Autopilot

[Kapten-N]

There's one thing I don't understand about forums. If you start a thread about something that there's already a thread about you are an idiot for not searching for the original thread first. If you do a search an find an old thread on the topic you were looking for you're frowned upon for necromancy if you post in it. There's simply no pleasing anybody.

Anyhow, on to the topic I wanted to talk about. This is a copy paste of my post in this thread: http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=86665 which was closed just after I posted in it:

Hello. I'm new to this forum and to your server. Here's my two cents on this topic:

I've been on your server for about two or three days and I've been doing some lucrative trading in order to get a starting capital so that I can afford a decent fighter in the near future. As a trader when you are not buying and selling goods at a station this is how you go about your day:

1. Select next waypoint.
2. Dock.
3. Stare at screen for 30 seconds.
4. Repeat.

(This will hereby be called "the loop of boredom".)
It's incredibly tedious. You have so little to do that you get bored out of your mind and the time that you are not doing anything isn't long enough to focus on something else. Even if you use a quick docking technique, which cuts total travel time and require more work, it's still too intermittent.
This game is in serious need of an autopilot. I'm not saying that there should be an autotrader like what the OP created. It's definitly cheating if the computer does the trading for you, but having an autopilot that can follow waypoints would be a blessing. Then you could focus on the actual trading part that is buying and selling commodities and planning a route without having to go through the loop of boredom fifty times between each station. You could read a book or something until you hear shots being fired or the "tradelane disrupted" warning.
I don't see how this would ruin roleplay. It's not like much happens during those trips anyway. it's just a continous iteration of the loop of boredom. If you are afraid that people on autopilot are going to miss what people write in the chat you could perhaps implement a sound signal each time someone writes something.

I assure you that an autopilot would increase the enjoyment of playing this game.

[Loken]

It's more a case of if you start a thread asking a question that has already been answered you should have searched. Asking a new question is fine even if it's similar to a previous topic.

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[Veygaar]

Ya know... I like this idea.

If it weren't for the fear that as a Pirate I would encounter SO SO SO SO many traders who get dropped out of the lane and just fly straight, oblivious to the fact that they're being talked to.

If you simplify trading, traders will become even more-so lazy. I already meet alot of traders who I'm trying to make a demand to while they fly straight, and after I shoot for a while I get a "//Sorry was alt tabbed."

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Veygaar for Admin Moderator 2013!!!

[Anaximander]

I don't mind the autopilot thing at all - perhaps autobuy/sell but I am not even sure about that.

Playing EVE I never used the autopilot because it was certain death, and I am pretty sure the same would be the case in Disco too (except from in the late hours with few ppl online).

Didn't the Roberts-guy intend on having autopilot as a feature in FL anyways?

[Toaster]

I'm all for it. Nothing is more boring in Freelancer than the "loop of boredom." Compared to that, relogging at a station twenty times to get a damn double bribe is exciting. And the OP is right, little to no RP would be lost. After all, inRP I can't really imagine the entire crew of a transport intently staring at the lane rings zipping by as they race through a trade lane. Instead, they'd probably be doing something else. Like reading a book.

Absolutely like the idea.

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Olivia Sable

[Felix_Wannamaker_III]

Ya know... I like this idea.

If it weren't for the fear that as a Pirate I would encounter SO SO SO SO many traders who get dropped out of the lane and just fly straight, oblivious to the fact that they're being talked to.

If you simplify trading, traders will become even more-so lazy. I already meet alot of traders who I'm trying to make a demand to while they fly straight, and after I shoot for a while I get a "//Sorry was alt tabbed."

I have to remember to try this next time I see you.

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Im penniless, rotten in a fight, and have authority issues, but im back!

[onca]

Great idea... coz what this server desperately needs is more lawlrats in capships.

I always thought the grinding aspect was a barrier to entry when owning a powerful warship... only those players who devote themselves to many, many hours of tedium have the commitment to Discovery to warrant owning a capship.

It's not much of a barrier, I grant you, but it's the best we have.

[Felix_Wannamaker_III]

Agreed, although cap spam is a separate issue. That said, a great deal of grinding is required just to work up to a decent snub if you arent in a faction.

Back to cap spam, I still think the solution is to make them even more into gigantic money sinks, or even more vulnerable in combat.

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Im penniless, rotten in a fight, and have authority issues, but im back!

[Anaximander]

Meh capspam never was a problem in Disco in itself, people whining about it however is a different story.

[Kapten-N]

I just realized that I probably posted this thread in the wrong forum. I just posted in the same forum as the original thread, but perhaps this belongs in the mod forum rather than the server forum.