Starbase/EGOTech/tugger/USAGE.md

Usage

To enter the ship, there is a button for Canopy on top of the ship. Button for Canopy are available in the pilot left side console and above the pilot seat.

Flying the Ship

The left lever on the center console controls backwards thrust (braking) and the right lever controls forward thrust.

Interface	Function
ForwardThrust	Current forward thrust, maximum of 10,000 units
Speed	Current speed in metres per second.
Distance	Activates forward rangefinder, with Distance showing distance to object.
Cruise	Activates cruise control, forward thrust will not reset to zero unless turned down.
Aim	Reduces the response time of key presses for pitch and yaw.
Turtle	Activates turtle mode which sets forward thrust to a maximum limit of TurtleRate of full thrust.
Sloth	(Right Console) Activates the low sensitvity mode of pitch and yaw by limiting thrust. Use the Sensitivity switch to set the maximum thrust rate of sloth mode.
Transponder Toggle & Ping	Transponder controls, Toggle turns on and off ship transponder while Ping will activate transponder for three seconds
POS, k & Target	See Compass System for more information. Target shows current target destination.
Tow Status, Tow Mass, Tow & Auto Gen	Towing controls, see Towing ships.
Timer	See Timer.
Odometer	See Odometer.
SafeZone	Whether current location is in the safe zone.
StrengthFactor	Current strength of ship. May fluctuate as ore crates are filled. Anything below 1.0 means ship is damaged.
Canopy	Open and closes the cockpit glass canopy.
Chair	Spins the pilot chair between forward facing and backwards facing.

NOTE: For safety, firing full braking thrust will deactivate Cruise.

Managing Power

Interface	Function
Battery	Shows current battery charge of the batteries, maximum of 10,000 units.
Generator	Current generator rate, maximum of 100%.
Min Generator Limit & Min Gen	Toggle and sets minimum generator rate.
Fuel Rod 1 to Fuel Rod 6	Fuel remaining on fuel rods in individual fuel chambers, maximum of 300,000 units for each.
Shutdown	Turns off fuel chambers.
HeatTransferRate	Current heat transfer rate of the heat sinks, maximum of 100%.
StoredHeat	Current stored heat in the heat sinks, maximum of 15,000 units.
Propellant	Total propellant remaining in propellant tanks, maximum of 24,000,000 units.
PropTime	Time and distance remaining of propellant based on current usage. Distance is calculated from speed.
FuelTime	Time and distance remaining of fuel based on current usage. Distance is calculated from speed.
WithBackup	Same as FuelTime but takes into account backup rods available. Use the switch for Backup Rods to set the number of backup rods available. As standard there are 12 extra rods.

By default the generator will only run and ramp up when the batteries need charging so there is minimum management needed. But you can set a minimum generate rate by setting the Min Generator Limit value using the switch for the minimum rate and turning on Min Gen.

Shutdown will turn off the fuel chambers.

Towing Ships

Interface	Function
Tow Status	Status of tow beam, 0 is off, 1 is on and 2 is locked on.
Tow Mass	Mass of locked on ship, in kilograms.
Tow	Activates the tow beam.
Auto Gen	Activates Min Gen with Min Generator Rate according to Tow Mass.
BackRange & Back Distance	Activates the back facing rangefinders and displays the distance.

The tow beam faces out the back of the ship so position the Tugger in front of, with the back facing the ship you wish to tow. Spin the Chair around to look out the back window and activate Tow to turn on the tow beam. Once the tow beam is locked on the ship, the Tow Status will be 2 and the mass of the locked ship will be shown as Tow Mass in kilograms. Activate Auto Gen which will then turn on Min Gen with a Min Generator Rate based off the Tow Mass. Wait till the generators reach the targeted rate before flying off.

The Tugger has enough power generation to tow a ship of a mass of up to 7.5ktons or 7,500,000 kilograms. For large ships, it is recommended to turn on Min Gen to ramp up the generator before locking on and then activating Auto Gen once locked on to adjust the Min Generator Rate accordingly.

NOTE: Remember to turn off Min Gen after towing to save on fuel.

Other Stuff

Timer

On the pilot left console there is a Timer panel which acts as a timer. It will run when the ship is active and show total time in years, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. To reset the timer, use your universal tool (U key) and clear the value of the Timer field.

Odometer

On the pilot left console there is a Odometer panel which will keep track of the ship's estimated flight distance based on speed. To reset the trip odometer, use your universal tool (U key) and clear the value of the Odometer field.