Simple prototype translation assist for drone only.
My intention is to develop rockhopper with altitude hold next, then make one for the loader which has an advanced "weight connected" translation assist algorithm.
This translation assist has two modes, no assist during player translation input, or all axis independent (or, each axis will cancel translation inertia unless that axis is input by the player).
This assist cancels translation inertia. It is possible to enable or disable rotation and translation independently. There is no single setting to enable both.
The primary weakness of this translation assist version is while a weight is connected. If a weight is connected, and both translation and rotation assist are enabled at the same time, then the thrust which cancels rotation will introduce translation as a side effect, and the thrust which cancels translation will introduce rotation as a side effect, therefore the vehicle will thrust with little result, and the vehicle will take a very long time to slow rotation, virtually never stopping.
In order to address this issue, I plan to make a system which first orients the ship so that the weight is "up-vector" or facing the direction of travel, and then the ship will only initiate a translation cancelling thrust once aligned so that reverse thrust is all that is required. This will still introduce rotation, although only a minor rotation. It is not possible to dock perfectly centered on the weight as the weight dock is aligned with a top mounted camera. I may or may not try to change this, however presently I enjoy the complex input required to smoothly maneuver the weight when slightly off balance, so do not have plans to make the weight naturally centered while docked.
Actually, though, I fully intended to keep translation assist out of the game completely originally, and still do not want it available, as the intended gameplay does not have translation assist. I do, however, want some automatic maneuvering features, which will be easier to develop if I fully develop a translation assist system, and so as a result of this am going to develop one for all vehicles. Some vehicles will be more complex than others, as they translate entirely from a gimbal-rocket and must align their orientation specifically for each translation stabilization thrust.
I plan to release each small change as it is completed, and port each change to the lite version as it is completed. I do plan to reach a point where I declare a new version number, although I have not decided which features will mark this version number, as I do want a self-landing rockhopper which may deserve a separate version, and an autodock system for all vehicles which can dock. I would like these to work in spin-gravity as well, although this may be too advanced for my simple programming skill.
p.s. this translation assist DOES make it easier to play in keyboard only mode, particularly for noobs, and particularly for noobs who want to dock to weights.