MaxVelocityWhenFollowing
The speed at which a levitating unit heading for a destination gives up coasting and brakes.
- Applies to
- levitation controls
- File
rules.ini- Section
[LEVITATION]- Value
- floating point
- When omitted
5
A levitating unit with a destination and no target coasts after each thrust until its speed falls below this figure, then brakes. It also brakes if the destination comes within ProximityDistance. Braking runs at IntentionalDeacceleration until the unit stops, and the unit then steers at the destination again. A unit with a target uses MaxVelocityWhenPissedOff instead, even when it also has a destination.
Despite the name, the figure is not a speed limit, and nothing caps a levitating unit’s speed. The figure sets how long the unit coasts, and the unit thrusts again only after it has braked. A higher figure shortens the coast and brings the next thrust sooner.
Raising the figure helps only up to a point when IntentionalDeacceleration is larger than Drag, as it is by default, because braking then sheds speed faster than coasting. Once the figure reaches the speed a thrust ends at, which the Acceleration page shows how to work out, the unit brakes straight out of every thrust and never coasts. With every other [LEVITATION] key at its default, the unit then averages a lower speed than it does with this key omitted.
Drag explains which objects use [LEVITATION] and why a file’s [LEVITATION] section is read only when the file also has a [General] section.