This would be a great idea for a group of players that are in the same sector to be a formation like in Earth & Beyond where all the players could be in like a Block formation or Pipe formation fly around a sector and warping to other sectors. Going into a wormhole to a different system would be nice. But if not possible, players could break formation to go into the wormhole and then reform on the other side.

what is to stop you from doing this now? whenever i am in a group i almost always fly in close formation with my members.

Freelancer had this feature as well. Looked pretty cool flying in a group all organized instead of scattered.. Once your group is in place you can break formation and do whatever..

Practice. We've done it in the past, and do it regularly when grouping here.

The most obvious is probably player escorting convoys, where the natural progression order is a two tier outwards wing.

theres no need to help here, just practice.. you can actually use the radar to hold your position quite well.

the whole idea behind formation flying is... flying in formation =D

it takes practice... not the flip of some switch. as well it should.

Slaving ships together isn't the answer... but it could prove handy for applications such as CtC, or convoy travel.

Hi Cunjo

Thanks for taking an interest in the Suggestion forums.

As a matter of etiquette, it would be helpful if you didn't exhume old threads unless you had something innovative to add. Some new idea to further the concept, perhaps. Your post here, in a thread that has lain dormant since 2004, probably won't make the suggestion any less likely to be enacted.

crud, I do apologize... still have to adapt to the dating system of these threads... been too long since I used a forum that worked like this.

Flying in formation was especially fun and useful back in the days of CTF. Sigh...

Heh, fighter pilots don't get to hit a button and fly in formation why should we?

/me remembers flying in formation with the BP guys in b8, hehe good times.

Well one of the problems with any computer game is that your field of vision and depth perception is restricted. There's absolutely no peripheral vision to speak of. Imagine a fighter pilot trying to fly in formation with one eye closed. Unless you're suicidal I wouldn't recommend trying that in real life.

I'm not saying I'm all for having an auto formation lock command or anything. But I agree that it should be manually controlled, just as a sort of way to show how disciplined some groups are. Boosting in formation works fine now, and can already be a little exciting if you're in a huge group headed into battle.

If you can coordinate synchronized turns at cruising speeds, more power to ya. Admittedly that does take a lot of skill, but it's next to impossible to perfect it with lag and the above factors mentioned. But if you can pull it off well, I'm sure people will be wow'ed by your display before unloading all their missiles on you.

lol, imagine 10 flare valks in one of those automatic formations. The front profile would be something like:

x
x x
x x x x
x x
x

that would be flarespam galore if used as one big fighter :D

edit: the x's where supposed to be a big diamond formation, but it doesn't format that way.

Hi,

lets extend the thread with NPCs.

High level hive bots can call for help. It would be cool if the bots make a formation when rush at you. At fire range they divide to coupes which cooperate during the fight.

I think its not very hard to code it: you have to create a virtual entity for the group, it will plan the actions and send high priority tasks to the group members. The possition of each member inside the group can be constant for a rigid formation or can depend on a current strategy (outflank, fire concentrate, etc.)

Regards,

Darkwood

Arolte: more like with one eye closed and looking through a tube that only points forward.

Just fly "outside" the ship frpm the "chase" view. Hit F9. Helps a little.

no good way to maneuver with that though

By timing my reactions I was able to do stepped rolls in my vult. Pretty accurately, just get a landmark exactly to your left or right (on the outside/circumference) of the radar circle, line it up on "north", and rotate 90 degrees at a time.

Was able to do loops basically the same way, 4-step loops, just by getting a "feel" for it.

Just on formation flying: In WWII, both sides used the finger four formation for optimal coverage. I wonder whether it would be as effective here as it was there. Maybe another level of complexity would need to be added to atone for the fact we're in space with no (well, neglectable) gravtitational pull and omnidirectional freedom.

On formation flying in vendetta: It would be facilitated if we had a way to actually 'turn our head', so we could align through direct visual feedback, instead of only using the radar. Much like in any flight sim I know.

i wish people would stop saying "its not hard to code it".... im learning c++ and python AND IT IS HARD TO CODE IT !!!!!

Imagine a feature that would allow grouped pilots to set one of the predefined formations and ship's computer would draw a virtual ship on your screen, showing where you should be at the given moment. 8)

Sorry TNAtits. In my vision the group is only an other type of NPC which acts as a single object. I do not know if it can be coded or not.

Regards,

Darkwood