Communication and teamwork within vehicles

[kaffis]

I'd support giving the driver extra cameras he could view from. Side cameras, rear camera, etc. Like mirrors in a car, or those newfangled parking cameras. In other words, i support giving the driver more situational awareness, but it should still require focusing in a direction.

Alternately, let him pan his non-3rd person view all the way around, as if viewing the world through a camera turret. I like the idea of having fixed directions, though, as it promotes the notion of blind spots for more tactical interest.

I'm all for offering more tools for the driver and gunner(s) to communicate. I'd certainly like the driver to be able to highlight areas, at least, if not paint targets specifically. Indicate the vicinity he's going to try to provide shots for, etc.

I'd also like the driver to see via some UI element what direction his gunner is aimed at, and, if his gunner's crosshairs (or predicted firing arc, whatever) fall on or near a target, for that target to get automatically highlighted for the driver.

I'm also a big fan of CutterJohn's voice macro for detailed incoming announcements. In fact, I'd like to see that for infantry, too. Hit the incoming macro, and the voice macro announces the type of target nearest your crosshairs (within reason, so it can't be used for fishing, as it were), along with the direction (or relative direction, for vehicles).

Some vehicles should probably get more specialized communication elements. Liberators, for instance, ought to let the bombardier, who has a much better view of the ground than the pilot when the pilot's flying level enough to drop bombs, should be able to drop markers of some sort on the pilot's minimap, perhaps, to give the pilot a better idea about what he should line up on, rather than having to rely on attempting to make hasty, crude adjustments based on the minimap's radar.