Feedback at 100 hours - little things overlooked

[Hoshizora]

 

Feedback at 100 hours - an overview

http://www.avorion.net/forum/index.php/topic,2802.0.html

Feedback at 100 hours - little things overlooked

you are here!

Feedback at 100 hours - small suggestions

http://www.avorion.net/forum/index.php/topic,2807.0.html

Feedback at 100 hours - shamless suggestions

http://www.avorion.net/forum/index.php/topic,2809.0.html

 

 

This is level 1 of 3 in regards to suggestions.

 

This post is for the little things here and there. At the risk of sounded arrogant, it feels like these things should have been obvious, so I frame them as little things that were overlooked while programming the game. I might stray a bit into small bugs or level 2 suggestions... sorry if I do that.

 

If I'm wrong and there's a good reason one of these isn't in the game, then my apologies.

 

• In Esc menu > controls > key bindings: there's no button to clear an individual key binding.
  
• There isn't any way to decrease the volume of fighting explosions without decreasing the interface sounds. Decreasing SFX also decreases interface sounds
  
• There isn't a slider for reducing hyperspace jump particles, despite those being prone to spiking FPS
  
• There's isn't any way to zoom out to RTS view aside from manually grinding the mousewheel every single time
  
• There's no button(s) to transfer all cargo of a type/all cargo period between ships. As it is, if you want to transfer thousands of anything, you have to dump it into space, get out of the way, and then vacuum it up with the new ship after the arbitrary wait period, which is bending over backwards to compensate for the lack of a simple button.
  
• In build mode: when manually typing in a block dimension in the block size mini-window, hitting tab does not move the cursor to the next field and highlights it. I can't do '3-tab-3-tab-3', as would be expected of such a window
  
• There isn't any way to sell fighters
  
• Object detectors will still point you to empty loot stashes
  
• Weapon groups set to auto-target reset to manually-operated when warping to a new sector, and between game logons.
  
• Inventory sorting order resets between game logons.
  
• Xsotan aggression resets between game logons.
  
• The hyperspace jammer indicator (turning that particular bar red) is useless when you've stacked enough hyperspace upgrades so that you don't have a cooldown anymore.
  
• When warping to a new sector with the object detector equipped, the message for 'valuable objects detected' show up when you hit space bar to activate the jump, as opposed to when the screen changes to show the new sector.
  
• There doesn't appear to be a mechanism that prevents quests from sending you across the inner galaxy border, despite the lore of the game making the very idea silly.
  
• In build mode: when you place turrets, the messages that show up on the right saying they were removed from your inventory are layered on top of the ship stat list. Not only does that block my view, it is also, without a doubt, completely pointless to inform me that the turret was removed from my inventory.
  
• If you place too many turrets on your ship (about 44 at my resolution), the turrets not only leave the window, but leave the screen entirely and you can no longer see them all.
  
• There's no warning while ship building if the ship exceeds the size allowable through gates. Losing a ship because you clipped the side of a gate as you passed through it for the first time is not a fair game challenge.
  
• The player has no way of knowing the consequences of carrying dangerous cargo until it hits them... which is not a fair game challenge.
  
• If a player is near a station's docking point, another ship running it's usual 'pull up to the station' script might ram them, cause damage and rep loss. This is just silly!
  
• A Mobile merchant randomly showing up is cool and all, but it breaks lore a bit when they show up in the galaxy center... in the middle of the boss fight... and still hang around for 15 minutes
  

 

 

 

 

[Lord_Greyscale]

Okay, first, I'm obviously not one of the two Devs, so take most of what I say for what it is, one player's opinion.

 

This post is for the little things here and there. At the risk of sounded arrogant, it feels like these things should have been obvious, so I frame them as little things that were overlooked while programming the game.

I not only agree, I'll escalate to "so obvious that a noseless blind-man could both see and smell how obvious they are", as most other "voxel-based space games" have encountered and solved a startling majority of these same problems.

