Can we fly in capital ship gravity wakes like we could in XR?

[Tenlar Scarflame]

Haven't seen it discussed anywhere or mentioned in the Q/A, so - In X4, can small ships hang out in a larger ship's sphere of influence like we were able to in XR?

Personally I was a big fan of that - capitals with plenty of anti-fighter guns could absolutely still defend themselves, but fighters were at least able to execute some effective attacks against bigger ships without autopilot hobbling them into calling off their attack early. And hanging out in a capital ship's SOI with the Skunk, helicopter style, dodging return fire and picking off its guns was one of my favorite activities in a pitched battle.

[CBJ]

Haven't seen it discussed anywhere or mentioned in the Q/A, so - In X4, can small ships hang out in a larger ship's sphere of influence like we were able to in XR?

As things currently stand, yes. Incidentally, that wording is not intended to cast doubt on the feature, only to cover my back in case of unforeseen changes of plan that I'm not aware of!

[Tenlar Scarflame]

As things currently stand, yes. Incidentally, that wording is not intended to cast doubt on the feature, only to cover my back in case of unforeseen changes of plan that I'm not aware of!

Nice. Glad that part of XR is (most likely) making it over.

Hopefully that also means that fighters can path around stations as tightly as they could in Rebirth - trading shots with actually competent fighter pilots through the towers and traffic of Rebirth's gigantic space cities was cyberpunk as hell and I loved it. ^^

[mr.WHO]

I'm having a mixed feelings about the "gravity wave".

It does make close range surface elements destruction much easier (because you're more static in relation to target capital), but in the other hand it "feels" totally unrealistic/out of place.
Yeah I know this is Sci-Fi game with talking squids and lizzards, but still it feel like seeing my little ponies in horror film.

However looking at current video footage it looks like capships (Behemot I think) seems noticably faster and more agile than X-Rebirth, so "gravity wave" might be even more usefull, yet look even more strange.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

I'm having a mixed feelings about the "gravity wave".

It does make close range surface elements destruction much easier (because you're more static in relation to target capital), but in the other hand it "feels" totally unrealistic/out of place.
Yeah I know this is Sci-Fi game with talking squids and lizzards, but still it feel like seeing my little ponies in horror film.

However looking at current video footage it looks like capships (Behemot I think) seems noticably faster and more agile than X-Rebirth, so "gravity wave" might be even more usefull, yet look even more strange.

It's called a "gravity well." Objects in space have it. We just don't see it often in mainstream sci-fi movies. However, we don't know exactly how the gravity tech in the X-Universe works. Perhaps that is why the primary means of detection is not radar or LIDAR, but a gravidar.

[Len5]

I thought it wasn't gravity, but just software that operates the thrusters of your ship helping to keep you moving along with the capital ship.

[Tenlar Scarflame]

I'm having a mixed feelings about the "gravity wave".

It does make close range surface elements destruction much easier (because you're more static in relation to target capital), but in the other hand it "feels" totally unrealistic/out of place.
Yeah I know this is Sci-Fi game with talking squids and lizzards, but still it feel like seeing my little ponies in horror film.

However looking at current video footage it looks like capships (Behemot I think) seems noticably faster and more agile than X-Rebirth, so "gravity wave" might be even more usefull, yet look even more strange.

I think in-game though it's less of "your ship is caught in the gravity of this large object" and more "your ship has detected this large object nearby and is shifting the frame of reference for its movement to account for this large object's movement." Like Flight Assist ++.

It is a good point, though, that X4's big ships seem to be faster than they were in Rebirth. If an S-class ship is particularly sluggish, I imagine it might have trouble keeping up with a particularly zippy L-class ship's maneuvering.

[Alan Phipps]

So effectively an autopilot subroutine perhaps initially developed to facilitate manual docking and transfers by drones - but then military applications were found.

[mr.WHO]

I thought it wasn't gravity, but just software that operates the thrusters of your ship helping to keep you moving along with the capital ship.

Actually this would be something much more resonable than "gravity well" - especially if, like flight assist, could be turned on/off on demand.

