Cockpit layouts as a module in outfitting

[Bloodsign]

One of my pet peeves is cockpits which are not centered. I'm mostly a combat pilot, and in a fighting spacecraft with a single pilot, the chair should be as close to center of mass as possible. There's also the fact that we have all these empty chairs with the same computer station layouts. Why can't I go over and sit on the left/right? Assigned seats or something?

I'd like to see a new section of the outfitting screen under core internals which allows for different cockpit layouts or chair swapping in the standard layout. Like armor specific to particular ships, these outfitting options would only be available at stations which sell the ship to be outfitted.

For the currently existing standard layouts, this system would let us designate the captain's chair. Want to fly the Mamba from the top seat? Ok. Want to fly the Asp from the bottom seat? Cool. Want to fly the Cobra from the right seat? Go for it. (BTW, before I had Horizons, the Cobra WAS flown from the right seat; it changed after I installed Horizons. Weird.)

But I would really like to see different alternative layouts which always have a centered pilot's chair (still with additional other chairs too if appropriate for the ship). Since these would be non-standard combat layouts, I'd expect them to be fairly expensive. After all, remodeling your kitchen isn't cheap.

 

[RamirezKurita]

There's also the fact that we have all these empty chairs with the same computer station layouts. Why can't I go over and sit on the left/right? Assigned seats or something?

Based upon in-game mechanics, I'd guess that those seats and the associated terminals are holographic in nature as they can only be operated by telepresence. If you tried to sit in one of those seats you would just fall through it; likewise, the terminals are actually just dummies that are there to provide visual feedback for the pilot for what his remote operating guests are doing.

 

[Fr33k]

Totally for this this swapping seat, the bulk of that stuff has to already be coded so why not, but changing layout to centre if not designed that way I could see being more of an issue, from the design/program side, though would be cool.
That said, if it not pushing too much, maybe some colour/style changes too? e.g. shabby/used look (more hanging wires and scuffed surfaces) or prestine with a little extra shine, maybe even use some of the skin colour on the inside.

 

[Bloodsign]

Totally for this this swapping seat, the bulk of that stuff has to already be coded so why not, but changing layout to centre if not designed that way I could see being more of an issue, from the design/program side, though would be cool.
That said, if it not pushing too much, maybe some colour/style changes too? e.g. shabby/used look (more hanging wires and scuffed surfaces) or prestine with a little extra shine, maybe even use some of the skin colour on the inside.

I like it! We could have on the high end some super expensive Elephant Butt Leather upholstery.

 

[Tunstan]

I like it! We could have on the high end some super expensive Elephant Butt Leather upholstery.

Your new pilot seat, "audacious opulence; series 1"...

 

[Fr33k]

Your new pilot seat, "audacious opulence; series 1"...

Ha! careful though, if FDev see we'll pay for a seat (and yes, I probably would, but shhh...) then we could end up with pretty crazy cockpits, and suddenly people are doing multicrew just to BE in really cool cockpits rtather than actually do anything.

 

[Bloodsign]

Based upon in-game mechanics, I'd guess that those seats and the associated terminals are holographic in nature as they can only be operated by telepresence. If you tried to sit in one of those seats you would just fall through it; likewise, the terminals are actually just dummies that are there to provide visual feedback for the pilot for what his remote operating guests are doing.

You could be right to an extent about the telepresence. The NPC crew are actually physically on the ship though since they die upon ship destruction. I honestly can't say if YOUR CMDR is real or telepresence only, but I suspect real, because of the telepresence operating range limits we see for fighters. But with that same range in mind, how could other CMDRs be on your ship via telepresence in a believable fashion? I feel like the whole telepresence thing was a cop-out and it isn't logically implemented.

But if they ARE just holo-projected chairs, all the more reason to be able to remove or change them!

Your new pilot seat, "audacious opulence; series 1"...

Exactly what I had in mind! Now we just need a pipe...

Ha! careful though, if FDev see we'll pay for a seat (and yes, I probably would, but shhh...) then we could end up with pretty crazy cockpits, and suddenly people are doing multicrew just to BE in really cool cockpits rtather than actually do anything.

Hahaha, perfect! Finally a REAL use for multicrew!

 

[Nasc]

It would be fun, especially when legs are floating in space. Then you'd have a place to keep them to. Or at least that's my understanding of later events.
At the very least, color sliders for the UI would be a nice edition.