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Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
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Simple way to make manual piloting more useful
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Aphoxema G
Khushakor Clan
#1 - 2015-02-24 22:19:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Aphoxema G
The manual controls are great, but they're clearly a hack to just do what clicking-in-space does and EVE doesn't provide much feedback for what's being accomplished. Because of this, it can be difficult to tell where you're heading when using them with slower turning ships, and even agile ships require a lot of imagination and familiarity to get an idea of where they're going to go.

An effective solution that's easy to implement would be to add vector lines on the tactical overlay, one that shows where you commanded the ship to point and another to show where it IS pointing. This would also be useful for space clicking. You set a direction, a line provides feedback that you gave the command and where you're sending it, then the other line catches up as the ship turns around.

This would be particularly useful for MJDs, as activating them prior to finishing the maneuver sends you in the direction you were currently facing which isn't necessarily where you where you wanted to go. The current direction line could also have a length relative to the speed at which you're moving.

This could also be used to give people an idea of when they're ready to warp. A cone could be drawn on warp activation to visualize the angle at which warping is possible, and the length of the cone could show the speed at which warp will activate. When the current heading/speed line falls into the radius of the cone and reaches the length of it, the conditions for which warp can happen will be fulfilled.

An ambitious programmer could realistically have this done over a weekend.

Here's an example of what I'm thinking of, https://41.media.tumblr.com/3f2b17b06b9aaf323398ef7935f2f956/tumblr_nkasw3PhKE1qe5jq6o1_1280.jpg
Diana Kim
State Protectorate
Caldari State
#2 - 2015-02-24 22:21:43 UTC
I love you for this idea.
Thanks :D

Honored are the dead, for their legacy guides us.

In memory of Tibus Heth, Caldari State Executor YC110-115, Hero and Patriot.
Arla Sarain
#3 - 2015-02-24 22:22:16 UTC
Would be nice yeah. More options to the tac overlay would be nice in general.
Madbuster73
State War Academy
Caldari State
#4 - 2015-02-24 23:29:54 UTC
Love the idea, +1 from me.
endlessdarksunshine
Doomheim
#5 - 2015-02-24 23:34:35 UTC
Would be pretty handy to have. Especially for ships that are heavy on speed. At least to me.
AurielS
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#6 - 2015-02-24 23:51:14 UTC
Excellent suggestion!

I did a really quick try on the manual navigation and although I'm not personally inclined to use it, I agree that the lack of feedback regarding the movement is really a big problem.

I'd love to see these improvements to the tactical overlay implemented. +1
Tusker Crazinski
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#7 - 2015-02-25 00:43:59 UTC
yes I'd also like barring indicators for enemy ships and exaggerated space trails when zoomed more than 50km... or at a settable distance.

+9000
Lyra Gerie
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2015-02-25 02:47:16 UTC
If this is a thread for ideas then not only is yours great but can we also add a controlled ship follow cam? The ship currently pilots with the current cam which can target specific objects in space but it doesn't follow the tail of your ship to the front. This makes manual control within 5km of your ship difficult and requires multiple turns of your screen to keep your ships nose to the front.

There are already a few toggle controls for the camera, this should be one especially with the manual piloting.
Lugh Crow-Slave
#9 - 2015-02-25 03:36:49 UTC
make it a toggle and +1

BLOPS Hauler
The 16.8km Bubble
Arthur Aihaken
CODE.d
#10 - 2015-02-25 07:50:20 UTC
Add manually-controlled turrets and I'm game. Big smile

I am currently away, traveling through time and will be returning last week.
Badel Jramodarr
#11 - 2015-02-25 09:35:59 UTC
Colette Kassia
Kassia Industrial Supply
#12 - 2015-02-25 11:21:23 UTC
YES!!!

I was going to post a suggestion almost exactly like this but you beat me to it. Lol: Short colored lines (probably red for players, white hostile NPCs, blue for non-hostile NPCs) poking out of the brackets in the direction of travel, with their length representing speed.

The only additional thing I was going to suggest was a single white line from the center point to the outer ring at space-north, drawn with the same line width as the rings. Spinning the view around to get the full 3D picture, while everything is moving, often causes me to loose track of orientation. I zoom back in to find that I'm moving in not quite the direction I thought I was. Making conscious mental notes of the direction I'm traveling relative to color blotches in the nebulas is cumbersome and unintuitive. Adding a simple reference feature to the overlay "table top" that is visible at any scale would be a great help. A simple, minimalistic line from center to edge marking "north" would be ideal.
Reina Xyaer
Tha Lench Mob
#13 - 2015-02-25 14:42:17 UTC
+1

Also add my idea, that I've asked for many times... for a hotkey that sets the ship heading directly away from camera.

i.e.: you spin camera to look in a direction, press hotkey, and it acts as if you've double clicked directly on your ship (fly directly away from current camera position)
Godfrey Silvarna
Arctic Light Inc.
Arctic Light
#14 - 2015-02-25 15:42:44 UTC
Oh my, this idea is actually brilliant!

F&I is on a roll. This is the second or third good idea here in the past month!
Samira Kernher
Cail Avetatu
#15 - 2015-02-25 22:26:32 UTC
This would be wonderful. +1
God's Apples
Wilderness
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
#16 - 2015-02-25 23:27:46 UTC
Great idea. You should also post it in the "little things" thread if you haven't already as I'm sure this falls under that category.

"Hydra Reloaded are just jealous / butthurt on me / us because we can get tons of PVP action in empire while they aren't good enough to get that." - NightmareX