 

 

There isn't a slider for reducing hyperspace jump particles, despite those being prone to spiking FPS

This one is a killer for anyone limited to "older" hardware, and is something that most games with abusing such particles put in as early as the inital concept testing. (among other reasons, it allso helps prevent photo-sensitive seizures)

As an example, I'm running a laptop with a "mere" Nvidia 610M card, and the sheer number of particles from jumping will auto-crash the game every time.

Meanwhile, if I simply stay in a single sector, there's basically nothing the game will do that could crash the game, so the particles are clearly the problem.

 

There's isn't any way to zoom out to RTS view aside from manually grinding the mousewheel every single time

I've heard that Koonshi is intending to do something about that, and that "most" of the people who allso complain about it would like a simple keyboard button for it.

 

There's no button(s) to transfer all cargo of a type/all cargo period between ships. As it is, if you want to transfer thousands of anything, you have to dump it into space, get out of the way, and then vacuum it up with the new ship after the arbitrary wait period, which is bending over backwards to compensate for the lack of a simple button.

The same problem for transferring crew to a newly-founded station/salvaged shipwreck, but without the work-around of dumping them into space.

There needs to be either modifier buttons to alter the amount transferred per click:

CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, these buttons are practically IDEAL for this sort of thing, even just CTRL=5, ALT=25, SHIFT=100 would do it.

OR: Sliders & input-boxes, like there are when Hiring crew, and Buying/Selling cargo.

OR: Both, because why not.

 

In build mode: when manually typing in a block dimension in the block size mini-window, hitting tab does not move the cursor to the next field and highlights it. I can't do '3, TAB-into-next-text-field, 3, TAB-into-next-text-field, 3, TAB-into-next-text-field,', as would be expected of such a window

Oddly, most games seem to forget to allow TAB to do this, even though it is an industry standard among the Operating Systems the games run on.

There's a few other windows where this should work (cargo Buy/sell leaps to my mind) but it doesn't do it there either.

 

I second the desire for it, but fear that it will never happen.

 

There isn't any way to sell fighters

Quite, this is needed, we shouldn't be required to throw them away (if you didn't know, drag the fighter off the fighter squad screen, this "destroys" the fighter, but leaves the pilot)

 

Object detectors will still point you to empty loot stashes

The general work-around here is to simply use a salvaging laser on the stash once you've opened it, as they never re-spawn, and never re-fill.

 

{1} Weapon groups set to auto-target reset to manually-operated when warping to a new sector, and between game logons.

{2} Inventory sorting order resets between game logons.

{3} When warping to a new sector with the object detector equipped, the message for 'valuable objects detected' show up when you hit space bar to activate the jump, as opposed to when the screen changes to show the new sector.

{4} There doesn't appear to be a mechanism that prevents quests from sending you across the inner galaxy border, despite the lore of the game making the very idea silly.

{5} In build mode: when you place turrets, the messages that show up on the right saying they were removed from your inventory are layered on top of the ship stat list. Not only does that block my view, it is also, without a doubt, completely pointless to inform me that the turret was removed from my inventory.

{6} If you place too many turrets on your ship (about 44 at my resolution), the turrets not only leave the window, but leave the screen entirely and you can no longer see them all.

{7} There's no warning while ship building if the ship exceeds the size allowable through gates. Losing a ship because you clipped the side of a gate as you passed through it for the first time is not a fair game challenge.

{8} The player has no way of knowing the consequences of carrying dangerous cargo until it hits them... which is not a fair game challenge.

{9} If a player is near a station's docking point, another ship running it's usual 'pull up to the station' script might ram them, cause damage and rep loss. This is just silly!

These all anger me more than they should, I've nearly PM'd Koonschi with foul invective a few times over them.

