Features?

I have a two questions. First, will ships in Pioneer still have the flat gray paint job, or will you be able to have any freedom with paint and/or decals? The flat gray seems wrong when Pioneer will have such good graphics. Second, what kind of ships will Pirates and other bad guys be flying? Privateer's greatest failing was its narrow selection of ships. It would be neat to see pirates flying beat up old Dralthis, too.
 
Can't stand logitech, they always break after a few weeks. I like my sidewinder.

It would be cool to see pirates flying other ships, think of the second episode of WCA for example.
 
Microsoft does make great hardware, but Logitech is at least as good. My last joystick was a sidewinder, and I'm not going back (they don't make them anymore actually). I've seen a lot of different peripheral brands, and there's a dozen major control manufacturers that are far worse. My first mouse almost 20 years ago was a Logitech unit, and I've never had a Logitech product ever break.
 
I LOVED the Cockpits of WC1, 2 and 3.
Also the Cockpit of the Tarsus was not that bad. But i never got in my mind how you can control a ship just by keyboard.
And nice picture of that fighter cockpit.

And,.. you got me worng again,.. its is not about all the lights and screens and,...
it is about you place them. So in WC1, 2 and 3 I don't know what they are fore, but it gives me the feeling, everything is o.k, as it is and irt looks nice.

And the Cockpits I have seen from WC-Pioneer are looking nice too, but somehow all those lights and little screens seems to be placed just randomly.
Just not le let there be a blank wall.

It can be nicer that's all
 
ColonelFireball said:
I LOVED the Cockpits of WC1, 2 and 3.
Also the Cockpit of the Tarsus was not that bad. But i never got in my mind how you can control a ship just by keyboard.

Me either but that's what I did the first time I played Privateer, don't think I could do that anymore unless someone put a gun to my head.

I didn't know the sidewinder was discontinued... figures oh well I can go back to liking MS only for their mouse now but if my current joy breaks I might have to use a keyboard. Seitek? Makes some nice feeling sticks but they have always proven unstable for me, same for logitech, plus logitech didn't have the software to adjust the range of each axis which is critical, they are always too senative for me. They were good mice back in the day but that day has passed.

Anyway I better stop getting off-topic, sorry. :rolleyes:
 
Whoa, you're right- Microsoft doesn't seem to make joysticks anymore. If you can go on E-bay, you can find some pretty good deals on sidewinders or precision pro's though. I've never been able to play WC games well with a mouse- and the Sidewinder's built in rudder and throttle is key.
 
haha.. when I first played privateer, I didn't have a joystick, so I played all the way through the game on keyboard control. its not *that* hard, it just reqires different tactics.

Lately I have shelfed my sidewinder and gone back to my old PC concepts joystic.. at least you don't have to move it a half an inch in any direction before it starts responding like my sidewinder.
 
Fatcat said:
Second, what kind of ships will Pirates and other bad guys be flying? Privateer's greatest failing was its narrow selection of ships. It would be neat to see pirates flying beat up old Dralthis, too.

Well, we have already been introduced to the Bandit, which will be Pioneer's equivalent to the Talon (as in crappy-light-fighter-that-is-everywhere-and-you-swat-like-mosquitoes). Higher-level pirates will probably fly Phalanxes and Hydras as well (like how Bounty Hunters flew Centurions and Orions), but I would like to see a medium fighter for NPC's as well--something with two or three guns, missiles, more shields and armor than the Bandit, but a little less speed and agility.
 
Sonic TH said:
Me either but that's what I did the first time I played Privateer, don't think I could do that anymore unless someone put a gun to my head.

I didn't know the sidewinder was discontinued... figures oh well I can go back to liking MS only for their mouse now but if my current joy breaks I might have to use a keyboard. Seitek? Makes some nice feeling sticks but they have always proven unstable for me, same for logitech, plus logitech didn't have the software to adjust the range of each axis which is critical, they are always too senative for me. They were good mice back in the day but that day has passed.

Anyway I better stop getting off-topic, sorry. :rolleyes:

I think you guys just always get me wrong in this topic. :)
Maybe I am unable to describe what I really mean.

About the Keyboard control I mean that IN the Game.So the Picture you see above shows that the Tarsus was controlld by Keyboad not by a Stick like a Fighter.
It is just a funny detail that the Palyer himself is also playing by Keyboard.

I just condidered if you redesign such a cockpit by puting a Stick somwhere at the cockpit-controls. At least it is Wing Commande not Star Trek where it's normal to control a Ship with a "Touchpannel"("Future Keyboard").


Just ti get me right guys:
If I like a game and I have the Chance to say my opinion in intention to improve the game. I do it. :)
So if I don't like a game I give a damn about the Features and how the game will look like.

But to give you better Idea what I mean. I try to describe it more in Pictures.
If wen talk about"cockpitdesign". I talk about different sides of it.
Sofor example the front-view of this one:
https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wcpioneer42.jpg

Looks real real nice. Just how a Wing Commander cockpit should look like.

Then we have other views:
https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wcpioneer44.jpg
https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wcpioneer43.jpg

Are not looking bad. Looks futiristic and placed symetric. But for me it gives you just the feeling that all that lights, little displays and "plates" are just there just to be there that the player doesn t have to look on a "empty wall".
Yes, of course, that's was textures and all that stuff is about. But i talk about the feeling, when you are with your mind in the game. :)

So I don't mean a redesign form square one, I just mean to otherthink some detail s an "Eye-Candys"

Anyway, hope you understand my opinion and suggestions a little more.
 
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NinjaLA said:
Lately I have shelfed my sidewinder and gone back to my old PC concepts joystic.. at least you don't have to move it a half an inch in any direction before it starts responding like my sidewinder.

