UI suggestions

[hijongpark]

1. Since I'm always looking for combats, I check the quadrant territory very frequently. but it is quite annoying that displaying territory and echo/tech color sectors is only possible in smaller navigation view. please make it possible to press territory and echo/tech buttons in enlarged quadrant mode.

2. commanding fleets is quite inconvenient. There's no hotkey for opening fleet window, displaying fleet status, and selecting each fleets to order. also, when I'm not in IND faction it's impossible to distinguish my fleets with other allies. I think my fleets should have different color on HUD and radar, like blue.

3. All missiles flying in the space have the icon on HUD for a reason and I can understand that, but how about giving the missiles that are tracking me and others different colors ? like the current rotating red triangles to my incoming missiles, and gray or other colored ones for others not seeking me. that will be really convenient to distinguish which missile is trackign me when there are so many missiles around.

[Vice]

Hello hijongpark,

1 - It is indeed possible to view the econ/tech and territory control modes in the enlarged quadrant mode. You just activate either one first, then enlarge the map. I can look into possibly adding buttons for those modes, although there is limited room and other options are also only available when there is space on the interface for them. So it's generally best to set up whatever map modes you may want first, then use the enlarge option for the increased view size.

2 - Correct, the fleet menu is entirely mouse driven, so it requires that kind of control access. As the key index is quite full and the menu has several layers of options, it would need some form of voice command or autohotkey option to route the pointer to the various menu options. I think Dex's Voice Command profile can do that.

I probably wouldn't change or shift ship threat level colors at this stage of things (blue is already designated for stations, which could be confusing for some). While fleet ships are marked with 'FLT' on the target status display, one additional idea might be to mark their direction indicators as well with a character (much like the '+' for a capital ship involved in a contract). I'll add that to the list to try.

3 - Gray might be confused with cargo indicators. Maybe dimmer red indicators or a different shape/style?

[hijongpark]

1. I found that there are some space at left side to possibly add 2 more buttons, would be good to have territory and echo/tech buttons at there.

2. I get that it should be mouse driven, but it would still be great to have a hotkey for opening fleet order window just like other windows as well as fleet status window.

Even If adding new color is not possible, there should still be a way to distinguish my fleets with other allies in radar and HUD. I hope you find a good and efficient way for it.

3. If gray can be confused with cargo icon, maybe yellow or half-colored red would work...

[Vice]

1 - The problem with that space is it is actually largely used up when mousing over the map to view economy details and the market ticker appears (the space is largely reserved for that).

2 - Probably not so much with radar as that is simply a contact detection mechanism, but on the HUD I can likely add a character marker or something to distinguish fleet ships from other allied ships. I've added it to my list.

3 - Yeah, yellow might be a possibility and better distinction. I'll add that to the prototype list and see what I can do.

[Vice]

After some rather complicated UI code additions/changes, I was able to squeeze the territory and tech/econ buttons at the top of the menu on the left side while in quadrant mode. If you'd like a pre-release test build to try and verify its functionality, send me a quick e-mail and I can provide the details. The test build also has a '*' character indicator for fleet ships, yellow indicators for missiles not fired at the player, and key/button bindings for fleet menu options.

[haloterm]

I have one UI suggestions as well.

I always found it odd that the "News" button and the jobs are part of the inventory. It would be more logically if inventory only refers to, well, the inventory of the ship: Equipment, Fuel, Weapons, Freight. And maybe the crew.

It would be more logical to take out the news button and the jobs, and create a new (5th) main category for it, especially as the current news site has a sub-page anyway.

[Vice]

Probably not practical as an entirely separate console. If there were more room for more keys to handle another console, it'd be more practical. But since news, items for sale, and contracts often all relate to and affect inventory/equipment/weapons/etc (some contracts even requiring specific inventory conditions), it's probably best to have those options in the inventory console rather than the navigation, build, or trade consoles.

On a related note to one of your earlier posts, I was able to integrate dedicated key and button indexes to control the fleet menu (modes and ship selection). So once that all checks out during testing, it should be available in the next official planned update.