Checking your six in aircraft?

[LegioX]

Are we going to be able to do that, while in cockpit view? It's going to stink having someone on your butt and you cannot check behind you to see exactly where he is and figure out ways to get him/her off your six.

Reason why i ask, is b/c in all the livestreams i do not see it.

[KTNApollo]

Are we going to be able to do that, while in cockpit view? It's going to stink having someone on your butt and you cannot check behind you to see exactly where he is and figure out ways to get him/her off your six.

Reason why i ask, is b/c in all the livestreams i do not see it.

Probably not. Realism bro! That's why you always fly with a wingman.

[LegioX]

How is that realism? Every pilot should be able to check his six....LOL

[SVoyager]

There is freelook in the cockpit view so you will be able to look around with it. If you have a joystick with hatswitches, that could do the trick. For kb only, I suppose some good keymappings could also be a good solution.

[Verruna]

Freelook only goes as far as right or left (as far as i saw in one of the videos), a back looking camera of some sort wouldn't really be overpowered, and would be nice for aircraft imo. Seeing exactly where that bugger that is chasing you is won't save you against skilled dogfighters, but may increase chances of survival/evasion.

[LegioX]

Freelook only goes as far as right or left (as far as i saw in one of the videos), a back looking camera of some sort wouldn't really be overpowered, and would be nice for aircraft imo. Seeing exactly where that bugger that is chasing you won't save you against skilled dogfighters, but may increase chances of survival/evasion.

They really need to put in a six view if they havent already. Nothing gets me more irritated, then having someone behind me and i cannot even look to see what he is doing/where he is/ if i can evade him/ etc...etc.. Simple thing to put it i would think.

[Raymac]

I did ok without it in PS1. Plus, isn't it enough to see the angle of the tracers going by? Do you really have to know where exactly behind you they are? You still just make evasive manuevers and hope you can extend and turn around, or find some help.

[SVoyager]

Ooh, a back camera, I don't think its necessary. Since you can look far left and right, its just a question of making quick turns as you look around.

Having played WWIIOnline alot, this is what one has to do. You cannot look directly backwards as it is the aircrafts fuselage that is there. Instead, you look as far back as you can and you turn, momentarily showing what was the aircraft's 6. Then you point back in your original direction if there was nobody.

Check a few times at a few seconds intervals and you are fine. In PS2, this could be done too, no need for a back camera. Since we can freelook, its just a question of turning your plane a little to see back and when you are in a dogfight, chances are that you will be turning like crazy, and if you freelook at the same time, you will defenatly see the guy behind you trying to shoot you.

IMHO, its good as it is right now!!

[Alduron]

Pilots cannot see directly behind themselves. They have to move the plain and acquire the person behind them with about 250 degrees of head turn available to them. (250 might be generous.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INb-421E-mo

Most of those PS2 cockpits aren't designed with visibility in mind.

[duomaxwl]

I heard they were adding mirrors.

[LegioX]

I'm not talking "directly behind" maybe it was a misunderstanding. What i meant to say was, looking far enough behind on either left or right, with partial tail in view so i can see what is behind me. Of course the enemy could be directly behind you and underneath you (blind spot). I just want to option of....

when an enemy is behind me i can bank my plane left or right while looking back and checking my six.

[SVoyager]

I'm not talking "directly behind" maybe it was a misunderstanding. What i meant to say was, looking far enough behind on either left or right, with partial tail in view so i can see what is behind me. Of course the enemy could be directly behind you and underneath you (blind spot). I just want to option of....

when an enemy is behind me i can bank my plane left or right while looking back and checking my six.

I have the feeling that this might be what we have. But its a guess, I think the biggest angle i've seen so far is about 90 degree left and right, not quite sure, trying to find the video (the first TB video just before E3). BRB with linkage.

[Wayside]

Are we going to be able to do that, while in cockpit view? It's going to stink having someone on your butt and you cannot check behind you to see exactly where he is and figure out ways to get him/her off your six.

Reason why i ask, is b/c in all the livestreams i do not see it.

Mirrors would work. Its a question of picture-in-picture tech. Personally, I'd favor the ability to press a key and toggle one of the displays featured in each cockpit to a rear-view-camera image. They could give it a grainy, scan line effect for visual flare. :)

Might be cool to offer Gal pilots a "landing camera" viewpoint as well. Saw so many people wreck their birds trying to set them down in the E3 footage. Made me kinda sadface.

[Alduron]

I'm not talking "directly behind" maybe it was a misunderstanding. What i meant to say was, looking far enough behind on either left or right, with partial tail in view so i can see what is behind me. Of course the enemy could be directly behind you and underneath you (blind spot). I just want to option of....

when an enemy is behind me i can bank my plane left or right while looking back and checking my six.

