3d Space Controls.

[RoninaThorstone]

What control system would you like to see in a 3d / all terrain / rail free combat for space?
Personally, I would like to see your classic mouse controls with cross hair with a slight twist.
Space bar would be thrust and A S D W would control pitch and yaw of your ship giving you improved control over your ship.
A and D would control thrusters located near the nose of your ship to improve tight turns when used in junction with your mouse so you could hard yaw to the left or right.
D would be a thruster located on your ships undercarriage close to the back engine that would be pointed at a 45* angle forward and down, this would allow you to pitch your engine up and thus your nose down causing you to flip forward allowing you to either do a 180 or shoot at someone who was on your tail while drifting your original direction and or hard dives.
W would be a thruster located under the nose of your ship with the same 45* forward and down position which would cause your nose to pitch up so you could do 180s, shoot someone on your tail or take hard pull ups.
(just think the vipers from BSG)

What controls would you guys like to see in swtors future space combat (assuming its off rails ect)?

(in before joystick) Which is not to say that I am opposed to them. Joystick should be useable and would take the place of the mouse directional control.

[ptwonline]

The system in Freelancer worked pretty well for a mouse setup.

[Darsithis]

I would love all of that, to be honest. I really hate the rail-style combat we have now where you can't even miss if you're in range and click. Give me back something like Colony Wars, perhaps. I don't entirely know if I'd want it to be 100% super realistic with inertia or drift, though I can imagine it would open up a lot of opportunities in low-orbit or high atmosphere missions in planets...

[RoninaThorstone]

I would love all of that, to be honest. I really hate the rail-style combat we have now where you can't even miss if you're in range and click. Give me back something like Colony Wars, perhaps. I don't entirely know if I'd want it to be 100% super realistic with inertia or drift, though I can imagine it would open up a lot of opportunities in low-orbit or high atmosphere missions in planets...

I would... but I don't think you have to worry about them doing it.

I get the feeling that people would be very upset with it.

: (

But I want it...

I think doing a 180 flip nose to tail and barraging the hell out of someone chasing me would be... um... mmm.

Inverting controls while flying tail first to maneuver while doing it? MMM.

[saberon]

I would... but I don't think you have to worry about them doing it.

I get the feeling that people would be very upset with it.

: (

But I want it...

I think doing a 180 flip nose to tail and barraging the hell out of someone chasing me would be... um... mmm.

Inverting controls while flying tail first to maneuver while doing it? MMM.

If I remember correctly, there was a BSG game where you could do exactly that.

[RoninaThorstone]

If I remember correctly, there was a BSG game where you could do exactly that.

Yeah, but it was auto aim and fire : /

[Hostagecat]

Yeah, but it was auto aim and fire : /

There was an old game called Independance War that allowed you have physics like you see in BSG and B5. It allowed you to flip your ship around and fire behind you while momentum kept you moving in the old direction. It definately required alot of skill to handle in that free flight mode, but once you got the knack it opened up tons of tactics.

Star Wars for the most part space combat was like WW2 fighters, never saw them do it the movies or in the X-Wing/Tie fighter games. It would be nice. What would also be nice is Guild Captial Ship battles, sort of like STO, well after they loosened up the z axis. Before that it sucked to have to do the corkscrew of death, to get to a ship that was above or below you on the z axis.

[h4rr0d]

Another game with 100% Newtonian physics implemented in it was Terminus. It was pretty awesome, but I can't remember flying anything as nimble as the BSG interceptors in there. Other than that it was pretty awesome.

[Kelimbror]

A lot of people that play SWTOR would be angry to have to learn a flight sim. No thank you. I'd rather have attainable goals on rails, than have to struggle with a feature I do not want.

Not to mention how pissed most of the player base would be to know that they used so many development resources to create it over other aspects of the game.


EDIT: I think even going as far control wise as BF3 would be a bit much for this game...something very light movement wise, where the control is a little bit more than rails currently...but not on rails, is probably where the majority of the consumer base would find themselves for satisfaction.

It's more a problem with the whole design, not really a control scheme.

[Ghosty]

The SWG Jump To Lightspeed space simulation worked great and was probably the best feature ever added to that game. The controls were flight sim, but easily usable with a mouse and keyboard as they were with a joystick. The JTL part of SWG is the only thing I really missed when I left that game. Think XvT if you ever played that game, so much fun as a simulation lite.

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 09:37 AM ----------

There was an old game called Independance War that allowed you have physics like you see in BSG and B5. It allowed you to flip your ship around and fire behind you while momentum kept you moving in the old direction. It definately required alot of skill to handle in that free flight mode, but once you got the knack it opened up tons of tactics.

Star Wars for the most part space combat was like WW2 fighters, never saw them do it the movies or in the X-Wing/Tie fighter games. It would be nice. What would also be nice is Guild Captial Ship battles, sort of like STO, well after they loosened up the z axis. Before that it sucked to have to do the corkscrew of death, to get to a ship that was above or below you on the z axis.

I loved Independence War, that realistic space flight model was a bit frustrating as first, but once you got the knack of it, it was so much fun.

[Arlee]

I know I am alone here... but I hope when they release their "something big with space" and if it is "off the rails combat", I really hope they let people who like the on the rails experience will still be able to do that. I suck at 3D space in games

[RoninaThorstone]

A lot of people that play SWTOR would be angry to have to learn a flight sim. No thank you. I'd rather have attainable goals on rails, than have to struggle with a feature I do not want.

Not to mention how pissed most of the player base would be to know that they used so many development resources to create it over other aspects of the game.


