What a programmer, playing as an Explorer, would ask if he could

Parduz

Parduz
Hello.
I'm Italian, so please pardon my poor english.

I would like to ask you why there's so much unfinished mechanics and "unused options".
Now, i'm talking about general ship stuffs, and mostly related to flight/module/management. I play mostly exploration, and i've done other activities (mining, trading, combat) only to the minimum required to boost my exploration stuffs (= engineering grind) to the max. So i can't talk a lot of that other activities.

While i don't really know what's under the hood of ED, as a programmer i can try to estimate that my questions/requests are not so absurd or so hard to be implemented, and that's why i'm asking.

Anyway, here's my questions:
  1. Why i can't (de)activate optionals fuel tank modules? So that i have full control on the fuel (and mass) of my ship? A deactivated tank should not fill when scooping and not being emptied when using fuel. You already have the mechanics of modules activation, it should not be different from other modules.
  2. Why i can't dump fuel like i do with other cargo? It could be treated exactly like the other cargo, i could select how many Tons of fuel i want to dump and so i could manage the mass and jumping range of my exploration ship. You already have the mechanics of cargo dump, it should not be different from the others commodities dump.
  3. Why i can't see how much fuel i have in Tons? It tells me how much i burn in tons/h, but how much i have in %. I see that the % is useful in the most cases (and usually it is when the consumption is'nt), but sometimes i want to stay under a specific tonnage 'cause jump range and i have no way to look at that value.
  4. Why i can't (optionally?) link the fuel scoop to a fire button or a key, so i can choose how much fuel i want to scoop while in the proximity of a scoopable star? Maybe a different fuel scoop module? but if you don't want "module proliferation" (a thing i've read somewhere) just a tiny change in the existing one is enough. You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  5. Why there's not a key to toggle the SuperCruise Assist? You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  6. Could the cargo door of the SRV follow the "picking logic" of the limpets? I see how now it follows the ship "cargo door logic" (= pick only what's targetted) but while in a ship there no other way to see and pickup objects (and i like the "minigame" of aligning and scooping them) in the SRV you just run over them, but you can't target (fast) what you don't have in the front. The "Limpet logic" (pick everything if no target, else pick only the targetted one) would be much more pleasant and functional: the commander just runs over the things and they got sucked. You already have the logic, is it so hard to port it on the SRV?
  7. Why the star maps shows me all the "normal jump" lines for the star i can reach, but not the "neutron enhanced jump" i could do? With the right filter for the stars, i could see where to go with a "supercharge". You already know where i can go, and already shows me jumps line, it should not be so hard to let me see also the long ones.
  8. Why the plotted route lines have to be scaled with the galactic zoom? i'd like to zoom out and see where the route passes, but the lines disappears. They should remain visible no matter the zoom.
  9. (Odyssey) why the "SRV door light" (the moving yellow lines from the ship) can't touch the ground like the "human elevator light" do? it won't break the game balance in any way while making the boarding a bit easier.
  10. (this is more complex, but while i'm here....): about grinding manufactured stuffs: why not implementing "mining" for it? I imagine a big, big ship wreck that i have to "mine": i fire lasers (either for mining or standard weapons) and materials starts popping out. The whole hull should be like, say, 10 asteroids, so i pass a good amount of time there without that awful log-off/log-on trick, and when the hull's done i've got a good amount of stuffs. This will follow all the already existing game mechanics (mining & destroying stuffs to pop materials) and it is basically another representation of them. And it is "play", not "grind".
Thanks for your attention.
Cmdr Parduz
o7
 

Hydrino

Hydrino
Parduz said:
Hello.
I'm Italian, so please pardon my poor english.

I would like to ask you why there's so much unfinished mechanics and "unused options".
Now, i'm talking about general ship stuffs, and mostly related to flight/module/management. I play mostly exploration, and i've done other activities (mining, trading, combat) only to the minimum required to boost my exploration stuffs (= engineering grind) to the max. So i can't talk a lot of that other activities.

While i don't really know what's under the hood of ED, as a programmer i can try to estimate that my questions/requests are not so absurd or so hard to be implemented, and that's why i'm asking.

