Tiny QoL Request: Have system map distances convert below 0.00 AU

[Ouen]

I know there's a ton of suggestions here, so devs probably don't see most of them, but this would make a HUGE difference to me, and I think many other serious explorers while being one of the more realistic suggestions on here. I don't imagine this would take a lot of development time, but it be a very efficient and small change that would go a long ways towards helping explorers.

An enormous fraction of the distances conveyed in the system map (notably semi-major axis of moons and rings) are so "small" that they are listed on 0.00 AU on the system map. This is a problem, because there is very interesting data hidden beneath that that is not being shown to players.

0.01 AU is approximately 4.99LS, which in turn is about 1,495,978.8 KM. As such, anything listed at 0.00 AU can be up to 5 LS away. That is a big margin. I have only seen a couple rings in my entire 20,000 system+ exploring career that have a further semi-major axis than 0.00 AU. Whether the ring of a body is 5 kilometers from the surface, or 1.5 million, the system map does not make any distinction. It's a shame because it would open up a whole new realm of data comparison. I love to observe these distances, visiting stations, planets and rings that are close to their parent, but due to these limitations, it makes this kind of exploration and discovery not viable.

I simply propose that distances less than 0.01 AU be converted into light-seconds. [smile]

 

[phong]

Not sure if this is helpful to your cause,but the orrery does this to some extent.Can you not extrapolate from these?

 

[Ouen]

Oh, I didn't think about utilizing it that way. I mostly use it to help plan routes while scanning. That is a helpful tip! Thank you. It would still be very nice to have some hard data to support it though.

 

[Six6VI]

Concur...

Attempting to drop into the L1 through L5 points in various systems, looking for anomalies taking advantage of the gravitational effects. Eg. Lagrange clouds, Trojans, Greeks or 'disused' toroids operated with minimal power output to avoid detection.

According to wikipedia (apply salt accordingly), L1 and L2 points are found at 1/100th the distance between two masses, away from the smaller, maybe only a couple of light seconds, that may need further conversion to Mm or Km to be useful in other situations.

Suggestion: Right panel / Ship / Pilot Preferences

[SENSOR SCALE UNITS]
[Ly] [Ls] [Mm] [Km] [Auto] [None]

(Edit: AU not included since it is a mean distance, not a fixed unit.)

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Note: Stationary in normal space on Jupiter's orbit path, equidistant to Sol at 2612 Ls and it would appear the L4 Greek Camp have packed up their tents and left the battle field. This is not very realistic. Could we please add the vast field(s) of missing objects?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I simply propose that distances less than 0.01 AU be converted into light-seconds. [smile]

Agreed - or even just display all distances in Ls as the AU unit isn't used anywhere else so most players probably have a more intuitive grasp of how big Ls are anyway.