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[Klokinator]

I've put hundreds of hours into Starsector but there are a few things about it that really bug me. I've posted about the disconnect between the intel and map screens and how annoying it is, tabbing between them to look up info.



Today I want to talk about... missions.

Missions you accept from bars, specifically.

There is often a complete dearth of really important information in many missions, but bounties and deliveries are awful. Anything that involves "hey you, go to X place and do Y thing" is the worst. Just look at that image.

My target is 15 light years away, in a star system with a randomly generated name. Which one? What direction? All I have is distance and a name.

This issue could be solved by taking the entire mass of empty screen space to the right and left and showing a small window to the left or right indicating where you need to go.

This is what it should show for maximum info:


(Pretend it's showing the correct system because I spent 5 minutes hunting for pixels on the map and couldn't find it, which is why I'm making this post)

Of course, my monitor is 1440p, so you'd have to deal with some size restrictions. What I've shown above is my 'ideal scenario.' You show me a map with a directional indicator leading to the objective.

However, if this is not possible, there is another thing you could do, which is much less user-friendly but still better than what we have now.



Just... put a little arrow pointing in the general direction right next to the lightyear distance.

"It's 32 lightyears northwest of here."

It's still not awesome because to look for the exact system, I have to exit out of all the menus and open up my map/intel to find the system and ensure I can reach it... but it's a decent compromise.

Please, I want to enjoy bounties, trade deliveries, and other such things, but the current implementation makes many of those unpleasant to deal with on a per-case basis. This can definitely be improved.

[2_Wycked]

Fellow "silent majority" person checking in, 100's of hours logged in this awesome game and this annoying menu-fiddling has been bugging me for a while! Thanks for mentioning it!

[SafariJohn]

Yeah, that info should be right there where you can see it.

A better place for a map widget would be under the NPC's info because all of the game's GUIs must fit into the minimum supported resolution, which is 1280×768.

[Klokinator]

As long as the spirit is followed, I'm good with whatever implementation. Let's make missions actually fun for once!

[intrinsic_parity]

An alternative idea that works more within the existing UI is to have the mission be actually accepted in the intel screen and have the bar dialogue be more like an "I'll keep that in mind" thing that creates the mission options on intel without accepting them. That way you can access all the intel screen info when making the final decision. It's kind of already how it works (you can actually cancel missions without penalty right after you accept them), but it's sort of hidden and unintuitive.

[SCC]

You know what would be a good interface for dialogues? Intel screen.

[Sutopia]

Or just accept it and discard it in 1 day if you don’t like it.

[Timid]

because all of the game's GUIs must fit into the minimum supported resolution, which is 1280×768.

[Vanshilar]

This should actually be in the suggestions forum.

It's been mentioned before, all this really needs is under the person's info on the right, Alex can just put in the same "location" box that's on the planets tab, along with a number of light years blurb. So the same code can be reused. (A difference may be that you can click on the planet tab location box for more information, whereas here maybe you shouldn't because it goes to the planets menu, and the player needs to stay within the text choices -- so it can simply be an unclickable image instead.)

[Locklave]

I believe QoL improvements is something that would be well received by all. I think people would have some great ideas for it if Alex opened that floor to it.

I completely agree with the suggested changes in the OP.

[Nick XR]

Couldn't agree more.  Please give me all the information I need in one place to make a decision. 

[SafariJohn]

because all of the game's GUIs must fit into the minimum supported resolution, which is 1280×768.

-image snip-

From the preorder webpage:

[Klokinator]

Did you guys skip over what I said in the first post?

Of course, my monitor is 1440p, so you'd have to deal with some size restrictions. What I've shown above is my 'ideal scenario.' You show me a map with a directional indicator leading to the objective.

[Testament]

Playing since 2013.

Yes please.

[joyjumper]

Fourthed