[Dragon]

As you may know, I'm working various difficult things, called "impossible" by some, which include warship piloting.
I have archived success with it, but there are some things that make commanding very difficult when the ship is under attack by fighters.
I would like to request three features that will make commanding capital ships much more confortable.

1. "No Redouts" flag, for example in mission flags.
When the ship is attacked by a number of fighters, especially armed with fast firing weapons, it takes a lot of hits onto it's hull, thus making screen flash red nearly constantly.
It's a serious issue only on bigger ships, possibility to turn it off would certainly help in such situations.

2. Force Feedback system overhaul.
I have noticed that when, for example, shockwave reaches player's ship, the effect felt on joystick handle is always the same, regardless of what player is flying.
It may be unnoticeable on fighters and bombers, but is a bit strange on huge capital ship.
Of course weapon hits are also felt similar like on fighter, so it's nearly as uncomfortable as redouts.
Speaking of force feedback I would also like to mention that energy weapons have recoil, which it unrealistic, I think recoil should only be applied to weapons with "Shudder" flag.

The other way around those issues (except shockwaves and energy weapons recoil) is just to avoid having lot of fighters attacking player, for example by allowing him/she to command only cruiser sized warships, coupled with mission designs that make player's job to take care of other big ships, leaving enemy small craft to escort.

3. Custom controls.
Basically I would like you to make a set of controls (for example number keys) which do nothing by default, but can be assigned to different functions using "Key-Pressed" operator.
It isn't necessary for warship commanding, but when I need 7 additional keys to cover entire turret controlling, I'm forced to use 3 keys that have assigned function (currently backward cycling friendly, hostile and unscanned targets). I rarely use backward target cycling, but other people may like those controls, so it would be better to have all functions in number keys (especially if I would later like to add some more functions).

I hope it's possible to code those features, some things (like custom controls) may also come in handy for other uses.

[The E]

1. "No Redouts" flag, for example in mission flags.
When the ship is attacked by a number of fighters, especially armed with fast firing weapons, it takes a lot of hits onto it's hull, thus making screen flash red nearly constantly.
It's a serious issue only on bigger ships, possibility to turn it off would certainly help in such situations.

Would work better as a per-ship flag, IMHO.

3. Custom controls.
Basically I would like you to make a set of controls (for example number keys) which do nothing by default, but can be assigned to different functions using "Key-Pressed" operator.
It isn't necessary for warship commanding, but when I need 7 additional keys to cover entire turret controlling, I'm forced to use 3 keys that have assigned function (currently backward cycling friendly, hostile and unscanned targets). I rarely use backward target cycling, but other people may like those controls, so it would be better to have all functions in number keys (especially if I would later like to add some more functions).

Hmmm. That's more problematic. Not impossible, but more problematic. Personally, I would look into scripting for this, define and handle a bunch of controls in scripting and override the built-in controls. You'll have to tell the player which controls you hijacked, so that they can reassign them if they need them. As an example, I'd recommend taking a look at the FSRTS mod.

[Dragon]

Ship flag would be OK for disabling redouts.
As for custom controls I have imagined them as a few new positions in options menu (miscalenous tab), labeled "Custom 1", "Custom 2" etc. , so they can be easly reassigned.
Of course they will be completely useless in main campaign, but quite handy for some FREDers. 

[The E]

The problem is that those custom actions would have to be defined in some way in the code. Seriously, take a look at what you can do with scripting. That way, you can implement the extra controls you need without needing to change a part of the code that might break pilot file compatibility. After all, things like these is what the scripting system is for...

[Dragon]

Or I will just do the pool in which I will ask people about least used keys, then assign control to this.
In fact, custom controls was just the minor request, the most important is "no redouts" ship flag (I have thought about it and it's really a better idea than making it a mission flag), because this will affect everyone.
Force Feedback upgrade would be also welcome, but it has any effect only on those who use FF. (though upgrading it would affect not only capship flying, but will also have some effects on fighters and bombers)

[Nuke]

i think 90% of whats needed to pilot capitol ships is available through scripting. all it takes is some serious development on the lua side of things.

[Dragon]

I managed to get capship flying to work using mainly SEXPs, redouts only make it a little less comfortable and Force Feedback can be easly turned off (not to mention it should be upgraded regardless of capship piloting).
The only problem I have with it now are beam cannons in manual firing mode, they keep overcharging no matter what I do, though I'm sure I haven't tried everything jet, so I will most likely get it fixed soon.
Anyway if you would like to fly Karuna from BP, I can enable it and it should work like a charm (it has no beam cannons to worry about).

[The E]

The question is, with a wholly sexp based solution, can you fire your main guns at targets that are not directly ahead of you? Can you use broadside weapons? Is your flak (if any) protecting you?

All of this can be done with a bit of work on the scripting side of things.

[Dragon]

Basically it works like that: Weapons are divided into three categories: Primary AC (consists of all single part, forward pointing turrets), Secondary AC (consists of aft and broadside anti-ship weaponary) and AA (consists of all antifigter weapons).
Each of those sections can be set into three modes: Locked (section will not fire), Fire at will (section fire is fully controlled by AI) and Fire at traget (section will fire only at your target).
Controling weapons on your ship is quite simple: you have two keys assigned to each section, one of them unlocks turrets and other sets them to fire at target. There is one more key which resets all sections to "locked" status.
When "Primary AC" section is in "Locked" status, you can manually fire it just like normal primary weapon.
Of course, not all ships may have all three sections (GTD Orion for example would lack "Primary AC", because of it's lack of forward pointing guns and GTC Aeolus wouldn't need "Secondary AC" one, because it's only anti ship weapons are facing forward).
After I will fix my beam cannons I will maybe release a small demo of capship flying feature (if I only could find this thread about favourite capships on General FS Discussion).

[The E]

Hmm.

Yeah, I can see how this could work. Definitely doable via scripting, once a few functions are added. Figuring out the UI for this would involve a LOT of testing and refining, but it is definitely doable, without needing too much of a hackjob.

Of course, I only recently started coding on FS2, and I haven't looked into everything required to make this work from the coding side, but I'm sure it can be done.