Navigation, am I missing something?

Rakshasas · Post by **Rakshasas** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 6:52 pm

Hello everyone,

Ok so I am getting the hang of this game and it's been pretty fun, but what's keeping me from being immersed is I just can't figure out the nav map.

Now I've obviously lost this distress call already but let's take my current example.

I just received a distress call for 25 metal alloys, which I already have! So I am thinking, sweet, I have a lot of fuel, I should be able to make a run for it and get some money.

So I look at the destination for the DC... which is a place called "Al's Quay".

So first things first, I notice it doesn't say which system so I presume I am already in the right system. Then I look at my nav map, zoom out to get a feel for where I need to go, and then I realize how screwed I am.

See my screenshot below. I have not figured out how to pan the navigation map in this game. All I can do is zoom in and out from my current location, or r-click an area and hope I managed to pick the right spot, except I can't because well, look at that screen shot. That is unreadable.

Needless to say, I can't figure out what any of those places are, unless I travel to them, and zoom in to read the name.

I was also sad to find out doing a web search for "Al's Quay" didn't reveal system information, or location.

Any suggestions? Thanks

Also I have looked into using some external mods for maps, but I don't want it to spoil locations I haven't found yet. Maybe I'll use it later but for now I just want to be able to find stuff ingame.

shepard_3 · Post by **shepard_3** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:09 pm

You can make the map a little more clear by switching through the different types of highlights.
On the screenshot just click on Gates right below Highlight. There you can switch between planets, gates etc.

To figure out where the DC came from you have to look ath the coordinates it gives you. SX,SY,SZ are coordinates for a system while X, Y, Z are the coordinates in a specific system (depending on the system coordinates).

You can also type in the coordinates from the DC directly under Destination Position: at the top. Then youre nav marker will be set automatically.

Just try out all the options and soon you'll figure out how things work if you just trial and error.

Hope this helped

Rakshasas · Post by **Rakshasas** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:56 pm

Not to sound ungrateful for the reply, but those things don't really help.

Mind you I realize now I was highlighting stations instead of planets, but text would have still be unreadable. If I choose to highlight gates, same problem.

Not to mention for all I knew I could have used a gate to traverse to that destination, it's hard to see how gates link up if you can't read the names of the ones that are distant.

And perhaps yes, I could enter the coords and auto pilot, but would that get me to my destination within 320 seconds?

Is there really no way to pan the map around, it wouldn't be so bad if you could rclick and zoom in/out from that spot, not where my ship is? I don't know how someone can learn how systems and planets link together without being able to see jump gates from a far.

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:18 pm

Hi and welcome.

I have my map set without any text showing. The description will show if you mouse over when zoomed in.

Click on Quadrant to see all the linked systems.

Post by **Vice** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:19 pm

It may just be a misunderstanding of what you're trying to do. My suggestion would be:

1 - Activate the highlight mode (rather than 'Text On').
2 - Right click inside the sector box with the gate you want to zoom in on (larger icons may be near the edge of a sector box, so focus on the middle of the sectors themselves when right clicking).
3 - Hold the mouse pointer over that gate's icon and observe the details. As long as the gate is within sensor range, you'll be able to see the specs.

XinCasa · Post by **XinCasa** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:46 pm

Welcome Rakshasas. Your points re the Nav Map are well taken. Apart from Vice's amazing & unique imagination in creating this Leonardo Da Vinci of all Space Sim genres, and
his stand-alone spectacular skill in computer programming and graphics, The Jackson Pollock text mapping displayed by your screenshot is kaleidoscopic (collidoscopic?) to say the least.

Not being a programmer myself -far from it- I think that it wouldn't take much to "housekeep" the texting so that the cluttering of text & images are resolved without changing the excellent & wonderful features of the map in general. Good Luck Pilot

Rakshasas · Post by **Rakshasas** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:53 pm

Thanks Vice, that made it a bit easier. I always figured highlight mode didn't work. I didn't realize you had to be zoomed in.

But I am still left with not knowing where "Al's Quay" is. Is there anyway to see the waypoint from the quadrant view? Or is that just part of the experience, to get the DC sector coords and figure out the system by looking at the quadrant and just figuring it out that way?

Post by **Vice** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:13 pm

But I am still left with not knowing where "Al's Quay" is. Is there anyway to see the waypoint from the quadrant view? Or is that just part of the experience, to get the DC sector coords and figure out the system by looking at the quadrant and just figuring it out that way?

Unfortunately, the latter for now, which can make it tricky in the beginning as you're learning how the nav system works. Al's Quay is also an uncharted system, making it more difficult to reach. It's fairly close to Pearl, but still 'off the beaten path'. If you're in Pearl or Al's, those distress calls are probably feasible to reach, otherwise, it's probably best to ignore those for now and just stick with calls to well charted systems (and only those that are nearby unless you've got the cargo onboard). Pretty soon though, you'll likely have the right click zoom and jump point plot concept mastered and will be able to reach calls several systems away with time to spare. And if answering distress calls is of interest to you long term, it's also helpful to pre-load the commodities called for so you don't have to try and hunt for them along the way.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:55 am

If you plan to answer a lot of distress calls, you should memorize the Quadrant map. Then memorize where the jumpgates are in Sapphire (it's the most crowded and the only system where labels tend to overlap). That way, you'll always have enough situation awareness to know if your current location puts you within range.