) Lewis: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=123871Thanks to Ceeege for posting the link in our thread on the FD forums! I hadn't seen it.
Edward Lewis wrote:Originally posted by Michael Brookes:
Overview
Update 1.2 allows players to fly in wings, small four man teams that cooperate together for mutual benefit.
In addition, a number of systems have been updated:
· Heat now primarily affects modules, only damaging hull once it reaches catastrophic levels
· Self destruct now has a timer
· Ships can initiate a reboot and repair sequence to bring broken modules back on line
· Commanders can purchase shield boosters and hull upgrade packages
· Signal sources are now roughly rated by signal strength
Finally, the Ship HUD has been updated in a number of ways to support game play.
Wings
Joining and Leaving
You use the updated Comms Panel to join and leave wings:
Inviting
To start a wing, select a Commander from the Comms Contacts tab in the Comms panel and choose:
[INVITE TO WING]
You’ll see the contact listed under a new, “Wing Requests” heading.
Once the Commander accepts the invitation, a wing is formed; all wingmen contacts will be listed under a “Wings” heading.
All wingmen may issue invites until the wing is full (contains four Commanders).
Accepting
When a Commander invites you to join a wing, a notification marker will appear next to your Inbox tab.
Navigate to your Inbox tab in the Comms Panel to view the invitation.
Highlight and select the TICK to accept the invitation.
Highlight and select the CROSS to decline the invitation.
Leaving
To leave a wing, select the Options entry under the “Wings” heading from the Comms Contacts tab, and choose:
[LEAVE WING]
You can leave a wing at any time. However, if you leave a wing there is a cool down before you can join or start a new wing.
Interface
Replacing the ship warning lights HUD bar is the wings interface. The warning lights are relocated to the top of the Info Panel.
Each wingman in your wing will have a status element in the wings interface HUD.
This element displays several pieces of information:
· Wing Icon: each wingman has a ID icon used to identify them in the HUD
o Your own ID icon is displayed at the top left of your Comms Panel tab line
· Surrounding the ID icon is a set of concentric rings showing the wingman’s ship shield status
o As the shields are depleted the rings fade away
· Below the shield status is a bar showing the wingman’s ship hull status
o As the hull is damaged the bar is reduced
· Below the hull status is the wingman’s Commander name
· To the left of the Commander name is the Wingman’s voice status
· Below the Commander name is the wingman’s current target
o If the wingman is in a different system the system name is displayed here
When a wingman targets a vessel, their ID icon will appear next to the entity when you look at it.
All HUD elements connected with your wingmen are coloured cyan to help you spot them.
When a vessel is hostile to a wingman, it will display with purple HUD elements to inform you of the state.
When you target a vessel and perform a basic scan, the bottom left target info panel will display if the ship is in a wing, and how many members the wing has.
Features
There are several beneficial features that become active when you are in a wing:
Wingman Targeting
NEW BINDINGS DEFAULT BINDING
Select Wingman 1 Not Set
Select Wingman 2 Not Set
Select Wingman 3 Not Set
Select Wingman’s Target Not Set
You can use new hotkey bindings to quickly target each wingman in your wing.
If you target a wingman you will target their wake if applicable.
If you target a wingman in a different system you will target their system.
If you have a wingman targeted, you can use the Select Wingman’s Target binding.
In addition, all scans performed by wingmen are shared across the entire wing as long as they are present at the location.
Wingman Relaxed Requirements
When using wakes created by your wingmen, you can travel faster and be further away and still safely use them.
Wingman Crime Exemption
You cannot commit crimes against wingmen, and no authorities will intervene as long as your actions do not affect other ships or structures.
Cargo can be freely transferred between wingmen who all count as its owner.
Crimes against non-wingmen remain personal; other wingmen are not punished directly, though they may well commit crimes if they wish to help out.
Wingman nav-Lock
You can slave your ship’s frame shift drive to a wingman’s vessel. Select a Commander from the Comms Contacts tab in the Comms panel who is listed under the “Wing” heading and choose:
[ENGAGE WINGMAN NAV-LOCK]
You will see a square marker appear on the wingman’s status element in the wing interface.
When you are nav-locked, the following effects occur *automatically* if you are close enough to them.
When the nav-lock marker is cyan, you are within nav-lock range.
When the nav-lock maker is red, you are out of range.
· You will follow the wingman into and out of super cruise
o Standard requirements still apply (retracted hardpoints and gear, etc.)
· You will follow the wingman into a hyperspace jump
o Standard requirements still apply (retracted hardpoints and gear, capable FSD, fuel, etc.)
· You will follow the wingman’s wakes
o Standard requirements still apply
Note, you can only slave your drive to a single wingman at a time, but you can change the nav-lock target freely.
