Addition of reticle based target information.

[Hitsuke]

I was thinking about this before whilst doing a bit of RES bashing, and suddenly realised how much better it would be if we had some decent target information next to the targeting reticle. It's been done before in other excellent space shooters, and I firmly believe it would be an excellent addition to Elite. I've made a mock representation of the rough idea I'm on about, so I thought I'd throw it out there and find out what the general consensus would be:

 

[Frenotx]

What is that? Target heat, and what else?

 

[Hitsuke]

Hull & Shield on the left, then your own weapon heat on the right. You could possibly have two bars on the right for heat and weapon power.

 

[Hitsuke]

Shameless bump... I'll expect a much better response during EU timezone

 

[Blake_Dragon]

all that information is already provided on the left side of the radar. no need to further clutter up the hud IMO as shown in my example picture, my current target lost its shield and a good portion of its hull. My heat level is very comfortably low and the triangles that mark the target shows you which way he's going. Adding more things to it would clutter that up and make it more difficult to see where he's going and placing deflections shots in his path. This said, i rather not see this idea implemented, no offense to the OP or the general idea of improving the game but this particular idea or way of redundantly putting more clutter on the screen I dislike.

(it taken us long enough to get an option to turn the orbital lines off in game and now you try to clutter my screen up further? heretic )

Spoiler

however, if you could not be without this idea, maybe following that viper could get you what you want, in a year or so

 

[Hitsuke]

all that information is already provided on the left side of the radar. no need to further clutter up the hud IMO as shown in my example picture, my current target lost its shield and a good portion of its hull. My heat level is very comfortably low and the triangles that mark the target shows you which way he's going. Adding more things to it would clutter that up and make it more difficult to see where he's going and placing deflections shots in his path. This said, i rather not see this idea implemented, no offense to the OP or the general idea of improving the game but this particular idea or way of redundantly putting more clutter on the screen I dislike.

Thanks for the response. I do understand some of your concerns, I just feel that even the addition of a few small bars along side the reticle could give pilots a much more refined experience during combat. Sometimes, taking your eyes off target just for a brief moment during combat, can be enough to cost you the fight. Having vital information like target shields, hull strength and your own heat level within your direct FOV could be very useful, and would mean you could keep your eyes bang on the money 100% of the time.

The bars wouldn't have to be huge, and my example is a crude representation. It also goes without saying that these bars could be toggled on/off as per your preference.

 

[Commander Dave]

Not sure what the utility of replicating extant information is.
Were it something additional and useful then I think you'd have a case. But currently it's needless replication.

 

[OrLoK]

Hello there

Op's ideas had occurred to me as well.

Personally I'd like information about whatever is under the reticule The longer it is over a target the more info I'd like presented.

Even if it's just Galnet encyclopedic info.

As HUD's go, its not very informational, even if it is true to the game.

Rgds

LoK

 

[Hitsuke]

Tbh I'm one of the people that holds the opinion that the HUD in general is a bit too clunky. There are a lot of lines that needn't be there, and those lines are too thick in general. The targeting dots are too large and at range they can literally eclipse your target. The whole portion of the hud that appears on your glass could be scaled down a touch so it takes up less visual space... it feels a little bit too intrusive at times.

If you got rid of some of that clunkiness, there would be more room for actual useful information.

 

[seansamurai1]

What should be around that reticule isn't repeated info.
It should be target speed relative to yours and if weapons have line of sight, so a little 'lock' that goes on and off.
It shouldn't be big and certainly shouldn't be repeated information that just clogs up what it supposed to be simple.

 

[Alvatore]

Let's not go cluttering up the space around the targeting reticle. It's very important to see whether or not some other ship is about to pass in front of you so that you can let off the trigger. Having bars and tickers and information readouts there will just inhibit that information. Maybe I'm terrible at combat, but I'm able to check the target's status now and then without having any detrimental results occur. "Target shields offline" and "target shields online" are the important things to know anyway, since it tends to mean "Switch from lasers to guns/guns to lasers now."

