Cruiser Command

perhaps using WASD or similar for movement, and mouse for aiming? or maybe just a console controller type thing with 2x direction pads or joysticks

the shooting/moving somewhat works in like SWA since the ships have momentum/limited turning (although it can be annoying at times as well)

[quote="Karl913"]Mouse tracking is definitely a possibility now. Maybe make the small ships follow the mouse (Not the battlecruiser, most likely.) and also the possibility of using the left (or right..?) mouse button for firing, rather than spamming the fire key?[/quote]
See, this is an interesting point of notice for me.

I think this may cause issues with certain ships -- by example, the wraith. You don't necessarily want to turn towards where you're shooting your EMP, as that can be counter-productive to an escape.

However, I'm sure there are ways to get around it -- by example, you could have the ship follow your mouse [i]except[/i] when you're utilizing a 'target' ability. Or, expanding upon this, the ship could have two toggle-able modes -- 'cruise' and 'control,' and you simply have target abilities automatically toggle to 'cruise' and allow the player to switch back to 'control' whenever they're gotten their mouse nice and back in position afterwards.

I don't think the current movement scheme for cruiser command is bad, but I do think it would have better game feel if you didn't have to constantly spam the right click in order to adjust your heading. It's a minor point, but it's a small detail that becomes a nuisance when you're also ramming down on the side thrust and laser fire. I think it would be a lot more fluent if we took 'spamming' the right click constantly out of the equation in favor of a toggle-able follow mouse.

I for one...and for all these ideas, because we can simply add them to "interface" options. i myself like to click where my ship is going just like in sc2, but i know other people love mouse follow turning and keyboard turning! (like in Rock'N'Roll racing (first example that came to mind))

Mouse tracking is definitely a possibility now. Maybe make the small ships follow the mouse (Not the battlecruiser, most likely.) and also the possibility of using the left (or right..?) mouse button for firing, rather than spamming the fire key?

[quote="Degra"]I'm curious about your implementation into the game with that. You will potentially need to update the X and Y positions and the facing of hundreds of objects on the BC every time the BC moves or changes its direction.
I think it would be immensely CPU heavy to always move the whole BC interior like that?[/quote]

I don't think it's a problem. I'll be using the parenting system in unity to parent stuff (including marines) to the BC which means they automatically move when the BC moves. Pathfinding is converted to local space and calculated there, so the A* grid doesn't have to be recalculated every tick.

Again, not presenting it as an argument. Camera rotation would be cool. But l'm not thinking for the pros; l'm thinking for the newer players, assuming team play would be absolutely VITAL to win. But as you said, many things could be done to alleviate the issue. l'm not presenting it as an argument, just a factor. ..Anyway. As for the BC, l think a roof/cover would be good.. But when on the BC it'd be invisible. No other time, imo, though. Although scanning to see heat sources or some such could be interesting, and make them "shine" through the roof with the right sensors or something.. Guess we'll see how it's handled though.

[quote="Karl913"]Keeping the game locked so left is west and right is east makes it easier for teammates to communicate imo. But l'm not presenting that as an argument against camera rotation.[/quote]

I disagree -- it does nothing to impede communication, it simply leaves 'more potential room for error' by people saying 'left' or 'right' rather than 'east' or 'north.' A thing to keep in mind is that there will be a minimap; and if we do decide to implement a camera based upon the ship's facing angle, it's also fair to assume a compass will also be provided.

Gives people more to think about, true, but I don't think it's [i]that[/i] much extra depth. So long as the UI compensates for it, it shouldn't be a huge issue.

I'm curious about your implementation into the game with that. You will potentially need to update the X and Y positions and the facing of hundreds of objects on the BC every time the BC moves or changes its direction.
I think it would be immensely CPU heavy to always move the whole BC interior like that?

Keeping the game locked so left is west and right is east makes it easier for teammates to communicate imo. But l'm not presenting that as an argument against camera rotation.

"Vision" of your enemy's inner battlecruiser should definitely be earned. Perhaps by 'scanning,' or by 'infiltration,' -- but it should definitely not just outright be given. The moment you can see the position everyone is at on the enemy battlecruiser automatically, you can potentially 'target' that area to forcefully kill all of the players whilst on the ship. (This assuming debris will occur at the area of impact still.)

As for the second conundrum, it's always possible to automatically have it rotate to the 'default' zoom upon breaching a certain point. However, maintaining a 'relative north' for all ships (small or BC) would probably be the best decision in my opinion. This means that any UI that could unintentionally block the lower part of the screen will almost universally be applied to the 'back' of the ship -- in other words, it's a 'designed blind spot' if you're zoomed in.