Failing the Tutorial

[Regicide]

Hey guys,

since I'm absolutley a fan of space games and astronomy itself, I thought I really would have a lot of fun with this game.

But I'm not even able to finish the tutorial. Can't belive it myself.

I know there is "no air friction" in space, but for gods sake if I fire my thrusters, pointing to an object, the mass "normally" will start approaching that point, right?

These orbital movement did look interesting, but I don't know why my ship is staying always at the same place, while only the whole rest of my "orbit" is changing. What I mean is: I was close to the asteroid I should travel to. It was probably right next to me, but my orbit didn't match the orbit of the asteroid. So sooner or later I will crash into it. Well, I was then trying for 30 Minutes to get the same orbit, while staying close to the roid.

Absolutley impossible. My orbit did change if I accelerate, yeah, in every possible direction, but simply not in that direction I wanted: Straight fu*** foward to the roid.

I tried then the features for automatic movement and auto pilot for stable orbiting. But even then it was impossible for me to get the same orbit as the roid, close TO the roid.

I'm feeling like a bloody noob and it was one hour of heavy frustrating gameplay.

So my suggestion would be to explain the orbiting mechanics a little bit more in the tutorial instead of just say "try to match the orange arrow with the white arrow". Because I tried, but failed hard because I didn't know in which directions I have to thrust to manage that.

Well, I'm sure it's a great game since it has a lot of positive ratings. But I feel sad, because I love space games and played a lot of them (Space Engineers for example, where you also have to deal with the Vaccuum and special controls) but I don't understand the controls of this one.

[Artaani]

Hello. We are sorry that you are disappointed.

Make note that the game contain two separated physics model for various group of users.
Currently tutorial available only for "orbital mode". But also you can start a new game and select "aerodynamic mode" which is much more familiar for most users. Tutorial for this mode will be added later, but you should be able to figure out how to play just reading a tool tips on the interface elements.

Now let's try to figure out what a problem with orbital mode.
Actually don't try to match trajectories. Basically "white and yellow pointers" it is all what you need to navigate your ship in most cases.

So the main problem is: "because I didn't know in which directions I have to thrust to manage that.", correct?

It is quite simple. Imagine a arrow which is directed from the end of yellow line to the end of white line - this is a direction where you should toward your ship and fire engine in order to start approach to the target.

[Artaani]

There is a picture for better explanation
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1186799984&fileuploadsuccess=1

[Regicide]

Hello Artaani, thank you for your answer!

That was very helpful and interesting. I will give it another try, thanks! :-)

[D3matt]

Why is the developer of a game whose core feature is orbital mechanics giving advice that is completely counter to how orbital mechanics work? Just velocity matching will only work if you're very, very close. Otherwise you do, in fact, need to match trajectories and adjust orbits.

[Artaani]

You are correct. This is why I said "in most cases". Of course, of you need to catch an object on another side of the planet, it will be more complex, but it is hard to explain using only a words, so we better will add interactive tutorial in the game a bit later.

[Regicide]

At least, it's very nice to get some direct and professional help from a dev. This happens to me twice by now and I own over 100 EarlyAccess games. So no reason to blame here

[Artaani]

Thanks you. We glad you like it : )

[fox]

I dont think you understand how orbital mechanics work. You should stick to the non-realistic mode :)

[Lemodile]

Originally posted by Zapstone:

I dont think you understand how orbital mechanics work. You should stick to the non-realistic mode :)

It's easy enough to learn, especially in CC since it's all so scaled down. For reference, I've also written some basic info on lowering/raising your orbit and using this to rendezvous with objects/ships in the getting started guide.

[facciola007]

Please sticky this!

[skatche]

I'm assuming you were able to catch the asteroids at the start of the tutorial. The space station is harder to reach, as orbital mechanics are difficult and counterintuitive. Here's what I suggest: rather than just heading straight for it as soon as it appears, adjust your orbit to be higher than the space station's. You can do this by thrusting toward or away from your orbital trajectory. Get your apoapsis ("A" on the screen) higher, and then when you reach it thrust in the direction of your orbit to raise your periapsis ("P") higher as well. Now the station will eventually "lap" you. When it's getting close, thrust opposite your trajectory to start a descent. If you time it right, you should end up close enough to the station that you can use more familiar tactics to close the distance. With some practice, you can learn to compensate for the gravitational effects: if you want to speed up your trajectory, you should thrust planetward of where you intend to go; if you want to slow it down, aim a bit away from the planet. Good luck!

To the developers: I did find it a bit annoying that I couldn't restart the tutorial from the space station bit. If I failed and then respawned, the space station was seemingly gone. So I had to go through the camera controls, chasing the asteroids, etc. all over again.

[Artaani]

Originally posted by skatche:

To the developers: I did find it a bit annoying that I couldn't restart the tutorial from the space station bit. If I failed and then respawned, the space station was seemingly gone. So I had to go through the camera controls, chasing the asteroids, etc. all over again.

Good point. Soon we plan to redesign a tutorial, so it will consist from several mini tutorial levels, each about specific aspect. Movement, trading, combat, orbital mechnaics etc.
This should solve an issue.