To turn off the nav-lock, select the nav-locked Commander from the Comms Contacts tab in the Comms panel who is listed under the “Wing” heading and choose:
[CANCEL WINGMAN NAVLOCK]
Wingman Beacon Signal
When in normal space, you can activate your ship’s beacon signal, by navigating to the Functions tab, highlighting and selecting:
[BEACON]
Choose “Wing” to turn the beacon signal on.
Choose “Off” to turn the beacon signal off.
Whilst the beacon signal is on, any Commanders at super cruise in your system will see a signal contact on their sensors.
You can target and drop out at a signal contact to arrive at the wingman’s location in normal space.
Wingman Shared Bounties
When attacking wanted vessels, every wingman that takes part in the fight, landing some hits on target will be eligible for an equal share in the bounty claim, as long as they are present when the vessel is destroyed.
Wingman Trade Dividend
When a wingman makes a profitable trade, all other wingmen will receive a trade dividend claim, a small, profit-based credit payment awarded by starports to encourage the protection of traders in the system.
This voucher may be handed in at any starport in the system.
Wingman Shared Exploration
When in the same system as your wingmen, exploration data is awarded for all wingmen present, allowing the entire wing to profit.
The first person to hand the data in is eligible for any bonus payment, but if the data constitutes a new discovery, all wingmen present in the system when the body was scanned will be listed as the discoverers.
System Updates
Heat Damage
Heat damage now damages modules when ship heat reaches 100%. Whilst heat remains above this value, modules may randomly suffer small amounts of damage every few seconds.
Should ship heat rise above 160%, the ship’s hull will start to lose integrity.
BE AWARE, when your WEP capacitor is low, more heat will bleed out from the weapon’s cooling loop and increase your ship’s temperature.
Reboot and Repair
There is a new option in the Functions Tab:
[REBOOT/REPAIR]
Use this to initiate a diagnostics and repair sequence. During this sequence, your ship will cannibalise healthy modules to repair completely broken ones.
Each broken module will be brought back online with a couple of percentage points of health.
For every percentage point of health repaired, double this amount is taken from randomly selected healthy modules.
This sequence will fail if you have no modules with more than 5% health, or if you have no completely broken modules. The sequence cannot repair hull or canopy failure.
Warning, once imitated, you will have no ship control until the process is complete.
Shield Boosters
You can purchase and fit shield boosters to utility mounts.
Each booster increases your shields overall strength by a set amount when the booster is powered.
Be aware, increasing your shield strength in this manner will cause regeneration, including time required to reform after breaking, to increase.
Hull upgrade packages
You can purchase and fit hull upgrade packages for internal slots.
Each hull upgrade package increases your ship’s overall hull integrity.
Be aware, hull upgrade packages have mass that may impact negatively on a ship’s flight characteristics.
Signal Source Strength
You will encounter weak and strong signal sources.
Weak signal sources *tend* to imply that few vessels are present.
Strong signal sources *tend* to imply that many vessels are present. Be aware of elevated risk when investigating strong signal sources. Flying as a wing may help: there’s normally safety in numbers.
Interface Updates
Heat Bar Update
The ship’s heat bar has been updated. It is now clearly segmented.
The bottom, largest segment represents nominal ship temperature; no heat damage will occur if the ship’s temperature is in this segment.
The middle, smaller segment represents unsafe ship temperature. This segment will flash red when ship heat is within it, and alarms will sound, as well as short circuiting effects. Your modules will take damage when ship heat is in this segment.
The top, smallest segment represents catastrophic ship temperature. This segment will flash faster when ship heat is within it, in additional to all other indicators. Your ship hull will lose integrity when ship heat is in this segment.
Comms Panel Update
The Comms Panel interface has been updated to allow more functionality. Once you have selected the Comms Panel [use focus mode or Comms hotkey], you can use standard interface controls to navigate the Comms Panel, cycling through four tabbed screens:
Comms Text Feed: view incoming text comms and send text comms
· Untargeted (local) comms will be broadcast to *all* nearby ships
· Use [TAB] to cycle through valid message recipients
· Use [/r] to respond to the last ship that you received comms from
· Use [/t] to send comms directly to targeted ship
· Use [/w] to send comms to all wingmen
Comms text is colour coded:
· Orange: local broadcast
· Cyan: wing broadcast
· Yellow: Direct transmission
· Red: authority broadcast
Comms Contacts: view and interact with contacts
· Highlight and select a contact to summon comms and wings options
Inbox: view and interact with invites and messages
· Highlight accept/decline icons to accept or decline a wing invitation
Comms Options: view and alter text and voice settings
· Highlight and select options to toggle them
You can use standard interface controls to navigate the Comms Panel.
