Wish we had some sort of directional bearings.
- Thread starter Marbat
- Start date
That's always been a problem, trying to go to something you see from your cabin using the galaxy map, most of us eventually work out how to do it using a trial and error process. I think the most useful thing you be if you could see which way your ship was pointing in the galaxy map, then you could point your ship at the cluster of stars and see which way they were on the galaxy map.
I've wanted something like an Astrogation setting to the FSS. Instead of hunting signal sources it'd let you lock onto stars, then go into the Galaxy Map to see where they are/plot to/etc...
This is basically what I do but not knowing whether I need to go up or down, etc... it is just a puzzle . So close yet so far away.
No.
Haha, no ddrink then!
How do people do this? One idea I had is based on something I did recently. So I was trying to find an unobscured jump away from a high gravity surface for a race. Basically I wanted to find a star directly above me. In the end all I did was target each of the stars in turn that were listed in the nav panel until I found one where the compass dot for it was directly overhead. So I was thinking, if you did that until you found a star that was close (in direction) to the one you had in mind in the skybox, could you then open the galaxy map, see the star you'd ended up targetting and then use that to extrapolate a route to more distant stars in the same direction?
Deleted member 38366
D
What we've been missing since Day 1 is : Software Upgrade Packages for the Ship.
Amongst that entire path are Exploration tools and an ability to get support from UC (i.e. based on your Exploration Rank). Simple as that.
Imagine :
You see something interesting in the distance
You wonder how many Systems around a certain Sector you're headed to are actually explored
You wonder how many Earth-likes worlds you have already discovered in the current Galactic Region and where those would be
You're moving around in a Carrier and wonder where you should go Mining.
You want to go mining something very specific for can't for your life remember if the discovered Systems you scanned throughout the last months have suitable Hotspots.
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There's a ton of very useful and intuitive things when it comes to Information handling and brokering - all of which is at times ridiculously missing and AWOL from the Game.
Amongst that entire path are Exploration tools and an ability to get support from UC (i.e. based on your Exploration Rank). Simple as that.
Imagine :
You see something interesting in the distance
- instead of being either clueless or limited to searching anything that could visually match in the Galaxy Map... you enter your Enhanced Stellar Analysis Software
- cycling between different wavelengths and contrast tools, you quickly focus and zoom into the Object of Interest
- you press the Identification key
- the Software tells you exactly what it is, its bearing and distance and asks if you wish to a) bookmark it or b) plot a route or c) store as a note in your Personal Logfiles
You wonder how many Systems around a certain Sector you're headed to are actually explored
- instead of having virtually no idea or have to manually seep through a ton of EDDB/EDSM Data... you send a RFI (Request for Information) to Universal Cartographics
- your Stellar Software opens and gives you a few choices to get Data for a selected Group or Volume of Systems
- you evaluate your Options (the larger Data Bursts are quite expensive) and confirm a transaction with UC for 250 Systems
- after a few Seconds, you NAV Software can now tell you which of the Systems in question have a) no Data yet b) have incomplete Data or c) are fully explored
You wonder how many Earth-likes worlds you have already discovered in the current Galactic Region and where those would be
- instead of having to poll EDSM or some spreadsheets... you enter your Enhanced Stellar Analysis Software and select "Personal Discoveries"
- you get a visual representation of all ELWs you've discovered in that Galactic Region
- you get a few Options, such as a) show distance and course to nearest ELW you've discovered or b) plot course
You're moving around in a Carrier and wonder where you should go Mining.
- instead of having virtually no idea or have to manually seep through a ton of external Sites or Spreadsheets... you send a RFI (Request for Information) to Universal Cartographics
- you're searching i.e. for Metallic Rings and only those in D- or E-Mass Systems with a Class A Star as Filters
- UC answers (with the usual price tags and range/volume options) and purchase a Data set of known matches for your query from the huge Data other Players have sold to UC in the past
- you head to the best candidates and go mining
You want to go mining something very specific for can't for your life remember if the discovered Systems you scanned throughout the last months have suitable Hotspots.
