Ideas for the new HUD, Hit-markers and weapons

[blurb357]

A couple of Ideas for the new HUD and weapons:

ok firstly, get rid of the power/shield bar at the bottom and replace them with numbers on the side of the screed making them cleaner and nicer to look at.

In battle when you are hit, at the moment, you have a flash of red across your screen, as part of a combat-based faction I find this very distracting in combat, it would be better if we had a symbol at the side of the screen that flashed red, this would indicate to us that we are being hit, however it would not distract us.

We should have the thrust measured in a different way, because in this way, it seems unrealistic, we should also move the thrust area towards the shield and power areas so it is all in one area.

Finally, weapons and power. It would be cool, if we could change the damage percentage like we could before, so we keep the set up that we have now, so we build the weapons, so the way we build it originally is 100%, then we can change that, so we can fire, non-lethal warning shots and things like that, this would help gameplay a lot. Also we should be able to manage how much of our power output goes into each system, so in the beginning, everything would be equalised, then we could change that, so if we had more power going to the shields then they would get stronger, if we had more power going to the weapons then they would last longer ect. This would mean that people would not have to build HUGE power reactors to power their entire ship.

kupu Bench Calbiri schema

 

[bandak]

+1

 

[Megacrafter127]

IMO, the bars should stay, although they aren't required to be as thick as now.
Also neat would be the ability to make new custom bars[with either a custom fixed maximum or another variable as maximum].

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Custom bars would be cool. We could then display thrust, for example. But also the current shield supply values, etc. I would also like to see the actual numbers by the shields as with the power currently.

Edit: get out of here with your percentages. Get creative with effects. You already have non-lethal warning shots. Just combine 1 cannon with 1 stop effect. If your target is has shields just use one cannon with the piercing effect.

Edit 2: we already can "assign" power to different areas of our ship. All our systems use power, so we use that power wisely. Some to shields, some to weapons.

 

[Lecic]

A couple of Ideas for the new HUD and weapons:

ok firstly, get rid of the power/shield bar at the bottom and replace them with numbers on the side of the screed making them cleaner and nicer to look at.

I like the bars, but they could use some cleaning up.

In battle when you are hit, at the moment, you have a flash of red across your screen, as part of a combat-based faction I find this very distracting in combat, it would be better if we had a symbol at the side of the screen that flashed red, this would indicate to us that we are being hit, however it would not distract us.

Yes please.

We should have the thrust measured in a different way, because in this way, it seems unrealistic, we should also move the thrust area towards the shield and power areas so it is all in one area.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Finally, weapons and power. It would be cool, if we could change the damage percentage like we could before, so we keep the set up that we have now, so we build the weapons, so the way we build it originally is 100%, then we can change that, so we can fire, non-lethal warning shots and things like that, this would help gameplay a lot. Also we should be able to manage how much of our power output goes into each system, so in the beginning, everything would be equalised, then we could change that, so if we had more power going to the shields then they would get stronger, if we had more power going to the weapons then they would last longer ect. This would mean that people would not have to build HUGE power reactors to power their entire ship.

No. The sliders should stay gone. If you want a "warning shot" don't aim at them when you fire it.

If your systems are drawing too much power, you have too many systems. Cut some out.

kupu Bench Calbiri schema

Literally never tag the whole dev team. Ever. It's completely pointless. They aren't going to read your thread because you tagged them. It'll probably just annoy them and make them want to put your suggestion in even less. It's the equivalent of putting "SHCEMA PLSZ AD THIS 2 THE GAME" on the end of your thread.

 

[Bench]

The HUD update is going to be released soon. I'd suggest waiting until that time then re-evaluate

 

[Snk]

Literally never tag the whole dev team. Ever. It's completely pointless. They aren't going to read your thread because you tagged them. It'll probably just annoy them and make them want to put your suggestion in even less. It's the equivalent of putting "SHCEMA PLSZ AD THIS 2 THE GAME" on the end of your thread.

The HUD update is going to be released soon. I'd suggest waiting until that time then re-evaluate

Heh.

 

[Lecic]

Heh.

