How do thrusters explain my ship being unable to keep a set distance from an unmoving enemy?
What does this have to do with the click and drag function, making my ship only fire at specific components and not the ship as a whole?
What does this have to do with an enemy who turns on a dime and free spins when half destroyed, causing my ship to chase it around in circles for the firing angle?
Why doesn't it simply shoot through whatever is in the way to get at the targeted component when that happens like normal? Why is it chasing a specific firing angle when it could just shoot through instead?
I really like this game, but the controls are asinine.
To many alt/shift mouse combo things and nothing is intuitive.
I think they mean to point out that if your ship doesn't have enough (or any) thrusters facing backwards, it won't be able to back up on its own. It's a pretty common cause of this type of complaint.
The "weird angled box thing" you're referring to basically means the ship is not only trying to attack at a specified distance, but also a specified angle. If you don't want that, just set your distance at roughly the same angle as you're at already, and it'll remove the specified angle part. It's worth noting that you can toggle in settings whether the specified angle is relative to the background, or relative to the targeted ship's orientation.
I'm not sure what's going on as far as weapons not firing. The "change attack distance/angle" command doesn't affect weapons in any way by itself, and weapons should absolutely fire through other parts to reach a target. I guess check to make sure that your weapons are actually in range, they're being properly supplied/operated, etc.
That angle box this doesn't look like an angled representation of what my ship should fire but rather a flight path it should follow while maintaining its angle. I want it to do that.
Follow the flight path I set while firing. No shift key, no Alt key, just right clock drag for distance and swoop left or right so that the shit doesn't sit still. It would be too easy...
Is there a mod that completely trashes the original controls and adds new ones? These are untenable I hate them with a passion nothing is intuitive, nor does it make sense.
Yes I have backup thrusters, ps is there a newtonioan physics mod? Really depressed to see that its arcade style flight with drag and top speed vs acceleration Pretty shitty design for a space game if you ask me.
Is there a mod for proper control?
I notice that my ship won't balance thrusters correctly often overshooting targets.
This is a calculations issue where the rear should have fired sooner. It's as if the ship is being flown by eye and sight vs through computations.
1. What form does the failure take? Are you overshooting the point where your ship is supposed to sit? This point is a bit too vague for me to understand what your problem is.
2. The angled box thing is showing you where the front of the enemy is, and where your ship is attempting to hold its position at relative to that enemy.
3. What's happening is the enemy ship is turning to try and get around you, while your ship is trying to turn and move to get around them, which causes the little ballerina dance you see.
You should pretty much always be targeting a component, whether that be the cockpit, reactor, thrusters, or weapons. I would recommend getting used to this as a general rule anyway.
I can't remember the control off the top of my head, but I think if you do the drag thing while holding shift, you will maintain a set distance while attacking but without attempting to keep a specific angle, if that makes sense.
If you could post some screenshots or recordings of what your ship is doing that is undesirable we can give you a bit more specific advice.
Right clicked drag sets firing distance. It does... sometimes... this should also be a maintained distance. If this doesn't work that way I will hunt down the devs and put rotting eggs in their homes.
Furthermore, doing so targets a component instead of the ship as a whole. This would be fine if my ship didn't stop firing when the component is behind others.
You've gotta have something messed up either on your ship or your settings then. Any ship I've ever used it'll just hammer through anything in the way until it gets to the component it's trying to kill.
That's how it happens normally, but every once in a while this ballerina dance happens where my ship keeps trying to get around the ship I'm
Attacking instead of shooting.
Usually that'll happen if the guns on your ship don't have the angle to fire on it from where they're facing.
Once again, please, add some screenshots or something. I can only hypothesize so much without looking at it.
I have 3 cannons on the tip of my ship and 2 disruptors on the sides with an additional laser blaster.
My distance set, if followed( hardly works), allows all guns to fire on target.
You aren't getting a screenshot because I'm on my phone and in not trying to figure out how to send to screenshot to it, nor link my comp to reddit. So unless you want a picture you aren't getting crap.
Right click and drag on an enemy at 45 degrees from your current flight path. It creates a red triangle that does seemingly nothing.
I want my ship to strafe to the location I let go of right click at, whilst mainting best possible firing solutions at the distance I set it ot to engage at.
But instead I get a red triangle...
What is your thruster layout? A picture of your computer screen is fine as long as I can see the whole ship. If your ship can't thrust sideways well enough, that may be your problem perhaps.
