Still no sign of cockpits

[LV]

If this post is locked the mods will only be accused of stifling the discussion.

[XU Vagabond]

If this post is locked the mods will only be accused of stifling the discussion.

then how about locking it untill the the game comes out i think people can wait for 6 days. it's not blocking peoples debate but delaying it untill people can make a informed desision after playing the game

[LV]

Nothing forces people to read or post in it. If they choose to then it's their own problem.

[pjknibbs]

For once in my life I find myself agreeing with Lord_Vader. The thread will stay open so long as it conforms to the forum rules--if you're bored with it, don't read it! (At least you HAVE that option, unlike us poor moderators who have to keep monitoring it for flames and the like).

[Greb Jnnayr]

I have not read the 57 previous pages of this thread, but i hope that most of the posts are expessing deep sorrow and confusion as to why egosoft have made such a high game impact decision....out of the blue.

i can't remeber seeing hundreds of threads on this forum saying please remove the cockpits.

the cockpit view and the flying experience they install into the game play are an integral feature of the X perience of this sim.

I will never forget the first time i bought an TL after working hard for weeks to get the money together for it. The whole perspective had changed leaving me slightly overawed.

So in X3 we work our buts of for a few weeks, buy that shiny new M2 and...........Oh, everything looks the same.

So were in X3 and just about to do an XI mission....Damm I am still in my M5 from the last taxi mission i did,,,,DOH!

giving somone the option to disable cockpit view is one thing, but being too lazy to design cockpits, and leaving them out, unannounced until the 12th hour seems to be a new side of egosoft we have never seen before.

No worries, you will definetly be able to see the difference between an M5 and an M2, heck you'll be able to tell the difference between the different ships of each race. Here is a quote. You will see the same exact way as if there was a cockpit, the only thing they did not do is draw a cockpit cage. If they ever make a cockpit cage, it would just go over what you see in these pics, so you'll be in the same position but with a cockpit cage.

Hi guys,

we were all a bit busy the last few days here making one master after another, but I just wanted to give you some kind of official statement on cockpits or the lack of them.

I didnt read this whole thread but I can imagine that quite a few people are protesting because the game will not have cockpits. But I think some of you are getting this the wrong way: Of course the game still features the cockpit perspective. Each shíp has at least one (many have several) cockpit location defined on their hull somewhere. Playing from inside that cockpit still gives you the impression of being located at that position.

What we do NOT have anymore is a 3D cockpit overlay. In X2 you basically had two views layered on top of one another. One was a camera looking right out of the real geometry of your ship. In that camera you see your own ships hull minus the center part oft the ship (for example the wings of your ship) and in the second layer you see a 3D geometry of panels and instruments which mostly don't suit any purpose.

Now the porblem with that second layer was always that it didnt really fit into the ships geometry, because we had more than 70 ships but only 5 or so different cockpits (and really only two good looking ones). The inner structure of cockpits could never really fit into all the different ships we had.

So we had to make a decission:
- Option 1: Spend an awful lot of time making specialised inner geometry for each of the ships in the game? That would definitely have meant a lot fewer ships
- Option 2: Do it like X2 and sacrifice the realism of having a truly matching geometry in every ship. That would have meant ugly combinations.

So we decided for Option 3: Make ships a lot more detailed than ever before and put the outer camera SO CLOSE on the hull that you get the feeling of actually being inside the ship too.

One of the people in this thread pointed out that what he will miss is the cozy feeling of having the wings of his ship next to him! Well that's exactly what you will NOT be misisng. The wings will be there and they will look a lot more detailed then ever before. The cockpit position now is truly matching the ship and in many cases shows you many elements of the ship around you (granted however there are also ships where the cockpit is very exposed to the front so even when turning around you dont see the geometry of the ship itself. These ships don't have a cozy feeling but a better view Wink

We truly believe that this combined with the fact that you now have a whole new HUD system full of really functional overlays and not just a lot of blinking lights basically giving no info at all, IS the best choice for the game.

Let me give you some screenshots to demonstrate how you can still sit inside a cockpit and look around:

Argon Nova:
http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... en_104.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... 04_th2.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... en_105.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... 05_th2.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... en_106.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... 06_th2.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... en_107.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... 07_th2.jpg

Split Superfreighter:
http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... en_108.jpg http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/screens ... 08_th2.jpg

Hope this cleared up what we really did.

Cheers and have a lot of fun playing X3!

-Bernd Lehahn, EGOSOFT

Anyways, it is a good thing they made the choice they did.

Mods, I really wish you would make Bernds statement a sticky so we dont have to requote Bernd everytime someone new is on this thread.

[Greb Jnnayr]

you have a "cockpit" view but no cockpit overlay so no dials or video screens and struts blockign yur view

Even tough I can understand why Bernd and his team chose to have no cockpits, I do feel that your view of the problem is too simplistic.

If you look at it from the perspective of what makes the game easier to play then the no cockpit option is without doubt the best. The whole idea of the cockpit of the F16 is to get the best view possible. Unobsturcted camera views (and I feel it is a camera view not a cockpit view) are simply the best option for that.

So in that sense you are correct.

But a lot of us feel that seeing the cockpit on the screen helps us with imagening that we are inside a certain ship. We take the way of how the cockpit ubstruckts the view as one of the characteristics of the ship. It may even one of the factors in the decisions to buy or not to buy and use a ship.

X3 may still be a verry good game. The dissapointment of the "cockpit junkies" is that we feel it has become a different kind of game.
In fact I would go so far as to say that it feels like strategy and gameplay have become more important than the flying experience.

I'm a flyer not a builder or tycoon but I like the freedom to fly and do what I like. I'm probably the only X2 player who never owned a factory or plant.
I do still own a bunch of well placed plants that make me verry rich in X-tension but they bore he hell out of me.

