Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. I didn't see it. :)

I think a cockpit view could be pretty badass - especially if the cockpits vary with each ship type and each race has it's own distinct 'feel'. The HUD could simply be displayed on the cokpit 'window' and some of the information could be on dials or square radar screens instead. As it would only be one of the views people who didn't like it wouldn't have to use it...

I've tried to find something similar to what I mean - this is probably the closest I could find: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/VirtualCockpit.jpg

I picture the view being closer to the front though, not far back enough to see your legs etc.

Well--

apart from a jocular take on the subject (I can't seem to find the rlating post at the moment), there is a logical explanation as to why we do not have a 'cockpit' view.

Basically, what with technological advancement, it makes no sense to force a pilot to look down on a panel of instruments when the important stuff is happening right before her or his eyes. They're getting there IRL, too. So why imitate something that would make the game more annoying (screen estate is already a contested area, if you look at some discussions).

Additionally, due to the current lack of an artist who would be able to create such a cockpit, precious dev time allocated to this would not make sense.

In short, I don't think this is a good idea.

Yeah, try TapeHUD (a plugin on the wiki). It's an interesting attempt at what you're talking about :-p

Thanks for considering it. Bear in mind that I am a relative newcomer so don't necessarily know all the history behind the decisions made.

But from a beginner's POV the game would benefit from a bit more immersion - and being able to see more of the environment (i.e. where you are sat) would add to this. There don't necessarily have to be instruments anywhere but on the HUD.
It would be cool to be able to turn your head to look out of the left/right of the cockpit and see the side of your craft.

Shame there is no artist available!

No worries on being a newcomer Restayvien. We've all been there.

Just one point: It would be cool to be able to turn your head to look out of the left/right of the cockpit and see the side of your craft.

The thing is, we currently don't have the ability to "turn your head". That may be worthy of a suggestion in and of itself, though I'm betting that it'll receive a response similar to the one this thread received.

I made an early design choice that we would have "virtualized" interfaces, rather than traditional cockpits. I wanted to focus on intense combat, and didn't see a lot of value in cluttering up the HUD with additional aesthetic polygons that would block your view. I wanted something relatively low-impact, that would show as much info as possible, but keeping while maintaining maximum visibility.

A lot of people have criticized that particular choice of mine, and there are older threads on this topic, although I haven't seen on in awhile. Back then, I said if we had extra development resources (something that hasn't happened, heh), we'd consider making an "optional" HUD that you could enable, that would look more ship-like.. or possibly a few of them. But, again, haven't had the spare time, not do I see it as really needed (especially compared to many other things we do need).

Having some way of looking "around", that isn't dependent on turboing with mouselook enabled, would be good, though. That would be equivalent to your "turning your head" concept. Some sort of "press down key, look around" type thing.

I do appreciate the input, newbie or not. Thanks for the post.

Quick! Someone find yoda's "Masking Tape on Monitor" pic to create the X-Wing cockpit look.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/9/17115

First post, find the link that says "tapehud" or do a page search for "ultra realistic cockpit simulation"

Although there isn't any guarantee that it'll work with the latest version of Vendetta. I don't have time to test it <3!