| Author |
Some F2 (Navigation) GUI ideas for the combined MV |
Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
|  Posted: 2010-09-02 09:27
This may take a bit of work, and some of it may not be feasible, but I have a few ideas on how to better improve the Navigation screen, particularly associated with the new, combined MV.
Firstly as it stands, there exists no distinction between the different servers from the screen. This makes it difficult discerning where one cluster ends and one begins.
This is important, because since we can't view any information beyond what is in a server besides the one you are in, its helpful to know just how far your intellegence information goes. Its also important in determining quadrants, which quandrants are servers of specific design (such as the newbie) which has rank limits.
As part of this, I genuinely suggest something RTS recently in gaming have been employing, in what we recognize as layers of information.
DS already has something like this already, in which you have at first viewing all the stars, you zoom in to one system to the planets, then to individual planets and ships.
You may want to consider altering this slightly.
Essnetially, after you start zooming out of a star, instead of viewing the whole MV, you initially only view the stars the encompass your server.
At this level, information listted should list statistics as the number of controlled enemy systems/planets and enemy systems/planets. Things like total shipyards and so on.
I also think that Navigation should also track the number of unique enemy ships have been sighted within a ten minute window on average. This would give the player a general idea of of many enemy players/AI is present in that server.
Zoom out from there, and then you view the whole MV, which I think at this point would be a bit more detailed, better showing the different server clusters, having a total, current player count for each faction showing, and the number of players in each server (sighted by a planet).
The point? More information mangement allows the veteran player to better navigate the battlefield, and the newbie player to better figure out what hes supposed to be doing.
Oh I said some GUI changes. I lied.  Its alot I know, but its things like that that would definitely if nothing else add some features this game has sorely needed.
-Ent
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2010-09-02 10:02
Not possible. Would cause stupid amounts of server load, which we're trying to reduce.
If you want to scout stuff, I suggest using a scout. The one thing I do like is the suggestion for better showing the clusters/servers.
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2010-09-02 11:00
I just hope for a radar overlay for my main screen.
Will that be something easy to pull off, Jack?
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NoBoDx
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 14, 2003
Posts: 784
From: Germany / NRW
| Posted: 2010-09-02 11:10
for the multiple servers:
just add the borders of the servers ( call it a-sector, b-sector or so) so you can see, where one server ends (and dont e-jump into an invisible wall  ) and where the others start
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Faustus
Marshal
Palestar
Joined: May 29, 2001
Posts: 2748
From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2010-09-02 12:42
Quote:
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On 2010-09-02 11:10, NoBoDx wrote:
for the multiple servers:
just add the borders of the servers ( call it a-sector, b-sector or so) so you can see, where one server ends (and dont e-jump into an invisible wall ) and where the others start
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Thats kinda the plan... I'm going to use a polygon hull routine to generate a "border" line so you can see the borders of the various servers... also, want to make it so as you zoom out it shows the title of the sector (i.e. Sagittarius, Ursa Minor, etc..)
-F
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Sopwith Camel
Grand Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 651
From: Toronto
| Posted: 2010-09-02 12:47
Quote:
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On 2010-09-02 11:00, Kenny_Naboo wrote:
I just hope for a radar overlay for my main screen.
Will that be something easy to pull off, Jack?
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Yea let me chime in on that request too... I've been waiting for years literally 
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Fleet Commander, Galactic Navy
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NoBoDx
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 14, 2003
Posts: 784
From: Germany / NRW
| Posted: 2010-09-02 14:23
Quote:
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On 2010-09-02 12:42, Faustus wrote:
Quote:
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On 2010-09-02 11:10, NoBoDx wrote:
for the multiple servers:
just add the borders of the servers ( call it a-sector, b-sector or so) so you can see, where one server ends (and dont e-jump into an invisible wall ) and where the others start
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Thats kinda the plan... I'm going to use a polygon hull routine to generate a "border" line so you can see the borders of the various servers... also, want to make it so as you zoom out it shows the title of the sector (i.e. Sagittarius, Ursa Minor, etc..)
-F
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this is what i thought of:
http://img.tomshardware.com/de/2006/06/16/spieletest-darkstar-one/darkstaronekartebig.jpg
(big picture )
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The only good 'ooman is a dead 'ooman. An' da only fing better than a dead 'ooman'z a dyin' 'ooman who tell you where ter find 'is mates.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2010-09-03 02:12
Quote:
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On 2010-09-02 10:02, BackSlash wrote:
Not possible. Would cause stupid amounts of server load, which we're trying to reduce.
If you want to scout stuff, I suggest using a scout. The one thing I do like is the suggestion for better showing the clusters/servers.
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It's not really for scouting purposes.. its just something useful for the player to know where to be.
Awhile back there was some discussion about 'hotspots' showing on the Nav map showing where combat is. What happened to that?
-Ent
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SPaRTaN Z
Chief Marshal
Joined: June 26, 2009
Posts: 235
| Posted: 2010-09-03 21:42
A GI-NORMUS grid over f2 would be nice
[ This Message was edited by: SPaRTaN Z (Star Fox) on 2010-09-04 00:32 ]
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