That doesn't necessarily mean Bench read the suggestion because he got tagged.

Also, Bench's comment is essentially saying "we're definitely not putting your suggestion in for the time being, we're already doing our own revamps"

Tagging most or all the devs still makes you an obnoxious tool, anyway.

 

[Bench]

Literally never tag the whole dev team. Ever. It's completely pointless. They aren't going to read your thread because you tagged them. It'll probably just annoy them and make them want to put your suggestion in even less. It's the equivalent of putting "SHCEMA PLSZ AD THIS 2 THE GAME" on the end of your thread.

Heh.

That doesn't necessarily mean Bench read the suggestion because he got tagged.

Also, Bench's comment is essentially saying "we're definitely not putting your suggestion in for the time being, we're already doing our own revamps"

I usually will read if i'm tagged, but I for one usually read through most of the suggestions threads as much as possible. Not that it will always result in me bringing anything to the rest of the team. In this instance with us so near the end of the HUD development, we won't be changing anything HUD wise with how any of the bars etc work. However once it is released you will find that what everyone's addressed about the HUD in this thread might not apply anymore.

 

[montecristo]

A couple of Ideas for the new HUD and weapons:
ok firstly, get rid of the power/shield bar at the bottom and replace them with numbers on the side of the screed making them cleaner and nicer to look at.

To be completely honest, I would personally like an option to remove the bars and information entirely from the screen IFF the same information was included in display blocks as new variables for the info previously in the hud(i.e. <creditsCurrent>, <speed>, <navigationWaypoint>, and <currentLocation>). I like making cockpits that have this info for you to heighten immersion and reduce screen clutter.

I know, I know, play the game in "tab-g," why don't you monte... well, that works to remove the hud, but it also removes all your targeting information and your item/action bar thingy. And it makes you unable to access any of your nav/catelog/inventory/etc. windows unless you "un-tab-g."

A couple of Ideas for the new HUD and weapons:
In battle when you are hit, at the moment, you have a flash of red across your screen, as part of a combat-based faction I find this very distracting in combat, it would be better if we had a symbol at the side of the screen that flashed red, this would indicate to us that we are being hit, however it would not distract us.

Totally agree!

EDIT: Crap -- didn't realize the dev tags were in the quoted snippets. Removed!

 

[blurb357]

Literally never tag the whole dev team. Ever. It's completely pointless. They aren't going to read your thread because you tagged them. It'll probably just annoy them and make them want to put your suggestion in even less. It's the equivalent of putting "SHCEMA PLSZ AD THIS 2 THE GAME" on the end of your thread.

That doesn't necessarily mean Bench read the suggestion because he got tagged.

Also, Bench's comment is essentially saying "we're definitely not putting your suggestion in for the time being, we're already doing our own revamps"

Tagging most or all the devs still makes you an obnoxious tool, anyway.

realised that After I posted, to lazy to change as I was up till 5AM on New Years Eve (or was it day)

 

[MarkySkill]

test

 

[blurb357]

test

wha?

 

[Planr]

A couple of Ideas for the new HUD and weapons:

ok firstly, get rid of the power/shield bar at the bottom and replace them with numbers on the side of the screed making them cleaner and nicer to look at.

How is replacing user-friendly indication bars with difficult-to-determine-at-an-eye's-glance technical numbers "cleaner and nicer"?
FYI this is the only part of your post that was even relevant to what you asked for in the title. The other things you mentioned below (which I will address) are totally different things that deal with core aspects of gameplay and the changes you're promoting are generally backwards and detrimental.

In battle when you are hit, at the moment, you have a flash of red across your screen, as part of a combat-based faction I find this very distracting in combat, it would be better if we had a symbol at the side of the screen that flashed red, this would indicate to us that we are being hit, however it would not distract us.

It seems that even getting hit on the shields by weapons fire causes the screen to flash red. I agree this is not fun, but I think it should only flash red when the hull is actually taking physical damage from weapons. I don't really care if the whole screen flickers red as a result, personally I like it that way because hull damage is a serious thing for a pilot and he needs to be as notified of when he's taking damage as possible, that way it helps psychologically trigger the pilot into a "fight or flight" response, so he will attempt to run to preserve his craft, or defeat the threat as soon as possible to preserve his craft.

