Recognized Sharable Star Charts

[Benevolent27]

Alright, so this idea is to have sharable Star Charts. What does this mean? It means you would no longer be able to see everything on your M menu (previously P) when you open it. The universe would be dark. To discover area, you'd have to actually go to it or use a scanner to reveal it. Scanners would show bases and planets from up to 16 sectors away. It would show asteroid belts within 8 sectors. Within 4 sectors, it would also identify any bases. Ships would not appear on the map, as it is now.

Now here's where things get really interesting. People could trade these star charts. They could also edit them, to add notes and locations of interest. These maps could be exported to a meta item and would look similar to a shipyard design, to be stored or traded. A player could then upload them to their own star chart or merge them with other star charts. They could have up to 20 star charts loaded at any given time, selecting or deselecting different ones. Where there is a conflict of data (like where one scan shows a station and a newer scan shows no station - because it was destroyed - the star chart display would use the latest data). Factions and alliances could coordinate on scanning areas to produce one complete star chart.

How would this affect the gameplay?

Well, it would make star charts very valuable. Want to know where your enemies are? Contact a person who specializes in creating star charts and get the latest map. Don't feel like charting out your own area? Find someone who will chart through your system and find all the planets for you. They could also make notes of what types of asteroids are in each belt (for an extra fee).

Well, that's it for this idea. Thoughts and comments are welcome.

Edit: I believe this would be a good step toward being able to take away the faction home base protection, which is pretty unrealistic. This would allow people to move around a lot and keep their base hidden more easily.


FAQ - Based on the comments below and NEW ideas I have regarding this concept:

Q: How would players see what they are trading for?
A: Players would open a trade menu to another player. (See my Trade idea here.) They could right click on the StarChart and click "Preview." This would open a galaxy map that highlights the sectors that are included and gives dates/times for when each one was scanned.

Q: Could StarCharts be traded with NPC shops/tradestations?
A: StarCharts could be bought from NPC's for the sector the NPC is located in. This could be turned off or on in the server config. By default, I suggest it be ON for single player and OFF for servers. Players would NOT be able to sell StarCharts to an NPC shop. But perhaps later, these could be part of quests and given or traded to NPC's for rewards.

Q: How would players generate a star chart to sell? Could they select the sectors they want to trade?
A: Players would export sectors from one StarChart or their combined StarChart to create a new StarChart. They could opt to remove comments when doing so. They would use a "StarChart Management Console" - SMC for short - to process the StarCharts, but can add, remove, view, or edit comments at any time.

Q: Would stars show up?
A: Yes, so long as they are within a certain distance of the player or recorded into a StarChart. Really far stars would not appear. Perhaps stars would be visible from 100 sectors away.

Q: Could StarCharts be placed into a shop module?
A: Sure. You could name them, give descriptions, and price them differently. So if you have a "very complete map," maybe sell it for more. Or give different prices for per-sector maps.

Q: How would players know where their enemies are? Wouldn't this make griefing really easy?
A: It is already possible to hide where your base is from other players. Just do not have a home base and poof they will have trouble finding you. Though it might be harder to find another player with StarCharts, it would also be easier to simply move to hide from them. To find your enemies, you might have to ask around a bit or purchase a star chart revealing their location. This would also encourage people to be spies as well. Sure you may have allies.. and you trust them not to attack you.. but would they reveal your base location to someone who puts a bounty on your head? With StarCharts, knowledge is power, and it is not given to you through magic, but through effort.

Q: How would StarCharts store multiple sets of data?
A: Each StarChart could have up to 20 sets of distinct data inside them. You could turn comments on or off for each set. It would show the name of the StarChart the data was imported from. When you import a StarChart into another StarChart, it merges the whole StarChart's data and then compresses it into one slot. You could, alternatively, export one individual set of data to create a new StarChart. Then you could import this into another StarChart (if you don't want the whole thing merged). When you import a StarChart into another StarChart, you can save it to an empty data slot, merge it with an existing slot, or replace an existing slot.

Q: I don't want to record my movements to a StarChart, what can I do?
A: Each set of data could be set individually to record or NOT record. If you want to hide your activities and have no record of your movements, turn off recording on your StarChart or for the individual data sets.