So my x moto is trade,fight,smuggle,think.

I think X3 might still be well worth playing but I do feel we have hit the end of an era.

Cockpit type sims seem to fade like the zeppelins and whatever the good reason may be that they lost the evolutionary race, some will always feel that the world will be a less intreresting place without them.
And for some nothing else will do.

In an interview they stated that they have different ways to start the game. You can start as Kyle Brennen and do the storyline. Or you can start as a different type of character that starts you off in different conditions, race, and ship/equipment. The article only stated a few, but it said there were many other ways. One of the ways is to start out as a hardened criminal and you can either redeem yourself, or become the most feared pirate around. You can even start as a Khaak and do the Khaak thing. Seeing these 2 modes tells me that they enhanced the fight part of the game. So if anything they made it more of a Sim then anyother X game and made it so that being another type of character is profitable and more fun.

[DJSoulJammer]

Yes, in an ideal world Egosoft would design cockpits for each individual ship in X3 and I think they would agree with that. Unfortunatley we live in the real world and concessions have to be made sometimes.

Completly agree, Why would a ship need cockpit displays, I mean you would think they would have the tecnonolgy to display everythin through the HUD. The views seems really good makes it feel more like you are there

I am also thinking same why to have some mask on amazing view out there and any way from the screan sh. posted from egosoft in Split super Fighter ,its unbeleavebly amazing and i love it .

[Hengist]

I've bought X:BTF, X-Tension and X2.

With no cockpits, I wont be buying X3 now

[mastercool9]

i understand that there will be no cockpits view in x-3. my question is what will be the default view? will there be any other views and if so what? i have allready preordered but am wavering now that i found out no cockpit views. thanks for any help.

[iam.cool]

I've bought X:BTF, X-Tension and X2.

With no cockpits, I wont be buying X3 now

Yeah me2, no cockpits, no money.

[khabal]

Tell it to the devs not us. We don't care at all if you buy it or not.

[esd]

Tell it to the devs not us. We don't care at all if you buy it or not.

I think that's what they're trying to do. If you don't have a sensible comment, please do not reply.

[Da_Imp]

Tell it to the devs not us. We don't care at all if you buy it or not.

I think that's what they're trying to do. If you don't have a sensible comment, please do not reply.

On that note: The ones complaining could be more constructive as well. Just yelling "No cockpits! No money!" doesn't get anyone anywhere.

[Xaffax]

For once in my life I find myself agreeing with Lord_Vader. The thread will stay open so long as it conforms to the forum rules--if you're bored with it, don't read it! (At least you HAVE that option, unlike us poor moderators who have to keep monitoring it for flames and the like).

Hey you are doing it to yourself. On my favourite forum the one moderator only checks by if people have technical problems with forum. Somtimes we have a firestorm but it usualy dies down, and due to no moderation people are forced to stay on topic thenselves to get a decent discusion. It works.

[khabal]

Tell it to the devs not us. We don't care at all if you buy it or not.

I think that's what they're trying to do. If you don't have a sensible comment, please do not reply.

You are right but I just tire of seeing people who keep threatening not to buy the game, despite all the explanations of the devs and the arguments of so many users. They just don't get it, they want their cockpits above everything else and there is nothing we can say to make them change their mind.

I propose that everybody who wants to say thnigs like "no cockpits=no money" just keep from posting because the time for talking is long since over and all the arguments have been depleted and if they still don't get it then there is nothing to talk about and their posts are just annoying and iritating. If they want to tell it to the devs then they should have a poll or just PM the devs.

[esd]

and their posts are just annoying and iritating. If they want to tell it to the devs then they should have a poll or just PM the devs.

As PJK just said, if you find the posts annoying or irritating, quite simply don't read them. It's all contained within one thread, so you have the option of not clicking it. If you click it and read it knowing full well what is in the thread, do you really have grounds for complaint?

As for the poll, that's been discussed previously in the thread and was deemed to be ultimately pointless, given the limited cross-section of people that would vote, and X³'s Gold status. Any polls started will just get locked as duplicate threads.

PM'ing the admins? Not much point. Egosoft are well aware of this, and it's sister-thread in the German forum.

Now, let's get back to discussing cockpits or the lack thereof, rather than discussing the validity of the thread.

[Ecclesiastes]

i understand that there will be no cockpits view in x-3. my question is what will be the default view? will there be any other views and if so what? i have allready preordered but am wavering now that i found out no cockpit views. thanks for any help.

You have a saddle replacing your cockpit and you're riding on Top of your ship.

It's called: Space - surfing.

ecc

[Sotos]

So there will be a HUD but without the cockpit details as the previous X games



Well to tell the truth Cockpit animations even if they did not really served any neccesary purpose (mostly nice decorations in X2 ) they gave a more realistic feeling to the game

like beeing inside a spaceship and not a empty vessel

Anyway i do not have a have a big problem with that if the HUD works and not feels ugly

I will play the game soon and i will repost again if i like these or not



Maybe in a future mod or update Cockpits can be added anway


ΝΟΤΕ
By the way the game after seeing the HUD screenshots reminds more like a 3d Space Strategy game (example Nexus the Jupiter incident, Homeworld 2) than a Space flight simulator

[esd]

Well to tell the truth Cockpit animations even if they did not really served any neccesary purpose (mostly nice decorations in X2 ) they gave a more realistic feeling to the game

In X² the cockpit is the only on-screen source of data on your currently selected weapons, SETA status and weapon energy.

[hst]

One of the reasons my favourite ship is the Split Scorpion is the minimal cockpit.

No cockpits get my vote.