QoL - those little things that aren't game breakers

[Steyla]

A few small QoL features for explorers.

1. The complete star classification in the system map. e.g. G2 V and not just G.
2. The distance of the planets to the star they orbit, and not to the main entry point of the system.
3. A DC capable of landing on a planet.
4. The capability of setting a coordinate marker on a planet.


Fly/land safe

CMDR Steyla

 

[OfftheRails]

Always carry a scoop. The first thing I bought for my starter Sidey? A scoop.

Station-to-station within the bubble, a fuel tank is better than a scoop.

 

[Jack Schitt]

The Hud: I have noticed that on some ships, especially those with the cockpit set back from the nose, that information displayed to the player is often hidden from view. It almost seems the hud is projecting in front of the ship and the body of the ship or even the frames of the canopy obscure the information. These are normally navigation information like the targeted planet distance etc. This is information that would be generated by your ship, so you should be able to see it.

The latter are projected onto the "glass", so should be visible anywhere other than pillars and other canopy hardware, including "on top of" visible ship structures as long as there's "glass" between you and the target.

I've been idly thinking about this while out exploring in the 'conda and the penny has suddenly dropped as to what's wrong here, and what the OP might have been getting at.

Both the orbit lines / approach cicles and targeting reticle on the HUD share enough characteristics that they feel as though they are being projected "onto the glass." They move smoothly together, they are not visibile in front of pillars and other canopy structures, and unlike the weapon status and other info panels they do not exhibit parallax "float" when the pilot's head moves.

Nonetheless there is a discrepancy, in that the targeting reticle is projected in front of visible ship superstructure, while the orbit lines and approach circles are not.

Spoiler

This is inconsistent. Either the orbit lines should be visible over the ship's fuselage (because they're projected on the "glass") or the reticle should "float" like the other interior HUD elements (because it isn't).

I actually remember reporting this as a possible bug in a beta, back when the Corvette first became available. Something felt wrong and I reported the visible targeting reticle as a specific bug. When someone pointed out that the projections are on the "glass" and therefore in front of the ship's visible parts I accepted it as my error and moved on. But it's only recently, having bought and spent lots of time flying the Anaconda, that the feeling of "wrongness" returned. But it's not so much that it's wrong, more that it's inconsistent. And you don't notice it in ships without visible structures, obviously.

Alas with the search feature being the way it is, I can't find my original report.

I wonder whether it's worth popping this onto the bug list again? Of course I know that the "real" reason it's like this is because the orbit lines are rendered "out there" in 3D space along with the planets, and if the ship didn't mask the orbit lines the planets would also show through. It would look ridiculous, and I doubt it's an easy fix to mask one but not the other.

But the choice to render the targeting reticle in the same style as the orbit lines is what leads to this visual disconnect. Would it be better if the reticle floated like the other 3D hud elements, or would the parallax error just confuse the issue?

 

[Urbanski101]

More info on engineers....the whole thing is such a headache and so poorly thought out in terms of ease of information (just started on engineering so it's at the top of my list)

Info in the engineer panel should include:

What modules they engineer
What blueprints they offer
What mats / data you need for each blueprint and how many rolls you currently have on each blueprint (if any)
Pin mats / data to your UI so they are highlighted when you encounter them (instead of the guess / check inara loop of 'was it conductive components or configurable components I need')

At the engineer the roll and results should be easy to understand....at the moment I have no idea how that roll is actually going to effect the module and my ship performance until I've taken it and checked it on the ship in outfitting.

I'm sorry but did they deliberately try to make engineering obscure, opaque, vague and counter intuitive? Was that intentional? Ok - mini rant over.

The ability to lock 5 bookmarks in the nav comp for ease of access...like the home button suggested earlier but I want 5 of them!

A 'sell all' button on the commodities page in stations.

The ability to link to a system in the gal map from the left hand navigation pane.

Bookmark colours and folders.

More info on the next jump point when jump is activated and don't fade it after 5 seconds please.

Waypoints...in the gal map.

 

[CMDR IPL Victim]

Okay, something a bit more realistic than then last set:

A star how far QOL: Display secondary star distances from the primary in the system diagram (that thing ain't a map...). Why can it show ONLY the planetary distances? Stick in a star or an oversized gas giant or failed star (brown dwarf) and suddenly the ship cannot display the distance from the primary in the system diagram. Broken since launch. Plz fix.

Orbital Path of the Binary: Binary objects orbiting another object follow an orbital path. Yet, according to the orbital line displays in our ships... they do not. They are free spirited astronomical bodies merely visiting the local space time continuum. If there is a need to differentiate a binary (trinary, etc.) orbital path, make it a dashed or dotted one instead of solid. In fact, that may be ideal.

Orbital Path of the Undiscovered Country: Perhaps the orbit lines of system bodies can be colored (coloured?) in a different manner to denote those that have not yet been scanned? Maybe gray/grey vs. orange?

Go AWAY orbital insertion data!: So, ever since Horizons landed, the planetary display to the left has been hijacked by the approach speed indicator. While approaching to land, this is valuable data. While exploring... this is highly annoying as NOW, one has to jump into the system diagram in order to see what is what about that planet. But only if the planet is one that can be landed. Other planets continue to show their colors (Earth-like! BooYah!). My suggestion: so long as a firegroup with a Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced system scanner is active, the approach speed graph is disabled. Switch groups to switch displays. Alternately, allow the display to be toggled between the states with a hotkey (a better solution IMO). Or, have it as a setting in the systems panel (a poor choice IMO, but better than what we have now).

Too Late!: Change the "Slow Down" alert that pops up when you are speeding past your destination to "Too Late"... since, you know, by then it is too late to slow down... Or, better, change the timing so that it isn't popping up too late...

 

[Cupsuki]

On your first point, never trust the course plotter to account for fuel. I had to self destruct a 20m credit vulture after running out of fuel at an M class star that was apparently scoopable. It wasn't.

M stars are scoopable, so either of these happened:

You were at the wrong star

Your Fuel Scoop was off or you didn't had one at all

You weren't close enough

And also try calling a fuel rat next time?