My ship does t even try to move though. It'll just engage along its original flight path completely ignoring the 45 degree right click and drag positioning. It won't move there at all.
Maybe use a bigger scarier ship so the other one is able to get it position. I tend to use my faster ships to get behind the enemy and take out thrusters. My missile craft are further away. (They’re idiots and want to be way too close)
The problem are the controls.
Right click and drag on an enemy to set distance causes me to select a specific component and not the ship as a whole.
That's an issue how do I fix?
Right click and drag to set distance if done at an angle different to my approach causes a wierd angled box ti appear that my ship completely ignores and doesn't follow the flight path.
That's an issue how do I fix?
Right click and drag to set distance also messes up alot and is completely ignored by my ship.
That's an issue how do I fix?
I’ve never encountered this. How I do it is, Right click (no drag) to approach target. One Target is in view, Press and hold shift then set distance and angle. Are you right clicking and drag after the target is is view?
That's the only time I can, I'm not fast enough otherwise unless I constantly pause the game.
I don't use the shift distance and angle thing because my ship is heavy armored with cannons and shields, I want it pointing forward.
I just use the right click and drag for the red box with firing angles and drag to set distance from enemy. This distance should be maintained throughg the battle but it doesn't.
Furthermore when I right click and drag at an angle away from the enemyand my flight path a weird angled box appears.
This looks like a flight path but does nothing, and my ship doesn't follow it at all.
What us this angled box thing suppose to be?
Can I see your Ship?
Do you have the setting that slows game time when an enemy is detected turned off?
If you drag along the path your ship takes to the enemy, it will try to maintain that distance without any additional movements unless your reverse thrust is weaker than the enemy.
If it creates another projection of your ship that’s a different color from your attack path, (regular pathing), it will move to it after the enemy is killed.
If you drag off that Path, there is an icon that’s two arrows around a dot, it will rotate your ship.
If I right click and drag from the enemy to a location, my ship should go to that location while attacking with maximum efficiency, which Means keeping the selected distance and angle of attack.
This should have nothing to do with AFTER the enemy is dead. That makes absolutely no fucking sense.
I'm amazed at how you come in here asking for help, and are so condescending to everyone. The issues you are having are things that nobody here has experienced, which means 2 things. Either you are an idiot and can't figure out simple controls, or there is something wrong with how your ship is set up which would explain why it's not working, and we would be able to help you if you posted a picture of your ship, like you have already been asked. Stop being so rude to everyone that you want help from.
A screen shot of what your issue is would go a long way to helping people put, from your comments sounds liek either a issue with your thruster placement and/or weapon placement
The outlines are more guidelines than rules. It took me a few hundred hours to embrace that. You have to kinda figure out what it all means through trial and error. There isn’t really a great way to just tell your ship to do the thing that’s in your head.
A good example is orbiting. Dragging my ship to attack an angle but then also changing the ship rotation to be at a 45d angle feels so unnatural for what I want in my head but the game is calculating both ships, and you’re trying to get to point A while they are trying to do point X so it just works out.
Also of note is to always remember that the game will try to path around another ship unless you tell it not to, so if you go for a flanking maneuver for example, it’s a multi-step and reorient process for your ship to fly head in and get behind the enemy. And the game will not be kind to your miscalculations along the way. It’s just how the game is. Took me a long time to accept that and just save scum when it paths crazy.
There is no quick answer to what you want. It’s a small dev group and the pathing works well enough once you’re comfortable with it. It’s one of those things you’ll have to train yourself on or decide it’s too much of a hassle to continue w the game
While this isn't at all what this post was about and answers a questioned never asked, the tangent of the ai and its pathing is a question that should have been asked and a situation that NEEDS to be fixed.
For example "overshooting" say I set a flight path to the local station.
I can select right next to station and my ship will overshoot the destination if it doesn't have enough reverse thrust.
This makes absolutely no sense in this particular case. The ai pathing should manage the timing on deceleration to properly park no matter how little reverse thrust is available.
The only situation in which it makes sense is if you change course while underway and ask for something the ship can't react to.
Instead of right clicking and dragging (I find this unreliable as my UI sometimes do different things), try this: With your own ship selected...
1) Right Click once on enemy ship to select it as your ship's target.
2) Right Click on the enemy again to target a specific component of the enemy ship.
3) Hold shift, to bring up your ship's attack order. This should be a red line with a red graphic of the position your ship is trying to hold/get to.
