Convenience Functions

[Schnobs]

A larger tank would be nice.
A reactor running at full power goes through its fuel in what? Five Minutes? I'm constantly upgrading my reactor, not because I need the power, but just so that I can go a little longer between pitstops.

Note-Keeping.
I've seen some nice bits of rare-and-cool-armor, one here, one there... I think. I'm not quite sure, but I know I've just seen it again. Have I seen enough for a matching set? Trying to keep track of these things requires me to alt-tab to an editor or jot down actual notes. Having some in-game way would be very nice. Every player might have his own needs, my own are: take note of interesting offers (that Omni Thermo Cannon I found just past StKats might be unaffordable just now, but it also might be something I'd come back for later), and keep track of prices (I've sold diverse luxuries at Corporate Enclaves, Hotels, Ice Farms... now which one was the highest bidder?).

Power-Saving device/ROM/whatever.
Automatically enables / disables devices when (not) needed. Like, automatically bringing shields & weapons on-line as soon as you get "enemy ships detected".

Macros.
For powering up/down combos of equipment. Or ordering "all autons attack my target". Or as a shortcut to prayers. I don't think I'd have /many/ uses for this, but there's a few combos that come up often enough. F1-F12 would go a long way, methinks.

[PM]

A reactor running a full power goes through its fuel in what?

About two minutes and five seconds (125 seconds). This is one big gripe I have about this game -- fuel burns too fast unless reactor is overleveled. Sometimes, I wish the playership had the one perk all NPC ships enjoy: unlimited fuel.

[PM]

Power-Saving device/ROM/whatever.
Automatically enables / disables devices when (not) needed. Like, automatically bringing shields & weapons on-line as soon as you get "enemy ships detected".

I have a question to George or anyone else who may know:
Are there functions that can force enable or disable a device? I know there are functions that check on or off status, but I did not find any functions that can toggle on or off status. With device toggle functions, I can easily make a power saver mod.

[alterecco]

No, there is no way to do that from in code atm. I thought we had that actually. Should definitely be a ticket. The only thing i can see you can disable is the shields, with objLowerShields.

[Schnobs]

Never mind the powersaver -- it would make things too easy, perhaps.

But macros... Hooking weapons & shields to a single switch? Or, linking them to specific ses?
Why does the only way to engage a certain program require me to scroll past autons and armor paste?

[alterecco]

Note keeping can be done by the captains log mod

[Schnobs]

Note keeping can be done by the captains log mod

Would I need to start over or can I get this in my current game?
And, would I still need to type everything myself or can I yank in-game text?

[alterecco]

I am not certain if you can use it in your current game. Make a backup and try? And yes, you will have to write everything by hand (but it does keep track of systems and stations). I used to have a station inventory log mod, but i can't remember if that part was integrated into captains log.

[ShadowLop]

Never mind the powersaver -- it would make things too easy, perhaps.

But macros... Hooking weapons & shields to a single switch? Or, linking them to specific ses?
Why does the only way to engage a certain program require me to scroll past autons and armor paste?

Turning on shields just as the enemy comes into range? Say goodbye to mammoth shields being useful...along with a good portion of the others, since they would take way longer than the 5-10 seconds it would take for enemies to reach you to charge to full power. Every battle would start with you running away until your shields recahrge, and if you run away too well, they turn off again and you're back where you started, only with wasted fuel. Also, keeping shields up while traveling between enemy outposts would (probably) take less fuel than recharging them them when you get there, since they drain extra fuel when recharging.

Switching weapons and their corresponding enhancers off when not in battle I can see as being useful, along with maybe a few other minor peices of equipment, but definitely not shields. Also, engines are a resource hog and you kinda want those even when out of combat.

B plus corresponding number does a fine job with listing only equipped equipment, avoiding all the paste, autons, ROMs and whatnot. Unless you have a ship that has heaps of slots, an automatic powersaver is pretty useless.

Also, I don't trust anyone to code a system in that won't have any chances of disabling my shields, engine and weapons in the middle of combat...

Larger fuel reserves on reactors isn't too bad, but there are plenty of mods out there to compensate and fuel rods are not that difficult to get. He3 rods are lootable from Vikings by the bucketload, esp if you waylay reinforcements and use an omni turbolaser.

