First Impressions

[peetpoots]

Hi! So I've played for 7.5 hours today from download onward, on the recommendation of BlackMaze. I did crash a few times in the beginning, setting up my binds and then getting used to the game. My VTOL landings frequently scrape the paint, and I have no knowledge of orbital mechanics, so my initial orbital flights were largely guesswork, and I watched some videos. I tend to let the station shoot past me in a higher orbit, then catch up to it with minimal use of thrust, because fuel is so scarce and those powerful main engines use so much of it. I once overshot and stranded myself in a decaying orbit, fuel in the red, I lost hope and took the easy way out (retry.) The experience of approaching the station and docking is sublime, and I really enjoyed it. I am very grateful for this game, thank you for making it! Oh, I do have a request: could we have a cut power to main engines button (or even, the amount of power we give to main engines control, and thus fuel usage.) Why is such a button necessary? I use a dual stick VKB HOSAS setup, and have RCS thrust set to same axis as main thrusters, and so close manoeuvring is very difficult and I've had a few bumps, as I shoot forward instead of lightly move forward. If I could reduce power of main engines to 0, I could overcome this, and just use retrothrusters. So in sum, I am going to sink a ton more practice into this game and get really good.

[peetpoots]

Also, I absolutely love this game, well done! Thanks again for making it!

[peetpoots]

Also how about an economy for Free Mode, so we can search trade prices while docked and go different places to buy and sell? Fuel tank upgrade would be cool, you know, we could stack a few fuel tanks on the back for Free Mode and we've got some additional mass but who cares we've got jet powered engines. Just some ideas, it's your game though dude go with your vision :)

[GeneraluStelaru]

Approaching a station in this game always requires a bit of guesswork.

Having played KSP, I certainly miss its orbital tools. But coming from near-perfect information to having to rely entirely on limited orbital data and your eyesight is very thrilling if you know what you're doing.

I recommend trying KSP1 if you haven't already. It has a couple of tutorial missions that deal with orbital approaches which are universally helpful. You'll learn how to manipulate your orbit efficiently and when to switch to the target's frame of reference -- mechanically in KSP, but also achievable in Flight of Nova, with the aforementioned guesswork, of course.

Let me tell you, the ships in Flight of Nova are mindblowingly fuel-efficient. If you're struggling while having launched with a full tank, you must be doing something wrong.