Is it me, or are the flight and jetpack controls incredibly frustrating?

[Sludge Judy]

I should preface - I never play driving games, and I am terrible at them as a result. That being said, I feel like the ship has no chill whatsoever. If I'm trying to get my bearings in space, I drift until I crash into something. When I land, I spin wildly out of control. I've crashed more times than I can count, and I feel like I don't even want to continue playing the game despite everyone telling me what a delight and joy it is. I really, really want to finish it, but I'm struggling with the ship so much that I am unable to enjoy it the way others do. I'm looking for some advice from people with more experience on flying this little f**ker. Inb4 "git good", because if this is not a problem for literally ANYONE else - well, I can't really believe that. The physics on that thing are just.. not great. Same goes with the jetpack physics. I find them extremely vexing.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I appreciate any help so I can fully appreciate this indie gem!

[Sludge Judy]

Ah yes, I forgot to mention - is there a fix for the inverted controls others and I simply am not seeing? I should also point out that my ship still crashes somehow using autopilot. Once, instead of flying me towards a planet, it drove immediately into the sun, lol.

[Psymon²]

So... there's this thing called gravity? i dunno...
slow down, a lot.
use the auto pilot to get close to a planet.
use the landing cam to touch down accurately and gently.

[Bobywan]

The autopilot will go straight to the selected planet even if there's another planet in the way or even the sun... so watch out for that.
once close to the planet, depending on the gravity (high gravity on giant's deep for instance), your ship will be attracted to it, so use the landing cam to control your speed and select a good spot for landing.

[Nert]

A core concept of the entire game is that it's realistic modelled physics, from your jumping to jetpack, to your ship, gravity, planet orbits, everything. The rules aren't perfectly accurate to real life, mostly to allow the planets to be so tiny and all, but they're pretty close. This is actually exactly what this kind of craft in space will handle like, and playing any similar kind of game even back to things like Lunar Lander will be familiar

A lot of people absolutely struggle with it at first, not many games use realistic physics for controls for this reason, but it should get easier pretty quickly. Crashing into things is far from uncommon, and since you have infinite lives and a new ship each loop, you can afford to take a yolo approach to gentle landings if it's easier

Smacking into things below about 200m/s should net you only cosmetic damage, below 400m/s and you should still be able to walk away but your ship might not. 80m/s and under I think is the goal for no damage, and your landing gear can take more of a beating than anything else

Make sure you take advantage of Match Velocity, as long as you have something targeted when you hold the button down it'll render you perfectly still in relation to your target (although if you're near something like a planet, then its gravity will have words the second you stop matching)

Autopilot does have a glaring flaw but as long as you steer clear of things like the sun before engaging it you'll be fine, and watching how it works can help get a handle on how to fly without relying on it - particularly that since there are no brakes in space, you probably need to start slowing down at the halfway point rather than only the end of the journey

[Sludge Judy]

Wow, thank you all for your replies! I really appreciate it. I noticed it functioned like real physics on my stream, so it was definitely a struggle to approach as most games are more forgiving in that regard. That being said, I haven't given up!

[Nert]

Glad to hear it!

Can also think of it as thematic! This is the story of this graceful advanced space race, being delicately uncovered by a race of daredevil idiots crashing through the wall with spaceships made of wood, duct tape and rocket fuel.

[Sludge Judy]

I'm so relieved to know that crashing incessantly is part of the experience, lmao! At the very least, mastering this game will teach me patience and much more driving control in other games. It really sounds like a worthwhile experience. I'm the kind of person who makes overly wide turns and crashes into sh**. No shame, hahah. Without spoiling too much, do I ever get the chance to upgrade it?

[Bobywan]

Originally posted by Eldritch Horror Waifu:

I'm so relieved to know that crashing incessantly is part of the experience, lmao! At the very least, mastering this game will teach me patience and much more driving control in other games. It really sounds like a worthwhile experience. I'm the kind of person who makes overly wide turns and crashes into sh**. No shame, hahah. Without spoiling too much, do I ever get the chance to upgrade it?

No upgrade, no skill (except meditating till the next loop), just new knowledge to progress the story.

