So I've recently jumped back into Hellion for a bit (they're still in Alpha but in version 0.5.2) and they have a lot of very cool features I hope CIG takes some note of. Obviously, Hellion and Star Citizen are completely different games but they share some commonalities. I would like to highlight a few elements of Hellion that I think CIG could take some note of. I mention this only because CIG cannot keep tabs on the development of all games all the time and bringing items to light might occasionally be helpful. Even at this early stage there is so much about the game that I think Zero Gravity Games (ZGG) gets right. While there are things I personally do not like or could take or leave, I think there is some value to having them in game (i.e. full orbital mechanics, zero-g maneuvering during spacewalks, etc.) UI/UX Hellion's UI is EXTREMELY easy to use, understand and is legible and visible from distances. I readily admit that I am NOT A DEVELOPER so I cannot say what differences there are in the engine, the code or anything else that relates to how the UI is designed but THIS is a great design in my humble opinion. When you access most panels the text is large, clear and easy to understand. There is minimal clutter and very little "fluff" where you have extra bits of flair for no real reason. Hellion's UI operates under the "simple/clean is better than complex/busy". Some examples are presented below SCANNING/EXPLORATION The method by which Hellion approaches scanning appears to be quite similar to the ways in which various developers at CIG have mentioned approaching it and I hope to see SC's method take a similar track. As you can see in the photos below, the player, while sitting in the pilot's seat (again, not sure how much multiplayer functionality ZGG is going to eventually provide but as of now, scanning can only be done by the pilot) can see objects on passive sensors. The player can see objects within a certain range of his/her ship. The objects that can be seen are a function of the emissions given off by that ship or object (like derelict stations. ships, asteroids, etc.), the native background radiation and the distance from the player's ship. This is very much like CIG has planned its sensor/scanning function to work. All that is necessary, is to dial in the ranges. That is open to iteration, however, while its difficult to determine what the ranges are between distant objects in general its my opinion that the passive sensor ranges in Hellion are MUCH smaller than probably is required in SC. The reason is the slow speed at which ships generally move in Hellion in relation to ship speeds in SC (tens of m/s in Hellion vs hundreds of m/s in Star Citizen). Hellion's model basically allows a player to ACTIVELY scan for objects using the scan function. The scan function allows the ship to send out a focused cone (IIRC between 10 degrees and 90 degrees). The narrower the scan angle the more power it uses and the further it can scan and vice versa. Using the Active Scan does vastly increase your ships EM signature but I cannot say how much easier it makes your ship able to be detected by another player's passive sensors. There doesn't appear to be any kind of skill component to scanning and for the first Tier 0 iteration, I'm not sure if its necessary. However, I do think as time goes on skill SHOULD play a vital role in scanning/sensor analysis and identification. What I particularly like is how, the scanning function and the travel mechanic are intertwined. Much in the way in which I have advocated for previously, a player in Hellion can use sensors to search for distant objects. Once an object is located, depending upon variables (some listed above) will determine how much information is available about the contact. The player can chose to warp (in Hellion terms) to that location to get a closer look. However, there will be times in which a player scans a region of space and nothing is found. That could mean there is nothing there. It could also mean that there is something there but its signature is too faint to detect at the given distance. Either/or, the player can still chose to (in Hellion terms) create a 'custom orbit' to move themselves closer to the area they want to investigate or move to a new area just at the edge of the previous scan region in order to start the process over again. This to me is the CORE of the EXPLORATION mechanic. This also has HUGE implications for combat oriented players. The ability to set your own QT destination points (at times at various distances from an object of interest) is paramount to combat operations. Its not always adviseable to exit QT 10 km -25 km from the object you want to attack/investigate/etc. Sometimes its more advantageous to exit QT at a much greater distance (ie 150 km) and then approach using stealth EM protocols to get the 'drop' on an unsuspecting foe/prey Some examples are presented below.