Jump Drive MFD

[Shrivenzale]

I am officially the world's stupidest person. I must be, since - I know, you'll laugh - I can't make head or tail of the documentation for Friedrich Kastner-Masilko's Jump Drive MFD. I manage to follow it as far as "the jump drive is a pretty straightforward thing to use" - and then I'm afraid it just launches, well, into orbit and leaves me standing.

I've a new-found respect for Felix Gaeta.

To me, the PDF file just looks like a big blur of complicated formulas and equations, and although I'd love to try to work out what goes where (I actually quite like maths), I haven't the first clue where to start. If you can believe anyone could be this dense, I don't even know what an x-y observation plane is. I mean, I understand the words individually speaking: I just can't make them sit down and behave sensibly.

Is there any kind soul out there who might be able to put the instructions for this MFD into language that an utter ignoramus like myself might be able to understand?

(NB - In case there's more than one, this is the jumpdrive system whereby you can't set the distance to be jumped, and have to do it in two steps.)

EDIT: It's probably worth mentioning that I have done searches for 'jump drive', 'jumpdrive', and one or two others, and nothing came up. So sorry if someone's already covered this.

 

[Face]

I am officially the world's stupidest person. I must be, since - I know, you'll laugh - I can't make head or tail of the documentation for Friedrich Kastner-Masilko's Jump Drive MFD. I manage to follow it as far as "the jump drive is a pretty straightforward thing to use" - and then I'm afraid it just launches, well, into orbit and leaves me standing.

I've a new-found respect for Felix Gaeta.

To me, the PDF file just looks like a big blur of complicated formulas and equations, and although I'd love to try to work out what goes where (I actually quite like maths), I haven't the first clue where to start. If you can believe anyone could be this dense, I don't even know what an x-y observation plane is. I mean, I understand the words individually speaking: I just can't make them sit down and behave sensibly.

Is there any kind soul out there who might be able to put the instructions for this MFD into language that an utter ignoramus like myself might be able to understand?

(NB - In case there's more than one, this is the jumpdrive system whereby you can't set the distance to be jumped, and have to do it in two steps.)

EDIT: It's probably worth mentioning that I have done searches for 'jump drive', 'jumpdrive', and one or two others, and nothing came up. So sorry if someone's already covered this.

Hy there,

the JumpDriveMFD was made to artificially complicate the process of getting anywhere fast in the orbiter-universe with a jump drive to maintain the illusion of advanced technology being used.The documentation was written this way, too. :lol:


Joking aside, the technobabble in the document just hides the trigonometric nature of the formulas. They really work, but you don't need them at all to use the MFD. And for the record: you're certainly not a stupid person. I worked 3 nights to write that stuff up...


The different modis of the MFD's "navigation computer" show you all information you need to come in visible range of a target. A little howto:
* Practice only with 2-step jumps using equal amounts of filled cells. The whole exponential-tingletangle is gone this way. Adjust the INI-file, if you need more distance per cell or more cells or less consumption...
* In the first step, select your target, then point your nose to the target (best done by using the F9-markers or the course deviation mode). Then pitch up until your deviation offset mode reads zero. Load your cells and jump...
* Now you're out in the Nowhere-lands. This is the second step, so point your nose to the target again. Then pitch up slightly until your course offset mode shows at least the target's size-radius (planet radius in most cases), better more. Otherwise you'd jump into the middle of the planet.
* Load your cells and jump. You should end up somewhere near your target, but certainly with a strange orbit. But this is another story...

Hint: There are many more warp and jump systems out there, if you feel this one to be too restricted, you might be happy with e.g. jmarcure's fleet drives...

regards,
Face

 

[Shrivenzale]

the JumpDriveMFD was made to artificially complicate the process of getting anywhere fast in the orbiter-universe with a jump drive to maintain the illusion of advanced technology being used.The documentation was written this way, too. :lol:

Ahhh... I suppose I should've seen that really... I had this mental picture of legions of Orbiter enthusiasts (who no doubt understand every word of Orbiter itself) having absolutely no problem with the whole thing... :blink:

Thanks for the advice!

EDIT: Yep, sorted it now, thanks very much.