Whoa, i though we were meant to take out our agression in game...

Surely some consideration should be given to people on their first post, or who havn't played the game much. It sucks to get flamed by a bunch of people you dont know for asking an innocent question.

He did not get flamed. Just because we post a reply that disagrees with what was said, does not mean it's a flame.

I did not insult him, or use harsh language or demean him in any way. I merely commented on the fact that people seem obsessed with having everything done FOR them in the game.

Besides, if you had read the entire thread, you would see that this is purely a discussion about autopilot features and misinformation from other sites.

Relax. If you want, I can truly flame you.



Those are my thoughts, not yours, I'm WapCaplet[!

There was a magazine article a few months ago on FL. DA said something along the lines that there was an auto-targetting system, but using it became more of a watch-the-game-play instead of playing-the-game.

Naturally, being the Internet, I give you this information without any proof ( ), or even which magazine in came from (I'm not about to search through my stacks, and I mean Stacks, of mags). It's just a bit of info I that this topic reminded me of.

WapCaplet : Actually I did read the whole thread, and fully appreciate the discussion that has been going on. I'll concede flame is a bit of an exaggeration. Still I don’t think it is very constructive to respond to a question with half a page of patronising sarcasm.
But like you say they’re your thoughts not mine and in the end its none of my business what you do.

I think i've had enough of this, i'm gonna vent my spleen. So i'll let you discuss what i say now.

An Autopilot function would be good, it will not detract from combat but simply add another layer and more depth to combat.
e.g " Should i continue to pound the guy in front, or change to the turret and blast his wingman who is currently hitting me from behind ?" this adds a layer of dilemma, but without an Autopilot the ship would continue in a dead straight line at set speed. So as you change to turret view the ship breaks the first rule of combat dogfighting "Never fly straight and level, at the same speed". So in esscence the Turret view is waste of time unless you have a autopilot that is capable of following an enemy or at the very least dodges and weaves randomly.

One Game has excelled in this and i would defy anyone to contradict me. X-wing Alliance, the Y-1300 and Y-2000 were great you could set the Gun turrets to follow enemy or link the guns to you forward firing position or fire on the closet ship. Or man the turret as the ship flew itself. However the game was not automated, it required constant changing of modes whilst dog fighting to ensure you did not end up with a TIE squadron on your Ass.

WapCaplet you are correct that a game that plays itself is as fun as looking at a Spreadsheet, but a certain amount of autonomy adds sophistication and also encourages new tactics and strategies to be envoked.

I think that if a follow enemy command ( probably linked to the formation button) would have been an excellent addition to an already brilliant game. It would allow a certain amount of freedom of action whilst engaging enemy. Rather than just getting on a tango's tail and blasting him, you could use your autopilot and shoot him with your turret. This would also mean that you would have to adapt your skills in MP as it will not be as simple as gettng on someones tail and getting off a good shot. The point is you are still making the kills not the computer, the autopilot merely tries to stop you taking to much fire while your in the turret.

Final thought :-

"Head on with a Tango's, you fire your weapons directly at him, you kill his shields he passes you but he turns to get on your tail. As he passes you simultaneously hit Autopilot and turretmode. You circle as your autopilot follows him in a circle. You move your mouse and take that exceptional shot and before he's turned 90 degrees he's Dead. you hit the cockpit button and the autopilot automatically drops off. You have spent less than 2 seconds in the turret."

and I want a toilet that wipes my ass for me too.. why not add a weapon that shoots a wad in the other pilots eye and have him lose control while your at it!! a vibrating seat.. let's see- hell I want to press the spacebar and have a dick bust through the screen and go in my mouth!!

