Ever since it came out I have heard only good things about this game. And it sounds like a perfect fit for me. I enjoy figuring out puzzles, I enjoy figuring out lore and I love to explore.
I picked it up during a sale a while ago and since then I had 3 or 4 attempts of trying to get into the game but after a few hours I’m just too frustrated and give up.
My problem is, that I am so horribly bad at moving around, it infuriates me like no other game ever has. Like, I want to go to that planet, I board my ship, I fly towards the planet. I either slow down too late and die crashing into the planet or I slow down too early and by the time I get to my destination the planet has already moved away too much. So I either wait until it comes back around or I try to follow it wich usually ends with me crashing into it. It’s like slapstick comedy. The autopilot let me crash into stuff blocking its path so I gave up on that too.
The few times I managed to get to a planet, I couldn’t enjoy exploring, knowing I will have to pilot this spaceship again. When I think about having to be at a specific location at a specific time, it fills me with horror. Moving in lower/zero gravity is also not enjoyable for me.
I want to love this game so bad but I just can’t. I know this game is a one-time experience so I am torn on what to do.
Are my problems with this game so fundamental that I should just give up and watch someone else’s playthrough on YouTube? Or are my experiences in a normal range and I should keep trying until the movement clicks with me?
I fear that the longer I wait the higher the chance that I randomly encounter a huge spoiler somewhere in the internet.
Thank you for reading and thanks in advance for any recommendations, advice or feedback
Edit: Thanks a lot everyone! I will give it another shot and use a combination of autopilot and manual movement. If that doesn’t work I’ll look at some mods. If that also doesn’t work I’ll give up and just watch someone else play it. I feel like I’m extra bad at this because my spacial awareness sucks in real life too. Can’t tell if a car in the distance is moving or parked and if it’s moving how fast. Don’t worry I never even bothered to try to get a driving license lol
Flying in Outer Wilds is like kerbal space program without manouver nodes or orbit prediction. It’s doable if you understand orbital mechanics.
Just use autopilot. Mind you, it doesn’t have collision avoidance.
Not really. It’s been a while since I played but IIRC the ship follows straight lines. It doesn’t actually orbit. The planets have predefined orbits but their gravity isn’t fully being modelled on the player’s ship. You don’t need to do Hohman transfers or gravity assists. Flying in OW basically comes down to drawing a bead on a planet and accelerating toward where you expect it will be. That’s what the autopilot does as well. It just accelerates you toward the spot in the target’s orbit that the target will be in roughly when you traverse the distance.
That’s slightly untrue. The physics is in fact accurate. It’s just that the ship engine is so powerful that you can effectively ignore the gravity. If you’ve ever tried to land on the ___ _______, you’ll know that by far the easiest and safest way is to utilize orbital mechanics
Oh yeah I did try that but I figured (correctly) that you weren’t expected to simply land on it with your ship. In fact I figured it wasn’t actually possible. I guess some people must try to do that as an extra achievement
But yeah, I know from the way you follow a ballistic path that there must be some small amount of gravity, but it’s so miniscule that something like a transfer maneuver is totally irrelevant.
Hey, just wanted to add that it’s not just an optional player-made challenge, but actually an in-game achievement/trophy!