Anyway, here's my questions:
  1. Why i can't (de)activate optionals fuel tank modules? So that i have full control on the fuel (and mass) of my ship? A deactivated tank should not fill when scooping and not being emptied when using fuel. You already have the mechanics of modules activation, it should not be different from other modules.
  2. Why i can't dump fuel like i do with other cargo? It could be treated exactly like the other cargo, i could select how many Tons of fuel i want to dump and so i could manage the mass and jumping range of my exploration ship. You already have the mechanics of cargo dump, it should not be different from the others commodities dump.
  3. Why i can't see how much fuel i have in Tons? It tells me how much i burn in tons/h, but how much i have in %. I see that the % is useful in the most cases (and usually it is when the consumption is'nt), but sometimes i want to stay under a specific tonnage 'cause jump range and i have no way to look at that value.
  4. Why i can't (optionally?) link the fuel scoop to a fire button or a key, so i can choose how much fuel i want to scoop while in the proximity of a scoopable star? Maybe a different fuel scoop module? but if you don't want "module proliferation" (a thing i've read somewhere) just a tiny change in the existing one is enough. You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  5. Why there's not a key to toggle the SuperCruise Assist? You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  6. Could the cargo door of the SRV follow the "picking logic" of the limpets? I see how now it follows the ship "cargo door logic" (= pick only what's targetted) but while in a ship there no other way to see and pickup objects (and i like the "minigame" of aligning and scooping them) in the SRV you just run over them, but you can't target (fast) what you don't have in the front. The "Limpet logic" (pick everything if no target, else pick only the targetted one) would be much more pleasant and functional: the commander just runs over the things and they got sucked. You already have the logic, is it so hard to port it on the SRV?
  7. Why the star maps shows me all the "normal jump" lines for the star i can reach, but not the "neutron enhanced jump" i could do? With the right filter for the stars, i could see where to go with a "supercharge". You already know where i can go, and already shows me jumps line, it should not be so hard to let me see also the long ones.
  8. Why the plotted route lines have to be scaled with the galactic zoom? i'd like to zoom out and see where the route passes, but the lines disappears. They should remain visible no matter the zoom.
  9. (Odyssey) why the "SRV door light" (the moving yellow lines from the ship) can't touch the ground like the "human elevator light" do? it won't break the game balance in any way while making the boarding a bit easier.
  10. (this is more complex, but while i'm here....): about grinding manufactured stuffs: why not implementing "mining" for it? I imagine a big, big ship wreck that i have to "mine": i fire lasers (either for mining or standard weapons) and materials starts popping out. The whole hull should be like, say, 10 asteroids, so i pass a good amount of time there without that awful log-off/log-on trick, and when the hull's done i've got a good amount of stuffs. This will follow all the already existing game mechanics (mining & destroying stuffs to pop materials) and it is basically another representation of them. And it is "play", not "grind".
Thanks for your attention.
Cmdr Parduz
o7
Click to expand...
Fuel mechanics will hopefully get deeper when we can scoop gas giants. This was discussed in one of the last ancient Design forum posts. I don't think de-activating fuel tanks was discussed, although I like that option, but dumping fuel and fuel quality and types of fuels was central to the post.

The use of % you question and I agree with you. Fuel guage % in tank is OK, but in this type game the tons and actual consumption is more important. FD use meaningless numbers in places (like Field of View in the game options) that I wish they would not.

SC Assist is new, I definitely support a new keybind for it!

Plotting routes on the galaxy map, I would not call easy. But I do like your idea for a 'neutron highway' specific view.

Your last idea I classify as salvage, rather than mininig, and I agree this area of the core game loops needs to be enhanced.
 

FX2K

FX2K
Parduz said:
Could the cargo door of the SRV follow the "picking logic" of the limpets? I see how now it follows the ship "cargo door logic" (= pick only what's targetted) but while in a ship there no other way to see and pickup objects (and i like the "minigame" of aligning and scooping them) in the SRV you just run over them, but you can't target (fast) what you don't have in the front. The "Limpet logic" (pick everything if no target, else pick only the targetted one) would be much more pleasant and functional: the commander just runs over the things and they got sucked. You already have the logic, is it so hard to port it on the SRV?
Click to expand...
I wish this was the case +1
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
Items 1-9 are all Items I have thought of many times and very much agree with. The fuel related items are all so basic, helpful, and realistic features that seem like a spaceship should allow us to do. Whats more basic than controlling the fuel for our spaceship?

Item 6 is interesting. Currently we scoop-up items that hit our SRV roof.

Item 10 is interesting. Scavenging materials from derelict ships sounds like a fun gameplay activity.

If I can add item 11... being able to select a direction from our cockpit view that we want to travel when jumping. When I see something interesting out there 50 jumps away... It would be really nice to select the direction and have a course plotted that best fits the direction I want to travel in. (yes I know I can monkey around using the galactic map).
 

