Need better ship control takeover system

[Sturmer]

The current one, while immersive, is clunky and dangerous. I stopped counting how many times I've lost my ship and my life because I got under fire while AI was piloting, for example the AI was a abysmal pilot even with 5 stars and let 2 Xenon Ns annihilate his fully armed Dragon and me in it (because like an idiot he kept boosting and draining his shields while spinning around instead of trying to kill the enemies).

Because when I tried to relieve the pilot I lost precious seconds when I wanted to click on the chair again to get into it, but of course the AI pilot got in the way and I initiated a dialog with him instead. BOOM, goes my ship.

Same thing when leaving pilot chair and wanting to go out the hatch EVA and trying to use the elevator, the dialog with the (then still invisible) pilot got initiated instead.

There has to be a better way to implement this, please Egosoft!

Maybe hotkeys? Because we actually need more hotkeys in this game, also for laying mines and laser towers, etc.

[Radamanthe Nemes]

I support that.

Maybe a double-tap to take control immediately? That would not resolve the issue with the elevator device for EVA though...

Or disable the pilot interaction for a few seconds since you can talk with him while he's piloting anyway. When you tap the chair, that's obviously not to talk. When you leave the chair, that's probably not to talk to the pilot coming back either.

[surferx]

Many times I take control in a situation like that but have no control because the ship is on automatic pilot. Taking control should always cancel AP.

[Sturmer]

Many times I take control in a situation like that but have no control because the ship is on automatic pilot. Taking control should always cancel AP.

Yeah, that annoys me too. Died cause of it as well when I'm trying to realize why the heck the ship isn't responding.

Or for example, unrelated to original topic, a drone somehow managing to shove your huge destroyer around and overriding your controls.

[Sturmer]

I support that.

Maybe a double-tap to take control immediately? That would not resolve the issue with the elevator device for EVA though...

Or disable the pilot interaction for a few seconds since you can talk with him while he's piloting anyway. When you tap the chair, that's obviously not to talk. When you leave the chair, that's probably not to talk to the pilot coming back either.

That could work, but I honestly think hotkeys would be a cleaner, if less immersive way. Like the hotkey that teleports you from the other side of a station straight into your ship. But this time you would have to be near the helm to take over or in the elevator tube to be ejected.

[billw]

Many times I take control in a situation like that but have no control because the ship is on automatic pilot. Taking control should always cancel AP.

Yes, also being shot should cancel autopilot, lost my ship today due to this. Alternatively strong input should also cancel autopilot. If I move my stick all the way to the extreme it should cancel.

[Buzz2005]

i have not seen bug report with a save for cases autopilot stays active when you take the chair, so if somebody can report it,it will most likely be fixed

i have same issues but always forget to go save and reproduce it, its most of the times when im panicking so forgot after the fight or escape

i will try to remember to do it, but if someone can too, please do we have 2 weeks and then priority is fix all the boron bugs for ego

[Alan Phipps]

@ Buzz: This at least has a bug tracker number from the devs so they know about it, and an earlier one is here. You are correct that there are no save links though.

[Sturmer]

@ Buzz: This at least has a bug tracker number from the devs so they know about it, and an earlier one is here. You are correct that there are no save links though.

In term of autopilot I think it's a feature (or it could be a bug) because I noticed it happening when the ship is following a behaviour order, like policing, patrolling, etc. when I take over.

[jlehtone]

In term of autopilot I think it's a feature (or it could be a bug) because I noticed it happening when the ship is following a behaviour order, like policing, patrolling, etc. when I take over.

In other words, there could be three types of orders:
* Critical. You can't take over
* Specific -- e.g. police? -- that do use autopilot. (Isn't there a hotkey to disable autopilot?)
* Normal. Ship pretty much stops when the pilot jumps up


When I'm in a ship, I fly the ship. Almost always. Can't recall getting killed because I was not the pilot. But that is just my way.
I do also prefer Dragon, where distance between pilot's chair and the toilet is long enough to avoid collision.
Yes, on small ship like Pegasus it takes a while from first "Use chair" click to point where co-pilot is out of way enough to not end up in "Talk".

It does take time to move from point A to point B (IRL). That is important when setting up schedules. Movies show time only when it is a plot point. Therefore, most of the time they are not "immersive".

Does: "You are under an attack. Stop the ship and evaporate out of the chair -- I will take over (real soon now TM)!" sound somehow "off" to you?

It is a personal preference, whether the "can I get there in time?" is an inconvenience or a "mini-game".

[BitByte]

@ Buzz: This at least has a bug tracker number from the devs so they know about it, and an earlier one is here. You are correct that there are no save links though.

In term of autopilot I think it's a feature (or it could be a bug) because I noticed it happening when the ship is following a behaviour order, like policing, patrolling, etc. when I take over.

I've seen additional bug related to taking control from AI and autopilot stays active (atleast when using mouse for ship control) - If you open map until you deactivate autopilot mouse pointer won't be visible in the map (no matter if you close & reopen map).
Only way get mouse pointer visible is disengage autopilot.
In normal state when plyaer activates autopilot map & mousepointer works ok.

If someone else could also test this and confirm?

[surferx]

Many times I take control in a situation like that but have no control because the ship is on automatic pilot. Taking control should always cancel AP.

Yes, also being shot should cancel autopilot, lost my ship today due to this. Alternatively strong input should also cancel autopilot. If I move my stick all the way to the extreme it should cancel.

That would be the best solution, that way if you chose to do something else the ship would remain on AP.

[Sturmer]

Alternatively strong input should also cancel autopilot. If I move my stick all the way to the extreme it should cancel.

Yes, that's how it is in real life with autopilots.