Hi all,
So I've been playing ED for about 2 months now (having been a fan of the originals) and have maanged to learn a great deal either from direct play or through the internet. I'm pretty comfortable with the aspects that I've encountered so far, but I have a bit of a "basic" question. Although I've never been able to find a decent answer to my question, so maybe it's not that basic after all...
So in the ships HUD you have the thrusters, which (in supercruise at least) is made up of four elements: 1) the blue bar, 2) the main bar, 3) the "pin" and 4) the thin bar on the right.
Firtsly, what I think I know: The blue bar represents the "sweet spot" for your thrusters, the main bar is your actual thrust, the pin is your throttle (or intended thrust) and the thin bar on the right is, well...it's...er...I have no idea what this is to be honest.
So, here's the thing. I set my throttle, the thruster moves up to match the pin (this could be gradual or pretty instant depending on the mass, and my location to, an astonomical object. It seems that in Supercruise the thin bar on the left creeps up and overtakes the pin, which then seems to increase my thrusters and the sweet spot. I'm assuming this happens when I'm well away from astronimical bodies and there is nothing to slow me down. Question1) Does the thin bar then represent some sort of external force (or absese of force) acting on my thrusters? Not sure....
Also, whenever you fall into a gravity well at speed, and get the "SLOW DOWN" message, the main thruster seems to go above the pin, even though your speed (shown in "C") decreases. If I am in fact BEING slowed down by an object, why does my thrust go above the pin and not go below it? (question 2)
I feel I'm missing something here and I'm sure it must make sense, but I cant seem to put my finger on it.
Question 3) Also, when approaching an astronomical object, I would have thought that I would in fact speed up and not slow down. I am not a phsics major (or even minor!), but I'm pretty sure sling-shot orbits are a real thing and that an objects speed would increase as it is sucked in. It almost feels like you are hitting an invisible wall as you apprach an object and your arrival time quite often gets stuck on 6 seconds....
If anyone knows of an article that properly explains the thruster HUD and its interplay with the four elements I've listed, then that would be really helpful.
Many thanks,
CMD Xx_Nanologue_xX