Let me get this right out of the way: I like ED, but quite often the game is pure annoyance in digital form because of... "reasons", apparently. I'm talking about silly little time-wasting or annoying in-game things. So, let's make a list of those, so hopefully FDevs know what to tackle.
The rules here are simple: identify things that do nothing but waste the players time or are just arbitrarily obscure.
General UI & mechanics
- shield % indicator (at least for your own ship) on the main dashboard
- change the scan / combat mode to FSD / A, B, C, etc.
[alternates to the above by DrParanoia]
- indicate which modules in fire groups can be used in which UI mode (Discovery/Combat)
- (maybe even better than above) different fire groups for different UI modes
- make "repair all" actually repair all (that maintenance thing is... WHY?!)
- overhaul the module storage UI (filtering, categories, general ease-of-use)
- have the ship "auto turn" once docked (i.e. prepare to launch and wait automatically; if the "enter hangar button" is pushed in the interim, do that instead)
- have smaller NPC ships actually make way to larger ships (inc. player ships) when docking at stations
- refine the pulse wave analyser - it often bugs out visually, and finding those core asteroids is just a small bit more interesting than watching paint dry
- let us pick a colour for map bookmarks
- let us add custom notes to map bookmarks
- let us finally make UI in-game colour changes
- let us scoop up stuff without selecting it in an SRV (at least for materials)
- let us store ship loadouts for fast role switching
- show the entry point distance with the distance to system on the abridged mission display (currently one needs to open each mission to check if the distance from the entry point isn't 200k Ls or something equally silly... OR give us that jump to star option!)
- search box in the key bindings options (there's a lot of keys to bind!) [Zaite12]
- "Load all cargo" for missions [Aashenfox]
- "Roll max" for engineers using all possible materials [Aashenfox]
- make all outfitting animations optional [Aashenfox]
- show special effects (engineering) on the general item description without the need to go to "modifications" [Aashenfox]
- show signal sources on the Orrery map [DrParanoia]
- "request docking" key bind? [DrParanoia]
- in game information about crafting materials (where to get them) [DrParanoia]
- Allow binding the buttons dedicated to Menu navigation to different things while no menu is active (i.e. in normal "flight mode"). This would free up a metric ton of the precious buttons on the flight stick [Cougar]
- Show target system in Mission list in the Target panel. With many active missions, it's a bit frustrating to have to select the mission to see it's target system. Show it above the time left in the mission, where you can see it at a glance. Ability to sort missions would also be nice. [CMDR Night Tripper]
- Wing Beacon ON by default. [Kari Kerenski] (my comment: or at least remember the last option used?)
- buy all / sell all buttons [uliando]
- Keeping cargo in stored ship. [Psychomorph]
SC changes
- rename "slow down" to "gravitation effect" (or similar) for when a stellar body is affecting ship acceleration / deceleration (also possibly change colour?)
- add a proper "slow down" message to warn BEFORE the need to slow down (i.e. what the current "slow down" message often is confused with)
- add an actual "time-to-target" as a second line to the current, simplistic "speed/distance" timer
- allow our ships to make use of the ACTUAL acceleration / deceleration when approaching locations outside of gravity effects (i.e. allow lock-in at greater distances / speeds when away from stellar bodies)
- "jump to star" mechanic; if I wanted to spend 20+ minutes looking at a screensaver I'd install Windows95
- 3D orientation of orbital ellipses is difficult to interpret (i.e. for stations in orbit around planets on approach). Maybe it is possible to visualize them differently, so it becomes clear which part of the ellipse is closer to the ship? E.g. with dashed lines, or a slight shading on the lines? [Cougar]
Mission changes (these probably require the most work to implement, so...)
- refine engineer unlock missions and make them less grindy (rare-good delivery missions in particular are artificial time-sinks)
- refine the guardian unlock mechanics to be less grindy
- refine the rank grind (perhaps add dedicated high risk/reward missions to military stations?)
- refine power-play unlocks (while I'm sure some princess supporters support her for PP reasons; most people will likely be stuck waiting the 4 weeks with her for the prismatics and nothing else)
The list is by no means comprehensive. I'm sure people can come up with many MANY more ideas, and I'd like to invite everyone to do so. Again, let's try to keep this list limited to things that basically waste the players time without adding anything else in return. Basically, if the answer to "what does mechanic XYZ accomplish" is "nothing, it extends the time to do ABC", then XYZ is likely a pointless / bad mechanic and might need to be revised and is probably a good addition to the list above. Also note: the idea here isn't to make the game easier, only less annoying and time-wasting.