We should have the thrust measured in a different way, because in this way, it seems unrealistic, we should also move the thrust area towards the shield and power areas so it is all in one area.

I can't tell what exactly you're proposing here for certain so I'm going to assume you're asking for the fundamental way that thrusters work to be changed. I entirely disagree. Thrusters are fair the way they are now. Power is their limiter, and it allows players to not be cruising around in massive titans at 200 kph destroying everything in sight. Instead, those massive ships move much slower, which is fitting for ships of their size and strength. Realistic or not, it works best this way in actual gameplay, and it's how it should be.

Now, if you're talking about the actual GUI indicators for thrust calculations, I agree that they need some work in how they are displayed. They used to show at the top of the screen while in flight as thrust-mass = thrust, which never made any sense from a mathematical or logical standpoint. It should instead display the ratios of the blocks, like 1:1 thrust, with some decimal numbers too for accuracy.

Finally, weapons and power. It would be cool, if we could change the damage percentage like we could before, so we keep the set up that we have now, so we build the weapons, so the way we build it originally is 100%, then we can change that, so we can fire, non-lethal warning shots and things like that, this would help gameplay a lot.

This proposal you're making for weapons is absolutely backwards. What you're proposing is that we abandon the current system of slaves and effects in favor of the old system of one weapon type with sliders that allow us to change damage, range, and reload speed. And I say "abandon" because the two systems are totally different and irreconcilable. You can't have both. A good example: beam slaves handle the addition of range; a slider for range defeats that function.

Well let me tell you something about the old slider system: that system was very unbalanced and had some dangerous sweet spots that could be exploited for maximum griefing potential. I know, because I lived and played through it and I found some very OP combinations back in the day on that system.

The current system of slaves and effects allows your weapons to have a fair way of distributing range and reload strength, as the old slider system did not have a balanced way to distribute both perks at the same time. Ranges for most weapons are set, with beams being able to extend it to different lengths depending on the block-block ratios of the main modules to the slave modules. This is how it works best, and it's how it should be. We are not going back to the old system. Ever.
You want warning shots? Do like funny bunny said: shoot across the bow of the enemy ship, or build tiny weapons that will do no damage to them.

Also we should be able to manage how much of our power output goes into each system, so in the beginning, everything would be equalised, then we could change that, so if we had more power going to the shields then they would get stronger, if we had more power going to the weapons then they would last longer ect. This would mean that people would not have to build HUGE power reactors to power their entire ship.

So basically put power allotments out for the different systems, of how much of the main power they are allowed to use? That is an interesting idea, but it would mean that players would be able to bypass the power outage penalty if they have a really OP system (eg. very powerful thrusters would then have no negative consquences on the rest of the ships systems).

The weapons already use maximum power from the ship, so I don't see how your point about "more power going to the weapons" means anything. You can't get above 100% efficiency.

Nobody has to use "HUGE" power reactors to "power their entire ship". If you don't want massive power drains, don't try to play the way you used to play with massive 1:1 ratio thrust on a 100,000 mass ship. That's ridiculous. The games mechanics have changed for the better. Use tankage to provide yourself a power safety net with excessively strong systems.

 

[blurb357]

thanks for your very in depth thread you have made a few very good points and a couple of things that I would like to point out.

How is replacing user-friendly indication bars with difficult-to-determine-at-an-eye's-glance technical numbers "cleaner and nicer"?

this point has already been made to me by Megacrafter127 the bars take up tonnes of space at the moment, and lets be honest, they are bulky and not nice to look at. They could be made thinner into a more streamlined design to make it easier to show the shield strength, however I still think that we should have symbols on the side showing our shield percentage.

