Simple tools I'd like for ground exploration:

[The New Number Two]

First, the instituton of a "galactic north", based on Sag A, which would add a pip to the ship and SRV radar indicating north.

And second, the ability to mark a temporary waypoint on the planet or moon's surface from the turret scanner to facilitate returning to a specified point. I keep losing canisters because my ship decides to auto-land a klick or more away from the salvage.

 

[Archvillain]

I kind of like the idea that we have to navigate using oldschool methods. I'd be a little bit sad if that became pointless because of instant waypoints. But then, I like navigation-related stuff. GPS killed the fun of getting lost

A compass like your first suggestion would be cool though - for the same reasons!

 

[Spacecat]

A compass would be nice. I "discovered" the same canisters 3 times the other day.

 

[The New Number Two]

I kind of like the idea that we have to navigate using oldschool methods. I'd be a little bit sad if that became pointless because of instant waypoints. But then, I like navigation-related stuff. GPS killed the fun of getting lost

A compass like your first suggestion would be cool though - for the same reasons!

I can totally picture David Braben inventing a virtual stellar sextant and throwing it at us to figure out.

But don't you think an intrepid adventurer of 3302 should be able to put a pin in his local 5k slice of a planetary map that says "land on this plain" or "valuable object here"?

If we're truly remaining oldschool someone would have to figure out what contellations look like from any known point in the galaxy.

 

[Chris Simon]

A compass would be nice. I "discovered" the same canisters 3 times the other day.

lol
You know about those mysterious moving numbers on the top of your HUD?

 

[Casey Casem]

There is a compass showing 0-360 deg when in SRV if I'm not mistaken. I assume zero to be true north.

Edit: ninja'd

 

[Archvillain]

I can totally picture David Braben inventing a virtual stellar sextant and throwing it at us to figure out.

But don't you think an intrepid adventurer of 3302 should be able to put a pin in his local 5k slice of a planetary map that says "land on this plain" or "valuable object here"?

We have sopwith-like single-seat dogfighting in Elite - and star-hopping ships with human pilots and no automation - because IMHO Elite is a romanticized Golden Age of Aviation... set in space! Much like how Star Wars is the old swashbuckler/samurai movies... set in space!

Since we have to fly like it's the 1930's, then we should navigate like it's the 1930's


There's a scene in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow where he's flying the plane, and then he just let's it fly while he figures out navigation with a chart and pencil on his knee-board, en-route. In 3032, that knee-board might have a tablet on it instead of just pencil-and-paper (or it might still be pencil-and-paper...) but who would want to live in a galaxy where an intrepid adventurer just presses a button instead of using their knee-board?!

 

[The New Number Two]

lol
You know about those mysterious moving numbers on the top of your HUD?

There is a compass showing 0-360 deg when in SRV if I'm not mistaken. I assume zero to be true north.

Edit: ninja'd

OK I freely admit I didn't see that, lol. It's in the doggone ship HUD too.

I blame both a deficit of synaptic cognizace, and visual distance differential between the operator's posterior attachment to his couch and his electronic visual feedback device, compounded by ocular entropy due to accelerated decrepitude. I'm an idiot and my old a$s is too far from the TV.

HOWEVER (ahem), a galactic north pip on the ship's scanner and galaxy map would still be nice for route plotting.

 

[777Driver]

OK I freely admit I didn't see that, lol.

I blame both a deficit of synaptic cognizace, and visual distance differential between the operator's posterior attachment to his couch and his electronic visual feedback device, compounded by ocular entropy due to accelerated decrepitude. I'm an idiot and my old a$s is too far from the TV.

HOWEVER (ahem), a galactic north pip on the ship's scanner and galaxy map would still be nice for route plotting.

Hehe, yeah the heading indicator on the top of the HUD is very useful. I also use the various Nebulae & Galaxy's to navigate, the Large & small magellanic clouds, Barnard's loop & coalsack are all handy for quickly getting your bearings, you can also use various supergiants as beacons.

 

[Spacecat]

lol
You know about those mysterious moving numbers on the top of your HUD?

The numbers, they do nothing! I just need a big dumb arrow that always points north, like every other game, ever.

 

[Chris Simon]

The numbers, they do nothing! I just need a big dumb arrow that always points north, like every other game, ever.

Heheh.

Yea, I imagine some may struggle. Me, after decades of playing flight sims, the numbers suffice. I always know where I'm heading.

 

[Sapyx]

HOWEVER (ahem), a galactic north pip on the ship's scanner and galaxy map would still be nice for route plotting.

The ship doesn't have a "North" indicator on it either in Supercruise or normal flight, but the Galaxy map does have a north indicator: the grid reference system. "North" (as defined by the direction towards the galactic Core from Sol) is the direction in which the third of the three numbers is increasing positively.

Note that this is an Absolute North indicator; if you travel 1000 LY East, West, Up or Down and then travel directly North, you'll miss the Core. Your plan of flagging Sag A itself as the "north pole" would have North be in a different direction, depending on where in the Galaxy you were.

 

[The New Number Two]

The ship doesn't have a "North" indicator on it either in Supercruise or normal flight, but the Galaxy map does have a north indicator: the grid reference system. "North" (as defined by the direction towards the galactic Core from Sol) is the direction in which the third of the three numbers is increasing positively.

Note that this is an Absolute North indicator; if you travel 1000 LY East, West, Up or Down and then travel directly North, you'll miss the Core. Your plan of flagging Sag A itself as the "north pole" would have North be in a different direction, depending on where in the Galaxy you were.

Yeah but that's a byzantine system for dedicated navigators. For me it's a question of usefulness vs. strictly polar. A fixed reference point is what I'm talking about. It doesn't have to be Sag A either; that was an example of expedience and colloquially considered the supermassive celestial object at "the center of the galaxy".

The concept of strict nav by magnetic north obviously doesn't really apply in a system where all known points are stored in a navigation computer, and most of that navigation is three-dimensional rather than surface linear. But when you're head down in that dizzying map trying to navigate towards the core from a spiral arm, a quick glance at a glowy carat or line would keep you meandering in the general direction without having to zoom way out, or console yourself that the third coordinate of each gridsquare in your sector was rising as expected.

When you have to deviate from the pathline, say for fuel scooping side trips or to locate rift crossings, it would remain a handy visual reference. You could refer to it when communicating the route to other commanders- "four systems left of the Line."

In short, I think you should be able to set a carat on say Beagle Point if that was your final stop and let the map overlay a bisecting guideline to it while you worked on the actual route zoomed in. Put a carat on the direction of travel end and call it north, 12 o' clock, DoT...whatever you like.

When you're ready to go home you can just set a carat on home and work backwards.

I love that this game overwhelms me enough sometimes to make me wish for stuff and have these conversations.