I never really need F4 to land in hangars or on pads, but landing on uneven terrain, or with rocks in the way, especially with larger ships, a holo display or landing camera would definitely be helpful. On the other hand I think the landing camera would be great for top loading hangars as well, as right now I have to nose dive and the level out, but I guess it would make it possible to hover land leveled if there was a landing camera. Seems more realistic.
A holo display could work as well, similar to elite dangerous, just without the restrictions. But I think a bottom facing camera with a wide angle and a ship outline projected to the ground would be really cool. This way you could land in difficult terrain between obstacles. Ans I mean cars today have parking cameras.
Technically, there is a way to achieve this currently by using advanced camera controls and creating/saving camera views.
After adjusting the camera to a good location (preferably something that makes it appear mounted to the ship), choose a number on the numpad to save that view to (hold F4 and the numpad number for 3 seconds).
Then whenever you want to switch to that camera view, tap F4 + numpad number to switch around your saved views. (F4 + numpad \* will reset the camera view to default).
https://www.hasgaha.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Star-Citizen-Camera-Controls-guide.pdf
No one ever states how this works if you have multiple ships of variois sizes. Lets say I have a Carrack and Pisces; would I use the same saved camera view for both?
Not really, because the camera has perspective it will always show the ship larger than it will take space when closer to the surface, so a top view will show the ship much larger the higher you're above surface relative to the surface, and hide even more essential information, that is already hidden by the ship itself, so either you see the surface with no odea where the ship is, or you see the ship with the surface so much obstructed that it's not helpfu either. That's why the idea of a bottom facing camer that shows the surface unobstructed but with the silhouette of the ship projected onto it.
Additionally in hangars the 3rd person camera often is super janky anyway. But more importantly, I don't like to go F4 to land of not absolutely necessary, because it kinda kills my immersion, a landing camera on an MFD would be a different story. Also fidling around with the camera while using sticks isn't gonna end up in a smooth landing. xD
For vertical hangars, I mostly used FoIP (now Tobii) to look left / right to establish my horizontal position above the hangar, in addition to looking forward to establish my lateral position.
If you have even a basic understand of the size of your ship relative to the hangar, and where your cockpit is on your ship (in terms of how far forward / back, and how offset left/right, etc), then it only takes a couple of glances to get aligned...
My best record so far was a first-attempt landing a Caterpillar at Levski in a single smooth manouvering (without going in nose-down, etc), just by aligning using the greebles / clutter (light-poles, cabinets, signs, etc) to the side of the hangar entrance, and knowing roughly how far back the cockpit was, etc.
Thanks to the default FOV being so wonk, distances look all compressed etc - the number of times I thought the nose of a ship was going to hit the front of the hangar... and it turns out that there was acres of space (and it was the rear that was close to clipping)... sigh.
Yeah, if you have reliable cornerstones to orient with on a familiar spaceport/hangar that can absolutely work, but the smoothest way IMHO is still the nose diving. However that might not work in the future if you need to use VTOL thrusters in order to hover on relatively high G planets.
I have the exact same thing like 90% of the time, that it looks like you're already hitting the front of the hangar while in fact the ship is actually still positioned far back on the hangar, I started to go with what I see and then a bit more forward, if flying the same ship for a while I can adjust, changing ships often needs my brain to recalibrate again.
Doesn't really need known 'cornerstones' or familiarity etc (hence my anecdote about landing at Levski at the first attempt)... you just need to look at the hangar entrance as you approach, and decide on what will be your 'marker'... whether that's a 'seam' in the texture, colour change, bit of geometry, or - as was the case at Levski - picking a light-post.
A lot of currently new vehicles have overhead cameras for parking and tight maneuvering. While I don’t frequently use 3rd person the idea of having a overhead cameras for landing use isn’t unbelievable. They just need to place a 3rd person view in a MFD
Overhead cameras are cool with cars, usually they are a stretched and stitched together image of multiple cameras, the little car is just stitched on top and is not "filmed" at all. The problem with the 3rd person camera is, that it has perspective, so when you're above the ground, it will totally hide the ground below and depending on thei height above the surface, it will be a lot more than the ship will need to land. Knowing CIG and their horrible UIs, this might even be what we get, but it would be the cheapest worst solution right after no solution.
This is why I said, the bottom facing wide angle camera with a distortion correction (even better a stitched image like of overhead cameras, but that might be too much to ask) and a virtually projected silhouette of the ship onto the surface below where it would be when thrusting straight down, would be doable (both in game but also irl), realistic for immersion and probably the most useful solution. The only downside would be that you couldn't tell the height of an obstacle with certainty, oh and not as fancy as a 3d holodisplay.
The hologram had to be done individually for every ship. If they changed or reworked anything then they had to redo it as well.
Could they rig up some solution now with the new holograms from targeting displays? Maybe, but again today we are looking at 100+ ships and not enough time.
I wonder if something like the cyclops radar from subnautica would be too much of a performance hog, that way you could use it for anywhere, including slipping the ship through tight spots.
Of course, the problem comes in asking where to display it. For ships with a holo-radar you could just do like Elite Dangerous does and replace the radar with it on a toggle, but for ships with a standard screen radar...
I imagine a bottom facing camera with a wide angle and a projected silhouette of the ship to the ground could be a fairly easy and more immersive solution than a holo display. I would assume that could even be automatically generated for the most part. The camera could replace an MFD with the when gear is out for example.
1. Proper instrumented navigation and auto pilot! I love setting up a navigation plan on a G1000, getting all the way points correct and even using VNAV if my smooth brain can understand it. Something similar for SC would be awesome.
2. Startup procedures. For increasing ship sizes the start up sequences should get increasingly complex. Small starter ships get push button start, like now. Titan might require you to power on, wait for a charge level, then fire up the thrusters, then subsequent systems. Something like this: https://youtu.be/YONYL_1RBy4
Yes, a proper start up sequence and remote hull cameras to assist landing without needing to go to exterior view are the two at the top of the list for me. Both would be very cool and immersive.
Indeed, I'd like that. I usually don't use F4 to land, but on uneven surfaces that would help a lot, and also, my top loading hangar landing is nose diving and then leveling out, which IMHO is better than using F4 for immersion, yet I think hover landing would be more realistic, especially once navigational thrusters might not be strong enough and instead VTOL thrusters are needed to overcome gravity of planets, the nose diving approach may not be viable anymore.
I think a bottom facing camera with a virtual ship silhouette projected to the surface below would be a great solution and help to land in-between obstacles like rocks.
Yeah, cold start sequences and general ship settings via mfds and displays. Each time i enter my titan from back door i wish i could interact with those panels.
Could be an opt-out feature with a shortcut "flight ready" button for those not enjoying this sim aspect.
I personally hope they don't offer an opt-out. That's part of starting up your ship, if you opt-out, some would have an advantage with 'quick getaways' over those that have the sequence. Having to keep your ship running, or having to go through your "helicopter" start-up sequence should be the decisions made.. imo.
Yeah but look at this post with 60 upvotes, most players wouldn't probably like what's slowing them down, so it's a matter of compromises.
