QOL: Container naming

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by mogthew, Oct 8, 2021.

  1. mogthew

    mogthew Ensign

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    Hey devs,

    Context:
    If you play this game for long enough you eventually end up with bases that have many containers. When adding new containers (or extensions), the names allocated to existing containers appear to be random. I have had situations where adding a new container controller resulted in it being named'Container Controller' and the already existing one becoming 'Container Controller (1)'. Weirdly, this doesn't seem to always happen.

    Not only is this non-intuitive, but it could be easily avoided if players could give containers custom names. I usually have containers with specific purposes (medical supplies, vehicle replacement parts, loot, harvest etc) and the ability to find them easily in the dropdown when selecting containers to move items to would be dramatically improved by having this feature.

    Suggested implementation:
    UI: A name input field for containers that shows up on the 'devices' screen when selecting the container. Don't know how hard this would be to actually implement, but maybe it could be done as per-block data (like keycard, turrets) with fixed length maximum name (15 chars would prob be enough).

    I'm sure there's plenty of things vying for the attention of the devs, but this feels like a small enough QoL change that would have a large impact on bases
     
    #1
  2. Vermillion

    Vermillion Rear Admiral

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    You can already name any device, including containers.
    First, they must be in a Device Group (Auto-Group works too). Then you can click the name box in the Device Menu and assign a name. You can even color the name if you want by using [c][FF0000] before the name. (Which will make the name red in this case)
    These names also appear through the logistics menu dropdown list for easy identification.
     
    #2
  3. mogthew

    mogthew Ensign

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    Oh wow, didn't realize the device group was what made the difference between whether it could be named or not. You're awesome, thanks @Vermillion :)
     
    #3
    Vermillion likes this.
  4. TheGazbeard

    TheGazbeard Lieutenant

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    The problem is though Vermillion, when you walk up to a custom container it still shows the device name, not the custom name. Because of this you have to put LCDs on each container to ID them, which doubles the number of placeables and adds resource load on the host computer (not much, but it's cumulative).

    Another issue with the current custom names is that they do not sort alphanumerically. They still sort according to ther original device ID name and the order they were placed in the world within the list for easch device ID. That is a sort mechanic I've not seen since armed service in the 1970s. Devs - make the key sort field the custom name please - it already defaults to the device ID if the player doesn't give it a custom name, but make that field the alphanumerical key sorting field - pretty please.
     
    #4
  5. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    It actually sorts it by when it was added to the device group. You can re-order them by just adding them to a group but it is very tedious and they definitely need to improve it.
     
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    StyxAnnihilator likes this.

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