New Frames & Inventory Console Features

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:17 pm

Hi Zaggeh.

Just a hint. The 40 some systems you see on your map is only a very small part
of what's out there.

Muni · Post by **Muni** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:53 pm

From post: 124621, Topic: tid=7616, author=wasdie wrote:I would love to see a much more intuitive map and navigation screen.

I feel that a more user friendly map would really help new players like myself. If you cold pan the map, zoom in smoothly and many different levels of zoom, and put down navigation points like you currently can, it would be a lot better.

Increasing the maps resolution and making it fill more of the screen would also be great.

this is my opinion, too ! A must have! Hopefully for the expansion.

aRottenKomquat · Post by **aRottenKomquat** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:13 pm

Hopefully I'm not repeating anything but I don't feel like reading through 26 pages of ideas lol.

I'd like to see the game interface make better use of screen space. I have a 1080p widescreen monitor (actually two but I only use one when I'm gaming) and it seems like I should have plenty of space to have one of the consoles open while I'm doing stuff. However the consoles seem to be modal and they darken the rest of the screen and block mouse input to other stuff. I'd like to have one console (navigation or inventory) up on the right-side of the screen and not interfere with anything else. I'm not sure how common multi-monitor setups are here, but if enough people have them then I'd like a second window just for consoles and other information that I can put up on my secondary screen and keep open all the time.

I'd also like to see more stuff to allow you to build a personal/clan base with the build constructors. Maybe a clan/homebase station design that is somewhat similar to a trade station but you own it. Since you own it you don't need a station license and you don't have to pay for hangar storage. It would also be cool to own the store somehow, so you can put some items in the Items for Sale section and other players could buy them if they wanted. Finally, the homebase station wouldn't show up on navigation charts unless you've been there before, that way you can have a hidden base

.

More station types! Maybe some with specialized stores, and also some that are just dedicated hangar space (like a gigantic rental storage in space). Different hangars would charge different rates depending on the system's economy, and there could be small hangars where a player could store one ship and a little cargo, and large hangars that could store several ships and dozens of cargo spots.

[Edit]
Thought of a simple one. When it comes to docking, their should be a dedicated dock/undock button. The reason is at hostile systems you have to pay a docking fee, and if you close the inventory console and re-open it you have to pay that docking fee again. Sometimes I like to look at the nav console and figure my next route out before undocking, but then I realize I forgot to repair or refuel and I get double-billed for the docking fee.

That's all I have for now.

[Edited on 1-23-2012 by aRottenKomquat]

Apache · Post by **Apache** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:48 pm

Bigger ships! I play as a miner/trader and i'd love a higher max cargo space on a bathtub of a ship thats a bitch to manouvre, a proper civilian trading ship, not a mercenary ship. One that relies on shields and armour to survive. More weapon systems, an autoturret option for said miners and traders would be nice, so your weapons officer can shoot down pesky fighters while your happily mining your own business.

Also its been mentioned before here, but a home base station thats as customisable as a ship. You upgrade it, give it shields etc. Set a tax on items bought or sold (the lower the tax the more custom it attracts). Give it defenses, even design it like a ship. But you can only have one and due to frame size you can't have everything, it has to specialise in trade, research, defense or industry etc. It could even have CPU controlled fighters to launch in defense if attacked, that share faction allignments with the player.

Raynor · Post by **Raynor** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:42 am

Having played a bit more i have more suggestions.

I'd like if missions didn't always have to be done in the exact sector we're in. It would be nice to have to deliver something to a faraway system (of course the further, the more it would pay) or to have to escort a ship for more than one waypoint. Actually escort missions could be improved a lot if you had to actually escort the ship anywhere though i do realise that with the concept of jump drives that can be used anywhere, there wouldn't technically be much reason why you'd need to escort a ship. But right now they feel a bit artificial because you show up to the nav and right away you know there's gonna be a set amount of enemies already converging on the ship.

Also for "bounty" missions, like those when you have to shoot an ace, well, it would be nice if we had to actually look for the target. Like they'd tell you around where they were last seen and from then on you could search for them around landmarks (bases, planets, asteroid fields, they could even be in empty sectors as long as they show up as soon as we enter it, obviously you don't want to have to scour an empty sector to find a ship....) Also maybe they could be more than just aces (like maybe the bounty describes them as being a known smuggle,r or pirate, or what not) and sometimes they could even be on their own.
Personally the last two times I played freelancer I played as a straight bounty hunter (never did any missions except bounty) so improving the bounty missions would be something i'd like a lot. In fact there's no reason why you couldn't keep the bounty missions as they are now but then ALSO add the more elaborate kind like i described. Of course the ones that would require you to look for the target would pay more.

