Has anyone here tried their hand at creating macros using Voice Attack?
I've dabbled a bit in it yestarday, but it's not as robust as I'd like. The problem being that the UI panels to the left and right store the tab in which they were last viewed and cycle through tabs rather than stopping at the first or last tab.
It's possible to assign the button press sequence for "open left panel", "go to the next right/left tab"... (select station etc.), but with just the means VoiceAttack provides, I don't see how it's possible to determine in which tab you start out/left and how many tabs to the left/right you have to jump in order to get to the contacts tab. Once there it's easy to request docking, as the station is always the topmost contact.
Just saying "Request docking!" is rather convenient compared to having manually to sift through the side panels.
That's why you setup the voice command to cycle back to Nav when it's done. Other than that it's about being aware of what you're setting the panels back to. Usually if you're leaving a RES etc and going back to base you're switching back to navigation as a default so it should be fine.
Would be nice if they gave us more options like direct buttons to certain screens. Would be awesome to have specific binds to shut down modules etc for a stealth sequence etc.
The landing gear and weapon deployment, I will probably add. As well as calls for the system and galaxy map. Anything that would require me to take the hands of the ship controls. It can't hurt to define voice commands for some of the more time critical things either, I guess. Power distribution though, like cycling weapon groups, "firing" scanners and similar tasks might be to slow with VA for me. I don't see the usefulness, when I have these things at my fingertips anyway. Unless of course, one is occupied managing all the other functions in a tight spot and can effectively handle one more critical command by saying it. ^^I couldn't play the game without VA now. Request docking, retract/deploy landing gear, power to engines/shields/weapons, etc. When I'm exploring, I just jump into the next system and say "scan," which holds the key for my ADS, gives me a moment to align with the star before targeting it, then opens the system map as soon as the ADS finishes. Also have "galaxy" and "system" commands for their respective maps. It's really an essential accessory at this point.
On another note, I feel like I should move on from the Vulture. It's terrific to fly and I can even use it well for hazardous RES hunting, but it takes to long to kill other, larger ships. ;-)
So yeah, my Vulture will be replaced by a Python down the road.
Problem is, the price gap between the Vulture and the Python is huge. 17-18 Mio. credits for a well fitted Vulture. A well fitted Python goes into the 100 Mio. range, not to mention the 150+ Mio. an A-specced Python will eat up.
I can make 3 Mio. credits/h with a Vulture by bounty hunting in a harzardous RES. That's a lot of hours of farming. I need an intermediate ship or some way to maximize my profits considerably.
And a Python won't really do any better at bounty hunting, as you're limited more by ship spawns than damage output, right? I haven't done haz site hunting yet, I should give that a shot in my Vulture--it's A-spec with a gimbaled beam/cannon combo so I should be all right.
Where's my 1.5? I blame you guys.
Yes, without any other optimization shenanigans (which powers gave bonus for bounties again?), there's probably a ceiling to the credit flow generated by bounty hunting. But with the Vulture, I'm sometimes under the impression that I can't reach the ceiling, as it takes quiet a while and sometimes quiet a bit of chaff to fry Anacondas and Pythons. It makes me wonder what ships with more than two large hardpoints could do.
Also, an A-rated Vulture? I couldn't for the life of me keep shield cells in my Vulture and have the kill warrant scanner and pulse lasers activated simultanuously. I always had to deactivate both pulse lasers to get the KWS to work. Which is a lot of hassle during an hour+ of bounty hunting. In the end, the shield cells had to go and were replaced by a shield booster which allowed me to power both weapons and kws are simultaneously. Still, A-rated thrusters are out of my Vulture's energy budget.
Any guesses when it will be available? Did betas usually go live on Thursday of "beta week"?
I read up on it over the weekend. When you activate a shield cell, all powered banks will be triggered. I assume that the effect will be cumulative but you'll nevertheless potentially waste shield cells that way.But some of these modules are depowered entirely on their coriolis builds. Does depowering these just add ammo to a single bank? Does this cross class and/or ratings across modules? Do they manually switch certain banks on and off? Combat vids I see don't show people switching the power management tab mid fight to handle this.
2 huge points at top-rear of the ship:
Not sure how well that material system is going to work. Especially if you need to explore to collect them and they perish with your ship if you die. Not to mention the inability to switch cargo from one ship to another at a port.
Would be great to make a huge journey exploring to gather materials etc and come back to your main starport in civilized space to stockpile them and issue them out to your fleet as needed but I can't imagine that being what'll happen.
EDIT 4: Talking about "materials" now, which is what they're calling collectables/loot. Talking about a "synthesis" system, which is separate from crafting. Specific examples: if you have the right materials, you can synthesize repair materials (so your auto-repair module can actually repair your ship to 100% by itself) or ammunition.
Oh fuck! You can synthesize a one-shot boost to your FSD range, too! Again, you need the materials.
Different quality levels for your materials. Higher quality materials give additional enhancements. For example, better mats give higher jump range for boost, or may give a damage bonus for your synthesize ammo, etc.
That's really fucking cool.
It's definitely uglier. The bulbous nose was a huge mistake.
As usual, thanks! Great work putting together a bit of a summary.<summary>
Not sure how well that material system is going to work. Especially if you need to explore to collect them and they perish with your ship if you die. Not to mention the inability to switch cargo from one ship to another at a port.
Would be great to make a huge journey exploring to gather materials etc and come back to your main starport in civilized space to stockpile them and issue them out to your fleet as needed but I can't imagine that being what'll happen.
Only materials will survive ship destruction, other vouchers are unchanged. This is because it's very likely that Commanders will want to carry around materials even though they have no direct need for them at that time.
We feel it would be unnecessarily punishing to kill them when your ship is destroyed.
Vouchers are always only useful once they have been claimed; there's no real reason to hang on to them, so their risk/reward mechanic makes them fine to be at risk.
As much as this past year's move away from the hardcore sim makes me nervous, I appreciate these decisions, as a player.
Hull life bars. They have been there from the beginning, so ED was never even close to a simulation, much less a "hardcore" one. ;-) There's so much else, but this is the most obvious design decision flying in the face of any argument that this game is a simulation.
They may have a relatively realistic galaxy, but the game mechanics around that are game through and through, albeit a very complex one.
Apparently, they survive death!
As much as this past year's move away from the hardcore sim makes me nervous, I appreciate these decisions, as a player.
Now they just need to switch between ships.
vs.
Yeah, that's the kind of mechanic I'm referencing--you're right, Burny, it's far from a hardcore sim, but I doubt we'll ever be able to just spawn in any ship that we own--there will be some kind of taxi or delivery service that takes actual time and/or money.
Associating a cost and also possibly a delay when transferring ships is a good idea imo.
For my part I think they've so far found a very passable balance between keeping this a game design wise and nevertheless giving the impression of a simulation.
For me the seams of their "background simulation" have always been visible and extremely shallow. That universe does not feel alive at all IMO. Makes stuff like Powerplay all the more painful.
Edit: And then I realized you're talking about simulation in general. It's late. Point still stands, haha. But yeah I'd agree they've got a nice balance of fun and simulation when it comes to control/flight depth.
Associating a cost and also possibly a delay when transferring ships is a good idea imo.
For my part I think they've so far found a very passable balance between keeping this a game design wise and nevertheless giving the impression of a simulation.