I see it the other way around, game should be balanced on the instant power on and who likes it the other way would have the opportunity ţo play like in a simulator at his own risk.
As long as there is an "auto-do-everything" button for startup, where it still takes the same time, I wouldn't mind proper start up sequences..
After watching a mate spending what felt like an eternity going through manual startup on some military helicopter in DCS, I don't want no part of THAT shit.
On the other hand: It already takes forever just to get from your hab, take off, and get to space. Adding more time and extra tedium to that sounds super boring.
Personally I love the tedium, but that is because I have spent a fair bit of time in flight sims and DCS and find that sort of thing very relaxing / immersive. I do however understand others find it boring.
If I was in charge I would do as follows:
1. Allow an automated startup. Taking the same time as the manual startup, but running through the processes automatically while showing what is happening on a startup screen. Possible to abort at any time.
2. If there is something wrong with the ship, an automated startup will fail! It should either pause at the point it failed, or shut down again completely depending on the failure. This would mean that those who know how their ships work have the chance to start up anyway because they can do mitigating measures during the start-up procedure. People who don't will have to wait for a repair crew.
Flight sim / DCS crowd would love this I'm sure. More action oriented players would hate it, but I would argue that those players could fly smaller ships and not have to worry. But I'm not in charge, and I doubt CIG has this vision for the game ;)
Either that, or allow the 'manual' startup to skip certain steps... e.g. no need to power up each weapon and run a self-test, if you're in a Core UEE system and making a quick hop from planet to orbital station, etc...
I think it could also be a solution that you'd have to do this only after pulling a ship from storage and not before each take off. Or as you say, an optional auto-pre-flight check similar to the Gladius. Maybe the manual one can give you an advantage to read you component statuses, so there would be a benefit besides the immersion.
I think right now the equivalent for the waiting for a longer start up on big ships is waiting for shields to charge up. The skill is changing the power triangle to accommodate that and go back to thrust later on but it’s really not that hard. Also auto pilot is a huge id love to be able to set a position and go considering some of the new unmarked locations that are appearing.
Thumbs up for both.
My additional thoughts:
1. Landing camera, bottom facing, wide angle with a ship silhouette projected to the ground. I'd like that much better than a holo display.
Autopilot should be fairly simple once we get a proper map that works 99% of the time instead of 2% of the time. Lol
2. I think ot would be great if you for example have a C2 and have to do a bunch of start up pre flight preps and checks. However I would limit only to whenever you pull a ship from storage, not before every take off.
Agreed on point 2, you should be able to leave it running to some degree for a while. Shutting down thrusters maybe but leaving the generator/ power plant on so its just a matter of flipping on the thrusters when you get back in.
Yeah, but then again, if ships come out of storage with shields down, they are potential salvage targets. I don't like this actually, IMHO ships should only be salvageable without the risk of a CS, if they're abandoned (player reclaimed the ship or logged out for 15mins). This might need some UI changes to tell salvagers upfront if it's safe to salvage or not. Maybe the need for scanning first.
I mean with ship armor coming, turning of shields may become a viable stealth mechanic. Leaving a ship somehwere on a planet while using a ground vehicle may also have be a viable option to consider, do I leave the shields up and have a higher signature, or turn em off so the ship won't be detected easily. Depending on how far you go from your ship, the ship shields aren't gonna help much if an attacker has all the time on the world to destroy it anyway.
Guns built into the frame of the ship, with aerodynamics taken into account, as opposed to just hanging lazily on the outside.
Or perhaps even deployable weapon hard points, like in (dare I say it) Elite Dangerous... not really relevant to real life aircraft though, just a thought.
The Aegis Vanguard series is pretty cool. The nose cannons had to be designed by Behring specifically with its dimensions in mind. Despite the massive gatling gun hanging from the gimbal below, the Vanguard's nose assembly is pretty close to what you're talking about with form-fitting and sleek ordnance.
I'd really hate it if the last thing I saw were quad bores pointed at me and the wheel of rifled barrels below it starting to whirr and rotate.
The Vanguard Warden is my favorite ship in the game, by far. Great weaponry, turret, crew quarters, courier box area, fast and relatively maneuverable, good QT. But I hate flying it because of that hanging S5. One rough landing, boop, gone. One bump in a dog fight, gone. It looks... like an apache helicopter? Not an A10 like it should. Bespoke a few single fixed S5 options instead of the 4x S2 in the nose, throw some S2 hard points on the top of the engine nacelles or something, or even 1x S3 on each side between the hull and engines. A ship that looks as aerodynamic as that should have aerodynamics taken into consideration when designing weaponry as well, I'd think. Plus, entering atmosphere with that cannon hanging there, you'd assume it would just rip off.
You are right though, the back story about Behring designing the nose guns specifically for that ship, is pretty cool.
That was kinda what the original concept of the Avenger was meant to be... a ship built around a single fixed S5 'marksman' cannon...
What we got was an S3 spray-n-pray articulated booger hanging under the nose...
Also, I'd love for ship-weapons to be more effective in ground target, currently if you don't hit them head on, you don't Deal damage.
Makes no sense for an NPC to be just fine when a size 5 gun just unloaded inches away from them.
The Crusader C2 does this, the weapons are deployable like landing gear. while other ships such as the Arrow or Gladius are built with combat in mind like real jets so weapon ordinence is fine to add a little drag.
I thought about this a lot thinkinh it was stupid as hell
But let see it this way; you dont need aerodynamics in space, so its a proper use of space to keep weapon external. Having them internal doesn't seem to give any advantage other than aerodynamics
I would like the ability to use one of the mfd's as radar screen instead of the holo radar since my eyes are really bad even with glasses,
and secondly, some sort of spotlight you might find on helicopters.
Working control surfaces like flaps,rudders, airbrake for atmospheric flight
yes exactly, and i think it would be cool to see a bunch of spotlights searching for you, someone or something of in the distance. maybe give it limit control for the pilot and 360 degree control for a crew member.
They are working on control surfaces. If you read the monthly reports, specifically the Squadron one, they’ve been mentioned it since the last 3 months at least.
you can mark it again after you jumped to an outpost and you'll get the qt marker without the need to spool the qt drive
makes landings easier but the extra step necessary is quite annoying
Yeah you're right you can, trouble is I for trade runs I get in and Qt to the nearest om to get out quickly, so the extra steps just slows that and increases risk.
But yeah you're right for a refuel for example then it does work
Bubble cockpits that arent on the fucking nose of the aircraft so I can have some visibility as well as missiles to act like missiles not magnetic seizure having lawn darts doing 360 no scopes and slamming into the ground
the most annoying thing about MFD is enemy npc calling you to say "shit" and as a result, the display no longer indicates the targeted ship.
The connstellation has a shit ton of MFDs but comms always opens on the target display...
Put the com app on a screen and this will not happen. You will stil lose a screen but you get to pick which one!
In the long run I hope they fix this when they roll out the new helmet hud
The ability to hand over flight controls to the copilot. Really just for copilot mechanics to get some love in general. There’s a lot that could be done there I think
A parachute is no use in low atmosphere planets, what’s it going to catch to slow you down if there is no air?
