Dear Mr Braben - I will spend $100 more if you add a functional external view.

I think the acceptable solution would be to have external cameras that are at fixed location on the players ship or accessible other locations such as wing mates ships or station facilities. A flyable camera would not have the performance to keep up with ship at combat speeds, unless its a pilotable missile perhaps.
 
Just to add, simply being able to have mouse control and easily move the current external view around my ship would be a big improvement in my eyes. Right now I am forced to use my HOTAS to move my view around my ship.

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I think $100 is a tad underestimating development costs?

$100 is more than fair for a feature, if enough people make similar pledges. Even small pledges multiplied by thousands of players would be significant.

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This is hereby my promise that if there is a decent external view system put into place I will spend $100 of my cash in your store on paint jobs etc.

I've only purchased a couple mainly because it is useless. I can't admire my ship in action in any way in different environments without a well known tedious debug camera. All of the best sims out there since the dawn of time have allowed for it and it is clearly missing from the game.

There has been many posts asking for it. Many more than people against it. There has been a dev who's stated they'd like to rip out the debug camera and put something real in.

Those of us with lifetime passes don't need to spend any more money going forward and I have no inclination to for cosmetic reasons if I have no means to enjoy them. If you removed that barrier I'd be happy to spend more.

Please make it your priority by the end of the year.

1) An orbit camera as most games have where you use the number pad to orbit around your ships. Even track IR can be used for this (Like in Arma 3)
2) A landing camera you can toggle only when you are using a docking computer. (From the tower to your ship)
3) External Station view of your ship.
4) View of your SRV from your landed ship.

I'll be happy with just those.

Thanks and keep up the great work.

IF ANYONE ELSE would like to pledge an amount - please do in this thread!

I'll pledge $20 (US Dollars) if this gets implemented
 
While were at it (again), I'll pledge for a Padlock View in combat. No flight sim should ever be released without a padlock view...
 
Just to add, simply being able to have mouse control and easily move the current external view around my ship would be a big improvement in my eyes. Right now I am forced to use my HOTAS to move my view around my ship.

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$100 is more than fair for a feature, if enough people make similar pledges. Even small pledges multiplied by thousands of players would be significant.

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I'll pledge $20 (US Dollars) if this gets implemented

Perhaps you need kickstarter, rather than a forum then? Words are wind otherwise.
 
Counter bid! - I will pay David Braben $200 if he removes the external camera forever, and adds a fishtank to our ships!

... now, now, lets not be hasty....
I can make some very good still frame videos using a Google app and screen shots... 3 seconds at a time.... string 24 together for a one minute.
actually its quite nostalgic, a bit like going back in photography and motion picture development... see a subject, plan a shot, develop a short bit...
but I am seriously digressing.

$300 if the fish tank has a diver in it...
 
Nah, it'd be fun to use when exploring.
With nothing much to do but honk, it'd be great to be able to switch things up and change view points, watch yourself sail in 3rd person through the great unknown and/or skirt the surfaces of desolate moons.

Exactly! We have an eye candy simulator for explorers but are stuck in a limited frame of reference.
 
1) An orbit camera as most games have where you use the number pad to orbit around your ships. Even track IR can be used for this (Like in Arma 3)
2) A landing camera you can toggle only when you are using a docking computer. (From the tower to your ship)
3) External Station view of your ship.
4) View of your SRV from your landed ship.

It seems Braben and his crew are extremely convinced of their idea of 1st-person-only philosophy. The current classified cam mode alone was a huge compromise for them, so no wonder they'll want to replace it with something that is more sophisticated, and less immersion breaking. The thing is, they don't exactly have a lot of time on their disposal.

Though they're adding ship launched fighters in 2.2. Yes, it will be a less optimal way to look at our ships then your suggested methods, and will only be available to few select larger ships. But still, until FDev comes up with some better options, we will be able to hop on one of those cute fighters to admire big, badass, shiny ships that we have. (Seriously, I keep getting this feeling that around 8/10 of all instances that I'll ever fly a ship launched fighter myself will be solely to look at my Anaconda and drool at its shiny aesthetics.)

Also, at some point in next year, they'll be also adding the ability to walk around ship/station interiors and possibly EVAs. I bet we won't be even needing an external cam at that point.
 
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For the sake of realism: we really should be able to use an external camera in-fight.

But I'm OK with just the vanity camera.

Uhh... in what way exactly is it more realistic to have a third person view of the vehicle you're using in combat? I'm imagining a tank in a battle with a couple of camera guys running around outside dodging shells.

An improved debug camera, sure... but a 3rd person camera you can use while fighting? No way.

