Telescopes Maybe??

[Wimpie]

How about adding telescopes to Star-made, you can build them on youre planet or ship and use it as an radar to see were pirate bases are if you would like to avoid running into one with youre unarmed ship. Maybe even use it to zoom in on planets and see were the most suitable planet is for building on, I dont know just a suggestion? The more magnifying blocks the more you can zoom in on a target or something?

 

[starhaiden]

what if you zoomed towards a star what would happen

 

[Wimpie]

It might hurt youre eyes! You wont be able see past that point, you will have to zoom in on diffrent location then and contineu youre search for planents or whatever your searching for.

 

[NeonSturm]

I would like a sniper gun - zoom in and fire.

I like your suggestion if it is a first step of implementing this.

Suggested before, but not as scanner/sensor-type.

 

[jayman38]

I keep antialiasing off to try to improve fps. I frequently wish I could 2x magnify the camera (usually what I'm looking through when piloting a ship), to see what that pixelated mass out a distance in front of me is. I should probably just drop rendering distance again. I'd use magnification for different things like identifying which loot blocks to aim for, which pirate ship to kill first, where to aim when approaching an asteroid for mining, etc.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I would like a sniper gun - zoom in and fire.

I like your suggestion if it is a first step of implementing this.

Suggested before, but not as scanner/sensor-type.

We already have a sniper gun. the Cannon+Beam combo. It just sucks

i think it would be better if we had a spyglass block. It would act like a camera that you can switch to but unlike other cameras it will act like 2 cameras. switch to it once for the normal view then press the right arrow key to change to the magnified view. could be very versatile

 

[jayman38]

i think it would be better if we had a spyglass block. It would act like a camera that you can switch to but unlike other cameras it will act like 2 cameras. switch to it once for the normal view then press the right arrow key to change to the magnified view. could be very versatile

I would gladly replace all my cameras with this. Maybe it could just replace the camera?

Edit: The zoomed view should probably have a reminder on-screen saying what the zoom level is and to press the right-arrow to return to normal zoom, for new players who accidentally zoom in and don't know how to zoom out. Displaying the zoom level will be useful if you want to give zoomable cameras multiple zoom levels (why not?), so even if multiple levels aren't in the default game, it might find its way into a mod.

 

[NeonSturm]

There should also be dynamic zoom orders.
Full size view (target object exactly fills the screen). Adjusts zoom level based on distance and size
Detail view (zoom close enough (and slow down rotation enough) to be able to target a single block) also adjusts zoom level based on distance.

Possible update: movement stabilisation - reduces vibration (compensate for difference between target and camera angle variations between frames).

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I would gladly replace all my cameras with this. Maybe it could just replace the camera?

Edit: The zoomed view should probably have a reminder on-screen saying what the zoom level is and to press the right-arrow to return to normal zoom, for new players who accidentally zoom in and don't know how to zoom out. Displaying the zoom level will be useful if you want to give zoomable cameras multiple zoom levels (why not?), so even if multiple levels aren't in the default game, it might find its way into a mod.

Replacing all cameras wouldn't be a good idea. Would hate to have to press twice as many times just to get to the view that i want.

however multiple zoom levels and some HUD details like a zoom level indicator would be awesome. although with the former i think it would be best to keep things simple and only have 1 zoom level per spyglass block or at least have tiered spyglass blocks with multiple zoom levels.

I always believe the simplest and most robust answer is always the best

 

[Starlight Walker]

I would attach my telescope to a giant cannon to kill all the asteroids!!

 

[PseudoGold]

Why not put in a scoping feature for ships too? It would make sniper platforms semi-viable as the only way to get zoom is to turn down your FOV.

 

[jayman38]

Replacing all cameras wouldn't be a good idea. Would hate to have to press twice as many times just to get to the view that i want.

however multiple zoom levels and some HUD details like a zoom level indicator would be awesome. although with the former i think it would be best to keep things simple and only have 1 zoom level per spyglass block or at least have tiered spyglass blocks with multiple zoom levels.

I always believe the simplest and most robust answer is always the best

I can see where you are coming from, but you can use a different button for zooming than for selecting different cameras, so you wouldn't have to press "right" twice to get from camera to camera. In fact, it might be more intuitive to use "up" and "down" to zoom in and out, while side-arrows would select different cameras. This would rapidly give you the view you want, with the same number of button presses.

