Automatic Save Games

I am adding two automatic save games for testing purposes. And I am putting up this thread for comments, both on how you think such a feature should work, and how you find the feature does work. These automatic saves do not replace the standard save games. And those will be changed to allow you to save whenever you want.

It will be released in version 11.4 (not out yet).

The major issue, with saves in general, is that we can only save a little of the games information. So the game will be different when you restore. Saving in the middle of combat will restore as a mess. None of the ships point the right way. Bullet and missiles are missing. Possibly enemy ships no longer exist. But I feel that the messiness is worth it, if it saves the player lost time from a crash or other issue.

The first automatic save is when you quit the game. This goes into save slot zero. This is a good place for a save, because the game is pausing anyway and the player is leaving. If things are not exactly as they were, the player won't care quite so much.

The second automatic save is when you leave a station and get 1000km away. I expect some controversy over this save, because it causes a long pause in the game. However, it is invaluable for testing because it means that your last save is just a few seconds from where you spot a bug.

I plan to add a game option that will let you turn off the second automatic save if you don't like it. But not until after beta testing is complete.

If you have other suggestions on things that MUST be saved, or where a save must happen (or not happen) then let us know.