Q: How would I view comments?
A: You would see an entity at a specific location, like you see a base. Or if a sector is commented, there would be a button you could press while viewing your galaxy map. If a comment is placed in a specific area, it would look like a bubble with a "!" "?" or a "I" on it. When you mouse over it, it will show the comment, up to 30 characters long. If you click on it, a text box opens up to reveal the whole comment. You could also edit it this way. If a comment is in the same location as a base or shop, then the base or shop will have a small symbol overlayed in the top-right part of the icon. If a sector is commented, then a button would appear near the "Center on own pos" button. If you mouse over it, it shows the first 30 characters of the comment(s). If you click on it, a text window is opened to edit/view it.

Q: How would I create comments?
A: While in the galaxy map, you select or move to a specific location and press the "C" button. This opens a window that gives the options, "Create Comment for specific area," "Create Comment for sector," and "Cancel."

Q: What if two StarCharts contain comments at the same exact location or sector?
A: Then you just see both comments when you select that area. For the mouse-over, the most recent comment would show. If you click on it, then the text box would show the comments on separate lines. If they are long, you could scroll the text. It would also show the name of the StarChart the comment originated from for each one.

Q: How would the game actually store the StarChart data?
A: The server would store the StarCharts and stream the data when it is being viewed. A local copy of the StarChart would be saved to a person's computer, and those sections would ONLY be requested if they do not match what is on the server. It would work much like the universe itself loads in chunks, but it would be tiny in comparison.

 

[karkinosz]

I made a similar thread myself (although I guess more indepth).
https://starmadedock.net/threads/starmade-mapping-a-response-to-macthules-maps.22015/#post-247956
So +1 from me at least.
It adds a facet to gameplay and means we could be a little safer building stuff that isn't a homebase so long as its well hidden. At least in the short term.

 

[ToasterBorst]

Interested to see where this discussion goes, love the idea and it would certainly add another layer to exploration and navigation.

 

[whooplaah]

This could be a way to make money on a Player Exchange, but wouldn't do much for someone on single player. Or would you be able to see star charts to NPC shops? How would you determine price?

If a player is selling a star map to another player, how does the buyer know what information they are buying? Can the seller choose to export only a certain region of their map, or do they have to sell their entire map? What sort of UI's would be involved in a transaction?

 

[MeRobo]

The universe would be dark

I think seeing stars (at least those of systems not to far away) would be nice without flying near them (because they are big glowing things one can see from relatively far away).

 

[terra mining corp.]

this would make exploring more fun,you could have just the star show in the main map and you obtain system maps or go explore yourself.and if your in good standing with the trade guild they would give you a chart of their stations and shops.

 

[spunkiethefirst]

As far as selling the map goes and seeing what it has, the seller sets a per sector price that charges the buyer for the sectors the buyer hasn't seen and the buyer is able to preview the map. Previewing the map does not show the discovered sectors content it just highlights the sectors it contains that the buyer hasn't seen yet.

Alternatively, maps are updated by the system and any shops you own can be set to sell the system maps that you have scanned. The buyer would open your shop screen and click on the maps tab from which it would compare maps the shop has for sell vs maps the player has already seen and then display only those maps for sale that the player is lacking. Trade guild map sales would be limited to the systems nearest to it by server config radius setting.

 

[NeonSturm]

Scanning systems and selling data to the TG could be a nice mission. Especially with cloaked ships in neutral=enemy faction space with a lot of patrols and turrets.

Players need a base income for when they don't have static-miners yet (heard these are coming)

 

[Benevolent27]

This could be a way to make money on a Player Exchange, but wouldn't do much for someone on single player. Or would you be able to see star charts to NPC shops? How would you determine price?

If a player is selling a star map to another player, how does the buyer know what information they are buying? Can the seller choose to export only a certain region of their map, or do they have to sell their entire map? What sort of UI's would be involved in a transaction?

These are very good questions! I'll attempt to address each one.

