Here is mine with a premise: When tracking a moving object you are still free to look at everywhere else. That is, you are free to use any snap view while having padlock ON.
When u use a snap view while in padlock, there are two possibilities:
1 - The tracked object is still visible into your currect selected snap view, so, when un depress the snap view key, the tracked object is readquired automaticaly.
2 - The tracked object is not visible into your current selected snap view. This is the same case as when you loose the target under your nose, you simply are not seeing that plane.
When you lose the tracked plane due any obstacle or because you have changed your view (snap), you are still mentaly tracking that plane in a prediction mode based on its speed, angle, angle variation, etc. So, after some seconds, you are able to look where the enemy should be if he had not moved his control surfaces nor throttle. If you look there and the enemy is there, or if the enemy has become vissible while moving your head where you supposed the enemy was, then the enemy is again readquired automatically. If the enemy is not there, you've lost it, but you are still in padlock mode and you know what aircraft you were interested on. So, if you use your snap views to look around and THAT enemy plane becomes visible again, it is readquired for padlocking automatically.
The hard coding problem is in the prediction routine. It should calculate the possible trajectory of the tracked plane with its controls and throttle in the last possition it was seen. This routine would require a considerable AI code.
Lets suppose there are no prediction routine, that is, when you lose the sight of the enemy, you are on your own to readquire it manually. How do make the player work as easy as possible? Well, IMO, they key is in not forcing the player to select again the desired target.
A small description of the process:
1 - Player select padlock mode: ON
2 - Player select a target well into visual range (5000 yards? ).
3 - The system keeps tracking automatically that target.
4 - Player change the current view using NKP and the target is no more visible in the current view OR target becomes invisible due some obstacle (mountains, your own plane, clouds, etc). While the target is not vissible, the system does not track automatically it, so your current view is the last one (forward view is not automatically selected unless the player touch a NKP key).
5 - Player look around using NKP keys or moves its plane and the lost enemy becomes visible again into the 5000 yards range. Cause you are still with padlock mode ON and you have not selected a different target, THAT plane is tracked automatically again.
Basically, the player switch on the padlock, select a target and while the target is vissible, it will be automatically tracked by the system, when it becomes invisible, the system stop tracking it, but when the target becomes vissible again in the current view, the system readquires it without any player iteration. The player may use snapshot keys all the time with in padlock mode ON, but if he looses the target changing views, he will need to look manually around or move his plane to make the enemy visible again, at this point the system will readquire the target automatically again without
Add to all these an important point: When tracking the target, the system should not just change from one snapshot view to another one where the target is vissible, the system shoult track the target smoothly while vissible.
SHEEEET! the more english I write, the worse english I use ...
