People have referenced DCS in this thread a few times now, always in the context of the more realistic and complex A-10C, Ka50, and so on, the "study sim" modules. But what about the FC3 modules, the A-10A, F-15, Su27, and similar?
All of those are greatly simplified, systems wise, but (some, at least) feature very solid flight-models. Would something more along those lines perhaps be a decent compromise? Think the F-15C in DCS, where you can start it up & be in the air in 2min, but to fly it effectively in combat still requires that you understand how the radar works, what modes to use, and so on.
I love ED as it is now, have well over 1000 hours in it. And I have a similar amount of time, if not more, in DCS & BMS, so I can appreciate both. What I would like to see in ED is not so much making the ship more complicated to fly - though I wouldn't mind a little more systems complexity - but rather perhaps slightly more challenging things to do with that ship, but things that can be completely automated if the player wishes.
Fuel scooping comes to mind. Currently, you get close enough to the star to suck down hydrogen without burning to a crisp, and that's it. How about you have the option to do it manually, where you need to fly a profile through the upper atmosphere of the star, where you need to maintain a certain speed and follow a projected flight path, and need to deal with turbulence and so on, but this allows you to scoop 20% faster? A similar mechanic could work for atmospheric flight when that is introduced, where you can either use "assisted mode", which is very forgiving and easy to do, or you can have more manual control which allows you to maintain slightly higher speeds, but you need to consider stall speeds, worry about a proper re-entry profile so you don't burn up, deal with turbulence, and so on.
I can imagine it's not easy to do implement, and I'd rather FD focus on getting core-features into the game that *everyone* will benefit from - space legs, landing on planets with an atmosphere, etc - rather than adding optional features that 90%+ of the playerbase will not bother with. But I most definitely *would* enjoy a few more pilot-skill based things to do in the game.
