Movement in space is complex and difficult to visualize; Capital Command has tools that provide this information intuitively, so you can focus on making the best decisions.
The basic problem is that you can't simply look at a thing in space and tell how it's moving. A ship can be turned towards a target that it's attacking, and at the same time move sideways relative to that target, and both could be moving backward relative to some third ship.
Everything is relative, as the old saying goes, although that's not quite as valid as it used to be.
The jump drive that opened up the galaxy imposed some new considerations to space combat navigation. To jump, ships need to be not moving relative to the nearest astronomical objects. This is called the "local frame of reference", and in most situations it is practically unchanging over short (1-10 thousand km) distances.
Captains must always be mindful of their ship's velocity relative to the local reference, aka local velocity, because ships can only jump if their local velocity is close to zero. Accelerate away from that, and you'll be stuck crawling along at a few kilometers per second, while your enemy can jump vast distances in a heartbeat.
Even more important is the target's relative trajectory. It determines weapon availability and the future development of a tactical situation. Its opposite, the ship's trajectory relative to the target, is the easiest way to understand how a ship needs to use its propulsion in a given situation.
The target info box on the HUD displays information about the current target's position and movement. The first line shows current distance and rate of approach (positive when the target is approaching). The second line shows current relative speed and the angle of attack. This is the angle between the ship's forward direction (its nose) and the current relative velocity. When the AoA is 0, the ship's nose is aimed along its relative movement vector.
The third line show data about the point of closest approach between the ship and the target, assuming their velocities stay the same. Distance is how far the two will be, and time is how long until it happens. If the time value is negative, closest approach has already happened, and they are currently drifting apart.
While this information allows a captain to quantify the target's relative trajectory, as they say, an image is worth a thousand words.
The Radar Display
Capital Command uses a circular display to represent all space around the player's ship. The middle of the circle is what's in front, the periphery - what's behind, while up, down, left and right are exactly that.
The prograde and retrograde symbols represent the direction of the ship's current velocity and its opposite. If a target is selected, this refers to the velocity relative to the target, while If nothing is selected - to the ship's local velocity.
This makes manual navigation easier. Boosting causes the prograde direction to turn towards the ship's heading, with the greatest effect if the boost is at straight angles to the current velocity. To move towards an enemy, the relative velocity must be pointed towards that enemy. To move away - the opposite. To be able to jump, local velocity needs to be near zero, which requires boosting in the retrograde direction.
Contacts are also displayed on the radar as little shining dots that pulse at regular intervals. Nearer contacts pulse before more distant ones, allowing a rough estimation of range as well as bearing.
There are toggles under the radar display that control whether the radar displays only navigation symbols, only contacts, or both, and whether the radar's forward direction is the ship's nose, or the camera's current angle. Depending on the situation, captains can choose how much information they receive and and how it is displayed.
Trajectory Markers
When a contact is selected, its trajectory relative to the player's ship is displayed on the HUD by a broken line. The dots are spaced evenly apart, and pulse to indicate the direction and speed of the contact's movement. The dots are colored differently along the trajectory, with the color changing at the point where the contact and the ship will be at maximum approach.
The same functionality exists for the player's ship. By default it is enabled only when nothing is targeted to display the ship's local velocity. Buttons above the radar allow switching between trajectory display settings, so the captain receives the information most useful in a given situation.
Another special trajectory marker is used the nav computer interface. When the autopilot panel is opened and a nav setting is active, this marker displays that setting's intended course. When the setting is relative to a target (eg attack trajectory), the course is relative to that marker. Otherwise, the course is relative to the local reference system, or not shown at all (eg the Full Stop setting will not show a course at all, since its intended course is zero).
The same functionality is active when the cursor is over autopilot setting buttons: it shows that setting's intended course, so the captain can estimate how useful that setting would be in his current situation.
These are some of the tools that Capital Command uses to convey position and movement in 3D space. The goal is to make the player aware of where things are and how they're moving, both of which are equally important in a tactical situation.
As always, thanks for reading and see you next time!
The dev