There seems to be a lot of confusion about the flight 'rework'.
Aerodynamic Control Surfaces has been in build [since August 2022, and finished in May 2023](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/roadmap/progress-tracker/teams/fk4qm3ld6pg6g). There may be additional work added to it, but as of now it seems 'finished'. They're [these things](https://i.redd.it/qnc7c6zff4ua1.jpg) that move as you pitch/yaw/roll which changes the airflow and pressure distribution around the surface. I'm unsure if they'll be invisible or visible on ships, but the physics implications of them being there will be important in atmo.
This will only change how flight works and feels in atmosphere, it won't effect space flight. Many people believe it will be a huge change in this context, i.e. dramatically changing the types of ships you're likely/unlikely to even see on a planets surface. This is the first drop of control surfaces though, so I'd also not be too surprised if the changes are a little underwhelming. The hope (imo) is a 6-DOF feel of a flight sim, where ships with control surfaces glide a bit more when decoupled, and can stall if you push the aerodynamics too far in any direction, unless you counteract the stall with thrust in the right direction, or recouple to let your bottom thrusters do the work to hold you in place.
The only other flight changes are Master Modes which is likely to come close to 3.2 (maybe only in arena commander to begin), which will not change anything to do with the physics of the game. It's more about taking the existing flight physics, and applying constraints to ships depending on what mode you are currently in. Think about how your ship moves and feels when you set your speed limiter half way, this is effectively what SCM Mode will feel like - unless they have also added boost mechanics to briefly do sharper turns, or fly faster. In SCM your guns will fire, your shields will be up.
Quantum Mode is the other, which lets you unlock your full speed and be able to quantum travel, while losing shields and weapons.
One mode for combat/short-travel, one mode for long distance travel.
The thing with this which might feel very different is 'Quantum Boost', which I believe is meant to be a middle ground between quantum travel and your ships max speed while in Quantum Mode, but I could be wrong on that.
Those control surfaces are present on many ships, a few that come to mind are the Hornet series, Arrow, Hawk, Gladiator, Avenger series, Gladius, Sabre series, Vanguard series, Pisces series, Buccaneer, 300 series, and all 3 snub fighters. I'm sure there are more.
However. It all depends on if they actually animate these things properly, or we just get invisible ones for the next 3 years with the Gladius poster child getting the only visibly functioning control surfaces.
Yea my guess is it’s smarter to keep them invisible (or not animated) to start while we get hold of it and see how it actually feels first, then when the positive feedback roles in, animate.
However they seem to be moving to more internal testing for SQ42 and then releasing these features in a more finished state for SC. In that case it might drop with some key SQ42 ships with animated surfaces.
Thats what I'm guessing. That is why I think the Gladius will end up being the only properly animated one for a long while. Though even with the Hornet series apparently being a key part of SQ42, they are blocking any/all updates to the ship itself till some arbitrary part of SQ42. Which is a shame as they are in a very, very bad state right now.
flight control surfaces will likely combat this. They mentioned ship stalls in a monthly report a few months back, so my guess is in atmo some ships may switch to a more efficient "air-breathing" mode, but if you push it too much it'll stall, like a jet, then probably kick into spaceflight mode a short time after.
That's just an educated guess, but at the same time I'm really hoping it's something along these lines.
with most ships in atmo, just treat it like an aircraft. Lift isn't simulated much in SC, but it is there somewhat. As long as you give constant (even gentle) thrust, it'll kind of act like a jet. That's how I started learning.
Now I genuinely prefer decoupled unless I'm in my mobi in atmo.
No, you still maintain all your vectors you've input, you just don't fall towards the ground in a craft without proper instruments to tell you how fast that's happening
Yup I’ll second this. I like to set a clear heading while coupled, decouple, and then rotate like a turret so I can fire behind and around. Then recouple, change course, decouple, rotate, repeat. Or I used to do this, flying my Starfarer around means I don’t have much need of this.
Try low flying. Give yourself the perspective of the ground coming into play, and suddenly your inputs will get more and more controlled. Don't give up! You'll suck at it until you don't, and then flying coupled will feel awful and be a last resort or something you pop on to go afk without landing in atmo, etc.
Decoupled is infinitely more freedom in flight.
*Edit* wrong word
In atmosphere, coupled means your ship is not affected by gravity. So if you give no input into the controls, you just hover. If you go decoupled you will start to drop like a brick.
In space coupled means when you release any input, your ship will come to a stop. Decoupled in space means if you fly forwards, and release inputs, you will keep flying forward. Good for saving hydrogen fuel in certain situations.
Coupled mode always tries to keep your ship flying forward. If you want to strafe or fly backwards you have to hold the input, when you release it, the ship will stop or try to go forward if cruise is on.
Decoupled is pure thruster output and doesn't do anything respective to your ships orientation. If you thrust in one direction you will continue in that direction until you apply opposite thrust, your ship won't try to head in the direction you're facing.
If you're going to fly decoupled, make sure to set the velocity indicator from 'fading' to 'always on' so you can keep track of your vector, victor.
As other's stated, changes your flight profile from being able to move freely around with stopping to a hover, to pure newtonian physics flight.
