Jump to content

Navigation: Plot A Course


Recommended Posts

Below is an image from an app for NMS to help us navigate to distant destinations.
Has me thinking about navigation skills for Dual Universe:

1: Will we be able to plot a course for a destination within a solar system or galaxy and have our skill point allocation augment our chances of success?
2: Will it ever be possible to use master class skills to find wormholes (stable & unstable)??
 

 

17504537_1956417497919680_40297231689537

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bit ago a thread was opened up where us forum goers were encouraged to ask questions which JC might answer at the GDC Q&A. I and I'm pretty sure some others posted questions relating to this topic you've posted, but none of the questions were asked at the conference. I can only imagine that NQ has not focused much on these mechanics yet; after all, you really don't even need a 3D map to navigate a galaxy... It just really helps. I mean, nearby stars and all of their information can be constrained simply to a dropdown menu. So I personally think they really haven't sorted stuff like this out yet.

 

In any case, as has already been said, we just don't know yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The navigation map is also a pretty interesting subject. It cant be a static map since the occupied space will be dynamic.

 

Its one of those things EVE never got right in my opinion. The new map is better than the old one and its still a mess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't know anything yet but I hope they will implement some very cool and sophisticated mechanics like scanning for nearby pulsars (each with a different rotation) to extract your current position in space. Then scanning for stars (you shouldn't know wheather there are planets in that system with the most basic scanner) and mark that position in your HUD. They could even add uncertainity to it so that you have to scan multiple times to pin down the exact location of that star while you travel there via FTL drive. Bring skills into play there too (faster scan, more reach, better accuracy, detect planets not stars,...)

Once that planet/star is found YOU know where it is, but no one else so they even can make cartographers a thing to sell directions to players.

All of this is my imagination ofc, nothing official.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As we don't know too much about how scanners and scanning planets will work as well as navigating, I am just going to throw out what I think could be useful in the discussion. :)

 

So I studied a bit of physics at school (as I'm sure many people have) but what I learnt from stars is that by using a spectrometer, you can quite simply tell how big a star is, what type it is, and what elements it is made up of (Hydrogen, Helium, Iron etc.) and judging by what it is made up of, can actually give a very good idea of the materials planets will be made up of.
So I am not too sure what level of realism NQ is going for, but as an early game (whatever early means in DU) system, you could simply build a telescope, and spectrometer, and point it at a star you like, find out its spectral reading and learn basically if it will be worth while going to (to reap the benefits of possible planets that might have formed).

 

If NQ did go for real life ways of mapping stars out, that could be beneficial for people who already know the basics, as well as teaching others some nifty skills.

As far as navigation goes, in my opinion, players should have to build pulse beacons and send them out in various directions to map out surrounding stars. This would of course be a damn slow way of getting information, but it adds to immersion.
But if it were me making the way the game worked, I would make it so that either a player manned ship, or a drone of some kind could be sent off to map an area of the night sky. Upon gathering data of star systems, the information would be stored in the ship into a sort of 'map'. This map could be sold to specific organizations for profit (giving an explorer a job) or they could keep it for themselves and no one else would know if what they were discovering had been discovered yet (making it impossible to track a certain player or crew). If the map data is taken, then whomever takes it can see exactly where the other person has explored.
Maps would be able to be combined with other maps as a means to update a map database. Or could be left separate so that you cant buy it all in one go, buying it in chunks would be possible.
A map would be similar to a blueprint. It can be copied, and sold, and would contain the information for a certain area of space. The master copy of the map would similarly be the only version that can be used to make copies and the copies to be sold. (however i am not sure how to prevent someone from adding the copy of a map to a larger map and then making a copy of the larger map?)

As for plotting a course... well in the map, I would have it set as a grid of dots, with an option to zoom in and out making the dots more refined or further apart. You can then possibly Ctrl + Left Click as many dots as you want together as to plot a course. It would appear as a top down map of everything in a grid, which can be split into layers. If you want to go up a layer, click an up button and you can continue plotting your course one layer further up.
Of course a 3D map would be cool and possibly make it much easier to see where you want to go. Setting Point A at one spot and Point B at another, it would make a large connected line. This line would be made of dots though, so you could click and drag any point of the line off to the side, so that you can bypass Point AB and instead go over to Point C, then over to Point B. Hopefully that makes sense and can be visualized?

Anyway, just my idea for how it could all work. ^_^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't know anything yet but I hope they will implement some very cool and sophisticated mechanics like scanning for nearby pulsars (each with a different rotation) to extract your current position in space. Then scanning for stars (you shouldn't know wheather there are planets in that system with the most basic scanner) and mark that position in your HUD. They could even add uncertainity to it so that you have to scan multiple times to pin down the exact location of that star while you travel there via FTL drive. Bring skills into play there too (faster scan, more reach, better accuracy, detect planets not stars,...)

Once that planet/star is found YOU know where it is, but no one else so they even can make cartographers a thing to sell directions to players.

All of this is my imagination ofc, nothing official.

Most stars have planets. Until fairly recently, it's been difficult for us to corroborate that with available tech.

So, it's not so much to ascertain which stars have planets... rather it's about being able to navigate successfully to the desired destinations.

 

Currently, in No Man's Sky...I'm trying to navigate to the Galactic Hub... and area of space where many streamers have congregated (even though we can't actually see each other in the game, yet).

The app in the image I shared let's me see my current location relative to the center of the galaxy and my desired destination.

When this pic was taken, I was using a Sigma warp drive, but the estimated number of jumps is based on a Theta warp drive.

Right now, it's taking me six jumps with a Tau warp drive to equal an estimated one jump with a Theta drive.

 

841 x 6 jumps is pretty daunting... especially since I have to mine resources for fuel every six jumps or so.

After about 10 jumps through a black hole/wormhole, I'm now 140 jumps (Theta) away from the Galactic Hub.

The compass in the bottom right corner of the app helps me steer in the desired direction.

With the latest update (Pathfinder), I'm able to set a waypoints back to any star or world I've previously visited.

I'm expecting that it will take a week or two for me to reach the Galactic Hub.

I could reach the center of the galaxy in a couple of days.

 

Hopefully, Dual Universe will have similar challenges for Navigators.

And I hope that Navigators have dedicated skills/implants that make them valuable assets for multi-crew ships.

So, that successful navigation through space is a combo of implants/skills, ship tech (scanners and engines) and fuel.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...