Version 3: Starmap: display the point of no return to Solar System in map

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OK, so here is an idea.
You know how the starmap displays a grey area to show the range you can have 
with your current fuel?

It would be very useful, especially during the first part of the game when you 
don't have a caster to call the Melnorme (or credits to buy fuel) and you don't 
have access to Quasi-Space, to be able to know when you are going too far and 
won't have enough fuel to come back.

Perhaps it could show 2 circles: dark grew currently shows the fuel range, and 
another lighter grey could show the (shorter) range I can go while keeping 
enough fuel to come back to Sol homebase.

Don't know how practical or really useful it would be, what do you guys think?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by Awakened...@gmail.com on 11 Dec 2012 at 10:01

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Here is an example of what I mean (except it might show as a background pale 
color instead of an actual circle)

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 11 Dec 2012 at 10:10

Attachments:

• Point_of_no_return.jpg

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Highly simplistic point of no return indicator added in r656 
(http://code.google.com/p/uqm-hd/source/detail?r=656). At present it just draws 
at half the size of the outer circle, I'll have it actually calculate the fuel 
needed to get to Sol and display a circle on that basis soon.

Original comment by oldlapto...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2012 at 3:45

• Changed state: Started

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The current situation allows a player to plan a round trip to A and back to Sol 
and check if A is in range while counting for the return trip.

How about that situation:
Player goes from Sol to planet A, then from planet A to planet B.
Once on A, he needs to know how far he can go while still being able to go back 
to Sol, to see if B is still in range... which means the range would change 
depending on what's your next move. So here is my suggestion:

When you move the cursor somewhere and you set it on a named star, the game 
draws a grey circle around THAT destination to show you where you will be able 
to go next with your remaining fuel.
Is it possible? I have drafted an example of what it could look like.

Also, I would suggest to lower the grey to make it darker for the 2 shades, to 
be closer to black, because stars become less easy to see when they are inside 
the grey area.

PS: who is oldlaptop654? Nice to meet you, I wasn't aware we had a 2nd 
programmer! - Nico

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2012 at 9:13

Attachments:

• Range_After_Arrival.jpg

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That should be fairly easy to implement. :) (I'm a mediocre coder who 
rebased this on 0.7 a few weeks ago, oldlaptop on either of the forums 
or in the IRC channels).

Original comment by oldlapto...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2012 at 9:43

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Another thing that might be useful to implement in some way is to know if you 
have enough fuel to send out the lander on the surface of a planet. After you 
have traveled far and have calculated that you still have some fuel left for 
the trip back home, you would have to be careful in using your lander to make 
sure that it doesn't take your remaining fuel.

Original comment by jesse.ka...@gmail.com on 13 Dec 2012 at 10:07

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Perhaps a warning sign can be written below the fuel consumption in the lander 
deployment screen if the remaining fuel will be below the required fuel to 
return to Sol, something like:
"WARNING - Fuel won't allow return to Sol" or something... I am copying this as 
an different enhancement since it will probably be coded in a totally different 
module.

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 13 Dec 2012 at 10:09

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Added suggestion from Jesse as a separate enhancement request in issue 62
See issue 60 for problems related to fuel color.

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 13 Dec 2012 at 10:11

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Guess this is done, then?

Original comment by Jaakko.M...@gmail.com on 25 Dec 2012 at 4:12

• Changed state: Done

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Not sure. I have seen the point of no return implanted but not the suggestion 
with the fuel remaining after a proposed destination is selected on the map 
(the second screen shot) ?

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 25 Dec 2012 at 5:08

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That's pretty much on hold until after 1.0, unless an actual coder figures it 
out before then. (it's not all that easy to implement, it turns out...)

Original comment by oldlapto...@gmail.com on 25 Dec 2012 at 5:44

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We have a bug on the point of no return display for the fuel first circle.
See attached capture: when you return from Quasi Space, even though you have 
plenty of fuel, the point of no return fuel range is very small. The larger 
full fuel range seems ok.

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 2 Jan 2013 at 8:44

• Changed state: Accepted

Attachments:

• Point_no_return_From_QuasiSpace.jpg

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Bringing this to Jaakko's attention

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2013 at 1:52

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Thanks for notifying.  I'll graciously leave this for oldlaptop himself :)

Original comment by Jaakko.M...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2013 at 7:51

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Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 28 Jan 2013 at 11:15

• Added labels: Type-Defect
• Removed labels: Type-Enhancement

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Original comment by oldlapto...@gmail.com on 29 Jan 2013 at 12:40

• Added labels: Type-Enhancement
• Removed labels: Type-Defect

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Hmm, are you sure this is correct now, r am I just reading it wrong?

When far away from sol, the circle is still quite small (see screenshot).

Original comment by Jaakko.M...@gmail.com on 26 Apr 2013 at 6:45

Attachments:

• fuel.png

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That *looks* like it's correct to me. The circle is drawn such that it 
represents your range after deducting whatever it will take to go back to Sol. 
I would therefore expect the outer circle to just barely reach Sol if you were 
to travel to the edge of the inner one (although for obvious reasons moving 
closer to Sol will change this!). A better way of doing this would be to make 
the inner circle follow the cursor around, but back when I attempted that I 
ended up concluding that it will require more knowledge than I have at my 
disposal. :)

Original comment by oldlapto...@gmail.com on 26 Apr 2013 at 7:24

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Yes, I came to the same conclusion.
To be valid, the point of no return fuel circle really should originate from 
your expected destination.
I.e., I'd move my cursor to destination A, which costs X fuel.
If I have F fuel, I will have F - X = F' at the arrival.
From the arrival point, I now want to see a circle showing me everywhere I will 
be able to go with F' fuel, from there (so I can check if I can go back to 
refuel).
The way the current point of no return is working only really works when you 
are departing from Sol. 

is it possible to draw this circle at the position of the cursor (but not 
dynamically as it moves - only when it rests on a given star on the map, as 
part of the same routine that draws the name of the star on top of the screen 
when my cursor is on a valid registered star?)

If not, then we should just remove that feature, I think.

Original comment by Awakened...@gmail.com on 26 Apr 2013 at 8:17

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(Updated title.)

Original comment by Jaakko.M...@gmail.com on 2 Jun 2013 at 7:51

• Changed title: Version 3: Starmap: display the point of no return to Solar System in map