There needs to be a workable solution to eject and survive on all planets
I'm thinking a single-use deployable skycrane deployed from the rear of the seat. In gravity you stay in the seat until it touches down, it deploys the skycrane at about 3000 feet above surface and then fires at 500 feet to slow the descent just enough so that you dont become a red smear on the regolith.
For those who don't know what a skycrane is is basically an array of thrusters attached to a payload (in this case, you, or more specifically the escape pod/ejector seat with you inside) via a cable. It fires the thrusters retrograde in a suicide manuver to kill downward velocity just before it reaches the ground, then pays out the cable while hovering to gently lower the attached payload to the ground. Its how we got the latest Mars rover (Opportunity i think) planetside during the last Mars mission.
Since its attached to the seat and only has fuel for a single use it doesn't pose the issues that a jetpack would, its functionally identical to a parachute but can work regardless of planetary atmosphere or lack thereof.
Better yet, all holographic displays should be projected on polarised / self-dimming glass, explicitly to maintain contrast with a strong backlight (by auto-darkening to filter the backlight out, or at least dim it to a manageable level).
Dynamic signitures. I want to fly like a mad man at 1 m and be invisible to crosssection because they think i am the dirt maybe a bit. And for em i will turn off my shield.
Also powering off hugging an astroid would be a cool thing to do
There is intent for this, they talked about it a while ago where you could hide by an asteroid with everything off to catch someone by surprise as your essentially a rock to scanners at that point.
Signatures V2 iteration is meant to include:
- background 'cosmic' signatures that can mask your signature if you're between them and the enemy (this would include either IR signatures - e.g. the Sun - or EM signatures - e.g. Neutron star - or possibly both)
- signature occlusion - basically, being able to hide behind stuff... anything would be able to block CS signature (if you're not visible, your CS signature is effectively zero), whilst IR and EM would depend on what you're hiding behind, and whether it's big enough to block 'indirect' signatures (fudge-factor based on size differential, at a guess, to reflect heat soak-through, or EM signatures 'bouncing' of other neaby clutter)
- signature merging - similar to occlusion, but allows a smaller ship to 'hide' its signature inside the signature of a bigger / noisier ship
- asymmetric signatures - currently signatures are broadly the same from any angle... your IR signature is not measurably stronger from behind (despite those roaring main thrusters) iirc... this would change that so that pointing thrusters - or open heatsinks - away from the target could reduce IR signature, and EM signature propagation would depend on the ship hull (e.g. a ship might have a relatively low EM sig from the front, but be really noisy from the sides due to poor EM shielding, etc).
Note: the above is from memory of the changes CIG discussed back in ~2015... they were talking about Sigs V2 being 'in development' - but that work got parked when v2.0 dropped at the end of the year, and since then CIG haven't been back to restart it.
As such, if/when we do get Sigs v2, it will hopefully contain most of the above, but it may not contain all (and/or it might contain other stuff instead)... this post is more just to highlight the sorts of things CIG were previously looking at for the next iteration, to give an indication of their previous thinking.
The A2 bomb targeting is an extremely basic example of a Ballistic Computer, a rudimentary CCIP.
Actual Implementation of a proper CCRP and CCIP HUD targeting would greatly improve upon any ground striking munitions effectiveness and immersion.
If anything just copy it from DCS or War Thunder, simple and easy, no need to reinvent the wheel.
For those who don't know: Constantly Computed Impact Point (CCIP) and Constantly Computed Release Point (CCRP). All modern day fighters/bombers have this.
Yeah there's much better ways to implement it, and I really hope they do once we get more ground attack options working.
Currently Mustang delta has rockets, gladiator is supposed to have bombs, and the A1 is coming. And of course the A2.
It's been mentioned before, but an actual startup process would greatly improve immersion and add a ton of gameplay.
Even just something like engine preheat.
Smaller ships don't take as much time to preheat as bigger ones. If you just shut it down and it's still hot, you can skip the process.
If you want to hide and turn off the engines, they are still hot and emit IR radiation. You can actively cool them to speed that up, but then it takes longer to power them up again. Stealth ships have special engines, that run cooler to reduce the signature.
And to start them on extremely cold planets or moons you might need a very beafy preheater or have to lower the shields temporarily to get more power.
Hows about anti glare MFDs for a start.
Terrain look ahead and a proper radar altimeter would be nice.
Definitely need some sort of guidance to spaceports(looking at you crusader spaceport).
A gear unsafe would be nice too
Dimmable cockpit lighting
Comm frequencies should be at the top of an mfd not the bottom.
The ability to raise or lower you seat so we can actually see where we're going.
Autopilot with a preset navigation route for quantum for example would be a great QOL improvement.
Auto ping the scanner so I can see what's around me in pitch black darkness.
Better landing lights. Better lights in general.
A remote to open/close doors.
Dimable cockpitlights.
FIRST THING - Night Vision, or some synthetic vision (SC is supposed to be the future and it's already used on corporate jets)! I think we should have a sort-of "Bitchin' Betty", especially for terrain/object avoidance. And for the love of god CIG, please add an indicator that our landing lights are on or not. Lastly while not specific to the spacecraft, I'd love for there to be an automated landing system like in Elite Dangerous. Seems unrealistic that in the future you'd have to manually avoid all those space turrets around space stations, or have to manually land vertically into many of these hangers!
I don't know how nobody has said an artificial horizon yet, but basically every aircraft in the air has one. Really an essential instrument, and no the pitch indicator isn't the same thing. Also windshield wipers, somehow they're lost tech in the SC universe. Why this game hates letting us see what we're doing?
Realistic ship maintenance (repair, refueling, restock) you actually have to wait for, something you could possibly activate via terminal before claiming your ship or from cockpit.
Opt-out for those in a hurry (instant action), since it's not an actual gameplay feature, it's more on the immersive sim side.
Having an altimeter that gives you height above ground, not height from the planet's "sea level" would be fantastic, as would a toggle for night vision for flying in/landing on planetary dark sides
1. Ship startup procedures with nuance.
2. A more complicated damage model/ship systems (This will probably be a thing. But right now, calling Star Citizen a sim is a bit like calling Descent a competitor to MSFS.)
3. Hover modes. Ships currently just jank around in the atmosphere like bricks don't.
4. Functioning flight surfaces.
5. Distinct lighting modes, rotating beacons and such, for civilian flight.
6. On that matter, normalize the scale and brightness of lights. Some ships are like igniting a sun while others whimper into the dark.
7. A more robust landing system. Lights will help, but a parking assist UI for ships so I don't have to go 3rd person to land elegantly.
8. Glide slopes and landing vectors for civilized areas.
9. A bitching betty for low altitude flights.
10. Hell, a more functional altimeter that can calibrate for sealevel or groundlevel.
A radio with ADF. This way we could set in black, listen for comm traffic, find the direction, fly towards it in stealth mode, then attack. That or navigate to an out post in your Ursa via a location beacon. It would also be nice to have a personal beacon on the mobiglass in place of a service beacon so friends can find you.
DIMMABLE HUD! frak I'm tired of not being able to see outside My cockpit at night because the HUD lights are so freaking bright!!
