Tactical http://i.imgur.com/CfFiMa4.png
Each ship has a set number of target slots, in this case it is three. Each has to button on the bottom right of the screen. Target slots are lettered alphabetically.
When a slot is empty (a filled slot can be cleared by clicking on the “X” to the left of the button) clicking on it will ask you to select a contact, from the radar or list, to target.
I recommend switching the position of the slot letters (“A”, “B” ,”C” in example) and the “X” on the right, so the targets can be easily switched by clearing them with multiple X presses. I don’t suppose the slot letters will have a function on their own.
Also, you might think about switching from slot letters to slot numbers, so that you can click on a target, and hit a number, selecting that target on that slot. Then you could easily change targets by hitting a function key designated for a fire group, followed by a number key designated for a target.
Once a slot has been filled, clicking on it’s button opens a popup showing whatever information is available on that target.
I do hope that we can click on the big button with name, not just their slot letter.
Clicking on a firing group will allow you to set it’s target (A, B, C etc.) and whether it is in Auto or Manual mode.
Again, I recommend switching the position of the function key position with the fire option. That is, I think it would be better to have the function key Firing Group designation on the right, curved with the radar, and have the commands (“Manual”, “Auto” ,”Fire”) on the right, so that they can be pressed in order, without moving the mouse in an arc.
Turrets connected to a power node (like “Forward Left Thrusters”) share the power going to that node (in this case “Forward Left Thrusters” has two turrets, so each is getting 50% of the power for charging).
I suppose you mean “Forward Left Turrets”, not “Thrusters””. I think that’s what caused Solari’s confusion.
If you disable a turret, does it need to recharge in order to be able to fire?
Engineering
Love the look of The Power Wheel! And even though it’s still a work in progress, I’d like to give some feedback, since I do not know what you’re thinking about doing.
Power connections can only be created between reactor and equipment nodes which have line-of-sight. If a line between them intersects another node or the central circle, it is an invalid connection.
It might be beneficial to somehow show a player what equipment nodes can be reached by a certain reactor node. For example, when a player clicks and drags the line from the reactor node, have the equipment nodes it can reach have a pulsing border or simply change color to green-ish.
Also, it could be beneficial to have a number pop out in order to specify how much power to take from the reactor node. The number should respond to the number key or to scrolling up or down and should become valid on the Enter key or on clicking outside of the number or line.
Will we be able to change where what is on The Power Wheel? It would be great if that would also change the layout of the ship, and that you simply cannot change it too much, since that would require complete rework of the ship.
Increasing the operating power level increases the performance each piece of equipment based on it’s “performance graph”. This allows us to create equipment with it’s own character.
Will we be able to see all of the graphs ingame? Will it be possible to affect them with upgrades? This would be great for advanced play. You could make it so that the graph pops out when you click on the equipment node or the image of the equipment behind it, and that you can only see one graph at a time.
Increasing the operating power level increases the amount of heat generated when the equipment is in-use/used. This heat goes into the equipment’s heatsink. If the heat goes over the heatsink’s capacity, the integrity (health) of the equipment is damaged.
This is great! The dark red is quite hard to see, though. Perhaps go for orange or yellow for current heat and red for new?
When equipment is hit with enemy fire there is a chance that it will be a “critical hit”, causing an explosion in the equipment. This explosion has a chance of creating an “overload” which travels along power connections to the reactor and potentially out to other equipment, causing temporary loss of function and/or damage
Awesome! But be mindful that this needs to be made very clear to new players.
Love what you wrote about the sensors.
General
Will we be able to upgrade a ship? Add new turrets, better thrusters and what-not? What is the general layout of the game? Is it like Artemis where you have a map and predefined ships or like Elite where you buy a ship, upgrade it, buy another ship, upgrade that one, etc. This is connected to my 3rd paragraph in the Engineering part.