simple "Match Velocity" command.
At the moment NPC ships mostly travel in straight lines, so matching velocity is often enough. However, I expect NPCs in the full release to have proper maneuvering capabilities and actively attempt to evade players. In that scenario, matching velocity once would no longer be sufficient, because the target could immediately change its course, acceleration, or orientation.
Instead, I would like to see a "Follow Target" or "Pursuit Autopilot" mode. The autopilot would continuously calculate the target's relative position, velocity, and acceleration vectors and adjust the player's ship accordingly to maintain pursuit or a desired standoff distance.
Of course, such a system should not guarantee a successful chase. The pursuing ship should still be limited by its own thrust, acceleration, and maneuverability. A target with superior acceleration or turning performance should be able to escape, while a ship with equal or better flight characteristics could successfully intercept and follow it.
In my opinion, this would be more future-proof than a simple velocity-matching feature and would remain useful as NPC behavior becomes more advanced.
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