I think it would be nice to team up with other players, like to join into the same ship. One to do the piloting (noting I think the owner of the vessel should be the driver, the other to do the shooting.) The driver should be able to start/stop weapons fire, giving the advantage (dependent on vessel and weapons used) to shoot aft then switching forward and shooting forward.

Both would have to be homed at the same station and be on the same faction (UIT, Serco, Itan, etc.) with good standing. I think while you are alone the ships stay the way we see them now, but if you team up with another player you get to use the ship as was intended, like when I see a ship with aft weapons. being able to shoot aft.

I think because one might get upset, that he should be able to use like an escape pod (a bus) to go wherever, giving some control to the first and second player. " noting this will help control players from killing each other in any message cue.

For the idea of level control, I would think that if you are teaming up with another player that if you have weapons higher then what the second player is, then it should be grayed out and the second player not able to use that weapon.

Note: just threw this out there think if you seen a bus pop out from nowhere at the aft end of a ship that you might be surprised or otherwise know that there were two players in one vessel. I feel that this also might help lower level players level, and that a bus shooting a cap ship is not more a threat, and you add weight and lot less cargo space. I don't think you would use a bus to be but into a bus but rather a a bus could might come out a centurion or some rather large vessel or just a small number of vessels able to do this, etc..

Using this idea in a limited way should be useful I think. I could go for hours.

Shooting aft at a Dentech while moving forward should be of some use I feel, or being able guide another player around. :-)

I hope you don't mind, but I did some edits in order to make things a little easier to understand. There were some things I wasn't clear on, so I left them alone.

What you describe has only recently become possible with the arrival of the "cap" ships or frigates. These are large ships that can be manned by several players who act as gunners. The ships are not yet fully implemented and cannot be piloted by players. The developers are working to get the frigates and another class of large ships ready for player use.

I like that idea. But what if the ships where designated ANEW like.

1000-3000 Light Fighters

3000-5000 Medium Fighters

5000-7000 Heavy Fighters

7000-9000 Light Trade Ships

9000-11000 Medium Trade Ships

11000-13000 Heavy Trade Ships

13000-15000 Frigates

15000-17000 Warships

17000-19000 Destroyers

19000-21000 Capships

21000-23000 Carriers

23000-25000 Flagships

NOW we can have controllable turrets. Also why the hell is it called a bus if it aint even HALF as small as a Vulture?

it's called the EC-88 (but you already know that)

aww just look at it. straight in the eyes.
it's so cute you can't HELP but call it a bus