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Cruthensis
Gallente Farmer Killers United Corporations Against Macros
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Posted - 2009.09.15 13:57:00 -
[1]
I've been using the d-scanner a whole lot recently. The way it works currently has a few inconsistencies and problems:
- The range has an absolute cutoff where many modules, though not all, have an optimal and then falloff. For the d-scanner to completely and utterly fail to detect an object if it is merely 1km beyond its maximum range is ridiculous.
(The d-scanner range just happens to be largest number of kilometres that can be represented by a 32bit binary number. This is arbitrary and a bit silly.)
- It has no skills by which a pilot can improve its performance. (I can't think of any other ship-based capability in which this is the case.)
- It gives little visual indication of its area of detection, leaving the player (especially newer players) a bit lost.
(Yes, I've gotten used to this myself, but would a subtle circle/bowl/cone be so hard to overlay?)
- The units themselves - kilometres - are cumbersome when dealing with a system whose whole intention is to allow scanning at astronomical ranges (AU).
Suggestions: (and these are just a starting point to get discussion rolling...)
- Apply the falloff concept to the d-scanner. Sure, its optimal could be 14AU (or 20 or 30 or whatever...) but beyond that, (out to 40AU, for example) signatures would have a diminishing chance to appear, probably based on the range and their sig strength as used in probing.
- Include skills, the training of which would improve upon base attributes of the d-scanner (optimal, falloff and...time?)
- Add some visual feedback! Yes, this could get cluttered with probes out, but I'm sure something could be worked out.
- Add a sliding range control (like the angle control - duh!) with AU values. This could just work on the client side, passing a number into the kilometre range field.
Finally, what got me thinking about this was the few occasions on which I've found mission farmers (yes, the ISK seller type) happening to run missions outside of my 14AU d-scanner range (I found them by happening to scan from a gate rather than near the sun). The 14AU max scan range suddenly seemed arbitrary, pointless and was preventing me from efficiently probing down farmers. Has that 6AU band around your max range ever annoyed you?
Discuss... _________________________
The "Lofty" trick is no more. Fleets are BACK! Coming soon to farmer infestation near you: Fleets of the Willing
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Cruthensis
Gallente Farmer Killers United Corporations Against Macros
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Posted - 2009.09.15 20:00:00 -
[2]
Seriously?
No-one? _________________________
The "Lofty" trick is no more. Fleets are BACK! Coming soon to farmer infestation near you: Fleets of the Willing
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xxxak
Caldari No Limit Productions Mostly Harmless
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Posted - 2009.09.15 20:52:00 -
[3]
I agree 100% with 3 and 4. Not 100% sure how I feel about 1 and 2.
But yes, scanning in this game needs a general rework
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Cruthensis
Gallente Farmer Killers United Corporations Against Macros
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Posted - 2009.09.17 13:07:00 -
[4]
^ Do elaborate. Max range = 14.25 AU...why? _________________________
The "Lofty" trick is no more. Fleets are BACK! Coming soon to farmer infestation near you: Fleets of the Willing
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Bill Buttlicker
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Posted - 2009.09.19 17:57:00 -
[5]
Visual feedback - very nice
Units - also supported (kilometers don't have actual sense unless scanning something that is really close but in that case u can see them on overview anyway)
Range/Falloff - Cool idea too, but I'd like to see some indication that my scan is not reliable after its optimal range (for example u would get certain chance to get wrong ship type but name would be scrambled weirdly with some random unicode signs - perhaps not so good idea due to ship renaming), so basicly you would scan something but wouldnt know what exacly is(@ my spelling), rather than having a chance for signal to appear at all.
Skills - i dunno. I think everybody shoud be able to scan equally.
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Snicke
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Posted - 2009.09.19 18:45:00 -
[6]
Edited by: Snicke on 19/09/2009 18:46:31
Originally by: Cruthensis ^ Do elaborate. Max range = 14.25 AU...why?
Because if you set it to 400000000000000 km it goes down to max 14.25AU or 2.147.483.647km I personally think the scanner is broken. I reported it as a bug when I started playing the game. And now I use it as system scanner. It is an idiotic excellent tool to see if there are anyone else in a unknown worm hole. You can scan the whole system, without any tools or skill. HATE IT! I think they should remove the whole freaking scanner. It is an much to powerful tool. As the probes workes today. That should be enough.
