New Player, First Impressions of a few things needing fixed up

[AlanEsh]

• GREAT GAME, loving it so far! But there are some issues that I think need attention, here goes!
   
  
  • I can't find a way to unbind a keyboard command in options.
    
  • Assigning the same key already bound to an action results in that key being assigned to multiple actions.
    
  • PLEASE, in Build Mode, give us a hotkey for "Match Block". The vast majority of times that I try to use Match Block, I want to modify one of the dimensions, but I have to move my mouse to uncheck "Match Block" which screws up matching the block...Ooops! My nooblet ways are apparent! I see that you -can- resize blocks with Match Block turned on. Still, having hotkeys for more of the build options would be super.
    
  • Alternately, Match Block should not restrict the use of the A, S, D keys; let us stretch the block after it has "matched".Again, OOPS, my bad, derp.
    
  • Once I've entered a station or ship menu (docked/Interacting), the interface should not dump me completely out of that menu when I'm done with one action. i.e. when I dock and want to do multiple actions I can only do one action at a time then I have to redock to do another. (actions being Hire Crew, Buy/Sell, etc.)
    
  • When I talk to an npc ship and ask for his home system, the game should put a dot on the map that shows where it is.
    

[AlanEsh]

 

Building Ships:

• We have a "dimensions" UI element for a selected/completed block; please give us the same UI element when we're drawing a block. Having to guess or count "steps" as we stretch the box isn't optimal.
  
• The hyperdrive block needs to take into consideration the mass or volume of your ship. As it stands, to build a ship for long distance jumps you end up with a huge hyperdrive and thus a huge ship. We should be able to build smallish scout/recon ships, but we can't because achieving a good increase in jump range means your ship grows very quickly. It's a bit of a vicious circle because the massive hyperdrive requires a massive generator, and then your ship mass requires more engines and thrusters. This is all FINE most of the time, but with the hyperdrive block it gets out of control very quickly.

 

[AlanEsh]

• Need a hotkey for "select MY next ship" because "select next friendly" doesn't help much as it cycles through all non-enemy ships and structures in the sector. If you're in a hurry, this isn't useful

[Shrooblord]

Hi Alan, I'm also a new player and I've got to say, I agree with all of these suggestions.

 

Some of my own:

• In the Build Mode menu, the Required Crew section doesn't take into consideration the experience level of the current crew. In other words, if you need 6 crew to mount your 3 turrets, and you have 4 level 1 professional Gunners, this means you have "manpower" enough for 6 crew, even with only 4 crew. That is to say, the guns are manned and operational, because of the skill level of the professionals.
  However, this is not taken into consideration inside the Build Menu: it will show 4/6 crew for guns, and make the text red as a warning that you have insufficient crew.
   
  
• Very similar to my first suggestion, the Crew Quarters section only takes into consideration the crew that's listed under the Required Crew section, and doesn't take into account that for every 10 crew you need 1 Sergeant, every 4 Sergeants need 1 Lieutenant, etc.. These crew, and a potential Captain, should be considered when advising the player how much space they'll need to account for in Crew Quarters.
   
  
• Have a "View/Follow Ship" option in friendly ship interactions. Right now, you can "hack" your way to following a friendly around by selecting it and entering Build mode, which lets you see it fly around and do stuff (very cool!) - but it would be nice if this was an option without being in Build mode.
   
  
• Enable Ship AI to self-repair i.e. find a Repair Dock and go repair if you're damaged.
   
  
• Add indicators of sorts in the Build Menu that show where recently lost items used to be, i.e. turrets,
  and when you hover over them, they show a ghost of which item in your inventory that was, if you still have it. Then add a quick-replace button to instantly restore these items to their rightful place and/or do this automatically when in the Repair screen.
   
  
• Maybe add some fight/flight behaviour to ships set to Patrol the Sector. When their health is low from fighting, they make a 180 spin and flee the scene to repair / let you repair them. Kind of like what I imagine most players play like when fighting ships (because we all know it's heartbreaking to lose a ship and have to re-create it).