HUD bar usage

[P52Smith]

On the HUD's bottom right corner are the 'thrust' and 'energy' bars and between them is the fait outline of a third bar. In-game this bar has no use, it is not labelled in the manual but the pictures on the banck of the box show it to be half-full.

My main problem is: What was this bar originally intended to do and why was it removed late in the production? (if it was removed early in the production the pictures on the back of the box would not show the bar)

Any help is appreciated, maybe Colin Berry can help:?:

[Darkdrium777]

Probably a bar that indicates how much you are pushing down on the X button (Or your thrust button) in % just like in WipEout HD now. It may have been removed because the PSP buttons are "not really" pressure sensitive.

[username]

My guess is that it was going to be used for the thrust meter (in wipeout 2097 and wip3out it was under the speed bar), however because the modern wipeouts thrusts is instantly on or instantly on, there is not reason for it.

Test my theory:
in wip3out - hold down both brakes, and build your thrust br to the top, let go of the X button, and then the brakes shortly after - you pick up speed because your engines have not had time to slow.

in wipeout pulse, fusion, and pure:
try the same as above, although the image of the thruse flame slowly dies, its effects are stopped as soon as you let go of the X button.

I prefer the old way of doing it, the new wipeouts feel too simple, not like real turbines :(

[AG-wolf]

;_____; username... I felt like I was the only person who picked up on the engine thrust thing... I don't feel crazy now :D

[username]

hehe yes i do tend to pickup on those kind of things!
But what do you think the bar was to be used for then?

[P52Smith]

Thanks for the thoughts, the thrust indicator idea is sensible and would be understandable in its removal.

I think a way to use it now would be to show how much longer your shield will last, how much longer a Plasma has to charge etc.

What do you think to this new usage idea?

[Xavier]

I'd love to see some indication of how much longer your shield lasts, though if they can indicate autopilot with a timer at the top of the screen, then they could probably do it for shields and plasma too.

[mdhay]

What if that was actual ship hull energy, like your old shield meter was showing the craft's remaining protection.

[P52Smith]

Xavier: With autopilot, the symbol remains visible, with plasma and shield, it doesn't so you would either have the symbol staying put at the top of the screen or using a bar such as this mystery bar in the middle of 'thrust' and 'energy'.

[omega329]

Non-directional G-force meter?

[Darkdrium777]

If it was that it would always be at maximum :g

PS: "Unnecessary quote" might be necessary now since it's last page's post. Just remove it if you want though, I don't care :p

[Asayyeah]

it's the last post of the page for you , not especially for those who changed number of posts displayed per page into the User CP ;)

[Darkdrium777]

Ah so we can do that? Did not know. I will do this right away since I always found the number of posts per page a bit small xD

[omega329]

Brilliant! Less time spent loading on my pathetic internet!