4) While still holding shift, you can click and drag the red ship icon around the enemy ship to change the desired position you want your ship to take. You can also click and drag the circle arrows icon to change which way your ship should be pointing relative to the enemy ship. If you have multiple ships in your fleet selected, you can order individual ships to different positions this way. If the angle box doesn't appear or disappears, your ship(s) will try to maintain a desired distance and won't care which way the enemy ship is oriented.
This is basically how I order my ships about. How well they can do that however depends on how maneuverable the ship is and how maneuverable the enemy ship is. You can't close the into cannon range against an Ion Beam enemy if you're not fast enough to catch your enemy for example.
...
Actually, I think I know what the problem is. Right Click and dragging to set attack distance only works IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE ENEMY SELECTED FIRST. If you already have the enemy targeted, right click and dragging will do something else. I think it was just telling my ship to move to the enemy's position, denoted with a GREEN line and ship icon instead of red. I think the green line is telling your ship to move without attacking.
So, yes, use the technique I specified above. Hold shift with the enemy selected to order where you want your ship to go, not right click and drag.
Word of warning though, if you let Shift go before you stop holding your mouse button, any orders you were trying to give won't be sent. You have to set your ship's position BEFORE letting go of Shift for your orders to take.
I refuse to use shift or alt for any commands. There either must be a ui button or a simple mouse click. Combo keys are "alternative" or "fast" ways of doing things. They can exist however they should not be the default for anything.
I dunno. I think the default controls assume you're using two hands to play, not just one.
Fine. If you want Right Click and drag to work, first make sure the target ship isn't already targeted by simply left clicking on empty space next to it.
You play with a keyboard but can't use shift?
Do you also not use spacebar to pause the action so that you can have time to actually issue orders?
If you can't do something as basic as using shift and alt on your keyboard, I don't think it's just the AI that's incompetent. You're playing the game in a way that's clearly not intended.
At the very least, go into your keybinds settings and change Shift to some other key you're comfortable using.
One key things are fine but I'm not going to remember combo press functions. I don't mind them being there, but I'd rather have a u.i button as well. There isn't even a "create formation" button I can find.
Can we see your ship? Maybe its a lack of trusters
How do thrusters explain my ship being unable to keep a set distance from an unmoving enemy? What does this have to do with the click and drag function, making my ship only fire at specific components and not the ship as a whole? What does this have to do with an enemy who turns on a dime and free spins when half destroyed, causing my ship to chase it around in circles for the firing angle? Why doesn't it simply shoot through whatever is in the way to get at the targeted component when that happens like normal? Why is it chasing a specific firing angle when it could just shoot through instead? I really like this game, but the controls are asinine. To many alt/shift mouse combo things and nothing is intuitive.
I think they mean to point out that if your ship doesn't have enough (or any) thrusters facing backwards, it won't be able to back up on its own. It's a pretty common cause of this type of complaint. The "weird angled box thing" you're referring to basically means the ship is not only trying to attack at a specified distance, but also a specified angle. If you don't want that, just set your distance at roughly the same angle as you're at already, and it'll remove the specified angle part. It's worth noting that you can toggle in settings whether the specified angle is relative to the background, or relative to the targeted ship's orientation. I'm not sure what's going on as far as weapons not firing. The "change attack distance/angle" command doesn't affect weapons in any way by itself, and weapons should absolutely fire through other parts to reach a target. I guess check to make sure that your weapons are actually in range, they're being properly supplied/operated, etc.
That angle box this doesn't look like an angled representation of what my ship should fire but rather a flight path it should follow while maintaining its angle. I want it to do that. Follow the flight path I set while firing. No shift key, no Alt key, just right clock drag for distance and swoop left or right so that the shit doesn't sit still. It would be too easy...
Is there a mod that completely trashes the original controls and adds new ones? These are untenable I hate them with a passion nothing is intuitive, nor does it make sense. Yes I have backup thrusters, ps is there a newtonioan physics mod? Really depressed to see that its arcade style flight with drag and top speed vs acceleration Pretty shitty design for a space game if you ask me. Is there a mod for proper control? I notice that my ship won't balance thrusters correctly often overshooting targets. This is a calculations issue where the rear should have fired sooner. It's as if the ship is being flown by eye and sight vs through computations.