You can set it's dead zone and limits in the Gamming Options>Properties screen on windows anyway. Also have custom key bindings which was vital for games like tachyon, in which you could good use of lighting fast weapon combos to kill almost instantly before the other guys shields had time to recover. So far I haven't found any other software that can do the macros right but Auto Hotkey seems like a good third party option.
 
ColonelFireball said:
Then we have other views:
https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wcpioneer44.jpg
https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wcpioneer43.jpg

Are not looking bad. Looks futiristic and placed symetric. But for me it gives you just the feeling that all that lights, little displays and "plates" are just there just to be there that the player doesn t have to look on a "empty wall".
Yes, of course, that's was textures and all that stuff is about. But i talk about the feeling, when you are with your mind in the game. :)

So I don't mean a redesign form square one, I just mean to otherthink some detail s an "Eye-Candys"

Anyway, hope you understand my opinion and suggestions a little more.

You made your opinion clear on this matter earlier in the thread. We've already gone over it and a number of people have posted a number of reasons why the current Pioneer method is pretty close to what the Wing Commander ideal should probably be. Don't think there's too many other places to go with additional consideration of the suggestion.
 
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ChrisReid said:
You made your opinion clear on this matter earlier in the thread. We've already gone over it and a number of people have posted a number of reasons why the current Pioneer method is pretty close to what the Wing Commander ideal should probably be. Don't think there's too many other places to go with additional consideration of the suggestion.

Well not so sure they did. ;)
Still a difference if I say "I don't like the whole thing" or I just mean: !"I just don' like this part".

Like Vermin, he showed Pictures of the things I like. :D

But anyway, do the best you can. You will make it the best way possible.
I see the results when the game is finished.

It's sad that many Fan Projects ended unfinished (especially mods). so it would be already great if we see a finished pioneer. :)
 
Lt.Death100 said:
Why does the privateer shot show 2 crosshairs?:confused:

'cause whoever took the screenshot is using mouse glide. the secound crosshair shows in what direction your nose is moving.
 
I believe this is the right thread for the question (albeit gone somewhat off-center :)

so, here goes. Howard, please tell me: will Pioneer support NVidia 3D stereo? that's shutterglasses, anaglyph, 3D displays and the like. in theory, any straight Direct3D application should work in stereo, but usually some minor glitch (a 2D flare right at screen level; HUD at wrong depth; background too close...) ruins all the effect.

oh, I know, we stereo freaks are a minority, and a game producer gains virtually nothing from making his game stereo-worthy... but then again, it's not like you have to write something new into the game to support stereo: it's already supported by the NVidia drivers. it's just that the things already IN the game should be checked for compatibility :)
 
A dull question to the pioneer team...but can you give us any info on the expected hardware specs for the game to work? Will it be scalable or is it indeed a tight-game with graphics and sound set for a high-end machine?
 
Figured I'd take a moment to answer some of the questions that I can answer. :)

Shere Khan: When the game is at a more complete stage, I fully expect to implement cool things like that--even if the audience for such things is small. All we need to do is coordinate with someone who can test it out for us. ;)

Don: As far as hardware specs, we are trying our best to make the game play on a wide range of hardware. We really want to bring the universe to as many people as possible, while still giving those who have the high-end hardware the oppurtunity to see really sweet graphics. So ideally, you will experience the game on a nice video card, but if you can't spare the change, the game will still work just fine--and don't worry, we are working hard to make it look as good as it can on lower end machines.

Hope that answers the questions.

~Joel
 
As even the cockpits are done in 3D I kinda expect that the chances for working shutterglasses are pretty high. I guess the only bug will be the crosshair unless it is specifically coded for true 3D (in order to work with 3D glasses the crosshair of any shooter has to work like a laser pointer, that is the crosshair has to be 'painted' at the target instead of the windshield. Usually the 3D glasses software is capable of painting its own crosshair at the right distance IF it is possible to at least disable the original one).

PS @Shere Khan: Do you know of any shutterglasses that work with LCD screens (I know that they would flicker at only 30Hz, but mine don't work at all - as soon as I look at the screen I only see black unless I tilt my head 90 degrees.)
 
Joel: thanks for the swift answer :) of course I'll volunteer to test if I'm alive at the moment. but there's an even better option: stereo guys tend to get together (probably to cultivate the illusion that we are many :) and are enthusiastic - so a short trip to any forum will provide enough testers. the first place to go would be stereovision.net forum, I suppose. and nvidia's own http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=40 could help, too.

by the way, stereo fans are often flight sim fans, too. there's a specific VR, flight sim and 3D stereo oriented site called really.ru - you can get some Russian testers there :)

cff: hey, we're sliding off the topic! looks like your problem is polarization. see http://www.stereo3d.com/faq.htm
 
Here's and Idea...

Going back to the whole Joystick/Mouse control thingie, as I was studying this project an idea came to me.

Would it be possible to mix and utilize both a joystick AND a mouse? How? by making the forward fixed guns not so forward fixed. My idea is this, fighters (naturally) should and would be able to fly circles around any larger craft (freighters and such). This means lotsa turrets to compensate, but would it be possible to make the foreward guns movable as well? For example, Mechwarrior 3, in which the mouse controlled the guns, but not the cockpit (and was, in fact, taken out in MW4, which kinda bugged me). If you could make it so that the Joystick controlled the ship, while the mouse controlled the forward guns (something that, I admit, would be awkward, but doable) you could increase the ability of a freighter to dogfight or at least make it so that he only need keep the fighter in front of him to make his shots. Naturally, this need only apply to freighters, as giving this ability to fighters would just be unfair. This might not even be possible (programming wise), but it seemed an interesting idea, and I'd like to know what you think.
 
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