So why do we need to face a ship to tell who's in it?

indiebob

I
So my scanner picks up a ship 100 or so ls away, shows me the direction it's facing, make, model, can even produce a small image of it, showing all sorts of microscopic details as it flies about through supercruise, it's exact facing etc, and yet, until I turn to face it, can't look that ship up on the galactic database to tell who is driving it and what their legal status is ...

#doesnotcompute
 
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indiebob

I
Hurricane Moon said:
lol bob your bang up for upsetting the FD secret payroll today eh?...they will all swoop on you mate..
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I just want it to be the perfect game ...

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indiebob said:
I just want it to be the perfect game ...
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Plus, it may compute and I am the idiot for not seeing why, so despite showing my ignorance my enjoyment of the game will be improved! All good!
 

Whiterose

Whiterose
indiebob said:
So my scanner picks up a ship 100 or so ls away, shows me the direction it's facing, make, model, can even produce a small image of it, showing all sorts of microscopic details as it flies about through supercruise, it's exact facing etc, and yet, until I turn to face it, can't look that ship up on the galactic database to tell who is driving it and what their legal status is ...

#doesnotcompute
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Lol, you do have a valid point.
 

tiger61378

tiger61378
Makes sense, but as someone else mentioned...gameplay. It makes you work for it if you want to know if that ship sneaking up on you is wanted and ready to kill you or just another guy going the same place you are.
 

Cynaqq

Cynaqq
Hurricane Moon said:
lol bob your bang up for upsetting the FD secret payroll today eh?...they will all swoop on you mate..
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Why? I'm a proud member of the secret (albeit zero, negative numbers even) payroll but he's bang on about this thing. I hate the nonsensical way the ship scanning works.

It doesn't even make for good gameplay.
 

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
indiebob said:
So my scanner picks up a ship 100 or so ls away, shows me the direction it's facing, make, model, can even produce a small image of it, showing all sorts of microscopic details as it flies about through supercruise, it's exact facing etc, and yet, until I turn to face it, can't look that ship up on the galactic database to tell who is driving it and what their legal status is ...

#doesnotcompute
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I have to say, that's an interesting and valid question. It doesn't make sense, but it's part of the game.

I'm not saying it needs to be changed, in fact, I think it should stay as it is to keep the effort and discipline in combat. There are other things that seem to make us jump through hoops to do simple tasks, but it's just a game. We can adapt.
 

FliesWithEyesClosed

F
Well one could argue that the sensor system thats needed to scan another ship has a frontal cone. Similar to how fighter aircraft right now have their radar in their nose cone but it only can scan in front of them (as seen in the pic below). If it was a system just used for missile warning then that could have a 360 sweep/bubble around you. But more powerful scanning equipment needs to be focused and the mounting point for that equipment ends up being fixed. If you're looking for a video game reason then "because game balance".

Although maybe an option to purchase a sensor with a wider sweep arc would be nice? but in return you sacrifice something for that wider sweep arc. Range maybe? 180 degree arc in front of you but the range is only 2000 Ls. Or a sensor that you can buy which has a full 360 degree scan sweep around you but it only has a 1500 Ls range. OR it can have a much farther SC range if it has the ability to sweep 360 around you kinda like an irl AWACS radar but you lose some in-combat/normal space utility with it. Like it can only be used with fixed weapons or something i dunno.

http://i.imgur.com/VJlnNrE.jpg
 

Wes Mattix

W
"Because realism" and "because gameplay" are both used to justify tedius/hindering mechanics, but when you try to do the same for fun/helping mechancs, you get shouted down.

It's starting to feel like everything is just a flimsy pretext for masochism around these parts. You don't need to flagellate yourself on the Altar of Simulation, guys.
 

Drunk Si

D
InMemoriamSirocco said:
Maybe with multicrew we will get the option to let co-pilots scan other ships independently from where our ship is facing... here's to hope! :)
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I've not recommended this game to my friends yet but I do think it would be funny to get them all to spend forty odd quid just so they can sit in my ship and point the scanner at other ships so that I don't have to turn around myself like some sort of mug.
 

avow555

avow555
indiebob said:
So my scanner picks up a ship 100 or so ls away, shows me the direction it's facing, make, model, can even produce a small image of it, showing all sorts of microscopic details as it flies about through supercruise, it's exact facing etc, and yet, until I turn to face it, can't look that ship up on the galactic database to tell who is driving it and what their legal status is ...

#doesnotcompute
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Yep another dorky game mechanic.
Advanced discovery can scan a whole system so there must be allround scanning ability in the ship.
 

InMemoriamSirocco

Banned
InMemoriamSirocco
Drunk Si said:
I've not recommended this game to my friends yet but I do think it would be funny to get them all to spend forty odd quid just so they can sit in my ship and point the scanner at other ships so that I don't have to turn around myself like some sort of mug.
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I would recommend to FD to give them some more things to do as a copilot than JUST THAT :D
 

SeeZaa

SeeZaa
forward facing high powered scanning equipment is also shielded rearwards.. that's really quiet important for both the pilot and the equipment.. in ED terms, the ship engines and thrusters would very likely create interference, and the shield generator definitely would.
 
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