[Atarlost]

Never mind the powersaver -- it would make things too easy, perhaps.

But macros... Hooking weapons & shields to a single switch? Or, linking them to specific ses?
Why does the only way to engage a certain program require me to scroll past autons and armor paste?

Turning on shields just as the enemy comes into range? Say goodbye to mammoth shields being useful...along with a good portion of the others, since they would take way longer than the 5-10 seconds it would take for enemies to reach you to charge to full power. Every battle would start with you running away until your shields recahrge, and if you run away too well, they turn off again and you're back where you started, only with wasted fuel. Also, keeping shields up while traveling between enemy outposts would (probably) take less fuel than recharging them them when you get there, since they drain extra fuel when recharging.

Switching weapons and their corresponding enhancers off when not in battle I can see as being useful, along with maybe a few other minor peices of equipment, but definitely not shields. Also, engines are a resource hog and you kinda want those even when out of combat.

B plus corresponding number does a fine job with listing only equipped equipment, avoiding all the paste, autons, ROMs and whatnot. Unless you have a ship that has heaps of slots, an automatic powersaver is pretty useless.

Also, I don't trust anyone to code a system in that won't have any chances of disabling my shields, engine and weapons in the middle of combat...

Larger fuel reserves on reactors isn't too bad, but there are plenty of mods out there to compensate and fuel rods are not that difficult to get. He3 rods are lootable from Vikings by the bucketload, esp if you waylay reinforcements and use an omni turbolaser.

This, indeed, shouldn't be done automatically, but I don't think that's what anyone's talking about.

We're talking about something like you, the player, setting up a set of power configurations, perhaps four on f9-f12. When you hit f9 you would go to one configuration, perhaps called condition red since it's the easiest of the cluster to hit the way those keys are grouped on most keyboards. When you, the player, decide you're out of danger you hit f10 for condition yellow, which shuts off weapons and enhancers, or whatever set of device enablement states you, the player, have chosen to bind to the condition yellow power configuration. When you're backtracking through cleared systems you hit f11, which goes to condition green and also powers down your shield or whatever you, the player, have chosen to bind to condition green. F12 is maybe named condition blue and left if you need an extra state for something.

Or possibly binding the toggling of individual devices or sets of devices. Or as a stopgap binding a stand down configuration to an invokable device and having the other configuration be full power to everything.

Whatever would be done would act only on direct user input.

[WillyTheSquid]

For ALL your notekeeping:
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=773

You can even search for items in shops you have visited, while you are not in-system. Amazing work by Bobby. <3

[Patupi]

B plus corresponding number does a fine job with listing only equipped equipment, avoiding all the paste, autons, ROMs and whatnot. Unless you have a ship that has heaps of slots, an automatic powersaver is pretty useless.

It works fine, and if you keep the same configuration you can get well used to it. I've used Revenant shields from... god, I've got too many mods enabled! Forgotten which one that was from! Anyway, since they charge up quick even if they have low HPs I've taken to quick engaging them prior to combat. You need armor regen for it to work well, but it worked out well for me. But I get used to hitting 'B' + '6' to engage them... then when I sell a weapon and buy/install a new one... suddenly it's behind that shield and it's 'B' + '5'. I've had a few battles where I wondered why my plasma torch wasn't working and my shields weren't on... wrong switch! A programmable shortcut key for something might be handy in such instances, if only to give you something that will NOT change throughout the game unless you change it.

[Amariithynar]

Or if weapons, shields, and other b-menu items always had the same key functions attached to them...

[Patupi]

I think there are too many different weapon/shield/device combos for fixed key strokes for them in game on the 'B' menu. Unless it was 'B' + 'S' (for shield) + '3' (for the shield type)... and even that would be stretching it.

I think you'd have to have something customizable in game to make a key press work for YOUR installed item.

[Amariithynar]

What I mean is if you install a shield, and it gets set to 2, until you uninstall it, it's set to 2. If you uninstall it then install another shield, the 2 slot becomes the first open slot, and the new shield fills the 2 slot. That way you can keep your muscle memory for what key does what much more easily.