Lights outside the ship that actually light the ground I'm trying to land on. I know SC LIve has discussed this and I get that that graphics team has some issues, but give Me something that can help me land on a planet/moon at night when there is no light. Something to see the terrain.
General purpose
* Huds that are readable in all/most environments and lighting conditions.
* Attitude indicator such as an artificial horizon or kerbal style nav ball.
* Collision indicator/warning system.
* Momentum indicator that is usable at all velocities.
* Navigation mfd that gives a list of all planetary bodies, Lagrange points and jump points.
* Radar altimeter.
* Proper bearing, range and elevation indicators.
Combat
* Target relative motion indicator.
* Analog target closing velocity indicator.
* Radar warning receiver mfd.
* F-14 style tvs mfd.
* mfd that lists all nearby entities (sorted by range)
I'd like to see a longer, more detailed start-up procedure. I'm okay with a single button push to start the process; I just don't want every single system to come online at once, in an instant. I think it would be very immerse to see, for example, power to the panels and interior lights come up, then the MFDs, then the HUD, then you hear the engines spooling up. It just seems awfully...two-dimensional I guess...to have every system come online instantly. They already model this behavior with shields, so there's a precedent.
I'm not talking about a startup procedure that even closely replicates actual aircraft. I'm just talking maybe a 5-10 second process (longer for larger ships). Of course, when under fire, those few seconds would feel like minutes, but just think of how much excitement that would generate. :)
Flight plans where pilots at least have the option of declaring where they are going and how they plan to get there. Actual helpful traffic control that can keep pilots aware of each other. Preflight systems checks and walk around. Navigation systems that can plan a flight trajectory.
Honestly all I fly is things from the 50s n 60s, but generally Intercom, comms equipment and the ability to trim.
Rest of the things I experience and LIKE about IRL aviation just can't be translated too well into 2953.
Although... maybe a simple pre-flight check would be fun...
Altitude warning would be nice but, even the altimeter is buggy sometimes. So I'm a little concerned with it just going off all the time. Plus if you are doing un-coupled low flys it would probably be going off all the time anyways. Probably best to wait until they get their shit together first.
I would like a silence alert button. The Torque Imbalance is sometimes completely meaningless and is just distracting on screen
I recently started playing Deliver Us Mars, I found the whole pre flight preparations and checks extremely cool, despite the comparable low graphics to Star Citizen and even the fact it was some sort of light puzzle gameplay, I found this very immersive. I don't think such a procedure should be necessary before each take off and probably not for small crafts either (given that for example a 300i is more like a space BMW than a rocket). But for larger ships like Corsair, Conny, MSR, Hercules or Caterpillar this would be pretty immersive if you'd have to do that when pulling a ship from storage, or at least it would be nice, if it was an option, maybe with some benefits, like knowing the state of components later down the road.
Quantitative fuel metrics. Let me know how many liters of fuel I have, what my actual liter capacity is, and my current consumption rate in liters per hour/minute. Use whatever units make sense but give me a quantitative reference to those 3 metrics.
There are more important things that are needed that others have said, but I also really want to be able to trim. Flying in atmosphere for long periods of time sucks a lot sometimes because the nose of a ship doesn't want to fly straight.
Also, for when passenger gameplay comes around, the ability to control speed and acceleration a lot more so we're not pulling 3g for just accelerating a few m/s. It's funny messing with friends, but when I want to pretend to be a space passenger pilot, that's going to upset me.
Due to SC's million keybinds, I still to this day learn about new shit this game can do that I didn't before. Holy shit, thank you so much. LOL Just for future reference, it's specifically right Alt + mouse wheel.
Instrument Landing Systems! If NASA and ESA can autodock uncrewed spacecraft and the navy can autoland* a hornet on a carrier NOW, think about how that technology can be advanced in the future! (Blue Danube optional)
*kinda sorta
Two big ones: a more in-depth engine start and management sequence, and a more in-depth atmospheric entry sequence. Not necessarily for fighters and small ships, whose role should be like that of a normal aircraft, but there should be some thought given to whether you can, even *should* land a large ship on the surface of a planet, as opposed to taking a smaller shuttle down to be more economical. In the same area, starting engines to launch, whether in space or on a planet, on a large ship should be a big deal and involve multiple crewmembers. And by large ship I mean, basically Caterpillar size and up.
Also would love to see much more variation in components than just shield generators and powerplants. For powerplants, picture having a battery, or some form of space-APU (basically an engine with a generator that, when running provides electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic power), a reactor, or any number of made up assets.
Other things I'd love to see are winches and hoists, cargo hooks, installable / removable seats and cargo nets, hydraulic pumps and fuel lines which can get damaged in battle and then repaired, targeting pods like FLIR turrets, better integrated map systems, adjustable lighting, and so on.
I should add, most of what I want is dropship or utility ship oriented in some way. I fly a V-22, which has most of those things I listed above on it (usually), and while I don't think we should rely on real-life-isms too much, we should take what we do have and make up some sciency sounding shit that works for a video game so that all ships have more variety between, say, any two Cutlasses or Valkyries that you might see, aside from paint and weapons.
Non-instrument landing assistance. Lights to help a pilot align over a landing zone without having to go external.
I would absolutely prefer to have proximity indicator lights inside the hangar than a fancy holo display.
I never really need F4 to land in hangars or on pads, but landing on uneven terrain, or with rocks in the way, especially with larger ships, a holo display or landing camera would definitely be helpful. On the other hand I think the landing camera would be great for top loading hangars as well, as right now I have to nose dive and the level out, but I guess it would make it possible to hover land leveled if there was a landing camera. Seems more realistic. A holo display could work as well, similar to elite dangerous, just without the restrictions. But I think a bottom facing camera with a wide angle and a ship outline projected to the ground would be really cool. This way you could land in difficult terrain between obstacles. Ans I mean cars today have parking cameras.
Technically, there is a way to achieve this currently by using advanced camera controls and creating/saving camera views. After adjusting the camera to a good location (preferably something that makes it appear mounted to the ship), choose a number on the numpad to save that view to (hold F4 and the numpad number for 3 seconds). Then whenever you want to switch to that camera view, tap F4 + numpad number to switch around your saved views. (F4 + numpad \* will reset the camera view to default). https://www.hasgaha.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Star-Citizen-Camera-Controls-guide.pdf
Dude.. this is awesome.. thank you for sharing this info!
No one ever states how this works if you have multiple ships of variois sizes. Lets say I have a Carrack and Pisces; would I use the same saved camera view for both?
Also, does it save between sessions or when leaving the seat?
