Oolite Bulletins

Some of these have been brewing in my head since the BBC Micro version of Elite. Some are new. I hope you like them.

1) Scanner zoom reset. With the ability to zoom the scanner in, comes the inconvenience of haveing to zoom it back out. I wonder if a key could be mapped to reset the scanner back to 1:1. It would be useful to do this when under attack having been collecting cargo.

2) Second scanner at the top of the screen (maybe somethig you could buy). The bottom canner stays zoomed at 1:1, the top one zooms in. That way you can leave one scanner zoomed at 4:1 and still see possible threats around you.

3) Hires scanner. Even though most of the screen is in beautiful hi resolution, I'd love my scanner to follow suit (even if I have to buy a new one). Apologies if this already exists or as an upgrade or in a ship other than the Cobra MkIII.

4) Transparent Dashboard. Scanner and instrument panels become slightly transparent. (Just because it would look cool). Overlay screens such as the galactic map and prices could also be transparent allowing you to see where you're flyig while you're browsing the stock exchange or looking for your next holiday destination.

5) (not really related to scanners), Add the 'i' key shortcut while browsing the short range chart to the keyboard help. I found it by accident and think it's really cool.

-A display of the ship you are targetting.
Maybe just the 'demo' tumble vision or even a green polygon display or a topview crossection.

combined with a strategic scanner:
A scanner that tells how much shields/energy a target has.

Super duper strategic scanner:
and weapons and missiles onboard target.

Illegal policescanner:
scans cargo caried tonnage/type

I like the way you think.

st3f wrote:

2) Second scanner at the top of the screen (maybe somethig you could buy). The bottom canner stays zoomed at 1:1, the top one zooms in. That way you can leave one scanner zoomed at 4:1 and still see possible threats around you.

But the fuzzy dice would get in the way!

st3f wrote:

the inconvenience of haveing to zoom it back out. I wonder if a key could be mapped to reset the scanner back to 1:1. It would be useful to do this when under attack having been collecting cargo.

How about shift-Z for zoom out? I find myself unconciously trying to do that; it’s a conditioned Mac UI expectation.

ctrl-Z (i.e. undo) for frequent wings3d and photoshop users.

I was thinking shift-tab as in stepping through controls backwards. I think this works the same in Windows. In OS X you can also use command-shift-tab to walk through applications backwards; I don’t remember whether alt-shift-tab does the same. Using the standard Undo combo to reverse a specific game command regardless of what you’ve done between strikes me as pretty bad UI.

i like the zooming effect in the latest build but now it doesnt
process any 'z' key presses while still zooming. hitting z a couple
of times quickly therefore doesnt work anymore.

Ahruman wrote:

I was thinking shift-tab as in stepping through controls backwards. I think this works the same in Windows. In OS X you can also use command-shift-tab to walk through applications backwards; I don’t remember whether alt-shift-tab does the same. Using the standard Undo combo to reverse a specific game command regardless of what you’ve done between strikes me as pretty bad UI.

Hypothetical situation for you. What happens if you get jumped while scooping cargo as mentioned above, you lunge for the shift-tab combo to reset your zoom BUT due to your panic you reach the tab key a split second before the shift... and happen to be carrying an e-bomb. Now imagine an unseen police vessel in the vicinity and things start getting really ugly.

Under the default keymap there are already a lot off keys clustered along the far left of the keyboard (I can't be the only person who accidently dumps cargo while decelerating, can I?)... At least with shift-z a missed key doesn't potentially wipe out every ship in the area and screw your legal rating.

Just my $0.02 on the matter.

TedJ wrote:

Ahruman wrote:

I was thinking shift-tab as in stepping through controls backwards. I think this works the same in Windows. In OS X you can also use command-shift-tab to walk through applications backwards; I don’t remember whether alt-shift-tab does the same. Using the standard Undo combo to reverse a specific game command regardless of what you’ve done between strikes me as pretty bad UI.

Hypothetical situation for you. What happens if you get jumped while scooping cargo as mentioned above, you lunge for the shift-tab combo to reset your zoom BUT due to your panic you reach the tab key a split second before the shift... and happen to be carrying an e-bomb. Now imagine an unseen police vessel in the vicinity and things start getting really ugly. :(

Under the default keymap there are already a lot off keys clustered along the far left of the keyboard (I can't be the only person who accidently dumps cargo while decelerating, can I?)... At least with shift-z a missed key doesn't potentially wipe out every ship in the area and screw your legal rating.

Just my $0.02 on the matter.

Yes, I meant to use shift-z as analogy to shift-tab. Bad writing on my part.