Aircraft Hovering, will it require skill?

[wildcat140679]

When I first heard that piloting an aircraft in PS2 will require skill I was thrilled.
However, the PC Gamer November 2011 article/interview Matt Higby spoke about hovering with a mosquito.

This had me worried a little bit, that piloting might not be that much more difficult than I initially hopped it would be.

I don't mind that air vehicles have the option to hover, as long as it requires some skill in order to do so and not like with PS1, if you didn't steer and released the controls it will automatically fall back in to hover mode.

I've flown helicopter simulators and as a hobby I fly small scale remote control helicopters and it takes a good amount of skill (specially small scale models) to maintain a stable hover. The technology is there (even on small scales models) to turn on auto hover pilot, but were is the fun in that?

I really hope that air crafts in PS2 will decent constantly and through use of small controlled bursts and course corrections made by the player, a hover can be maintained, but one that requires player skill in order to do so.


What do you hope hovering will be like on air craft?

[Zulthus]

Hovering is for helicopters. Hope aircraft don't get the ability. It'd be great if aircraft had to take off and land like modern aircraft.

BUT; if they HAD to implement hovering for them, the driver should always be too concentrated keeping the aircraft off the ground to shoot anything at that time. Don't need mossies and reavers camping doorways anymore.

[Talek Krell]

Originally Posted by Zulthus

It'd be great if aircraft had to take off and land like modern aircraft.

You say that, but think about what that would entail. Runways would have to be fairly common, which means large amounts of base real-estate dedicated to empty space. And then there's the matter of actually taking off. Battlefield 2 had, what 16 people per team, and it was a constant festival of teamkilling to get the jets first followed immediately by crashing. PS2 is supposed to be hundreds of people per side. People would be running off the runway all over the place, and that's not to mention the ones who never learned to look before crossing the street. And god help you if you ever want to land the thing to repair or re-arm...

[Sirisian]

VTOL was fixed in this thread if the developers ever read it.

I completely disagree with CutterJohn. You can fly in a straight line ideally if you want to type or just use the built in voice comms. Fly straight up or something is another choice. Unless you type very slowly it shouldn't be a problem. How many times have you been flying in PS1 and just pressed q to fly forward and typed something to your driver? Very simple to do. You don't need to add a game changing mechanic just to allow it.

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

You say that, but think about what that would entail. Runways would have to be fairly common, which means large amounts of base real-estate dedicated to empty space. And then there's the matter of actually taking off. Battlefield 2 had, what 16 people per team, and it was a constant festival of teamkilling to get the jets first followed immediately by crashing. PS2 is supposed to be hundreds of people per side. People would be running off the runway all over the place, and that's not to mention the ones who never learned to look before crossing the street. And god help you if you ever want to land the thing to repair or re-arm...

I agree it would be amazingly fun to have some aircraft take off on a runway. Totally different experience for most pilots and changes which planes you can pull during combat. Landing to re-arm a plane with limited ammunition would also be a nice way to limit the use of more powerful air weaponry.

[basti]

Flying in general will require much more skill than it used to be. Dont worry, the days of hover camping mossys are over. :>

[CutterJohn]

I'm personally hoping for an auto hover mode so I can take my hands off the controls to do whatever it is I need to do without landing or crashing. This setting should make it pretty much like PS flying, nice and easy, but have an upper speed limit and locked weapons.

I say this because I doubt we'll have lots of room to maneuver so people bobbing all over the place in unstable hovers will be annoying, and I'd like to be able to take my hands off the controls without landing to chat, look at the map, etc.

[Zulthus]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

I'm personally hoping for an auto hover mode so I can take my hands off the controls to do whatever it is I need to do without landing or crashing. This setting should make it pretty much like PS flying, nice and easy, but have an upper speed limit and locked weapons.

I say this because I doubt we'll have lots of room to maneuver so people bobbing all over the place in unstable hovers will be annoying, and I'd like to be able to take my hands off the controls without landing to chat, look at the map, etc.

Actually I agree with that idea... I'd say hovering would be O.K if weapons were locked and you had limited mobility.

[Higby]

They're more like VTOL aircraft than helicopters. When they're hovering they require a lot of specific control to keep them stable. It's not as easy as taking your hands off the controls and maintaining altitude. Pitching forward / back to aim, or rolling side to side to "strafe" all require purposeful and measured movement to maintain air control. Air vehicles that remain still too long are sitting ducks for ground ordinance as well, so hovering needs to be used sparingly and thoughtfully. Increasing your thrust (or in an emergency activating your afterburners) puts you in flight mode where you handle exactly like you would expect a jet to handle, fast, maneuverable, able to do barrel rolls, loops, etc. The mosquito is extremely agile in this mode, and depending on the weapon systems you equip it on is equally adroit as both an air-to-air interceptor, a air-to-ground gun platform or a fast and nimble scout which can still do limited strafing runs.

