What's unintentionally amusing is that if this
is explained as 'telepresence', it no longer makes any sense why any
actual hired NPC crew have to physically be there and die, if your ship gets destroyed... The same NPCs which are remotely-piloting create-on-demand fighters which get made with cockpits.
Am guessing that instantly transferring is just a place-holder mechanic until avatar animation has been completed. Frontier have reversed their opinions before, especially after beta testing.
Otherwise, they are going to need a reason why we can't simply pilot any ship we own anywhere they are docked.
And to do that, they'd have to acknowledge life support is completely unnecessary. Bonus to explorer careers!
From what we know so far it looks like a bad idea waiting to happen especially in combination with the proposed 360° turret view mode which allows for missiles to lock on and fire from every angle of the crewed ship.
No, this is something I salute Frontier for doing. I recall very recently suggesting mirroring VLS missile tubes on real warships and this mechanic essentially allows for that.
The marketing for this product is too heavily aimed at thinking of these craft as jet fighters, when a more relevant comparison would be to warships and submarines - neither of which need to be pointing at a contact in order to target or guide missiles towards it. Even a Sidewinder is as large as a decent-sized house, after all.
So, yes. Well done, Frontier! Missiles
should be able to fire and home in on a target from any direction. I'd actually go further than this and say it shouldn't even require a gunner to do so - the sensors should be able to gain a firing solution, regardless of angle. They have complete spherical coverage.
Already, modern fighters are moving from HUD to HMD (Helmet-Mounted Display) symbology, which allows them to fire missiles at other planes at completely different angles to where they are pointing. The craft we're meant to be piloting are supposed to be far more advanced than that. Mirroring a warship or submarine, being able to gain a lock and fire at any target, regardless of the bearing, should be
precisely what they are capable of.