Supercruise Rework

[Tikanderoga]

Supercruise will never be changed because half the game mechanics... combat/interdiction, exploration, scanning and more are built off this aspect of the game. It's a space game space is big you're gonna need to travel. Engineers, Guardians and Fleet Carriers already halfed the travel time. It's not even that bad. Sorry OP I can't really agree with you one bit.

Combat isn't based on SC, nor vise versa.
Exploration - swish and miss again. Why couldn't I use the DSS from normal speed? I see really ZERO reason having to be in SC for that. Z - E - R - O!
Scanning - He swings... and misses again! We already do all that remote via telescope. Thanks for playing though.
Probing - you didn't mention it but I'll give you partial credit for it.
Interdictiion - a real PITA part of the game, it would make more sense to remove the no fire zone and have people slug it out in or around the station.
Guardians didn't halve the travel time. They shortened it a bit with boosters, didn't alter the SC part though./
Engineers cut down on the amount of jump-honk-scoop bits.
Fleet carriers can eliminate some of the excruciating SC part of the game. But if they can jump to a planet, why can't we? I'd be happy to install a module on my ship that allows me to skip a 5mins or more SC travel time. I'll even carry tritium with me!

 

[Ydiss]

This isn't true at all, and for macro interstellar travel in the real-world, is exactly how it would work.

Superluminal movement isn't, by any stretch, realistic. Can we get a base line for sensible discussion with this, please?

Using realism as a reason for almost any argument in a game with magic shields is weak. It's not enough.

 

[Ydiss]

Supercruise will never be changed because half the game mechanics... combat/interdiction, exploration, scanning and more are built off this aspect of the game. It's a space game space is big you're gonna need to travel. Engineers, Guardians and Fleet Carriers already halfed the travel time. It's not even that bad. Sorry OP I can't really agree with you one bit.

Supercruise can change. It did change. It has changed.

You think they created supercruise on day one and said "that's a wrap!"?

Because it is a big part of the game is exactly why it can change. Logically, if something has a big impact, it's much more likely to be open to adjustment, not less likely.

I think what you maybe meant to say was, "long, boring waits cannot be changed because elite is built on them"? If so, good point, well made.

 

[Ian Skippy]

My questions is, if you hate it so much, why are you playing ED? If I hate a game that much I just stop playing it.

This is such an asinine statement. This forum explicitly exists to discuss the game, including parts some may not be raving about. The idea that if you don't like an aspect fo the game you should be outcast from the community as some kind of heretic disloyal to the Holy Game is best left to the Star Citizen community.

Personally I find the notion that supercruise as it currently is represents the best way space travel can be done in a computer game to be a bit depressing. But if you personally adore the concept of doing nothing, being challenged by nothing and mostly watching a screen filled with nothing for minutes on end: good for you! Just accept that not everyone shares that perspective and people will use the ED discussion boards to discuss ED.

 

[babelfisch]

Maybe I should create a video some day, anyway, this is how I approach stations in SC:

Select station, full throttle. Pitch down until the station is at the border of my screen. Look for the station entrance on the icon and make some course corrections. As I get closer I slowly pitch up, flying a curve. When I am at the drop out point I am right in front of the station entrance. No emergency breaks, no loop of shame. Works 100% every time.
For me that's the most reliable and fastet way to approach a station, it's also kind of fun because I actually need to fly my ship.

 

[askavir]

This is how I approach stations in SC:

1 - Select nav target, engage supercruise, engage supercruise assist.
2 - Alt-tab to a turn based rpg or strategy game, until I hear the supercruise disengaging.
3 - After arriving at the station, I am probably nowhere near the optimum flight path to the station entrance, but I'm actually perfectly Ok with that, because unlike supercruise, I actually enjoy flying the ship in normal space, even if simply to fly around the station then getting inside and dock.

 

[Oldviboy]

I fly at it on at max throttle until around 4 second or just above, loop around the station until I am pointing right at it again, adjusting angle and throttle as necessary, then hit max throttle until close enough to drop out, I am usually on max throttle from .12ls out until SC exit, if it takes more than ten seconds that's because I made a mistake.

Maybe I should create a video some day, anyway, this is how I approach stations in SC:

Select station, full throttle. Pitch down until the station is at the border of my screen. Look for the station entrance on the icon and make some course corrections. As I get closer I slowly pitch up, flying a curve. When I am at the drop out point I am right in front of the station entrance. No emergency breaks, no loop of shame. Works 100% every time.
For me that's the most reliable and fastet way to approach a station, it's also kind of fun because I actually need to fly my ship.

