Engineers QoL suggestion for Materials

[Uiros Ueramos]

Hi!

I've been lurking the forums since the beginning of last year and playing ED since April this year, but I only felt appropriate to post now to make a suggestion.

I would like to see what people think of a possible QoL improvemnt regarding the Materials tab in the ship's left menu.

Instead of having the elements (Antimony, Arsenic, Cadmium, etc...) mixed with manufactured products (Basic Conductors, Biotech Conductors, Chemical Distillery, etc...) in the same "tab" called Materials and separated from Data (which are also used in Engineer blueprints), couldn't we have 3 separate "tabs"?

Something like:

Elements (max 500)
Tech (max 500)
Data (max 500)

IMHO, I think it would help sort out things better and make it easier to consult. Maybe this is too obsessive and plain wrong, but I would like to know what people think about it.

Thank you in advance for your opinions...

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

No opinions about this? :S

 

[Dommarraa]

Nope - Have fully engineered the 3 ships I use, and have enough mats to do another 2 big ships. Even when I was gathering, it would not have made a significant improvement to the process.

 

[Mephane]

Hi!

I've been lurking the forums since the beginning of last year and playing ED since April this year, but I only felt appropriate to post now to make a suggestion.

I would like to see what people think of a possible QoL improvemnt regarding the Materials tab in the ship's left menu.

Instead of having the elements (Antimony, Arsenic, Cadmium, etc...) mixed with manufactured products (Basic Conductors, Biotech Conductors, Chemical Distillery, etc...) in the same "tab" called Materials and separated from Data (which are also used in Engineer blueprints), couldn't we have 3 separate "tabs"?

Something like:

Elements (max 500)
Tech (max 500)
Data (max 500)

IMHO, I think it would help sort out things better and make it easier to consult. Maybe this is too obsessive and plain wrong, but I would like to know what people think about it.

Thank you in advance for your opinions...

Good idea, I would expand it:

1. Chemical elements and manufactured materials are separated into different lists, just like data and materials are separated now.
2. Material and data limits are per type of material and data, instead of being a shared limit.

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

Good idea, I would expand it:

1. Chemical elements and manufactured materials are separated into different lists, just like data and materials are separated now.

This was precisely what I was trying to suggest. Sorry for not expressing it more clearly. English is not my first language and I should have used "list" instead of "tab".

2. Material and data limits are per type of material and data, instead of being a shared limit.

Great idea. That would make management automatic and remove the need to check the stock every time you gather a few elements/tech/data. No more lost time selecting what to throw out.

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

It seems, besides the already posted suggestion, no one wants to give more feedback. Well, I won't push it, but I was hoping FD could make these simple changes.

Just to get things organized and legible, and inserting Mephane's suggestion, this is what the Inventory tab could look like:

Cargo
Elements (Engineer Blueprints and Synthesis ---> Max 30 per element)
Tech (Engineer Blueprints ---> Max 30 per tech type)
Data (Engineer Blueprints ---> Max 30 per data type)
Synthesis
Cabins

I think 30 is a good number in regards to balance, right?

 

[RamirezKurita]

Separating the materials out a bit would be nice, but I'd also quite like to be able to compact a large number of identical materials into a single cargo commodity for bulk storage aboard my ship. As anyone who does any amount of mining will tell you, it is easy to stock up on 100+ of each of the common elements, and being able to compact 25-50 carbon into a single carbon ingot would let me continue mining while also prepping bulk materials for levelling engineers, particularly if combined with a "donate materials" option for engineers rather than me having to roll a blueprint 100+ times.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

What we really need is a synthesis type page for each module accessible by clicking the module in the Modules tab

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

Separating the materials out a bit would be nice, but I'd also quite like to be able to compact a large number of identical materials into a single cargo commodity for bulk storage aboard my ship. As anyone who does any amount of mining will tell you, it is easy to stock up on 100+ of each of the common elements, and being able to compact 25-50 carbon into a single carbon ingot would let me continue mining while also prepping bulk materials for levelling engineers, particularly if combined with a "donate materials" option for engineers rather than me having to roll a blueprint 100+ times.

Yes. I mine quite a lot too and it get's tiresome the amount of Elements we have to scrap, while mining Painite, Platinum, Paladium, etc...

And your suggestion for bulk storage of elements and "donate materials" for an assured result, would be more realistic. We are not going to get that though, with FD's idea that "Engineering" must have RNG, while in reality it's a process of precision. [sour]

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

I guess what it comes down to is players ultimately want the perfect upgrade for their needs. What I would like is the option to do away with the RNG, allow me to set the outcome for the engineer and then the engineer to tell me what the cost is in terms of time, materials and expense e.g. 50 Platinum, 50 Ion Disruptors, 25 Core Dynamic Shields + 48hrs + 5M cr

Then if you wanted to keep RNG you could have the engineer complete within time and budget or have them ask for an extension like real life. Above all I want to stop discarding materials, data and engineer commodities.

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

I guess what it comes down to is players ultimately want the perfect upgrade for their needs. What I would like is the option to do away with the RNG, allow me to set the outcome for the engineer and then the engineer to tell me what the cost is in terms of time, materials and expense e.g. 50 Platinum, 50 Ion Disruptors, 25 Core Dynamic Shields + 48hrs + 5M cr

Except that sounds too realistic (like it happens in any engineering project in real life) and FD can't have none of that silliness in game...

Then if you wanted to keep RNG you could have the engineer complete within time and budget or have them ask for an extension like real life. Above all I want to stop discarding materials, data and engineer commodities.

Yeah, I find it really wasteful to be ditching stuff all the time. Not counting the time spent doing it...