Tl;dr the shortest distance between two points is a straight line except in Manhattan.
Waypoints in Starmade use something called taxicab geometry in three dimensions to point you in the right direction sector by sector. The current system of waypoints is like the squiggly blue line and tries to follow the shortest Euclidean distance.
This makes following the waypoints exactly kind of fruitless and annoying because you would have to make lots of 90 degree turns. Mostly ignoring the waypoints and judging the shortest-line direction (green line) to your destination by eye is about 30% faster than following the waypoints, which is a big deal.
The funny thing is that the red line is the same length as the blue line, but with fewer turns. If you're lazy and don't want to judge the true direction towards your destination then you might as well fly red line style and go all one way until the first coordinate matches, then match the second coordinate, then the third. This is still 30% slower than just flying straight and requires less user input.
I would like green line Euclidean directions. I would also like to be able to find important objects (lost ships etc) from a great distance using a homing device or deep space radar or something. That is all.
Waypoints in Starmade use something called taxicab geometry in three dimensions to point you in the right direction sector by sector. The current system of waypoints is like the squiggly blue line and tries to follow the shortest Euclidean distance.
This makes following the waypoints exactly kind of fruitless and annoying because you would have to make lots of 90 degree turns. Mostly ignoring the waypoints and judging the shortest-line direction (green line) to your destination by eye is about 30% faster than following the waypoints, which is a big deal.
The funny thing is that the red line is the same length as the blue line, but with fewer turns. If you're lazy and don't want to judge the true direction towards your destination then you might as well fly red line style and go all one way until the first coordinate matches, then match the second coordinate, then the third. This is still 30% slower than just flying straight and requires less user input.
I would like green line Euclidean directions. I would also like to be able to find important objects (lost ships etc) from a great distance using a homing device or deep space radar or something. That is all.
