How to put things below ecliptic

[bonalste]

Please can someone help me?

I haven't yet found a way to order ships above or below the ecliptic to specific locations. Usually this isn't a problem because, when required on ship delivery missions, I simply teleport into them and fly there manually. However I've now come to an impasse with a mission to build a station below the ecliptic and I can't find a method of putting the plot into the required location.

There must be a key for this, but I can't find it. Could someone please point me in the right direction? This is driving me nuts.

Thanks

[paraskous]

Tilt the map 90 degrees then drag the plot blueprint down.

[bonalste]

Tilt the map 90 degrees then drag the plot blueprint down.

I'm trying to put the plot itself, not the blueprint, below the ecliptic. Are you saying that the only way of building a station there is to create a huge blueprint with a massive vertical profile, then build the station at the bottom of it? That's surely not the only way.

To clarify, tilting the map 90 degrees doesn't allow me to move the plot anywhere other than along the horizontal plane of the ecliptic.

[paraskous]

Tilt the map 90 degrees then drag the plot blueprint down.

I'm trying to put the plot itself, not the blueprint, below the ecliptic. Are you saying that the only way of building a station there is to create a huge blueprint with a massive vertical profile, then build the station at the bottom of it? That's surely not the only way.

To clarify, tilting the map 90 degrees doesn't allow me to move the plot anywhere other than along the horizontal plane of the ecliptic.

Really? I could have sworn it works just like ordering ships over or below the plane. Sometimes the plot refuses to be moved at all for me - for reasons unknown. then I delete it and define a new one - ususally that works for me

[grapedog]

place the plot on the map, then tilt the map so you're level... like you're standing on it looking over your future kingdom. not rotating the map, but actually tilting it. then grab the plot again, and drag down with your mouse, or up. That is how you move stuff above or below the ecliptic.

[bonalste]

Tilt the map 90 degrees then drag the plot blueprint down.

I'm trying to put the plot itself, not the blueprint, below the ecliptic. Are you saying that the only way of building a station there is to create a huge blueprint with a massive vertical profile, then build the station at the bottom of it? That's surely not the only way.

To clarify, tilting the map 90 degrees doesn't allow me to move the plot anywhere other than along the horizontal plane of the ecliptic.

Really? I could have sworn it works just like ordering ships over or below the plane. Sometimes the plot refuses to be moved at all for me - for reasons unknown. then I delete it and define a new one - ususally that works for me

But I can't order ships above or below the ecliptic. If I tilt it 90°, trying to move the mouse cursor or anything else does nothing. I cannot move anything above or below the ecliptic. Is there a special key binding you have set up for this?

place the plot on the map, then tilt the map so you're level... like you're standing on it looking over your future kingdom. not rotating the map, but actually tilting it. then grab the plot again, and drag down with your mouse, or up. That is how you move stuff above or below the ecliptic.

This just doesn't work. If I place a plot, it acts like a station: it can't be moved.

[Baddieus]

Sometimes we all just need step by step directions ... I hope these help.

Step 1 - Enter the buy plot / build menu over the preferred space
Step 2 - Single click the map in the general area you want the plot
Step 3 - Right-click & hold to rotate the map downward, around, on it's side, or back up top view
Step 4 - Left-Click & hold the plot icon to drag it up, down, or sideways
... repeat steps 3 & 4 until the center of the plot is in the desired location
Step 5 - Use the build menu (still open, never closed) to expand the size of the plot as desired
Step 6 - Buy the license if in anyone else's space (if you can afford a station, you can afford this)
Step 7 - Click Confirm in the build menu

=Baddieus=

[Jeraal]

@bonalste It should work like grapedog says. I have had times where the box around the station icon disappears when you place the plot. No box means no moving the plot. I usually cancel the process(do not buy license), close all screens and start again. Once you buy the license, you can't move the plot.

The process should be: Select size of your plot. Place it as close to target area as possible. DO NOT BUY LICENSE YET. Click and hold right mouse and drag down/up to tilt the map. Click and hold left mouse on box. Then drag up or down. When you have it where you want, then you can buy license.

Moving ships up and down is similar. Works best when you pause the game. Order your ship to a desired location. Then click and hold right mouse button and drag down/up to tilt the map. Then left click and hold on the destination icon and drag it up or down. If done correctly you should see a grey dot on the ecliptic plane with a grey line going up or down to the destination icon.

[paraskous]

As long as you dont confirm the placement you can move the plot, including up and down the z-axis but you need to tilt the map to make anything move along the z axis. It is the only way I know of. No keybinds exist for that.

[Fishille]

I made the novice mistake on my first attempt to complete the station mission. I now have a station right about the station I completed for the mission. The 3rd box of the station plot moves on the x,y,z access relative to where you are looking at. It’s very similar to direction directional commands in Eve Online for me and was able to get over it quickly, however having working in computer assisted graphics, being able to have the XYZ coordinate requirement of the location and then being able to type the XYZ to play it would have been easy.
I hope you are able to figure it out, I am sure there’s a YouTube video on it somewhere.

[grapedog]

I've had it happen on occasion where a plot once placed cannot be moved. Just delete the plot from your plot list, and replace the plot, then it should work fine.

[bonalste]

Sometimes we all just need step by step directions ... I hope these help.

Step 1 - Enter the buy plot / build menu over the preferred space
Step 2 - Single click the map in the general area you want the plot
Step 3 - Right-click & hold to rotate the map downward, around, on it's side, or back up top view
Step 4 - Left-Click & hold the plot icon to drag it up, down, or sideways
... repeat steps 3 & 4 until the center of the plot is in the desired location
Step 5 - Use the build menu (still open, never closed) to expand the size of the plot as desired
Step 6 - Buy the license if in anyone else's space (if you can afford a station, you can afford this)
Step 7 - Click Confirm in the build menu

=Baddieus=

Thank you! This was perfect. I've been scratching my head over this for the entire 6 game days I've been playing. Thank you so much.

@bonalste It should work like grapedog says. I have had times where the box around the station icon disappears when you place the plot. No box means no moving the plot. I usually cancel the process(do not buy license), close all screens and start again. Once you buy the license, you can't move the plot.

The process should be: Select size of your plot. Place it as close to target area as possible. DO NOT BUY LICENSE YET. Click and hold right mouse and drag down/up to tilt the map. Click and hold left mouse on box. Then drag up or down. When you have it where you want, then you can buy license.

Moving ships up and down is similar. Works best when you pause the game. Order your ship to a desired location. Then click and hold right mouse button and drag down/up to tilt the map. Then left click and hold on the destination icon and drag it up or down. If done correctly you should see a grey dot on the ecliptic plane with a grey line going up or down to the destination icon.

Yes this worked perfectly! I couldn't work out at all how to put ships below the ecliptic - I never cnsoderedplacng the marker in the ecliptic then moving it below afterwards. It worked just as you said.

Thanks everyone for helping me out here. I didn't find it clear at all! But you've unmuddied the waters, so thank you.

[Morat1413]

Thank you so much! Been playing for ages and just had my first failed build mission. Never occurred to me that the target location was off the ecliptic. Duh! Space is three dimensional. I know better for next time. Must have been incredibly lucky the first ten times or so...