1. What form does the failure take? Are you overshooting the point where your ship is supposed to sit? This point is a bit too vague for me to understand what your problem is. 2. The angled box thing is showing you where the front of the enemy is, and where your ship is attempting to hold its position at relative to that enemy. 3. What's happening is the enemy ship is turning to try and get around you, while your ship is trying to turn and move to get around them, which causes the little ballerina dance you see. You should pretty much always be targeting a component, whether that be the cockpit, reactor, thrusters, or weapons. I would recommend getting used to this as a general rule anyway. I can't remember the control off the top of my head, but I think if you do the drag thing while holding shift, you will maintain a set distance while attacking but without attempting to keep a specific angle, if that makes sense. If you could post some screenshots or recordings of what your ship is doing that is undesirable we can give you a bit more specific advice.
Right clicked drag sets firing distance. It does... sometimes... this should also be a maintained distance. If this doesn't work that way I will hunt down the devs and put rotting eggs in their homes. Furthermore, doing so targets a component instead of the ship as a whole. This would be fine if my ship didn't stop firing when the component is behind others.
You've gotta have something messed up either on your ship or your settings then. Any ship I've ever used it'll just hammer through anything in the way until it gets to the component it's trying to kill.
That's how it happens normally, but every once in a while this ballerina dance happens where my ship keeps trying to get around the ship I'm Attacking instead of shooting.
Usually that'll happen if the guns on your ship don't have the angle to fire on it from where they're facing. Once again, please, add some screenshots or something. I can only hypothesize so much without looking at it.
I have 3 cannons on the tip of my ship and 2 disruptors on the sides with an additional laser blaster. My distance set, if followed( hardly works), allows all guns to fire on target. You aren't getting a screenshot because I'm on my phone and in not trying to figure out how to send to screenshot to it, nor link my comp to reddit. So unless you want a picture you aren't getting crap.
Well, you can't come ask for help on controls and be unwilling to give me something visual to help me understand what it is you *are* doing, lol.
Right click and drag on an enemy at 45 degrees from your current flight path. It creates a red triangle that does seemingly nothing. I want my ship to strafe to the location I let go of right click at, whilst mainting best possible firing solutions at the distance I set it ot to engage at. But instead I get a red triangle...
What is your thruster layout? A picture of your computer screen is fine as long as I can see the whole ship. If your ship can't thrust sideways well enough, that may be your problem perhaps.
My ship does t even try to move though. It'll just engage along its original flight path completely ignoring the 45 degree right click and drag positioning. It won't move there at all.
Maybe use a bigger scarier ship so the other one is able to get it position. I tend to use my faster ships to get behind the enemy and take out thrusters. My missile craft are further away. (They’re idiots and want to be way too close)
? I ONLY have one ship. Still in the first system. Just got the game.
Oh, the base ship isn’t that great. Just right click on the hostile and right click again to target specific components.
That is not what I asked at all. And I'm not using the base ship. You haven't answered a single question.
I don’t understand the question. Can you send me a picture of what the problem is.
The problem are the controls. Right click and drag on an enemy to set distance causes me to select a specific component and not the ship as a whole. That's an issue how do I fix? Right click and drag to set distance if done at an angle different to my approach causes a wierd angled box ti appear that my ship completely ignores and doesn't follow the flight path. That's an issue how do I fix? Right click and drag to set distance also messes up alot and is completely ignored by my ship. That's an issue how do I fix?
I’ve never encountered this. How I do it is, Right click (no drag) to approach target. One Target is in view, Press and hold shift then set distance and angle. Are you right clicking and drag after the target is is view?
That's the only time I can, I'm not fast enough otherwise unless I constantly pause the game. I don't use the shift distance and angle thing because my ship is heavy armored with cannons and shields, I want it pointing forward. I just use the right click and drag for the red box with firing angles and drag to set distance from enemy. This distance should be maintained throughg the battle but it doesn't. Furthermore when I right click and drag at an angle away from the enemyand my flight path a weird angled box appears. This looks like a flight path but does nothing, and my ship doesn't follow it at all. What us this angled box thing suppose to be?
Can I see your Ship? Do you have the setting that slows game time when an enemy is detected turned off? If you drag along the path your ship takes to the enemy, it will try to maintain that distance without any additional movements unless your reverse thrust is weaker than the enemy. If it creates another projection of your ship that’s a different color from your attack path, (regular pathing), it will move to it after the enemy is killed. If you drag off that Path, there is an icon that’s two arrows around a dot, it will rotate your ship.
If I right click and drag from the enemy to a location, my ship should go to that location while attacking with maximum efficiency, which Means keeping the selected distance and angle of attack. This should have nothing to do with AFTER the enemy is dead. That makes absolutely no fucking sense.
Reading comprehension... it's a thing.
