I have played a lot of Space games ....Everything from Star Raiders for The atari 2600,5200,Computers system all the way up to games like Eve online and this one .....

First thing I just started playing a few days ago so if there is something in the game thats already there ....sorry about that....

Next.....I have always loved features in Space combat that show an overlay of your ship so you can see what part is damaged or not ....like a diagram of all you Ships parts ....from shields to Guns to the Hull also not sure if you guys have something like a Zoom feature so that you see whats coming from far away ...another cool feature would be a to see the enemy ship as as a little window ....like an Id of whats coming at you .... Tell ya I use to have a Game that let you Match the Target Speed and actions of any other ship ...like your it's shadow ....very cool ....

Maybe you guys on working on this one already or maybe it's in the game,but is there side and rear views ......

well I have more ideas ,but have to go for now ...SEE YOU ONLINE <<<<<GAME ON>>>>>>>

All key mappings posted herein are the default ones. If you changed them, go look them up in the help screen (default F1). If you changed THAT key, go read the wgaf.cfg file.

I have always loved features in Space combat that show an overlay of your ship so you can see what part is damaged or not ....like a diagram of all you Ships parts ....from shields to Guns to the Hull

In the rightmost part of the HUD, halfway down from the top, you see a wireframe top-down-view of the ship. This shows you where your ship is damaged (with the familiar color gamut ranging from green to red). However, since there are no detailed damage models (yet), this has little importance. What's important to watch is the percentage displayed below that wireframe model. Once it reaches 0%, you are dead.

also not sure if you guys have something like a Zoom feature so that you see whats coming from far away

Press the i key in-flight.

another cool feature would be a to see the enemy ship as as a little window ....like an Id of whats coming at you

Top right corner of the screen (HUD), everything you instantly need to know about the target. Information on asteroids (if you carry a mining beam and/or scanner) are displayed next to your health display. More detailed information can be called up by pressing the k key in-flight.

Tell ya I use to have a Game that let you Match the Target Speed and actions of any other ship

This has been suggested multiple times and has yet to be implemented. Either the devs don't allow it a high priority, or they missed out on it, or they don't want it in the game.

good job dissecting that toshiro, because it confused me. >_<

One of the major problems is that if you are to match speed, how would you calculate it? You could match someone's speed, but what if they're travelling backwards at 50m/s. Would that translate to you also travelling in the same direction at 50m/s (parallel vectors), would you travel at 50m/s backwards regardless of the other person's vector (match a relative vector), or would you travel at 50m/s in the direction you're already going (match speed but not direction).

On top of that, since we have mostly-newtonian physics, if you were to change your vector from 50m/s backwards to 50m/s to the starboard, how would that affect me? Would I suddenly change directions to match your new vector, or would I simply continue at 50m/s in the direction I was already travelling because your speed didn't change?

Perhaps it would make more sense to consider a "maintain distance" autopilot function, which attempted to keep your ship a specific distance from the target. Without changing your ship's heading heading, it would thrust toward the closest point on a sphere of radius R with the target at its focus. R would be determined by the distance to target at the moment this function was engaged.

Phaserlight - then combat would become a little TOO easy? I think maintaining distance to target is a good skill to develop, and being able to control how close you are to your opponent is a KEY ingredient in combat.(Erm, yeah, I'm still "developing" this skill...)

I mean, if you had N3's, you could just set your "Keep Distance at 100m" button, and blast the crap outta people. Especially if you're in a fast ship like a Corvus Vult or a IBG/Rev C. It would make EVERYONE a backroller.

It WOULD be useful for getting out of the way of those pesky "no-miss" AGT weaps, tho. Hrm. Now I'm conflicted. Hrm, it WOULD be easy to trick the AI by backing away from someone who had this autopilot on as a crutch, then turbo a bit to get in closer, if you got in a tight circle around them I bet the AI would be unable to compensate and they'd be easy pickings unless you turned it off.

Think on this, I shall.

leber.. easy way to prevent it being used in combat, set it up so that the "maintain distance" can only be used with a group member (maybe also with a guild member, maybe not.)

I want to see two backroller put in a "maintain distance" of 250m. Their revolutions would eventually synced.....then they would be essentially facing each other straight on. Except they will never be able to hit each other with energy weapons....

I was going to say what Spellcast said but then he said it so now I don't have to say what he said.

exactly what is the need that a maintain distance feature would fill?

i could see for capitle ships (along with a veriety of other pre programed manuvers) but fighters are so easy to fly i can't see any reason other than lazyness for this feature.