Flying physics.

[WiFiN]

I watched the footage from E3 and I'm pretty concerned about flying. The steering seems to be very precise and fast on a reaver, sometimes it even looked like the reaver is just nocliping around (like, you know, bodyless camera) instead of actually flying. It stops mid-air as if it just anchors to it and when it hovers it seems to just pivot around itself. They also look like they are on the rails when laying curves - they don't seem to slide even a bit due to centrifugal force...

I liked gunships in BF2142 and I like to see that interceptors here follow the same concept, though my concern is that the controls became too arcade.

I'd like to hear the entries from those who played the game on E3 or the devs themselves so I could know for sure if it's just my eyes playing tricks on me or the steering is really that primitive.

[WiFiN]

They're not jets. They're not helicopters either. They use thrusters and don't depend on air lift to stay up.

If you want to slide, you can do that, it just isn't necessary due to the nature of the propulsion.

You didn't get what I'm saying and seems like you haven't played BF2142 as well. Those things i accidentaly called "fighter-jets" were gunships.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/BF2142_EU_gunship.jpg/220px-BF2142_EU_gunship.jpg
If you lurk a bit, you'll find that they sport exactly the same propulsion method as interceptors in PS universe and I'm fairly aware of that.

The question is - do they feel as realistic as BF2142 ones in regards of flying or am I right in my concerns and they are as arcade as they look?

[TheDAWinz]

I watched the footage from E3 and I'm pretty concerned about flying. The steering seems to be very precise and fast on a reaver, sometimes it even looked like the reaver is just nocliping around (like, you know, bodyless camera) instead of actually flying. It stops mid-air as if it just anchors to it and when it hovers it seems to just pivot around itself. They also look like they are on the rails when laying curves - they don't seem to slide even a bit due to centrifugal force...

I liked gunships in BF2142 and I like to see that interceptors here follow the same concept, though my concern is that the controls became too arcade.

I'd like to hear the entries from those who played the game on E3 or the devs themselves so I could know for sure if it's just my eyes playing tricks on me or the steering is really that primitive.

Your talking about the sycthe. Thats what its suppose to do

[super pretendo]

I see what you mean now, you're basically talking about how it looks like they don't have mass/momentum (being able to stop almost instantly). I got the same impression, but there's another way of thinking about this; their engines are simply a lot more powerful than the ones in BF2142 :]

Abstracting away the problem as "oh lets just say it's part of the story" doesn't change the problem that it gets rid of the nuance, decision making and skillcap

[Tatwi]

Abstracting away the problem as "oh lets just say it's part of the story" doesn't change the problem that it gets rid of the nuance, decision making and skillcap

That's a good point. Also, floating turrets are pretty lame, especially in base fights.

Personally, I think all the ships should require forward momentum to stay in the air after they take off. And they should also make use of the physics of momentum and conservation of energy, so that when you dive you speed up, when you turn you lose air speed, and when you nose up at 0 throttle you slow down.

[SKYeXile]

That's a good point. Also, floating turrets are pretty lame, especially in base fights.

Personally, I think all the ships should require forward momentum to stay in the air after they take off. And they should also make use of the physics of momentum and conservation of energy, so that when you dive you speed up, when you turn you lose air speed, and when you nose up at 0 throttle you slow down.

sounds like infantry would be more safe then, pass.

[xnorb]

I don't know who said it - i think it was this one yT guy with sort of exclusive
access to PS2 informations - but he said that vehicles feel like they have weight.

It's hard to tell how something feels by just watching videos.

Watching videos of real world choppers i'd also say that it looks like they
have no weight and seem to come to a stop immediately and such.

[WiFiN]

Your talking about the sycthe. Thats what its suppose to do
Well sycthe can do these things if it has some drowbacks like weaker armor or slower speed, but in the videos we saw reavers, that's why it concerns me.

Watching videos of real world choppers i'd also say that it looks like they
have no weight and seem to come to a stop immediately and such.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6HFfV0SWBjs
They don't look like they're attached to invisible rails in the sky, at all.

But yeah, I have to agree with you - it's hard to judge anything just by the looks of it.

Hope beta will come shortly.

[Hyperz]

Maybe it's because of my BF roots but I have to agree with the OP. The flying looks extremely arcade, almost to the point where it seems boring. I've actually noticed this with other vehicles too. The way the handling looks is almost as if vehicles are nothing more than a thin metal casing with nothing inside. I know that looks != actual ingame feel, but even if it feels OK I still think they look very awkward. Take the NC/TR tanks for example and compare how their behavior looks compared to, say, BF2, or even BF1942. Since I don't care much about infantry combat I really hope it feels better than it looks :x.

[Anderz]

As a BF2/2142 player, I too am worried somewhat by the flight physics. But I also recall Smedley saying in an interview that BF2/2142 has some of the best vehicle gameplay ever, so at least he knows what good vehicle handling feels like. This gives me hope that if, come beta, enough of us kick up a fuss, they might add more heft to the flight model.

That is if it needs it, of course. I'm not jumping to conclusions till I've played it, but the concern is there.

[Paulus]

I echo the concerns raised regarding "arcade" flight models, i was rather hopeful of a semi-flight sim dynamic handling when the game was first spoke of in 2010, with the need to worry about flaps, lift and proper rearming/refueling considerations (although not to the extream extent of trim, ILS, etc). The current flying format in Alpha looks like the cousin of BF3 with lazers, not the more advanced style (and hence more difficult to master) we were promised from the original brief.

I also find myself slightly nervous that they may have put ceiling height at 1000 Metres (as best i can see from E3 vids),,, another BF3 ape and another reason why i dislike the air combat model in BF3.

All this aside i'm confident the game will be outstanding, but i suspect i will always rue what "could have been" as i watch The Mosquitoes, Scythes and Reavers dog fight against each other as well as the laws of physics.

[Boof]

From watching this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWJtb4aIKwI#t=0m45s) it looks like BF2142's gunships are kind of similar to the flight mechanics we're going to see in PS2.

They also look like they are on the rails when laying curves - they don't seem to slide even a bit due to centrifugal force...
In this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwd3U709dc#t=0m45s), at 0:45 we can see some reavers take a sharp turn. It appears their tails are being pulled out of the curve by centripetal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centripetal_force) force. I agree with you, though, that the extensive E3 footage doesn't seem to be consistent with what we see in that video.

I'm not a dev and I wasn't lucky enough to go to E3, but those are my two cents :)