Frontier can you please make the weapon targeting reticles independent of the canopy glass?

[Mister Macqueen]

It seems that all other HUD elements are either holographic or are displayed on the REMlok visor. Why do our weapon reticles have to be displayed on the canopy glass?

From a lore perspective it makes no sense. Any combat vessel manufacturer would immediately see this as a huge design flaw, and, given the level of technology in 3305, would quickly overhaul it.

From a gameplay perspective it makes even less sense. Given the fact that canopies cannot be engineered, and that they have a low integrity to start, it's incredibly common for a single lucky shot to rupture the canopy. It's true that they can be repaired via AFMUs, however in my experience my canopy typically gets ruptured in a single volley, which then makes the AFMU useless.

This is a really absurd and obnoxious feature that truly has no reason to be. How hard would it be for you guys to just allow the canopy and aiming reticles to be two separate things? Plenty of other HUD elements exist without any 'canopy glass' to display them.

 

[Amanojaku]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought life support integrity was essentially your canopy. I have all of my life support modules shielded or reinforced.

 

[Mister Macqueen]

No life support is a separate module that can be sub-targeted and destroyed. Once your life support is at 0% integrity you run on emergency life-support, the amount of which is dictated by the class (A,B,C,D,E) of life support you have equipped. Canopy breaches also cause you to use emergency life support, however there is no current way to increase the integrity of the canopy.

I could be wrong about this, but I don't think that MRPs even protect the canopy. If they do they don't do a lot cause I run 2.

 

[Amanojaku]

I just looked it up and it appears the only thing that affects canopy strength is MRPs.

S***. All those engineering mats wasted....... LAME

 

[murder_duck_5000]

Lol, yes, I thought life-support could help my Canopy survive longer too. I was later disappointed.

Now look, from a lore perspective if your canopy gets blown out, the last thing you'll be worried about is where your reticle is, I think. At that point, you've got bigger problems lmao. What doesn't make sense is how you can still breathe after your canopy shatters, and how the magical force field that protects you from lasers and projectiles can't keep the air in. lol, wut? Its kind of like how our escape pods are indestructible, fullproof, and always take us back to the nearest station in less than 10 seconds even if we're millions of lightyears outside the bubble. Here they've compromised lore and realism for gameplay, and that's a GOOD thing.

From a gameplay perspective, it makes a lot of sense. It makes the whole experience a lot more nerve wracking and atmospheric (pun-intended). If your canopy goes, but your crosshair stays there, that's just going to look weird! And looks do matter, its a game.

As far as the mechanic for exploding canopies in general, its pretty good. It just teaches you to be more aware and adds more complexity and depth to the combat experience. Usually exploding canopies aren't a problem if you pay attention, don't face tank without shields (don't face tank in general, tbh) and so long as you keep at least two MRPs in your ship. Also note, some ships' canopies are more prone to breakage than others. Its just another thing to think about when you buy a ship. Canopy is never going to be a problem on something like a Viper MkIV. On the other hand, an AspX or Keelback...

I once was stupid and rammed somebody in my Keelback after my shields had dropped, and my Canopy shattered lol. At that point I had to run. Serves me right! I learned.

 

[CAPT. Ho Chi Minge]

Once the canopy blows your helmet (remlok) auto closes , this is the heavy breathing and lack of death as the vaccum of space invades your cockpit.

Although this still doesnt explain why anything fired at the broken canopy doesnt hit your commander.

 

[Captain Willard]

I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Mister Macqueen]

I wouldn't change a thing.

You probably don't use fixed weapons

 

[Mister Macqueen]

It just teaches you to be more aware and adds more complexity and depth to the combat experience. Usually exploding canopies aren't a problem if you pay attention, don't face tank without shields (don't face tank in general, tbh) and so long as you keep at least two MRPs in your ship.

No wrong. Paying attention has nothing to do with your canopy popping. I mean if you run fixed weapons you have to FACE the enemy to hit them. When your shields go down do you just run away? Cause if not then you'll be tanking some damage without shields and with the current meta being high alpha weapons like PAs and rails, all it takes is one lucky shot to render you unable to effectively fire back.

I have no issue with the canopy popping and emergency O2 mechanic. When your canopy pops you have X amount of time to either finish the fight or escape. But if youre running fixed weapons (which most people do in PvP) then finishing the fight is kinda out of the question. All i want is to be able to continue fighting effectively after my canopy has been shot out, and all that requires is my weapon reticle display not be dependent on the canopy glass.

 

[murder_duck_5000]

No wrong. Paying attention has nothing to do with your canopy popping.

Just because you are facing the opponent does not mean that the opponent is facing you. In fact, the whole point of maneuvering is that you should be facing the enemy and the enemy should not be facing you. Face-tanking is a BAD strategy, especially in PvP. I've never had my canopy get blown out by railguns, and PAs are easy to dodge or at least make sure they hit some other part of your ship.

If you really want to stay in a fight after your canopy explodes, you can still fight effectively. It just becomes harder. And I'm OK with that because if you let your cockpit pop on you, you deserve it. Just sayin'

 

[Lestat]

No wrong. Paying attention has nothing to do with your canopy popping.

