Back to search

Will radar or scanning have its own interactive MFD?

TL;DRYes, a scanning MFD is planned to show past scan results stored in the ship's databank, but it is not part of 3.14 and details like transferring data are undecided.

Mark AbentLead Gameplay Programmer, LA Studio

Yes. Radar: I know for some of the bigger ships, there's been ideas of having a radar globe and then being able to interact with what your actual radar is doing. There's different designs on that, but the one that I'm more familiar with is the scanning MFD. I'll backpedal and say this is not something for 3.14, this is something that's upcoming. We've been in talks with UI and other teams on what that MFD is going to do and what information it should have. So going back to scanning, you're going to unlock a bunch of information. If I go to a mineable and I find that it has gold, or if I go to Sean's ship and I find that it has a weapon or even gold, that information gets stored in my object databank on the ship. That MFD's goal is to show you that information. So if I go to scan a ship, I'll get the nice UI and I'll see all the information there. But if Sean's gone, I can't look at that information again, hence the MFD. The MFD is supposed to be that window of memory of what I scanned in the past. The good news is in the object databank, we have that whole underlying system where we actually save that information. We just don't have a way for the player to uncover it. The only way you could uncover it is if Sean comes back and you try to rescan him, then we show all the information that was there. So the scan UI is going to be that housing of: I scanned a bunch of things, maybe I could look at what was there in history, and even maybe have a way of transferring it somehow. Because that's going to be the ultimate thing: what do I do with it? Do I bring it with me on foot? Do I transfer it to another party, or do I sell it? I think Calix, another designer on VTT, had the idea: he wants to steal it. I could go and scan it, sneak aboard my ship and steal it. So why not? It's on the ship. We just have to have ways of accessing it. There's a ton of ideas that we want to have fun with.

Star Citizen Live›Radar and Scanning·
Published on this date.7 May 2021