Aircraft is either going to make Empires awesome or kill it...

I just started playing Eternal Silence, and flying in that game is

• Really hard (I had to get my joystick)
• When your getting shot at, you don't know where it's coming from so you can't return fire
• Most times that you die, you have no idea who killed you and from where
• Being out in space makes orienting yourself very difficult

When we finally get aircraft in Empires, are we going to

• Be able to use a joystick to fly
• Be restricted to only flying so high (e.g. have a "sky box" that aircraft have to stay in). And will that max height be low enough that combat is always focused on the ground (e.g. people aren't flying really high above the map and fighting)?
• Have a pointer on the screen that points to the enemy aircraft that shot at you
• Will server admins be able to disable aircraft somehow? (e.g. not have Aircraft maps in the mapcycle)

 

-Yes
-Yes, there has to be some kind of skybox to seal the level.
-Probably some kind of system like that.
-You can change the map cycle on a server, why wouldn't you be able to?

 

I prefer a mouse+keyboard flight system because I, like many others, dont
have a joystick

 

Jesus Christ...

I guess sometimes I forget that not everyone grew up with x-wing. Trying to nail all the tie fighters in that was sometimes like trying to catch your own tail...and I doubt it's even hardcore, although later levels are harder than eating glass ~

In comparison, ES is a cakewalk. And yes, I say that even though I do get pwned.

 

I've always liked the battlefield flight model, if they combined that sort of responsiveness and feel with the havok physics system, it's be perfect. The only gripe I have with battlefield is that the physics is retarded and if you so much as nick a wall you explode.

 

You want them to code in the ripping off of a plane's wing?

Though, just killing the plane without blowing it up, then sending it spinning across a map as a rigid body kicking up giant clouds of dust would be pretty amusing. In BF2, of course.

 

It'd be nice if explosions gave kickback to planes, so a near miss would still send them out of control. I think we're a little removed from that point.

 

Will the skybox be low enough to keep combat focused on or reasonably close to the ground? (e.g. people not flying 500 feet above the level).

 

probably.

 

My huge fear with adding aircraft to empires is that comms are going to rush for bommers...etc then just ninjar the comm bypassing all other defences

 

bombers=stealth plane?

 

Bombers = slow, low HP, flying bricks that do one massive damage then have to go back to reload.

 

The skybox height is determined by the mapper, but it can always be hardcoded in. Flying at high speeds can cause blackouts and limits turning speed, and aircraft can be commented out of the research items file, or probably disabled by console command.
You'll most likely be using homing missiles for anti-air, and AP MG's for dogfighting.
Remember, if the enemy accelerates to maximum speed, he can't turn fast, making him a sitting duck to MG's.

 

bombers=bombers

 

BOO! so its basically a big fat plane that cant do anything but drop teh bomb?

 

There's probably going to be more than one slot for bombs, so you won't be worthless, but you're not going to be a fighter with bombs instead of missiles.

 

No, I want the aircraft to simply get knocked sideways if I bump into a cliff, like what a jeep does if you bump into a rock. Rather than the BF approach which is to simply blow up the aircraft or jeep if you hit anything bigger than a pebble at anything faster than walking pace.

Obviously I'm thinking of some sort of helicopter-esque vehicle, or at least something that handles like a helicopter. I'm assuming you'll have these because the aircraft are VTOLs as far as I'm aware.

 

All aircraft have VTOL, and all except the gunship have normal flight.

 

I hope the bombers have a 2nd passenger seat out the back with a light machine gun, for some defense against aircraft. Also high speed= less turning, doesn't that mean that if a fighter chases after a bomber, the bomber could go uber slow-mo and watch the fighter slowly drift infront of him.

 

Well a fighter would be lighter than a bomber and therefore capable of flying at lower speed, so a bomber couldn't logically outmaneouvre or outrun a fighter.