Parduz

Parduz
Greasetrap42 said:
If I can add item 11... being able to select a direction from our cockpit view that we want to travel when jumping. When I see something interesting out there 50 jumps away... It would be really nice to select the direction and have a course plotted that best fits the direction I want to travel in. (yes I know I can monkey around using the galactic map).
Click to expand...
yes, i'd like it so much, as long as an optional "targetting circle" that tells you what star/nebula/thing is the one you're looking at, the distance and so on.
I also would like true orbital mechanics (i'm a longtime Orbiter player), implemented in the gameplay in some manner...
.... but the premise of my requests here is that they should refine, or finish, or use stuffs they already have, and your 11th item and my wish for real physic are not of this kind.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
Parduz said:
an optional "targetting circle" that tells you what star/nebula/thing is the one you're looking at, the distance and so on.
Click to expand...
If a feature plotted the next 50 jumps in the direction your ship is pointing you could then easily switch to the galactic map to see where you are headed and the name of interesting features on that path.

Or the feature could simply be a button IN the galactic map that plots the 50 best jumps in the direction your ship is currently pointed. This could be an easy way without adding much to the game to identify interesting stellar features near your location.

Item 12: System Map Orrery View
Really basic request. Every time I open it reverts back to default. Frustrating. Basically useless in complicated systems because it takes too long to reposition the view, zoom in to desired secondary star systems, etc. Grrrr!
 
Last edited:

Elliot Coleman

Elliot Coleman
Parduz said:
Hello.
I'm Italian, so please pardon my poor english.

I would like to ask you why there's so much unfinished mechanics and "unused options".
Now, i'm talking about general ship stuffs, and mostly related to flight/module/management. I play mostly exploration, and i've done other activities (mining, trading, combat) only to the minimum required to boost my exploration stuffs (= engineering grind) to the max. So i can't talk a lot of that other activities.

While i don't really know what's under the hood of ED, as a programmer i can try to estimate that my questions/requests are not so absurd or so hard to be implemented, and that's why i'm asking.

Anyway, here's my questions:
  1. Why i can't (de)activate optionals fuel tank modules? So that i have full control on the fuel (and mass) of my ship? A deactivated tank should not fill when scooping and not being emptied when using fuel. You already have the mechanics of modules activation, it should not be different from other modules.
  2. Why i can't dump fuel like i do with other cargo? It could be treated exactly like the other cargo, i could select how many Tons of fuel i want to dump and so i could manage the mass and jumping range of my exploration ship. You already have the mechanics of cargo dump, it should not be different from the others commodities dump.
  3. Why i can't see how much fuel i have in Tons? It tells me how much i burn in tons/h, but how much i have in %. I see that the % is useful in the most cases (and usually it is when the consumption is'nt), but sometimes i want to stay under a specific tonnage 'cause jump range and i have no way to look at that value.
  4. Why i can't (optionally?) link the fuel scoop to a fire button or a key, so i can choose how much fuel i want to scoop while in the proximity of a scoopable star? Maybe a different fuel scoop module? but if you don't want "module proliferation" (a thing i've read somewhere) just a tiny change in the existing one is enough. You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  5. Why there's not a key to toggle the SuperCruise Assist? You already have the mechanics to toggle things on and off.
  6. Could the cargo door of the SRV follow the "picking logic" of the limpets? I see how now it follows the ship "cargo door logic" (= pick only what's targetted) but while in a ship there no other way to see and pickup objects (and i like the "minigame" of aligning and scooping them) in the SRV you just run over them, but you can't target (fast) what you don't have in the front. The "Limpet logic" (pick everything if no target, else pick only the targetted one) would be much more pleasant and functional: the commander just runs over the things and they got sucked. You already have the logic, is it so hard to port it on the SRV?
  7. Why the star maps shows me all the "normal jump" lines for the star i can reach, but not the "neutron enhanced jump" i could do? With the right filter for the stars, i could see where to go with a "supercharge". You already know where i can go, and already shows me jumps line, it should not be so hard to let me see also the long ones.
  8. Why the plotted route lines have to be scaled with the galactic zoom? i'd like to zoom out and see where the route passes, but the lines disappears. They should remain visible no matter the zoom.
  9. (Odyssey) why the "SRV door light" (the moving yellow lines from the ship) can't touch the ground like the "human elevator light" do? it won't break the game balance in any way while making the boarding a bit easier.
  10. (this is more complex, but while i'm here....): about grinding manufactured stuffs: why not implementing "mining" for it? I imagine a big, big ship wreck that i have to "mine": i fire lasers (either for mining or standard weapons) and materials starts popping out. The whole hull should be like, say, 10 asteroids, so i pass a good amount of time there without that awful log-off/log-on trick, and when the hull's done i've got a good amount of stuffs. This will follow all the already existing game mechanics (mining & destroying stuffs to pop materials) and it is basically another representation of them. And it is "play", not "grind".
Thanks for your attention.
Cmdr Parduz
o7
Click to expand...

Yep...this...all of it.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
I would ask:
  1. What do you think about block chain?
  2. What's your favorite text editor?
  3. What's your favorite scripting language?
Smash that like button if you understand this reference (I will be surprised if anyone does).
 
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