So, love the new orrery...

[Jack Schitt]

I was struck looking at that screenshot that the current Orrery looks like something from Elite II

Nothing wrong with that IMO. Both are functional and mostly provide the same visual information. ISTR when the game launched without an orrery, "all we want is something like the Frontier orrery," was a common refrain.

One thing I do miss from the FE2 orrery was the ability to double-click a body and immediately zoom right into it, from where you could zoom out to see what was in orbit of it. More often it was quicker to do this when trying to find an orbiting moon or space station than to single-click the body and zoom in. The ED orrery doesn't let you do this, and it wastes a surprising amount of time when you're navigating around.

Planetary surface bitmaps for mapped worlds would also be nice, and I believe this might be coming if there's any substance to what the rumour mill is grinding. Other than those two things I'm more than happy with the ED orrery. Obviously anything that gets added later is a bonus.

 

[yianniv]

I'm glad so many players insisted on the orrery creation. I do think, however, that FD made it in just a token gesture, and it needs much enhancement, the same body presentation as the system map. It's great for plotting your course in the system and seeing easily how each system is set up.

 

[killminster]

I actually like the visual style, looks more like a tool than a toy.

However my feedback in the beta forums which still stands is that at the very least to make it useful all of the entries in the nav panel need to be plotted on the orrery.

 

[Arthur Z.]

I really needs to show signal sources though...

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

It's cool.

But I keep forgetting it exists. Lol

 

[Kubicide]

I've had a look at Orrery and I'm pleased that it's been added to the game.

However, I don't have a "common" use case for it. How are other Commanders using it?

For screen shots...

I'm probably never going to use the Orrery that much - and I'm glad it's there.

I just thought it would be a bit prettier you know. Seems a bit basic. I expected little 3D fully rendered planets.

...and there you go.


Frankly, this has been my core 'critique' of Beyond and FDev's plan to create stuff that brought no significant changes to the core gameplay. The Orrery is a good example of something that could have been something so much more than a pretty thing to look at but is essentially useless. It just something for the player to fiddle with but is no better than what it was supposed to replace - if it was supposed to replace anything - and adds nothing to deepen the exploration gameplay. Oh well. We can look forward to Elite Dangerous 2.0 I guess.

 

[CMDR Pugwash]

Frankly, this has been my core 'critique' of Beyond and FDev's plan to create stuff that brought no significant changes to the core gameplay. The Orrery is a good example of something that could have been something so much more than a pretty thing to look at but is essentially useless. It just something for the player to fiddle with but is no better than what it was supposed to replace - if it was supposed to replace anything - and adds nothing to deepen the exploration gameplay. Oh well. We can look forward to Elite Dangerous 2.0 I guess.

Don't be disheartened, I'm sure that it's just the beginning and it will blossom into something beautiful eventually.

 

[starman]

Don't be disheartened, I'm sure that it's just the beginning and it will blossom into something beautiful eventually.

... a pretty thing to look at but is essentially useless

 

[Oheck]

Don't be disheartened, I'm sure that it's just the beginning and it will blossom into something beautiful eventually.

Only thing is, "eventually" in FD time could be years.

 

[Bigmaec]

I love it. It's a wonderful tool for optimal route planning to map planets.

 

[jnTracks]

Another +1 for this being great. Personally I like the visual style being properly to scale wire-frames. It’s a different view than the sys map, showing different information. I flip back and forth constantly.

And to those who say orrery has to use: obviously this helps plan a route to all bodies in the system since their distance from the star does necessarily have anything to do with where they are in relation to each other. This should be obvious, right? So must be that those people never do any mapping.

 

[Riverside]

And to those who say orrery has to use: obviously this helps plan a route to all bodies in the system since their distance from the star does necessarily have anything to do with where they are in relation to each other. This should be obvious, right? So must be that those people never do any mapping.

Kind of, I generally only visit & map one or two bodies in any system now, functionally similar to travelling to a station in a populated system (because you know what & where it is after scanning now) unless I'm doing it for the tag in the bubble or for the money.

On the few occasions I want to travel between bodies I just go to the next nearest one I'm interested in using the nav panel. Perhaps I will find a use for it myself but I get all the info an orrery could provide from travelling with orbit lines switched on, same as pre-3.3.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Signal sources, combat zones, and other POIs please. Also better controls. Other than that, it is very functional and I love it for it. Yes, schematic version is more useful on regular basis, but that's given. Now it feels complete Elite experience.

 

[jnTracks]

Yes it’s true the controls lack fluidity, but I still think the same is true for the galaxy map...

Maybe a show/hide for the POI would be nice.