A Few Suggestions...

I've played ED since PB and have been writing down various things along the way that I think would improve the game whenever they came to mind, so I thought I'd share some of them here and see what the response is like. Please bear in mind when commenting, that I'm just giving one player's opinion on a few things I think would increase the polish and fluidity of the UI and make the game world a bit nicer for us to play in. Feel free to disagree, but try not to flame or drag up old arguments that have been done to death on the forums. ;)

IMO FD have done an amazing job with the game so far, however they now seem to be concentrating more on adding content (mainly due to the forums, I think) and fixing bugs (good) instead of tidying up or adding some simple things that I'm sure many of us would agree with. :)

Suggestions
UI - Date and time display in cockpit - on the bottom left of the right menu status page underneath "Local Rep," perhaps?
UI - Add an indicator for whether the headlights are on or off. Put it on the bottom right of the centre cockpit screen in the list with landing gear and cargo scoop.
UI - Condensed station interface. Smaller font size and/or option to customise. Easier for browsing through long commodities and fittings lists.
UI - Station interface separate colour from the cockpit orange. Maybe different colour for each major faction?
UI - Module fitting screen as a single line wide list with mouse-over showing the details of each module.
UI - Module fitting screen filterable as well as sortable.
UI - Shipyard 3D preview shows ships as their full colour, in game models, rather than orange wireframes so you can get a good look at them before buying. Preview needs to be bigger and zoomable. :)
UI - Need a menu to list all factions so you can see your standings with each without having to visit a system that they are present in.
Navigation - Favourite systems, planets, stations, and contacts lists. Sortable and filterable. Favourites would show up in a different colour on the navigation and contacts tabs.
Navigation - Ability to order navigation points on the left cockpit menu by location or distance. Location would pin them in the same order as the system map and stop locations moving about! Distance order moves them around relative to you as normal.
Navigation - Ability to target a specific star when jumping to a multi-star system. Jumping to another system using the navigation menu takes you to the nearest star. There could be a sub menu (like the station docking/one in contacts) that allows you to select partner stars in that system to jump to.
Navigation - Intra-system micro-jumps. Only to other stars, not planets or other stellar bodies.
Maps - Ability to target stellar objects as destinations from the system map. Mouse-over on objects would give you info, set destination, etc. like the galaxy map.
Maps - Galaxy map needs to remember all previous navigation jump data (routes, cargo, range) settings after closing and reopening the game.
Maps - Ability to set custom waypoints on the galaxy map.
Maps - Orrere system view with all stellar objects directly targetable. Usual zoom in/out/pan controls with info/actions on mouse over each object like the galaxy and system maps. Shows your location and all other ships in scanner range.
Maps - When exiting the system map back to the galaxy map it needs to centre on the system you were viewing and not go directly back to your targeted system. This is really annoying when scoping new systems from trade.
Ship - Be able to change power distribution levels whilst in super cruise.
Ship - Option to change LS/Mm distance readout to AU/Km.
Fuel Scoop - Make it a deployable module, not just always active when fitted and within scooping range of a star. Add it to the list under Cargo Scoop on the bottom right of the cockpit centre screen.
Fuel Scoop - Move filling/rate animation when active so it's not in the centre of the screen blocking the view. Maybe make it discreet (just numbers) and put it on the bottom right of the HUD next to "Fuel" replacing consumption figures?

There are loads more suggestions I could make (my full list is huge,) these are just the ones I would prioritise for now :)
 
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Maps - Galaxy map needs to remember all previous navigation jump data

A lot of great suggestions here. THIS is what I would love. It'd be great to be able to open the galaxy map and click an option for "systems I discovered" as well as "system first discoveries".
 
UI - Station interface separate colour from the cockpit orange. Maybe different colour for each major faction?
I like that idea. It could be seen as sort of like a web page design is now. Seems much more immersive.

UI - Need a menu to list all factions so you can see your standings with each without having to visit a system that they are present in.
Navigation - Favourite systems, planets, stations, and contacts lists. Sortable and filterable. Favourites would show up in a different colour on the navigation and contacts tabs.
Navigation - Ability to order navigation points on the left cockpit menu by location or distance. Location would pin them in the same order as the system map and stop locations moving about! Distance order moves them around relative to you as normal.
Navigation - Ability to target a specific star when jumping to a multi-star system. Jumping to another system using the navigation menu takes you to the nearest star. There could be a sub menu (like the station docking/one in contacts) that allows you to select partner stars in that system to jump to.
Navigation - Intra-system micro-jumps. Only to other stars, not planets or other stellar bodies.
Maps - Ability to target stellar objects as destinations from the system map. Mouse-over on objects would give you info, set destination, etc. like the galaxy map.
Maps - Galaxy map needs to remember all previous navigation jump data (routes, cargo, range) settings after closing and reopening the game.
Maps - Ability to set custom waypoints on the galaxy map.
Some of these are being worked on, s I recall. All excellent thoughts regardless.

Maps - Orrere system view with all stellar objects directly targetable. Usual zoom in/out/pan controls with info/actions on mouse over each object like the galaxy and system maps. Shows your location and all other ships in scanner range.
This seems like a no-brainer. I mean, if nothing else, can't we get a super-zoomed out mode for seeing the system we're flying around in? Removing flight control when zoomed out makes sense but this just seems like something that should be workable, even if they can't make the pretty pre-release version a thing any time soon. At least they're supposed to be working on letting us select things from the system map, so there's that.
 