 

[theEmohawk]

I don't like the idea of having target shield and health displayed, but the things that drags my eye away from the target to look lower in the HUD is simply checking whether my beams are landing on target. You get that information from the target display and if you're close enough to actually see the beam land, but if I'm out at 1km I can only see that the shot is landing from the HUD.
I wouldn't complain about having the target reticle change colour when you land a shot. As far as the extra information in the reticle... It could be done without cluttering. I'm trying to think of the game I played that presented a lot of info in the reticle... It might have been Metroid Prime, but that gave health and ammo info in the reticle by altering the circle of the reticle itself (so a complete circle meant you had full health etc) and there were a couple of circles making up the reticle.

I have no doubt that the reticle could be tweaked, I'd settle for just a "shot on target" indicator though.

 

[Blake_Dragon]

Let's not go cluttering up the space around the targeting reticle. It's very important to see whether or not some other ship is about to pass in front of you so that you can let off the trigger. Having bars and tickers and information readouts there will just inhibit that information. Maybe I'm terrible at combat, but I'm able to check the target's status now and then without having any detrimental results occur. "Target shields offline" and "target shields online" are the important things to know anyway, since it tends to mean "Switch from lasers to guns/guns to lasers now."

at last our on-board computer is quite helpful and verbally let us know when that red light/green light for the gun moment occurs (unless you left the seat in the Loo up again and she's giving you the silent treatment over it)
(that or have it turned off in the options menu)

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

Not sure what the utility of replicating extant information is.
Were it something additional and useful then I think you'd have a case. But currently it's needless replication.

Dave, your case is also flawed; modern fighter aircraft HUDs all show replicated extant information. Altitude, IAS, Heading, pitch, AoA are all displayed elsewhere in the cockpit.

Hitsuke's request is reasonable. although FD has opted for a sparse, futuristic 'look' yet thoroughly disabled cockpit interface... there's hardly any actual Heads-up display at all. Selected weapon. A sort of "I'm going that way" circle. Two outer brackets that serve little purpose. There's not even a nose/heading caret, something several actual pilots have commented on (yes I know you can enable a small yellow dot but c'mon, really?).

Google Independence War 2 for a decent example of a non-cluttered reticle-based HUD UI. Clean, clear and doesn't get in the way.

FD can do far better; I am sure any actual human UI designer (i.e. not a gamer, not a game UI designer) will sit back and say FD's UI is... well... rubbish. It is. Look at it. Its gorgeous (don't get me wrong, I love it) but its well below par on functionality, ease of use and controls that should be to hand for a air/space craft pilot.... aren't. Its not dynamic based on situational context (something modern HUDS are very good at) or ergonomic in the slightest.

I'd like to see;
- Target info that doesn't draw outside your canopy support struts (FD draw order fail, give it a limit box and draw last/on top)
- Smaller more informative target icons in scanner
- Target brackets with pertinent combat info (I agree with Hitsuke, Hull/Shield, but I prefer %, current sub-target)
- Heading indicator (useful for FA-off folks)
- System coordinates (hell a decent system map that didn't resemble a DC comic would be nice)
- System heading, degrees above/below plane etc (the game knows exactly where you are, why can't the pilot?)
- Thinner above/below tie lines in scanner
- Configurable colours (hopefully soon)
- Lose the outer arcs (these qualify as clutter and do nothing)
- Target star/plot route on mouse (and straight on 'til morning, right explorers?)
... The list would go on for a while.

All this and more can be done without losing the feel or the 'look' of the UI as it is now.
And it could be done with switches and sliders in the Options menu so you can keep the 'FD standard UI' and information-hungry pilots can pop up more data if they want it.

Of course, good UI design is actually rather expensive, which decreases the UI priority.

I love the look, but functionally, it's gimped. Apparently on purpose.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

I'd personally like to see my speed represented somewhere near the center of the screen, including the optimal zone.

I don't use a physical throttle (such as a stick or slider), so I rely on the mouse wheel to increase and decrease my speed.

I find it annoying to have to remember how many ticks up or down I've changed my speed during a fight, and I change speed often.

Taking the time to look down for the split second it takes to adjust back into the optimal zone is extremely detrimental during a fight.


Just my two cents.