Second pair of eyes...

[GScholz]

The greatest advantage of having more than one crewman has always been the increased situational awareness of having more than one pair of eyes scanning the sky. Please give all aircraft with more than one crew member the external view option.

[colmbo]

External view is too generous IMO, but it should at least be so that you can set views to encompass the other crew position.  An example the B-29..as is pilot views are all from the right seat, we should be able to slew the view vantage point to the head of the copilot if so desired.  As is it's as if the copilot won't communicate what he's seeing.

[Tinkles]

The greatest advantage of having more than one crewman has always been the increased situational awareness of having more than one pair of eyes scanning the sky. Please give all aircraft with more than one crew member the external view option.

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I can already hear the sea of 'NO's' behind me.  However, this has gotten my interest.

I think F3 and F4 views should be possible in aircraft with more than one crewman, however, when in f3 and f4 modes you cannot fire your weapons or drop bombs.

Would that balance it out and make everyone happy?

*shrug*

+1 to OP

[GScholz]

External view is too generous IMO, but it should at least be so that you can set views to encompass the other crew position.  An example the B-29..as is pilot views are all from the right seat, we should be able to slew the view vantage point to the head of the copilot if so desired.  As is it's as if the copilot won't communicate what he's seeing.

I've been away from the game for some months now, but last time i checked external view is enabled for all bombers, but not fighters. I'm merely wishing that all multi-crewed aircraft have the same view options regardless of role, not reworking the whole view system.

[SmokinLoon]

The greatest advantage of having more than one crewman has always been the increased situational awareness of having more than one pair of eyes scanning the sky. Please give all aircraft with more than one crew member the external view option.

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I agree that the extra set of eyes is nice to have, HOWEVER, in the example you've provided the only benefit in spotting an enemy aircraft would be to see it sooner.  The second set of eyes has no more of a view than the pilot, really.

Now, but that extra set of eyes to the rear of the plane and it can see much more, but even then not enough for 360° coverage.

I wish HTC could/would assign the external views based on the actual ability of the crew members to see certain views.  As it is, anything with a "bomber" designation gets the 360° view ability. 

[Oldman731]

I agree that the extra set of eyes is nice to have, HOWEVER, in the example you've provided the only benefit in spotting an enemy aircraft would be to see it sooner.  The second set of eyes has no more of a view than the pilot, really.

Last Friday I was flying with an instructor (BFR and IPC, all rolled into one happy outing).  On takeoff we heard an inbound Mooney report that he was on right downwind for the runway.  Because the field has a standard left traffic pattern, and because we were about to make a right turn, we both were staring at approximately the same place.  I spotted the Mooney; the instructor couldn't see it, even when I told him where to look (...well...after a bit he finally saw it, too...).  The point is that we both had virtually the same cockpit view, yet two sets of eyes were able to spot an enemy aircraft when one set might not have done so.

- oldman

[Slade]

Cool idea at its core.  Maybe have such a plane just give auto-check 6's to self.  Thats what the other occupants of the plane would functionally be calling out.

   IF enemy_plane n_feet_from_plane THEN check6.self(180)  etc.

No need to propagate F3 mode.

[FLOOB]

Why does that plane look all raggedy? Opening seams and painted with mud like.

[nrshida]

Why does that plane look all raggedy? Opening seams and painted with mud like.

Production techniques have moved on a lot since the 40s bud. Also there was a war on  

How about offering a few perk points for someone to join your plane and actually provide a second pair of eyes?

[BnZs]

On the contrary, I think gamey "God's Eye" mode ought to be made unavailable on all planes. If one wants the equivalent of having a second person scanning for bandits then one should have to get another player to join and scan for bandits. Fighter pile-its generally flew with a wingman, does this mean I should get an AI wingie if no one else is available to wing-up with me?

Last time I flew a plane with F3 available I had upped a B-25H to try and hunt tanks. I get attacked by a Corsair. Well, using F3 I start flying that thing like a fighter and threatening to kill on the overshoot with all those nose guns, forcing the Corsair to get out flaps and do "some of that pilot ****" to settle on my six himself. At which point I switch to the equally gamey hyper-accurate flex gun and blast him out of the sky. It was a fun prank, but not really the sort of thing that should be possible in anything trying to be a WWII combat *simulation*.

[Lucifer]

Only this, if so +1

I wish HTC could/would assign the external views based on the actual ability of the crew members to see certain views.

[earl1937]

External view is too generous IMO, but it should at least be so that you can set views to encompass the other crew position.  An example the B-29..as is pilot views are all from the right seat, we should be able to slew the view vantage point to the head of the copilot if so desired.  As is it's as if the copilot won't communicate what he's seeing.

I am confused! Each time I have flown the 29 in this game, all my views from the cockpit were from the left seat or aircraft commanders position. I would like to be able to switch to the co-pilots position in order to better view what is on the right side of the aircraft. I realize you can use your arrow keys to look right, but it is really restricted.
I wish you could switch between pilot and co-pilot's position on any of the bombers. The only time I use F3 and F8 is to take screen shots of large formations, I have no interest in trying to fight from those positions as it is to "gamey". To me its just more realistic to use the a/c positions as they were designed for. I realize this is a "pretend" game and a lot of people are looking for an advantage so as to sweeten their scores!

[bozon]

External view is too generous IMO, but it should at least be so that you can set views to encompass the other crew position.  An example the B-29..as is pilot views are all from the right seat, we should be able to slew the view vantage point to the head of the copilot if so desired.  As is it's as if the copilot won't communicate what he's seeing.

I agree with this. Also in the mosquito, I can only save fixed views from the pilot seat, but cannot move the head position in the cockpit over the navigator seat to look out the right side.

Probably the simplest workaround is to make the other seat a "gunner", so you could hop over there as if it was another gunner position on the plane. It would however put the plane in auto-level and disable all flight controls except the rudder. Still useful for looking around in planes that do not (and should not) have F3 view. While in the starboard seat, pressing primary "fire" will shoot a colorful signal flare out of the roof hole, just for the heck of it

No to F3 view though.

[Karnak]

I wish my default view was that high up in the Mossie.

Come on, VR.  Lets get this done.

[SmokinLoon]

I wish my default view was that high up in the Mossie.

Come on, VR.  Lets get this done.

Though I have not figured it out yet how HTC determines exactly where they put the Default pilot view for the planes in which the pilot does not have guns (Mossi bomber, Lancs, b5n, goon, etc), it does not appear to be specific. One would think that in a plane such as those mentioned that the eyes of the pilot would be X inches above the seat and then be centered over the seat, but it isn't so.  Check out the goon in particular, the pilot is slouched.

FWIW, I have numerous planes with a default view that is NOT looking through the gun sight but rather over it like the pilot actually did. Having the default view looking through the gun site takes away from the experience, IMO.