Lack of module and HUD information.

[UnknownXV]

Am I the only one who feels there is a significant lack of information given to players in regards to modules? For example, comparing shield modules lists very little in the way of proper stats. I can't know exactly what the shield HP of a module is, or its recharge rate, what the difference between class is, and so on. Same thing for weapons. It only lists the damage output as a scale, not in numeric precise units. I want to know how much damage per shot my weapon does, to compare it to my shields to get a rough idea of how strong they actually are.

Also applies for hull plating. It says it increases resistances, but by how much? Very important to know when determining if it's worth the cost and additional hull mass. The only module that seems to provide precise information are the power distributor modules. So that's nice, but let's apply this to every other module too please.

Beyond this, it would be very welcome if asteroids you've mined from were marked in your HUD so you know where you've been. Very easy to get turned around in an asteroid field.

 

[Riepah]

No, you are not the only one. I think it's beyond strange and unrealistic that we are expected to buy modules based on so very little information - I'd expect that from shady backstreet dealers, not from an advanced, major space station run by the government.

 

[Iskariot]

I agree completely. We need more info about what certain upgrades actually improve.
Very often the only change in stats I can see is going from a B module to a C module without any other solid info.

I suspect FD will fill this in soon, because it just seems unfinished now.

 

[UnknownXV]

I wonder if it was intentionally vague?

 

[Riepah]

I wonder if it was intentionally vague?

Perhaps, but for what reason? It certainly doesn't help immersion or realism any, as even nowadays you know the system specs of a computer or a computer part before buying it. Imagine if all the information you could get before buying a new graphics card was that it's rated a letter earlier in the alphabet than your current one and weighs 20 grams less. Its heat efficiency is "a little blue arrow" better than your current card's. It costs 3 times more than your old card. Well, are you buying or not?

 

[Varrag]

Yeah there is a serious lack of useful stats and informations and I don't see any reason why they made this so cryptic. But the whole outfitting screen layout is generally bad, and that's not only because we cannot spin our ships in hangar. For example, why can't we have filters for different module groups?

 

[RyanBurnsRed]

Glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks this. Other than power draw, weight, and rate of fire, the stats concerning weapons are extremely vauge.
How am I supposed to know exactly how much damage this 500K turreted beam laser does as compared to the 32K gimballed version? The bar tells me that the cheaper one does more damage with the blue arrow, but the number of bars are exactly the same.
The same applies to shields as well as you said. Are A3 rated shields the same as B3 rated shields with less mass but higher power draw? Is that why one is more expensive than the other? Nothing in terms of actual stats are displayed.

 

[adoredtv]

Imagine if all the information you could get before buying a new graphics card was that it's rated a letter earlier in the alphabet than your current one and weighs 20 grams less. Its heat efficiency is "a little blue arrow" better than your current card's. It costs 3 times more than your old card. Well, are you buying or not?

That's actually not far from how the majority of tech buyers upgrade, sadly.

 

[Nestor]

Can't agree more. There's a certain lack of modern approach to handling data. Eve has learned how to do it, but it still takes 'spreadsheety' windows.

I've done a small piece on the UX and the game here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=89150

 

[Alice Margatroid]

as someone who played decent freespace 1-2 alot, the hud is kinda weak, especaly in combat. for one, there is no angle off indicator. in fs, you had a arrow that pointed in the directon of the target ship off your noes, and a tail that would show you how many degrees off in that direction said target is. same for missles. there is a lack of a warning of hostiles targeting you, lack of proper indication of where said target is, and to target anything you ether need to face it, or scroll through the contacts on right right, need more keys for it. also lack of a auto threat taregting system is kinda sad. or a target first hostile. some of these things I could understand being locked in a combat upgrade, but its not even a option.

 

[DocMoriarty]

I don't think it was intentionally vague. It hasn't changed since when it was implemented in Beta. It's WIP, unfinished, not the final version, forgotten to fix ...

 

[fergal]

go out and get shot
Lets you know how much the shields / hull improvments make a difference.

Or you could search through the beta/gamma forums for the answers from someone else. I don't know why they hid them away from this new forum.

 

[Tchuvan]

I fully agree. Hell, even the name is the same. Like you said, I have no idea if I want the extra weight for a marginal increase, etc. It seems they rushed quite a few things to make the holiday season.