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[Gothars]

This is a really small thing, but it has been bothering me since the beginning.
You can give the AI control of your ship by pressing "u", and the game will tell you "Autopilot enabled. Any attempt at manual control will disable it". But the game is actually talking to the player here, not to the player character. In the game world, it's obviously not some autopilot that is now leading my giant battleship into combat, but a bridge officer, most likely my second-in-command.

So, yeah, it would be nice if the game would tell me something like "XO has the bridge. Issue any order to retake command." instead of talking about a game mechanic. Just for the immersion.

[Thule]

+1

[Midnight Kitsune]

Agreed although I would say something like "First Officer" or "Second in Command" instead of XO as I would think not too many people outside of military families would know what that means

[BillyRueben]

But the game is actually talking to the player here, not to the player character.

I guess I never really had a problem with the game talking directly to me, the player, rather than me, the character. The term autopilot gives a crystal clear understanding to the player what to expect. It doesn't really bother me either way, but I do feel that this decision should be made carefully.

[Alex]

Hmm. Counterpoint: the same UI element also displays the "game paused" and "game resumed" messages, which are talking to the player too.

With the autopilot, I was indeed going for clarity. It's clearly not an autopilot in in-fiction terms, though it's not a second-in-command either. It's still your character commanding the ship, but without your input.

[Gothars]

It's still your character commanding the ship, but without your input.

Oh, I see.

Then the problem is just that the term is a bit ambivalent. The pause function is something that is clearly and exclusively a game mechanic, while the autopilot can be easily (and apparently has been) misunderstood as something within the gameworld. (Where it then would go on to make no sense.)
Another part of the issue is that other messages in that UI element appear to be in-world, adding to the confusion, for example when a ship "reports" something.


Maybe call it "AI control" or "automatic control" to make it more obvious? Mh.. "hands-free mode"?

[Linnis]

But that still just confusing. When anyone sees "auto pilot" the just breaks the lore and immersion. I know you want clarity.

How about when auto pilot is on, all your ui will turn in to light blue colors with "AUTO" displayed at the bottom.

something like that should not break immersion and still be clear on what it means.

[Aeson]

I have no problem with it being called 'autopilot.' At least in US English, "driving/flying/cruising/working on autopilot" is an acceptable way to indicate that you're just going through the motions rather than putting forth your best efforts or spending any significant effort thinking about what you're doing. This would be an adequate description if the intent of the function is to indicate that the player character is falling back on their instincts and training rather than higher thought (as represented by player input).

Moreover, I don't see why any of the proposed alternatives would be better than autopilot. Automatic control is no better than autopilot as far as what it implies that you're activating, and in my opinion is arguably worse since it's not used colloquially in the manner that autopilot is - no one is cruising on "automatic control," and so activating "automatic control" would indicate to me that you've turned on an actual in-universe autopilot without allowing the alternative interpretation of having your character just reacting as things happen. "Hands-free mode" would indicate to me that there would be some way in which I can play the game without using mouse-and-keyboard or a hand-held controller (e.g. voice commands), and that this button would activate that mode.

[Megas]

I have no problem with "autopilot".  If that is not good enough, call it "cruise control" (like driving a car).

[Alex]

It's still your character commanding the ship, but without your input.

Oh, I see.

Then the problem is just that the term is a bit ambivalent. The pause function is something that is clearly and exclusively a game mechanic, while the autopilot can be easily (and apparently has been) misunderstood as something within the gameworld. (Where it then would go on to make no sense.)
Another part of the issue is that other messages in that UI element appear to be in-world, adding to the confusion, for example when a ship "reports" something.


Maybe call it "AI control" or "automatic control" to make it more obvious? Mh.. "hands-free mode"?

Hmm. To me, the part that says "any attempt at manual ship control will disable it" etc makes it clear that it's a game mechanic. Looking at it again, I can see how it might not be super clear, though. But, like you said, a minor issue in the grand scheme of things

How about when auto pilot is on, all your ui will turn in to light blue colors with "AUTO" displayed at the bottom.

Neat idea. Can't quite see devoting the time to it at the moment, but neat nonetheless!

[Gothars]

Ay, once you understand how it is meant it becomes a non-issue anyway


And the UI color change would indeed be fancy.

[Okim]

I like the GUI change idea. Though I do rarely use autopilot