The "view from the tower" while landing would be cool... IF it were displayed on a screen in your cockpit (maybe a virtual "picture in picture" type screen on the inside of your canopy) and didn't just switch you out to an external view. Similarly having external cameras mounted on your own ship that could be viewed on a similar screen (rear, side, etc views) too. For me it's all about believability - can I imagine a telecast from the landing tower being played on a screen inside my cockpit? Yes. Can I imagine a telecast being played in my brain so it seemed like I was floating in the tower with my ship on remote control? No.
 
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Uhh... in what way exactly is it more realistic to have a third person view of the vehicle you're using in combat? I'm imagining a tank in a battle with a couple of camera guys running around outside dodging shells.

An improved debug camera, sure... but a 3rd person camera you can use while fighting? No way.

The "view from the tower" while landing would be cool... IF it were displayed on a screen in your cockpit (maybe a virtual "picture in picture" type screen on the inside of your canopy) and didn't just switch you out to an external view. Similarly having external cameras mounted on your own ship that could be viewed on a similar screen (rear, side, etc views) too. For me it's all about believability - can I imagine a telecast from the landing tower being played on a screen inside my cockpit? Yes. Can I imagine a telecast being played in my brain so it seemed like I was floating in the tower with my ship on remote control? No.

Has DCS, Falcon4, now even SC .. every fricken sim out there hell even Xplane has exterior views and NOBODY has every complained about it.

Even ARMA has them and if you have a strict server they'll disable the 3rd person views. If you don't want the views DONT USE THEM.

Now this isn't a debate about it. Its been decided by people overwhelmingly that they want it. Many times over ...

The only way we'll convince them to put it in is with a carrot and I'm willing to pay. So are others. I am 100% convinced their paintjob sales will go up astronomically if they did add them.
 
building on ship launched fighters to create a camera drone would be an ok way to go. Otherwise, expanded third person above and beyond the debug camera doesn't make much sense and I agree with the devs.

Citing DCS is all well and good, but in Pac-Man you can eat pills that let you consume terrified ghosts -- should we add that to Elite too?

The foundation of the game is the view of one pilot in a spaceship. Sticking to it works for Elite.
 
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I have a lifetime pass. I want to spend more money but right now there is no reason to.

This is hereby my promise that if there is a decent external view system put into place I will spend $100 of my cash in your store on paint jobs etc.

Will any of you also pledge?

I've only purchased a couple mainly because it is useless. I can't admire my ship in action in any way in different environments without a well known tedious debug camera. All of the best sims out there since the dawn of time have allowed for it and it is clearly missing from the game.

There has been many posts asking for it. Many more than people against it. There has been a dev who's stated they'd like to rip out the debug camera and put something real in.

Those of us with lifetime passes don't need to spend any more money going forward and I have no inclination to for cosmetic reasons if I have no means to enjoy them. If you removed that barrier I'd be happy to spend more.

Please make it your priority by the end of the year.

1) An orbit camera as most games have where you use the number pad to orbit around your ships. Even track IR can be used for this (Like in Arma 3)
2) A landing camera you can toggle only when you are using a docking computer. (From the tower to your ship)
3) External Station view of your ship.
4) View of your SRV from your landed ship.

I'll be happy with just those.

Thanks and keep up the great work.

IF ANYONE ELSE would like to pledge an amount - please do in this thread!

I've long said the game could do with a better and more functional external view. Its likely hurt the game a little that we are so restricted because we could have made some amazing machima with better tools. I'd love to see a GTA V style video capture/editor but that would take a bit of dev time. Still they have the engine already, its just a matter of recording the action and letting us move around the scene etc..
 
The main thing that the Devs have against it seem to be they don't want you to use it in a fight... So why not disable external views if weapons are deployed, make a it so you can keybind a toggle function that swaps you between camera control and ship control. Now you can film the ship doing anything but fighting and still fly it.
It's easier than that. The game knows when you are in combat as it tells you that you're under attack plus it cues the combat music that I disabled. Fly-by and better camera movements aka the flight model are needed. It would not be hard to add.
 
Has DCS, Falcon4, now even SC .. every fricken sim out there hell even Xplane has exterior views and NOBODY has every complained about it.

Even ARMA has them and if you have a strict server they'll disable the 3rd person views. If you don't want the views DONT USE THEM.

Now this isn't a debate about it. Its been decided by people overwhelmingly that they want it. Many times over ...

The only way we'll convince them to put it in is with a carrot and I'm willing to pay. So are others. I am 100% convinced their paintjob sales will go up astronomically if they did add them.

You either failed to read, failed to understand, or failed to respond to my question. The post I replied to said:

For the sake of realism: we really should be able to use an external camera in-fight.
(my emphasis).

Now, I said nothing about other games. I said nothing about the popularity of the idea. I asked IN WHAT WAY IS IT MORE REALISTIC TO HAVE A THIRD PERSON CAMERA IN A FIGHT?

If you're not going to address the question THAT I WAS ASKING SOMEONE ELSE then keep your thoughts to yourself... and do NOT tell me what I can and can not debate.
 
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