When selling to another player, they could preview the star-chart, which would highlight what sectors are included and date/time of the scans. They would not be able to actually see the sectors. But this does raise another interesting thing that is needed in StarMade, a trade menu. I'll see what is currently listed in the forums and post an idea, linking to this (either in a new thread or an existing one). I think a personal trade menu is needed (not just for this idea to be feasible, but to make trading in general more feasible).

For single player, as another person suggested and you asked, people could buy the charts from NPC's for the sector they are currently in. The price is kind of arbitrary, but it'd have to be balanced for how easy or difficult it is to actually scan a system for yourself. If easy to scan, then they would be relatively cheap. If made harder to scan, then more expensive. NPC shops selling star charts also be an optional setting. Also, these star charts could come in varieties. Perhaps more and less complete versions, the more complete it is, the costlier it is. Personally, I'd prefer to play on a server where players have to trade with each other to buy them.

As for selling maps, yes, players could export certain sectors to create a new map to sell. They could also remove notes/comments in the export and edit individual charts to add/remove individual comments. Their name could be permanently signed to the starchart, giving them credit for it.
[DOUBLEPOST=1452503711,1452503612][/DOUBLEPOST]

I think seeing stars (at least those of systems not to far away) would be nice without flying near them (because they are big glowing things one can see from relatively far away).

Ok, I agree with you on this. But everything around the stars would be dark till illuminated by knowledge.
[DOUBLEPOST=1452503777][/DOUBLEPOST]

As far as selling the map goes and seeing what it has, the seller sets a per sector price that charges the buyer for the sectors the buyer hasn't seen and the buyer is able to preview the map. Previewing the map does not show the discovered sectors content it just highlights the sectors it contains that the buyer hasn't seen yet.

Alternatively, maps are updated by the system and any shops you own can be set to sell the system maps that you have scanned. The buyer would open your shop screen and click on the maps tab from which it would compare maps the shop has for sell vs maps the player has already seen and then display only those maps for sale that the player is lacking. Trade guild map sales would be limited to the systems nearest to it by server config radius setting.

lol, I basically had the same ideas when replying to whooplah!
[DOUBLEPOST=1452504435][/DOUBLEPOST]

I made a similar thread myself (although I guess more indepth).
https://starmadedock.net/threads/starmade-mapping-a-response-to-macthules-maps.22015/#post-247956
So +1 from me at least.
It adds a facet to gameplay and means we could be a little safer building stuff that isn't a homebase so long as its well hidden. At least in the short term.

Oh nice! I did not see your thread when posting, I apologize. But I read your post and our ideas are pretty similar! I like it!

There are a few differences though, namely how people get the maps and how many people can have. Mine is based around a meta-item, like a shipyard design, for use in trading. I believe that the main method of distribution should be player to player trading, not using the trading guild. If you can get 1m credits from someone for your week old map, then that's fine. If another player wants to pay 20m, that's on them to negotiate. I imagine that the maps could also be tradeable via a shop module. But I do not think they should be sellable to a NPC shop (unless maybe in single player, but that's a whole other question then how to value it.)

 

[whooplaah]

As for selling maps, yes, players could export certain sectors to create a new map to sell. They could also remove notes/comments in the export and edit individual charts to add/remove individual comments. Their name could be permanently signed to the starchart, giving them credit for it.

Here's a concept (sorry it is long), and I'm curious what you think of it.

A new meta-item called Nav Data. This holds the galaxy map information, rather than just being player-stored data. Nav Data is updated only when in an equip slot (for a player) or in a Galaxy Map Module (for ship/station), not if it is just in an inventory or chest. When in the appropriate area, it updates as the player moves with basic information - so it wouldn't have station names.

A new block called Galaxy Map Module. This block is used as the Nav computer for a ship, limit one per structure, and has a meta-item stored in it (nav data). When a ship flies around or does any sort of exploring or scanning, the Galaxy Map Module updates the meta-item stored there-in. The Galaxy Map Module automatically fills up a large area as the player/ship moves. They can also be linked to scanners to update an even larger area.
Galaxy map Modules can also duplicate nav-data items if the resources are available (like a factory).
Galaxy Map Modules also function as map shops. When the ship owner (or someone from their faction) accesses the module they can put it into Shop Mode or Scan Mode with obvious purposes for each.