[Edited on 1-24-2012 by Raynor]

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:11 am

Better collision/clipping detection with stations/gates/wrecks on planets/etc. Invisible walls = not cool.

[Edited on 1-24-2012 by Dingo]

Whitewolfkf · Post by **Whitewolfkf** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:01 am

I think it would be nice to reduce the range of the MDTS is 2-2.5 times as In my opinion, it would make PvP battles more interesting. I think, too easy to hit the target now.

Apache · Post by **Apache** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:57 am

Actually escort missions could be improved a lot if you had to actually escort the ship anywhere though i do realise that with the concept of jump drives that can be used anywhere, there wouldn't technically be much reason why you'd need to escort a ship. But right now they feel a bit artificial because you show up to the nav and right away you know there's gonna be a set amount of enemies already converging on the ship.

I agree, the mission could simply say theres a ship with a damaged fulcrum drive that needs escorting back to station, that would make sense and you could run into the hostiles right away or later on while your escorting it. Just so you don't end up escorting it for ages as soon as you've dealt with the hostiles it could say that they've fixed the fulcrum drive.

Missions need to be a lot more diverse. I'm still in the early game sectors and i've got the same 5 missions on repeat. There should be a lot more then that because already the game is starting to feel a bit repetative.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:17 am

From post: 125594, Topic: tid=7616, author=Zaggeh wrote:Gameplay: A larger universe
You can fly off in any one direction and go hundreds of sectors away from the last charted system. But all that is really out there (from my experiences thus far at least) is the endless void of space. It'd be pretty cool if after you went far enough new systems complete with points of interest and factions were randomly generated or something.

Download Atollski's Nav program from SeeJay's website and go exploring. You'll find that space is not empty. As Maars would say, your experience is relative.

Bishop · Post by **Bishop** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:35 am

From post: 125910, Topic: tid=7616, author=Whitewolfkf wrote:I think it would be nice to reduce the range of the MDTS is 2-2.5 times as In my opinion, it would make PvP battles more interesting. I think, too easy to hit the target now.

Aim using a joystick instead of a mouse and see if you feel the same way.

Whitewolfkf · Post by **Whitewolfkf** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:48 am

i use saitek x52

after Jumpgate Classic, in Evo fights are very easy:)

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:17 pm

Edited my post about the proposal for different chat channels. Point 5, a 'mute' option, added.

countjimula · Post by **countjimula** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:46 pm

Almost all the time I have been playing EM in multiplier the missions have gone well, the group, or myself if I am alone, failed or completed a mission and it was clear what happened. Yesterday a group of 6+ including myself were taking combat missions, but for a while they kept failing, or we would go to the waypoint and not see any enemy ships.

It seems like there is a bug that affects missions when many players are simultaneously trying to pick one but it is hard to tell.

There has also been an increase in failed missions (and I am guilty of this myself) by players leaving the sector and making the mission in the sector unsuccessful.

It would be nice to have more feedback on missions in general beside hitting the F3 key to get information. A mission active in sector indicator would be helpful for people just flying through. Also it would be nice to "cancel" a mission just for yourself so you can continue on your way.

Feedback as to the reason why the mission failed and indicating who it was would also be helpful in a multiplier situation where a player cancels the mission or moves out of the sector.

Raynor · Post by **Raynor** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:21 pm

I'm pretty sure someone will have mentioned this but... the handling of the nav map is really heavy-handed. You should be able to click on it and scroll round the map without having to zoom in to maximum and click arrows. A roll of the wheel should make it zoom in or out. This way you could easily scroll to a sector and then with a roll of the wheel zoom in to see what is in said sector. it would make navigation so much faster and significantly less frustrating.

Edit cause i have more:

I don't think they did this in freelancer but in Privateer, npc pilots would sometimes eject and then you could beam them in and sell them as slaves.... I think this could be a neat option. In fact, i'd make it you can either sell them as slaves or ask a ransom for them. I mean let's say you shot down a navy pilot and they eject and you beam them in. then when you land at a station there could be the option to sell them as slaves or for ransom (like sell them back to the navy). Maybe sometimes there wouldn't be any ransom for them, but like if you shot down and beamed an ace, there would be for sure.

In fact in relation to slaves, some thing i'd like to see in the game pretty badly (unless it's there and i haven't found it yet) is CONTRABAND. You should be able to buy things that can be sold as contraband like drugs or maybe illegal weapons, and like in freelancer or privateer, military would sometimes scan your ship for it and if it turns out you are carrying some, then they attack you. Landing at military cruiser with contraband could maybe lower your rating with this faction and cause you to have to pay a fine or something (since getting arrested is not an option) You could even add a very costly item to the list of components you can buy for your ship, a scanner jammer. You could make it that when you're getting scanned for contraband you have a slight delay to activate the jammer (i know logically it should be working at all times but that would add a challenge...i suppose you could buy eventually an automatic scanner jammer) or of course, just jettison the stuff (cause hey, "even i get boarded sometimes")

I know i'm rambling on..but yeah, if just one thing form the above should be implemented, contraband.

