Sounds like that Sidey jockey gave someone the sobs 
Agreed, there needs to be more to do in normal space and I don't mean flying 4 minutes in a straight line into a station or wake scanning. It should be a bit more refined.
Issue is scale. SC allows you to reduce the amount of time that you'd be traveling in "normal" space immensely.
Problem is they can't "reduce" time scale for normal space travel without a mechanic such as SC- unless they use some sort of "instant teleporting" mechanic.
Exactly... although some seem to take issue with the fact that SC exists to begin with.
It's a necessary evil, but I do believe it could be more seamless and more engrossing. As it is, it's a wholly separate instance, cordoned off with loading screens, that features relatively little to do.
If possible I think what's happening in SC should be perceptible to some degree from normal space and active instances in normal space should show up as signal sources within a certain range. The increased effect of the old mass shadows would also be appreciated, so that travel through SC required more maneuvering for optimal travel time and interdiction/evasion had more to them than the tunnel game.
I agree that there really should be more to SC than simple fly-n-scan or basic interdiction. I don't think blaming SC itself, however, is the issue. SC simply must exist else it break the immersion factor of scale itself. The problem isn't SC itself, but rather the lack of activities available in SC.
Yes, that's the necessary part.
Without absurd levels of constant acceleration with no speed cap, and certainly no way to speed up time, we do need in system FTL.
Eyeballs (you can see weapons fire and exhaust trails at 40-60km), or longer range sensors. Also, people tend to congregate.
I'll just wait here for a second to see if I can understand the point of this between Alpha Centauri and Hutton Orbital.
Well, you generally can't find anyone in SC between Alpha Centauri and Hutton either, except at the entry to the system and when they get very close to Hutton proper. Even a single degree deviation in SC course will put you out of SC sensor range for the majority of the trip.
If you wanted to fight someone going to Hutton, you'd probably just wait at Hutton.
Arguendo
Volunteer Moderator
That's an idea I really like! We already have USSs for NPC activity. Having the same for player activity would be very nice. Trying to drop on wakes the way it is now is insanely frustrating, but having a USS (with the appropriate threat level) to fly at would be extremely nice!
You have my vote for this too!