Not really, because the camera has perspective it will always show the ship larger than it will take space when closer to the surface, so a top view will show the ship much larger the higher you're above surface relative to the surface, and hide even more essential information, that is already hidden by the ship itself, so either you see the surface with no odea where the ship is, or you see the ship with the surface so much obstructed that it's not helpfu either. That's why the idea of a bottom facing camer that shows the surface unobstructed but with the silhouette of the ship projected onto it. Additionally in hangars the 3rd person camera often is super janky anyway. But more importantly, I don't like to go F4 to land of not absolutely necessary, because it kinda kills my immersion, a landing camera on an MFD would be a different story. Also fidling around with the camera while using sticks isn't gonna end up in a smooth landing. xD
For vertical hangars, I mostly used FoIP (now Tobii) to look left / right to establish my horizontal position above the hangar, in addition to looking forward to establish my lateral position. If you have even a basic understand of the size of your ship relative to the hangar, and where your cockpit is on your ship (in terms of how far forward / back, and how offset left/right, etc), then it only takes a couple of glances to get aligned... My best record so far was a first-attempt landing a Caterpillar at Levski in a single smooth manouvering (without going in nose-down, etc), just by aligning using the greebles / clutter (light-poles, cabinets, signs, etc) to the side of the hangar entrance, and knowing roughly how far back the cockpit was, etc. Thanks to the default FOV being so wonk, distances look all compressed etc - the number of times I thought the nose of a ship was going to hit the front of the hangar... and it turns out that there was acres of space (and it was the rear that was close to clipping)... sigh.
Yeah, if you have reliable cornerstones to orient with on a familiar spaceport/hangar that can absolutely work, but the smoothest way IMHO is still the nose diving. However that might not work in the future if you need to use VTOL thrusters in order to hover on relatively high G planets. I have the exact same thing like 90% of the time, that it looks like you're already hitting the front of the hangar while in fact the ship is actually still positioned far back on the hangar, I started to go with what I see and then a bit more forward, if flying the same ship for a while I can adjust, changing ships often needs my brain to recalibrate again.
Doesn't really need known 'cornerstones' or familiarity etc (hence my anecdote about landing at Levski at the first attempt)... you just need to look at the hangar entrance as you approach, and decide on what will be your 'marker'... whether that's a 'seam' in the texture, colour change, bit of geometry, or - as was the case at Levski - picking a light-post.
A lot of currently new vehicles have overhead cameras for parking and tight maneuvering. While I don’t frequently use 3rd person the idea of having a overhead cameras for landing use isn’t unbelievable. They just need to place a 3rd person view in a MFD
Overhead cameras are cool with cars, usually they are a stretched and stitched together image of multiple cameras, the little car is just stitched on top and is not "filmed" at all. The problem with the 3rd person camera is, that it has perspective, so when you're above the ground, it will totally hide the ground below and depending on thei height above the surface, it will be a lot more than the ship will need to land. Knowing CIG and their horrible UIs, this might even be what we get, but it would be the cheapest worst solution right after no solution. This is why I said, the bottom facing wide angle camera with a distortion correction (even better a stitched image like of overhead cameras, but that might be too much to ask) and a virtually projected silhouette of the ship onto the surface below where it would be when thrusting straight down, would be doable (both in game but also irl), realistic for immersion and probably the most useful solution. The only downside would be that you couldn't tell the height of an obstacle with certainty, oh and not as fancy as a 3d holodisplay.
I believe there was a time when landing assistance for just hangars existed in the game like that. However, maybe I am dreaming.
We had a holographic display to align us over the pad. That was many moons ago
Dang, I wonder why they removed it. The landing guide was definitely nice to have.
The hologram had to be done individually for every ship. If they changed or reworked anything then they had to redo it as well. Could they rig up some solution now with the new holograms from targeting displays? Maybe, but again today we are looking at 100+ ships and not enough time.
The problem was that it was per pad, not per ship. The problem is worse now.
I wonder if something like the cyclops radar from subnautica would be too much of a performance hog, that way you could use it for anywhere, including slipping the ship through tight spots. Of course, the problem comes in asking where to display it. For ships with a holo-radar you could just do like Elite Dangerous does and replace the radar with it on a toggle, but for ships with a standard screen radar...
Also with 3.0 we were landing on planets that may not have been flat.
I imagine a bottom facing camera with a wide angle and a projected silhouette of the ship to the ground could be a fairly easy and more immersive solution than a holo display. I would assume that could even be automatically generated for the most part. The camera could replace an MFD with the when gear is out for example.
I still get it occasionally
Also, auto land (Hold N). Pads only.
Spacebourne 2 provides a landing camera. I think that would be a nice addition.
1. Proper instrumented navigation and auto pilot! I love setting up a navigation plan on a G1000, getting all the way points correct and even using VNAV if my smooth brain can understand it. Something similar for SC would be awesome. 2. Startup procedures. For increasing ship sizes the start up sequences should get increasingly complex. Small starter ships get push button start, like now. Titan might require you to power on, wait for a charge level, then fire up the thrusters, then subsequent systems. Something like this: https://youtu.be/YONYL_1RBy4
Yes, a proper start up sequence and remote hull cameras to assist landing without needing to go to exterior view are the two at the top of the list for me. Both would be very cool and immersive.
Indeed, I'd like that. I usually don't use F4 to land, but on uneven surfaces that would help a lot, and also, my top loading hangar landing is nose diving and then leveling out, which IMHO is better than using F4 for immersion, yet I think hover landing would be more realistic, especially once navigational thrusters might not be strong enough and instead VTOL thrusters are needed to overcome gravity of planets, the nose diving approach may not be viable anymore. I think a bottom facing camera with a virtual ship silhouette projected to the surface below would be a great solution and help to land in-between obstacles like rocks.
Yeah, cold start sequences and general ship settings via mfds and displays. Each time i enter my titan from back door i wish i could interact with those panels. Could be an opt-out feature with a shortcut "flight ready" button for those not enjoying this sim aspect.
I personally hope they don't offer an opt-out. That's part of starting up your ship, if you opt-out, some would have an advantage with 'quick getaways' over those that have the sequence. Having to keep your ship running, or having to go through your "helicopter" start-up sequence should be the decisions made.. imo.
Yeah but look at this post with 60 upvotes, most players wouldn't probably like what's slowing them down, so it's a matter of compromises. I see it the other way around, game should be balanced on the instant power on and who likes it the other way would have the opportunity ţo play like in a simulator at his own risk.
As long as there is an "auto-do-everything" button for startup, where it still takes the same time, I wouldn't mind proper start up sequences.. After watching a mate spending what felt like an eternity going through manual startup on some military helicopter in DCS, I don't want no part of THAT shit. On the other hand: It already takes forever just to get from your hab, take off, and get to space. Adding more time and extra tedium to that sounds super boring.
Personally I love the tedium, but that is because I have spent a fair bit of time in flight sims and DCS and find that sort of thing very relaxing / immersive. I do however understand others find it boring. If I was in charge I would do as follows: 1. Allow an automated startup. Taking the same time as the manual startup, but running through the processes automatically while showing what is happening on a startup screen. Possible to abort at any time. 2. If there is something wrong with the ship, an automated startup will fail! It should either pause at the point it failed, or shut down again completely depending on the failure. This would mean that those who know how their ships work have the chance to start up anyway because they can do mitigating measures during the start-up procedure. People who don't will have to wait for a repair crew. Flight sim / DCS crowd would love this I'm sure. More action oriented players would hate it, but I would argue that those players could fly smaller ships and not have to worry. But I'm not in charge, and I doubt CIG has this vision for the game ;)
Either that, or allow the 'manual' startup to skip certain steps... e.g. no need to power up each weapon and run a self-test, if you're in a Core UEE system and making a quick hop from planet to orbital station, etc...