The rules here are simple: identify things that do nothing but waste the players time or are just arbitrarily obscure.
General UI & mechanics
- shield % indicator (at least for your own ship) on the main dashboard
- change the scan / combat mode to FSD / A, B, C, etc.
[alternates to the above by DrParanoia]
- indicate which modules in fire groups can be used in which UI mode (Discovery/Combat)
- (maybe even better than above) different fire groups for different UI modes
- make "repair all" actually repair all (that maintenance thing is... WHY?!)
- overhaul the module storage UI (filtering, categories, general ease-of-use)
- have the ship "auto turn" once docked (i.e. prepare to launch and wait automatically; if the "enter hangar button" is pushed in the interim, do that instead)
- have smaller NPC ships actually make way to larger ships (inc. player ships) when docking at stations
- refine the pulse wave analyser - it often bugs out visually, and finding those core asteroids is just a small bit more interesting than watching paint dry
- let us pick a colour for map bookmarks
- let us add custom notes to map bookmarks
- let us finally make UI in-game colour changes
- let us scoop up stuff without selecting it in an SRV (at least for materials)
- let us store ship loadouts for fast role switching
- show the entry point distance with the distance to system on the abridged mission display (currently one needs to open each mission to check if the distance from the entry point isn't 200k Ls or something equally silly... OR give us that jump to star option!)
- search box in the key bindings options (there's a lot of keys to bind!) [Zaite12]
- "Load all cargo" for missions [Aashenfox]
- "Roll max" for engineers using all possible materials [Aashenfox]
- make all outfitting animations optional [Aashenfox]
- show special effects (engineering) on the general item description without the need to go to "modifications" [Aashenfox]
- show signal sources on the Orrery map [DrParanoia]
- "request docking" key bind? [DrParanoia]
- in game information about crafting materials (where to get them) [DrParanoia]
- Allow binding the buttons dedicated to Menu navigation to different things while no menu is active (i.e. in normal "flight mode"). This would free up a metric ton of the precious buttons on the flight stick [Cougar]
- Show target system in Mission list in the Target panel. With many active missions, it's a bit frustrating to have to select the mission to see it's target system. Show it above the time left in the mission, where you can see it at a glance. Ability to sort missions would also be nice. [CMDR Night Tripper]
- Wing Beacon ON by default. [Kari Kerenski] (my comment: or at least remember the last option used?)
- buy all / sell all buttons [uliando]
- Keeping cargo in stored ship. [Psychomorph]
SC changes
- rename "slow down" to "gravitation effect" (or similar) for when a stellar body is affecting ship acceleration / deceleration (also possibly change colour?)
- add a proper "slow down" message to warn BEFORE the need to slow down (i.e. what the current "slow down" message often is confused with)
- add an actual "time-to-target" as a second line to the current, simplistic "speed/distance" timer
- allow our ships to make use of the ACTUAL acceleration / deceleration when approaching locations outside of gravity effects (i.e. allow lock-in at greater distances / speeds when away from stellar bodies)
- "jump to star" mechanic; if I wanted to spend 20+ minutes looking at a screensaver I'd install Windows95
- 3D orientation of orbital ellipses is difficult to interpret (i.e. for stations in orbit around planets on approach). Maybe it is possible to visualize them differently, so it becomes clear which part of the ellipse is closer to the ship? E.g. with dashed lines, or a slight shading on the lines? [Cougar]
Mission changes (these probably require the most work to implement, so...)
- refine engineer unlock missions and make them less grindy (rare-good delivery missions in particular are artificial time-sinks)
- refine the guardian unlock mechanics to be less grindy
- refine the rank grind (perhaps add dedicated high risk/reward missions to military stations?)
- refine power-play unlocks (while I'm sure some princess supporters support her for PP reasons; most people will likely be stuck waiting the 4 weeks with her for the prismatics and nothing else)
The list is by no means comprehensive. I'm sure people can come up with many MANY more ideas, and I'd like to invite everyone to do so. Again, let's try to keep this list limited to things that basically waste the players time without adding anything else in return. Basically, if the answer to "what does mechanic XYZ accomplish" is "nothing, it extends the time to do ABC", then XYZ is likely a pointless / bad mechanic and might need to be revised and is probably a good addition to the list above. Also note: the idea here isn't to make the game easier, only less annoying and time-wasting.
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