EDIT: I think even going as far control wise as BF3 would be a bit much for this game...something very light movement wise, where the control is a little bit more than rails currently...but not on rails, is probably where the majority of the consumer base would find themselves for satisfaction.

It's more a problem with the whole design, not really a control scheme.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showt...391956&page=22

46.5% in favor of full control space combat


I am not saying you are wrong, just that almost half the people in this poll would want off rails.

As for drift... Well yeah, I fully understand that not everyone wants that.

But I bet people want this.

[Kelimbror]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showt...391956&page=22

46.5% in favor of full control space combat


I am not saying you are wrong, just that almost half the people in this poll would want off rails.

As for drift... Well yeah, I fully understand that not everyone wants that.

My point was that people don't want a space flight SIM. Even though Battlefield 3 isn't a sim in terms of controls, it is still a little too advanced for many people's tastes. I don't deny people want full control of their ship, but that doesn't translate into complicated hem and yaw in space.

Taking the ship off of rails, allowing acceleration/deceleration, giving variety to the maneuvers you can do other than a barrel roll, is more along the lines of what MMO players want for this feature. So I'm not saying you're wrong either, just clarifying my original...admittedly not descriptive enough...thought.

In short, think mounts in space with nifty tricks for movement. You can go where you want, when and how you want. More advanced pew pew/defense is probably also wanted.


edit:

Yes I meant 'hem and yaw' - it's a pun

[ptwonline]

It's not just the "off rails" part that is important. People liked those X-Wing/TIE Fighter space sim missions because the missions had timed events and some structure and goals within them that were varied and not simply survival while blowing up X number of this and Y number of that. Patrol sweeps, escorting shuttles, escorting capital ships, capital ship attack missions, convoy raids, etc.

[RoninaThorstone]

It's not just the "off rails" part that is important. People liked those X-Wing/TIE Fighter space sim missions because the missions had timed events and some structure and goals within them that were varied and not simply survival while blowing up X number of this and Y number of that. Patrol sweeps, escorting shuttles, escorting capital ships, capital ship attack missions, convoy raids, etc.

capital ship attack missions
escorting shuttle missions
patrol sweep missions

While I get what you are saying... A lot of what you say made tie/x-wing better than swtors space missions is already in the game.

The main difference between the two is the control you have over your ship and the variety of missions and difficulty.

This is due to the fact that tie/x-wing were games whereas swtors space mission system is a minigame.

Which is unfortunate given the star wars IP's history with great space games.

[Hostagecat]

The SWG Jump To Lightspeed space simulation worked great and was probably the best feature ever added to that game. The controls were flight sim, but easily usable with a mouse and keyboard as they were with a joystick. The JTL part of SWG is the only thing I really missed when I left that game. Think XvT if you ever played that game, so much fun as a simulation lite.

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 09:37 AM ----------



I loved Independence War, that realistic space flight model was a bit frustrating as first, but once you got the knack of it, it was so much fun.

I miss JTL part of SWG it really kept me playing the game several times, then i would quit, get a hankering for some Star Wars Fighter action, and boom, i would resub. Even though I hated the Uncle Owen Simulator part of SWG before the CU, JTL was the best.

[RoninaThorstone]

I miss JTL part of SWG it really kept me playing the game several times, then i would quit, get a hankering for some Star Wars Fighter action, and boom, i would resub. Even though I hated the Uncle Owen Simulator part of SWG before the CU, JTL was the best.

Its stories like this that make me furious that bioware didn't value space enough to make it the 5th pillar of its game.

For many people its make or break. Right now, I love this game so god damn much... I have about 2.5 characters left to level. (need to update sig)...

But after that? Well... Lets just say that they better have a trailer or something for the JTL patch.

edit: I hear this from almost anyone born pre-1990 and anyone who played JTL.

[Ghosty]

Its stories like this that make me furious that bioware didn't value space enough to make it the 5th pillar of its game.

For many people its make or break. Right now, I love this game so god damn much... I have about 2.5 characters left to level. (need to update sig)...

But after that? Well... Lets just say that they better have a trailer or something for the JTL patch.

edit: I hear this from almost anyone born pre-1990 and anyone who played JTL.

Well I don't think that Bioware could have done a JTL type space sim with launch without another year or two of development, SOE had to add it into SWG as a complete expansion (their first expansion). I'd be willing to wait for a JTL type space sim as an expansion as long as Bioware took to the time to do it right like Sony did (this was about the only thing SOE did right with SWG ;P)

[Dariela]

While I'd absolutely would love an XvT style space game, I would settle for a Rogue Squadron style one if that was all I could get.

Anything else, simply won't catch my interest.

[RoninaThorstone]

Well I don't think that Bioware could have done a JTL type space sim with launch without another year or two of development, SOE had to add it into SWG as a complete expansion (their first expansion). I'd be willing to wait for a JTL type space sim as an expansion as long as Bioware took to the time to do it right like Sony did (this was about the only thing SOE did right with SWG ;P)

I see no possible way for them to do it wrong since all they have to do is copy JTL, update graphics, and slowly add features.

This should have been a no brainer on their part.

Ground game has seen amazing improvement in the past 6 months. Space game has been left to rot, and while I am okay with rail missions having development time pulled from them... I would like to hear some news about what their plans are. Maybe a trailer or something.

But yeah.

So...

I think it basically breaks down into 3 categories. The 10-20% who are okay with what it is. The 70% that want more. and the 10-20% that would want Newtonian physics.

I would be happy with a free worlds system. (ish)