Poll: Interactive Cockpits

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by robtek

Agreed,

as an option it would be fine,
BUT all clickable funktions must be mappable to the hotas or keyboard as well,
so you don´t have to use it.

I tend to agree here. Let's think a bit outside a black and white reasoning that says we either have clickable cockpits or we don't.

Assuming the level of complexity arises the way realism dictates (ie, the example about fuel management in a mustang), there's going to be an awful lot of functions to map to a keyboard. Well, guess what, my keyboard command list is already cluttered enough in IL2 as it is and not everyone can afford gaming keyboards or touch screens. I think that closing our eyes to the artificial gap this creates between players has important implications in a competitive online scenario, so much that we should ideally look towards giving the players enough options to remain capable without necessarily having to whip out their credit cards.

For example, i fly IL2 with a very dependable but aging MS sidewinder precision pro and nothing else, which means i have to map mixture and pitch controls to my keyboard because engine management is obviously important enough in combat. However, i also have to map bombsight controls to my keyboard and this is something that clutters up the layout to perform a task that could just as well be done by clickable dials. It's not as if i'm furiously maneuvering with wreckless abandon during a bomb run in a He111, is it?

This is why i would gladly advocate a hybrid system. Make the switches clickable but also make them assignable to the keyboard or stick buttons. What you consider important stuff will go on keyboard and stick so you don't have to look around the pit and click furiously in the midst of combat. The less important stuff that you touch once or twice per flight you will still be able to manipulate but you won't need to assign keys to them, leaving them assignable for more important functions. I seriously doubt that changing fuel tanks and calibrating altimeters is something people do while fighting, they do things like that on the ground before take off or during cruise.

If i don't want to look around for a switch to click then by all means i'll map it to a key combination or buy a separate gaming keypad, but i wouldn't advocate an implementation that limits the options of other players in competing with me, assuming that the new sim will be complex enough to model more procedures. This is however a separate debate. I'm not arguing for or against detailed checklist procedures for things like engine start, what i'm supporting is a suitably customizable control method to suit as much people as possible in case these procedures are eventually modelled.