The fastest way to travel is mark the destination with supercruise assist, un-activate it, and reactivate it in 5 or 4 seconds and you will enter directly, much easier and faster than going around a station ... and it still seems slow to me.

Many have been in the game for years and still use the old system ... even some ignore this system ... so no, your way is not the fastest and I appreciate that there is another way .

 

[Para Handy]

............

 

[Crank Larson]

seeing 6 secs and switching to blue

That's your problem. Fly faster.

 

[Old Duck]

My biggest complaint with supercruise is that we are limited to locking on one star in a multistar system. I don't mind having to supercruise from Sol to Pluto, that makes sense to me. Nor do I expect to have the option to pick which of two close binaries to lock on. But the fact I have to often supercruise to what is essentially an entirely different solar system, that should be fixed IMO. I gain zero enjoyment from this, nor does it give me any sense that "space is big", because I can jump to another solar system that's FURTHER AWAY in mere seconds. Sure, make individual solar systems "big" using supercruise, but let me hyperspace to any individual solar system, even if it's a binary one.

 

[Oldviboy]

I actually prefer the 20 seconds it takes from hitting 75% until disengage as that is predictable - my attempts to utilize the other methods of approach normally result in me doing a curve of contrition and wishing I had stuck to the 75% method.

I blame SciFi films and tv for people's impatience with even our superluminal travel times. The idea that everything should be ultra-fast getting from one action scene to the next resulting in nonsense like the guy zooming about in Gravity or the shuttle manoeuvres in Deep Impact for example.

I blame the elite of the 80's because some never totally disconnected from it .... and even in that one you could speed up the time to get there faster.

It is as if all you believed that the characteristics of a "video game" had to be, make everything slow, as realistic as possible ... well, it is almost the opposite, that not everyone has 12 hours a day to play elite man, and less with the offer that exists today.

I don't want everything instantly, but I also don't want a real interspace travel of a couple of years, you know, a middle ground would be fine ... almost all video game companies know how to solve these flow-states, frontier or base- players seem to be incapable.
The truth is that no matter how much you say, the time you spend in normal space feels more fun than in the unnecessary time in super cruise.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Since FDev are busy with Odyssey (and some other projects I assume), it's pointless to post it in suggestions (for at least a decade now), so let's just pipedream here a bit:

Is that me or others find SC mindnumbingly automated and boring to death? I mean, they did pretty good job with planetary landings, even if they are technically slower, but even being experienced, you can still gently caress up glide every now and then. Plus it looks and feels quite cool, and doesn't get old. But that watching distance/timer for the 9000th time, seeing 6 secs and switching to blue, sitting there, feeling as your life sips from your palms like sand, while countdown continues, your hair getting gray and world starts to move in slow motion. This hurts a lot...

Let's be real, SC is heavily on-rails already, of course there's a trick for quick dropout with SCAM, which doesn't seem like being intended, as you often fall through the walls and solid objects, like stars (and watching this is quite immersive breaking plus personally I hate wasting precious slots for modules like these)... You can also speed up a little when near desttination, or slighty overshoot without it, but it really shaves like 0.5 secs of your slow and painful venture otherwise.

Would be really cool if we had at least some control over speeds, like blue zone being not 75 but 25, and at different timing stages, you could be able switch speed by 10 margin for faster drop out. Of course it would require precision, as you could occasionally screw up which leads to overshoot, but anything not to feel so boringly automatic would work. I mean, blue zone would stay as it is, and SCAM too, as with Glide, which is optional, and you could fly down old fashioned way.

Also during regular SC around gravity wells, mechanic where if you keep speed to maximum and are too close to the object, you risk falling from SC but can move quicker, otherwise switch to 75 (blue zone around gravity wells) and continue as you do now. SCAM would have it automated so no problem for people who like it being more hands free type, like right now.

Whaddya think?

P.S. Making extra thread for this feels silly, so in case anyone reads, I forgot to finish some stuff in Colonia, so if any taxi FCs moving in or out, I'd be glad to hop on. Would be extra cool if trip in and out is fast. Speaking of which, we really need FC service advertisement thread by now. And in case I missed it, are there resources that have some offers like these posted?

You make it sound like players cant manually fly SC anymore.

 

[Thatchinho]

I agree with OP though: SC is in no way "engaging gameplay" and really, to some extent just a waste of time watching the clock tick down.
I know, space game, space needs traveling, etc, but within reason.
What is a reasonable time frame one is willing to stare at that counter reach down to 6 sec to know, now it's another 20 seconds until I drop out of SC?

