2- Flying Your Ship

In general the spacecraft you fly are controlled in a similar way to an aircraft. Pushing backwards and forwards on the joystick changes the pitch. Moving the joystick from side to side produces a yaw effect. The pilot can roll the spacecraft by holding joystick button 2 and moving the stick left and right.

Changing the throttle setting will cause the main thrusters to fire to bring the ship to the required speed. The throttle can be controlled from the joystick throttle (if one exists) or from the keyboard. Please refer to the Controls page.

Linear Displacement Drive (LDS)

Using thrusters to traverse the large distances between planets would take years. The Linear Displacement Drive System (LDS) is the drive that is used to move around star systems at far higher speeds than your thrusters can carry you.

From the pilot's point of view, LDS flight is similar to normal flight with thrusters but with certain exceptions

• The streaks displayed on the HUD to illustrate movement are green instead of orange
  
• The throttle scale is displayed above the thrusters throttle scale on the reticle.
  
• The throttle scale is logarithmic (i.e. for each notch up the throttle, the speed is multiplied by ten)
  
• Weapon systems are disabled.
  

Under normal circumstances LDS would only be used by the autopilot (see the Using the Autopilot section of this guide.

It is possible to use the LDS manually but it is only recommended for advanced pilots and those who need to get out of the way of an enemy in a big hurry.

 The system is manually engaged from the keyboard (refer to the Controls page for details ) and the speed is set using the normal throttle system.

The Capsule Drive and Lagrange Points
Capsule Drive is the system used to traverse the massive distances between stars. It is activated automatically by flying through Lagrange points.

The position of Lagrange points (or L-Points as they are commonly known) can be found on the Starmap display, for more details see the Starmap section.

Please note that you cannot use a Capsule Drive in this demo.

Next Section: 3 - Using The HUD Menu