F4 key for fleet & escorts

Dr. Nil · Post by **Dr. Nil** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:21 pm

I'd like it to take me to the screen for handling my fleet, when owning multiple ships is implemented.

It would be the the place to switch which ship you're piloting (only available at stations - it's used for a view when flying). The place to hire pilots for other ships or deciding to leave them behind at a station - fee payed in advance and not showing up to extend such a contract will have that ship impounded. You can switch to your Boa (I don't believe in the existence of Anacondas until the size/cargo issue is resolved) and fill it up with cargo and then hire a pilot (hired pilots follow you when jumping and doing in-system flights). Failing to pay them will have them run away with the ship they're flying (or something).

Perhaps it could also be used for hiring escorts for your ship/fleet - hired escorts bring their own ship to the party.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:13 pm

There have been a lot of claims/requests for the F4 key whilst docked. I personally would like to see it used for connectivity navigation maps.

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:35 pm

@TGHC - I like the idea of connectivity chart but couldn't it just be another keypress of the Local chart? i.e Local-> Galactic -> Connectivity Route -> Local

Everybody wants a piece of F4...

@Doc - as usual some nice ideas going. I'm guessing the Anaconda issue is that it should have been 250tons and not 750tons but I guess on B&B's post it one misread the others handwriting and a '2' became a '7' - I remember when I was a kid (C64 Elite) working out the volumes of the ships if they occupied a cube from their LxWxH - the Anaconda didn't/couldn't work unless the cargo hold was actually a stolen TARDIS...

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:38 pm

DaddyHoggy wrote:
@TGHC - I like the idea of connectivity chart but couldn't it just be another keypress of the Local chart? i.e Local-> Galactic -> Connectivity Route -> Local

Dunno matey, the coding wizards would know though.

Kriken Overlord · Post by **Kriken Overlord** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:41 pm

As I said in the "Suggestions=>I know it's already said, but..." thread, I want to have LAN use. F4 could be used for dropin/dropout functionality.

Dr. Nil · Post by **Dr. Nil** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:26 am

Well escorts were just one suggestion.

I don't think that it should be used for those two other functions mentioned. I thought connectivity was to be superimposed on the galactic charts when a certain piece of equipment has been purchased and installed. As I understand the writings of cmdr drayton here https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t= ... onal+array the connectivity map is already on the galactic chart, it's just displayed in a color close to the background. And I would imagine that LAN could be accessed from the F2 menu.

Website · Post by **DaddyHoggy** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:56 am

I'm with you on this one Doc - let's keep similar functionality grouped together - new functionality should get a new key...

Post by **dajt** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:43 am

TGHC wrote:
DaddyHoggy wrote:
@TGHC - I like the idea of connectivity chart but couldn't it just be another keypress of the Local chart? i.e Local-> Galactic -> Connectivity Route -> Local
Dunno matey, the coding wizards would know though.

I have vague plans for this, and it will be on the long range chart. What I'd like to implement is a new piece of equipment that does something like let you click on stars to set a route, not allowing you to select illegal jumps, and tells you how long the route will take, then leave it marked as you go.

It should also show which jumps are possible from the selected star. Maybe even take a start and end point (start assumed to be "here" if not given) destination and plot the route for you.

I've hit an initial stumbling block on trying to figure out the code that takes a mouse click on the long range chart and decides what star was clicked. I find the code in the Oolite GUI screens hard to work with because the game engine keeps going while you're in there so the code flow goes through a lot of source files and is hard to follow. And you don't get a good debugger for Obj-C on Windows to help out so my enthusiasm vs effort required is pretty low.

Its sort of weird that the Elite universe is so low tech that none of this stuff is available (if you don't know it was created on 8-bit computers).