Suggestion - Mass Lock gauge

Bugbear · Post by **Bugbear** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:39 am

A not particularly useful piece of equipment - for when you're aiming for an orbital station, this little gauge monitors the level of ambient gravitational interference, giving you the opportunity to steer away from the planet before you get mass locked...

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:22 am

Isn't the screen-filling planet in front of you a hard-to-overlook gauge in itself?

Commander Smivs · Post by **Smivs** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:48 am

Not if it's off to the side and you can't see it.

Post by **Kaks** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:54 am

Smivs wrote:
Not if it's off to the side and you can't see it.

...and therefore you're moving away from it?

Bugbear · Post by **Bugbear** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:23 pm

Here's a scenario - I've witchspaced into a system and made a line to a rock hermit to pick up some cheap platinum.

So I get there and then start heading to the planet, only thing is, the station is on the other side of the planet.

So yes, the big round thing in front of me is something I need to avoid. The mass lock gauge tells me by how much.

Anyway, an unexpected benefit of such a gauge would be as a long range scanner - the presence of a ship off scanner should presumably tickle the gauge somewhat...

In terms of actual code - the game 'knows' where each ship is otherwise you wouldn't be able to see distant ships off scanner...

So...would such an instrument be possible?

Commander Smivs · Post by **Smivs** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 3:06 pm

Kaks wrote:
Smivs wrote:
Not if it's off to the side and you can't see it.
...and therefore you're moving away from it?

Not at all, you could still be moving towards it, but it is out of the forward viewer's field of vision. As you approach the station, it can be, say, just left of centre in your viewer, with the planet to your right, the planet will leave your field of view as you get closer to the station, but it is still there and you are still getting closer to it. You just can't see it.
The 'altitude' of stations seems to vary (perhaps due to size/mass of the planet) and this means that sometimes you can get mass-locked on final approach if you are just a bit too far from the station, but just too close to the planet.

Post by **Kaks** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 3:44 pm

It's already possible to create such an instrument via oxp: you can tell the radius (& therefore mass) of the planet via js, and you can also tell the distance between player & planet...

Once you're close enough, you can do all sort of things, from a simple on screen message, to changing the hud!

I don't think it'll appear as an HUD dial any time soon. I might be wrong, though!

Bugbear · Post by **Bugbear** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 4:03 pm

Kaks wrote:
It's already possible to create such an instrument via oxp: you can tell the radius (& therefore mass) of the planet via js, and you can also tell the distance between player & planet...

What about distance between player and NPC's and other mass lockable objects in system?

Post by **Kaks** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:09 pm

Kaks wrote:
It's already possible to create such an instrument via oxp: you can tell the ~~radius~~ volume (& therefore mass) of the ~~planet~~ NPCs via js, and you can also tell the distance between player & ~~planet~~ NPCs...

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:22 pm

Bugbear1973 wrote:
Kaks wrote:
It's already possible to create such an instrument via oxp: you can tell the radius (& therefore mass) of the planet via js, and you can also tell the distance between player & planet...
What about distance between player and NPC's and other mass lockable objects in system?

Would you really want to constantly monitor the distances to all NPC's in the system? At times there can be more than 200 of them. I guess a constant JS-monitoring could put quite a strain on your playing speed...

Post by **Eric Walch** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:25 pm

Smivs wrote:
The 'altitude' of stations seems to vary (perhaps due to size/mass of the planet) and this means that sometimes you can get mass-locked on final approach if you are just a bit too far from the station, but just too close to the planet.

It depends on which coordinate system you use. The planet<->station distance is actually equal in each system. As long as you measure in planetary radii. The distance surface to station is equal to the planet's radius.

Mass locking distance is fixed in meters, so this explains your observation in systems with small planets.

Oolite fools the player a bit by putting the witchspace entry point twice as far away when the planet is twice as big. So at the start you get the feeling all planets are equal of size when entering a system. But with big planets it just takes much longer to get there.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:10 am

Commander McLane wrote:
Would you really want to constantly monitor the distances to all NPC's in the system?

Too much data can be worse than not enough. But a readout of the distance to the target selected on the navigational compass could be a nice useful item on a HUD or control panel.

That way the distance to navigation targets as well as range to your currently active target in a fight or a dockable target you have id on could be seen.

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:18 am

Eric Walch wrote:
Oolite fools the player a bit by putting the witchspace entry point twice as far away when the planet is twice as big. So at the start you get the feeling all planets are equal of size when entering a system. But with big planets it just takes much longer to get there.

So the witchpoint-planet distance is a direct equivalent of the planet radius? It's true, we are learning something new every day.

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:24 am

Ganelon wrote:
Commander McLane wrote:
Would you really want to constantly monitor the distances to all NPC's in the system?
Too much data can be worse than not enough. But a readout of the distance to the target selected on the navigational compass could be a nice useful item on a HUD or control panel.

That way the distance to navigation targets as well as range to your currently active target in a fight or a dockable target you have id on could be seen.

With navigational compass you mean the Advanced Space Compass? That doesn't show NPCs, except they are carrying a beacon code, or they are your current target. If it's your current target, that means it's within scanner range, so you can see your distance on the scanner. Oh, and everything on the scanner has already masslocked you anyway, so even knowing the exact distance doesn't help you to avoid getting masslocked at all.

Bugbear · Post by **Bugbear** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:26 am

Commander McLane wrote:
Would you really want to constantly monitor the distances to all NPC's in the system? At times there can be more than 200 of them. I guess a constant JS-monitoring could put quite a strain on your playing speed...

Only one way to find out I guess. The game is already tracking these 200 odd objects anyway. What's an extra 200 times a^2 = ( x^2 + y^2 )^0.5 + z^2 calculations per second (hmmm...maybe the polling interval could be adjustable too. Low res = 1 poll per 10 seconds. High res = 10 polls per second)

I take your concerns regarding JS though. Still, there is only one way to find out.