TwoSheds:

Since you're new to the game I don't think it sounds like such a dumb question. The answer is NO, the Neural Net has no control of the ship in combat. It won't match speeds or do any positioning of the ship. The only assist you get in combat is the lead indicator. It's also a range indicator since it doesn't show up unless the target in in weapon range

Combat strategies:

Use all the same range weapon or seperate them into groups based on range.
Suppose you've got an 800 meter turret and you start firing all your weapons as soon as your target is in range. You're just wasting energy on your short range weapons. I just mounted all 700m stuff and fired it all at once. I miss out on some of the harder hitting short range stuff but gain in a full punch at longer range.
Your lead indicator also uses projectile speed in it's calculations. If you mix fast and slow projectiles the lead indicator will be less accurate.
Also, killing your engines, afterburning up to 200, and turning to face your targets is a great combat tactic and works real well. The lead indicator seems to have some trouble with your drift and is less accurate than if you're under power.
Unless I'm drifting backwards shooting at ememies chasing me I'll usually use the afterburn when I'm shooting.

SMS...

GIVEUPTHEGOODS i hope you feel good now that you've got that off your chest. Very constructive, very mature made one hell of a good impression on me. Look forward to your next excellent post.

I'm gonna slap the nuts of the sides of your face! lol j/k hey I'm just sayin if this game was any easier to play they might as well add another button for aolers to press that launches the game for them too

While I agree with most that a Combat AP, would ditract from the interactivity of dog fighting (hell your neural net automaticly locks on to the target anyway), i do wish you ship would automaticly go to the next waypoint. I was going to search a debris field and i set 20 waypoints in a seart pattern and it just got annoying having to click the next waypoint and hit F2 agian over and over. I mean if all your are doing is following a route, why not have the ship automaticaly go there? I mean, if ships attack you, don't most people break the GO TO and move on thier own? Just a thought.

paks

Maybe the next freelancer could just be a movie. That way, you won't have to do anything at all. I suppose that would satisfy all of you.

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Hmmm..... It seems funny that games like OPERATION FLASHPOINT include a time multiplier in them, may be thats what people really want in FL. That would be good for the Action Junkies out there, But personally i enjoy Flying from Area to area as you can Scan passing ships and Read up on your Stats, Cargo and Finances. Its usually when i am reading this that some Bandit Pirate interupts the space lane and i'm fighting for my hide.

Plus i usually look at the Map in detail looking for areas i haven't seen or fully explored yet.

Just going off topic Here, but does anyone think that if you could integrate an FPS into FL it would rule. Shoot outs on landing pads, boarding actions where you fight off pirates trying to get your cargo while your ship is imoblised. You could even do your own repairs. Imagine being able to move and inspect the cargo hold of your own Ship. More like a Space GTA3 and it would make visiting planets a much more interesting experience than Loading or OFF loading cargo and buying equipment. It would take years to design and implement but FL took almost 4 years to hit the UK.

Ah, Elite2 rears its handsome features again!

Yep, Braben's second masterpiece ('The BugMeister') had an autopilot that would target an enemy and follow it like a moth to a flame, leaving you free to use your turrets to give them a searing blast of particle-beam destruction.

I'm not saying it was perfect though. You had to be careful not to splatter yourself over their stern, and the turrets would turn far enough to shoot your own shields and hull if you weren't paying attention.

I miss the frontier (sniff).

on the subject of auto-aiming turrets, ships like the Titan and Eagle with their one rear facing turret are pretty pointless without an auto-aim. It makes sense with a slow maneuvering freighter but not on a fighter.
If anyone else here has played Crimson Skies they can see that a rear facing turret with auto aim does a wonderful job without detracting from the game play.
However I do see problems with it:
How do you stop it from firing on an enemy faction who you might be trying to befriend thus not wanting to fire on them making matters worse?
Also a high level rear facing turret is bound to make the kills for you, it would be best if rear facing turrets were restricted to comparatively low level weaponry.

Don't flame me for making a suggestion, or for that fact having an opinion. It seems some of the previous posters have become somewhat vicious towards other people's ideas. If you don't like it, it doesn't hurt you, you don't have to d/load the mod if one comes out and the people who gain some enjoyment out of it, won't be detracting it from you, so give em a break!!