Station Landing Pad Number Assignment Highlighted Suggestion

[NorthernDevo]

Folks, I only made the suggestion because I am colorblind to yellow, for which most of the orbital stations use. Ground bases use blue which I can see and it works for me.

I did not make it to suggest an "easy" mode. For those hardcore, I'll go with being able to leave the default color for the majority of players and suggest a graphics section for the visually impaired where certain graphics settings could be adjusted for that purpose.

I can understand that being colourblind to yellow can cause an issue but really - does that genuinely make that much of a difference when docking?
It sounds like you and a lot of recent posters are getting completely lost entering the station.

OK - I just pulled this off the web; for some reason it's upside-down but the one I used before I became comfortable with landing at a station was right-side up.
There are 45 pads, numbers increase from 1 which SHOULD be right under you when you enter (Green on right) moving around the station in rough groups of 5. THUS if your dock is - say - 15 you'll know it's about a quarter of the way around up the Left wall and so on.
Once you pass the mail-slot and slow to approach speed, flick your eyes to the 'compass' and it will point to your pad if you're unsure.

It honestly isn't that hard.

 

[tolm]

I pretty much always use a DC because I’m generally checking which missions / bounties I want to check in, plotting the next root, changing up fire groups (on the way out), etc, etc so it’s just easier to have time to do those things whilst the ol’ silicon does its thing.

That said, whilst the existing highlights on the pads are not part of the HUD I don’t see why some other highlight (perhaps even in a colour of your choosing via arcs, such as for engines / weapons) couldn’t be. Your pad could have that additional overlay on your HUD and so could everyone else’s for them and no one would see each other’s. And we could also have an option to switch it off for folks that don‘t want it too easy.

 

[varonica]

Listening to people here is comical at times. The pretzels you'll bend into to claim that an element that is clearly just a matter of "we didn't implement that" is some major skill aspect of the game. Highlighting the pad assigned to you in another color is simple, clearly possible as pads have all manor of colors, and simply wasn't done. Station A = Pad color Y.

It would be a nice touch. The compass works okay too but highlighting is not some product of insanity.

There is a thing that POINTS at your pad, you can buy a thing that lands for you, how much easier to do you want it to be?

It's not a matter of "didn't implement that" it's a matter of, "don't need that because there are multiple ways it's done already".

 

[varonica]

I'd like to see the pad number actually on the pad itself (in addition to the existing hologram), oriented the correct way so it's both legible from above and indicates the direction the ship should be pointing.

It is isn't is? At least it is on my FC pads.

 

[Riverside]

It is isn't is? At least it is on my FC pads.

Perhaps you misunderstand my description. I mean actually on the surface the ship lands on. Not just around the pad, on the pad itself too, in massive holo-writing.

 

[Misty_Dark]

I'd like to see the pad number actually on the pad itself (in addition to the existing hologram), oriented the correct way so it's both legible from above and indicates the direction the ship should be pointing.

But it does show you which direction your ship should be pointed at, the location of the number is where you have the nose of your ship.

 

[Riverside]

But it does show you which direction your ship should be pointed at, the location of the number is where you have the nose of your ship.

You are correct!

My suggestion would be in addition to what's already there, to make it easier to distinguish the pad number for those times when it's not obvious, for example approaching a pad from directly above at an outpost or surface port.

 

[Misty_Dark]

Folks, I only made the suggestion because I am colorblind to yellow, for which most of the orbital stations use. Ground bases use blue which I can see and it works for me.

I did not make it to suggest an "easy" mode. For those hardcore, I'll go with being able to leave the default color for the majority of players and suggest a graphics section for the visually impaired where certain graphics settings could be adjusted for that purpose.

I think we desperately need a way to change some colours in the game, like HUD colour and landing pad colours, so hat not only players like yourself who have difficulty seeing certain colours can change to better colour setup, but also for those that want to have their favourite colours. And having this ingame would make it available to all players regardless of platform.

 

[Caydran]

I can understand that being colourblind to yellow can cause an issue but really - does that genuinely make that much of a difference when docking?
It sounds like you and a lot of recent posters are getting completely lost entering the station.

View attachment 200888

OK - I just pulled this off the web; for some reason it's upside-down but the one I used before I became comfortable with landing at a station was right-side up.
There are 45 pads, numbers increase from 1 which SHOULD be right under you when you enter (Green on right) moving around the station in rough groups of 5. THUS if your dock is - say - 15 you'll know it's about a quarter of the way around up the Left wall and so on.
Once you pass the mail-slot and slow to approach speed, flick your eyes to the 'compass' and it will point to your pad if you're unsure.

It honestly isn't that hard.

