Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Disclaimer/Header: This is designed as an all inclusive concept suggestion for the addition of a new system scanning device (not a replacement) to assist players in the detection of vessels. This is a decent sized wall of text, you may want to grab a coffee.


I have a big problem with situational awareness in Eve and I suspect many others share my distaste for our current tool-set of how we go about detecting ships in the game world. To many new players, the world of eve is dark and lonely. They can be in a system filled with 50 players and never see a single one. If they have the courage to attempt to use the directional scanner, they find that objects are represented by nothing more than text. This is very unappealing and leaves many players, new and old alike, with the feeling that they are alone.

The eve communities solution to this has always been "We need better directional scanner training!" But that doesn't solve the real problem. The actual problem is the directional scanner, although useful, is both unintuitive and difficult to operate. In addition to this, it doesn't actually give a visual representations of what we are looking at. It certainly is not very helpful when your preoccupied doing other things, like burning through the hull on that thrasher you have pointed.

Although the probing system is very robust and attractive (especially after being upgraded several expansions ago), it requires special probes, special modules, and a lot of time to operate. Not to mention special ships if you want a decent chance at scanning anything smaller than a cruiser.

What I propose is a real time, unattended scanner that simply shows visually your local surroundings at ranges up to and even exceeding that of the directional scanner. The "Combat Scanner" or "Radar Scope" as I call it, only shows player ships and nothing else. It does not reveal NPC units, stations, scanning probes, or any of the sort. It only reveals player owned and operated ships.

Cloaked ships, unoccupied ships, abandoned ships, and all ships who occupy wormhole space (whether someone is in them or not) are not revealed on the combat scanner.

I think its important to note, this is not a replacement or enhancement to the directional scanner. I believe the directional scanner, with all its pitfalls, is a required device for the eve universe and its functionality should remain unchanged. This concept is that of a new game feature, to be used in addition to the already existing directional scanner available innately in every ship. Like the directional scanner, this device would be available innately in each ship without the requirement of a module, and may or may not require a skill book to operate (at CCP's discretion).

This combat scanner, as I have envisioned it, is quite simply a rotating scan radar scope. The scan needle does a complete revolution depending on the range in which the scope is set. (Larger the range, slower the scan needle moves). The needle picks up and reveals enemy ships by displaying a small "dot" on a circular 2d plane. Heres a concept Combat Scanner scope set to a range of 10 AU:
Animated Radar Scope

As expected to anyone familiar with such devices the radar scope is not continually updated, and the dot positions are only updated when the needle passes over their current position. This radar scope will automatically color the "dot" according to the size of the vessel.

Small (Frigates, destroyers, and their t2 variants)
Medium (Crusiers, Battlecrusiers, and their T2/T3 variants)
Large (Battleships and their T2 variants)
Extra-Large (Capitals)

These colors can be customized to player preference, with the ability to turn off detection of specific sizes (Extra Large Capital class vessels, for example). It does not reveal any more information than this, this information is left for the directional scanner to provide and for the player to seek out on his own. Fleet members are automatically colored purple on the radar scope. Here is a concept Combat Scanner scope that shows how the different colors might appear:
Colored Radar Scope

Obviously, in heavy populated systems, this combat scanner will be very crowded and unreadable. As a result, the requirement of a "zoom" will be needed, and the player will have the ability to set the zoom radius of the scope manually. This radius can be easily changed on the fly by hovering over the scope and using the mouse wheel in the direction of desired zoom. (This feature can also be disabled for those who find this annoying)

[Concept skill book:] Combat Scanning
Allows operation of onboard radar scopes to reveal player occupied vessels in the system.

1: Allows the operation of ship onboard radar scopes up to ranges of up to 5 AU [Needle Rotational time at this setting: 1 second)
2: Increases maximum onboard radar range to 10 AU [Needle Rotational time at this setting: 2 seconds]
3: Increases maximum onboard radar range to 20 AU [Needle rotational time at this setting: 4 seconds]
4: Increases maximum onboard radar range to 40 AU [Needle rotational time at this setting: 8 seconds]
5: Increases maximum onboard radar range to 80 AU [Needle rotational time at this setting: 16 seconds]



TL:DR - Just click the images and use your imagination.

I'm ganna be honest, I didn't read all of that and its too big to quote. But, it is the best idea that I have heard all week. It could fix one piece of a more substantial puzzle that has complicated game dynamics negatively. Kudos

I considered that, and BSG had a very cool representation of that. The difference is even BSG's dradis system takes a bit of deciphering to determine valuable information (or maybe I just don't know how to read it). We need a passive system where relevant information can be determined both intuitively and instantaneously.

Also consider that every day, in real life, air traffic control operators stare at very basic 2d radar scopes. They only display information in two dimensions, and yet all aircraft operate in three dimensional space. How do the real life ATC guys overcome the limitations of their 2d scopes? Simple; each "dot" has an elevation listed next to it (As well as an aircraft identifier, but lets keep things simple).

Here on earth elevation represents distance to sea level, but space doesn't have to be significantly different. All we need is a reference point, something static like sea level. We could for example, represent elevation in distance on a Z axis in accordance to the sun in each solar system. As a result, you would have negative and positive elevations based on your position in accordance with the sun.

Why do I think a 3d scanner would be a bad idea? Well I don't per say, but I do want to make sure if anything of the sort gets implemented it offers information "at a glance" to the players. You should not have to tweak your view, turn your camera, or actively engage with the scanning system - that defeats its entire purpose. It is meant to be passive.

All things considered, I think it would add unnecessary complication to what is supposed to be a very simple solution. Since most systems in eve are very flat, with the occasional gate that is way off the Z axis, I don't think it would be a major issue. I guess it comes down to the scanner is supposed to aid the directional scanner not replace it - we still want a degree of situational awareness to be left up to the actual player, if everything were automated we'd lose that "hunt" feel that makes eve very attractive.

(sorry for the really long reply)

So basically this is pretty "useless" thing? For exact location you need to use directional (or probes if opponent is not in belt or planet or something like that) or probes? Enemy ships are shown only in that little 2D map, not in system map?

Because, I think that if this is pretty useless, it's okay, but especially showing opponents also in system map would make things way too easy.