[Suggestion] Help players understand what isn't reachable

[NomadWanderer]

New players aren't going to recognize easily what is reachable and isn't on the starmap.. it would be cool somehow to help them understand so they don't get down one path with a plan on crossing over somehow, and then at then end discover it's a dead end, with little hope of back tracking the 3-4 jumps to go down the other path.

I had this happen to me a few times, and now I'm better at recognizing the limits of my jump drive, but I only got that by losing what could have been some good games due to being initially bad at estimating it's capabilities.

Perhaps some sort of if you mouse over a star the star gets a circle around it highlighted that show the jump drive limits?

[TwoEdge]

Maybe a circle centering on your ship showing the limit of jump capacity? There could be even different warp engines with different ranges, perhaps.

[NomadWanderer]

No.. the circle needs to be on the star, when you hover over the star for long periods of time.

What happens is that you plan a route (say to the top right corner, with a plan to move down to the exit in the bottom right corner) only to find that one of the stars on your planned route is just out of reach....

Of course, you don't find that out, until you get there.. If the circle was on the ship.. you still wouldn't find out until you get there...if the circle was a mouseover on the star, you could plan ahead.

[Justin]

Keep in mind that we actually do want to obfuscate the routes on the map. I understand it's not ideal right now, but I want the player to have to plan their routes based on incomplete information in some situations.

I mentioned it elsewhere, but we will try and revisit this issue before the release. Perhaps we can find a better solution.

[NomadWanderer]

okay.. but we need to definitely find a way so that a person doesn't find out the limit of the jumpdrive's range, by bleed ing through multiple game overs...

[Postal]

okay.. but we need to definitely find a way so that a person doesn't find out the limit of the jumpdrive's range, by bleed ing through multiple game overs...

I think that's exactly how a player should find the limits of their range, considering this is supposed to be a (semi)roguelike. It would only take a few mistakes until players start giving more serious thought to how much risk they want to take in the game. Personally, I don't want to know for certain that the next thing I'm going to do is entirely safe; it's the element of risk and perma-death that makes this game so much fun for me.

What we need is perhaps a balance between the two. I don't want a guarantee that I'll be safe, but we can maybe make things a little more consistent.

[Strech]

okay.. but we need to definitely find a way so that a person doesn't find out the limit of the jumpdrive's range, by bleed ing through multiple game overs...

Why not??? Losing is fun!

[NomadWanderer]

okay.. but we need to definitely find a way so that a person doesn't find out the limit of the jumpdrive's range, by bleed ing through multiple game overs...

Why not??? Losing is fun!

I see both of your points, but it can be frustrating too...

I understand the need from some mystery..

Perhaps... we do put a circle around the ship, showing it's jump range. that trains people to see jump range to be about that much, and then they start 'seeing' the distance, and can guesstimate faster/earlier/with less blood.

[TwoEdge]

That's why I suggested a simple circumference 'round the ship. The rest would be guesstimation.

I think a grid overlay could also do the job nicely.

[NomadWanderer]

That's why I suggested a simple circumference 'round the ship. The rest would be guesstimation.

I think a grid overlay could also do the job nicely.

A grid is also an excellent suggestion.