[Zulthus]

Originally Posted by Higby

They're more like VTOL aircraft than helicopters. When they're hovering they require a lot of specific control to keep them stable. It's not as easy as taking your hands off the controls and maintaining altitude. Pitching forward / back to aim, or rolling side to side to "strafe" all require purposeful and measured movement to maintain air control. Air vehicles that remain still too long are sitting ducks for ground ordinance as well, so hovering needs to be used sparingly and thoughtfully. Increasing your thrust (or in an emergency activating your afterburners) puts you in flight mode where you handle exactly like you would expect a jet to handle, fast, maneuverable, able to do barrel rolls, loops, etc. The mosquito is extremely agile in this mode, and depending on the weapon systems you equip it on is equally adroit as both an air-to-air interceptor, a air-to-ground gun platform or a fast and nimble scout which can still do limited strafing runs.

This is good to hear, I'm glad it isn't as simple as using an aircraft as a stationary turret anymore.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Higby

They're more like VTOL aircraft than helicopters. When they're hovering they require a lot of specific control to keep them stable. It's not as easy as taking your hands off the controls and maintaining altitude. Pitching forward / back to aim, or rolling side to side to "strafe" all require purposeful and measured movement to maintain air control. Air vehicles that remain still too long are sitting ducks for ground ordinance as well, so hovering needs to be used sparingly and thoughtfully. Increasing your thrust (or in an emergency activating your afterburners) puts you in flight mode where you handle exactly like you would expect a jet to handle, fast, maneuverable, able to do barrel rolls, loops, etc. The mosquito is extremely agile in this mode, and depending on the weapon systems you equip it on is equally adroit as both an air-to-air interceptor, a air-to-ground gun platform or a fast and nimble scout which can still do limited strafing runs.

Auto hover mode? Let it disable guns if it has too. Its still a game that will have various interfaces to navigate, or take your hands off to answer the phone, etc. Having to spend 30s landing to do these things or just crashing would be annoying.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Its still a game that will have various interfaces to navigate, or take your hands off to answer the phone, etc. Having to spend 30s landing to do these things or just crashing would be annoying.

Go to the BF3 forum and say that. "The f-22 needs a hover mode. I find when I'm making phone calls during the game my plane crashes. It shouldn't do that."

[SgtMAD]

Higby,can you tell us if mossie dropping is still in the game in PS2?

[Goku]

Originally Posted by Higby

They're more like VTOL aircraft than helicopters. When they're hovering they require a lot of specific control to keep them stable. It's not as easy as taking your hands off the controls and maintaining altitude. Pitching forward / back to aim, or rolling side to side to "strafe" all require purposeful and measured movement to maintain air control. Air vehicles that remain still too long are sitting ducks for ground ordinance as well, so hovering needs to be used sparingly and thoughtfully. Increasing your thrust (or in an emergency activating your afterburners) puts you in flight mode where you handle exactly like you would expect a jet to handle, fast, maneuverable, able to do barrel rolls, loops, etc. The mosquito is extremely agile in this mode, and depending on the weapon systems you equip it on is equally adroit as both an air-to-air interceptor, a air-to-ground gun platform or a fast and nimble scout which can still do limited strafing runs.

Sounds far better then the current system. Nice improvements. Keep up the good work.

@ John

Do not be going afk in your plane then. Cannot say I ever see people doing that in BC2.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Goku

Do not be going afk in your plane then. Cannot say I ever see people doing that in BC2.

There is one air vehicle in maps in BC2 so you don't want someone hogging it while afk. There is generally no conversation since its a random gaggle of players, not a group of friends in an outfit. If there is conversation its with people on another chat system and you hold off until you lose the helo. In PS you can always be in an air vehicle if you wish. The maps are tiny, and you don't need to reference it to get your bearings. Theres no real waypoint management, mission management, etc, etc.

Its a relatively minor change that adds convenience and doesn't affect the combat capabilities of the aircraft at all.

[Talek Krell]

I like the sound of what's being done with the air vehicles. My approval for the Hair God.

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

A series of things.

I think you're overblowing the issue. There's the built in voice chat, which will probably have a vehicle channel, and if hovering is too unstable to chat you could just switch to the flight mode. And if you need to take a phone call or something mid game and can't spare any attention for the mouse, just land the thing. You're not going to be accomplishing anything anyway, so might as well.