Another idea that could integrate:

Indication of size class of ship.

In time you get to learn which enemies are hard/easy, but for a beginner I would find it very useful to see how hard an enemy is before choosing to attack him.

In the following example, my buddies and the targeted enemy are small. The bug things are large. The big thing is huge (maybe thats the queen, only seen one once).

So basically the thickness of the passive box goes up as the enemy gets bigger/harder.

In this example I just defined 3 levels. There could be additional thickness levels. For example, you can easily own Orun and DenTec Collectors, but those Guardian things are hard (for a noob like me anyway). So maybe a visual cue that they are harder would help. It would also give you the feeling you are moving up.

It could also make hunting specific enemies easier, like if you only want to kill hard ones, but not too hard.

I know this idea isn't as great as the others, but what the heck.



[EDIT] I just realized I have no idea what a hive queen looks like, apparently the one that is targeted in that photo is one, so maybe all those bug things are queens. And perspective may mean the thing on the right that looks big may not be big... oh well you get the idea.[/EDIT]

The bugs are Hive Queens, and the thing on the right is a TPG Teradon Frigate.
Great ideas so far, I love them :)

The whole passive hud thing is a good idea. In real life, the US Air Force has fighters that can track over 100 targets at once, and can specifically target more than 20 at once. However, this is only possible when there is another aircraft (an AWACS radar station) also patrolling the area. Perhaps this is something that could be considered? It would work itself out like this...

CERTAIN ships (i.e. higher end fighters and attack ships, capships) would have the ability to use the passive hud displays that have been talked about, but ONLY when either a player or an NPC is flying a new class of ship (we'll call them Radar ships for now), which would be equipped with advanced radar (able to track more than 100 ships at once), moderate armor (8000-10000), and probably one large and one small weapons port.

This would add a whole new dynamic to nation wars, BP, and BS because attacking groups would have an incentive to target the Radar ship in order to give their side the advantage. And, of course, nations who had a Radar ship present would have to divert some resources to keep the ship alive if they wanted to keep their advantage.

Food for thought.

To expound on this great idea even further, all targets could have a bar below them indicating health. Also, they could all have a lead target redical. These secondary targets lead indicators would be dull colors so you would not confuse it with you're primary target. So even if you’re main target is not in view you can take accurate shots at another enemy passing by. This advantage could be added with the “radar ship” being present.

I didn't think about it earlier, but the idea of a Radar Ship dovetails with some of the earlier suggestions about being able to assign a group target. A player operating a Radar Ship in a group could assign target priority to various targets and broadcast that information to the group/faction/nation/guild. This amounts to having a forward command center present in a battle, which adds an element of strategy to large battles, in particular. Instead of all players from a nation or faction simply flying headlong into the fray, we could see smaller teams being directed to attack specific and strategic targets. Say, for instance, a pilot on an opposing team who is particularly troublesome, or a heavier ship wreaking havoc from afar.

Ooh, this just keeps sounding better and better. Thoughts?

Interesting ideas.

I really would want the passive hud id system to be active all the time. It's useful for escort missions, fighting in a small group against NPCs, identifying who is around you as a miner, just generally knowing your surroundings better.

How about instead of a radar ship, you have a radar jammer. You don't even need to make it a separate ship type. Just create an equipment add-on that goes in a heavy weapon slot.

Firing the jammer would take all of your energy and make all your team-mates within 1500m become radar invisible. The effect would only last 10-20 seconds though. Then you would need to activate the jammer again. This would not jam the lock on, a separate weapon could interfere with enemy targeting systems.

The jamming ship would need to emit a glow while its system is activated, this will give a cue to the opposing team as to which target to focus on if losing the passive hud is an issue.

For West's suggestion of more passive id detail (health, target lead, distance), in my dream world there would be 'modification slots' on all of the ships. So there could be several 'hud enhancement' mods that you could purchase.

I just detailed the 'modification slots' idea more here:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/16761?page=#211470

it's all pretty but doesn't it become a bit too cluttery? it'd be hard to spot incoming ammo admits all the visual cues.

"Amidst". I think an option to switch it off with a bind would take care of that problem during a fight.

I like the suggestions and have been working in a similar direction, due to the required Friendly Fire / Factional system changes. There's going to be a significant need for greater ability to identify foes quickly. I've mostly been focusing on selected-target and radar changes, but adding unselected data would be really useful too, as long as one could toggle it off if needed.

So, anyway, keep up the suggestions. Sounds cool. Thanks for the input and mockups, Proton, and welcome to VO.

I have another stupid idea: why not to display players' names above their ships? (like you see player's name above his character in WoW and other MMOs)

Wow, Aleksey, that's the best idea so far. That above all else would be most useful. Simply color the name red, blue or yellow for the faction. Simply brilliant!

Here, here!!!

In light of the recent update to 1.7.30 that introduced colored names in the chat console, I would like to suggest a revision to Aleksey's idea.

Player A targets Player B. Player B's name should show up in Player A's target info box as yellow, red or blue for their nation alignment. However, when Player A faces Player B, the name "Player B" should hover above the targeted ship in white text. I suggest keeping the name a neutral white color so that it stands out against the space background. Keep the ship targeting box yellow for neutral and red for hostile.

Bump for great idea, but I would also like to suggest having distance, and possibly health percentage displayed for the targeted ship aswell.