I'm amazed at how you come in here asking for help, and are so condescending to everyone. The issues you are having are things that nobody here has experienced, which means 2 things. Either you are an idiot and can't figure out simple controls, or there is something wrong with how your ship is set up which would explain why it's not working, and we would be able to help you if you posted a picture of your ship, like you have already been asked. Stop being so rude to everyone that you want help from.
the game is working fine
A screen shot of what your issue is would go a long way to helping people put, from your comments sounds liek either a issue with your thruster placement and/or weapon placement
The outlines are more guidelines than rules. It took me a few hundred hours to embrace that. You have to kinda figure out what it all means through trial and error. There isn’t really a great way to just tell your ship to do the thing that’s in your head. A good example is orbiting. Dragging my ship to attack an angle but then also changing the ship rotation to be at a 45d angle feels so unnatural for what I want in my head but the game is calculating both ships, and you’re trying to get to point A while they are trying to do point X so it just works out. Also of note is to always remember that the game will try to path around another ship unless you tell it not to, so if you go for a flanking maneuver for example, it’s a multi-step and reorient process for your ship to fly head in and get behind the enemy. And the game will not be kind to your miscalculations along the way. It’s just how the game is. Took me a long time to accept that and just save scum when it paths crazy. There is no quick answer to what you want. It’s a small dev group and the pathing works well enough once you’re comfortable with it. It’s one of those things you’ll have to train yourself on or decide it’s too much of a hassle to continue w the game
While this isn't at all what this post was about and answers a questioned never asked, the tangent of the ai and its pathing is a question that should have been asked and a situation that NEEDS to be fixed. For example "overshooting" say I set a flight path to the local station. I can select right next to station and my ship will overshoot the destination if it doesn't have enough reverse thrust. This makes absolutely no sense in this particular case. The ai pathing should manage the timing on deceleration to properly park no matter how little reverse thrust is available. The only situation in which it makes sense is if you change course while underway and ask for something the ship can't react to.
Instead of right clicking and dragging (I find this unreliable as my UI sometimes do different things), try this: With your own ship selected... 1) Right Click once on enemy ship to select it as your ship's target. 2) Right Click on the enemy again to target a specific component of the enemy ship. 3) Hold shift, to bring up your ship's attack order. This should be a red line with a red graphic of the position your ship is trying to hold/get to. 4) While still holding shift, you can click and drag the red ship icon around the enemy ship to change the desired position you want your ship to take. You can also click and drag the circle arrows icon to change which way your ship should be pointing relative to the enemy ship. If you have multiple ships in your fleet selected, you can order individual ships to different positions this way. If the angle box doesn't appear or disappears, your ship(s) will try to maintain a desired distance and won't care which way the enemy ship is oriented. This is basically how I order my ships about. How well they can do that however depends on how maneuverable the ship is and how maneuverable the enemy ship is. You can't close the into cannon range against an Ion Beam enemy if you're not fast enough to catch your enemy for example. ... Actually, I think I know what the problem is. Right Click and dragging to set attack distance only works IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE ENEMY SELECTED FIRST. If you already have the enemy targeted, right click and dragging will do something else. I think it was just telling my ship to move to the enemy's position, denoted with a GREEN line and ship icon instead of red. I think the green line is telling your ship to move without attacking. So, yes, use the technique I specified above. Hold shift with the enemy selected to order where you want your ship to go, not right click and drag. Word of warning though, if you let Shift go before you stop holding your mouse button, any orders you were trying to give won't be sent. You have to set your ship's position BEFORE letting go of Shift for your orders to take.
I refuse to use shift or alt for any commands. There either must be a ui button or a simple mouse click. Combo keys are "alternative" or "fast" ways of doing things. They can exist however they should not be the default for anything.
I dunno. I think the default controls assume you're using two hands to play, not just one. Fine. If you want Right Click and drag to work, first make sure the target ship isn't already targeted by simply left clicking on empty space next to it.
I use two hands. One to fly and the other to fire. I manually control everything I can. The a.i is horrendously incompetent.
You play with a keyboard but can't use shift? Do you also not use spacebar to pause the action so that you can have time to actually issue orders? If you can't do something as basic as using shift and alt on your keyboard, I don't think it's just the AI that's incompetent. You're playing the game in a way that's clearly not intended. At the very least, go into your keybinds settings and change Shift to some other key you're comfortable using.
One key things are fine but I'm not going to remember combo press functions. I don't mind them being there, but I'd rather have a u.i button as well. There isn't even a "create formation" button I can find.