[Mav]

Hm, just wanted to mention those ideas...


For ships with only a few turrets (<=5) , I found that X2's 6-monitor-view works pretty well .



Of course, on larger ships, that wouldn't really work...
So, for larger ships I'd suggest an additional interface that's more like that of RTS-games:

1) in the loadout screen, give the player the possibility to group his turrets into Ctrl-groups just like units in an RTS, and also select one turret for each group that would be used for such a monitor-view like in X2.

2) in-game, the player should be able to    a) give orders to those groups via the com-system
                                         and eventually   b) reassign turrets to other groups, propably also using the com-system
                                         and of course     c) take over control of one of those groups, maybe also using the com-system (or then, maybe some keybinding would suffice for this one)
                                                          and   d) change the target priorities of those groups, again via the com-system



Though, of course, a giant additional dropdown-list instead of the com-system would also work... but that'd block your view.
Though, if you could switch to it with a keypress like homeworlds' sensors-screen, the list would have the advantage of being mouse-controlable, and you could also show some info on what each turret is doing...




So, any comments/ideas/whatever ?

[General Battuta]

The damaged subsystems panel would still fill up the entire screen.

[Mav]

Hm, right... hadn't thought of that.

So, maybe add a flag (plus the assorted code) for ships.tbl/tbm to deactivate that, so it would only be seen in the extra turret-menu-screen?

[Nuke]

i have some ideas on how to do a bridge simulator. the idea is to break down different aspects of control, such as fire control (turrets and targeting), helm (navigation, setting a course or steering the ship directly), command (communications, fighter ops, tactics and strategy), engineering (think about a more complicated ets gauge, managing power, engines, damage control) and sensors (long and short range scanning, radar, target identification) would be a goof place to start. thought about making it possible to walk around the ship fps style and take control of different bridge stations. you essentially walk over to what you want to control and then you have control of all the aspects of that station. would be kinda like cnc on galactica, however for the sake of keeping it freespacey id keep the bridge near the outside of the ship so you can see out windows into space. a viewscreen type setup like on startrek might work but i dont like it. il probibly start by modeling a bridge on a small ship with some simple stations as kind of a proof of concept. i got some code for setting up fpos style walking but i need to model some bridge geometry to test it. i have a wip but its nowhere near done.

[Mav]

Hm, nice to hear... but what I was talking about was merely the controls themselves - in your example that'd be the buttons and whatnot at each station...

I'd prefer not having to walk around the ship and rather switch different menu screens via a keypress, but then that's likely a matter of taste..


Anyway, what I was mostly talking about was how to best group the different functions one would need to control on such a ship... Ok, I also talked a bit about the aesthethics, but actually, I mostly wanted to discuss if monitors (however handled in detail) and Ctrl-groups (again...) would be considered a good idea for commanding capships...