What you learn today
- Altitude, velocity, thrust to weight
- Cockpit displays
In the cockpit you have no time for long numbers. Whoever is landing wants to see three things: how high am I, how fast, and does the thrust carry me? The avionics provides all of it, the chip turns it into displays you read at a glance.
The flight data
| LogicType | meaning according to the game |
|---|---|
Altitude | altitude above the surface, −1 in space |
VelocityRelativeY | speed along the rocket's long axis |
Acceleration | change in speed, negative when braking before landing |
Thrust, Weight | thrust and weight in newtons |
ThrustToWeight | thrust divided by weight |
Apex | the lowest altitude the rocket reaches before it climbs again |
TimeToDestination | estimated seconds to the destination |
Progress | progress to the next point of the space map, 0 to 1 |
Thrust and weight
The avionics provides the ratio ready-made. If you compute it yourself from Thrust and Weight, you see where the trap is: the weight depends on gravity. Without gravity the weight is 0 – and a division by 0 gives infinity or NaN.
sgtz valid weight # no ratio without weight
div twr thrust weight
select twr valid twr -1For the colour: below 1 red, because the rocket does not lift off, below 1.3 yellow, above that green. Without weight the display shows −1 in blue.
Readable displays
- Few numbers: altitude, speed, ratio. Everything else belongs on a second panel.
- Rounding: speed to one, the ratio to two decimals. More digits are not read any faster.
- Colour instead of number: whether the ratio is enough, you see from the colour before you read the number.
- Errors visible: without avionics all displays show −999 – a number nobody takes for real.
Apex is worth it when landing: if the lowest point of the path lies above the ground, the rocket brakes too hard and climbs again. The game text for the flight rule names 60 m as the target for the turning point in normal operation.
Exercise
Task
Build the cockpit displays. “Cockpit_Hoehe” shows Altitude, “Cockpit_Tempo” VelocityRelativeY with one decimal, “Cockpit_TWR” the self-computed ratio Thrust / Weight with two decimals, coloured: below 1 red, below 1.3 yellow, otherwise green. If Weight is 0, “Cockpit_TWR” shows -1 in blue. Without avionics all three show -999, “Cockpit_TWR” in red.
Hints
Hint 1
sgtz valid weight before the division, then select twr valid twr -1.
Hint 2
Colour as a chain: first yellow/green, then red on top, then blue for “no weight”, finally red for missing avionics.
Hint 3
Rounding: mul, round, div – with 10 for the speed, with 100 for the ratio.
Quiz
4 questions. You pass from 60 % – the server does the grading.
Complete the day
- Passed the simulator exercise
- Passed the quiz with at least 60 %
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