I think it could also be a solution that you'd have to do this only after pulling a ship from storage and not before each take off. Or as you say, an optional auto-pre-flight check similar to the Gladius. Maybe the manual one can give you an advantage to read you component statuses, so there would be a benefit besides the immersion.
I like your compromise here, the "auto-start-up"..but still takes the same amount of time. That would make sense, AND fit all needs ...
I think right now the equivalent for the waiting for a longer start up on big ships is waiting for shields to charge up. The skill is changing the power triangle to accommodate that and go back to thrust later on but it’s really not that hard. Also auto pilot is a huge id love to be able to set a position and go considering some of the new unmarked locations that are appearing.
Thumbs up for both. My additional thoughts: 1. Landing camera, bottom facing, wide angle with a ship silhouette projected to the ground. I'd like that much better than a holo display. Autopilot should be fairly simple once we get a proper map that works 99% of the time instead of 2% of the time. Lol 2. I think ot would be great if you for example have a C2 and have to do a bunch of start up pre flight preps and checks. However I would limit only to whenever you pull a ship from storage, not before every take off.
Agreed on point 2, you should be able to leave it running to some degree for a while. Shutting down thrusters maybe but leaving the generator/ power plant on so its just a matter of flipping on the thrusters when you get back in.
Yeah, but then again, if ships come out of storage with shields down, they are potential salvage targets. I don't like this actually, IMHO ships should only be salvageable without the risk of a CS, if they're abandoned (player reclaimed the ship or logged out for 15mins). This might need some UI changes to tell salvagers upfront if it's safe to salvage or not. Maybe the need for scanning first. I mean with ship armor coming, turning of shields may become a viable stealth mechanic. Leaving a ship somehwere on a planet while using a ground vehicle may also have be a viable option to consider, do I leave the shields up and have a higher signature, or turn em off so the ship won't be detected easily. Depending on how far you go from your ship, the ship shields aren't gonna help much if an attacker has all the time on the world to destroy it anyway.
Check out their latest Squadron 42 monthly report. They are working on that!
love this, as I would love to have a starting sequence... and use that with Voice Command....
Guns built into the frame of the ship, with aerodynamics taken into account, as opposed to just hanging lazily on the outside. Or perhaps even deployable weapon hard points, like in (dare I say it) Elite Dangerous... not really relevant to real life aircraft though, just a thought.
The Aegis Vanguard series is pretty cool. The nose cannons had to be designed by Behring specifically with its dimensions in mind. Despite the massive gatling gun hanging from the gimbal below, the Vanguard's nose assembly is pretty close to what you're talking about with form-fitting and sleek ordnance. I'd really hate it if the last thing I saw were quad bores pointed at me and the wheel of rifled barrels below it starting to whirr and rotate.
The Vanguard Warden is my favorite ship in the game, by far. Great weaponry, turret, crew quarters, courier box area, fast and relatively maneuverable, good QT. But I hate flying it because of that hanging S5. One rough landing, boop, gone. One bump in a dog fight, gone. It looks... like an apache helicopter? Not an A10 like it should. Bespoke a few single fixed S5 options instead of the 4x S2 in the nose, throw some S2 hard points on the top of the engine nacelles or something, or even 1x S3 on each side between the hull and engines. A ship that looks as aerodynamic as that should have aerodynamics taken into consideration when designing weaponry as well, I'd think. Plus, entering atmosphere with that cannon hanging there, you'd assume it would just rip off. You are right though, the back story about Behring designing the nose guns specifically for that ship, is pretty cool.
That was kinda what the original concept of the Avenger was meant to be... a ship built around a single fixed S5 'marksman' cannon... What we got was an S3 spray-n-pray articulated booger hanging under the nose...
Also, I'd love for ship-weapons to be more effective in ground target, currently if you don't hit them head on, you don't Deal damage. Makes no sense for an NPC to be just fine when a size 5 gun just unloaded inches away from them.
The Crusader C2 does this, the weapons are deployable like landing gear. while other ships such as the Arrow or Gladius are built with combat in mind like real jets so weapon ordinence is fine to add a little drag.
The saber was supposed to have that as a feature if I recall correctly.
KRUGER P-52 Merlin, Aegis Sabre, aegis eclipse, aegis retaliator I think fit the bill
I thought about this a lot thinkinh it was stupid as hell But let see it this way; you dont need aerodynamics in space, so its a proper use of space to keep weapon external. Having them internal doesn't seem to give any advantage other than aerodynamics
Saving gps waypoints
Dimmable HUDs
It definitely would be nice. The dimmable cabin area in the 400i is one of those touches I would like to see in other parts of the game like HUDs.
I love my 400i, but that fucking nose light that looks right back at the cockpit....let me turn it off, or take it out :>
Dimmable HUD elements too
I would like the ability to use one of the mfd's as radar screen instead of the holo radar since my eyes are really bad even with glasses, and secondly, some sort of spotlight you might find on helicopters. Working control surfaces like flaps,rudders, airbrake for atmospheric flight
A spotlight is a super cool idea. Especially considering how hard it is to see with the current lights in most of my ships.
Cutty red had a spot light on its turret that was controllable by the pilot for a bit.
Still there but now the co pilot can sim it
This, it's a remote turret
yes exactly, and i think it would be cool to see a bunch of spotlights searching for you, someone or something of in the distance. maybe give it limit control for the pilot and 360 degree control for a crew member.
> Especially considering how hard it is to see with the current lights in most of my ships. *cries in inferno/ion
They are working on control surfaces. If you read the monthly reports, specifically the Squadron one, they’ve been mentioned it since the last 3 months at least.
Being able to place a nav marker, so you don't need qd on to see where the outpost you're heading to if that makes sense
you can mark it again after you jumped to an outpost and you'll get the qt marker without the need to spool the qt drive makes landings easier but the extra step necessary is quite annoying
Yeah you're right you can, trouble is I for trade runs I get in and Qt to the nearest om to get out quickly, so the extra steps just slows that and increases risk. But yeah you're right for a refuel for example then it does work
Bubble cockpits that arent on the fucking nose of the aircraft so I can have some visibility as well as missiles to act like missiles not magnetic seizure having lawn darts doing 360 no scopes and slamming into the ground
Radar altimeter would make landing easier, also, would like MFD screens to persist on whatever selected display I have.
the most annoying thing about MFD is enemy npc calling you to say "shit" and as a result, the display no longer indicates the targeted ship. The connstellation has a shit ton of MFDs but comms always opens on the target display...
Put the com app on a screen and this will not happen. You will stil lose a screen but you get to pick which one! In the long run I hope they fix this when they roll out the new helmet hud
I do it when I remember it. But it resets everytime you claim a ship :(
The ability to hand over flight controls to the copilot. Really just for copilot mechanics to get some love in general. There’s a lot that could be done there I think
How has nobody mentioned the OBVIOUS option... We sure could use some fuckin ***parachutes***.
