How will the new flight model affect low-altitude flying, where strafing and sideways maneuvers matter?asked by Depschy
TL;DRWith the new flight model, hovering and 6-DOF flight in atmosphere will only work at low speed, since thrusters are weak and aerodynamics dominate at higher speeds, so low flying will need a different approach and vary by ship.
Heya,
from what we see from the current NFM tuning there will definitely be differences. In general in atmo hovering and 6-DOF flying will only be possible when you're relatively slow (i.e. below stall speed). Once you are fast enough that the control surfaces are start to have an effect, the lateral and vertical thrusters won't do much. First of all the thrusters are a lot weaker in atmo anyways (heavily limiting the thrust output) and second the drag from lateral and vertical movement will just slow you down further. So do not expect a lot of strafing during high speed atmo flying, the forces from the aerodynamics are just too strong for that and they vastly outperform the thrusters (like in the real world). That will of course vary between ships (some ships are better at atmo flying than others, there are differences in thruster efficencies, etc.) but NFM overall requires a different approach to low flying as the model has changed.
It will definitely be more interesting though, especially considering that you can turn off all flight assists that keep you safe(ish). I really look forward to see Terada and all those other crazy fliers fully utilizing this.