GoneMissing
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Posted - 2010.03.18 16:03:00 -
[1]
The following is a wishlist for improvements to the current probing/scanning system.
1) implement probe formations about a centroid at given radius for 3-probe, 4-probe, 5-probe and 6-probe configurations.
2) need to be able to warp to a set of manually input coordinates (or coordinates relative to a known point - polar coords)
3) need to be able to TURN OFF the solar system background when positioning probes manually (the damned bright clouds can make it much harder to see the probe sphere intersection lines - and I have enough trouble with eye strain already!)
4) be able to select one (or more) PREFERENTIAL scanning target signal (always pops to the top of the scan results list)
5) need to be able to toggle the display of items/labels in the solar system map (can interfere with moving probes when the viewpoint is co-planar to the Z=0 plane - or very close to it)
6) be able to select a group of probes to be moved with the SHIFT selection instead of selecting them all
7) provide SNAP POINTS (toggleable) to the CURRENTLY SELECTED PROBE to drag to the appropriate orthogonal (or proportinal) angle positions to OTHER probe range spheres as displayed. For ex: for 4,5, 6-probe configurations, snap points should be available at the centerpoint, and at the X, Y, and Z axes at +/- the current probes range (with an optional %age applied to placing the snap points (say set it at 75% or 90% or 99.9% of the radius). For a 3-probe configuration, select the origin axes (a planar selection), and position the snap points at 120 degree increments.
8) a single-step (whether a single probe or multi-probe move) UNDO capability for probe moves. (Dangit, I didn't mean to CLICK THERE!)
9) a SAVE (all) Probes position / restore (all) probes position capability (especially useful if probes are about to expire in the midst of scanning down a signal)
10) an option to directly designate a center of display rotation
11) break-out XY, XZ, YZ planar views (zoomable to full-screen) - akin to the map views - to facilitate precise probe placement (with the snappable points and probe movement available on these views as well)
12) Create 2 classes of probes: "Active" probes, and "passive/stealth" probes. Active Probes announce their presence in space (or wspace) without the need to spam the directional scanner continually (would appear on the overview). This is due to the fact that active probes emit radiation/signals to detect things in space. Passive/stealth probes would act much as the probes do presently and require either special launchers and/or more additional science/electronics training to operate (i.e. much better signal analysis and physics training as well as extra probe training).
These improvements would dramatically improve the currently rather tedious scanning system and greatly improve playability. The differential between active and passive probes could ease server burden for directional scanner use.
If you doubt the benefit for any of these things, then I wish to strand you with a set of probes in a w-space system with about 50 or so scan signals to work through to find your way out. Bring a snack - or two. |