Oh, in that case I'd assume you're going to be pretty limited. None of the cockpits look like they were set up for maximum visibility. They seem to have more of a helicopter cockpit. Dogfights aren't going to be exactly like they are in BF3 or anything. You can slow down and turn unnaturally (for a plane) due to it being VTOL. The most I've seen is about 180 degrees.

[Dagron]

Comparing real life limitations with it doesn't seem very relevant... it's a futuristic scenario, certainly there would be a better way to take a peek behind you.

As for the effects on the game, i think a key you hold to "check rearview camera" would be ok. You wouldn't fly looking at it constantly (unless you're either a super ace or an ultra lunatic), you'd mostly just take a quick glance. So it wouldn't be game breaking imo, just a way to slightly increase survivability in a dog fight.

[Synapse]

Mirrors:

http://www.patricksaviation.com/files/photos/full/38425_29333.jpg

[LegioX]

Rearview mirror would not be gamebreaking. You can give people all the options in the world for a aircraft, but you cannot teach them how to fly/handle it.

[SVoyager]

Good ideas from Wayside there! I wonder if the engine can do that. I am thinking abit like in tribes ascend where the doombringer can see his target from the screen mounted on the gun. (I think its the first time I saw some live images being showed like that. Usually that was more static, generic footage, nothing actually live. Quite cool).

Here is the link to the video I was talking about:

http://youtu.be/onvySU5NkFo?t=35m30s 00:35:30
and another shot at
http://youtu.be/onvySU5NkFo?t=1h54s 01:00:54

That sounds about 180, 90 left 90 right. Its a bit short indeed. Its better than nothing of course but the way the cockpit is designed, I doubt we will have more angle on it, hmm. Wonder if this is still open for changes in dev.

[LegioX]

Man i wish they could push that view back just alittle bit more so we can see more behind us. I just don't understand the concept of not letting people who fly alteast look somewhat behind them. I mean it's one of the top #3 rules in dogfighting.....:(

[Pepsi]

Rearview mirror would not be gamebreaking. You can give people all the options in the world for a aircraft, but you cannot teach them how to fly/handle it.Exactly what I was thinking. One of my favorite defensive maneuvers is getting the enemy into a scissors fight. You can't do that without knowing what orientation the plane behind you is in.

[Sledgecrushr]

To me the cockpits are designed to work well both air to air and air to ground. The problem I see is that these aircraft are not designed to be air to air interceptors. It would be neat if they could give us variants post launch where the cockpit is slid up the fuselage for better air visibility and another where it is slid further down the nose to increase ground visibility.

[kunzadar]

Or you could just fly a scythe and turn around and fly backwards when someone gets behind you. :D

[rekefant]

One thing people are forgeting is that actualy sticking in someones blindzone is quite hard, especialy when there are AA on the ground and other aircraft in the air, moreso maybe because f the 3 faction system.
If you get someone on your six, call your wingman or your ground support or another wing or just manouver so you can see him, wont be that hard to catch a glimpse.

[Inverness]

Heres an idea, make it possible to cert for rear view and ground view camera additions for air vehicles. I imagine outfitting an air vehicle with an expensive spy camera and then flying over a base to take normal and thermal pictures (relayed to your squad on the map) so your platoon knows what to do or whatever.

[meiam]

Well the aircraft aren't plane, there helicopter. Slow, maneuverable, vertical landing/takeoff. So dogfighting will be along the line of 2 gunship trying to outmaneuver each other, it's pretty pointless to try to dogfight if the enemy can just go to a complete stop and do a 180 on a dime. I would so love to have actual jet in game.

back on topic, a camera on the plane backside doesn't seems like a stretch at all, wouldn't surprise me if the newer plane/helicopter had those already.

[Xyntech]

I'm down with rear view and ground view cameras, cert or not. I'd be happy either way.

[HoovesMcG]

All I can say is TRACK IR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE support this!!! Its incredibly easy to implement and adds CRAP tons of immersion!!!!!!


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!

[Sledgecrushr]

Well the aircraft aren't plane, there helicopter. Slow, maneuverable, vertical landing/takeoff. So dogfighting will be along the line of 2 gunship trying to outmaneuver each other, it's pretty pointless to try to dogfight if the enemy can just go to a complete stop and do a 180 on a dime. I would so love to have actual jet in game.

back on topic, a camera on the plane backside doesn't seems like a stretch at all, wouldn't surprise me if the newer plane/helicopter had those already.

They seem quite a bit quicker than what you are saying. I seem to recall speeds over 300 kph (+180mph) in some of the videos.