Suggestion: INVENTORY and TRANSACTIONS panels
SHIP CARGO, MATERIALS, DATA and CONTRACTS (Anywhere there's a MAX capacity)
Example: INVENTORY shows CAPACITY <current>/<max> only
Could we please have this updated to show <EMPTY>/<current>/<max>
(This would also be very welcome in the COMMODITIES MARKET and MISSION BOARD)
(And while you're at it, please add the system name up in the top left above the dock)
This would negate the need for a calculator, or tricky subtraction to figure out how many slots you have free when considering anything on the mission board and market that involves cargo deliveries, source and return, donation or salvage missions where you expect to be picking up more cargo en-route to a delivery.
Example: CONTRACTS does not show the general max (20), or new maximum (3) for missions that tend to be exploited, like surface scans and skimmer kills at all. Since the TRANSACTIONS panel can only display seven (7) missions at the same time there is a need to constantly scroll through the entire list and manually count then subtract from 20 to work out how many free slots you have prior to accepting missions...
Imagine how much more convenient it would be if we could see, at a glance, how many missions we currently have in the stack and how many free slots we have without needing to spend way too much time trying to figure this out manually...
The lack of this feature is inconvenient enough while docked with time to check and do the math manually, but while in flight picking up cargo there just isn't time.
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Similarly, while still on the TRANSACTION panel, why is it necessary to look into every single mission, and scroll down to see if the requirements have been met and it's ready to hand in? This is just plain torture. There is plenty of space to show <current>/<required> quantities, in RED eg 6/15 then changing to GREEN when you have 15/15.
You could also show most of the critical data within each entry on the external bar in the CONTRACTS panel, like which system or dock it needs to go to once ready to hand in and add a "PLOT COURSE AND ENGAGE HYPERDRIVE" button within the details.
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Following on from this, there is also a huge amount of underutilised space on each HAULAGE entry in the SHIP CARGO panel. Why can we not see the destinations at a glance and have an option to automatically plot course and jump to that system with the JETTISON options? This would make inventory and task management so much less painful since it would cut out the need to flick between both sides of the cockpit and still be basically guessing which of those two stacks of 24 BIOWASTE is going where.
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In game example: You have a salvage 0/2 black box mission which does not tell you where to return them to until you have the required quantity. You scoop up the first one, NPC's jump in and start attacking you while trying to tank them and scoop up the second one, all fine and dandy.
The mission updates and the destination is far enough away that that system does not appear in your NAVIGATION panel, or it's such an obscure system name that finding it in the list is near impossible although the mission marker helps, but they're all the same colour so, not that helpful really. Meanwhile, you're being shot at by multiple NPC's...
So you have to find the mission in the TRANSACTIONS panel, open it, select OPEN GALAXY MAP, wait while it loads, hope the info panel is showing the destination system, not the one you're in, get into the system map, plot a course, exit the map...
All of this while completely blind in the maps, with all the mission markers shown in the same colour, so you can't tell which are ready to hand in, IF it will even let you do this hoop jump and not force you out of the map to watch yourself die...
Not cricket guys. Here's a better idea...
Find the mission in the TRANSACTIONS panel, open it, select plot course and GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW, I'M BEING ATTACKED! Luckily most, but not all missions jump to the top of the list as UPDATED, making them easier to find, but not all of them do, like the DONATE missions (see previous bug ticket).
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In the GALAXY MAP you have two icons on the lower left of the system info panel, "Select" and "Plot route", one of which is essentially redundant. Why select it if you're not going there? Instead, consider a quick navigation drop down panel as follows:
1) Plot route: Expands downwards to show all dockable stations listed by closest to host star first with just the station / outpost / asteroid / planet icon and it's name IF you have the data for that system. If not it only shows Plot route to the star itself.
2) Either use the "Select" button or add an extra column / colour to the above to indicate which, if any of those docks has a mission target at or near it so you can quickly plot courses without needing to go into the system map, taking extra time.
This could also have a drop down (or radio buttons) to indicate how many missions are present in that system, using multiple numbered icons that correspond with the order on the TRANSACTIONS panel with red, green and if you like, irrelevant status indication (default orange). You could even add sorting options to the mission list, using the (default) A and D keys to sub-menu select by mission type, destination, time left, faction, cargo types, quantity (to hand in the largest ones first to make space for more) etc.
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Ok, so a final suggestion, and something that has been doing my head in for well over 3000 hours of play - WHICH MISSION AM I HANDING IN? There has never been a way to correlate similar missions between the TRANSACTIONS panel and MISSION BOARD? Sometimes I would really prefer to hand in one mission first over another, for a myriad of reasons but there is not enough detail on these "FISHER~PRICE" buttons. Mhm, I went there, these buttons are HUGE and seem to have been designed for two year old's with undeveloped vision, in a game where you need three extra hands and a PhD. to navigate?
The HUD is space-awesome, for the most part it is excellent, navigation is relatively intuitive considering the massive learning curve but these buttons? Having to scroll down in every information panel when there is bucket loads of wasted space? OMG!
Please consider a "DENSITY OF INFORMATION" pass, is there a "Font Size" option? You might be able to obsolete some parts of the interface and reassign them to something more useful, like information instead of big orange blobby things to smack with my squeeky hammer!