[CrazyJayBe]

I'll try not to brag too much here. When I first started the game, I was also crashing into things a lot and had a hard time with the Newtonian physics. But, just like riding a bike, you fall, crash, get up, try again, and suddenly you're a pro.

BTW, I just landed on the Sun Station only wearing a suit.

whoops, sorry, meant not to brag.

[Bobywan]

The control are great, you have to understand how acceleration and speed works, that's all.
With your ship you can accelerate and since there's no atmosphere in space, you can reach huge speed, there's actually no real limit to speed in the game as far as I know...
Which mean that once you accelerate for 10 sec in one direction, you will have to accelerate for 10 sec in the opposite direction to stop (that's exactly how the autopilot works, positionning then 50% acceleration, 50% brake)

+ the gravity of the planets and the sun will attract you more (the sun, giant's deep have huge gravition pull) or less (the attlerock) toward them

So you won't be able to stay in orbit around a planet unless you use some occasional acceleration (like real satelites)

[metshaz]

I must be in a minority. Spent over 3 hours with the game (yes I know that's not a lot) but I feel it puts too much on you too soon. I play games to enjoy them and have fun, this didn't do it for me, found the whole thing hugely frustrating. So glad I tried it on xbox before buying it for Steam Deck.

[Besada]

I fully agree that the controls can be immensely frustrating. I played the game for a couple of hours, but couldn't get to grips with it at all. I understand how the realistic physics works using gravity and inertia, but understanding doesn't really enable me to control the ship/player in any manageable way. I have no problem with other 'realistic physics' games, but I think the effect is massively amplified in OW due to the small scale. Unplayable for me; just had to uninstall it in the end. Shame, as the story seemed really interesting.

Just a note on Steam refunds, I wasn't aware but the limit is 2 hours' play and the game has to have been purchased in the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately I played for 2h24m, and bought it months ago in the summer sale before playing it, so not eligible for refund... lesson learned!

[Klauth]

Myself shelved the game until now for the same reason stated above.

However, now being more perseverant now paid off.

Yes, the controls are frustrating for mouse/kB players, in part because the game is meant to be played with a controller.

What I did is: lower mouse sensitivity to the lowest levels, otherwise 1mm movement will insta rotate me 180 degrees, learn and go slowly.
Oh, yes, and the Dev ship episode is not achievable with mouse/kB, so don't stop here, the real ship navigation is far easier!

[Besada]

Originally posted by Mohguy:

If you feel that the game interests you or intrigues you, I strongly advise you to try again because it is worth it.
And no longer playing a game just for a question of control which seems to me (personally) really far from being insurmountable, it's frustrating when you know the quality of the game, and even more since you say that the game liked.

Thanks, your reply was helpful. Given that I couldn't get a refund, it will sit in my library and I may reinstall to have another go at the controls. I had already used match velocity and autopilot with the rocket, which helped... but there are no equivalent aids with the jetpack. I probably spent most of my time trying to jump from one disappearing wooden ledge to the next, with very little success, and then struggling with the jetpack in space afterwards. It's immensely frustrating knowing where you want to go, but being unable to manoeuvre with any degree of competence. As I say, I understand the physics, but that doesn't translate to being able to move in a controllable manner.

The story was definitely intriguing, and for this, the high review scores, and your comment, I may try again at some point.

[SMJSMOK]

Originally posted by Besada:

I had already used match velocity and autopilot with the rocket, which helped... but there are no equivalent aids with the jetpack. I probably spent most of my time trying to jump from one disappearing wooden ledge to the next, with very little success, and then struggling with the jetpack in space afterwards. It's immensely frustrating knowing where you want to go, but being unable to manoeuvre with any degree of competence. As I say, I understand the physics, but that doesn't translate to being able to move in a controllable manner.

Match velocity works with the jetpack too (I've just checked before writing this). It comes in handy in space. I found that most people who have issues with flying in this game aren't using the match velocity enough (it's really useful for landing with the ship, for example).

As for mastering the jetpack controls, I suggest trying out the following. Dedicate one entire loop to landing on a planet (Ember Twin and Brittle Hollow are good for this) and just screwing around with the jetpack. Try jumping over canyons, try hitting precise landing spots etc. If you do one such "lesson" on both of the mentioned planets, you'll be a jetpack master in no time.