a little debate

A little debate that came up quite early in the rEV beta that I thought I'd get a public opinion on.

Up for debate: Arrangement of ammo relative to corresponding weapons.

System A : Ammo is the first thing listed in outfits, but only for weapons you have.
Pros : For ammo users it's always right there. For non ammo users it reduces clutter.
Cons : Counter intuitive to those who have come to expect the two together.

System B : Conventional ammo after weapon that uses it.
Pros : It's traditional. It's still inherently logical.
Cons : It increases clutter.

- KMQ

P.S. Still room in the beta see rEV Beta for more info.

P.P.S. No, me, biased, never. Besides missiles now amuse me, mmmm, spread fire.

I kind of like the fact that ammo for weapons I don't have shows up in the outfitter. It reminds me of all the options and makes the world feel more developed. The shorter the list of outfits is, the more boring I find that outfitter. Plus, if you already have ammo for a particular weapon, it's usually pretty easy to see at the outfitter because of the number in the corner of that outfit.

That said, I can definitely see the reasoning behind putting all the ammo up front, and once you have all the standard outfits you'll be buying for your ship, it should reduce restock time. I think it would probably be cool to see a plug-in take this tack - maybe we'll all decide we like that way much better.

I really don't mind where it is. I like the idea of the ammo I'm not using is not displayed though.

Meh, it'll be okay as long as you make note of that somewhere. That way, any newbie who actually reads readmes will know where to find ammo.

My only problem with it is the jerk that happens whenever I buy or sell a launcher. Because the ammo is at the top, everything shifts with it, and I lose track of where I am in the outfitter...

I think a good compromise would be to have seperate outfitters for weapons, ammo, and other outfits. Sadly that might require a change to the engine.

If it requires a change in the engine, it isn't a very good compromise, because it's not going to happen.

The only way I can think of that it could happen would be for each planet/spob to have another planet/spob that just looks like a station or something. Still, that would be so much work that I doubt that KMQ is going to do it.

This is probably a very minor concern, but hiding the ammo might be confusing or misleading for players not familiar with the standard EV scenario. The weapon descriptions should probably explicitly state that it requires a seperate ammo purchase to be fired, how much the ammo costs and if it takes up space on the ship. All things which the player would need to consider when outfitting their ship.

It would be especially confusing to have to scroll down to buy the launcher then scroll back up to the top to find the ammo. If you made it invisible for weapons you don't have but still put it after the launcher then I think it would be okay. If you want easy access to the ammo then you could just put all weapons at the top of the outfitter.

I say keep the ammo where it is. More outfits, less confusion.