Don't fool your self. Paying attention has everything to do with your canopy popping. If you are not paying attention your canopy will pop. FACT.

I mean if you run fixed weapons you have to FACE the enemy to hit them. When your shields go down do you just run away? Cause if not then you'll be tanking some damage without shields and with the current meta being high alpha weapons like PAs and rails, all it takes is one lucky shot to render you unable to effectively fire back.

Ya are you standing still and letting them hit your canopy? We have thrust up-down left-right. Which helps avoid a target are you using them. If you use Assist Off?. Make it harder to target. You can avoid being fired at if you learn how to avoid as well as target your foe.

I have no issue with the canopy popping and emergency O2 mechanic. When your canopy pops you have X amount of time to either finish the fight or escape. But if youre running fixed weapons (which most people do in PvP) then finishing the fight is kinda out of the question. All i want is to be able to continue fighting effectively after my canopy has been shot out, and all that requires is my weapon reticle display not be dependent on the canopy glass.

You can always resupply air by synthesis until you get to the base if you have the common sense to collect mats before going into battle.

 

[Mister Macqueen]

Don't fool your self. Paying attention has everything to do with your canopy popping. If you are not paying attention your canopy will pop. FACT.

No it doesn't. What exactly do you pay attention to to avoid your canopy breaching? Are you referring to your orientation vs your opponents? Because again if you use fixed weapons and you are fighting an actual person you will more than likely end up jousting/facing them at some point. That is a fact. If you use fixed weapons and never face your opponent, you will not hit them. That is another fact. Because fixed weapons fire along your line of sight. I don't understand why that is so difficult to grasp.

You can be as evasive as possible but if you are fighting good pilots then they will still hit you. There are these things called rail guns. They are hit scan. You can't evade them. If your opponent lines up a shot and fires you are getting hit, that is how hit scan works. If they have super pen rails you could show them your a** and still get your canopy shot out.

Regardless, all this d*** measuring about 'just be evasive like me and learn to aim without a lead reticle' is irrelevant to the original point i was making. Having your canopy rupture should not have any effect on your ability to aim your weapons. Having your canopy rupture should increase the tension of a fight by giving you a time limit to either finish the fight, run away, or die. I mean if you use gimbals or turrets then a ruptured canopy has no effect on your ability to hit your target. Why do fixed weapons have to be effected by this random mechanic? Again why can't the lead reticle be displayed on your helmet's visor if/when the canopy is breached? What negative effect would that have on gameplay?

 

[CMDR Big Mike]

No it doesn't. What exactly do you pay attention to to avoid your canopy breaching? Are you referring to your orientation vs your opponents? Because again if you use fixed weapons and you are fighting an actual person you will more than likely end up jousting/facing them at some point. That is a fact. If you use fixed weapons and never face your opponent, you will not hit them. That is another fact. Because fixed weapons fire along your line of sight. I don't understand why that is so difficult to grasp.

You can be as evasive as possible but if you are fighting good pilots then they will still hit you. There are these things called rail guns. They are hit scan. You can't evade them. If your opponent lines up a shot and fires you are getting hit, that is how hit scan works. If they have super pen rails you could show them your a** and still get your canopy shot out.

Regardless, all this d*** measuring about 'just be evasive like me and learn to aim without a lead reticle' is irrelevant to the original point i was making. Having your canopy rupture should not have any effect on your ability to aim your weapons. Having your canopy rupture should increase the tension of a fight by giving you a time limit to either finish the fight, run away, or die. I mean if you use gimbals or turrets then a ruptured canopy has no effect on your ability to hit your target. Why do fixed weapons have to be effected by this random mechanic? Again why can't the lead reticle be displayed on your helmet's visor if/when the canopy is breached? What negative effect would that have on gameplay?

So you’re off base about it being stupid to have the reticle on the canopy. Militaries have strived to develop liquid crystal displays for a while.

But it would be nice to have limited information on the emergency remlok visor

 

[Mister Macqueen]

So you’re off base about it being stupid to have the reticle on the canopy. Militaries have strived to develop liquid crystal displays for a while.

Fair point. Let me re-phrase a little bit.

I don't think it's necessarily stupid that the lead/weapon reticle is displayed on the canopy glass. I think it is stupid that there is no emergency back up display for such an important HUD element, in the case that your canopy (a very weak point in the hull) gets ruptured. Especially when there is technology in-universe that could solve the issue.

 

[Captain Willard]

I think it's great there is no backup to the canopy being blown out. Makes it exciting getting to a base.
I apologize that imperial rails aren't fixed weapons.

 

[Lestat]

No it doesn't. What exactly do you pay attention to to avoid your canopy breaching? Are you referring to your orientation vs your opponents? Because again if you use fixed weapons and you are fighting an actual person you will more than likely end up jousting/facing them at some point. That is a fact. If you use fixed weapons and never face your opponent, you will not hit them. That is another fact. Because fixed weapons fire along your line of sight. I don't understand why that is so difficult to grasp.

