How low does your speed have to be for orbital cruise?

[Oedipus's Stepdad]

So far it's been anywhere between 50 km/h to less than 3 km/h; is it just completely different depending on planet? How can I know ahead of hand what speed I would need then?

[Donovan]

Originally posted by Oedipus's Stepdad:

So far it's been anywhere between 50 km/h to less than 3 km/h; is it just completely different depending on planet? How can I know ahead of hand what speed I would need then?

Check the right-hand part of your HUD, should have an indicator reflecting your current height and two others, "OC" and "DRP". "OC" is when you enter orbital cruise, "DRP" is when you'll drop and start orbital glide. You need to be down to 2.5km/s for orbital glide if that's what you're asking, and the height depends on the planet/atmo/etc.

[spam]

AFAIK it varies by planet but the time indicator is pretty consistent in that it needs to be kept to 6 seconds or more.

[Nitwoo]

5km/s and less is what you NEED to go into orbital glide. 2.5 is what it will force you down to during your glide.

Orbital cruise is a different matter, I do not know the exact speed, but I do know that if you drop your throttle in the blue when your nav computer gets to about the 7 or 8 second mark you will drop enough speed to enter orbit.

You need to pay attention to planet size though just like Donovan said. If it's tiny you will be going way too fast on entry and chances are, you'll trip your ship safeties and almost slam into it.

[Talonblaze]

I usually follow the 6 second rule for 50% throttle when approaching locations, but when aiming for a planetary port I usually drop throttle to 25% when entering the planet's circle rings.

Having done tons of T9 cargo grinds it seemed to work nicely as long as you pay attention to your pitch.

[frumple]

On some planets, even if you keep your throttle "safe" the gravity can still suck you in and make it impossible to slow down.
Sometimes it happens on low gravity planets.

Typically setting throttle no higher than the lowest "blue" tick is enough to ensure you have max speed without going too fast.
Sometimes you have to go one or two ticks lower.

If you're going too fast for the Glide, pull up and reduce speed, then circle around for another glide attempt.

[eVans]

Originally posted by frumple:

On some planets, even if you keep your throttle "safe" the gravity can still suck you in and make it impossible to slow down.
Sometimes it happens on low gravity planets.

Typically setting throttle no higher than the lowest "blue" tick is enough to ensure you have max speed without going too fast.
Sometimes you have to go one or two ticks lower.

If you're going too fast for the Glide, pull up and reduce speed, then circle around for another glide attempt.

An easy trick is to bind a key to 50% throttle and tap it every time TTA is about to drop below 6s
I love Mandalay because it can pitch so fast that even if you are approaching a planet with 3s TTA you can just do a corkscrew infront of the exclusion zone and slow down.