If a player wants to change ships, they will need to make sure they take the nav-data out of their old ship. If a ship is lost in battle, then so is the data. If you break into an enemy base, you can steal the nav-data out of their ships and stations - or replace them with out-dated nav data and hope they don't notice. If you find a new station or ship, you can see if their galaxy maps have new data for you - and hope it is recent.

When a player wants to look at the galaxy map, they open up their nav-data item. Pressing the 'P' key opens either the ship galaxy map (if flying) or player equiped map. Nav Data in the inventory can be opened with right-click. Similar to what we have now, there are options to change the UI when looking at the galaxy map. These would include:

Fog of War Overlay: Sectors and systems change color depending upon how old the last scan for that area is. Green is good - within 12 hours, and fades to red being bad - older than 3 days. This will let a player know where they might want to go to check on things.

Output Overlay: Sectors and systems change color depending upon which systems will be exported if the nav data merges with another nav data or is being sold through a Galaxy Map Module. This allows players to select systems/sectors they want to trade and ones they want to keep secret. Either 'lock' some areas to never trade, or 'open' some areas to only ever trade those. There are a couple of buttons to open all/lock all, etc.

Erase Overlay: All sectors/systems explored are shown as one color. Choose sectors/systems of the nav data to wipe clean. They will then appear as if they have never been scanned.

Merge Preview: This shows two maps at the same time, both in Fog of War Overlay mode. Player owned data is shown as stripes, and seller data is shown as solid. This means that a system displayed as yellow with green stripes means the player data (green stripe) is more recent than the seller data (yellow base).


And finally, trading data.
The easiest way would be to merge two nav-datas. This combines all the data of the two items into one map - effectively making both items have the same map data. When this happens, the most recent data replaces the older data. A player can do this from their inventory with two items they are holding.

The next way to do this is to just sell the nav-data meta item (after erasing or locking systems if needed). Players can preview the map using Merge Preview mode. However, buyer data is not given to the seller. This is an all or nothing trade because you are buying the meta-item (and will have to do a merge later). The price set is for the entire map. This method can be used when selling/purchasing the map through the current shop system.

The last way would be for a player to select specific parts of a map to buy. The seller places their Galaxy Map Module in sell mode, and players can open the module and select which areas they want to purchase. The seller sets price according to data age - green for $100, Yellow for $50, red for $25, locked systems are not displayed. This is applied to all areas for sale (*see note). A perspective buyer sees the Merge Preview map (though they are not giving the seller any data), and select the areas to buy - looking for red stripes (old player data) on green squares (recent seller data). Price is determined by the number of sectors purchased and their color-coded price.

A final note is that it would be nice (and possible) for a Galaxy Map Module to automatically buy data if players have scans that are more recent. The shop mode could be set to "Purchase only sectors not currently in databank," or "Replace red data with green data" with prices the same as buying from the shop. So a player could break even by trading 3 green data for 3 green data.

Spoiler

Note: Some areas of a galaxy would be more valuable than others, but selling prices are set by the age of the data rather than the location. In order for a seller to charge more for certain portions of a map, they would need to use the lock/unlock system to restrict trade for that portion and set up multiple map shops with different price scales.

 

[NeonSturm]

But there could be "points of interest" defined by planets, asteroids, pirate stations, resource spawn, faction-stations (especially these hostile to neutral or at war with the buyer).

I am not sure if I like the auto-trading concept. That could make you a spy on your faction or drain your credits without accepting a certain trade.

To counter-act the credits drain, use a pre-paid nav-computer. (Enter credits it can use for purchase. An option for NOT putting sale-gain into purchase-stock).
To counter spying your own faction, you need whitelist/blacklist options.

• Whitelist : Enemy, Public-enemy, Neutral, Pirate-Stations
  
• Blacklist : Faction, Ally, Ceasefire
• Blacklists would reduce whitelists.

 

[Benevolent27]

Here's a concept (sorry it is long), and I'm curious what you think of it.

A new meta-item called Nav Data. This holds the galaxy map information, rather than just being player-stored data. Nav Data is updated only when in an equip slot (for a player) or in a Galaxy Map Module (for ship/station), not if it is just in an inventory or chest. When in the appropriate area, it updates as the player moves with basic information - so it wouldn't have station names.