======
Elite has been rocking my world since 1984, always loved it, more so now it's pretty
SHIP CARGO, MATERIALS, DATA and CONTRACTS (Anywhere there's a MAX capacity)
Example: INVENTORY shows CAPACITY <current>/<max> only
Could we please have this updated to show <EMPTY>/<current>/<max>
(This would also be very welcome in the COMMODITIES MARKET and MISSION BOARD)
(And while you're at it, please add the system name up in the top left above the dock)
This would negate the need for a calculator, or tricky subtraction to figure out how many slots you have free when considering anything on the mission board and market that involves cargo deliveries, source and return, donation or salvage missions where you expect to be picking up more cargo en-route to a delivery.
Example: CONTRACTS does not show the general max (20), or new maximum (3) for missions that tend to be exploited, like surface scans and skimmer kills at all. Since the TRANSACTIONS panel can only display seven (7) missions at the same time there is a need to constantly scroll through the entire list and manually count then subtract from 20 to work out how many free slots you have prior to accepting missions...
Imagine how much more convenient it would be if we could see, at a glance, how many missions we currently have in the stack and how many free slots we have without needing to spend way too much time trying to figure this out manually...
The lack of this feature is inconvenient enough while docked with time to check and do the math manually, but while in flight picking up cargo there just isn't time.
======
Similarly, while still on the TRANSACTION panel, why is it necessary to look into every single mission, and scroll down to see if the requirements have been met and it's ready to hand in? This is just plain torture. There is plenty of space to show <current>/<required> quantities, in RED eg 6/15 then changing to GREEN when you have 15/15.
You could also show most of the critical data within each entry on the external bar in the CONTRACTS panel, like which system or dock it needs to go to once ready to hand in and add a "PLOT COURSE AND ENGAGE HYPERDRIVE" button within the details.
======
Following on from this, there is also a huge amount of underutilised space on each HAULAGE entry in the SHIP CARGO panel. Why can we not see the destinations at a glance and have an option to automatically plot course and jump to that system with the JETTISON options? This would make inventory and task management so much less painful since it would cut out the need to flick between both sides of the cockpit and still be basically guessing which of those two stacks of 24 BIOWASTE is going where.
======
In game example: You have a salvage 0/2 black box mission which does not tell you where to return them to until you have the required quantity. You scoop up the first one, NPC's jump in and start attacking you while trying to tank them and scoop up the second one, all fine and dandy.
The mission updates and the destination is far enough away that that system does not appear in your NAVIGATION panel, or it's such an obscure system name that finding it in the list is near impossible although the mission marker helps, but they're all the same colour so, not that helpful really. Meanwhile, you're being shot at by multiple NPC's...
So you have to find the mission in the TRANSACTIONS panel, open it, select OPEN GALAXY MAP, wait while it loads, hope the info panel is showing the destination system, not the one you're in, get into the system map, plot a course, exit the map...
All of this while completely blind in the maps, with all the mission markers shown in the same colour, so you can't tell which are ready to hand in, IF it will even let you do this hoop jump and not force you out of the map to watch yourself die...
Not cricket guys. Here's a better idea...
Find the mission in the TRANSACTIONS panel, open it, select plot course and GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW, I'M BEING ATTACKED! Luckily most, but not all missions jump to the top of the list as UPDATED, making them easier to find, but not all of them do, like the DONATE missions (see previous bug ticket).
======
In the GALAXY MAP you have two icons on the lower left of the system info panel, "Select" and "Plot route", one of which is essentially redundant. Why select it if you're not going there? Instead, consider a quick navigation drop down panel as follows:
1) Plot route: Expands downwards to show all dockable stations listed by closest to host star first with just the station / outpost / asteroid / planet icon and it's name IF you have the data for that system. If not it only shows Plot route to the star itself.
2) Either use the "Select" button or add an extra column / colour to the above to indicate which, if any of those docks has a mission target at or near it so you can quickly plot courses without needing to go into the system map, taking extra time.
This could also have a drop down (or radio buttons) to indicate how many missions are present in that system, using multiple numbered icons that correspond with the order on the TRANSACTIONS panel with red, green and if you like, irrelevant status indication (default orange). You could even add sorting options to the mission list, using the (default) A and D keys to sub-menu select by mission type, destination, time left, faction, cargo types, quantity (to hand in the largest ones first to make space for more) etc.
======
Ok, so a final suggestion, and something that has been doing my head in for well over 3000 hours of play - WHICH MISSION AM I HANDING IN? There has never been a way to correlate similar missions between the TRANSACTIONS panel and MISSION BOARD? Sometimes I would really prefer to hand in one mission first over another, for a myriad of reasons but there is not enough detail on these "FISHER~PRICE" buttons. Mhm, I went there, these buttons are HUGE and seem to have been designed for two year old's with undeveloped vision, in a game where you need three extra hands and a PhD. to navigate?
The HUD is space-awesome, for the most part it is excellent, navigation is relatively intuitive considering the massive learning curve but these buttons? Having to scroll down in every information panel when there is bucket loads of wasted space? OMG!
Please consider a "DENSITY OF INFORMATION" pass, is there a "Font Size" option? You might be able to obsolete some parts of the interface and reassign them to something more useful, like information instead of big orange blobby things to smack with my squeeky hammer!
======
Elite has been rocking my world since 1984, always loved it, more so now it's pretty
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