Relative Top Speed

Relative Top Speed

Features

• User defined speed limits
• Control the speed of individual ships based on mass and acceleration (now with better curve adjustment!)
• Docked and connected ships share one speed based on their combined mass
• In-game settings window with Rich HUD Master (optional)
• Change configuration on the fly (no need to restart)
• Multiplayer ready
• API for other mods

Description

Imagine you are in a fighter chasing down an enemy ship. You are closing the gap, but just before you get in range they hit 100m/s. Then there's this awkward feeling of hopelessness as you both drift into oblivion. This mod adds Cruise speed, a soft speed limit based on mass, and Boost, extra speed based on ship acceleration. Together they create simple, intuitive ship classes.

The Nit and Grit

Speed Limit: The world speed limit. Nothing goes faster than this (140m/s by default).

Cruise Speed: The maximum speed a ship can hold without continuous acceleration. It depends only on mass. You define it as a curve of mass/speed points. Speed is interpolated in a straight line between points and held flat past either end. That makes it easy to create plateaus ("everything under 1M kg cruises at 250") or steep drop-offs for capital ships.

Boost: Above cruise speed, a resistance force pulls the ship back. Stronger thrust means a higher top speed:

Max Boost = Cruise Speed + (Acceleration / Resistance Multiplier)[/code]
Boost can never exceed the grid's MaxBoostSpeed or the world Speed Limit. Set EnableBoosting to false to make cruise speed a hard cap.

[b]Grid Groups:[/b] With EnableGridGroups on (default), grids joined by connectors, rotors, pistons or landing gear count as one ship. They share a cruise speed calculated from their total mass. Docking a carrier's fighters makes the carrier heavier. Welding a small grid to the side of a large ship doesn't create a light, fast "small ship". Mixed groups use the large grid settings.

[b]Ignore Grids Without Thrust:[/b] Grids with no thrusters anywhere in their group are left alone, so gravity cannons and similar projectiles still work.

[b]Ignore Grids Without Cockpit:[/b] Same idea, for grids with no cockpit.

[b]Remote Control Speed Limit:[/b] Caps the speed limit slider on remote control blocks (autopilot and drones).

[b]Parachute Deploy Height:[/b] The height at which drop-container parachutes open, so pods survive higher speeds.

[h2]In-Game Settings (optional)[/h2]
If [b]Rich HUD Master[/b] is installed, open [b]F2 → Relative Top Speed → Settings[/b] or type [b]/rts menu[/b]. You can edit every setting there, including the cruise curves. Space Masters, Admins and Owners can apply and save changes live, and every player receives them immediately. Without Rich HUD Master, everything still works through the config file and chat commands.

[h2]Chat Commands[/h2]
[list]
[*][b]/rts help[/b] - lists commands
[*][b]/rts hud[/b] - shows your ship's mass and cruise speed while in a cockpit (use this when building)
[*][b]/rts config[/b] - shows the active configuration
[*][b]/rts menu[/b] - opens the settings window (requires Rich HUD Master)
[*][b]/rts load[/b] - reloads the world config from disk (Space Master, Admin or Owner)
[/list]

[h2]Default Settings[/h2]
[code]
<Settings>
  <Version>2</Version>
  <EnableBoosting>true</EnableBoosting>
  <EnableGridGroups>true</EnableGridGroups>
  <IgnoreGridsWithoutThrust>true</IgnoreGridsWithoutThrust>
  <IgnoreGridsWithoutCockpit>false</IgnoreGridsWithoutCockpit>
  <ParachuteDeployHeight>400</ParachuteDeployHeight>
  <SpeedLimit>140</SpeedLimit>
  <RemoteControlSpeedLimit>100</RemoteControlSpeedLimit>
  <LargeGrid>
    <CruiseCurve>
      <Point Mass="200000" Speed="110" />
      <Point Mass="5000000" Speed="80" />
      <Point Mass="8000000" Speed="60" />
    </CruiseCurve>
    <MaxBoostSpeed>140</MaxBoostSpeed>
    <ResistanceMultiplier>1.5</ResistanceMultiplier>
  </LargeGrid>
  <SmallGrid>
    <CruiseCurve>
      <Point Mass="10000" Speed="110" />
      <Point Mass="300000" Speed="95" />
      <Point Mass="400000" Speed="90" />
    </CruiseCurve>
    <MaxBoostSpeed>140</MaxBoostSpeed>
    <ResistanceMultiplier>1</ResistanceMultiplier>
  </SmallGrid>
</Settings>

Cruise curve rules:

• At least two points. Mass is in kg, speed in m/s.
• Points can be in any order. They are sorted by mass when loaded.
• Every mass must be different. Speeds must be greater than 0.
• Speeds above the world SpeedLimit are lowered to it.
• An invalid config is rejected. The server keeps its current settings and your file is left for you to fix.

Configuration Files

World settings (these take priority):

%AppData%\SpaceEngineers\Saves\<SteamID>\<World>\Storage\1359618037_rts\RelativeTopSpeed.cfg
Torch\Instance\Saves\<World>\Storage\1359618037_rts\RelativeTopSpeed.cfg

Default settings for new worlds:

%AppData%\SpaceEngineers\Storage\1359618037_rts\RelativeTopSpeed.cfg
Torch\Instance\Storage\1359618037_rts\RelativeTopSpeed.cfg

After editing a file, run /rts load. No restart needed.

If you need help setting up your config, post your current config and your desired outcome and I'll help get you on track.

Tuning Guide

• What overall speed limit do I want? 100m/s? 250m/s?
• What is the most massive ship I expect to see on the server? 500k? 8M? 20M?
• What is the minimum speed I want my heaviest ships to move? 60m/s? 100m/s? 150m/s?
• How light do I want to force people to build to get max cruise? 200k? 1M?
• How much headroom do I want to leave for boosting? (Max Cruise = World Speed Limit - headroom)