Plus, if you use "up" and "down" for zoom levels, it keeps things relatively simple. I imagine the default game having a only a single zoom option beyond 1x (probably 2x or 3x). However, people will want mods that create multiple zoom levels.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I can see where you are coming from, but you can use a different button for zooming than for selecting different cameras, so you wouldn't have to press "right" twice to get from camera to camera. In fact, it might be more intuitive to use "up" and "down" to zoom in and out, while side-arrows would select different cameras. This would rapidly give you the view you want, with the same number of button presses.

Plus, if you use "up" and "down" for zoom levels, it keeps things relatively simple. I imagine the default game having a only a single zoom option beyond 1x (probably 2x or 3x). However, people will want mods that create multiple zoom levels.

very possible. But it would require a bit of control changes. Currently up and down change to a ship. some other buttons would be better. maybe the Number pad?

 

[NeonSturm]

I would like keyboard contexts...

For next target you have to press TD (WASD, T in qwerT) - not everything should be accessible with 1 key, freeing keys and creating layouts making more sense.

 

[jayman38]

I would like keyboard contexts...

For next target you have to press TD (WASD, T in qwerT) - not everything should be accessible with 1 key, freeing keys and creating layouts making more sense.

I like this idea. Select targets similar to how weapons were selected in the original "Half Life" game.

After pressing "T" to activate the targeting menu, "W" might select the target under crosshairs, "S" might select the target directly behind you (userful for targeting attackers!), and then "A" and "D" are previous and next targets. It seems like the more spaceship-kind-of-thing to do. It would be good to have single-key options available, that players could map to buttons for themselves. For instance, having a single button to select a target directly under the crosshairs seems obvious for those sudden engagements.

Similarly, press space to activate the camera system, then use "W" and "S" to zoom in and out, and "A" and "D" to select different cameras. Similar to having a hotbutton for "target under crosshairs", I sure wish there was a hotkey for "favorite camera and zoom level", so I could instantly select the forward-most camera at 1x zoom. I like to have multiple cameras on my ships, so I can check out damage and whether logic is having the desired effects on large-scale systems, like hanger doors. Right now, it takes me a second or two of tedious camera-scrolling to get to the right camera for regular fight-and-flight.

 

[NeonSturm]

I like this idea. Select targets similar to how weapons were selected in the original "Half Life" game.

After pressing "T" to activate the targeting menu, "W" might select the target under crosshairs, "S" might select the target directly behind you (userful for targeting attackers!), and then "A" and "D" are previous and next targets

not exactly...
you have a combo of two buttons that do not open a menu but trigger an action.
WASD QE is for thrust, but TD is for next target, CD net cockpit, TC may be connect to target (communicate with AI interface) while CT would be centre view at target.

Ofcourse there could be a menu accessible over T+[SPACE] or T+[TAB] and T+[SPACE] does nothing (cancel)
But I was essentially suggesting having

1. purple/pink buttons mapping one-key actions
2. green mapping two-key actions(preventing one-key actions from trigger before the second key is entered)
3. Blue changing context permanently until changed back.
   1. changing to context which is active changes to default context and trigger the leave-context event (used for send message)
4. Red keys may open a menu.
5. Yellow keys are not available for custom actions or not set to a custom action (or set back to default)

The picture is just an example helping you imagine some key-map.

 

[jayman38]

Yes, Key-chording (holding T and pressing W to target the ship in front of you) is also good. (This may be a harder mechanic for those hunt-and-peck typists out there!)

Pressing T and then pressing W within a half-second or so (the other type of key-chording) would lead to unexpected behavior in high-speed or high-pressure situations like combat, where people are pressing multiple different keys inside a second, and sometimes hitting the wrong key. It would basically booby-trap their controls. (W is normally for acceleration, but oops! You pressed the T button by mistake! You just changed target instead of accelerating away from a dumb-fire nuke!)

 

[NeonSturm]

Maybe, but it would free keyboard controls (you can have green always one,key and jkli or up/left/down/right as second keys for prev, next, higher hierarchy level, lower hierarchy level)
but mapping prev=left, next=right is easier to learn = should be default (you can always change / should be able to)
for T (target), up can be the target in front of you, down the nearest one in any direction.
up = zoom away / in, down = zoom out / to you