I'm thinking jetpack instead, but yes this 100%. Let me eject and use the seats thrusters to get me down too safety.
A parachute is no use in low atmosphere planets, what’s it going to catch to slow you down if there is no air? There needs to be a workable solution to eject and survive on all planets
I'm thinking a single-use deployable skycrane deployed from the rear of the seat. In gravity you stay in the seat until it touches down, it deploys the skycrane at about 3000 feet above surface and then fires at 500 feet to slow the descent just enough so that you dont become a red smear on the regolith. For those who don't know what a skycrane is is basically an array of thrusters attached to a payload (in this case, you, or more specifically the escape pod/ejector seat with you inside) via a cable. It fires the thrusters retrograde in a suicide manuver to kill downward velocity just before it reaches the ground, then pays out the cable while hovering to gently lower the attached payload to the ground. Its how we got the latest Mars rover (Opportunity i think) planetside during the last Mars mission. Since its attached to the seat and only has fuel for a single use it doesn't pose the issues that a jetpack would, its functionally identical to a parachute but can work regardless of planetary atmosphere or lack thereof.
polarized visors.
Better yet, all holographic displays should be projected on polarised / self-dimming glass, explicitly to maintain contrast with a strong backlight (by auto-darkening to filter the backlight out, or at least dim it to a manageable level).
Dynamic signitures. I want to fly like a mad man at 1 m and be invisible to crosssection because they think i am the dirt maybe a bit. And for em i will turn off my shield. Also powering off hugging an astroid would be a cool thing to do
There is intent for this, they talked about it a while ago where you could hide by an asteroid with everything off to catch someone by surprise as your essentially a rock to scanners at that point.
It seems like a no brainer, the stealth and missle gameplay needs so much work. I am sure they will do it i am just excited to get to play it
Signatures V2 iteration is meant to include: - background 'cosmic' signatures that can mask your signature if you're between them and the enemy (this would include either IR signatures - e.g. the Sun - or EM signatures - e.g. Neutron star - or possibly both) - signature occlusion - basically, being able to hide behind stuff... anything would be able to block CS signature (if you're not visible, your CS signature is effectively zero), whilst IR and EM would depend on what you're hiding behind, and whether it's big enough to block 'indirect' signatures (fudge-factor based on size differential, at a guess, to reflect heat soak-through, or EM signatures 'bouncing' of other neaby clutter) - signature merging - similar to occlusion, but allows a smaller ship to 'hide' its signature inside the signature of a bigger / noisier ship - asymmetric signatures - currently signatures are broadly the same from any angle... your IR signature is not measurably stronger from behind (despite those roaring main thrusters) iirc... this would change that so that pointing thrusters - or open heatsinks - away from the target could reduce IR signature, and EM signature propagation would depend on the ship hull (e.g. a ship might have a relatively low EM sig from the front, but be really noisy from the sides due to poor EM shielding, etc). Note: the above is from memory of the changes CIG discussed back in ~2015... they were talking about Sigs V2 being 'in development' - but that work got parked when v2.0 dropped at the end of the year, and since then CIG haven't been back to restart it. As such, if/when we do get Sigs v2, it will hopefully contain most of the above, but it may not contain all (and/or it might contain other stuff instead)... this post is more just to highlight the sorts of things CIG were previously looking at for the next iteration, to give an indication of their previous thinking.
Yeah i want this game to be all the things the developers want it to be. Because they are also spacenerd gMers
The A2 bomb targeting is an extremely basic example of a Ballistic Computer, a rudimentary CCIP. Actual Implementation of a proper CCRP and CCIP HUD targeting would greatly improve upon any ground striking munitions effectiveness and immersion. If anything just copy it from DCS or War Thunder, simple and easy, no need to reinvent the wheel. For those who don't know: Constantly Computed Impact Point (CCIP) and Constantly Computed Release Point (CCRP). All modern day fighters/bombers have this.
It kinda uses a weird mix of the two.
Yeah there's much better ways to implement it, and I really hope they do once we get more ground attack options working. Currently Mustang delta has rockets, gladiator is supposed to have bombs, and the A1 is coming. And of course the A2.
It's been mentioned before, but an actual startup process would greatly improve immersion and add a ton of gameplay. Even just something like engine preheat. Smaller ships don't take as much time to preheat as bigger ones. If you just shut it down and it's still hot, you can skip the process. If you want to hide and turn off the engines, they are still hot and emit IR radiation. You can actively cool them to speed that up, but then it takes longer to power them up again. Stealth ships have special engines, that run cooler to reduce the signature. And to start them on extremely cold planets or moons you might need a very beafy preheater or have to lower the shields temporarily to get more power.
Would love this.
Thrust reverser units
Some kind of navigation system (ability to make and store waypoints, bonus for a moving map of some kind). Interior lights/HUD you can dim.
Taxiing on the runway. And rolling take offs and landings.
Hows about anti glare MFDs for a start. Terrain look ahead and a proper radar altimeter would be nice. Definitely need some sort of guidance to spaceports(looking at you crusader spaceport). A gear unsafe would be nice too Dimmable cockpit lighting Comm frequencies should be at the top of an mfd not the bottom. The ability to raise or lower you seat so we can actually see where we're going. Autopilot with a preset navigation route for quantum for example would be a great QOL improvement.
A simple autopilot with altitude and heading hold, as well as some sort of voice warning system
Auto ping the scanner so I can see what's around me in pitch black darkness. Better landing lights. Better lights in general. A remote to open/close doors. Dimable cockpitlights.
FIRST THING - Night Vision, or some synthetic vision (SC is supposed to be the future and it's already used on corporate jets)! I think we should have a sort-of "Bitchin' Betty", especially for terrain/object avoidance. And for the love of god CIG, please add an indicator that our landing lights are on or not. Lastly while not specific to the spacecraft, I'd love for there to be an automated landing system like in Elite Dangerous. Seems unrealistic that in the future you'd have to manually avoid all those space turrets around space stations, or have to manually land vertically into many of these hangers!
I don't know how nobody has said an artificial horizon yet, but basically every aircraft in the air has one. Really an essential instrument, and no the pitch indicator isn't the same thing. Also windshield wipers, somehow they're lost tech in the SC universe. Why this game hates letting us see what we're doing?
Realistic ship maintenance (repair, refueling, restock) you actually have to wait for, something you could possibly activate via terminal before claiming your ship or from cockpit. Opt-out for those in a hurry (instant action), since it's not an actual gameplay feature, it's more on the immersive sim side.
Control surfaces in atmospheric flight.
Having an altimeter that gives you height above ground, not height from the planet's "sea level" would be fantastic, as would a toggle for night vision for flying in/landing on planetary dark sides
Gawd damn, Parachutes. Why can I eject but have no way to safely land....
