Immersive HUD

IMMERSIVE HUD

Also known as the I-Hud, or more colloquially as 'The Big Ball', the Immersive Heads-Up Display is the current state-of-the art tactical battle management system, allowing space captains to view their ship's surroundings from any vantage point or perspective, as well as issue commands and handle communications with minimal delay. It has become the standard combat system for all spaceships and continues to be upgraded and developed.

FIRST USE

Though the technology for the I-Hud had existed for decades, there was no call for integrating it into spaceship systems, primarily because space combat was a rare occurence, but also because there was a tendency among the commanders of the day (as has often been the case throughout history) to be conservative and unwilling to rely on technology they didn't understand or trust.

That changed with the Battle of Asteroid 16.394 in Year +7. The battle took place between four unmarked ships who managed an ambush of the WLNS Eurasia commanded by Commander (later Admiral) Amber Salem at Asteroid 16.394. Outgunned and outnumbered, Salem used the I-Hud to identify a weakness in the attackers' formation and attack vector that allowed her to destroy one vessel and disable two others, resulting in their capture (and subsequent revelation that the attack had been orchestrated by the Noviy-Soviet).

AFTER 16.394

The novel use of the I-Hud (as well as Salem's resulting media attention) brought it to the attention of ship commanders across the system, and all space-going combat forces quickly fitted the software and hardware into their ships. By +15, the technology had been adapted to all combat, corporate, and civilian vessels licensed by the WLN. The advantage Captain Salem enjoyed by fighting an enemy without the I-Hud was short-lived.

CIVILIAN APPLICATIONS

Due to the distances involved in intrastellar space travel, real-time communication and central travel coordination is impossible, but efforts have been made to place data buoys along the primary cargo and travel routes within the solar system. All traveling ships can download the data for a real-time look at ship locations and travel paths. This data is relayed directly to the ship commander's I-Hud, meaning that information is not just gathered by the ship's traditional sensors but from all over the solar system. Furthermore, data gathered and processed by the ship can be transmitted to the buoys for other commanders to use. Study of this data has allowed for fewer near-accidents, improved security patrols in areas infested with pirates, and many other ways of improving commerce efficiency.