Any word/details on the flight model?

[Tatwi]

Howdy.

I haven't seen anything about how the flight controls will operate in PS2, apart from when they said it will be more detailed than flying a camera. Have we had any updates on it since summer last year?

Personally, I thought the flight mechanics in Star Wars Galaxies were a nice blend of realism and arcade, with real YPR, momentum (causing side drift when turning), and different handling characteristics for each ship. SWG did not have the benefit of the PhysX engine, but SOE did a good job making it "feel" like you were flying (which was really noticeable when they added atmospheric flight) by adjusting the ship mass, turning rate, acceleration, and deceleration. I would much prefer this model over something like the Battlefield games, because it's simply more "fun", which is the point of a game.

In BF and Pacific Fighters, it was struggle against the controls just to keep the plane flying, let alone actually DO anything while flying. I like flying games, but really we have to be realistic with what we're dealing with: Sitting at a computer, maybe, maybe not, with a joystick; if the controls are so unruly that people are fighting just to keep the ship in the air, most people are just going to give up in frustration rather than continue to fight the controls they have available. While that's all great and wonderful for allowing a handful of people who can master the system to feel "elite", it's not really the best design philosophy to make the majority of people who play your game hate a how a major portion of it works.

No one ever complained about how ships flew or handled as a game play system in SWG and the system was never changed, so I'd say that's a pretty successful flight/conrtol model to consider. Of course, adjustments were made here and there to ship stats, including a big recalibration of all ships, but the model itself stayed the same. People enjoyed it, because it "just worked".

I could see PS2 working well with the SWG style flight/control as a basic principle, which mainly that it's not possible to lose control of your ship, because fundamentally you're not fighting the control systems to maintain control. However, it would be an absolute blast (so to speak) to then add on the PhysX features that enhance the SWG style flight model, such as adding positional damage that creates handling problems depending on what is damage - this is where a great pilot will shine, being able to maintain control of a damaged ship and still get the job done. So, when you get into a PS2 ship, you'll be able to fly it without an issue, though you may not be any good at handling/maneuvering/aiming it, but when the poop hits the fan, now you're going to have to learn how to correct, balance, and repair your ship on the go.

I always liked the scene in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace where Anikin loses control of his pod racer, but manages to use a tool to stick it back together, then shunt power from the working engine to the main reactor which then allows him to fire the other engine back up and carry on. The UI in PS2 should allow pilots to clearly see what has been damaged and, where possible, what they can do to repair or mitigate that damage. Using the PhysX system and the UI/controls/keyboard together in this way would allow for an interesting mini-game style of flight control, which gives pilots that same sort of opportunity Anikin had to over come a challenge. At the same time, using the SWG style basic flight/control model keeps flying accessable to those who may never learn how to repair or mitigate damage - at least they can get in and go and have some fun doing it!

[Vash02]

All we know is that you cant fly and hold a iPad at the same time.

[BigBossMonkey]

Originally Posted by Vash02

All we know is that you cant fly and hold a iPad at the same time.

Well we also know that at low speeds aircraft behave as helicopters and high speeds they behave as jets.


Also I'm sure someone with SKILL can do it. We all know game devs are awful at games. And on that note I challenge Higby to a knife fight in beta.

[captainbaka]

One thing about the battlefield 3 jet flying. the main issue is that your trying to fly a jet over a 64 person battle basically in circles. So with planet side 2's giant continents and battles it would be a lot easier to fly with a battlefield Esq model.

[Roy Awesome]

They aren't flying cameras and something about Nvidia Phys-X

[Whalenator]

Originally Posted by captainbaka

One thing about the battlefield 3 jet flying. the main issue is that your trying to fly a jet over a 64 person battle basically in circles. So with planet side 2's giant continents and battles it would be a lot easier to fly with a battlefield Esq model.

In battlefield your maximum flight speed is ~350mph. Strafing is a piece of cake.
In real life, the maximum flight speed of a super hornet is ~1,200mph.

In Planetside, your maximum flight speed (eg. mossie) was 120km/h (~75mph)
In Planetside 2, examination of footage displays a max mossie speed of 200km/h (~125mph)
ALSO, based on the footage, it can be assumed that flight mechanics are just like PS1.

(Skip to 0:55)

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Whalenator

ALSO, based on the footage, it can be assumed that flight mechanics are just like PS1.

No it can't. We really have no idea what it's going to play like. And considering PS1's flight mechanics were a fucking abomination, I imagine they're going to actually try to make flying in PS2 something akin to flying, rather than just moving a hover-turret around the battlefield.

Flying was a massive failure in PS1. I guess it was their shitty engine that did it in, but either way it was terrible in literally every way. Nothing from it should be salvaged for this sequel.

[SKYeXile]

flight model does not matter, i will still spam you all and you will all cry for nerfs and blame it on bad game design.

[Warborn]

I am really tempted to dedicate my time in PS2 to flying a fighter with air-to-air weapons and laying waste to every reaver whore in existence.

And that shit was bad game design. PS1 was a badly designed game. That's one of the reasons why not many people played it.

[SKYeXile]

Originally Posted by Warborn

I am really tempted to dedicate my time in PS2 to flying a fighter with air-to-air weapons and laying waste to every reaver whore in existence.

And that shit was bad game design. PS1 was a badly designed game. That's one of the reasons why not many people played it.

you think that will help you?

[SuperMorto]

If you look at this video @ about 3:00 mins, you can clearly see Higby flying a mossie. But if you take a close look at the flight, the mossie never stops moving. It takes of vertically, but starts to move instantly as it gets to a good hight. So I think the flight will always carry forward motion.

[FastAndFree]

Originally Posted by Whalenator

ALSO, based on the footage, it can be assumed that flight mechanics are just like PS1.[/url]

In the "leaked" video the mosquito seems to either fly straight or turn right, while being tilted left (just before the crash).
Also when it's flying forward it rolls left and then levels out, with seemingly no effect to it's heading

[Kaotc]

all they have talked about is making the game easier to play for the masses, why would they go and implement complex flight dynamics if the goal is to make everything in the game easy to just pick up and use

i hope im wrong, i would enjoy proper flying.


also, bear in mind that these are not jets, they are essentially futuristic helicopters... stop moaning about them being able to hover.

[HawkEye]

For flight controls I am hoping for something similar to the scout/attack helicopters in BF3.

[Forsaken One]

I hope its "easy to use, hard to master" style.

But I honestly hope any skill needed to fly them doesn't get used as an excuse for them to be overpowered and shit all over any and every ground unit like in the battlefield series.