It seems that even getting hit on the shields by weapons fire causes the screen to flash red. I agree this is not fun, but I think it should only flash red when the hull is actually taking physical damage from weapons. I don't really care if the whole screen flickers red as a result, personally I like it that way because hull damage is a serious thing for a pilot and he needs to be as notified of when he's taking damage as possible, that way it helps psychologically trigger the pilot into a "fight or flight" response, so he will attempt to run to preserve his craft, or defeat the threat as soon as possible to preserve his craft.

I do agree with what you said, from my point of view, I think that we should have a symbol that flashes red to show when we are being hit, but then when the shields are down, say our hud is blue, then it turns to red so if we had a HUD like the photo below, then all of the blue parts would turn red.

I can't tell what exactly you're proposing here for certain so I'm going to assume you're asking for the fundamental way that thrusters work to be changed. I entirely disagree. Thrusters are fair the way they are now. Power is their limiter, and it allows players to not be cruising around in massive titans at 200 kph destroying everything in sight. Instead, those massive ships move much slower, which is fitting for ships of their size and strength. Realistic or not, it works best this way in actual gameplay, and it's how it should be.

Now, if you're talking about the actual GUI indicators for thrust calculations, I agree that they need some work in how they are displayed. They used to show at the top of the screen while in flight as thrust-mass = thrust, which never made any sense from a mathematical or logical standpoint. It should instead display the ratios of the blocks, like 1:1 thrust, with some decimal numbers too for accuracy.

What I am proposing is no simpler as changing the way we MEASURE speed because now it is in KM/H which is unrealistic, and the way thrust is shown on the GUI. I am not suggesting that we change the way thrust mechanics work, even though Calbiri has confirmed that it will change in the future.

This proposal you're making for weapons is absolutely backwards. What you're proposing is that we abandon the current system of slaves and effects in favour of the old system of one weapon type with sliders that allow us to change damage, range, and reload speed. And I say "abandon" because the two systems are totally different and irreconcilable. You can't have both. A good example: beam slaves handle the addition of range; a slider for range defeats that function.

Well let me tell you something about the old slider system: that system was very unbalanced and had some dangerous sweet spots that could be exploited for maximum griefing potential. I know, because I lived and played through it and I found some very OP combinations back in the day on that system.

The current system of slaves and effects allows your weapons to have a fair way of distributing range and reload strength, as the old slider system did not have a balanced way to distribute both perks at the same time. Ranges for most weapons are set, with beams being able to extend it to different lengths depending on the block-block ratios of the main modules to the slave modules. This is how it works best, and it's how it should be. We are not going back to the old system. Ever.
You want warning shots? Do like funny bunny said: shoot across the bow of the enemy ship, or build tiny weapons that will do no damage to them.

I am saying that we only have a slider for damage. Say we build the weapons systems like we have them now, it will be at 100% full output for damage, then we can change that without having to take out a whole bunch of systems, I get what you are saying, yes the old system was incredibly unbalanced however both of the systems have their ups and downs.

I know, because I lived and played through it and I found some very OP combinations back in the day on that system.

I was there as well, you are not the only one who was playing back then, I was playing pre-yogscast, so please don't patronise me

So basically put power allotments out for the different systems, of how much of the main power they are allowed to use? That is an interesting idea, but it would mean that players would be able to bypass the power outage penalty if they have a really OP system (eg. very powerful thrusters would then have no negative consquences on the rest of the ships systems).

The weapons already use maximum power from the ship, so I don't see how your point about "more power going to the weapons" means anything. You can't get above 100% efficiency.

Nobody has to use "HUGE" power reactors to "power their entire ship". If you don't want massive power drains, don't try to play the way you used to play with massive 1:1 ratio thrust on a 100,000 mass ship. That's ridiculous. The games mechanics have changed for the better. Use tankage to provide yourself a power safety net with excessively strong systems.

it would have negative consequences on the rest of the ships systems because then you wouldn't be able to use the shields ect. because you would have all of your power going to the thruster. Also this system is supposed to help deal with the outage so if you have a blockade runner, you can put most of your power to the trusters so they last longer ect.

I hope I have been able to answer most of your queries

 

[Snk]

Let's get rid of the hud and replace everything with chairs and joysticks. You'd have to place blocks to get the proper information you need.