10 replies to this topic

[Zureal]

It has been stated that a major view will be the First Person view. If this is the case does anyone know if we will be able to customize our cockpit some? like add a pic here, something hanging off the roof there, or even move around the various gauges and windows.

[Alistair Steiner]

I'd say so. Fuzzy dice, hula girls, probably important stuff like radar position and whatnot. I'm pretty sure it was stated early on (somwehere) that in-cockpit customization was being implemented.

[buckyballs]

Just so long as my HUD shows up pink I'll be happy.

[Alizabeth Aijou]

Personally, I'd be hoping pretty darn hard that whatever I can put in there will be bolted fast.
Last thing I want is dying from some hula girl flying through the cockpit because some **** hit me with an AC/20.

As for my customisations, a surround-sound system playing the music of my choice would probably be the #1 priority.
Also, this is what a BattleMech Cockpit looks like on the inside:

[KingCobra]

I think it would be cool to change your hud colors and some interior colors to suit your own style and tastes beyound that i hope to be fighting and doing missions&team missions for objectives.

[Captain Fabulous]

J Echo, on 20 November 2011 - 02:05 PM, said:

Not my battlemech cockpit. Way too many useless & unnecessary controls in that picture. Especially the pirouette buttons. Really, a battlemech only needs a pair of aircraft-style pedals, a throttle, one joystick, and a head-tracking helmet. Sliding pedals yaw the mech, joystick controls torso pitch and yaw, throttle controls speed, and helmet controls arms. Trigger on joystick, other vital functions on the throttle. Much more simple and effective, not to mention relatively intuitive and easy to use.

Personally, I prefer the dual-joystick tank style. I'd opt for a system that has two joysticks and one throttle. Two triggers per throttle (I have a Jenner, one trigger per med laser), and a button for the SRM launcher should I opt to use a JR7-D for some reason. Use the standard tank controls for forward/backward/turn movement, and twists for torso twisting. General speed can be set by the throttle, with jump-jets activated by a throttle trigger.

EDIT: Problem with this set up is looking along the y axis.

Edited by Captain Fabulous, 20 November 2011 - 02:16 PM.

[Yeach]

Two joysticks setup

Left joystick
x-axis - torso-twist
y-axis - throttle

Right joystick
x-axis - targetting x-axis
y-axis - targetting y-axis

Or you could do it like track operation control pedals for a track excavator
JS A = left joystick, JS B = right joystick
JS A and JS B forward is forward movement
JS A and JS B backward is backward movement
JS A forward, JS B backward is turn right
JS A backward, JS B forward is turn left

add in side movements from the game Virtual-On
JS A and JS B to the right is to go right
JS A and JS B to the left is to go left
JS A and JS B apart is to jump
JS A and JS B toward each other is to crouch or cut jumpjets

Actually for an excavator there are two more joysticks in addition to the foot levers (foot levers do as mentioned above) and there direct the excavator arm. Maybe that can be a better comparison.
I played with an excavator once but it was a long time ago.
One joystick L/R turned you on the Z axis (ie torso-twist)
One joystick U/D moved the entire arm arm up and down Y-direction
One joystick L/R moved the middle arm up and down Y-direction
One joystick U/D moved the bucket up/down at the end

You can never run out of joysticks and pedals.

[Captain Fabulous]

J Echo, on 20 November 2011 - 02:19 PM, said:

You'd end up with at least four useless axes that way; one of the joysticks would only have one axis in use. Also, your feet would not be engaged. That system would be highly inefficient and would significantly hamper your effectiveness. Ergonomics and workload isn't as simple as "whatever you prefer"--there are absolutes involved, it being a physical and physiological phenomenon.

Edit: oh, wait--tank controls? So your two joysticks don't rotate, but slide interdependently like aircraft pedals? Well, that's not so bad, but it still has the problem of not utilizing your feet and of overloading your hand with the torso twist.

It's seemed to work for me in most games. I'm just used to it, I guess.

[Captain Fabulous]

J Echo, on 20 November 2011 - 03:19 PM, said:

Most people don't realize how their setups handicap them--you really need to be an elite pilot (and a bit analytical) to figure it out. I'm far from an elite mechwarrior but I am a very good virtual fighter pilot. It took me many years to figure out ideal control setups and why they're ideal.

There probably are more optimal set ups, but I'd rather just stick to what I'm used to. Depending on what the restrictions are for the game though, that might change.

[Uncl Munkeh]

J Echo, on 20 November 2011 - 02:05 PM, said:

Not my battlemech cockpit. Way too many useless & unnecessary controls in that picture. Especially the pirouette buttons. Really, a battlemech only needs a pair of aircraft-style pedals, a throttle, one joystick, and a head-tracking helmet. Sliding pedals yaw the mech, joystick controls torso pitch and yaw, throttle controls speed, and helmet controls the sensor targeting and optionally the arms and/or chin mount. Trigger on joystick, other vital functions on the throttle. Much more simple and effective, not to mention relatively intuitive and easy to use.

It would be nice to control the HUD overlay brightness and contrast.

[Captain Fabulous]

J Echo, on 20 November 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

Yeah, with Mechwarrior, I wouldn't worry about it--I'm not trying my damndest at this because I know I'll never really excel at it. I just inherently think like a virtual Second World War fighter pilot and so a lot of this mech piloting is counter-intuitive for me. For example, I'm used to turning at full throttle (in an airplane below corner turning speed, more speed = better turn), whereas here I have to throttle back to turn better. I'm constantly slamming into things, which is not only embarrassing but also will be a distinct liability if they include the realistic collision physics that I'm hoping for. : D
Really, I'm happy to stomp around in my Madcat blowing stuff up even if I'm not particularly good at it.

It's okay, I think in about 1/4 of the games I play I'm not strictly sober while piloting. At that point I just decide to become a 119 kph charge monkey.