A way to find other players or grids in the vastness of Space
Hello!
Now that multiplayer is finally working as intended I think there will be a lot of need for some way of finding and "interacting" (in a PVP way in most cases) with other players.
As the game world is very large, being together with other people in a server won't matter if you don't have a way to know where they are and the whole experience will reduce itself to a single player or small group of friends experience (which can be achieved without a dedicated server) with the addition of being able to chat with other guys you'll never meet. That's pretty reductive for the game SE is starting to become.
Right now on mp tests and since mp launch, people who want some pvp have to join other factions in some sneaky way, grab base coordinates and then plan an attack, or maybe look on discord or forums for any screenshot or pasted coordinate that could hint to where other players are building. That's kinda lame and also very "unimmersive" imho.
So I would like, if possible, some balanced (as in VEEERY expensive and limited in its use) way to be able to detect other characters or grids whereabouts.
It would also be nice for it to work better in space than on planets (lots of "interference" on the ground compared to space) as it would push people towards planets even after leaving one just to have a lower chance of being detected.
Hope Keen considers this.
Thanks and feel free to add any reasonable detail you think could help this idea!
P.S.: This is a copy of this (https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/multiplayer/topic/a-way-to-find-other-players-or-grids-in-the-vastness-of-space) but I re-posted it here cause I think it influences gameplay not only on the multiplayer side of things.
Please feel free to remove the old one as I don't seem to be able to do so (or move the old one to the general section and delete this one).
Thanks!
I like this feedback
For your consideration, a passive antena receiver of some sorts, that would collect pings form distant active, broadcasting antenas and would return a signal strenght with some degree of chance that a ping would be lost completely from antenas extremely far away, 100s of km or so. The ping could display in a lowtech way, by a way of blinking an emissive or playing a sound. Maybe launch a custom terminal action?
To make it even harder to actually detect something, this "Listening Block" of sorts would only collect pings from a specified cone of space relative to its own orientation. Tightening this cone would give you more accurate bearing estimates but would lower the chance of hearing remote pings as the sensor would work with less surface area, so to speak. Pings would get more frequent as you get closer or as the signal gets stronger.
I can imagine an industrious pirate constructing a ship with a rotating assembly to home in on potential victims and then using a more tight fixed listening block for the final approach.
To further complicate detection, some small, weak antenas, like 500m range of suit antenas could be near undetectable past a few 10s of km. Laser antenas would not be detectable at all and beacons would be most detectable.
On a last note, this could tie in to the existing probe and cargo ship (and Argentavis) spawns, to encourage people going out and locating more hidden drops or finding an armed to the teeth SPRT vessel instead.
Pic related
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HZNBhm8Vw0Q/UbXbZbxp8oI/AAAAAAAAB8s/ua0L_DJ5jbM/s1600/listening+post+13.jpg
For your consideration, a passive antena receiver of some sorts, that would collect pings form distant active, broadcasting antenas and would return a signal strenght with some degree of chance that a ping would be lost completely from antenas extremely far away, 100s of km or so. The ping could display in a lowtech way, by a way of blinking an emissive or playing a sound. Maybe launch a custom terminal action?
To make it even harder to actually detect something, this "Listening Block" of sorts would only collect pings from a specified cone of space relative to its own orientation. Tightening this cone would give you more accurate bearing estimates but would lower the chance of hearing remote pings as the sensor would work with less surface area, so to speak. Pings would get more frequent as you get closer or as the signal gets stronger.
I can imagine an industrious pirate constructing a ship with a rotating assembly to home in on potential victims and then using a more tight fixed listening block for the final approach.
To further complicate detection, some small, weak antenas, like 500m range of suit antenas could be near undetectable past a few 10s of km. Laser antenas would not be detectable at all and beacons would be most detectable.
On a last note, this could tie in to the existing probe and cargo ship (and Argentavis) spawns, to encourage people going out and locating more hidden drops or finding an armed to the teeth SPRT vessel instead.
Pic related
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HZNBhm8Vw0Q/UbXbZbxp8oI/AAAAAAAAB8s/ua0L_DJ5jbM/s1600/listening+post+13.jpg
What a terrible idea. I mean, if i wanted to get raided when im offline then i would put my antenna on at max range, or i would rather copy my gps in the chat and leave. I mean, "very expensive" doesnt mean anything, because there is always this guy who has no life and can spend the whole day gathering resources so he can afford this method to piss off people.
If you want pvp go near a planet, and switch on your antenna. People will see you and they will engage you.
I wish keen would implement a downvote button for bad ideas... :/
What a terrible idea. I mean, if i wanted to get raided when im offline then i would put my antenna on at max range, or i would rather copy my gps in the chat and leave. I mean, "very expensive" doesnt mean anything, because there is always this guy who has no life and can spend the whole day gathering resources so he can afford this method to piss off people.
If you want pvp go near a planet, and switch on your antenna. People will see you and they will engage you.
I wish keen would implement a downvote button for bad ideas... :/
Instead of saying this is a good or bad idea, look at the answers and formulate a new idea.
People don't like being offline raided, however, in the vastness of our endless space, you can hardly find someone.
So introducing a difficulty where finding people would be hard, but possible, would be the answer.
You've got the holographic radar mod that does a decent job of only showing grids within sync distance, not perfect, but it's something.
We also need something that doesn't murder server sim speed... from an admins perspective.
Instead of saying this is a good or bad idea, look at the answers and formulate a new idea.
People don't like being offline raided, however, in the vastness of our endless space, you can hardly find someone.
So introducing a difficulty where finding people would be hard, but possible, would be the answer.
You've got the holographic radar mod that does a decent job of only showing grids within sync distance, not perfect, but it's something.
We also need something that doesn't murder server sim speed... from an admins perspective.
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