[PROPOSAL] A light Amplification device and player agency

[Iskariot]

I decided to make a proposal out of a comment about the automated light enhancement on dark planets.
Many cmdrs have complained about the automatic brightening of the dark side of planets.

A simple proposal that will satisfy everybody:

It should not be an automatic effect.
Light amplification should be something a pilot needs to:

.1: buy
.2: switch on
.3: it might use a little bit of energy and heat up the ship a little bit.

Stuff like this should add to the techy/sim feeling of the game.
By making it automatic it becomes a thoughtless mechanic, which is a real shame.

People are irritated about it because it is outside of their control.

I bet you will never see a thread about this anymore (and there have been many complaints) when cmdrs can choose to buy a light amplification device (or software) and can choose to switch it on or off.

Please FD give us player's agency and make this mechanic part of true gameplay.
That is how it should be. Simple things like this will add to the feeling of depth.
It accumulates and in the end will make the game great.

 

[MBaldelli]

Buy? No...
Cause Thermal increase? No...

I do not approve of player sadism of any sort. This is micromanagement and player sadism to make the game "feel alive". I would rather drink bleach than submit to anyone else's sadism to creating a "living universe game"... No matter how negligible it might be.

Switch on? Perhaps. The option might prove interesting. But let me ask you this -- do you use the launch checklist when leaving a station? If you do then sure, I might endorse it. But if you don't -- please don't add to the game without using what's already there first to determine whether it's something that should be switched on.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'd be perfectly happy with a set of options to pick from as part of the ships standard software.

Buying modules for thermal or night vision would be fine though.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Well, to be honest I still have some problems in understanting the FSD theoretical principle applied to the game so it would be complex to integrate the Light physical behaviour in Supercruise...

No I think Light is not the solution. But there are other options:

- Infrared view: the planet is for sure warmer than empty space and you could spot POI too.

- Virtual representation generated by the Discovery Scanner. You can see canyons, craters and mountains only if you have a detailed surface scanner. The planet representation generated should be very simple, like in Frontier (for nostalgics)

- More detailed instruments (like in actual airplanes) where you can see altitude and vertical speed on large instruments and an instrumental landing system that visually drives you to your target destination (if any).

The positive part of these 3 options is that they can work in both supercruise and normal flight without braking the physics rules.

 

[Iskariot]

Buy? No...
Cause Thermal increase? No...

I do not approve of player sadism of any sort. This is micromanagement and player sadism to make the game "feel alive". I would rather drink bleach than submit to anyone else's sadism to creating a "living universe game"... No matter how negligible it might be.

Switch on? Perhaps. The option might prove interesting. But let me ask you this -- do you use the launch checklist when leaving a station? If you do then sure, I might endorse it. But if you don't -- please don't add to the game without using what's already there first to determine whether it's something that should be switched on.

Your reaction is extremely surprising to me.
You seem to want as little player agency as possible.
For me this is about making choices, feeling like I am in control of a space vessel that has a diverse tool set for me to use at will. "At will" being the key here.

Also the game needs money sinks. Being able to buy enhancements for my ship of all kinds, including light amplification technology, perhaps some thermal vision tech etc. is a no-brainer. It would not be different from all the other stuff we buy for our ships.... with in-game money of course.

I am not sure what you are on about with the launch checklist. You can switch it on and off at will too, just as I propose for a light amplification device. I have used the checklist a few times. It does not need to be used all the time. The same can be said about light amplification. Currently light amplification is forced upon us. We have nochoice in the matter on the dark side of planets. I and apparently a lot of others think we should. That is why there are so many threads about the dark side of planets being too light when you approach the surface.

 

[MBaldelli]

Your reaction is extremely surprising to me.
You seem to want as little player agency as possible.
For me this is about making choices, feeling like I am in control of a space vessel that has a diverse tool set for me to use at will. "At will" being the key here.

The problem is that this game should be happening at a level of automation possible. While you don't always feel that way -- like in a DBX which has the cockpit interior of an old World War II Bomber Cockpit -- the amount of player agency you suggested involves micromanagement that I find many players don't seem to want as the minority of people that come to the suggestions looking to satiate. I happen to be part of the former and not the latter. I rather like the fact that I don't have to control lighting when heading to the dark side and can see through game interaction of the landscape lightening according to unexplained technological advances.

Also the game needs money sinks.

Really now? An £8.6 Million Cash Balance (down £1.9 million from the year before), a revenue of £21.8 million (down £1.4 million) with an operating Profit of £1.2 Million (down £400,000) is an indication of need?

I am not sure what you are on about with the launch checklist.

I'll make it as plain as possible.

Do you use the launch checklist?

I'm asking because I also work on the saying, "Put your money where your mouth is." Because my logic is if you don't (use the launch checklist) -- this request seems incredibly selective as to what you want and don 't for player agency. It's bad when it's the launch checklist, but good with lighting. It comes off as lackadaisical to me although there's a better word that describes it that I'm not remembering immediately.

You can switch it on and off at will too, just as I propose for a light amplification device.

I believe that there's a much larger checklist that pilots even in the 34th century would be going through than we currently are. It has been simplified for the gaming experience. Your suggestion -- while sort of all right under certain select instances -- seems lacks in places that I challenge.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

The problem is that this game should be happening at a level of automation possible...I rather like the fact that I don't have to control lighting when heading to the dark side...

What the OP is proposing has nothing to do with the automatism or the work load in the cockpit. He's proposing a new technology that can be used in our ship and it doesn't matter if it's automatic or not.

This "light amplifier" or "night vision" can be automatically turned on when in orbital flight on the dark side of the planet if you don't want to manage it.
We can always have an option to have it manual or automatic. The fact that we have manual checklist in our ships means that someone like the idea of managing the ship systems.
In may case, for example, I always take care of landing somewhere before closing my game session and I always switch off the main modules to reduce the power consumption during my absence.
There are people that close the game in supercruise. I won't criticize them. Everyone should be free to play as he wishes to without useless limitations.

ED is a Space Simulator not an Arcade game so we should never limit the game capability, that's FDev task!
We're all here in this Forum to provide ideas and wider options to allow everyone to enjoy the game as much as possible with quick and easy integration at software level (from what we can understand of it!!!).

MBandelli downvoting all ideas and proposing nothing, just to keep the game in a Safe, you demonstrate to this community that you didn't get the scope of this forum.

 

[MBaldelli]

What the OP is proposing has nothing to do with the automatism or the work load in the cockpit. He's proposing a new technology that can be used in our ship and it doesn't matter if it's automatic or not.

He suggests at costs -- both credits and Thermal output.

Please note what I said here:

I'll make it as plain as possible.

Do you use the launch checklist?

I'm asking because I also work on the saying, "Put your money where your mouth is." Because my logic is if you don't (use the launch checklist) -- this request seems incredibly selective as to what you want and don 't for player agency. It's bad when it's the launch checklist, but good with lighting. It comes off as lackadaisical to me although there's a better word that describes it that I'm not remembering immediately.