A new block called Galaxy Map Module. This block is used as the Nav computer for a ship, limit one per structure, and has a meta-item stored in it (nav data). When a ship flies around or does any sort of exploring or scanning, the Galaxy Map Module updates the meta-item stored there-in. The Galaxy Map Module automatically fills up a large area as the player/ship moves. They can also be linked to scanners to update an even larger area.
Galaxy map Modules can also duplicate nav-data items if the resources are available (like a factory).
Galaxy Map Modules also function as map shops. When the ship owner (or someone from their faction) accesses the module they can put it into Shop Mode or Scan Mode with obvious purposes for each.

If a player wants to change ships, they will need to make sure they take the nav-data out of their old ship. If a ship is lost in battle, then so is the data. If you break into an enemy base, you can steal the nav-data out of their ships and stations - or replace them with out-dated nav data and hope they don't notice. If you find a new station or ship, you can see if their galaxy maps have new data for you - and hope it is recent.

When a player wants to look at the galaxy map, they open up their nav-data item. Pressing the 'P' key opens either the ship galaxy map (if flying) or player equiped map. Nav Data in the inventory can be opened with right-click. Similar to what we have now, there are options to change the UI when looking at the galaxy map. These would include:

Fog of War Overlay: Sectors and systems change color depending upon how old the last scan for that area is. Green is good - within 12 hours, and fades to red being bad - older than 3 days. This will let a player know where they might want to go to check on things.

Output Overlay: Sectors and systems change color depending upon which systems will be exported if the nav data merges with another nav data or is being sold through a Galaxy Map Module. This allows players to select systems/sectors they want to trade and ones they want to keep secret. Either 'lock' some areas to never trade, or 'open' some areas to only ever trade those. There are a couple of buttons to open all/lock all, etc.

Erase Overlay: All sectors/systems explored are shown as one color. Choose sectors/systems of the nav data to wipe clean. They will then appear as if they have never been scanned.

Merge Preview: This shows two maps at the same time, both in Fog of War Overlay mode. Player owned data is shown as stripes, and seller data is shown as solid. This means that a system displayed as yellow with green stripes means the player data (green stripe) is more recent than the seller data (yellow base).


And finally, trading data.
The easiest way would be to merge two nav-datas. This combines all the data of the two items into one map - effectively making both items have the same map data. When this happens, the most recent data replaces the older data. A player can do this from their inventory with two items they are holding.

The next way to do this is to just sell the nav-data meta item (after erasing or locking systems if needed). Players can preview the map using Merge Preview mode. However, buyer data is not given to the seller. This is an all or nothing trade because you are buying the meta-item (and will have to do a merge later). The price set is for the entire map. This method can be used when selling/purchasing the map through the current shop system.

The last way would be for a player to select specific parts of a map to buy. The seller places their Galaxy Map Module in sell mode, and players can open the module and select which areas they want to purchase. The seller sets price according to data age - green for $100, Yellow for $50, red for $25, locked systems are not displayed. This is applied to all areas for sale (*see note). A perspective buyer sees the Merge Preview map (though they are not giving the seller any data), and select the areas to buy - looking for red stripes (old player data) on green squares (recent seller data). Price is determined by the number of sectors purchased and their color-coded price.

A final note is that it would be nice (and possible) for a Galaxy Map Module to automatically buy data if players have scans that are more recent. The shop mode could be set to "Purchase only sectors not currently in databank," or "Replace red data with green data" with prices the same as buying from the shop. So a player could break even by trading 3 green data for 3 green data.

Spoiler

Note: Some areas of a galaxy would be more valuable than others, but selling prices are set by the age of the data rather than the location. In order for a seller to charge more for certain portions of a map, they would need to use the lock/unlock system to restrict trade for that portion and set up multiple map shops with different price scales.

