Why doesn't the system map look like this??

[CMDR Jenna Nord]

Sorry dude, looks like Elite Dangerous 2 to me... . . .

On a more serious note I would really like to know my actual position in the system relativly to the planets and stellar bodies. I can even think that would be very usefull for explorers to calculate an optimized scan route.

 

[Tony2438]

How would it look with more then one star in the system

 

[Cosmo Bozo]

I suspect that view could get a lot messier in more complex systems with 4 or 5 starts and different stuff orbiting each, probably gave the devs a headache trying to make it easy to follow and that's why it's not in.

Would love to see it though, looks so much better than the current in game map

 

[Kris]

At first i was disappointed that this orrery style was not the one they used, but current layout has grown on me. It's easy to view and understand.

If this get updated, good; but if not, fine for me.

 

[Alcovitch]

How would it look with more then one star in the system

How about zoom levels? Or a list of stars you can focus the view on at any particular time? Not hard to come up with a UI that works for multiple stars in a system.

 

[SmellyJim]

The concept one is pretty, but functionally it might not be the best choice. For one, it can't be to scale, obviously, but for some systems it would be very misleading. And many would expect such a view to be correct in regards to the orbits as well, so there's more calculations and inaccuracies to deal with.

The current system view isn't to scale. You get stars which are 300,000ls away looking like their closer than planets 50ls away.

What extra would you get out of that type of layout that you can't currently? I know, it's prettier and all, but from a functional point of view. Just wondering.

Why does anyone buy a better graphics card?

 

[dannysquid]

Let me ask those that are saying they have to have this.

What extra would you get out of that type of layout that you can't currently? I know, it's prettier and all, but from a functional point of view. Just wondering.

-- A sense of where the bodies are in their orbits -- making it more intuitive to select your path around a system if you're an explorer.
-- A much, much better place to put the USS indicators -- you could fly to specific places rather than just randomly wandering around until they pop up.
-- A screen where you maybe observe the movement of ships within the system, indicating at a glance whether they're likely to be explorers, traders, pirates, police vessels or whatever.
-- A place where you could predict eclipses and planetary alignments that might be fun to get a screenshot of.
-- etc.. etc..

It's much more interesting than what we have now, and could be expanded in all sorts of interesting ways.

I suspect that view could get a lot messier in more complex systems with 4 or 5 starts and different stuff orbiting each, probably gave the devs a headache trying to make it easy to follow and that's why it's not in.

Would love to see it though, looks so much better than the current in game map

...but yes, I imagine it's hard to get right. Sounds like the sort of problem that might be quite fun though!

 

[Flak]

How would it look with more then one star in the system

Similar, only with more than one star.

 

[Alcovitch]

I suspect that view could get a lot messier in more complex systems with 4 or 5 starts and different stuff orbiting each, probably gave the devs a headache trying to make it easy to follow and that's why it's not in.

Would love to see it though, looks so much better than the current in game map

Pretty simple. Have a list of stars at the bottom (complete with their visual look, color temp etc) and you click on one and get the system map for that star and the bodies in orbit around it. Click on a planet and zoom in and see the planet with whatever is orbiting around that particular planet. Zoom out and your back to the star with the orbits around it. Click a different star and see those. Could have an even higher level zoom out that only shows the stars and their orbits around each other. It could be very intuitive and visually stunning, not to mention a pleasure to use, if done correctly.

But yeah, would require some effort and so far, what we have in game now is on par with everything else. No Depth.

 

[Dystopiana]

as long as we dont lose the current system view when it happens, the current view serves a valuable purpose as a quick flashcard style voerview of WHAT a system has, id hate if that was removed, because searchign to see if a system has a specific station on that map would be HELL, however for explorers and bounty hunters the orrery would be beneficial"

in short, add one, keep the other, everyone's happy

but who are we kidding, FD prolly doesnt care

That's what I was thinking. They should offer both views. The 3D view like what the OP has shown...and a flattened view for quick info like we have now.

 

[Alcovitch]

That's what I was thinking. They should offer both views. The 3D view like what the OP has shown...and a flattened view for quick info like we have now.

What does the current flat ugly system map offer that this orrery style map not have? Want to know the stations? Click on the left menu to check off Stations and have them highlighted on the map. Click one to zoom down and see what it looks like and all the info and stats of that station. Same goes for planets, stars and any other stellar bodies or black holes etc. Yes it would require more clicking I guess, but i think overall it would be far more intuitive.

 

[Rhaedas]

Thanks for the replies, I see many of the points, and for simpler systems, yes, they'd work. But just imagine one of the system like one I recently saw a post about, with 14 different stars, plus planets.

Zion actually brought up a good alternative. Have levels of zoom, like a tree structure, so you can show the main bodies, select one of them to zoom further for planets, further for more stuff. Plus that could be shown with current ship location if it's within the frame, and a lot more to scale than the other methods.

 

[fh137]

It looks like the view we get in SC, just zoomed out a lot. I would love to have this; it's hard to imagine that we would lose any features by switching away from the basic display we have now.

 

[Alcovitch]

It looks like the view we get in SC, just zoomed out a lot. I would love to have this; it's hard to imagine that we would lose any features by switching away from the basic display we have now.

yeah I'm not sure how people are worried we would lose anything?

 

[Gorf]

Just let me select targets from the existing map and I'm happy.

And perhaps quit back to the system map entry point directly when you click "exit", rather than having to go via the galaxy map.

 

[EMarkM]

And perhaps quit back to the system map entry point directly when you click "exit", rather than having to go via the galaxy map.

Yep; good point.

 

[CaptainSeriousFun]

Just continue to make what we have more and more functional...thanks.

 

[Alcovitch]

Just continue to make what we have more and more functional...thanks.

They certainly can, by adding this orrery system map. Thanks!

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Let me ask those that are saying they have to have this.

What extra would you get out of that type of layout that you can't currently? I know, it's prettier and all, but from a functional point of view. Just wondering.

When you start exploring you realize the inadequacies of the existing map.

When you jump into an unknown system and scan it, you can see all the planets in the system map. But there is nothing that transfers that knowledge to the game's UI or navigation. If I see an interesting water/earth world on the system map, I'm then left to try to guess which one of the Unexplored contacts is the one I want to go to. If you're at the sun, you can count outward - usually - but once you're out in the plane of the elliptic the bodies continuously re-sort themselves to put closest first. The radar isn't particularly useful, either because the auto-scale function belies distance dramatically.

 

[CMDR Jenna Nord]

When you start exploring you realize the inadequacies of the existing map.

When you jump into an unknown system and scan it, you can see all the planets in the system map. But there is nothing that transfers that knowledge to the game's UI or navigation. If I see an interesting water/earth world on the system map, I'm then left to try to guess which one of the Unexplored contacts is the one I want to go to. If you're at the sun, you can count outward - usually - but once you're out in the plane of the elliptic the bodies continuously re-sort themselves to put closest first. The radar isn't particularly useful, either because the auto-scale function belies distance dramatically.

Isn't there an option for the scanner for logarithmic and linear scaling?