Filtering & Sorting Options for lists

[kaeroku]

Hello!

Would be nice to be able to filter certain for certain things that aren't currently available. Of note:

Orbits/Stars by Zone Values (e.g. sort by highest Gov't, Starport, Spice, Economy, etc...) which can help figure out the most beneficial destinations for certain mission types. Also helps to know where to go for faster medical, higher level starport upgrades & ships, safer blockades, higher risk/reward salvage, etc...

Related: Trade Law info on the filter/sort screens would be great. Remembering which Landing Zones will have legality restrictions for a good that is normal for that LZ type is very difficult for anyone that isn't staying local on a specific map. Sorting by Trade Law value could even be its own category: sometimes I just want to dump cargo for *any* amount so I can turn a profit and move on, which currently entails landing on the closest planet in the area repeatedly until I find one that will buy.

    >>> NB: I know that zone values aren't known until you land (and I think they change over time?) but being able to sort *only the knowns* alone would be immensely helpful. 

Contacts by recruit type (currently it can sort that they offer recruits, but this isn't very useful due to the fact that they only offer specific ones and usually you're looking for specific ones.) With even a minor investment in contact talents, by late game you could have 50+ offering recruits (even in the same zone!) and finding that one that offers a replacement for that combat crew you just lost can be a headache, especially if your normal recruit contact for that type is 8 jumps away.

Contacts by currently offered mission destination would also be great: helps for grouping mission "trade routes" and sort of simulates how an actual ship captain might want to organize their flight paths (ex. "if we go to Cthurian Maelstrom we can work 5 contracts, but going to Ephemera Frontier is a gamble as there's only one and its way more dangerous.") Currently that sort of planning is tedious, but it seems like data which most star captains would benefit from (and in my head I am imagining Mal Reynolds walking around a starport, finding a couple short-haul contracts on the way to a long-haul with a nice payoff, coming back and asking Kaylee how long the engines can go without breaking to mentally gauge if the risk is worth it.)

Star Atlas currently doesn't list zone or orbit danger levels. Filtering by these locally (by orbit) would be incredibly useful. Sector sorting probably isn't currently needed as I only ever want that info on the Map screen, but local danger levels vary from the sector (as you know) and being able to eyeball these when looking at contracts would help a lot when doing risk calculations.

That's all for now. As with the other post I'll reply if I think of more.

[kaeroku]

Option to hide missions that you don't intend to take from the available mission list (at contact) could be useful. Same with the story mission prompts which populate your mission log whether or not you participate in them. Every time I'm trying to sort/plan active missions those create an extra step and my brain keeps seg-faulting when I encounter that unexpected error in the process. Granted, my brain may not work so well at times, but that's part of why I write things like this. To make it better for other dummies like me.

[Cory Trese]

Every few releases we managed to find a little bit of budget to add a few more filters from the list of 400 or so proposed ones. Likewise with additional search and sort options. Always working to improve, these posts are helpful for future games or patches. Thanks for taking the time.

[kaeroku]

Continuing:

Filtering Contacts by traits, (discount on new ships, discount on spice, higher level recruits, etc) and sorting for those traits would be wonderful. Being able to easily find the best port to upgrade a ship is amazing. Being able to do that with available data that can be referenced is even better. An example filter would be: I want a DeValtos contact who gives a discount on new ships or ship upgrades. Further filtered to starports of 10 in zones with military 10.

This lets me find a (theoretical) place to buy and upgrade a big ship much more economically than I could otherwise.

Sounds like you get a lot of requests like these. I appreciate that you guys are listening. If it doesn't make it in I won't cry about it, but I do think that little QoL things like this tend to benefit existing players and *also* draw in other players as their cursory inspection of the game ends up being a smoother experience.

[fallen]

I would suggest using search for this.

Filter by De Valtos, search "Discounted Upgrades"

[Cory Trese]

Based on player feedback and metrics -- as well as our company's proven track record of updates -- search certainly a better option than filters for a lot of things.

Every few releases we try to find budget to add search or filter to another list, based on the number of players using those screens.