[Edited on 1-26-2012 by Raynor]

[Edited on 1-26-2012 by Raynor]

countjimula · Post by **countjimula** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:51 am

Is there anyway we can cut down on the amount of chatter without effecting the new player's gaming experience?

One thing that would cut down on the chatter would be a mode that turns off the message for the other players joining or leaving the game.

We could also have an in sector mode, and an everything mode for the in game chat. If you are in the everything mode you see everything like you do now. If you are in the sector mode you hear the players in your sector, and the players in the everything mode, but not the people in the sector mode who are not in your sector. Is this a good idea?

Any more ideas for reducing the amount of messages but not negatively affecting new players?

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:54 am

I brought up the same issue here
http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... 16&page=25

Dingo · Post by **Dingo** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:55 am

I like it.

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:59 am

I brought up the same issue, look here

http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... 16&page=25

countjimula · Post by **countjimula** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:11 am

Ahhh how did I mis this

countjimula · Post by **countjimula** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:13 am

Thank you for moving my post, kind of confused me a first, but now it's ok

[Edited on 1-27-2012 by countjimula]

Raynor · Post by **Raynor** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:52 am

If Vice reads this thread (and of course he mustbe ) he'll probably feel that I'm difficult but hey if I'm given the opportunity to perhaps in the smallest of way influence future versions of a game, the frustrated game designer in me will take it (of course it's easy to suggest things and quite something else to implement them...).

In view of the problems i've had with the music mod (basically i can not get it to work so i've had to resort to playing tunes in winamp while i play the game which is fine for threat level 1 but not when there's a battle since the music can't change accordingly)) I'd say what a future version needs is a simpler music mod in which you can just dump ogg files into already identified threat level folders without having to rename any of the ogg files or worry that there s the same number of tunes for every threat level (after all there shouldn't be a need to have as many "battle" tunes since by and large in the game, more time is spent at threat level 1 than 3.

Also recently I've been experiencing problems with missions. specifically bounty missions. I was doing one and fought for a long time. I damaged a ship badly and then during the fight it went out of range. I continued fighting with the remaining ships, one of which was the bounty target. After killing them, the mission was still not over. I figured it was because i hadn't shot down one of the ships but since it had went off range, i could not find it again and so i was forced to fail the mission (i tried going back to the nav and that didn't work). I think bounty missions should ONLY require you to kill the target, the other ships should be optional. If nothing else anyway you should not fail the mission just because a ship escaped, as long as you killed the target.

MiaZ · Post by **MiaZ** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:50 am

From post: 125910, Topic: tid=8608, author=Whitewolfkf wrote:I think it would be nice to reduce the range of the MDTS is 2-2.5 times as In my opinion, it would make PvP battles more interesting. I think, too easy to hit the target now.

I too would like a change to the MDTS.
Not so much the range but the accuracy.

Back to how it used to be or close to that of before the MDTS update.
My understanding is the change was primarily to fix a problem with
low end or low FPS against high fps high end machines.
Included with the change was a better more accurate aiming system.
Now the first part would Need to keep but the improved accuracy is not something I like all that much.

To me it seems just a bit too easy. There was a lot of skill in knowing how to hit and how to avoid incoming fire. I feel alot of that has been lost.

[Edited on 2-4-2012 by MiaZ]

Redeemer · Post by **Redeemer** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:21 am

I'd love to be able to pilot a huge capital ship. That would just make this game complete for me. Oh and different cockpit designs.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:44 am

From post: 128904, Topic: tid=8608, author=Raynor wrote:I damaged a ship badly and then during the fight it went out of range. I continued fighting with the remaining ships, one of which was the bounty target. After killing them, the mission was still not over. I figured it was because i hadn't shot down one of the ships but since it had went off range, i could not find it again and so i was forced to fail the mission (i tried going back to the nav and that didn't work). I think bounty missions should ONLY require you to kill the target, the other ships should be optional. If nothing else anyway you should not fail the mission just because a ship escaped, as long as you killed the target.

Ships don't escape. They never leave the sector. Hunting down a retreating target and killing it is often the best part of the contract. If you haven't figured out a good search pattern, then buy a deploy construct and use the sensor array to find your prey.

airassassin · Post by **airassassin** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:50 am

I would like to have it were everyone in mp can be on one server