What difficult to grasp is why are you facing your target head-on? Why not flank them using all types of directions. For my self, I use 3 directions at a time. Also, use Assist off and boost. Which makes it hard for them to target me. Now if I had a bad Engineer build or a slower ship. I would run. It all common sense if you think about it.

You can be as evasive as possible but if you are fighting good pilots then they will still hit you. There are these things called rail guns. They are hit scan. You can't evade them. If your opponent lines up a shot and fires you are getting hit, that is how hit scan works. If they have super pen rails you could show them your a** and still get your canopy shot out.

Funny thing is you are ignoring their ship Build, Ship size matters also and type of ships they use If they had a better build than you who fault is that?

Regardless, all this d*** measuring about 'just be evasive like me and learn to aim without a lead reticle' is irrelevant to the original point i was making. Having your canopy rupture should not have any effect on your ability to aim your weapons. Having your canopy rupture should increase the tension of a fight by giving you a time limit to either finish the fight, run away, or die. I mean if you use gimbals or turrets then a ruptured canopy has no effect on your ability to hit your target. Why do fixed weapons have to be effected by this random mechanic? Again why can't the lead reticle be displayed on your helmet's visor if/when the canopy is breached? What negative effect would that have on gameplay?

Let do this. Please post your Ship build. What engineered what has not been engineered and so on. Let see the real issues.

 

[Mister Macqueen]

What difficult to grasp is why are you facing your target head-on?

. Do you used fixed weapons? Do you PvP?
Because if you did you would immediately realize that ToT is probably the most important aspect of this game. It's a space simulator not a flight simulator. If it was DCS or some other flight simulator then, yes your goal would be to get on your oppnents 'six' so that you can shoot them but they can't shoot you. However, flight assist off exists. This means that a vast majority of the time you will be facing your opponent (assuming you are PvPing and using fixed weapons). The reason for this is that FAoff makes it very easy to consistently face your opponent, which is exactly what you want to do so that you can:

A) get hits with fixed weapons
B) see your target and the vector of their movement
C) avoid rams and evade their incoming fire

This means that any competent PvP cmdr will be trying to face their opponent as often as possible. From your response it's pretty obvious that you do not use fixed weapons and/or do not fight other cmdrs.

Funny thing is you are ignoring their ship Build, Ship size matters also and type of ships they use If they had a better build than you who fault is that?

I am not ignoring ship build. I fly an FAS. It is a medium ship. I run PAs. I typically fight other medium ships, because it is more fun than fighting slow shield-tanky big ships. Most other medium combat ships are very maneuverable and evasive, and i like to fight other players who PvP regularly. This again means that they are evasive and know how to aim fixed weapons, which means for a lot of the fight we are facing each other. Again you have to be facing your target to hit them with fixed weapons.

At this point i really would like to duel you because you seem adamant on explaining to me that my canopy gets ruptured because I don't know what I'm doing. This is completely incorrect and irrelevant. I made this post to bring attention to a mechanic that I find to be unnecessary.

Tell me how having a back up weapon/lead reticle display negatively effects your gameplay, because I cannot see reason why it has not been implemented.

 

[Mister Macqueen]

I think it's great there is no backup to the canopy being blown out. Makes it exciting getting to a base.

How does your weapon reticle have any effect on the excitement you experience while flying your ship back to a station to get repaired? You've lost me.

 

[Lestat]

. Do you used fixed weapons? Do you PvP?
Because if you did you would immediately realize that ToT is probably the most important aspect of this game. It's a space simulator not a flight simulator. If it was DCS or some other flight simulator then, yes your goal would be to get on your oppnents 'six' so that you can shoot them but they can't shoot you. However, flight assist off exists. This means that a vast majority of the time you will be facing your opponent (assuming you are PvPing and using fixed weapons). The reason for this is that FAoff makes it very easy to consistently face your opponent, which is exactly what you want to do so that you can:

A) get hits with fixed weapons
B) see your target and the vector of their movement
C) avoid rams and evade their incoming fire

This means that any competent PvP cmdr will be trying to face their opponent as often as possible. From your response it's pretty obvious that you do not use fixed weapons and/or do not fight other cmdrs.



I am not ignoring ship build. I fly an FAS. It is a medium ship. I run PAs. I typically fight other medium ships, because it is more fun than fighting slow shield-tanky big ships. Most other medium combat ships are very maneuverable and evasive, and i like to fight other players who PvP regularly. This again means that they are evasive and know how to aim fixed weapons, which means for a lot of the fight we are facing each other. Again you have to be facing your target to hit them with fixed weapons.

At this point i really would like to duel you because you seem adamant on explaining to me that my canopy gets ruptured because I don't know what I'm doing. This is completely incorrect and irrelevant. I made this post to bring attention to a mechanic that I find to be unnecessary.

Tell me how having a back up weapon/lead reticle display negatively effects your gameplay, because I cannot see reason why it has not been implemented.

I think you need to talk to other PvPers and how they avoid Canopy damage and maybe you are missing something. I would love to hear their take on this. I think I hit the nail on the head when I talk about flying in multiple directions at once. Don't you think if the Canopy was a real issue we would see more PvPers posting here and complaining?

Right Now I am exploring.