As a further suggestion for the "/navroute" command, it would help if it could suggest, but not force, filenames upon tab-completion when saving or loading routes. As an active trader, I need to be able to plot and save many trade routes from and to many locations, avoiding ion storms, efficiently. Currently, I need to do something like the following procedure each time I plot a new route:

--
/navroute add "Itan G-6"
--
/navroute save "Itan K-11 to Itan G-6"

Navigation route saved.
--

As mentioned previously, one problem with the above behavior is the mysterious lack of feedback for the "add" option. The first time I had used this option, I thought that the command had failed, because of lack of any feedback whatsoever. It would have helped if, instead, the command had behaved as follows:

--
/navroute add "Itan G-6"

Navigation route added.
--

While at least one developer has suggested that automatic filenames would be impractical because too many people would object to the naming scheme, no matter which one were used, I think that if unique, clear filenames were suggested only when tab-completed, this would be a time-saving advantage that would be very useful.

It would also help to synchronize added and saved filenames for clarity.

Here's an example:

First, assume that the player has plotted a course from Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6 (a common trade route). The player now types the following:

--
/navroute add "
--

At this point, the user hits the <tab> key, and the command begins auto-completing as follows:

--
/navroute add "Edras G-11 to
--

with the "Edras G-11 to " part highlighted. If the player hadn't pressed <tab>, nothing would have appeared, so players who don't like this naming scheme wouldn't have incurred any additional hassle. Further, players not preferring this tab-completed suggestion could simply hit <delete> to delete the highlighted portion.

Now suppose that the player is somebody who is particularly lazy about typing filenames, so he/she hits <tab> again. The command then obtains the destination directly from the already plotted course in the navigation map (filename completion would fail otherwise):

--
/navroute add "Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6"
--

with the "Nyrius F-6" part highlighted. Again, if the player does not prefer the suggestion, he/she can simply hit <delete> to delete it.

The player then hits <return>. Bingo! The screen returns:

--

Navigation route added.
--

(Note the extra line above the feedback, for visual clarity.)

What is the next step that this player would logically do after enter another "/navroute" command? You guessed it! Save the route! The player now types:

--
/navroute
--

At this point, the player hits <tab> again. Because the player has just saved a route, the navigation computer deduces that the player is probably trying to save this just added route. Therefore, the command auto-completes as follows:

--
/navroute save "Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6"
--

with the " save "Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6"" part highlighted. Again, if the player does not prefer the suggestion, he/she can simply delete it with the <delete> key.

This auto-completion feature has just saved a lot of tedious overhead. All that would be required to implement it would be to keep a log of any routes currently plotted in the navigation map, and to remember the last navroute command, including its parameters.

It would also help if this auto-completion system worked for loading filenames as well (completion to the end of the current unique phrase in the filename). For example, suppose that the player had routes saved as follows:

--
/navroute list

"Edras G-11 to Edras B-11.rte"
"Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6.rte"
"Itan K-11 to Itan G-4.rte"

Navigation routes listed.
--

Suppose that the player later wishes to load the route ""Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6.rte", but doesn't want to type the entire filename. The player now enters the following:

--
/navroute load "E
--

and hits <tab>. The command auto-completes as follows:

--
/navroute load "Edras G-11
--

because this part is unique in the navigation route filename list, highlighting the "dras G-11" part after the "E". If the player has hit <tab> by accident, he/she can simply hit <delete> to delete the highlighted portion. Note that the command doesn't automatically complete up to the "to" part, because in some cases, he/she may wish to modify the sector number.

The player then types the following:

--
/navroute load "Edras G-11 to N
--

and hits <tab> again. The command tab-completes to the following part:

--
/navroute load "Edras G-11 to Nyrius F-6.rte"
--

this time highlighting the "yrius F-6.rte" part after the "N". Again, if the player has hit <tab> by accident, he/she can simply hit <delete> to delete the highlighted portion.

Using this auto-completion feature combined with the aforementioned "list" option, I would eagerly save every single trade route that avoided ion storms. After a few weeks, I could easily have dozens of such routes saved and readily available, only a few keystrokes away.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

To be honest, this whole commmand line structure is too cumbersome. Couldn't it just be as simple as plotting the course in the nav window, and to the left or right of the map have a small form for the name of the route and a save button. Then below that add a popup menu for saved routes. Then while in game if you wanted to call up a route you would just need to type /navroute_X (x being route number from save order), and or just select the route and it auto applies its self to the map.