The ECU is used to customize the operation of components on your skimmer, and full awareness of its capability can yield significant improvement in your craft's performance.

This guide will give an overview of what is possible with the ECU, as well as specific instructions for tuning your skimmer.

The ECU allows you to reconfigure how particular components respond to inputs.

"In" refers to the control axis defined in your game controls
ie. vertical (pitch), horizontal (yaw), rudder (roll)

"Out" controls how a particular component responds to the input defined above.
ie. Rudder Right may cause your right side lift vectors to increase lift, and your left side lift vectors to give inverse lift.

The ECU also allows you to specify a range for the output, either as a range of motion or a % of force.


While each lift vector in a pair can have independent ECU settings, this is an easy way to make your skimmer unpilotable. Use the "Copy" button to duplicate settings between a pair of lift vectors.

If your experimentation goes awry and your skimmer becomes uncontrollable, you can use the "New" button to reset the ECU settings for that component.

The "Invert" button will tag a specific component as responding to inverse controls. This is explained in more detail when we configure 'Roll'.

The "+" Button allows you to add additional Input sources to a component. By default, your components respond to only 2 sources (pitch and yaw, for example). This is explained in more detail when we configure 'Roll'.

Think of the Diverter as your skimmer's engine. It provides all the power being divided between your craft's Main Thrust Vector and your Lift Vectors.

We want to find the maximum power we can push to the Main Thruster, and design our craft to operate under those conditions as often as possible.

If you have your bias mapped to an analog control axis, you should tune your 'Boost Max' value to 'max out' your Main Thrust Vector at the top range of your bias (probably 100%).

Start by maxing out the power of your diverter and test your skimmer under high bias, while using boost. Gradually reduce the 'Boost Max' value, until burn-out no longer occurs.




If your Main Thruster doesn't spark out while boosting, you aren't trying hard enough. Your bias is too low, and it's impacting your top speed. Increase your Bias until sparking occurs.

What is the right Bias for your craft?
The Main Thrust Vector is the most significant source of speed for your skimmer, so the closer your can get your Bias to 100% while maintaining control of your craft, the faster you will go. 100% Bias may not be practical for all craft, so experiment and find the highest Bias that's right for you.

The Main Thrust Vector is responsible for the majority of forward force on your skimmer, as well as a significant source of lift.

The Main Thruster will profide lift to your craft if positioned in-line with the center of mass, and directed in a slight (0-10 degree) upward angle.

In: Yaw | Out Angle
This allows you to configure the max range of horizontal motion available to your Main Vector. Because the Main Thrust Vector is so powerful, setting this to +/- 90 will have a strong impact on the maneuverability of your skimmer.

In: Thrust | Out: Force
This allows you to reduce the energy directed to the Main Thrust Vector. Since the Main Thrust Vector is your primary source of speed, there is no good reason to reduce this value.
If you find your Main Thrust Vector is sparking out under boost, reduce the 'Max Boost' value under the Diverter Settings.

In: Pitch | Out: Angle
Although this can be configured, this does not work. The Main Thrust vector cannot move vertically, even if configured to do so.

Rudder Controls are an advanced configuration option that ambitious players can enable via ECU configuration of their Lift Vectors.

If you screw things up, you can always select 'new' to reset the ECU configuration

• First, Open the ECU Configuration options for one of your Lift Vectors.
  
• Next, Click the roud '+' button to add a new Input Source to the Lift Vector
  
• Bind In to 'Roll'.
  
• Bind 'Out' to Force.
  
• Set the Max and Min Force to +/-100.
  
• Select 'Copy' to duplicate these settings to the other member of the Lift Vector Pair.

We're almost complete, except not both Lift vectors are operating identically with Rudder Input. We want them to operate in opposition to each other, causing body roll on the craft.

• Choose one of your Lift Vectors, and check the 'Inverse' box.
  
• Repeat for every pair of Lift Vectors on your Skimmer.

In: Pitch | Out: Force
Set the Output force as low as you can manage, while keeping your craft controllable.
Reducing Output Force for lift vectors does not appear to prevent Lift Vector Overload at low Bias %, but it should reduce the amount of energy used by the Lift Vectors, thereby increasing the energy available for the Main Thruster during normal use.

In: Yaw | Out: Angle
If your craft is too responsive, consider reducing this value, otherwise leave it at +/- 90.