I saw, in the list of things already suggested, a link labeled "autopilot". After clicking on it, I realized it lead me to the same place as the docking computer section. I don't see any need for a docking computer, but what I think would not only be realistic and practical, but totally useful, would be an autopilot system.

The reason I say this is because one time while playing VO, I had a course plotted through 6 or 7 systems, and during the journey, I starting writing in the mission notes section in my ship's computer. Also, I began checking little things like my faction standing, my cargo, etc. Well, after I was done doing all this, I realized that I was over 80,000m away from the wormhole I was suppose to enter.

I think that it would be efficient (as well as add more realism) if there was an auto pilot system that could be engaged at will, that would do something along the lines of navigate you across a course plotted through space. It could navigate you away from obstructions like asteroids for example, and if attacked, or upon reaching your destination sector, it could warn you, then disengage.

I just don't want to have to worry about ending up 80,000m out of my way while writing notes in my mission computer.

or even just a sound notification that you are nearing the wormhole, so you can activate it.. and maybe if you enter a storm it automatically disengages. same goes for when you are shot at.. so if you're really not paying attention, you would still go boom real quick. heh.. come to think of it.. that would be nice for sneaking up on traders. yay!
auto-pilot seems really lazy, but in a space sim. it only makes sense.

some cup holders and an ashtray in my maud would be nice too.
k,thx

"I just don't want to have to worry about ending up 80,000m out of my way while writing notes in my mission computer."

Just warp out and back in again. Then your only 5-10km away.

Yeah, you are right about that; warping out then back in again. But like DarBar said, I just think it would add more realism to the game. It wouldn't be so much lazy (though I'm sure it could be used that way), as it would be practical.

I would assume that people who live under the conditions that are apparent in VO, would have an autopilot mechanism set on their space crafts.

I liked the idea of it disengaging when entering Ion Storms, that just seems very logical. A noise indicating it's deactivation I thought was clever too. Perhaps it could be accompanied by some text appearing on one's HUD, as well as a count down of some sort until it switches back to manual-pilot.

I just think that it's a little detail that would add more depth to the workings of VO's world.

I also think we should have an autopilot. We haven't debated about that in a meeting in a long time.

technically the mission system already has this. Perhaps a mission editor variant that only has the course map for the players to use in the stations would work.

(I'm a programmer, otherwise I'd suggest writing an entirely separate set of functions from ones already wrote)...

I have read some thread on the forums that also discussed some UI changes. The idea was to be able to save some plotted routes for use with an autopilot. Perhaps ff you made a dropbox of saved routes for later selection or similar. That would be nice.

I like the idea aswell, it shouldn't be too hard to implement (as the AI already is an Auto-Pilot).

This is a good type of autopilot. The "dumb" type which still needs some human involvement if just to make sure everything is going fine.

As long as the Devs can make sure the coordinate system doesn't get exposed, I'm all for this :)

Yes, I`ve also been thinking that there should be an autopilot.

Yea, I found this on like page 5, thought it should definately be brought up again.

What if we just expanded the /navroute system to be a little more user-friendly? I mean, make buttons for "Save Navroute as...", "Load Navroute...", "Rename Navroute..." , and "Delete Navroute..." That would be nice. It already works in the command-line mode, right?

Coordinate system cannot be exposed due to sneaky players using Bot mining and Bot trading.
Beacons/waypoints/markers cannot be used for, well, the same reasons.

However, if there was a way to store beacons client-side in such a way that only THAT player could see them, they could be implemented. As long as there's no way to /displayshippos or /setshippos from outside the server. The beacons would obviously have coordinates, but there's no way to write a bot that could compare the coordinates.

So, you could target a beacon, but you could not say "Fly to Beacon 1" and go have a cup of coffee. You could fly to the Sector, and your beacon would appear like someone you have grouped, you can always see their position. Then you'd manually fly towards the beacon.

So, anyway, an improved /navroute interface along with a secure client-side beacon system is about as good an "autopilot" as we're gonna get.