I think we desperately need a way to change some colours in the game, like HUD colour and landing pad colours, so hat not only players like yourself who have difficulty seeing certain colours can change to better colour setup, but also for those that want to have their favourite colours. And having this ingame would make it available to all players regardless of platform.

Well, I did not want to make it sound like I could not find my way to a landing pad as you suggest. All the pad numbers just look grey to me, instead of yellow.

I'm Elite in both Trade and Exploration and I can certainly land on a pad. It would however make it more convienent for me and others if I could use the graphics settings to change the pad hologram to another color. That's all I am saying.

I think everyone is just blowing this up beyond reason here. It was a suggestion made for those who play the game who may have issues with some of the game colors due to color blindness. Certainly, my Windows 10 settings have a good number of settings for both the hearing and sight impaired folks in the world and some other games have settings to compensate for this.

EDIT: @NorthernDevo, I also use ED Market Connector with the EDR plugin which puts that colorful diagram you posted in miniture form on my HUD with the landing pad location highlighted in "red" so I can see before entering the station, where the pad is located.

This is another handy utility but EDR will do it too....

GitHub - bgol/LandingPad: EDMC-Plugin to display the landingpad position in starports.

EDMC-Plugin to display the landingpad position in starports. - bgol/LandingPad

github.com

 

[Maolagin]

You compass points at your landing pad!

This is the correct answer. And for speedy landings, buckyball racing, etc, it's best to look at the compass first and the landing pad holograms second if at all.

Sometimes, one just doesn't want to look at the compass for whatever reason.

Indeed, sometimes I don't want to have to angle my ship to look at the landing pads. That's what the compass is for. Sometimes you don't want to look at anything at all, in which case you either flip on DC or fly backwards - roughly similar chances of exploding, honestly.

Actually I'm full of it. It's visible with no canopy glass present. Not a HUD element then. Could have sworn it was missing when I came roaring in with no canopy in my clipper. Guess I was a little too focused on that timer.

Yep, as far as the game engine is concerned, the landing pad holograms are "really" there, so without some considerable rework all players will see the same thing.

Now to offer an actually constructive suggestion. The SLF has a directional heading-and-range HUD element. It's pretty annoying and I often wish I could turn it off. And if we were to get the option to do that, I'd also add an option to use that HUD compass to point to the currently set target or destination instead. That would work nicely (assuming your canopy isn't busted) to give a more visually prominent pointer to those that want it, to landing pads, target systems, or various other useful things.

 

[Qualityoflife]

I want firewfireworks popping off as I arrive...whoah to those who slight my sanctimonious arrival!

 

[Semivivus]

Indeed, sometimes I don't want to have to angle my ship to look at the landing pads. That's what the compass is for. Sometimes you don't want to look at anything at all, in which case you either flip on DC or fly backwards - roughly similar chances of exploding, honestly.

Another utterly exaggerated comment. No one's arguing against the usefulness of the compass or taking it away from you. It is my personal preference to dock without using one, is all.

 

[varonica]

Another utterly exaggerated comment. No one's arguing against the usefulness of the compass or taking it away from you. It is my personal preference to dock without using one, is all.

So how do you figure out where you landing pad is then?

 

[Semivivus]

So how do you figure out where you landing pad is then?

Timely and swiftly.

 

[Pug]

We drive on the left in the UK...

Hi Susanna,
Flip over and pad one will be above you and you will be driving on the left in the green lane

A note of caution though, most veteran pilots and all NPC's do it the other European way, so watch for head ons I'm in the UK to and don't think about it now.
I don't get confused when I drive my car lol
Pug

 

[Pug]

Timely and swiftly.

I'll put this here as well as it can be useful to newer players.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=monEYf57Ov4

 

[Riverside]

As long as both pilots stay on their green side they won't collide (well not head on ). One might be upside down to the other though.

 

[Pug]

As long as both pilots stay on their green side they won't collide (well not head on ). One might be upside down to the other though.

Good shout wasn't thinking I was just upside down but still in the green lane
Susanna disregard my head on comment, keep boosting through the slot your safe.

I get it right in the video.
Pug

 

[Alien]

Sorry, but the only case I can think of for highlighting which pad to land on, is if you don't use Arabic numbers in your native language.
(Arabic numbers are those used in the English language, ie 1, 2, 3, 4 etc) so if you were, say Chinese, Mandarin doesn't use Arabic numbering.

But even then, the dashboard has a compass to the top left of the radar. And if you still can't get used to that, use a docking computer.
It honestly does not need to be made even easier.

 

[Uchuu]

Well, then, i take the .. yellow one.

Spoiler: my pad