So, yesterday I finished a (to my mind) mammoth journey from the bubble out to the centre and just wanted to say wow, it’s really quite special to be there!
My trusty Diamondback explorer (the egregious elephant) did me proud.
Things I’ve found as a result of the journey are:
1. Orbit lines are fantastic for judging how close you can get to a star as you skirt round it whilst fuel scooping.
2. Getting to recognise the sounds of your ship as to when the temperature after scooping will start to decrease can help judge when to jump again without overheating, cutting a couple of seconds off each jump!
3. I tended to scoop at pretty much every star I could, just for a moment or two while the next system came into view, this meant I seldom had to pause for a long refuel along the way. (I don’t know if this is a good way of doing it, but it seemed to work for me).
4. There are some systems out there with wonderfully looking planets, just so visually stunning.
5. There’s really no rush, I really enjoyed stopping and setting down on a planet from time to time and just having a drive around to get a few materials.
6. Even out in the black, occasionally I came across remains of other ships (not on planets), so clearly someone had been there before me.
7. I made it there with only a few minor issues (hull at 87%)
8. Now for the return leg…
Obviously having spent a fair few hours jumping, honking, fuelling… I got to look at the cockpit a lot and a few things got me thinking. I use an ED Head Tracker so do tend to look about a lot whilst sitting still. The following aren’t meant to be seen as criticisms so much as general queries so please don’t think I’m not enjoying it, as that’s not at all the case:
1. I never once, not ever saw my feet move! I know in real life I moved my feet quite a lot whilst sitting at my desk, how come my Commander never has the need to do so, after all, he adjusts his grip from time to time!
2. When looking at my target panel and ship panel, I get a nice transition (with all the triangles) as the screen flicks into view, however, when I look at my role panel, it appears without hesitation, is this an oversight or deliberately by design?
3. The fuel gauge for the power plant seems somewhat pointless to me in the way it works, surely it’s only ever an issue when you’re out of fuel in the main tank (currently it just constantly tops itself up whenever it needs to). I may be missing the point of it, but I can’t see the reasons for it in it’s current guise.
4. How does my ship know what the next star type is before I’ve jumped there? It doesn’t know it once there?! Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for knowing if your going to a scoopable star, but just a bit odd that it works that way.
5. My role panel and my ship panel seem to show different percentages for my combat rating, only 1%, but different nevertheless.
6. My role panel is also accessible while I jump between systems although moving between the tabs does not show the correct panel.
7. Why when I prepare to jump to an anarchy system (pretty much everything outside the bubble) do I get note to press this button or that joystick button to abort. Every time I see it it removes a level of immersion. Reminds me it’s just a game! I don’t know of anywhere else in the game it refers to specific buttons during gameplay. Also, all it’s really saying is press the button you’ve just pressed to stop this madness!
Sorry if these points have all been raised before, I just thought I'd voice them to see others takes on the points made...
My trusty Diamondback explorer (the egregious elephant) did me proud.
Things I’ve found as a result of the journey are:
1. Orbit lines are fantastic for judging how close you can get to a star as you skirt round it whilst fuel scooping.
2. Getting to recognise the sounds of your ship as to when the temperature after scooping will start to decrease can help judge when to jump again without overheating, cutting a couple of seconds off each jump!
3. I tended to scoop at pretty much every star I could, just for a moment or two while the next system came into view, this meant I seldom had to pause for a long refuel along the way. (I don’t know if this is a good way of doing it, but it seemed to work for me).
4. There are some systems out there with wonderfully looking planets, just so visually stunning.
5. There’s really no rush, I really enjoyed stopping and setting down on a planet from time to time and just having a drive around to get a few materials.
6. Even out in the black, occasionally I came across remains of other ships (not on planets), so clearly someone had been there before me.
7. I made it there with only a few minor issues (hull at 87%)
8. Now for the return leg…
Obviously having spent a fair few hours jumping, honking, fuelling… I got to look at the cockpit a lot and a few things got me thinking. I use an ED Head Tracker so do tend to look about a lot whilst sitting still. The following aren’t meant to be seen as criticisms so much as general queries so please don’t think I’m not enjoying it, as that’s not at all the case:
1. I never once, not ever saw my feet move! I know in real life I moved my feet quite a lot whilst sitting at my desk, how come my Commander never has the need to do so, after all, he adjusts his grip from time to time!
2. When looking at my target panel and ship panel, I get a nice transition (with all the triangles) as the screen flicks into view, however, when I look at my role panel, it appears without hesitation, is this an oversight or deliberately by design?
3. The fuel gauge for the power plant seems somewhat pointless to me in the way it works, surely it’s only ever an issue when you’re out of fuel in the main tank (currently it just constantly tops itself up whenever it needs to). I may be missing the point of it, but I can’t see the reasons for it in it’s current guise.
4. How does my ship know what the next star type is before I’ve jumped there? It doesn’t know it once there?! Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for knowing if your going to a scoopable star, but just a bit odd that it works that way.
5. My role panel and my ship panel seem to show different percentages for my combat rating, only 1%, but different nevertheless.
6. My role panel is also accessible while I jump between systems although moving between the tabs does not show the correct panel.
7. Why when I prepare to jump to an anarchy system (pretty much everything outside the bubble) do I get note to press this button or that joystick button to abort. Every time I see it it removes a level of immersion. Reminds me it’s just a game! I don’t know of anywhere else in the game it refers to specific buttons during gameplay. Also, all it’s really saying is press the button you’ve just pressed to stop this madness!
Sorry if these points have all been raised before, I just thought I'd voice them to see others takes on the points made...
