Just an idea

[Sheaim]

Not so long ago I was traveling in my Liberty Gunboat, when a few outcast fighters appeared. Everything would be fine, if not for my inability to lock on any of them. That was when i thought: "Why don't i have the crew on my turrets to fire on those suckers?"

Thats basically the idea - to add some crew mechanic, so when I'm flying a huge ship (like Battleships or cruisers) I'd feel like in real RP - I'm only the commander issuing the commands: "Fly there", "Shoot there", "Run away" and so on.

This would require one hell of a programmer to get it all running, but still - some kind of "combat autopilot" would sure come in handy.

Some mechanics could be thought of to prevent cheating: for example, you caould have to *buy* yourself the crew for your ship, and the combat capabilities (turret accuracy, acceleration, manevraubility etc.) would be affected by the number and "quality" of your crew. I think this system would make it more "inRP" for the big guys, making them able to concentrate on Role-playing more then on managing the behemoth's turrets. Plus - who ever saw a battleship concentrating it's fire on a single fighter? This would allow to avoid it - by simply adding a hotkey like "attack all hostiles in range".

What do you think of such an idea? Is it even possible to implement it in Freelancer Discovery? Would you consider such "aut-crew" system to be cheating? Please let me know.

[Zynth]

Turret zoom is auto-aim. With it, you can lock on anything.


Oh and Flood isn't the best place to provide ideas....generally lulz will ensue.

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[Champ]

*Champ heroically dives into the filth, hoisting the screaming conceptual child above the surface as he swims to shore, disinfects, and throws the concept into a pit where it may fight to the death with others*

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[Sabru]

I think taking away all the shooting would be boring.

But maybe the secondary turrets could be done like this. like automated defense systems.

but keep the primaries and heavies as player controlled.

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[Sheaim]

Primaries and heavies user - controlled, course plotting user controlled, but secondary and pd turrets automatic. That would make the Battleship RP much more "realistic" in a sense.
What about the crew system? Currently all the player - flown ships have only one crew member. Maybe you could buy crew not olnly as a commodity, but also as kind of equipment? Every turret could be made automated by assigning crew to it, just like ammo to the launchers. added mechanics to destroy the assigned crew along with the gun, auto - jettisoning (like with the pirates)... This all could make sense and add some actual fun into the great battleship battles. Right now they are all very plain and don't differ much from fighter combat. Adding automated point defence, maybe possibility for carriers to actually field NPC fighters and player - controlled coaxial heavies and primary turrets could make the bigger battles much more fun.

Also, what annoys me tragically, you can't manage the turrets and appropriately maneuvre in combat. Even though i have all the "in flight" commands (turn, roll, increase speed, decrease speed etc.) assigned to my numpad, i still would need one hand more to manage usables, targetting and thrusters. The auto - turret mechanics would allow players like me (I'm a freighter pilot) to finally use their ships as something else than cannon fodder and meatbags that can only either stay in one place and fight or run and not both.

P.S. - Thanks for moving the thread. I'm new to the forum, now i'll know where to post any other of my brilliant ideas. If I happen to have any.