Navigation Pad
Navigation Pad: The navigation pad lets you control the speed of the ship, clear the ship ' s way points or access a screen that explains exactly what course of travel
the ship is going to take.
This screen has the targeting buttons; way points 1 to 6, intercept,
capture, escort, transfer, tow, and kill. Clicking on any of these buttons will
make the current anvil object the target of the action. A status light will come
on next to the targeting button. A dark status light means this target or way
point is not currently set. A yellow light means this target or way point is set,
but not to the current anvil object. A green light means the target or way
point is locked onto the current way point. If you click on a targeting button
that has a yellow light it will change its lock to the current anvil object and
become a green light. If you click on a targeting button that has a green light
with will deselect the anvil object and go dark, the target will then be nothing.
The most important target object is the intercept target. The ship will
ignore its escort target and all its way points in order to give chase to the
intercept target. The ship will follow the intercept target until the object is
destroyed or disappears off of the ship ' s scanners.
The second most important target is the escort target. The ship will ignore
all its way point settings and just follow the ship that it is suppose to
escort. Commonly the escort target is a fleet leader or a cargo ship that needs
protection. You can escort a ship belonging to another race if you wish.
The third most important setting is the ship ' s way points. The ship will travel to way point 1 and then on to way point 2.
As a ship moves through a way point the way point is deleted from memory. It is
possible for a ship to pass through many way points in a single turn.
The switch that turns on the ship ' s hyperdrive will be on this panel. If a ship has a hyperdrive it will make
only a single jump per turn. It will jump to its way point 1 or if way point 1 is
too far for a single jump to reach the ship will jump in the direction of way
point 1. After the ship makes a hyperjump the ship will then use its subspace
engines to continue traveling if it has any more way points that it has not
reached yet. If you are in an area that you can not use your hyperdrive your ship
will use its subspace engines only. Hyperdrive engines always use the same
amount of fuel no matter how far the ship is jumping.
The capture, transfer, tow and kill targets do not cause the ship to change course at all. The ship will only
interact with those target objects if the ship comes into contact with the object
during its way point, escort or intercept guided travels.
If a ship comes in contact with its capture target it will attempt to
capture it. If the ship comes in contact with its transfer target it will attempt to
transfer cargo to and from the target object. Transferring can be done to
ships belonging to another race if the two ships have matching friendly codes or
the ship attempting the transfer has the universal friendly code of the target
ship ' s race.
The ship will attempt to begin towing its tow target if it encounters it
during its travels. The ship will tow the target if it has the tow power and has
a tractor beam that has the power rating that is equal to or greater than the
target ' s hull mass. A ship can not be towed through hyperspace.
The distance listed is the total distance the ship is set to travel by
means of its way points. It is the sum of the distance that the ship will travel if
it travels to all its way points. Intercept and escort targets do not count in
this distance measurement.
The Est. Burn is the amount of fuel that the ship will burn if it travels
the total distance of all its way points.
The ship mass is the total mass of the ship, including the hull, all ship
parts and all cargo.