These are three changes that I think might add a bit to the overall experience and might be simple to do (I'm no programmer so I have no idea about these things!)
they are: Nav Beacons
Super-Long distance SuperCruise.
SuperCruse transitions
so first off is...
Nav Beacons:
Nav Beacons need to have a good reason to be populated, so I have an idea..
What if Nav Beacons are there to sell local system data ? ... so ...
You enter a system as normal, Star facing you, still in SuperCruise.
It's a system you haven't personally discovered yet, but it has a Nav Beacon and a couple of large space stations. (nothing new yet...)
A quick honk of the Advanced Discovery Scanner (yeah, I got one of those bad boys ... so what?) reveals 92 other system bodies.
I can't be bothered to scan them all, but I do hate that untidy navigation list with all those 'Unknown' entries.
So I target the Nav Beacon and drop out of SuperCruise there.
The Nav Beacon is in target range, so I look over to my contacts list (much like you do when requesting docking) and see the Nav Beacon contact.
I select that, and then I'm offered all local system info for a price in credits equivalent to the amount of data to be transferred (you may already have 5/10/30 of the 92 bodies scanned already)
Select that ... The Scan/downloading of the info takes a few seconds.. I am charged a credit value, and now my System data is complete for this system.
Remember only systems with stations in them have Nav Beacons and If they have even just a single tiny outpost in the system you'd think they would know what was in that system by now!
But, you could even go one further and have some stations/outposts that might be missing system data.
So on a few occasions you might scan a Nav Beacon and get a message saying that there is "incomplete system data - Please contact local authority".
So, you fly to the nearest station/outpost in that system and see if there is a mission (there will be ! ....but do they trust you? ... do they care?) to get a complete system scan for whomever will pay the most.
Super-Long distance SuperCruise.
We all know space is big.. and long journeys should take a long time .. but I think that VERY long journeys could be made shorter without taking away any of the sense of scale.
What I think might work is keep things as they are until your speed in 'C' is at, say 301c at that point a second stage of acceleration kicks in and you accelerate much faster up to another certain point, lets say .... 1500c (Could be max speed 2001c), and reverse this effect for deceleration..
It would make long Journeys just a bit shorter. So, for what's now a hour and a half journey might take you 40 mins (still long enough IMO)
It wouldn't effect the short journeys or even those 'Short' Long journeys as getting your ship to even 201c takes time.
SuperCruise Transition.
The transition from normal space to SuperCruise and the transition from SuperCruise to normal space is .... well ... not good.
It's got a lot better, don't get me wrong...
But to me the only transition that really works well (SuperCruise to orbital to glide to planet side is great when it doesn't hang) is the Hyperspace entry/exit.
The reason for that is the effect outside the ship completely masks the transition.
So why not do the same (different effect of course
) for SuperCruise transitions?
The Blue shimmer effect does a bit of a job masking the change, but I think the effect should be much stronger, so by the time the countdown is finished the whole effect would have masked anything previously view-able from the screen (planets, stars .. planetary rings anyone?)
As an idea, something like an effect similar to the hyperspace entry and exit effects in Star Wars, think 'Millennium Falcon' for example..
Keep the animation rolling during the transition and when the game is ready to spit you into SuperCruise, it does .. seamless
And the same goes for exiting SuperCruise, create a nice (Screen filling exiting effect) and when ready pop into your new instance, if done right .. this effect, while it would sometimes last longer than it should (instancing .. Am I right !) it would mask the 'Obvious' Hang we get now.
Make it look cool and, hey presto ! .. no more messy transitions to worry about.
So those are just three of the things I have been thinking of ..
Thoughts?
Just to add ..... If your are going to quote any of my text, please don't quote the entire thing as that is too much to scroll through
they are: Nav Beacons
Super-Long distance SuperCruise.
SuperCruse transitions
so first off is...
Nav Beacons:
Nav Beacons need to have a good reason to be populated, so I have an idea..
What if Nav Beacons are there to sell local system data ? ... so ...
You enter a system as normal, Star facing you, still in SuperCruise.
It's a system you haven't personally discovered yet, but it has a Nav Beacon and a couple of large space stations. (nothing new yet...)
A quick honk of the Advanced Discovery Scanner (yeah, I got one of those bad boys ... so what?) reveals 92 other system bodies.
I can't be bothered to scan them all, but I do hate that untidy navigation list with all those 'Unknown' entries.
So I target the Nav Beacon and drop out of SuperCruise there.
The Nav Beacon is in target range, so I look over to my contacts list (much like you do when requesting docking) and see the Nav Beacon contact.
I select that, and then I'm offered all local system info for a price in credits equivalent to the amount of data to be transferred (you may already have 5/10/30 of the 92 bodies scanned already)
Select that ... The Scan/downloading of the info takes a few seconds.. I am charged a credit value, and now my System data is complete for this system.
Remember only systems with stations in them have Nav Beacons and If they have even just a single tiny outpost in the system you'd think they would know what was in that system by now!
But, you could even go one further and have some stations/outposts that might be missing system data.
So on a few occasions you might scan a Nav Beacon and get a message saying that there is "incomplete system data - Please contact local authority".
So, you fly to the nearest station/outpost in that system and see if there is a mission (there will be ! ....but do they trust you? ... do they care?) to get a complete system scan for whomever will pay the most.
Super-Long distance SuperCruise.
We all know space is big.. and long journeys should take a long time .. but I think that VERY long journeys could be made shorter without taking away any of the sense of scale.
What I think might work is keep things as they are until your speed in 'C' is at, say 301c at that point a second stage of acceleration kicks in and you accelerate much faster up to another certain point, lets say .... 1500c (Could be max speed 2001c), and reverse this effect for deceleration..
It would make long Journeys just a bit shorter. So, for what's now a hour and a half journey might take you 40 mins (still long enough IMO)
It wouldn't effect the short journeys or even those 'Short' Long journeys as getting your ship to even 201c takes time.
SuperCruise Transition.
The transition from normal space to SuperCruise and the transition from SuperCruise to normal space is .... well ... not good.
It's got a lot better, don't get me wrong...
But to me the only transition that really works well (SuperCruise to orbital to glide to planet side is great when it doesn't hang) is the Hyperspace entry/exit.
The reason for that is the effect outside the ship completely masks the transition.
So why not do the same (different effect of course
) for SuperCruise transitions?The Blue shimmer effect does a bit of a job masking the change, but I think the effect should be much stronger, so by the time the countdown is finished the whole effect would have masked anything previously view-able from the screen (planets, stars .. planetary rings anyone?)
As an idea, something like an effect similar to the hyperspace entry and exit effects in Star Wars, think 'Millennium Falcon' for example..
[video=youtube;IFMMeCMbNt8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFMMeCMbNt8[/video]
Just the first bit of the effect
Just the first bit of the effect
Keep the animation rolling during the transition and when the game is ready to spit you into SuperCruise, it does .. seamless
And the same goes for exiting SuperCruise, create a nice (Screen filling exiting effect) and when ready pop into your new instance, if done right .. this effect, while it would sometimes last longer than it should (instancing .. Am I right !) it would mask the 'Obvious' Hang we get now.
Make it look cool and, hey presto ! .. no more messy transitions to worry about.
So those are just three of the things I have been thinking of ..
Thoughts?
Just to add ..... If your are going to quote any of my text, please don't quote the entire thing as that is too much to scroll through
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