Suggestions: Voice menu and more contrast team collors

[Mr.Mouse]

The best voce menu - in ET:QW http://etqw.geezergaming.com/newbies/images/contextchat.jpg
(Center point depends on current target)

Also - i hardly see differences between red and blue team ships. Maybe collor ballons in teamcollor?

[Mr.Mouse]

Also - Unicode support in chat?

[N-Sunderland]

The balloons are already in the colour of the team. The only ones you might have trouble distinguishing are that of the Goldfish and maybe the Squid, but those have flags to help you determine the team anyways.

I would also love to see Unicode support.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I actually like the limited coloring as it is, and red vs blue is classic.  But yellow is also a much louder color, would be easier to see at distance or against the blue.

[Jazzza]

Also - i hardly see differences between red and blue team ships. Maybe collor ballons in teamcollor?

You need to use a spy glass and spot enemies, then shoot at the white boxed ships.

One ship needs fixing though - a blue Goldfish actually has blue AND red flags on the ship, confusing the hell out of me (who has been playing for several months) and new players.

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Completely agree with a command menu, like:
http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/121/1210288/commo_rose_1319141071.png
http://i.stack.imgur.com/XzLM0.jpg (replace Russian with English )

[Helmic]

I like having the colors a bit hard to see; red and blue contrast well enough even for someone colorblind like myself, and the confusion over whether someone's friend or foe means someone needs to whip out their spyglass and use that zoom to let the pilot know.  Goldfish's flags need fixing though, those are just stupid.

As for the voice menu, I think it's going to become a necessity simply because of the international playerbase.  There needs to be some way for an English engineer to communicate to the Russian captain that the hull doesn't have any armor and that a ram would in fact be a terrible idea right now.

[Jazzza]

As for the voice menu, I think it's going to become a necessity simply because of the international playerbase.  There needs to be some way for an English engineer to communicate to the Russian captain that the hull doesn't have any armor and that a ram would in fact be a terrible idea right now.

Ramming is always a good idea! What could go wrong!

[N-Sunderland]

One ship needs fixing though - a blue Goldfish actually has blue AND red flags on the ship, confusing the hell out of me (who has been playing for several months) and new players.

There are no red flags on blue Goldfishes. You're mistaking fins for flags. Flags have much less detail than the fins, so you can tell the difference.

[RearAdmiralZill]

One ship needs fixing though - a blue Goldfish actually has blue AND red flags on the ship, confusing the hell out of me (who has been playing for several months) and new players.

There are no red flags on blue Goldfishes. You're mistaking fins for flags. Flags have much less detail than the fins, so you can tell the difference.

This. The easiest way to tell is, does it have any blue on it? If so, its blue. If not, its red.

[Jazzza]

One ship needs fixing though - a blue Goldfish actually has blue AND red flags on the ship, confusing the hell out of me (who has been playing for several months) and new players.

There are no red flags on blue Goldfishes. You're mistaking fins for flags. Flags have much less detail than the fins, so you can tell the difference.

This. The easiest way to tell is, does it have any blue on it? If so, its blue. If not, its red.

Come on, you can't tell me this http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/12/goldfish.jpg isn't confusing when you're in the midst of battle or if you're new?

Why aren't the "fins" all blue if on blue team, or a completely different colour than one of the team colours?

Edit: I've taught myself that if they have blue then they're on blue, but should a player really have to do that when playing a game?

[RearAdmiralZill]

Come on, you can't tell me this http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/12/goldfish.jpg isn't confusing when you're in the midst of battle or if you're new?

Why aren't the "fins" all blue if on blue team, or a completely different colour than one of the team colours?

Edit: I've taught myself that if they have blue then they're on blue, but should a player really have to do that when playing a game?

Ive never had a problem with it in a battle. When youre new, you shoot everything anyway (sometimes no friendly fire is a godsend..).

From what I can assume, the goldfish model includes the fins and not the flags. So you get what you see in your image.

Its being extremely nit-picky in my opinion. Would you rather they lose all of their aesthetic appeal and turn into giant red/blue blobs?

[Ardnived]

As a new player. I'd like to weigh in a bit on this. Personally I have definitely had a fair bit of difficulty distinguishing friend from foe, however, I think Helmic makes a great point.

the confusion over whether someone's friend or foe means someone needs to whip out their spyglass and use that zoom to let the pilot know.

I think that increased usefulness to spyglasses is great.

The issue in my opinion, isn't really a matter of determining friend from foe. You have ways to ensure the target is correct. By using the spyglass, or popping up the minimap real quick.

But when I look at that image that Jazzza posted. I'm instantly struck with a sense of confusion. The fact that the red and blue are equally prominent in the colouring of that ship, actually leads me personally to believe that the ship belongs to some faction that has both red and blue as it's colours. Being new, I wouldn't really know better.

Alternatively, how would I know that the blue are the flags, and the red are fins? I could just as easily see the flags as some kind of sails, and the fins as the team colouring. But in the heat of the battle, I'm probably not going to think that deeply, and I don't think a game should be designed in such a way that requires that in this sort of situation.

To bring this into context though. People will learn, I'll learn, and if an alternative method of creating good aesthetics can't be found, then I guess life will go on.

However, I think there are ways that could comprise both good aesthetics and more clear team colouring for that ship. For example, the goldfish can still be given colour without it having to be red. Making all the red become blue is clearly not a good solution, but the red could become more of an orange or a brown (though brown is a bit dull), or a burgundy to make it more distinct from the team colour red. Or alternatively if red wasn't one of the team colours then it wouldn't be an issue. You could also go with something completely different like purple or yellow. But I'm not sure if that would look good.

[Dr Addleman]

+1 for the voice menu

My favorite version of a voice menu is from Tribes, but any is better than none. 

[Jazzza]

Its being extremely nit-picky in my opinion. Would you rather they lose all of their aesthetic appeal and turn into giant red/blue blobs?

No, I prefer they change the colour to something other than a team colour. Why do they have to use red fins/flags with blue? Why can't they use a different colour (like the normal brown or something).

Of course it's nit-picky. All of these suggestions in this forum are nit-picky. Just because you don't have a problem with it doesn't mean it's not an issue for other people.

[Helmic]

Yeah, it's not that we want blue fins, it's that we don't want them to be red.  Maybe putting another flag on top of the top fin would do the trick.