New feature requests

Here's some other ideas I'd like to see on some future updates to AS, pretty please. :)

1. A "jump to date" feature. If I want to arrange the planets exactly where they would be at a given date/time currently we have to use the "forward" button and set the speed and fiddle with it until it's just right. It'd be great to just able to say "23 Mar 2235" and have it skip right to that orbital pattern.

2. A "course heading" feature would be great also. For example, suppose I have some ships leaving Mars and they'er heading to the Alpha Mensae system, it would be awesome to see what's the most direct path out of the system and what planets are near that vector. Currently I get around this by generating a sector map and looking at the angle between those stars on the map. Then, I generate the system map for Sol and assume that it's oriented to the same heading and use roughly the same vector to plot the course out. It's tedious, but for the level of accuracy/detail I'm shooting for, it's necessary. It'd be great to see that happen within the system automatically (maybe extend the "routes" to a specific planet to accomplish this?).

3. It'd also be great if I could put objects in orbit at a planets different LaGrange Points. As those are intrinsically gravitationally stable features within a star system they feature prominently in my setting, and in real-life science stuff too. :)

4. That whole "sphere of influence" feature on the sector map? That'd be great on a planetary scale. For example, if I had a bunch of satellites in orbit around the star it'd be awesome to be able to turn their "sensor range" on as a visible sphere so that I could better see what's in their field of view and what's not. That would make building a sensor grid and finding holes in it, etc.

5. Ships. It'd be super awesome to be able to move ships by a "heading" (laterally) and a "mark" (vertically) based on 2 intersecting 360 degree circles. Moving the ships around in the system free form is rather difficult under the current format...unless I'm just not understanding it.

Comments

  • If we're going to have a single common thread for all AS new feature requests, I'll repeat my desire for Unicode support here. I'm not going to give you any grief over it, since I was one of the beta testers of the current version. If I failed to think about it back when it mattered, that's hardly your fault.

    ;)
  • Here's some other ideas I'd like to see on some future updates to AS, pretty please. :)

    2. A "course heading" feature would be great also. For example, suppose I have some ships leaving Mars and they'er heading to the Alpha Mensae system, it would be awesome to see what's the most direct path out of the system and what planets are near that vector. Currently I get around this by generating a sector map and looking at the angle between those stars on the map. Then, I generate the system map for Sol and assume that it's oriented to the same heading and use roughly the same vector to plot the course out. It's tedious, but for the level of accuracy/detail I'm shooting for, it's necessary. It'd be great to see that happen within the system automatically (maybe extend the "routes" to a specific planet to accomplish this?).

    3. It'd also be great if I could put objects in orbit at a planets different LaGrange Points. As those are intrinsically gravitationally stable features within a star system they feature prominently in my setting, and in real-life science stuff too. :)

    Both of these are on my wishlist also. Just the ability to put something in a static position in a system would be nice such as a station that doesn't move.

    Highest on my list... PLEASE... an function that simply allows us to place Terran-type planet wherever we want, complete with garden atmosphere and everything else. Random-only is irritating.
  • kilgs wrote:
    Highest on my list... PLEASE... an function that simply allows us to place Terran-type planet wherever we want, complete with garden atmosphere and everything else. Random-only is irritating.

    In the System Data display, right click and select Insert Body -> Planet / Moon -> Earthlike from the popup. Keep in mind, if you put an Earthlike planet someplace where one can't exist, you'll get either an iceball or a barren, hot rock.

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