Okay, since there seem to have been severe misunderstandings about my intentions in my first prayer wheel, I'll say it again in easier words:
This thread is not me asking for advice how to pay a pirate or me asking for advice about how to hire an escort. I know to do both quite okay and will come to that topic later.
It's a tutorial. I am merely telling you how I am driving my transports, with all the tricks that I found to be useful. You don't need to agree with me, but you can neverless use this information to your advantage (even if you plan to pirate me).
If you are not interested in how I drive a transport, this tutorial is not for you. Go somewhere else. If you are, keep on reading.
In case you want to comment it, please do it in the related discussion-thread; you'll find the link in the post above (or here).
' Wrote:for those who missed it: the moral of it all is ----> traders with teeth are fun for pirates. - within reason.
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]The first part is about orientation. While orientation is easy if nothing goes wrong, it can become a complete mess if you have to do evasive maneuvers and thus doom your transport just because you lost your destination out of sight.
Part 1 Moving cargo from point A to point B in the same system without tradelanes
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]1. You are at point A and want to move cargo to point B in the same system
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]2. Given that you know what you want to ship from A to B, you load that commodity into your hold
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]3. Open your map and set the course to your destination. If you can go in a straight line you can simply use the function that would take you through tradelanes if there were any. If you can't, use nav-points to go around critical areas (fields, hostile bases, trade-lanes). The last point would have to be close to your destination rather than on it in this case. Let's suggest you decide to travel in a straight line.
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]4. Undock, target your destination-point and start your cruise-engines to move there.
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]5. Right after you started your cruise-engines, use backview to target the base where you undocked from.
This base will be shown in your lower left HUD with its distance to your ship top of the list. Right underneath it there will be your destination-point with the distance as well.
<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%]
If you look at the two distances, you can see exactly where your position is on that line from the first point to the second. After you have reached the middle of the lap, the two points will change place from top to bottom and vice versa.
This is important, because it enables you to do two things if you encounter problems:
1. While you can not know what is in front of your ship, you know what is behind you. Pressing "F2" will instantly turn your ship around and bring it back close to the base (Safe Docking Point) where you undocked from. A look at your lower left HUD will tell you if your destination is closer than the SDP where you came from. You can choose right away if you better move back or go on.
2. Going back is the worst option, because you failed to reach your destination. If you decide not to turn around, your ship will always be orientated towards your destination. No matter what else you target for scanning or which maneuvers you do, it will always point its nose towards your next SDP.
' Wrote:for those who missed it: the moral of it all is ----> traders with teeth are fun for pirates. - within reason.
Part 1 Same as the above, but this time with trade-lanes
You can do the same trick while using a trade-lane:
1. Plot your course through the lanes
2. Enter lane-docking-routine
3. After you pass the first gate, you will loose it as a target. Use backview to target it again. Now you can see in your lower left HUD exactly where in the lane you are.
As a special treat you can do a lane-flip-maneuver, which will take you out of trouble's reach very fast. Preparation and execution of the flip can be seen in this small video:
As you might have noticed, the incoming contact did not take down the lane but came in from the other direction and was also dropped out by the disrupted gate.
With a little practise it's easy to see if a ship is moving in the lane, next to a lane or standing still right next to it.
You have to do the backview-targeting again after entering the next lane, of course.
' Wrote:for those who missed it: the moral of it all is ----> traders with teeth are fun for pirates. - within reason.