Suggestion: Improvements to map view and orbital planning

[Periple]

I find the KSP2 map view and orbital planning much less easy to read than KSP1's. I would suggest going back to that for inspiration and only making changes if there is a legitimate UIUX improvement to be found. 

Specifically:

1. The SoI entry/exit "splashes" (concentric circles) can be really distracting and can cover important information (see screenshot). I suggest removing them altogether.
2. Encounter planning markers are hard to read. I suggest going back to the color-coded arrowheads (split white/amber/violet) from KSP1. 
3. Encounter markers for a celestial body aren't displayed at all until an encounter is actually found. 
4. Pe isn't displayed at the actual periapsis relative to the body when focusing on it; it's displayed on the trajectory line which may be a lot further.
5. Pe altitude is only displayed when hovering on the Pe. This should be visible all the time.
6. Orbit fade goes the wrong way -- the KSP1 way where the body left a bright "trail" which faded into the orbit was much more intuitive than having the bright line ahead of the body.
7. When focusing on the target body, there's no way to tell which way the trajectory goes -- the entry/exit SoI markers aren't marked as such.
8. Target should persist when switching out of map view and back.
9. There should be a control in the control cluster for changing the currently selected maneuver node so I can make adjustments without having the actual node on-screen. As it is, I have to orient the camera so both the maneuver node and the area I'm interested in are on-screen which gives awkward perspectives (see screenshot below).

This is me trying to plan an encounter with Tylo in order to gravity brake for an encounter with Laythe. The big circular splash is me entering the Jool SoI and it obscures what I'm trying to do.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Periple

[Vl3d]

3 hours ago, Periple said:

The SoI entry/exit "splashes" (concentric circles) can be really distracting and can cover important information (see screenshot). I suggest removing them altogether.

I agree they're distracting, but don't remove them. They can just be smaller and dimmer.

Also don't forget about the big, ugly, pixelated icons.

[Periple]

21 minutes ago, Vl3d said:

Also don't forget about the big, ugly, pixelated icons.

The ugliness is cosmetic. The main problem is with usability/readability. I have no issues making it pretty after the bigger issues are sorted.

[Scarecrow71]

I wholeheartedly agree with @Periple on usability with the concentric circles.  They are distracting and generally cover the area I'm trying to focus in on.

I also agree with them regarding not having Pe displayed until you get into a body's SOI.  That is simply counter-intuitive to how you are supposed to plan encounters and such.  I need to know how far away I am from a given object so I can plan for the braking maneuver (and potentially the capture burn).

[Superfluous J]

14 hours ago, Periple said:

Pe altitude is only displayed when hovering on the Pe. This should be visible all the time.

I agree with most of your points and this one as well, but for clarity the Pe info can be "pinned" by clicking the marker.

IMO it should be pinned by default or at least there should be a setting to enable it.

[Vl3d]

5 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

I agree with most of your points and this one as well, but for clarity the Pe info can be "pinned" by clicking the marker.

IMO it should be pinned by default or at least there should be a setting to enable it.

You have the PE value in the NavCluster. It's ok to manually pin it if needed.

[Periple]

15 minutes ago, Vl3d said:

You have the PE value in the NavCluster. It's ok to manually pin it if needed.

It's the Pe for the body you're currently orbiting. That doesn't help if you're trying to plan a complex maneuver, like a gravity brake off Tylo to get an encounter with Laythe when you're still in Kerbol's SoI.

There should also be a control for changing the currently selected maneuver node like in KSP1. As it is I have to orient the map so I can see both the maneuver node and the area I'm interested in, which gives some awkward perspectives. (I'll add that to the OP.)

[Vl3d]

42 minutes ago, Periple said:

There should also be a control for changing the currently selected maneuver node like in KSP1.

Very much agree.

[James M]

On 10/31/2023 at 6:32 AM, Periple said:

The SoI entry/exit "splashes" (concentric circles) can be really distracting and can cover important information (see screenshot). I suggest removing them altogether.

Honestly my issue with these is that I typically can't tell which of the splashes is my encounter to a celestial body and which one is my exit. Maybe add some depth to them or something to exaggerate that a bit? Is there some other way to tell for now which is which? What I've been doing is just tracing my orbits visually and messing with nodes. It works but I really wish it was more intuitive. 

Post edit: I think this is #7 on your list? Sorry if it is.

On 10/31/2023 at 6:32 AM, Periple said:

Pe altitude is only displayed when hovering on the Pe. This should be visible all the time.

This is so annoying >.>

Edited November 3, 2023 by James M

[Bej Kerman]

On 10/31/2023 at 2:45 PM, Periple said:

The ugliness is cosmetic

It ain't. When rendered at an integer scale, I think it looks quite nice. The problem is when it's scaled or moved by a non-integer amount. Ultimately a flat UI would have been better by virtue of being really easy to scale for any resolution, but I don't think what the designers were going for here is necessarily bad.

[Superfluous J]

On 11/3/2023 at 2:11 AM, James M said:

I typically can't tell which of the splashes is my encounter to a celestial body and which one is my exit.

One of them, the circles slowly go outward from the center. The other, they go inward.

I still don't know which is which offhand but hey it's a step.