Visual tool ideas that are not gameplay based

[Crafeksterty]

Or tools that give information.

So we have the spyglass that is pretty much universal.

The range finder has a very specific requierment that helps (and needs a bit of a fix for more practical uses), but what i think is so cool about it is that it replaces the spyglass. So i tought about the things that could help a crew member do his job more effectively.

And this tool is the Stop Watch

The stopwatch reveals new ui elements to your left whenever you have this equipment on you passively.
This reveals all of the components (except guns), but not their health. Just small circles and their cooldown timers on the left part of the screen.
You also get to see chemspray timer.

And thats it, a tool that replaces the beloved spyglass for an easier to manage component tool as engineer.


Gunners get a complete new usage for this. It could be a seperate tool, if so then it would be called "The Kitchen Timer"
Basically for gunner, he can see on his left what guns are reloaded so he can jump on one for the ammo before it is loaded with default.
He can also hear a bell in the proximity of the weapon for the last 3 seconds of the weapons reload.

He sees this for every gun on the ship.


For the pilot, you have the 2 tools in seperate to be a focus for the gunner or engineer, while the pilot is left out. If it is a passive tool that varies from class to class.
Then as an example "Stopwatch: Shows the timers for each classes priorities. Engineer: Shows cooldown repair timer for each ship component except for weapons. Gunner: Shows reloads for all guns and makes a bell sound for each gun close by the gunner for the last 2 seconds of its reload. Pilot: Shows the time you have spent away from the helm."

In most cases, like the rangefinder, it is a very good practice tool that can be practical for newbies and experienced alike.




Another tool ive come up that gives information that enhances your understanding of the game is Wilsons handbook
"You keep the wilsons handbook on your hands and immidiatly know the damage that is being done. Knowledge is half the battle"
This tool on the gunner slot gives number for each hitmarker. It does not show the number if it is below 5 damage per hitmarker.
As a tweak to not make it chaotic to the eyes, we can then say it only shows the damage that the wielder does (But then it takes away the use for pilots as of information).


Other than that, it would be awesome to have tools that showcase some way for more information in regards to what is happening. The big downside to these is that it takes away a slot. Which is the primary design to how these tools seem neutered is because then they cant put in another tool in there instead.

[Dementio]

All these tools should be taking up a pilot slot. Especially the Wilsons handbook since it shows everybody sees every damage that is being done and also, if you are a gunner or "gungineer" would you really give up a gunner slot just to see the damage?

The stopwatch is reasonable, I think, but more if you are an engineer that has to watch out for his chem spray circles, since even when you bought this game, you can see the repair cooldown already visually, which kinda teaches you already that repairing with this engineer tool takes this long.
Also, I think the repair cooldowns, even from a mallet, are just too short in order to make this tool useful. I would add a buff timer to it with the chemspray timer, just to give more usage for this tool.

Now, "The Kitchen Timer" is nice when you are a gunner using more than 1 gun simultaneously, which is already rare enough, but is the bell sound really necessary? If you are going to use this tool, you might as well make use of it and glance at UI once in a while to know what's up.
The bell would enable the gunner to just ignore the UI itself and concentrate on shooting, yes, but then again the reload time of weapons are what? 4-8 seconds with a few excpetions? That bell would at times go off almost instantly, making it kinda pointless.

It's debatable if you combine the stopwatch and the kitchen timer, since both give information that's basically useless for the gunner and engineer. However, if you combine it, only 1 guy, (most likely one of the engineers) has to bring it and this guy just gives the necessary information to the other guys, which would increas the much requested communication, if you have a mic.

Another thing is: Would these tools still be active when you mount a gun? Because if they are not, then somebody who is not shooting has to give up a slot for this tool. But then again, it wouldn't really help the kitchen timer in some cases.

However, I kinda like the idea of having more tools that can replacing the spyglass, since there is no other tool that engineers and gunners could drive use from other than the occasional range finder, which is already rarely used.

[Crafeksterty]

You bring up good points. But yeah, i tought that they would be more like passives. Simply having the book shows the wielder or whoever owns the book the damage numbers. The one who owns the stopwatch sees his functional extra UI.

Dont know if you cought up with the theme. A STOPWATCH and a HANDBOOK being very good PRACTICE ITEMS. Haha.
I mean they would definetly be usefull during gameplay for newbies. For me tough, i kinda want the Pilot function of the StopWatch, me on a spire is also part pilotengiegunner. So giving myself records to when im on or off the helm would be a very cool minigame.

Same would go for the gunner keeping up with the reloads, or the engineer learning a cycle or changin up his cycle because of a crewmember spoiling it a bit.


For the wilsons handbook, it mostly is to take away the confusion regarding how much damage a gun does for newbies. For experienced players it would proove usefull for stuff such as keeping a mental track of the enemies health. Much like how TF2 pro players do it. When a Medics health is 125. And they did 65 damage. Equals 60 remaining health on that medic. (In rough estimate, 50% health remaining). I do not know if this information would break the current gameplay if used like this versus ships in Goio but it would be interresting to see.


Edit:
Here is a pro use of Wilsons handbook with a gunner on a Hades that i just came up with.
Lets say the pyramidion he is shooting at has 650 armor.
The piercing damage along with fire does up to 91 damage to that armor. (looked up what piercing and fire does to armor, pretty hard hitting)
And he has 8 shots on a hades.
If he hits 7 times, the pyramidions hull will then go down.
But wait, the rubber mallet gives 250 extra armor to that pyra (For most reasons why ships live longer)
Meaning he has to hit all 8 shots for the armor to be at very low.

Realistically, you wont be able to land every shot but you have a mental knowledge of how much armor/any damage done to him is done.
So, what if the hades hits the baloon, the guy with the handbook will see how drastically the damage changes because it hit something that is not purely the hull. And that is where the randomness can be discovered with this book. A hades shot may directly hit a component, where the component most likely shielded the hull from damage (until it breaks).