*casts Turn Undead Thread*

Seriously, though: The navicomp needs a revamp/makeover badly. Even though you might want to hit me with the nearest blunt object, I have to bring up EVN. Although it did not have a matrix of sectors, but only systems (kinda like VO was when it was still V and had 9-21 sectors), but it allows to plot a major route (which stays fixed unless deleted or traveled), a minor route (1 jump only)and it allows to easily delete waypoints from the route.

Combine that, the old navicomp and the stuff Lex mentioned, and you get an abomination of nature that just might work.

You mean not to have an autopilot, but to have beacons for the purpose of ... what? I can imagine deployable beacons that last for an hour or so to indicate where that precious roid was. They would be too small to appear on the radar, but visible to the eye, and they would be sending a signal on frequencies that may be picked up or not when some other player`s looking out for them. Their owner, of course, knows the frequency and thus can see them on the radar.

That would help somewhat with mining, but with what more?

An autopilot would be actually useful because it would do the stupid part of flying from one sector in a system to another sector in another system, or in the same system, for you. Once a friend/foe list is implemented, a warning like the proximity warning would be triggered once someone known as enemy is in the same sector you are in. You can`t stare all the time at the sector list now; with an autopilot you could, but who would want to do that?

You may say it`s just convenience, but I`m all for making gameplay more convenient. It`s small things like this that make a game more fun to play. They show off that attention has been payed to details, and even so in a way that is useful for players and makes them happy. Maybe it`s just me, but I admire such things. (No bashing intended!)

We`re not Klingons sleeping on hard benches without covers, aren`t we? :)

One thing that might be useful is an "auto-jump" system which while it doesn't control the directly your ship travels in, it will automatically activate your jump when you cross into a wormhole, or past the 3000m in-system jump limit. If you don't have enough energy, the system cuts your boost and lets your energy recharge to the minimum level required. So at the very least, as long as you've pointed your ship in the right direction, you'll make your jump.

So it is not a true autopilot that one can easily make a bot out of, but at least it lets you make a jump to the next system while you're not paying attention.

Yunni, have you tried the /navroute command?

As in, plot a complex route (shift-click to add waypoints), then while that route is still active, type
/navroute save "route1"

Then, follow your route. When you're in the same sector again the next time you're doing a trade run or whatever, type
/navroute load "route1"

I know it's command-line stuff, and there's not much documentation, but the navroute command does some of what you just mentioned.

Lexi, though I knew that command was there, I never used it and just clicked the map. My routes never became so complicated that I would have wanted to save/reload a route.

Pidgeon, an `auto-jump` would be nice and solve the original problem, but having no more than that would appear to me as something only 1/2 done again.

Do you think it would be easy to make a bot of an autopilot that only flies a ship from A to B? You`d still need to dock manually to trade, to approach a roid to mine ..., and you`d have to monitor the flight because it would turn off in a storm. If we had a friend/foe list, it could also turn off once an enemy is in the same sector.

You could even make it so that you had to press or click a button every minute or so, like they have in trains. Fail to touch the button, and the auto pilot turns off and stops the ship. It will then send a distress signal throughout the system, giving the current position of the ship, so that an unconscious pilot can be rescued :)

Hm, that allows for missions: "We have recieved an automatic distress call from one of our pilots. The autopilot has stopped his ship at .... Equip your ship with this scanner/tractor-beam and scan the ship to find out what happened to the pilot/tow the ship to this station to rescue him. // After scanning the ship, defend it until our rescue forces come in to pick it up."

Do you think it would be easy to make a bot of an autopilot that only flies a ship from A to B?

Yes. In fact, we have them. They're often denoted by a little asterix before their name, although they only travel between systems occasionally.

Ok, you may consider a ship being flown by an autopilot as a bot already. May the player who is using the autopilot to fly his ship go get a cup of coffee --- he would be taking a risk, and I don`t see what harm would come from that to others. I drink lots of coffee ...

well way back when /displayshippos didn't display hippos, players would make bots that would fly them out of stations, to wormholes, dock with a destination station, buy cargo, exit the station, fly back to the starting point, sell cargo, etc. This is a BAD THING.