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I like that idea. It could be seen as sort of like a web page design is now. Seems much more immersive.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It would be nice to actually have the feeling of connecting to another system rather than the station UI just being an extension of the ship's HUD.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd posit it is not much of an issue and that it needs to be in your face because your life depends on it - you're not moving fast anyway at a dead slow SC speed, but you still need to keep an eye on the pitch/dive to ensure you are far away from the corona or solar flares to not cause too much heat.

True. I guess it's just my preference, but I would prefer not to have the centre of my view obscured by information that could be easily delivered in a more discreet fashion.
 
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Why do you want to change the power distribution in super cruise?

Pretty good suggestions all around, though a number of them are a little unnecessary I think.
 
Why do you want to change the power distribution in super cruise?

Pretty good suggestions all around, though a number of them are a little unnecessary I think.

So I can set it to the correct balance before exiting SC to be prepared for whatever I might be jumping into. :)

Which ones do you think are unnecessary?
 
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I'd like to see more options on ship customization. Even some purely visual "upgrades" like little extra wings or mabye change how the thrusters look, Just to help seperate my ship from the rest. Was also talking with someone about the ability to switch up the preinstalled gear on the ship. Like exchange a size 3 generator for a size 4 by sacraficing a size 2 or 3 bay, plus a cost for the upgrade. so you would loose the size 2 or 3 altogeather but gain a larger powerplant or fsd or sensors ect. Not sure how this would effect balancing?
 
Can you not change it on exit?

Some already exist in game.
Others (deploying fuel scoop in particular) seem to try to fix things that aren't broken.

We can, however I suspect that the current state whereby it's locked in SC is a bug as we used to be able to do this until FD tried to fix the issue of it resetting on entry/exit of SC. The resetting was logged as a bug by myself and others(and subsequently confirmed as a bug by FD support) and the fix locked it like this, so I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

Which ones are already in game? If you can let me know, I'll remove them as I've obviously missed something...

As I mention in the OP, not all of them are "fixes" for things I believe are broken, merely personal preferences or suggestions for minor improvements to the UI experience I wanted to get other people's views on (the LS/AU point, for example.)
 
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We can, however I suspect that the current state whereby it's locked in SC is a bug as we used to be able to do this until FD tried to fix the issue of it resetting on entry/exit of SC. The resetting was logged as a bug by myself and others(and subsequently confirmed as a bug by FD support) and the fix locked it like this, so I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

Which ones are already in game? If you can let me know, I'll remove them as I've obviously missed something...

As I mention in the OP, not all of them are "fixes" for things I believe are broken, merely personal preferences or suggestions for minor improvements to the UI experience I wanted to get other people's views on (the LS/AU point, for example.)
The two that I initially thought were already in the game were the module filter and the system map galaxy map issue, and upon closer reading, they're both slightly different than what currently exists in game.

Although a lot of these suggestions are lightweight, I can't help but find them superfluous.
 
Can you not change it on exit?
To be fair, when I interdict someone, I have to
  • Un-tumble myself
  • Deploy hardpoints
  • Select correct hardpoint loadout
  • Find the ship in the left panel
  • Lock on and then check their sub-targets for something juicy
  • Change power settings to full weapons
Having at least one set up before hand would be nice. In any case, I don't really see the point in not being able to do so.
 
To be fair, when I interdict someone, I have to
  • Un-tumble myself
  • Deploy hardpoints
  • Select correct hardpoint loadout
  • Find the ship in the left panel
  • Lock on and then check their sub-targets for something juicy
  • Change power settings to full weapons
Having at least one set up before hand would be nice. In any case, I don't really see the point in not being able to do so.

It was removed because something broke.
Can't you set your pips to weapons before entering supercruise?
And isn't this.... well.... exciting?
 
Suggestions
UI - Date and time display in cockpit - on the bottom left of the right menu status page underneath "Local Rep," perhaps?
UI - Add an indicator for whether the headlights are on or off. Put it on the bottom right of the centre cockpit screen in the list with landing gear and cargo scoop.
UI - Condensed station interface. Smaller font size and/or option to customise. Easier for browsing through long commodities and fittings lists.
UI - Station interface separate colour from the cockpit orange. Maybe different colour for each major faction?
UI - Module fitting screen as a single line wide list with mouse-over showing the details of each module.
UI - Module fitting screen filterable as well as sortable.
UI - Shipyard 3D preview shows ships as their full colour, in game models, rather than orange wireframes so you can get a good look at them before buying. Preview needs to be bigger and zoomable. :)

I like most of your suggestions particularly different colors for station interface based on factions and detailed 3D shipyard preview.
 
It was removed because something broke.
Can't you set your pips to weapons before entering supercruise?
And isn't this.... well.... exciting?
I usually forget, since most of the time I cruise normal space with full power to engines.
And, I mean, it's a long laundry list of steps to do, as quickly as possible to avoid being a sitting duck when the target retaliates, but the power settings themselves don't take long. To be honest, in hindsight, I think my annoyances with it probably stem from the fact that I have to move my hand so far over to reach the arrow keys, but that's really my own fault for not just changing the button mappings.
 
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It was removed because something broke.
Can't you set your pips to weapons before entering supercruise?
And isn't this.... well.... exciting?

What if you don't know what power balance you will need before entering SC or something happens whilst you're already in SC that changes the power requirements you already had set up? Things can change quickly in ED depending on what's on the scanner and being able to change the setting on the fly before dropping out could well be essential in certain cases.
 
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