So why don't you just do it quicker and more actively instead of choosing to do it slow and boring?

 

[Chance Furlong]

Supercruise does need something especially with distances of 100,000 + light seconds that take 5 minutes of literally twiddling your thumbs.

They could add a new Flight mode called "Experimental Short Jump"
Which acts like a minigame - you essentially have to do a high-speed manual flight through a twisting Wormhole avoiding the edges or you take damage. Which lets you travel huge distances in seconds as opposed to minutes and hours.

The biggest advantages of such a fantastic idea.

1. Player is actively doing something instead of playing Elite Dangerous Screen Saver
2. Lets the player clear huge distances based on pilot skill

While people who enjoy Screen Saver Flight Model are free to take 30 minutes to reach their destination thats 1 million ls away.

 

[Drelthar]

Ironically, this actually makes a lot of sense for a spaceship flying game – FTL stuff aside, of course. Maybe too much sense.

I know what you mean, you are in a vehicle, and acceleration exists.

Thing is, the choice here is how long that takes - and that's where my personal opinion is that the amount of time it takes to get up to speed, and back down from speed, is too much.

This is hand wavium tech anyway, so there's nothing telling anyone how fast or slow it should happen, so it's entirely up to the game designers to make that decision.
I just happen to think the decision they made was a bit strong, and has actually limited some of the game play they intended. (that being the "random encounters" in super cruise)

 

[Drelthar]

a hyper jump pointing to a planet that consumes fuel should be enough, the rest of you can continue leaving hours of life along the way

The problem with this idea is, that while it reduces travel time, that's not actually the issue. The issue is the little to do within that travel time.

The stuff is there - (all those signal sources) but the time spent entering and exitting them is...in my opinion more extensive than it should be.

You should be able to "crash stop" into a signal source without needing to spend the 0:07 time slowing down - they should work like nav lock does, have it targetted, get close enough, you drop.

And when coming out of a signal source, you should get back up to speed FAST - there is no gravity well stopping you (jn general)

 

[askavir]

The problem with this idea is, that while it reduces travel time, that's not actually the issue. The issue is the little to do within that travel time.

The stuff is there - (all those signal sources) but the time spent entering and exitting them is...in my opinion more extensive than it should be.

You should be able to "crash stop" into a signal source without needing to spend the 0:07 time slowing down - they should work like nav lock does, have it targetted, get close enough, you drop.

And when coming out of a signal source, you should get back up to speed FAST - there is no gravity well stopping you (jn general)

Exactly.

There is almost always a lot of stuff going on in a system, but most (and usually all) of it gets ignored, because each and every single one of them means adding extra minutes of thumb twiddling to the already ongoing thumb twiddling.

One could be doing say a delivery of something to a station, and along the way divert to pickup engineer materials and salvage cargo or recue pods from signal sources, investigate distress calls, visit installations, etc, but instead all of that is avoided because getting to each of those things and back to where we were going in the first place is a complete pain in the rear.

This game has aspects that make it truly unique and memorable, but on the other hand it's also the game that competes with Football Manager for the title of "most time spent running in the background".

 

[babelfisch]

I blame SciFi films and tv for people's impatience with even our superluminal travel times. The idea that everything should be ultra-fast getting from one action scene to the next resulting in nonsense like the guy zooming about in Gravity or the shuttle manoeuvres in Deep Impact for example.

I am not bothered that space travel takes time. What bothers me is that a large part of the stations gets completely ignored. Stations at the secondary star are even worse. While I am OK with spending a few minutes in SC, staring for half an hour at your screen just isn't acceptable for me.

 

[Sylow]

You should be able to "crash stop" into a signal source without needing to spend the 0:07 time slowing down - they should work like nav lock does, have it targetted, get close enough, you drop.

So you want us to be able to accelerate and decelerate even faster than we already can? I mean, it takes us mere minutes to accelerate to twice the speed of light and decelrate down from it again. You want to reduce that from minutes to basically instantly?

Somehow this is what comes to my mind...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS7x4Bq_gR8

 

[babelfisch]

So you want us to be able to accelerate and decelerate even faster than we already can? I mean, it takes us mere minutes to accelerate to twice the speed of light and decelrate down from it again. You want to reduce that from minutes to basically instantly?

Somehow this is what comes to my mind...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS7x4Bq_gR8

Current acceleration and deceleration is just as arbitrary as any other speed. If it results in better gameplay I am all for it. Currently I often ignore signal sources because I am travelling somewhere and don't want to waste 10 minutes of my life slowing down...