Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I absolutely agree with the the idea here.

The reason for this is that in general terms, tracking in Eve, while being based on some very long numbers, and having multiple degrees of depth, normally breaks down to being 'can hit' and 'can not hit'.

99% of the time, tracking just doesn't factor into fights for a few reasons. In gang fights, a primary is going to be webbed and scrammed, and you are going to be able to hit the guy. Outside of that, tracking falls broadly into small guns (can hit anything), medium guns (can hit cruisers and slow/far away frigs) and large guns (can hit bs, slow cruiser and immobile frigs). And people apply their guns accordingly. The difference between the tracking on blasters, ACs and pulses is largely irrelevant. Same for rails, arties and beams. It works the same on the other end. Frigs and nano-cruisers always move at top speed, because it is essentially impossible to figure out how to only be inside your tracking by a fraction.

This FAR easier to use approach to tracking allows that difference to become much, much more useful to you. You can see if your guns actually could hit that frigate who is out at range, for example. You can push your tracking advantage to its extreme by going just fast enough to still be able to track the target, knowing he can't track you.

This kinda feature gives people the tools to push small advantages in tracking speed or maneuverability or speed. I've been in quite a few BS slugging matches and there is distressingly little movement happening. Minmatar ships kite, again, because they can OBVIOUSLY do that to decrease damage. But that's it really, because a lot of the time moving at all hurts you as much as it does the other guy. You don't have a genuine feeling of where the boundary of your tracking lies, and that knowledge can be very empowering, particularly to the non-mini ships.

Finally, a solid understanding of when you a missing the target by miles, and when you are missing by a fraction, would also be very useful. If he's WAY too fast, well, at least you KNOW you can't hit him, and you'll need to figure out an escape plan. However, if you are only just missing him, then that gives you a chance to counter with your own movement.

More information coming out of spreadsheet form and into an easy to use, but challenging to turn into an advantage form is the stuff that can't fail to improve the game. Im sure that some people have complained at extreme length about staticmapper and dotlan and similar tools that make eve too easy. But those kind of sites prove that well presented information can radically improve the experience of the game. For a lot of people, the tools have no relevance or interest, but that's no excuse for not having the the information out there for us to turn into awesome plans, or at least use to better apply the mechanics.

This in no way makes things easier, it just helps us understand hat is happening, and to take the relevant actions. It's like having a parking sensor on a car. They don't make driving a car easier, and in fact you definitely don't need one. It just gives you data that you already have access to in a way that is comfortable.

I know I have totally rambled. But this idea is amazing, and should be implemented.

Really like this idea. The general lack of UI elements like this in EVE is likely a large part of why it doesn't retain a lot of people who might otherwise really enjoy its combat.
Let's face it, thinking about two points in liquid-space moving around each other, while staring at a spreadsheet of numbers describing this, isn't exactly the most gripping gameplay out there. The more UI elements there are to better illustrate all the mechanics that are really in play, the more absorbing the combat will be for a larger audience. And all without actually changing any existing mechanics. The numbers are all still there for people to pour over, and the strategy just a deep.

This is a fantastic idea. So much could be done with the targeting display we currently have and this is an excellent first step. It may lower the skill ceiling, but only in your ability to quickly scan a list of tiny decimal values, and I think we can agree, that's not a very intuitive way to fly a spaceship. Putting these bars in (and perhaps other similar ones), would still leave plenty of room for a healthy skill gradient.

Besides, you'd only have these nifty bars after you've taken the time to target someone. You still have to know who in that overview you're going to be able to hit, this just lets you have better second-to-second feedback once you have.

Very well said -you're someone who obviously "gets it"! +1

I'd like to also point out that lore wise this capsule thing is all about channelling necessary and relevant information to single human being so she/he can act in human-machine unity. Presenting vital gun info in symbolic way goes along this line. Reading OOB database info doesn't.

P.S. Point in case: contemporary planes use avionics which try to show pilot as much information as possible in as least intrusive way as possible. Expecting pilot to look up the flying manual during maneuvers would be ridiculous. I know EVE is not RL, but this world is supposed to be MORE advanced than ours.

The point of the bar is just to show optimal and where the target sits in relation to that.

I added gradients, number readouts, and a spot for a fleet tag on the target along with some other minor changes. I just made up some number for the target, pulled some numbers off my turrets, then basically arbitrarily placed the arrows.

http://i.imgur.com/mJ6p6.png

Oh, and with regard to signature radius:

That would be something you could put on the info display under the player's name. I don't really intend the panel to be a green if you can hit, red if not kind of thing, rather it's just a visual way to display the information normally on the overview. You would still need to account for sig radius and think about how the 3 factors combine. Though adding a signature radius vs turret scan resolution might be a good thing.

NO NO NO and NO.

We dont need W0W-like addons for EVE interface. All the information is on show info. Its up to you to find that out during combat. Its exactly what separates a good pilot vs a bad one. A good pilot will be calm during battle and will calculate everything for himself.
WE DONT NEED W0W-LIKE ADDONS FOR EVE. GO BACK TO W0W IF YOU WANT AN EASY GAME, WITH ADDONS THAT DO EVERYTHING EXCEPT MOVE YOUR CHARACTER.

even with this indicator you would still need to know how to manually pilot your ship to get the best tracking and still keep range (depending on what/who your fighting). The indicator gives you more precise information that is all it does; how you act on that information is still player dependent.


p.s. makes my overview smaller so I can actually see some of the beauty of the fighting!!!!!