Well, this idea is similar to mine. I already think there should be a meta-item called a StarChart. Though my idea did rely on the person "learning" the star chart, so they would not lose it when they died. What you are suggesting is a physical presence that can be lost forever. You have to have a physical StarChart equipped as a piece of equipment on your suit or in use on a ship. I do like this idea. I think a physical manifestation of my idea, which is to allow management of several StarCharts, would be a "StarChart Management Console" which would be placeable on a station. You would use this to merge StarCharts or export sectors to new star charts.

Here's what I like about having a separate star chart for a ship. A mining ship could be used by all the faction members. When players go out and mine, they add notes to the StarChart on that specific ship, notating where asteroids are, what type they are, specifying which planets belts have been mined, ect. The warships would come equipped with star charts showing enemy and ally base locations with notes. "This base is weak to EMP." Or maybe "This faction killed our beloved member Tom on 12/12/2015 and we need to avenge poor Tom. They have a juggernaut with 50 million shields and larger turrets."

So, to add a little to your idea, I say the game should allow a player to switch between which star charts they are using (either their personally equipped one or the ship one, or a merged version of both), and turn recording on or off for either. If players are working with each other to build a large star chart, then they all could turn in their their starcharts into the StarChart Management Console at their faction base and merge them.

About Fog of War:
I do *not* like the idea of using using universal fixed time-frames for the highlighting, but I do like the idea of highlighting being available as an option when previewing a chart. The reason for this is that a more busy server may have more scans. A less busy server, that has less changes, may not need to be scanned as much. What is a "good time" for a scan interval is very subjective. I say let this be a feature, but make the player have to put in what time-frames they would like to use for the highlighting. In the "preview" mode, show the sectors in a StarChart as highlighted to show what is actually in the StarChart, with dates, but do not use the green/yellow/red highlighting unless it is turnd on. If the player turns on time-frame highlighting, it asks them for time-frames to use and would remember the last values the player used, so that they could just hit "ok" if they are satisfied with those. I imagine there would be some communication amongst players, where they ask each other "what are good times to use?" Then an eventual consensus would be reached independently on each server or amongst groups on a server. Disagreements on what is a "good time" vs a "bad time" would all be a part of the negotiation process.

About the methods of trading:
I like the idea of allowing players to select which sectors they want to purchase from a player. However, I think the merging and exporting functions should be handled by a base item, the "StarChart Management Console," not directly in the player's hands. (Though I think a player could record data into it and add comments) If one player wants to only buy certain sectors, they could preview a large map that the person has to offer (in a trade screen), and then give the coordinates of each sector they want to buy. The seller writes these down and then exports them to a new map, using the StarChart Management Console (or SMC for short) to sell it. This would help keep things simple and increase communication between players. You might think this is clunkier than fully automating the process, but I don't necessarily want everything to be automatic either. Part of the reason for this suggestion is to increase player engagement through trade. Though a player *could* sell maps in their shop module by my suggestion, the prices and maps being static would help encourage players to engage in active negotiations as well, taking the time to prepare custom StarCharts for buyers who want them. I believe it would help balance things a bit, so that people wouldn't rely entirely on their shop module to sell the star charts. However, people might also start using their shop modules more for other items as well if people were visiting them to purchase StarCharts.

 

[NeonSturm]

However, I think the merging and exporting functions should be handled by a base item, the "StarChart Management Console," not directly in the player's hands. (Though I think a player could record data into it and add comments)

System comments: "Suck my dick, m***********g enemy!" Everybody auto-purchases!

Ok, but then you will need to merge comment lists too & some tool to show new comments.
And a way to cleanup comments you didn't make sticky (like, fav) & an option to remember those, else the next update would bring them back (or a last-merged-date and merge-only-newer)

About Fog of War:

How about making the most scanned systems blue, then green, then yellow, orange, red and black/violet for not scanned ones?

It could remember the last 4 scan dates and use the scan-times to determine how frequently a sector gets scanned to determine whether it's outdated.

 

[Benevolent27]

System comments: "Suck my dick, m***********g enemy!" Everybody auto-purchases!

Ok, but then you will need to merge comment lists too & some tool to show new comments.
And a way to cleanup comments you didn't make sticky (like, fav) & an option to remember those, else the next update would bring them back (or a last-merged-date and merge-only-newer)

How about making the most scanned systems blue, then green, then yellow, orange, red and black/violet for not scanned ones?