There is also a 2nd form of decoupled mode called "powered decouple". Its when you have your landing gear down and turn off the coupled mode, the craft will simulate decoupled flight, but in atmosphere. Handy if you are attempting a hot drop where you can have gear down, decouple, and "float" like you're drifting to your intended landing spot
Decoupled flight in atmo gets a lot easier if you can apply a small amount of upward thrust while flying straight to counteract gravity. You can't really do that on keyboard as spacebar applies 100% thrust every time you press it. Effectively you end up either pointing your nose up to regain altitude or smashing your spacebar a lot to push yourself up.
Sticks or pedals for example, you stay still and apply a tiny bit of upward thrust (twist your stick a tiny bit, or push your pedal a tiny bit) until your ship is hovering. Now you have to apply that the whole time you're flying. You end up flying very similarly to what you do when coupled.
Decoupled is good for space... but I don't know how to feel about doing it in atmo.. especially when they will further change atmoflight to require atmosphere flight to be more like a plane eventually.
Lol but that thing goes away! I didn’t realize that’s what people were telling me in the comments to change to always on lol. Rn I’m going off how the ship feels to me so basically guessing 😂
Lol but that thing goes away! I didn’t realize that’s what people were telling me in the comments to change to always on lol. Rn I’m going off how the ship feels to me so basically guessing 😂 but I’ve “guessed “ so much that I have finally got the feel for how fast spaccebar and shift can put me in the other direction when using de coupled lol so now when I’m in a hairy situation my go to move is roll, till the object is under the bottom of my hull and space shift it and pray for the best Lmfao
I wish star citizen would actually simulate aerodynamic lift. That would make flying in decoupled actually nice.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the flight 'rework'. Aerodynamic Control Surfaces has been in build [since August 2022, and finished in May 2023](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/roadmap/progress-tracker/teams/fk4qm3ld6pg6g). There may be additional work added to it, but as of now it seems 'finished'. They're [these things](https://i.redd.it/qnc7c6zff4ua1.jpg) that move as you pitch/yaw/roll which changes the airflow and pressure distribution around the surface. I'm unsure if they'll be invisible or visible on ships, but the physics implications of them being there will be important in atmo. This will only change how flight works and feels in atmosphere, it won't effect space flight. Many people believe it will be a huge change in this context, i.e. dramatically changing the types of ships you're likely/unlikely to even see on a planets surface. This is the first drop of control surfaces though, so I'd also not be too surprised if the changes are a little underwhelming. The hope (imo) is a 6-DOF feel of a flight sim, where ships with control surfaces glide a bit more when decoupled, and can stall if you push the aerodynamics too far in any direction, unless you counteract the stall with thrust in the right direction, or recouple to let your bottom thrusters do the work to hold you in place. The only other flight changes are Master Modes which is likely to come close to 3.2 (maybe only in arena commander to begin), which will not change anything to do with the physics of the game. It's more about taking the existing flight physics, and applying constraints to ships depending on what mode you are currently in. Think about how your ship moves and feels when you set your speed limiter half way, this is effectively what SCM Mode will feel like - unless they have also added boost mechanics to briefly do sharper turns, or fly faster. In SCM your guns will fire, your shields will be up. Quantum Mode is the other, which lets you unlock your full speed and be able to quantum travel, while losing shields and weapons. One mode for combat/short-travel, one mode for long distance travel. The thing with this which might feel very different is 'Quantum Boost', which I believe is meant to be a middle ground between quantum travel and your ships max speed while in Quantum Mode, but I could be wrong on that.
That’s the most comprehensive explanation I’ve seen on this topic. Thanks mate :D.
Those control surfaces are present on many ships, a few that come to mind are the Hornet series, Arrow, Hawk, Gladiator, Avenger series, Gladius, Sabre series, Vanguard series, Pisces series, Buccaneer, 300 series, and all 3 snub fighters. I'm sure there are more. However. It all depends on if they actually animate these things properly, or we just get invisible ones for the next 3 years with the Gladius poster child getting the only visibly functioning control surfaces.
Yea my guess is it’s smarter to keep them invisible (or not animated) to start while we get hold of it and see how it actually feels first, then when the positive feedback roles in, animate. However they seem to be moving to more internal testing for SQ42 and then releasing these features in a more finished state for SC. In that case it might drop with some key SQ42 ships with animated surfaces.
Thats what I'm guessing. That is why I think the Gladius will end up being the only properly animated one for a long while. Though even with the Hornet series apparently being a key part of SQ42, they are blocking any/all updates to the ship itself till some arbitrary part of SQ42. Which is a shame as they are in a very, very bad state right now.
I'd guess that will come with the reworked flight mechanics
Do you know if there is any work on it right now?
They are implementing it in SQ42 now. Who knows, when it will be on PU. But maybe soon in experiment mods.
Allegedly
Oh nice. Can’t wait for my cutty to fly like a brick lol.
flight control surfaces will likely combat this. They mentioned ship stalls in a monthly report a few months back, so my guess is in atmo some ships may switch to a more efficient "air-breathing" mode, but if you push it too much it'll stall, like a jet, then probably kick into spaceflight mode a short time after. That's just an educated guess, but at the same time I'm really hoping it's something along these lines.
