Movement

Ship movement in Nebulous Fleet Command is similar to that of submarines or oceangoing ships, with max speeds and drag.

Mechanics

• Thrust: speed limit as a fraction of max speed. Options are 1/3 (33%), 2/3 (66%), Full (100%), Flank (150%), and Flight Quarters (FQ, 100%, with carrier green-deck handling). Acceleration uses full thrust at every setting; only Flank adds 50% forward thrust.
• Acceleration: This mostly is affected by the drives, however the mass of the ship based on installed components slightly affects acceleration.
• Flank Speed: Boosts top speed by 50% (does not affect turn speed or turn acceleration). When flanking, every active thruster checks for flank damage once per second, and takes 5 damage if the check fails. Forward acceleration is additionally increased by 50%
• Heading/Roll: Holds the ship pointing in a certain direction or oriented "up" a certain way
• Drives as main modifier
• Dodging & Evasive: EVADE posture applies a slight "corkscrew" to travel. This allows small ships to sometimes dodge shots. Skilled players may issue move orders or the orbit command to dodge shots, which is far more effective than the EVADE setting.

When a target is lost and there are no remaining roll drivers, the ship will issue itself a temporary ROL order to prevent re-masking weapons.

Linear thrust multipliers in non-forward directions by ship
ANS Ships	Lateral	Reverse	OSP Ships	Lateral	Reverse
Sprinter	90%	95%	Ferryman	75%	80%
Raines	80%	90%	Draugr	75%	80%
Keystone	80%	90%	Flathead	75%	80%
Vauxhall	90%	95%	Ocello	75%	85%
Axford	75%	85%	Marauder	40%	100%
Levy	75%	85%	Journeyman	75%	75%
Solomon	75%	85%	Moorline	40%	100%
Worden	75%	UNKNOWN%
Mercator	80%	UNKNOWN%

Ships have their thrust power scaled by a multiplier for lateral and reverse movement, with lateral thrust (side to side / up down) usually being the weakest. Main forward thrusters are always at 1.00x.

Tracks are annotated by two lines: one fixed length line that indicates the heading of the track (if the track is a warship), and one variable length line with a circle on the end that indicates the track's velocity. The velocity line represents the track's predicted location after 10 seconds.

Linear Acceleration

Ships have to accelerate to max speed, and having higher thrust makes that happen faster. [todo: enter similar equation as below with drag]

Turning

Ships have an angular thrust for turning and rolling. It is possible to calculate the time to turn a ship's nose 180°.

Hull	Inertia Factor [math]\displaystyle{ F_y }[/math]
Sprinter	1.59
Raines	2.16
Keystone	4.09
Vauxhall	8.32
Axford	8.72
Solomon	17.2

• [math]\displaystyle{ P \equiv \text{Angular Thrust (as seen in-game)} }[/math]
• [math]\displaystyle{ M \equiv \text{Ship Mass (as seen in-game)} }[/math]
• [math]\displaystyle{ F \equiv \text{Ship Inertia Factor (see chart)} }[/math]

Because of damping, ships will accelerate only to a certain maximum speed given by (in radians per second), [math]\displaystyle{ \omega_\text{max} = \frac{1000P}{MF} }[/math]

The time in seconds, [math]\displaystyle{ t }[/math], to turn 180° is: [math]\displaystyle{ \large{{t \approx \frac{\pi}{\omega_\text{max}} + 10}} }[/math]

([math]\displaystyle{ \omega_\text{max} }[/math] is usually smaller than the listed max turn rate, [math]\displaystyle{ R }[/math], except for buffed light ships and possibly when rolling. To compare the two, take [math]\displaystyle{ R }[/math], multiply by [math]\displaystyle{ \pi }[/math], and divide by 180. If the result is [math]\displaystyle{ < \omega_\text{max} }[/math], then replace [math]\displaystyle{ \omega_\text{max} }[/math] in the equation above by the result.)

Controls

Abbreviation	Name	Default Keybind	Description
ORB	Orbit Position	O	Orbit around a point
POS	Move to Position	M	Move to a point
CRS	Drive Course	SHIFT + M	Move continuously in one direction
HDG	Hold Heading	H	Point towards a direction
CHD	Clear Hold Heading	Not Bound	Clears heading command
ROL	Roll Ship	Shift + H	Roll to a specific rotation
CRL	Clear Roll Ship	Not Bound	Clears roll command
CLR	Clear HDG/ROL	Not Bound	Clears both heading and roll commands
FRM	Form With Ship	Shift + F	Join formation with another ship
ALD	Assume Lead	Ctrl + F	Become leader of current formation
ALL STOP	Hold Position	Shift + Space	Clears move command

Formation

Formations allow for ships to be grouped together and commanded as one unit. Ships in a formation will attempt to maintain a certain position relative to the guide/lead ship, and will match speed and heading with the lead ship. If the formation becomes too separated while manoeuvring, ships will slow down to allow other ships to catch up.

Formations have 3 modes:

• Rel: Maintains relative positions around the lead ship according to its heading, allowing the formation to rotate with the lead ship.
• Tru: Maintains a fixed position around the lead ship, and does not adjust the formation if the lead rotates. Ships will still rotate to match the lead's heading
• Loose: Similar to Tru, but the formation will not slow down for the slower ships and will be allowed to outrun each-other.

Holding shift and giving orders issues the order to the entire formation. This includes changing settings on the status panel. If you select a ship in the formation that is not the lead ship, and give it a movement order, the ship will exit the formation to complete its order.