Hello folks! 
These are a couple of suggestions I believe could help game play immeasurably. Neither are critical, but would be nice.
1) Cold-dark Start
As a pilot for most of my life, one thing that kind of spoils the immersion of ED for me is the inability to start from a completely powered-down state. It would be nice, I think, to be able to step into a cold dark craft, activate its power systems and prepare it for flight.
It wouldn't need to be complex, it could be controlled from the Ship tab on the RH panel, operating in much the same way that the checklist does. Master power on, fuel cocks closed, spool powerplant, open cocks - ship rumbles to life. One could then bring all modules online, feeling the vessel coming alive around them. It could help for - for instance - laying-low in an asteroid belt while pirates hunt, or shutting down for the night on a lonely planet far outside the bubble. It's not a big deal, but would certainly add to the immersion and illusion you're flying a real craft.
2) Locator beacons
I was mining the other day, and thought about a potential addition to a standard limpet controller: the possibility of using limpets as locator beacons.
A Locator Beacon would be a limpet that broadcasts a signal on a specific frequency capable of either being dropped from the cargo bay or fired into an asteroid. The freq would be selectable from the right-hand panel. For instance, you wish to drop a LB for whatever reason, so you select the module on the Modules page, select the freq (111.3, let's say) and drop the beacon. It would then broadcast from that location at that frequency for a limited time - say two or three hours.
The applications could be immense. Painite mining, you have a REALLY good spot and don't want to lose it? LB it - go off, sell your ore and race back. Be careful - another player could be somewhere in-system patiently scanning frequencies, looking for locator beacons. Want a race through the asteroids, Millenium Falcon style? Lay out the course with LB's. New mission mechanics: "A miner lost its cargo in the rings. Scan for 113.2 and recover the cargo" OR - "We damaged a rival faction's cargo freighter but weren't able to recover the cargo. Commander, find the locator frequency and recover it for us."
And of course...though I doubt anyone would EVER consider this...setting the panel's frequency to 121.5 could bring System Authority ships racing at top speed.
Cheers, friends!
These are a couple of suggestions I believe could help game play immeasurably. Neither are critical, but would be nice.
1) Cold-dark Start
As a pilot for most of my life, one thing that kind of spoils the immersion of ED for me is the inability to start from a completely powered-down state. It would be nice, I think, to be able to step into a cold dark craft, activate its power systems and prepare it for flight.
It wouldn't need to be complex, it could be controlled from the Ship tab on the RH panel, operating in much the same way that the checklist does. Master power on, fuel cocks closed, spool powerplant, open cocks - ship rumbles to life. One could then bring all modules online, feeling the vessel coming alive around them. It could help for - for instance - laying-low in an asteroid belt while pirates hunt, or shutting down for the night on a lonely planet far outside the bubble. It's not a big deal, but would certainly add to the immersion and illusion you're flying a real craft.
2) Locator beacons
I was mining the other day, and thought about a potential addition to a standard limpet controller: the possibility of using limpets as locator beacons.
A Locator Beacon would be a limpet that broadcasts a signal on a specific frequency capable of either being dropped from the cargo bay or fired into an asteroid. The freq would be selectable from the right-hand panel. For instance, you wish to drop a LB for whatever reason, so you select the module on the Modules page, select the freq (111.3, let's say) and drop the beacon. It would then broadcast from that location at that frequency for a limited time - say two or three hours.
The applications could be immense. Painite mining, you have a REALLY good spot and don't want to lose it? LB it - go off, sell your ore and race back. Be careful - another player could be somewhere in-system patiently scanning frequencies, looking for locator beacons. Want a race through the asteroids, Millenium Falcon style? Lay out the course with LB's. New mission mechanics: "A miner lost its cargo in the rings. Scan for 113.2 and recover the cargo" OR - "We damaged a rival faction's cargo freighter but weren't able to recover the cargo. Commander, find the locator frequency and recover it for us."
And of course...though I doubt anyone would EVER consider this...setting the panel's frequency to 121.5 could bring System Authority ships racing at top speed.
Cheers, friends!