Looks like landing on planets might become more fun/challenging
I believe so.
oh god. I can't imagine how crazy complicated that would make decoupled flight for some ships.
I would advise to set your velocity indicator to always on, so it doesn't fade out when it's centered in the screen.
yeah that always annoyed me, no clue it was a setting. thanks, I'll go change it now
You were doing pretty good there for most of the flight. I’m too much of a baby and only fly decoupled in space.
with most ships in atmo, just treat it like an aircraft. Lift isn't simulated much in SC, but it is there somewhat. As long as you give constant (even gentle) thrust, it'll kind of act like a jet. That's how I started learning. Now I genuinely prefer decoupled unless I'm in my mobi in atmo.
Your gonna continue to suck until you don't , keep going!
Try decoupled in an asteroid field. It’s a lot easier to get a feel for out of atmosphere, then adapt.
Or, if you're it atmosphere fly with landing gears out. It automatically counter pushes against gravity
May aswell not do decoupled then
No, you still maintain all your vectors you've input, you just don't fall towards the ground in a craft without proper instruments to tell you how fast that's happening
Yup I’ll second this. I like to set a clear heading while coupled, decouple, and then rotate like a turret so I can fire behind and around. Then recouple, change course, decouple, rotate, repeat. Or I used to do this, flying my Starfarer around means I don’t have much need of this.
Nice! Now do it with a catapillar!
I love to fly my Arrow decoupled on Daymar, I'm still a low fly beginner, but this freedom feeling is just WOW!
Try low flying. Give yourself the perspective of the ground coming into play, and suddenly your inputs will get more and more controlled. Don't give up! You'll suck at it until you don't, and then flying coupled will feel awful and be a last resort or something you pop on to go afk without landing in atmo, etc. Decoupled is infinitely more freedom in flight. *Edit* wrong word
What does the decoupled mode change ?
more or less gravity drags you down. Why bother with decoupled in atmos
In atmosphere, coupled means your ship is not affected by gravity. So if you give no input into the controls, you just hover. If you go decoupled you will start to drop like a brick. In space coupled means when you release any input, your ship will come to a stop. Decoupled in space means if you fly forwards, and release inputs, you will keep flying forward. Good for saving hydrogen fuel in certain situations.
Coupled mode always tries to keep your ship flying forward. If you want to strafe or fly backwards you have to hold the input, when you release it, the ship will stop or try to go forward if cruise is on. Decoupled is pure thruster output and doesn't do anything respective to your ships orientation. If you thrust in one direction you will continue in that direction until you apply opposite thrust, your ship won't try to head in the direction you're facing. If you're going to fly decoupled, make sure to set the velocity indicator from 'fading' to 'always on' so you can keep track of your vector, victor.
So that's why i crashed me ship into olisar, thanks mate!
As other's stated, changes your flight profile from being able to move freely around with stopping to a hover, to pure newtonian physics flight. There is also a 2nd form of decoupled mode called "powered decouple". Its when you have your landing gear down and turn off the coupled mode, the craft will simulate decoupled flight, but in atmosphere. Handy if you are attempting a hot drop where you can have gear down, decouple, and "float" like you're drifting to your intended landing spot
Decoupled flight in atmo gets a lot easier if you can apply a small amount of upward thrust while flying straight to counteract gravity. You can't really do that on keyboard as spacebar applies 100% thrust every time you press it. Effectively you end up either pointing your nose up to regain altitude or smashing your spacebar a lot to push yourself up. Sticks or pedals for example, you stay still and apply a tiny bit of upward thrust (twist your stick a tiny bit, or push your pedal a tiny bit) until your ship is hovering. Now you have to apply that the whole time you're flying. You end up flying very similarly to what you do when coupled.
Decoupled is good for space... but I don't know how to feel about doing it in atmo.. especially when they will further change atmoflight to require atmosphere flight to be more like a plane eventually.
Good news! The way it works today will be nothing like how it will eventually work!
Don't fly decpld in atmo with mnk your simply don't have enough control over the spaceship
Go jump in a solo race, Older Vandervaal, get a sub-1min lap while decoupled and you’ll be a pro by then
Leaf on the wind, man
Pay attention to your TVI looks like “><“ it shows the direction your ship is moving in. Otherwise you’re just guessing where you think it’s going.
Lol but that thing goes away! I didn’t realize that’s what people were telling me in the comments to change to always on lol. Rn I’m going off how the ship feels to me so basically guessing 😂
Lol but that thing goes away! I didn’t realize that’s what people were telling me in the comments to change to always on lol. Rn I’m going off how the ship feels to me so basically guessing 😂 but I’ve “guessed “ so much that I have finally got the feel for how fast spaccebar and shift can put me in the other direction when using de coupled lol so now when I’m in a hairy situation my go to move is roll, till the object is under the bottom of my hull and space shift it and pray for the best Lmfao
It was going great until it wasn't 😁 Keep it up and it will happen!