pubtest - summary of minor issues

I started on the moon where there were many beacons, but it was very hard to drive on uneven ground. Then I started a second time in space and was 1000s of km away from asteroids and planets (Huh?). So I started a third time on Mars with smooth ground, but beacons were so far apart that it took me the same amount of time as on the moon to find a station.

In short, I did not get much done. :-D

What went well:

• I used the datapad and it was fun to find stations, even though some were far away.
• I could deposit and withdraw space credits and cash.
• I completed some Acquisition and Search Contracts. It was very straightforward, easy first money.
• I did not see any consumables and didn't try player trading or player contracts due to lack of opportunity.
• I found cash under a mattress. :D

Destructive / blocking issues:

• Can you give us a way to free stuck owned grids from safezones? I ramp jumped onto the landing pad from a nearby hill and my rover got stuck in the station. Nobody near had a ship with magnetic gear so it was a write-off...
  

• The hand-drill destroys blocks _next_ to the ground I'm drilling (a small loud explosion), I never noticed that before.

• The hand-drill destroyed 50% of rocks that it just dug up. That has happened rarely before, but in this test, is was annoyingly common (maybe due to lag). I cannot think of any situation where players would want to dig up rocks AND destroy them in one click. What about LMB "to make lose rocks appear", versus RMB "to destroy lose rocks"? That would be analogous to the general terrain destruction rules.

Non-blocking issues:

• Since I clicked a thing in a station, Goodbot suggested nonstop that I should try hacking/grinding blocks. This tip repeatedly triggered in safe zones where grinding is disallowed.

• For Search Contracts, could you give us an approximation of the distance so we can decide if our rover can handle it before we accept it?

• In general, for Contracts, can you make requirements more explicit? The text says "I'm sure you can do it" but then it needs a jump drive or so...

• After a server restart, the safe zones lost their pretty pattern and I think the station wall colour changed too.

Minor HUD and GUI suggestions:

• In case we miss the HUD message, can we get a status log? (e.g. to notice failed contracts?)

• What does the HUD message "You have discovered sacred sappers" mean? Could you clarify this as "You have discovered [or "encountered"] the faction sacred sappers"?

• Often, pressing V doesn't switch to third-person, as if it could not find a spot for the camera. E.g. when lying in a bed or sitting on a couch. How to take a screenshot of people indoors?

• When depositing cash, can you make it clearer in which field to enter the credit value? The marketing term "cashback" doesn't make any sense here. The other input field is just labeled "amount". Please label or arrange the GUI a bit more clearly.

• In the Contract block, the filter menu is too short (Acquisition-Bounty-Escort-[Hauling...]) and forces me to scroll down even though there is enough screen space to display the whole menu.

• I pushed the button on the station's door panel and it said "access denied". Access to what is denied, to the terminal, to the door, to the station? Clicking the door of course opened it. But that vague message sounded like the faction denied me entrance to the station...

• On the new stations, I constantly hear someone walking three steps. Please make background sounds less repetitive and more random.

• When I ctrl-tab out of the game, it also triggers the tab shortcut, and the GUI gets hidden every time.

• And finally: Is there a hidden keyboard shortcut that switches a (Basic) Assembler from assembly to disassembly that I am constantly pressing by accident?! Grrr... ;-(