- instead of having virtually no idea or have to manually seep through huge Spreadsheets... you enter your Enhanced Stellar Analysis Software -> Personal Data
- you filter for {ore} Hotspots and hit "Search nearest"
- you discover the location of the nearest Hotspots amongst your own Data... because if was stored ever since you installed the Software Upgrade. Very very useful.
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There's a ton of very useful and intuitive things when it comes to Information handling and brokering - all of which is at times ridiculously missing and AWOL from the Game.
Tried that also and its a hit and miss, very annoying especially being so close.
That's how many people do it, it becomes a real problem though if the object you are pointing at is another galaxy, just ask about the blue dot!
I have always thought it weird that the HUD has no galactic compass. Something that shows basic Galactic UP and Galactic North (or Galactic Center).
I know, some players will say "just look out the window". Not always that simple or quick. Also "Galactic Up" can take a bit to figure out sometimes.
It seems like the absolute most basic thing any traveler would have.
I know, some players will say "just look out the window". Not always that simple or quick. Also "Galactic Up" can take a bit to figure out sometimes.
It seems like the absolute most basic thing any traveler would have.
Flossy
Volunteer Moderator
I use the milky way and any nebulas overlapping it to determine which way 'up' I am. If there is a nebula slightly to the top of the milky way by looking outside, I check where it is in relation to the milkyway in the Galaxy map; if it appears slightly below the bottom I know I am 'upsdide down'. Also of course, checking the grid numbers counting up or down can help too.
Deleted member 38366
D
All you can do in this specific case is set Star type Filter to O and B, then scroll into the proper direction and elevation to see if you can see this cluster (a possible 2MASS cluster) show up.
This usually is not feasible when still at very long distance but you'll find what you seek if you're within 1000LY normally.
Which way is Galactic Up?
It is just mind boggling, that a game that is built around Galaxy exploration, offers so little tools for explorers... And for pilots in general...
What I am missing (together with what was said in previous posts):
Regarding point 3: like just for for example preferring B type and only use M type when B type is nowhere around (because today, if you remove M type from your route preferences, it will not plot a route at all, if there is not enough B types, but if you allow M types, you will most likely jump from one M type to another, avoiding B types that are lot less common) and I could continue on and on...
If only developers focused on this, instead of making E a first person shooter... But I guess I am still happy, even despite these shortcomings...
What I am missing (together with what was said in previous posts):
- an altitude maintaining auto pilot for planetary flights (when you just want to fly above the surface and look out of the window without worrying about crashing into something when flying low)
- ability to select waypoints on your route (like when you tag multiple systems and want to plot a route across all of them)
- ability to prefer certain star types when plotting the route and only use another star types when such a route is not possible
- ability to filter nearby systems search results by mass code (like when searching for closest E, F, G H systems)
- ability to filter nearby systems by star type (like searching for nearest Blue Giant for example)
Regarding point 3: like just for for example preferring B type and only use M type when B type is nowhere around (because today, if you remove M type from your route preferences, it will not plot a route at all, if there is not enough B types, but if you allow M types, you will most likely jump from one M type to another, avoiding B types that are lot less common) and I could continue on and on...
If only developers focused on this, instead of making E
a first person shooter... But I guess I am still happy, even despite these shortcomings... I use a similar method Alex - see something in skybox I want to visit, rotate thru systems in the Nav Panel until I find something in the right direction then either jump or visit GalMap and extrapolate route to where I think I want to be...
Re ship orientation, can be a pain in the core but further out towards the edge you can simply look out of the window to orientate against the core/disc..
Up/down isn't too hard. From the cockpit you should be able to see where Andromeda and the two Magellanic Clouds are. They're pretty easy to spot, and they're all "below" the galaxy. If you orient yourself to that, then you can see if the thing you're looking at is above/below your position.
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I will try this as it seems I am very, very close at the moment so this might work. Still wish we had a better easier way.