Add dedicated hotkey for caustic sinks

hurikhan77

hurikhan77
The title pretty much says it. There's no (dedicated) hotkey for using caustic sinks.

I think they may work with the heat sink hotkey but they didn't for me. And even if, I wouldn't know which one is triggered. Having caustic sinks in a fire group is pretty cumbersome.

I'd imagine to have it work like this:
  • If at least one of the caustic sinks is full, eject those
  • If all caustic sinks are empty, do nothing
  • Otherwise eject the caustic sink most filled
 

CMDR X

CMDR X
No hotkey, but the way they operate doesn't really need one. Just put all of them in a separate fire group and jettison them all at once when they're full. That's what I do at least, but I can understand why some would want it.
 

aRJay

aRJay
CMDR X said:
No hotkey, but the way they operate doesn't really need one. Just put all of them in a separate fire group and jettison them all at once when they're full. That's what I do at least, but I can understand why some would want it.
Click to expand...
I am probably going to do this, I had them on separate triggers as I was unclear how they worked in practise at first.
 

Northpin

Northpin
I woudnt mind a dedicated bind for caustic sinks, but i dont particularly feel a real need for one.
But again, why say no to a QoL feature?
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
rootsrat
CMDR X said:
No hotkey, but the way they operate doesn't really need one. Just put all of them in a separate fire group and jettison them all at once when they're full. That's what I do at least, but I can understand why some would want it.
Click to expand...
It really depends on a build. When you have 4 or 5 firegroups it makes it often just annoying to try and find which one the CSinks are in.
For me it'd be an essential QOL improvement, even more so that HSinks do have a hotkey, so it's just inconsistent game design.
 

Untilting

Untilting
rootsrat said:
It really depends on a build. When you have 4 or 5 firegroups it makes it often just annoying to try and find which one the CSinks are in.
For me it'd be an essential QOL improvement, even more so that HSinks do have a hotkey, so it's just inconsistent game design.
Click to expand...

I guess the difference is that it doesn't matter which heatsink you pop, whereas the caustic sinks fill up individually. It would need new logic to choose the particular sink as per the OP's post, or Fdev would need to recode the logic to bring it in line with heatsinks - so that e.g. your ship has a caustic level which starts doing damage to the hull once it gets above 100, and popping any caustic sink drops it back to 0.
 

hurikhan77

hurikhan77
rootsrat said:
It really depends on a build. When you have 4 or 5 firegroups it makes it often just annoying to try and find which one the CSinks are in.
For me it'd be an essential QOL improvement, even more so that HSinks do have a hotkey, so it's just inconsistent game design.
Click to expand...
Yeah, exactly that.
 

aRJay

aRJay
CMDR X said:
No hotkey, but the way they operate doesn't really need one. Just put all of them in a separate fire group and jettison them all at once when they're full. That's what I do at least, but I can understand why some would want it.
Click to expand...

Untilting said:
I guess the difference is that it doesn't matter which heatsink you pop, whereas the caustic sinks fill up individually. It would need new logic to choose the particular sink as per the OP's post, or Fdev would need to recode the logic to bring it in line with heatsinks - so that e.g. your ship has a caustic level which starts doing damage to the hull once it gets above 100, and popping any caustic sink drops it back to 0.
Click to expand...
I just tried @CMDR X suggestion above and it works fine so a single bind should also work as long as the CSs are displayed on the HUD so you can see when to press the button.

I had the two CS on the secondary trigger and the collector limpet on primary so didn’t need to swap fire groups.
 

Kira Goto

Kira Goto
hurikhan77 said:
Yeah, exactly that.
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I ‘third’ that sentiment. Having recently tried an FDL out for AX - with a caustic sink(because I don’t really want to deal with caustic missiles or any caustic on it at all with the low hull) - finding the firegroup with it if I needed to eject, especially while getting shot by a Medusa or Hydra is not exactly ideal.

Why do I have more than two or three firegroups on it to begin with, because I’m that weird person using a controller and reaching for a keyboard key and thus letting go of either right or left stick to drop a sink is meh.

… even if having heatsinks tied to the secondary trigger with two modshards is also not particularly ideal. Been too lazy to figure a combination out for the controller that is practical in combat.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
Kira Goto said:
… even if having heatsinks tied to the secondary trigger with two modshards is also not particularly ideal. Been too lazy to figure a combination out for the controller that is practical in combat.
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A game controller offers 34 possible configurable button combos. Certainly one of the least used ones can be remapped for deploying a heatsink (the original mapping, if you need it, being relegated to a keyboard key). Then it's just a question of committing that combo to muscle memory.

That's, in fact, what I did quite some time ago. In my case I mapped heatsink deployment to Y+L1, and I find it works well. (It kind of lines up with B+L1 being silent running, which is a bit related. Although I do admit I sometimes confuse the two because they are so similar.) I don't remember what the original default mapping for Y+L1 was, but it was something I really don't need.
 

Kira Goto

Kira Goto
DjVortex said:
I don't remember what the original default mapping for Y+L1 was, but it was something I really don't need.
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Opening the Codex after a discovery. I personally might consider swapping out A + L2 because it handles the sensor zoom functions and… does anyone ever use or need them?
 

CMDR X

CMDR X
rootsrat said:
..
When you have 4 or 5 firegroups it makes it often just annoying to try and find which one the CSinks are in.
..
Click to expand...

4 or 5 firegroups?? Heavens to Murgatroyd! Well yeah, in that case maybe a dedicated might come in handy. 😅

Either way, the CSink progress line has to be visible at all times or else how do you know when to eject them? Seems like an "always there" fill bar would be needed too. Kind of like your temps are visible for helping controlling heat. That or a sound warning or something. 🤷‍♂️
 

CMDR X

CMDR X
Kira Goto said:
It is always visible to the side of the currently selected fire group, if it is not in that particular one. So, technically, that isn’t an issue.
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I never noticed that. I'll have to check it out. I only always have 2 firegroups (except on my T10 miner).

My problem is that I'm running out of HOTAS and G27 wheel buttons for any more bindings.
And I hate modifier keys..
 
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DjVortex

DjVortex
CMDR X said:
4 or 5 firegroups?? Heavens to Murgatroyd! Well yeah, in that case maybe a dedicated might come in handy. 😅
Click to expand...
Aren't that many firegroups completely normal in heavy-duty mining, given how many modules you need in order to do that? Several types of scanner, even more types of mining weapons, prospecting limpets, collector limpets...
 
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