Recognized Improve Sector Coordinate display on HUD

[Winterhome]

Two things can be done to vastly improve the Sector Coordinates you see when you face towards a given sector.

Firstly - move the HUD element for the sector coordinates under any other object you may see. If something big is obscuring the coordinates, you need to be able to see that something big without text obscuring it.

Secondly - Tag the direction of the sector in relation to your own. Most people aren't gifted enough to do the math for which direction a sector is in in under a second. Something like (N) (S) (E) (W) (U) (D)

 

[Control]

My suggestion is to highlight the number in the sector that will be different than the one your in, maybe two different colors for a posi or negi shift.

 

[Bench]

hmm yeah probably needed in some form. We'll most likely look at a lot of hud stuff to do with navigation and see how it can be improved.

 

[Yrjosmiel]

Just an option in the player's settings though.
I like the old one better.

 

[SkullCollector]

Something a bit fancier may be how some Warhammer 40k maps handle it, at least those that I have seen.

They usually label directions relative to the galactic centre and spin, so the direction to the core would be 'corewards', the direction facing away from it and to the edge would be 'rimwards'. Same with the spin of the galaxy: 'spin' and 'anti-spin' (or 'trailing' in some cases) for the respective direction.

It wouldn't call for that "ugh, there's no North in space, duh" situation and may add some elegant lore stuff. Trade-off: People will have to think for a second about what that means.

 

[EricBlank]

We can use both simultaneously. A player in-game is already able to see the core, rim, and rotation of a galaxy, talking to each other in those terms is possible. However, although we can't use it in real life, in Starmade everything exists on a static 3d grid that does have labelled axes. Using NSEW+UD works in this case, since you're describing your direction/motion relative to that static 3d grid. You could use x/y/z +/-, technically, but people already understand compass directions. Well, maybe not my brother... :P

What would also help within a given star system, not just galaxy, is having the orbit of objects around the star indicated, so we can use spinward/trailing. We already know towards/away from the star and in a sense above/below the plane of the ecliptic, though those could be explicitly indicated in the navigation too.

My friends and I have also been confusing each other when using system coordinates versus sector coordinates. Mostly our fault for not explicitly telling one-another which one we're talking about, but whenever I ask for coordinates they give me system coordinates and I always forget to mention I'm giving them sector coordinates, so when I say 47, -132, -14 they think I'm talking about the next galaxy over. :P

 

[Psy_commando]

The coordinate system could definitely be made easier to use/less confusing !

And, I don't know if I'm alone, but I'd really love it if when you enter a new star system it would display the name of the system/name of the system's star, right next to the system's coordinates. Simply because, its much easier to remember a name than a set of coordinates.

What would also help within a given star system, not just galaxy, is having the orbit of objects around the star indicated, so we can use spinward/trailing. We already know towards/away from the star and in a sense above/below the plane of the ecliptic, though those could be explicitly indicated in the navigation too.

You mean having the orbits displayed on the HUD ? Because that is such a great idea ! :D
Though, having a way to turn it on/off when not needed would also be nice.

But IMO, it would be nice if planets were automatically named to help as well. Even something as simple as using the system's star name and a number indicating its order from the star would do wonder in helping orienting oneself ! Sometimes you can end up between a few really similar star systems with nearly the same planets type, and the same exact star type, and it gets confusing, without looking at the galaxy map every times you modify your trajectory..