What we know so far about hover mode

[Michael]

David Colson (DColson-CIG) gave some indepth answers on Spectrum and reddit, about the upcoming Hover mode. I tried to sort them in a little bit.

Goal for HM is to make the flight model more believable and more fun (at low speeds).

1- In ISC it was said that there will a toggle HM button. How will that work exactly? [...]

• Since ISC was filmed we've removed the button. It's now completely automatic, comes on when you fly under a certain speed, and turns off when you're above a certain speed. You automatically go back into normal flight mode when above a certain speed sufficient to fly like a plane.
• [The Speed value is] a value specific for each ship, not a global fixed value. [so its set to prevent stalls]
• It's not a matter of [...] building up enough speed to fly like a plane. You can build up enough speed by just tilting down and falling until you're going fast enough. Though it just so happens that it's often easier to just hold W until you get fast enough.

2- How will HM affect rolling?
(I figure that we won't be able to do a 360º roll and stay at the same exact position, but I just want confirmation)

• Some ships can roll 360 degrees, you will likely lose control and crash though

3- How will HM behave in space? [...]

• There is no hover mode where there is no gravity

4- How will HM behave in different > 0 G environments?
Will we have some control over the power we put on thrusters, or will it always be a ON/OFF kind of thing (while directly tied to the ship's speed)?

• Hover mode is always on below a certain speed, though you can adjust the power to your thrusters to make your ship fall for example.
• [Transition is] somewhat abrupt at certain speeds defined per ship.
• The transition-in, and transition-out velocities are different so you cannot oscillate around them
• If you're actively thrusting forward you will not fall into hover mode if you momentarily slow right down say in a turn for example.
• In Hover mode all available thrust will be pointed downwards. A little bit like a helicopter, so if you tilt forward you will start to move forward.
• [3.6 allows you to control all the thruster power at once with an axis keybind or two buttons]

5- How will ships with VTOL thrusters behave? [...]

• VTOL thrusters mean the ships have more acceleration to hold themselves up and are less likely to overheat etc. Some ships like the reclaimer need vtol thrusters to even stay afloat in high gravity environments
• Certain ships have the ability to rotate their vtol thrusters so they can tilt the ship forward and not drift. The prospector being the prime example. It can face down about 10 degrees without moving forward [annotation: this important for planetside mining]
• We now allow you to strafe back/forward and left/right with normal strafe controls, so you can face down even more and strafe backward to try and balance yourself without falling forward (bit tricky to pull off though, [this is] for more advanced players)
• We implemented an auto-hover mechanic that's bound to the spacebrake. If you hold spacebrake the ship will arrest any sliding and sit in a stable hover. While this is on you can freely rotate your gimbals to face down at surface targets. So you can turn on the brake, and then gimbal your mining laser to a rock and mine without any issue.
• [There will be some kind of small thrust oscillation to make the ship bop slightly]

6- How will HM affect decoupled flight?

• There is no such thing as hover decoupled, since hover mode already exhibits similar behaviour to decoupled mode. Decoupled is only available in normal flight.
• Hover mode is a bit of a mix of decoupled and normal flight mode, and so you can no longer enable or disable decoupled in hover mode. As you mentioned hover mode is very much like decoupled already. If you strafe left and right you have to counter it yourself to stop.
• It was necessary to take some of the coupled behaviour away for hover mode to work, otherwise you'd never get "drifting" around.
• Auto-hover takes away your pitch and roll inputs and forces the ship to be level.

7. Will we be able to tilt the VTOL by ourself?

• As of right now this may add too much complexity which is a concern we always have. Lets have a play in 3.6 and we'll look into it later.
• Rotating the vtol thrusters is a cool idea, though a lot of ships aren't designed to support that currently. Woth investigating for future though.

8. So if you can gimbal the mining laser, why do you still need ships to tilt forward?

• Gimballing a weapon mount also rotates the ship, especially if you have mouse controlling orientation as well

9. Others
3.6 will have no automatic gravity compensation in normal flight mode



8. Sources:

View: https://youtu.be/3wh1utqhQN8?t=428


https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/bxupl1 View: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/bxupl1/vtol_hover_mode_concerns_dev_response/

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[NaffNaffBobFace]

Thanks for this :)

I expect the Aurora and Connie with their VTOL fans to use power from the generator to hover rather than H fuel, so they may be the only ships in the verse that can hover indefinitely while other craft may have to land to conserve fuel or overheat.

That's my own expectation, no proof on it haha.

 

[Printimus]

I'm excited to see how mad people get with hover mode in the game! :D Because #fidelity

 

[Mich Angel]

Don't see it as a problem, then I'm used to fly the AV-8A Harrier in sims and that is way harder and more demanding.
This is auto hover in low speed if you fly straight I don't think you even notice when it go over to hover mode when flying slow..

I like this a lot :D now all we need is ships getting lift added to the already drag we have on them in atmosphere...
This will be interesting indeed.

CHEERS!

 

[CosmicTrader]

Oh goodie.
I look forward to the Glorious Leader's video about this.
Of course there will be one, Drama is attracted to changes like this.
LOL

 

[Mich Angel]

And I missed one thing, that it's obvious the VTOL-hover mode does not go active in space when flying slow, unless you are over a area with G-forces dragging you down.
Like a asteroid with g-forces or inside a ship cargo/hangar/landing pads... etc.. etc...
Or it only become active once inside atmosphere on moons, planets...

More CHEERS!

 

[O-Lefty]

Thanks for this :)

I expect the Aurora and Connie with their VTOL fans to use power from the generator to hover rather than H fuel, so they may be the only ships in the verse that can hover indefinitely while other craft may have to land to conserve fuel or overheat.

That's my own expectation, no proof on it haha.

There are plenty other ships with VTOL capability that were started to be able to hover a lot longer than others, i.e. the Hercules and honestly I lost track of the others. Maybe not using the generator but the main thrusters don't currently have a fuel so we'll see how that goes.

My big beef with the info so far is that hover is on all the time when at slow speeds. I do not like taking control away from the pilot. There needs to be a hover toggle button.

 

[Vavrik]

My big beef with the info so far is that hover is on all the time when at slow speeds. I do not like talking control away from the pilot. There needs to be a hover toggle button.

At first, I had an argument against the hover toggle button for some ships, but then as I started to frame a reply, the argument dissolved. Even for the Prospector. There needs to be a button or toggle.

 

[Michael]

Added info 7., 8. and added something to 1., 5.

Currently Colsen wants to see how HM in 3.6 works and will then take some feedback on improving and adding additional complexity (See 7. )

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I agree there needs to be a toggle, but I also agree that waiting for 3.6 to drop is fine. Lets see how everything flies before we object.

Personally I hope they enable some ships to hover extremely well, and others not nearly so well. I don't think it's reasonable to see my beloved Vanguards hover as well as the Prowler, but of course the Prowler shouldn't be able to do aerobatics. Some ships with little hover and no airframe ought to be terrible to handle anywhere but space.