Poll

Do you use the HET Set Angle Turns?

Yes, All of them
0 (0%)
No, None of them
5 (55.6%)
Some of them.
4 (44.4%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2015, 09:47:46 pm

Topic: Helm MFD  (Read 2610 times)

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Offline Lieutenant_Q

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Helm MFD
« on: January 05, 2015, 09:46:24 pm »
I'm taking a general poll of the community.  I wanted to get your opinion on the Helm MFD.

The HET buttons.  How many people make use of them?  Specifically the Set angle HETs.  Personally I always used the Free Angle HET, I never saw much of a need for the the 180, 120 and 90 degree HETs.  The one's I have circled in Red are the ones that I was looking at.  I was wondering if those buttons could be removed (and the free angle moved out of the way), and replaced with something else.  I suggest a "View Screen".  But regardless of what gets placed there... does anyone actually use those buttons?
"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children.  Now of course it's not true.  But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe.  And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

Offline Lieutenant_Q

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2015, 08:44:39 pm »
bumping this, as there seems to have been a huge amount of activity on the forums recently, and we're looking for feedback. :)
"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children.  Now of course it's not true.  But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe.  And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

Offline Javora

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2015, 09:07:55 pm »
Are you looking to simplify just that view or are you looking to simplify everything from navigation to weapons systems?

Also maybe there is another way to remove that set of buttons by the way of on screen function.  I'm thinking a on screen timer where the player can change coarse like a HET before the timer runs out.  Something to discuss but I wouldn't just remove without putting something in it's place.

Offline TarMinyatur

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2015, 09:40:55 pm »
I use three of those HET buttons: U-turn, 120-degree left, and 120-degree right. I never use the 90-degree left/right buttons.

I see the potential to reassign any of those buttons to different existing functions. Assigning them to new functions would be much, much, more difficult to do. So you could click on that 90-degree left arrow button, and it would do something else, such as, select closest hostile seeking weapon (an existing function without an icon).

In a somewhat related issue, I'm interested in assigning a hotkey for shuttle conversion. There is currently no way to display that panel unless you click the shuttle conversion icon that was added to EAW.

Offline shade1129

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2015, 01:20:57 am »
I generally always used the free-turn HET, however would occasionally use the 180 as well. It's not a big deal to manually do the 180 anyhow though, so I would approve your idea. I like the idea of specific targeting buttons, such as nearest drone/shuttle/fighter. Or perhaps a quick-comm to designate attacking/capturing targets. (Note I've been playing SFC3 a lot lately, I forget exactly if the comm workup is similar [i.e. comm>fleet command>target>capture/attack])

Offline FPF-Tobin Dax

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2015, 03:19:13 pm »
I use some of them. I have hot keys for a few but not all. If I forget lesser used hot keys I'm going to the helm panel.
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Offline Lieutenant_Q

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2015, 03:50:24 pm »
The idea was that all of them, I think, are essentially redundant, I guess I can see unusual situations where you absolutely HAVE to turn that angle, and not a degree more or less.  I was trying to find a solution not being able to navigate through an asteroid field because the camera angle can't always see in front of you, and when it does get in front of you, it's not stable unless you turn off F5.  By moving and removing the buttons on that MFD, you could have a View Screen that always faced forward.  Right now, if I enter an asteroid field, I always switch to F1 view so I can get a tactical view of space, but if you lose sensor contact with your target (because a rock is suddenly between you and it) it can cause havoc with what your view is.  Having that view forward, always, deals with potential collisions.  But the Helm MFD was crowded with buttons that I see as redundant, as HET Free Angle covers all of those preset angles, and more.  I didn't want to just say, let's remove them, because there may be people who play that think that those buttons are not redundant, and very necessary.
"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children.  Now of course it's not true.  But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe.  And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

Offline FPF-Tobin Dax

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2015, 04:31:10 pm »
Exact 180 turn to go after your pursuer with a tractor. 120 left or right to bring forward weapon arcs to bare on your enemy without flying into. If you remove some leave the option for them in hotkey selection please.
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Offline TarMinyatur

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Re: Helm MFD
« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2015, 09:35:40 pm »
Lieutenant_Q, I use F2 view to navigate through asteroid fields or for picking off scatterpacks. If you pivot (PgDn) the F2 view to be directly overhead and zoom out, it gives you an effective 360 degree local view that isn't influenced by your target's visibility/range. It helps to orient (home) F1 and F2 so "north" is the same on both views.

A forward view screen is a good idea. I have no clue how to accomplish that, however.