Exploring things around you without pointing your ship at it

jblpz · Post by **jblpz** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:12 am

Hello All,

I"m new to Oolite, but I went through the tutorial and am now slowing making some profit between Zaonce and Isinor.

While traveling, I was curious if there was a way to target/inspect objects and ships that past by without pointing my ship at them and pressing 'r'. Any way to scan/analyze/inspect objects within range, or do I have to wait to purchase some upgrades etc?

Thanks,

jblpz

Diziet Sma · Post by **Diziet Sma** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:35 am

Hi jblpz, and welcome to "the friendliest board this side of Riedquat"™

Sorry, but the only way to identify ships and objects is by targeting and pointing at them. There is no upgrade or OXP that can do what you are asking for either. There are upgrades and OXPs that can give you additional info such as legal status/bounty price, but that's all.

I, too, have wished there was equipment available that could auto-scan all objects in scanner range, but I suspect it's not likely to happen.

Chrisfs · Post by **Chrisfs** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:34 am

Not in the exact way you are thinking, but the Advanced Space Compass will allow you to get a quick survey of what's in a system. You can see if there are fuel stations, convenience stores, factories and prisons to trade with as well as the main station.

Post by **Cmdr James** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:42 am

I think the bounty scanner code could be extended to do most of the things you might want. I dont know for sure, and I dont know how easy it would be, but I think it shouldnt be too bad.

Diziet Sma · Post by **Diziet Sma** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:38 pm

I seem to recall in Mutabilis, before Rebecca's family is killed, they get ID readouts on all the ships in range without having to go through the point'n'targeting rigmarole... It really would be cool to have that kind of equipment.

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:21 pm

Although you still have to orient the ship to put targets through the cross hairs, don't forget you can use the side and rear views to lock onto targets.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:42 pm

Getting such ID read-outs via a JS (ship type IDs at least) is trivial. The two problems gameplay-wise is how to trigger doing so (can be done as a pylon-mounted bit of kit), and what to do with the information (how to display it).

The latter is really the issue, as if you just display it as text then after 8 lines it scrolls off and can't be seen again (at least without using the comms log if it's displayed as a comms message) and will tend to spam the screen anyway making piloting difficult.

And to my knowledge you can't add such info to "ships in flight" without targetting it, which is what the already existing enhancements do.

Cmdr Wyvern · Post by **Cmdr Wyvern** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:59 pm

Thargy made a couple of gadgets that can help the OP out.

Target Autolock, which locks your targeting system on a ship shooting at you (a very useful device if you're flying a ship with flak turrets), and...

...The Probe Missile, which is a rocket that flies inbound, and reports what it sees back to you.

While not quite what the OP asks for, they're a small step in that direction.

Diziet Sma · Post by **Diziet Sma** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:04 pm

Thargoid wrote:
Getting such ID read-outs via a JS (ship type IDs at least) is trivial. The two problems gameplay-wise is how to trigger doing so (can be done as a pylon-mounted bit of kit), and what to do with the information (how to display it).

The latter is really the issue, as if you just display it as text then after 8 lines it scrolls off and can't be seen again (at least without using the comms log if it's displayed as a comms message) and will tend to spam the screen anyway making piloting difficult.

And to my knowledge you can't add such info to "ships in flight" without targetting it, which is what the already existing enhancements do.

What I'd like to see, is for all the ships thus ID'd to be directly entered into the targeting system memory expansion (make it required kit) so that once scanned, you could toggle through them. Combined with a method of highlighting the currently selected ship's "golfclub" on the scanner and displaying only full info on the current target on-screen (to avoid spamming) it would be exceptionally useful.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:29 pm

The target memory isn't (currently) visible to scripting iirc - rather a show-stopper.

Diziet Sma · Post by **Diziet Sma** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:40 pm

Bummer.. maybe we should ask the devs nicely to make it possible..

JazHaz · Post by **JazHaz** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:34 am

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:
Target Autolock, which locks your targeting system on a ship shooting at you (a very useful device if you're flying a ship with flak turrets)

See more information on this device on the Wiki here.

Wiki pages · Post by **Thargoid** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:15 am

Or via the links in my sig below (as I wrote the thing).