 

Sub-points:

{2} Template Material Type allso re-sets, and has caused me quite a few rage-quits due to forgetting that it does so, and building a massive Iron extension onto an otherwise excellent ship made of Trinium/Xanion/Ogonite. (better to quit the game in a rage, than to hurl my only computer through a wall as I often did to defective console controllers)

 

{4} It used to be much worse, as prior to an update in February, you could find wormholes leading into/out of the core on a fairly regular basis.

Any galaxy generated prior to that update will still generate those wormholes, and they completely defeated the purpose of the Xostan Artifacts, and the Rift-Ring around the core.

 

{6} Much the same problem with Fighters, the "new squadron" button shoves itself beyond my reach after about 8 squads, and so even though I should be able to carry 90+ fighters, I'm actually limited to about 40.

 

{7} Extremely irritating, involving far, far, far too much guesswork on the part of players, and co-incides with a point you made on one of your other threads, about {paraphrasing}"too much math being foisted off onto the player"

 

{8} A direct consequence of Koonschi only coding the Criminality, Detection, and Punishment half of a "smuggler" playstyle, instead of coding the vastly more important half first.

 

There isn't even a way to tell what products a given faction finds "illegal" or "dangerous" in-game.

The usual battlecry of "check the wiki" is being soundly ignored, as

A: the player should-not-be-required to check an out-of-game resource to learn basic facts used within the game.

and B: The wiki is often wrong, as it is entirely player-updated, and most players would rather play the game than tack additional information to a wiki that no-one uses because so much of it is wrong.

 

{9} You mean will ram you if you're in anything larger than a 1x1x1 cube, and will likely do so even then. That's how terrible their "docking" script is.

 

Xsotan aggression resets between game logons.

Do you mean their actual hostility towards you (with them currently in-sector) or the countdown timer to the next wave?

Because both of those re-set, even though they clearly shouldn't, and I've occasionally abused the timer re-set for my own gain.

 

The hyperspace jammer indicator (turning that particular bar red) is useless when you've stacked enough hyperspace upgrades so that you don't have a cooldown anymore.

... Wow, that is broken beyond belief.  I'll need to start doing that, untill it gets patched away.

[Splutty]

I agree with pretty much everything in this thread :)

 

The same problem for transferring crew to a newly-founded station/salvaged shipwreck, but without the work-around of dumping them into space.

 

That's a good thing! Dumping your crew into space would be bad :)

 

There isn't even a way to tell what products a given faction finds "illegal" or "dangerous" in-game.

 

Mouseover the item in your cargo space and it will tell you exactly if it's dangerous or illegal. This however isn't any use when you want to decide whether to buy something or not.

 

{9} You mean will ram you if you're in anything larger than a 1x1x1 cube, and will likely do so even then. That's how terrible their "docking" script is.

 

Their docking is fine, you're just in the way :P But yes, that's the reason I always check if there's a cargo hauler near, or try to dock to the side of a dock instead of at it.

 

As for the Xsotan resets, I'm assuming you play on single player with a non dedicated server?

 

Because that sounds like a server reset issue, not the client. The normal single player will stop and start the 'single player server' every time you quit and start the game, so that'd be the kind of behaviour I expect.

 

Non-static settings (such as Xsotan aggression) don't get saved, it seems. Not sure if that's really needed either.

 

[tangowrangler]

I read the feedbacks you wrote. also skimmed some from your other parts. Very nicely put. I agree with all of your feedbacks from this thread and part 2 of 3. I also agree with most of your shameless suggestions. thankfully, numerous things you have asked for are possible to a certain degree with mods.

 

But I dont know if you know, so I just wanted to tell you that apparently this game does not have a big dev team. My servermates were telling me 2 devs (don't quote me on that). if that is the case, than it makes a great deal of sense to have overlooked many of these little things. it would even be understandable (with my very limited programming knowledge and no knowledge about project management) that some commitments in early phases may make implementing these little things more challenging. Although, on the other hand, there should be some pretty big flexibility advantages of having a really small team.

 

With that aside, great comments and great feedback.