Where there is pleasure, there is always some pain.
-Snicke- |
Ashley Thomas
Veneratio Venator Alliance
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Posted - 2009.09.19 22:58:00 -
[7]
1, no 2, defiantly no, its supposed to be a simple thing that anyone can use 3, ya, a simple visual would be nice, at least have a circle show up on the screen to show the area being scanned, would take the unnecessary guesswork out of it 4, ya, would make things a bit easier.
Veritatum Cognoscere |
Fullmetal Jackass
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Posted - 2009.09.19 23:05:00 -
[8]
Edited by: Fullmetal Jackass on 19/09/2009 23:07:01 1. You don't want guess work on the scanner. It just encourages spamming it.
Originally by: Ashley Thomas 2, defiantly no, its supposed to be a simple thing that anyone can use
This exactly.
Originally by: Ashley Thomas 3, ya, a simple visual would be nice, at least have a circle show up on the screen to show the area being scanned, would take the unnecessary guesswork out of it
There is no guess work. Zoom out from your ship. Click on your ship. The box around your ship is the center of your scan. Line the box up with whatever you wanna scan, click scan. Simple.
4. A sliding scale might not be bad. I'd like the manual entry box to stay though. Might be nice if you could toggle between km's and AU's.
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Ashley Thomas
Veneratio Venator Alliance
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Posted - 2009.09.19 23:47:00 -
[9]
ya, the box is the center, the circle would indicate the area that will be scanned with the currently selected angle.
Veritatum Cognoscere |
Roland Thorne
Dark Sun Collective Kahora Catori
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Posted - 2009.10.13 20:19:00 -
[10]
Originally by: Snicke Edited by: Snicke on 19/09/2009 18:46:31
Originally by: Cruthensis ^ Do elaborate. Max range = 14.25 AU...why?
Because if you set it to 400000000000000 km it goes down to max 14.25AU or 2.147.483.647km I personally think the scanner is broken. I reported it as a bug when I started playing the game. And now I use it as system scanner. It is an idiotic excellent tool to see if there are anyone else in a unknown worm hole. You can scan the whole system, without any tools or skill. HATE IT! I think they should remove the whole freaking scanner. It is an much to powerful tool. As the probes workes today. That should be enough.
The thing is, scanning is a tool can everyone has access too, but not everyone has the patience to use. It is one of the things that a new player could use well as long as they are smart in RL and that is what counts :)
1. Range should be limited, so my answer to 14 AU range is - - why not?
2. Like I said, it shouldn't be skill based. What you see, is what you get, always. That is a powerful tool, and range and skills should not change it. Yet, range should stay limited because it is a powerful tool, should people use it properly.
3. This is a UI improvement that is easy to implement.
4. So is this, and the use of AU only makes more sense.
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Snicke
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Posted - 2009.10.14 08:19:00 -
[11]
Originally by: Roland Thorne
The thing is, scanning is a tool can everyone has access too, but not everyone has the patience to use. It is one of the things that a new player could use well as long as they are smart in RL and that is what counts :)
1. Range should be limited, so my answer to 14 AU range is - - why not?
2. Like I said, it shouldn't be skill based. What you see, is what you get, always. That is a powerful tool, and range and skills should not change it. Yet, range should stay limited because it is a powerful tool, should people use it properly.
3. This is a UI improvement that is easy to implement.
4. So is this, and the use of AU only makes more sense.
The Directional scanner is a tool everyone can use. Without any skill training or anything, yes! But anyway you need to have played a loooong time and used exploration a lot before you understand how it works. Do you think a noob player gets that he have to put in the numbers 2billion km so he can scan the whole system? Again, to me it feels like a hack or a bug. Thats how hard it is to figure out. I hate the direction scanner. It should be replaced with the probe scanning method we already got. And maybe some cool new modules that could warn you for incoming warps or if something is scanning your area.
Where there is pleasure, there is always some pain.
-Snicke- |
Murkk
Burning Technologies Circle-Of-Two
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Posted - 2009.10.14 08:26:00 -
[12]
i would say make the range of the scanners longer or shorter if you do the number of degrees so 360 degree 12 au 180 degree 14 au ( because of more stength the range will go up more) 90 degree 16 au.....
Im happy with the scanner how it works now. i dont think it needs changing tough but this is jsut a option :)
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