Useful technique.

Sun Mar 09, 2003 1:24 am by DVC

I came up with this technique for making your travel more efficient and escaping hairy situations. This might be a no-brainer and -everyone- is probably doing it anyway, but on the off chance only a few people have figured it out I thought I'd share it.

I call it "hotlaning" (stupid name I know but I had to call it something). When you take off from a planet or emerge from a jump gate or transit lane, select the next transit lane you're going to enter and then hit your cruise engines. As you approach the lane take note of which is the incoming and which is the outgoing channel. The outgoing one will have green lights on each of the 4 sections of the lane and the incoming channel has red lights (if you hadn't already noticed).

Steer for the channel which has the green lights and fly straight into it. As you're entering it, wait until the 4 gate sections are -just- about to disappear from the corners of your screen and then hit F3 at the last instant to dock with it. If you get your timing right you'll be propelled from full cruise into the transit lane instantaneously.

It's not only quicker for getting around in general (which can save you time - especially when running perishables) but you'll no longer be vulnurable for those few crucial seconds when the autopilot is slowly lining you up after you've arrived out of another lane or a jumpgate with enemies shooting at you.

If this is common technique and already has a name let me know so I don't go around embarrassing myself.

Edited by - DVC on 09-03-2003 01:26:45

Sun Mar 09, 2003 1:33 am by ElectricBrain

It's common but i dont think theres a name for it, until now. LOL. Hotlaning it is!

Sun Mar 09, 2003 1:37 am by Phoenix

i do that often occasionally the autopilot takes me out then back in again.. you can do that with docking on planets too...(only planets i think) I will call it..hotdocking

Phoenix out

From this celestial bough all but one did fall into the pitiless fires of reach.
A soldier’s ignominy to have dreamt while his brothers bled. But oh, for the rest of us his shame was our salvation.

Sun Mar 09, 2003 2:07 am by Lev Arris

I call it "hotlaning" (stupid name I know but I had to call it something).

Hey!! That's my invention! I'm using this technique for about two weeks now and made up exactly this name for it. I also made up "hot docking" (you get it? hot docking? hot dog?

). A friend of mine already laughed about these terms. Hm...this is funny and strange at the same time. Must be telepathy, or maybe it's just plain obvious to call it that way. Dunno.

-------------

"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

Edited by - Lev Arris on 09-03-2003 02:09:04

Sun Mar 09, 2003 3:52 am by Bullethead

Good tip, thanks

. Too bad it won't work well on bases because they have those hangar doors in the way of a hot landing.

On this sort of subject, I thought of something at work today but I havein't tried yet. Basically, it's exploiting the 3d dimension while traveling. It seems that all the places badguys hang out, like debris fields and such, aren't very thick vertically. It occurs to me that you could perhaps fly well over (or under) them to get directly above (or below) the waypoint deep within the field, then drop in, do your thing, and get out vertically again. This way, you'd avoid all the random encounters between you and your destination (assuming these are fixed in the planar area), and navigation would be easier because you could still see external landmarks like planets and stars, without all the junk blocking your view from inside the field.

I bet this doesn't work. I bet the universe has a low ceiling to keep everybody in essentially a 2D universe. But I"m going to try it in a few minutes

-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

Sun Mar 09, 2003 3:58 am by Lev Arris

I always do that when i'm smuggling. There is a little activity above and below the normal system plane, though, but it's much more unlikely to be scanned by someone for contraband up/down there. I fly to my destination that way and dive/rise directly to the station/docking ring. Works great. I've yet to be caught with illegal stuff onboard.

-------------

"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

Mon Mar 10, 2003 3:08 am by Keyvin

See, that red light, green light thing escaped my notice, but I do try and fly straight into the lane, except half the time, I choose the wrong end and wind up having to wait for autopilot anyways..

Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:01 am by DVC

You can actually hot dock, too. Just sneak in behind those doors from the side, or hit F3 just before you hit them. The same works with jumpgates (hot jumping?) just burn straight at the gate and before you fly into the small aperture in the front when the gate his closed and hit F3. You'll jump straight away before the gate doors even open.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:45 am by Ender0910

yeah i've been using this tactic too.

although once i was being chased by 8 enemies all stronger than me speeding towards a jump gate. i was like "YES I WILL MAKE IT" and hotdocked w/ the jump gate. i went from 200 m/s to 0 and it was like "pattern is full, waiting in queue"

i died

Mon Mar 10, 2003 9:08 am by greencardlottery

that is why i mapped the Free flight to the '~' key next to the number one key.

That way, when you get the queue is full, just, switch to free flight and a short boost to get out.

also remapped cruise engines to caps lock as it is clumsy to press shift-w.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:00 am by Comont54

ahhhh, nice name, been using this for a few days now, i dont go around telling people but i call it Catapulting because it catapults you through the lane in a instant

oh yeah, and have you guys seen those huge backlogs of traders heading into some systems? i was heading to manchester yesterday, like 5 hackers in daggers hot on my tail, and i stop by the gate and had to wait for like 10 slow-as-molasses traders to go into the damn gate, and whenever i heard "looks like were not the only ones heading to the manchester system" or whatever man, i go and flip out, feel like busting a sunslayer right up that morons ass

Edited by - Comont54 on 10-03-2003 11:04:09

Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:33 am by RoomTemp

I discovered that technique very early on too.
My sniglet for it was "lane slamming" and "gate slamming"
While perhaps not as accurate as "hot docking", I still like the sound better.
More viceral, violent, and panicky. (closer to how I feel when a dozen hessians want to open up my hunchback and steal my goodies)

A definate must know trick, especially for freighter captains.

So punch up the cruise key and slam those gates!

Tue Mar 11, 2003 2:16 am by yahoo714

haha thats a better name than what i had... "easy slide"

Tue Mar 11, 2003 9:46 am by FutZ

Another suggestion that helps if your in a big hurry and you get that frighter infront of you that is first in que... just click on them (if they are neutral) and hit F4 to join formation and you ride through with them instead of waiting. But then again maybe some people are more willing to wait.

Edited by - FutZ on 11-03-2003 09:47:07

Wed Mar 12, 2003 3:33 am by Bullethead

Excellent idea, Futz. I'd probably have never thought of using formation on the guys ahead of me in line

.

Anyway, the further I progress into the game, the less I use tradelanes. I do most of my traveling cruising WAY above the system's orbital plane. Yup, this technique is the best way to avoid unwelcome attention from outlaws or John Law. You hardly ever meet anybody up there and you have no trouble outrunning them. For some reason, they don't seem to fire cruise disruptors at you if you're already in cruise, so maybe that's keyed off you hitting the cruise command in their presence. At worst, I get a few negligible gunshot wounds that heal before I'm out of sight of them.

Traveling this way is great for locating outlaw bases and jump holes. Look on your map for where a bunch of enemy patrol routes intersect. That's pretty much guaranteed to be one or the other. Put a waypoint on the intersection and keep its icon right at the bottom edge of your screen so you're headed in the right direction, just way above. When you see on the nav map that you're right over it, dive down to it. Thus, you avoid the patrol routes in the system's plane. This technique is also good for going to shipwrecks and similar things.

-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

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