The engineering gods have been listening! Another really useful update has been made to the impulse maneuver panel. You can now select the number of maneuvering cycles that a held bearing lasts for. Once that number of cycles is done, the hold is automatically released.

Anyone who's flown impulse knows that it's not a precise science. Everything is run against maneuvering cycles, which are a second long. This is the time the navigation systems need to recalculate the ship's position in space - the computer power required means it's not practical to update position continuously.

This is a challenge for held bearings because you had to release the hold effectively one cycle early so the maneuver finished when you wanted it to. Getting the timing right was always tricky.

Now you don't need to bother - just enter the number of cycles you want when you engage hold. (You can still go manual by selecting zero cycles).

Related to this, the impulse navigation panel has been updated so that a radial maneuver will automatically calculate the number of maneuver cycles needed to hit the required heading. Just enter that when you engage hold.