[atavistuk]

I'm not sure why you'd ever want to turn it off, but... yeah sure if it's a flight assist feature.

[StoneLegionYT]

Haven't seen it discussed anywhere or mentioned in the Q/A, so - In X4, can small ships hang out in a larger ship's sphere of influence like we were able to in XR?

As things currently stand, yes. Incidentally, that wording is not intended to cast doubt on the feature, only to cover my back in case of unforeseen changes of plan that I'm not aware of!

Damn confirmed removed feature /s

[Tenlar Scarflame]

I'm not sure why you'd ever want to turn it off, but... yeah sure if it's a flight assist feature.

I could think of some reasons - if I'm in a fighter trying to get to the other side of a bunch of knife-fighting capital ships, I'd rather not have my flight assist re-assign my "up" every time I pass into a new frame of reference. That would be (and admittedly IS, in Rebirth) hella disorienting. But for its intended purpose of sticking to a specific capital ship without having to worry too much about it wheeling around and smacking you in the face, it's still super useful.

[Alci]

but in the other hand it "feels" totally unrealistic/out of place.

It might be a software (you would see thrusters while standing). Or it might be part of inertia dampening system (another problem in space). To mitigate inertia during thrusts and/or maneuvering so the crew doesn't end splattered on the walls there would need to be a field inside and most likely partially outside (you don't want to loose your antennas and such) that is working against it. Effectively letting objects stand in place even when ship is rotating for example. (Or my favorite idea: build a spheres as those are better shielded, need less material for everything, in space shape doesn't matter at all, and they can have gyroscope to protect it's core and/or create "cheap" 1g)

The thing about realism.. if you give it a little thought you will see nothing in space games/movies is right about the space. There won't be any dogfights ever. Or battleship shooting at each other at visible range. In real space you can't even match the speed if that matters. Or ever have "shield" that can somehow magically absorb energy or even projectile.

What you however have is pretty damn good optical targeting systems working for planetary wide distances. And the ability to shot a payload with theoretically unlimited energy at infinite distance no object can survive or mitigate the impact with. And it hits SOMETHING. If you miss it will just continue until it hits something somewhere. So long new civilization, good luck next time.

[Sandalpocalypse]

the big advantage is that it lets you fly close and do sweet maneuvers while simultaneously letting the capital ships move. If you look at most space games, the capital ships are nearly immobile; its the only way for fighters to play at Star Wars maneuvers at them. The gravity wake lets capital ships conduct reasonable maneuvers without making it very difficult for players to maneuver around them in interesting & rewarding ways.

[Chris0132]

If you want a justification, consider it an extension of whatever it is that stops everyone falling over on the bridge when you turn the boosters on.

[Alan Phipps]

Hmm, so it's a seatbelt extension. Just kidding.

[Tomonor]

This feature screams for more competent supporting ships/drones/anti-fighter surface turrets, though.

In XR it got pretty boring once you disabled the engines of a cap ship.

[sd_jasper]

This feature screams for more competent supporting ships/drones/anti-fighter surface turrets, though.

In XR it got pretty boring once you disabled the engines of a cap ship.

I'd like to see the comm towers actually mean something. It would be interesting if a disabled ship called for help, and the choice of taking out the engines (to prevent them running) or taking out the radar/comms, to prevent the chance of reinforcements, was up to the player. Of course it hacking remains in... and stays as powerful as it is in XR, then that's still going to be optimal choice (hack them and they are dead in the water... er, space). Maybe hacking should be by individual sub-system?

[Tenlar Scarflame]

This feature screams for more competent supporting ships/drones/anti-fighter surface turrets, though.

In XR it got pretty boring once you disabled the engines of a cap ship.

Yeahhhhh It DID get better after many rounds of patching, but in early XR capital ships would let fighters get away with all kinds of shenanigans before they'd finally wake up and attempt to return fire with whatever guns they had left.

Hopefully whatever logic drives big ship turrets is tightened up (and more configurable) this time around.