A small adjustment to the targeting display. (Offset the target name and range text.)

[MasterCuddles]

(Apologies if this has come up before, I tried a variety of search terms but didn't come up with anything.)

tl;dr - Targeted entities, especially small ones, are partially obscured by the name and range overlay. Could this issue be addressed by moving the text outside of the navigation diamond?

I've been playing with weapon configurations for combat between small ships, and I've noticed that the central positioning of the name and range in the navigation diamond hinders aiming at small or distant targets. I've included some screenshots for clarification.

Screenshots were captured at 1980 x 1020 resolution with FOV at 85 degrees. Enlarged 200% and cropped using Paint, which is why the cropping sucks.

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Example 1: The targeted ship facing away and measures 31m x 18m x 9m. Looking edge on at 1000m, about 1/3 of the visible pixels are obscured by one letter in the name and range display. (There's another glowy bit behind the "R".)

Same image without the HUD for reference:

Example 2: Top down is better, but it is still partially obscured relative brightness of the text breaks up the silhouette of the ship. (Alphabet camouflage is in testing.)

Reference 2:

In practice, I've had problems hitting small stationary targets because I'm not entirely sure if there's ship under the crosshair. It's also harder to gauge misses as a result. The name and range display are only in the way when the target is close to the same size as the navigation diamond or smaller.

As such, it seems like offsetting the text, either below or to the side of the diamond, would address the problem for the most part without affecting function. I've looked for a way to accomplish it, but I haven't found a gui config option or check box to do so.

Alternatively, the name and range info could be moved to a fixed location on-screen (above the weapon bar), though that might introduce new problems.

Is this a shared experience, or have I just missed a simple and obvious fix?

 

[Winterhome]

No, you're not missing anything. It bugs the hell out of me too.

+1

 

[kiraen]

This should be adjusted, but the recital turns green for beam weapons when you are aimed correctly. Not sure about the others, but lock-out doesn't really need it and you should be leading with everything else.

Still, it is annoying.

 

[MasterCuddles]

Yeah, this is a pretty situational issue: matters more for cannons and missiles fired without a lock than it does for beams (due to range).

The color change of the reticle does help for aiming but it's somewhat inconsistent and provides false-positives and false-negatives pretty frequently. (I just noticed that the crosshairs are also obscured by the text.)

(I'm not particularly concerned about the target reticle behavior, but it's worth mentioning in context.)

Screenshots captured at 1920 x 1080 @ 50 FOV, enlarged 200% . Cannon-cannon weapon selected. The test brick is 20m x 20m x 60m-ish. Target and shooter are stationary.

(Fig. 1) Correct reticle response. produces a hit when fired.

(Fig. 2) False negative. Shots still hit despite a white reticle.

(Fig.3A) False postitive. Despite a stationary green reticle, shots do not connect.
(Range is about 1800m. Aiming at the test brick in the red diamond. Aiming at the center of mass does hit.)

(Fig. 3B) False positive with a beam-beam setup.

Regarding Fig 3A and 3B: The cannon is about 6 blocks right of the camera, the beam is one block right. I have a sneaking suspicion that the green crosshair doesn't completely compensate for an offset between the camera and weapon output.