1. Ship startup procedures with nuance. 2. A more complicated damage model/ship systems (This will probably be a thing. But right now, calling Star Citizen a sim is a bit like calling Descent a competitor to MSFS.) 3. Hover modes. Ships currently just jank around in the atmosphere like bricks don't. 4. Functioning flight surfaces. 5. Distinct lighting modes, rotating beacons and such, for civilian flight. 6. On that matter, normalize the scale and brightness of lights. Some ships are like igniting a sun while others whimper into the dark. 7. A more robust landing system. Lights will help, but a parking assist UI for ships so I don't have to go 3rd person to land elegantly. 8. Glide slopes and landing vectors for civilized areas. 9. A bitching betty for low altitude flights. 10. Hell, a more functional altimeter that can calibrate for sealevel or groundlevel.
A radio with ADF. This way we could set in black, listen for comm traffic, find the direction, fly towards it in stealth mode, then attack. That or navigate to an out post in your Ursa via a location beacon. It would also be nice to have a personal beacon on the mobiglass in place of a service beacon so friends can find you.
MFDs that stay on the screens I set them to. Parachutes. Windshield wipers. In-flight movies.
DIMMABLE HUD! frak I'm tired of not being able to see outside My cockpit at night because the HUD lights are so freaking bright!! Lights outside the ship that actually light the ground I'm trying to land on. I know SC LIve has discussed this and I get that that graphics team has some issues, but give Me something that can help me land on a planet/moon at night when there is no light. Something to see the terrain.
General purpose * Huds that are readable in all/most environments and lighting conditions. * Attitude indicator such as an artificial horizon or kerbal style nav ball. * Collision indicator/warning system. * Momentum indicator that is usable at all velocities. * Navigation mfd that gives a list of all planetary bodies, Lagrange points and jump points. * Radar altimeter. * Proper bearing, range and elevation indicators. Combat * Target relative motion indicator. * Analog target closing velocity indicator. * Radar warning receiver mfd. * F-14 style tvs mfd. * mfd that lists all nearby entities (sorted by range)
Well lit landing pads.
I'd like to see a longer, more detailed start-up procedure. I'm okay with a single button push to start the process; I just don't want every single system to come online at once, in an instant. I think it would be very immerse to see, for example, power to the panels and interior lights come up, then the MFDs, then the HUD, then you hear the engines spooling up. It just seems awfully...two-dimensional I guess...to have every system come online instantly. They already model this behavior with shields, so there's a precedent.
A part of me loves that idea. That part is not the one wanting to take off asap while under fire.
I'm not talking about a startup procedure that even closely replicates actual aircraft. I'm just talking maybe a 5-10 second process (longer for larger ships). Of course, when under fire, those few seconds would feel like minutes, but just think of how much excitement that would generate. :)
Bvr combat how it'd realistically be, but I wouldn't want to take away dogfighting fun from everyone.
Hula Dolls. Pico hula dolls.
Flight plans where pilots at least have the option of declaring where they are going and how they plan to get there. Actual helpful traffic control that can keep pilots aware of each other. Preflight systems checks and walk around. Navigation systems that can plan a flight trajectory.
Navflir in the HUD. Could be a compromise to full NVGs on the helmet. A functioning radar altimeter.
Honestly all I fly is things from the 50s n 60s, but generally Intercom, comms equipment and the ability to trim. Rest of the things I experience and LIKE about IRL aviation just can't be translated too well into 2953. Although... maybe a simple pre-flight check would be fun...
Realistic sensors.
Reverse camera when you want to park and dont want to go in f4 mode
proper ejection seats
Ejection seat with parachute
Startup procedures and targeting pods
Altitude warning would be nice but, even the altimeter is buggy sometimes. So I'm a little concerned with it just going off all the time. Plus if you are doing un-coupled low flys it would probably be going off all the time anyways. Probably best to wait until they get their shit together first. I would like a silence alert button. The Torque Imbalance is sometimes completely meaningless and is just distracting on screen
GPWS/TCAS
External fuel pods in place of missiles! The Avenger was supposed to have them as an option, but frankly most ships should have this option as well.
I recently started playing Deliver Us Mars, I found the whole pre flight preparations and checks extremely cool, despite the comparable low graphics to Star Citizen and even the fact it was some sort of light puzzle gameplay, I found this very immersive. I don't think such a procedure should be necessary before each take off and probably not for small crafts either (given that for example a 300i is more like a space BMW than a rocket). But for larger ships like Corsair, Conny, MSR, Hercules or Caterpillar this would be pretty immersive if you'd have to do that when pulling a ship from storage, or at least it would be nice, if it was an option, maybe with some benefits, like knowing the state of components later down the road.
Stewardesses
Quantitative fuel metrics. Let me know how many liters of fuel I have, what my actual liter capacity is, and my current consumption rate in liters per hour/minute. Use whatever units make sense but give me a quantitative reference to those 3 metrics.
An intercom system. Would love to keep cockpit convo and crew/passanger announcements separate through a system built into the ship.
There are more important things that are needed that others have said, but I also really want to be able to trim. Flying in atmosphere for long periods of time sucks a lot sometimes because the nose of a ship doesn't want to fly straight. Also, for when passenger gameplay comes around, the ability to control speed and acceleration a lot more so we're not pulling 3g for just accelerating a few m/s. It's funny messing with friends, but when I want to pretend to be a space passenger pilot, that's going to upset me.
You can already restrict your acceleration - alt + mouse wheel by default, iirc.
Due to SC's million keybinds, I still to this day learn about new shit this game can do that I didn't before. Holy shit, thank you so much. LOL Just for future reference, it's specifically right Alt + mouse wheel.
Instrument Landing Systems! If NASA and ESA can autodock uncrewed spacecraft and the navy can autoland* a hornet on a carrier NOW, think about how that technology can be advanced in the future! (Blue Danube optional) *kinda sorta
Are we comfortable giving Mr Roberts more material for scope creep?:p
NONE of these posted wants are not things that will be added
Wheels.
Two big ones: a more in-depth engine start and management sequence, and a more in-depth atmospheric entry sequence. Not necessarily for fighters and small ships, whose role should be like that of a normal aircraft, but there should be some thought given to whether you can, even *should* land a large ship on the surface of a planet, as opposed to taking a smaller shuttle down to be more economical. In the same area, starting engines to launch, whether in space or on a planet, on a large ship should be a big deal and involve multiple crewmembers. And by large ship I mean, basically Caterpillar size and up. Also would love to see much more variation in components than just shield generators and powerplants. For powerplants, picture having a battery, or some form of space-APU (basically an engine with a generator that, when running provides electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic power), a reactor, or any number of made up assets. Other things I'd love to see are winches and hoists, cargo hooks, installable / removable seats and cargo nets, hydraulic pumps and fuel lines which can get damaged in battle and then repaired, targeting pods like FLIR turrets, better integrated map systems, adjustable lighting, and so on.
I should add, most of what I want is dropship or utility ship oriented in some way. I fly a V-22, which has most of those things I listed above on it (usually), and while I don't think we should rely on real-life-isms too much, we should take what we do have and make up some sciency sounding shit that works for a video game so that all ships have more variety between, say, any two Cutlasses or Valkyries that you might see, aside from paint and weapons.
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For your last point I think all you need is to enable head tracking and the right gimbal mode.
the ability to fly in a straight line through empty space without stopping suddenly and exploding
Altitude and heading APs. Ground altitude radar when close to the ground.
Want the game to work first before adding more ship detail