It could remember the last 4 scan dates and use the scan-times to determine how frequently a sector gets scanned to determine whether it's outdated.

One reason why my original idea allows up to 20 StarCharts to be loaded at once is to handle conflicts in data, and to NOT force people to use 1 single StarChart. Different StarCharts could be loaded or unloaded easily. Comments for some StarCharts could be turned on or off. If you do not want to merge another StarChart with your main one because it has a bunch of junky comments (but some of which you might want to use later), then you can still load it, just turn the comments off for it and edit it later to remove the bad comments. It would work kind of like using layers on a map - only showing the most up to date info or what is turned on. But if you want to see older info, you can turn off the more recent StarCharts. Perhaps one StarChart meta item could hold up to 20 separate sets of data, each one toggleable. But to add/remove/merge these data sets, you still have to use the SMC.

About Comments:
If there is more than one comment in the same exact place, then you could still select the area and it would just show both comments on different lines. If there are a bunch of comments, then you can scroll through them. It would show you which StarChart the comment is from when showing multiple comments.

About colors for scanned areas:
I do like the idea of having more colors than just green/yellow/red. But I don't think the frequency an area is scanned is too entirely useful. It's really when the last scan was that is most relevant, I think. But perhaps more highlighting options could be added besides "Highlight by last scan date." Perhaps a "Highlight by most changes" option could be added. Hmm.. Maybe other options, not related to StarCharts could also be added, like "Highlight sectors with shops," but that sort of thing would need to be part of a different idea for StarMade.

 

[El_Poulpy]

great idea Benevolent27

It woul be great if your ability to jumpdrive would be linked to the map : if you jump in an uncharted sector the jump would be imprecise and you could risk end up with damage to your systems.

 

[kiraen]

The jump would still be precise. You would end up exactly where you intended to go. Unfortunately, you wouldn't know until you got there if a planet or hostile station got there first. Considering I can see alpha centauri from my bedroom window, I'd guess you could avoid most stars. Black holes...maybe.

 

[Benevolent27]

great idea Benevolent27

It woul be great if your ability to jumpdrive would be linked to the map : if you jump in an uncharted sector the jump would be imprecise and you could risk end up with damage to your systems.

Thank you.

I think maybe some of the future add-ons to the game could provide this kind of functionality. This sounds to me a lot like jump drives from certain movies, where they have to take the time to calculate things exactly or risk jumping into a planet or asteroids, and if they don't know where they are jumping, it could mean instant death. I would imagine something like a "dark matter" mod (once the modding API) could be created to accomplish this. Though I do not know if it would be so good to have in the main game, because it could discourage exploration via jump drive. Perhaps in a 'hardcore' server, they would have this kind of hostile universe though.

 

[kookster]

+1, though I might suggest making it simple first.

 

[Benevolent27]

+1, though I might suggest making it simple first.

Thank you for the +1.

For me, I would prefer it to be full-featured from the start, because it would help the transition be more appreciated. Imagine if everyone only has 1 StarChart that is not tradeable and is hard-wired into their player file. Then the core idea is fundamentally unbalanced, because it would sharply decrease the ability of anyone to know where anything was. A very important part of this idea is to encourage trading and cooperation to broaden the user's view of the universe. Without that capability, it might make the game a bit too hard. So, if it were to have simpler roots, it would need to be done correctly, implementing certain features together to help keep a balance between how it limits the player and how it enables them through cooperation.

 

[kookster]

Thank you for the +1.

For me, I would prefer it to be full-featured from the start, because it would help the transition be more appreciated. Imagine if everyone only has 1 StarChart that is not tradeable and is hard-wired into their player file. Then the core idea is fundamentally unbalanced, because it would sharply decrease the ability of anyone to know where anything was. A very important part of this idea is to encourage trading and cooperation to broaden the user's view of the universe. Without that capability, it might make the game a bit too hard. So, if it were to have simpler roots, it would need to be done correctly, implementing certain features together to help keep a balance between how it limits the player and how it enables them through cooperation.

Yeah I see your point. I am just afraid of it getting lost in complexity I guess.