HOLY CRAP! Looking at Pyro's post (that I had responded to) I had assumed that this was a relatively new thread.
Looking at the date, though, he posted that in Nov. 2000.
TWO YEARS ago. Yikes!!!! Vid cards and CPUs have advanced a lot even
since that post. The "good while" he was talking about could well have easily passed by now, no?
DamnedCM, what the hell were you doing digging this up from the bowels of the earth?
Seriously, its contents are no longer relevant in the current context of AH.
Creamo, it needn't be a hat switch/unrealism feature. It would be integrated into current views. That way you see
both what's ahead (not blocked by the mirror) and what's reflected. I'm not suggesting the AW implementation at all, but a much more realistic one now that we have the horsepower to do it. Icons need not be enabled in the mirror view.
Take a spin in TK's
SF:P1 (published by Strategy First) and you'll see just how compelling mirrors can be.
[edit]
Actually, let me stick in a couple of screenies for your edification:
Click on images to expand.
You'll note in the first, just the "cool effect" of mirrors. This is in widely expanded field of view, zoomed back to max in an F-4 cockpit. The default FOV is much further forward, and cuts into the two side mirrors, though the top one is still fully visible.
In the second image (an F-104 Starfighter at default FOV), you'll note that it's impossible to see one's orientation in the forward view because of inclement weather (picture AH blue sky that is also mostly featureless). A quick glance at the mirrors, which are quite close at hand, immediately shows your position relative to the ground because you can see the runway, as well as your changing aspect and can serve as a rough gauge of speed -- all the while you haven't had to glance down into the cockpit to look at a horizon ball, VSI, or airspeed indicator. This works equally well if you're at a higher altitude and see terrain or the horizon reflected, not just a ground object.
While a mirror won't stop you getting bounced, if there was a bogey there there that was in slight lag pursuit, it can help to monitor his orientation during ACM while you can still keep an eye on your forward view. According to how he's moving in the mirror, you can see if you're gaining angles or if he's going to slip into lead pursuit, or if he's turned away, etc. etc. My preference would be that icons are not shown in the mirror.
It's not a
substitute for turning your head to look for a bogey, but it does impart more info about your aircraft's state, and we desperately need that in a game where we don't have any seat of the pants feedback. If you can't see the landscape or clouds, you have little idea as to what's going on without looking at the instruments or switching view to look at a fixed object, except for your own anticpation of the manouver you're performing. That's highly unrealistic, but a limit we have to accept.
I'd like to hear other comments from people who have actually experience both methods, to hear their reaction.
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Streakeagle, you make an excellent point, if mirrors weren't useful, pilots wouldn't still be using them. That's not to say they spend all their time looking at them, but it's a lot easier to move your eyes a bit then it is to turn your whole head around. Even in AH, it would be less disruptive and disorienting than switching your view.
Cheers,
phaetn
