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Fleabum wrote:So also telling me that X4 will have the autopilot fly you to a lane, keep you in it and then takes you out before flying you to your final destination now...

Awesome, job sorted then. Autopilot on, SETA on, and you don't have to worry about space lanes kicking you out, or bumbing you.

Yeah, pretty much. Occasionally you'll end up behind a slow mover, which automatically slows the player's ship rather than crashing out of the highway. However, even then there are still options - either briefly drop out of autopilot while overtaking, or a short burst of gunfire will persuade them to get out of the way (yes, you can still fire guns while autopilot is active).

GCU Grey Area wrote:or a short burst of gunfire will persuade them to get out of the way (yes, you can still fire guns while autopilot is active).

Can we just use a Firestorm Torpedo instead? **evil grin**

Regards
Flea

@ Flea: I now have this mental vision of you quickly overtaking your own torpedo in the highway and going 'Boom!'.

Alan Phipps wrote:@ Flea: I now have this mental vision of you quickly overtaking your own torpedo in the highway and going 'Boom!'.

Similar incident was why I switched over to Tornado as my primary anti-capital missile. Same DPS & don't really need a guided missile when the enemy has the same target profile as the broad side of a barn. It can also be really quite inadvisable to launch a volley of Firestorms from a ship which can only barely outpace them (e.g. Dragon). Let's just say pulling up sharply at the end of one particular bombing run had some unanticipated consequences...

Alan Phipps wrote:@ Flea: I now have this mental vision of you quickly overtaking your own torpedo in the highway and going 'Boom!'.

Opps, I did it again.

Regards
Flea

LittleBird wrote:
lyubarskiy wrote: I don't agree with the same speed thing. You don't need to have a bumper cars scenario if traffic is moving at different speeds. You can have a soft dampening system where you automatically glide around slower traffic, or avoid it if you want. But I do want the ability to catch up to that freighter / pirate in the tunnel. Or slow down to jump out at a specific point or just assess the current situation of things outside, or even escort a slow moving freighter to destination.
Why do you want to catch up inside the highway?
If everything has the same speed it is just a matter of a few seconds after everyone leaves the highway. In fact the distance you had before the freighter entered is the same when he leaves.
So I like the same speed idea. It eliminates collisions and you can leave ship controls for fleet management etc.

Maybe I would like to raid a hauler but wish to do it in an un-populated area, so I will stalk it until I am ready and safe from the law.

GCU Grey Area wrote:
Geek wrote:Yeah, avoiding other ships to keep max speed is *still* a minigame.
And you even get a small chance to be thrown away too, as written above.
That's what you're calling a minigame? Really? Thought avoiding flying into other ships was just a basic game mechanic common to many space flight sims. Never considered it might be a minigame, any more than I thought "don't fly into the side of the station", or "dodge the asteroid" could be them. Nah, really not convinced - think it's more a case of labeling elements of a game which some people don't like as "minigame", purely as a derogative term.

Could be avoided with dampening system. Just automatically glide around ships as if magnets pushing each other apart.

Buzz2005 wrote:since you have to watch the ship to get out when wanted and to avoid traffic to get max speed, yes its a mini game

By your logic everything in the game is a minigame then. Your understanding of what a mini game is flawed.
Lockpicking in skyrim is a minigame. Original Highways with tail sniffing was a minigame. Travelling though space is not a mini game.

lyubarskiy wrote:
LittleBird wrote:
lyubarskiy wrote: I don't agree with the same speed thing. You don't need to have a bumper cars scenario if traffic is moving at different speeds. You can have a soft dampening system where you automatically glide around slower traffic, or avoid it if you want. But I do want the ability to catch up to that freighter / pirate in the tunnel. Or slow down to jump out at a specific point or just assess the current situation of things outside, or even escort a slow moving freighter to destination.
Why do you want to catch up inside the highway?
If everything has the same speed it is just a matter of a few seconds after everyone leaves the highway. In fact the distance you had before the freighter entered is the same when he leaves.
So I like the same speed idea. It eliminates collisions and you can leave ship controls for fleet management etc.
Maybe I would like to raid a hauler but wish to do it in an un-populated area, so I will stalk it until I am ready and safe from the law.

I think I can not follow you.
Tailing him with the opportunity to catch up or within a constant range makes no difference in following it.

LittleBird wrote:
lyubarskiy wrote:
LittleBird wrote:
lyubarskiy wrote: I don't agree with the same speed thing. You don't need to have a bumper cars scenario if traffic is moving at different speeds. You can have a soft dampening system where you automatically glide around slower traffic, or avoid it if you want. But I do want the ability to catch up to that freighter / pirate in the tunnel. Or slow down to jump out at a specific point or just assess the current situation of things outside, or even escort a slow moving freighter to destination.
Why do you want to catch up inside the highway?
If everything has the same speed it is just a matter of a few seconds after everyone leaves the highway. In fact the distance you had before the freighter entered is the same when he leaves.
So I like the same speed idea. It eliminates collisions and you can leave ship controls for fleet management etc.
Maybe I would like to raid a hauler but wish to do it in an un-populated area, so I will stalk it until I am ready and safe from the law.
I think I can not follow you.
Tailing him with the opportunity to catch up or within a constant range makes no difference in following it.

Well lets say the ship is a lot further down the highway. My only way to attack it would be to catch up.

@lyubarskiy
Attack? This requires you can attack inside a highway. Never thought of that because shooting inside feels out of the place due the high travel speed.
I could think of a software upgrade to hack the freighter to force it out. But an option to catch up is not necessary therefor.
And compared to the all-same-speed mechanic you still have to deal with possible collisions.
Gameplaywise I can not see any advantages or improvements in a feature to catch up.

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Highway gameplay improvement