For those of you that have tried my "spaceflight" gauges (file rcbsa-10.zip, addition to the "Atlantis" SpaceShuttle): I nearly finished a new version with some major additions:
1. It now supports flying/landing/taxiing on *moving* space carriers (like Tim Conrad's ACV15), initiated by the AICarriers2 program.
Either in "STOL" or "VTOL" mode.
Allthough AICarriers2 was intended to generate AI aircraft carrier traffic for Carrier Operations, it can be perfectly configured to lauch "space carriers" flying at eg. 250 knots and 900.000 ft altitude.
There's only one real limitation: when the underlying surface is/becomes "land" instead of "water", the AI "space carrier" stops
.
Also, the space Navigator gauge now fully supports moving space AI too; you can find/select/track the AI object, and fly towards it by following the Navigator gauge's "Needles" (like an ILS) for Heading and Pitch attitude.
Using the realworld "Great Circle Navigation" formulae. So you can fly the shortest route between your aircraft and the "space carrier"; even if you're 6000 nmiles (in distance) and 900.000 ft (difference in Altitude) away.
2. The inherent FSX speed limitation of 2666 Knots remains; however, on "long-haul" flights in space, you can easily fly in higher SimRates because things like control sensitivity, ac(de-)cellerations are now depending on SimRate.
I.e.: flying at max. FSX speed with SimRate 8x gives you the immersion of flying at 21000 Knots (groundspeed, relative to the Earth's surface)
3. Making an Autopilot, given 1. and 2. was a piece-of-cake
Just as an example:
- Use AICarriers2, to setup a moving AI "space carrier" flying from Japan, over the Pacific Ocean.
- Load a flight, with the Atlantis spaceshuttle setup for a launch at KennedySpaceCenter.
- Launch, and after entering "space", select the target AIcarrier in the Navigator.
- Activate the AutoPilot in the Navigator gauge.
- The aircraft will now fly directly to the target, just following the "Needles" like you would manually. At any SimRat
If you are unfamiliar with all this stuff, and are interrested, please search/read my thread a few months back on "spaceflight".
Cheers,
Rob Barendregt
1. It now supports flying/landing/taxiing on *moving* space carriers (like Tim Conrad's ACV15), initiated by the AICarriers2 program.
Either in "STOL" or "VTOL" mode.
Allthough AICarriers2 was intended to generate AI aircraft carrier traffic for Carrier Operations, it can be perfectly configured to lauch "space carriers" flying at eg. 250 knots and 900.000 ft altitude.
There's only one real limitation: when the underlying surface is/becomes "land" instead of "water", the AI "space carrier" stops
.Also, the space Navigator gauge now fully supports moving space AI too; you can find/select/track the AI object, and fly towards it by following the Navigator gauge's "Needles" (like an ILS) for Heading and Pitch attitude.
Using the realworld "Great Circle Navigation" formulae. So you can fly the shortest route between your aircraft and the "space carrier"; even if you're 6000 nmiles (in distance) and 900.000 ft (difference in Altitude) away.
2. The inherent FSX speed limitation of 2666 Knots remains; however, on "long-haul" flights in space, you can easily fly in higher SimRates because things like control sensitivity, ac(de-)cellerations are now depending on SimRate.
I.e.: flying at max. FSX speed with SimRate 8x gives you the immersion of flying at 21000 Knots (groundspeed, relative to the Earth's surface)
3. Making an Autopilot, given 1. and 2. was a piece-of-cake
Just as an example:
- Use AICarriers2, to setup a moving AI "space carrier" flying from Japan, over the Pacific Ocean.
- Load a flight, with the Atlantis spaceshuttle setup for a launch at KennedySpaceCenter.
- Launch, and after entering "space", select the target AIcarrier in the Navigator.
- Activate the AutoPilot in the Navigator gauge.
- The aircraft will now fly directly to the target, just following the "Needles" like you would manually. At any SimRat
If you are unfamiliar with all this stuff, and are interrested, please search/read my thread a few months back on "spaceflight".
Cheers,
Rob Barendregt
, as I missed it in January. Sound great Rob, looking forward to it. Don't want to be a whiner, but could the gauge be modded to support atomospheric VTOL; which would be of enormous value for many of the Sci-Fi craft. Having a blast with the first version, looking forward to the next version. Revolutionary stuff.:salute: