Hello all,
 
  In the interest of creating a "library" of code modification examples, as part of a notional future thread or Forum subsection devoted to providing an easy introduction to POG coding for players who are interested in becoming code modders, this thread solicits player requests for changes that would improve aspects of game play. This is not intended to be a "bug fix" thread, though if bugs are reported here, they will certainly be paid attention to. But the main intent is to accumulate a list of changes that could be implemented rapidly both to improve ease of play and also for the sake of the above-mentioned library of examples of code modifications.

  Here are a few minor changes that I would like to see that would speed up interactions with stations. These don't interfere with the realism agenda, just make it possible to do things a little more quickly:

a) dockport clearance requests:

when hailing a  station to request docking permission, the player is presented with multiple options to choose among after the station acknowledges the player contact.

   There are some instances in which it is pretty easy for the code to anticipate what the player intends to do. For example, if I have cargo loaded on my ship that the station can buy, it's a good bet that I want to dock to the freight conveyor. Likewise if my ship is a freight hauler with no loaded cargo and I am hailing a station that sells cargo.

  The code mod that I would like to see is to anticipate these situations and start the player dialogue options with the "freight clearance" option highlighted. It's a tiny change and saves only a single keystroke when docking, but I find it annoying to have to do this predictable thing over and over again. This is not a high priority request, obviously

b) Cargo Buy Screen

  The "Buy All" option produces the "bad" sound if the number of pods available for sale exceeds the cargo capacity of the player ship.

 It would be a mild convenience to have a button "Order Ship Capacity" or to have the "Order All" button default to the number of pods the ship can carry when that exceeds the ship capacity. This information is already accessible to the code since it is used to refuse an order that exceeds the ship capacity.

c) When the station accepts the docking clearance request, the player cannot issue the dock order until after the station message finishes printing. Its just a couple of seconds, but it's an annoyance. Arguably, the request for docking clearance is a request to dock, and the permission would be communicated to the ship autopilot (or the station would take control of the ship if that concept is attractive) and docking could begin immediately upon station decision to grant permission.

This might be easy to code, I guess -- it may be a matter of relative order of two pog statements.

 

I have adjusted the Dockport Clearance requests slightly.  Now the dock will be cleared as soon as the selection is made by the player, and not after the station finishes announcing the clearance.  This will stream-line the interaction slightly, and will prevent that annoying few second delay while you hestiate on the docking order while the station is telling you you have clearance.