A PRIMER FOR FTL JUMPING USING A BATTLESTAR'S FTLD
Hi! First you'll need some MFD's, easily downloaded from OrbitHangar:
Attitude MFD by Chris Kenestrick
(I'm very sorry, but I just don't like the way that the newest "updated" version, now also available there, handles orientation or velocity matching ~ no disrepect intended for the updating-author. The original is slower, but more accurate)
JumpDrive MFD by "Face"
(This can actually be used, but bear in mind that the jump lengths are FIXED, i.e. you've got to know some basic trigonometric functions in order to arrive where you want to - whereas your trusty Battlestar can jump a distance that YOU designate)
I'm going to include in the body of this post a few links:
MY personal ride, the Galactica, with modifications that suit me:
http://home.comcast.net/~zephramcochrane/QJBay.dllThe Original Attitude MFD - sure, built by Chris' hand 4 years ago, but still a handy, invaluable tool):
http://home.comcast.net/~zephramcochrane/AttitudeMFD.dllBoth are in .dll format, just copy them to the proper directories, usually Modules/Plugin for the Attitude MFD, and just plain-old Modules for the
Galactica, within your base Orbiter directory
You start a scenario, and you're in your Battlestar: where to go? Well, bring up an Orbit MFD and an Attitude MFD, and use Shift-R to select a target on the Orbit MFD, and Shift-T to do the same on your Attitude MFD. On the Orbit MFD, once the target has been selected, hit Shift-H and you'll have the HUD changed to reflect your velocity w.r.t. your target. Point your ship at either the Prograde (cross-in-circle) or Retrograde (plain-cross) reticle, whichever is closer (doesn't matter which, in my Battlestar the retro-thrust is the same as forward-thrust).
Now you can cancel your relative velocity w.r.t. your target by either manually thrusting, or by using the Attitude MFD's function that does this upon your keying in Shift-NumPad-5. If you like to do it the old-fashioned way like I do, don't choose any fancy accelerated thrust - typically, you can walk away and get a drink or kiss your girlfriend for 20 minutes while your ship matches velocities. If you're in a rush, use time compression or one of my super-thrust modes:
S = standard thrust values, around 13.5 m/sec on a full tank of gas
C = "compressed" thrust, 10x the value of "Standard"
Shift-C = 100x
Shift-S = 1000x
The upper delta-V limit of my ride is about 240,000 km/sec before she runs out of gas - enough to get you to Neptune from Earth in a little over 10 hours, including deceleration... but then you've got no fuel! Jumping's cheaper and more fun anyway.
When you've matched velocities with your target, set the Attitude MFD to yaw-and-pitch-delta-v-holding-only (yeah, I don't know what it's REALLY called, lol): use Shift-NumPad-5 to turn OFF the previous command, then Shift-NumPad-7 so that your forward-and-reverse movement is not part of it's autopilot anymore. This is important because you need to apply thrust in order to Jump, and if you're using the MFD to cancel your total velocity (left, right, up, down, backwards and forwards), you won't be able to jump.
Hit another mode of thrust, the W key - this effectively reduces your forward thrust to nearly zero, so you can use the throttle to adjust your jump distance without radically changing your forward motion.
Now bring up Face's JumpDrive MFD. I don't use it for jumping, but you can if you like to see fuel get gobbled as a result, and you don't mind doing the math. It does, however, provide a great deal of useful info.
On the JumpDrive MFD, hit Shift-T to re-select your target, then Shift-U to display the target distance in meters. THIS number (format x.xxxx e(the exponent) is what you need to match in your Battlestar's upper left display for the Jump Distance, right down to the proper exponent.
On the JD MFD, now hit Shift-M (mode) twice - this gives your course offset, that is, how many degrees you're pointing away from it. You want to get this as close as possible to zero. You can start by getting fairly close, using the Attitude MFD: there, hit Shift-H (hold-mode), and it will slowly bring your lumbering ship to pointing to within a 10th of a degree at your target. You can hone this with small bursts of yaw/pitch/roll, using the Control-Key and the proper NumPad keys. Don't forget to shut OFF the Hold-Mode by hitting Shift-H again ~ otherwise, it'll keep bringing you off target. Another tool worth getting at OrbitHangar Downloads is
Absolute Killrot; this REALLY stops rotation/pitch/yaw so that there's no "drift" from the target you're pointed at.
Once you're close enough to being directly pointed at your target, hit the Main Thrust key (NumPad-+) (or push your throttle all the way). You won't go anywhere because you've hit "
W" previously, which doesn't give you any thrust, thhough the engine exhaust IS pretty
If using the NumPad - + method, hit a CTRL key while holding the "+" key down: this locks your throttle to full, and frees you up to do the following key command adjustments.
But now, with a full thrust setting, you can use the Keyboard 1,2,3,4 etc. keys to change your Jump Distance. Do whatever you have to to closely match the Distance-To-Target number in the JumpDrive MFD.
Once you're satisfied - - use Control-Keyboard-1 to BACK OFF on the distance a bit. Why? 'Cause, if you're anywhere as accurate as I'll bet you are, you'll jump right under the surface of the planet... the JumpDrive MFD give the distance to the CENTER of the target, NOT the SURFACE. A rule of thumb: < 1 AU away? Back off 4 key-taps of Control-Keyboard-1. < 10 AU? Use at least 2 taps. Each tap represents about 1500 kms difference with full thrust applied, so use your judgement. The JumpDrive MFD even give the target radius, but I'm too lazy to figure out where the decimal point is to give me kms, lol. Don't forget that you can up the Jump Drive Distance by a factor of 10 using the "U" key (divide it by 10 using the "D" key). Practice, you'll get the hang of it.
JUMP!
With any luck, you'll see the planet or moon you want to go to POP! right in front of you. Now it's up to you to put yourself in orbit!
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P.S. Another fun thing to do once you're there - I thought of this while doing some planetary ops with the Viper and Colonial One:
Point your Battlestar right at the planet/moon, right at it's center. Thrust until you're within a couple of hundred kilometers of the surface (higher is there's an offending atmosphere in the mix).
Come to a relative stop w.r.t. your planet/moon, then kill all thrust and freefall towards it.
While falling, extend your landing bays (you'll need 'em open when you return, you know!), use F3 to jump into a Viper, launch your Viper, and when you're clear of the ship, bring up the Orbit MFD and choose your Battlestar as the target (you'll already be listed, with info on the LEFT side - your Battlestar will have it's orbital info on the RIGHT side of the Orbit MFD, once you've selected it as a target).
Now hit Control-F4 to bring up the built in menu, the same one used to access the Scenario Editor. Choose the "Remote Vessel Plugin", and when the dialogue window pops up, choose your Battlestar as the vessel you wish to choose to control remotely. Use the thrust-sliders to Retro-Thrust your recently-departed Battlestar, and watch her back-the-hell-away from you! Using her info on the Orbit MFD, you can safely back her to an altitude that will require many minutes or hours to fall back down while you go planetside! And when you're ready to leave whatever base you've landed at, you can even use the remote control app again to bring the Battlestar closer to you, but still outside the atmosphere - unless you're going to pull an Adama Manouvre and save the human race - yet again!
Have tons of fun, and forgive any spelling mistakes!
Warmly,
ZCochrane
