AUTOTRACK
Keywords: AUTOTRACK, AUTOT
=== USER MANUAL ===
Usage: autotrack
Description:
Toggle autotrack from the cockpit. While engaged, the ship
continuously steers its nose toward whichever ship it is
targeting or following, triggering a maneuver each time it
drifts off-axis.
Autotrack handles turning only; it does not change speed or
position. You still set your own throttle with accelerate, or
let autopilot hold a cruise.
What Autotrack Does:
Face target ........ When not pointing at the target, the
ship flips its heading vector toward the
target's current position and begins a
maneuver (speed-limited by Maneuver stat).
Uses target OR
follow ............. Picks target first, falls back to the ship
set by followship.
Ship echo .......... The pilot seat sees: "Autotracking
target ... setting new course."
Maneuver Cost:
Rotating the hull costs time, not energy. The tick count scales
inversely with the ship's Maneuver rating: high-maneuver
fighters re-aim in 1 tick; heavy capital hulls can take up
to 5 ticks. Fighters with gyroscopic stabilizer modules
installed re-aim faster.
Requirements:
Cockpit ............ Pilot seat of the ship.
Pilot access ....... Must own the ship or be a listed pilot.
Non-station ........ Stations (SPACE_STATION class) cannot turn
and are silently excluded from the autotrack
loop.
Target or follow ... No target / no follow = autotrack stays
armed but idle.
Synergy:
Best paired with autocombat from the gunner's chair. Autocombat
refuses to fire while the nose is off-target and prints a warning
until facing is restored; autotrack closes that gap by rotating
the hull automatically, so the gunner never has to ask the pilot
to point the ship.
When autopilot is on and a target is set, autotrack is
implicitly forced on each tick -- engaging it manually is only
useful when you want to manually fly but auto-aim.
Notes:
- Clearing the target (target none) does not disengage
autotrack; it just goes idle until a new target is set.
- Autotrack clears automatically if the ship is destroyed.
- An unused collision-avoidance branch exists in code but is
disabled; autotrack will not evade even if a collision is
imminent.
Related Helpfiles: AUTOPILOT, AUTOCOMBAT, TARGET, FOLLOWSHIP, COURSE, SHIPSTAT
=== END MANUAL ===