CQC Headlook and target ahead seems fiddly?

[NeilF]

I have to say that while using headlook (ED Tracker), trying to lock on a new target (ahead) seems unnecessarily fiddly/unfriendly at times?

I often find myself battling for numerous seconds trying to adjust my alignment, pressing "target ahead" over and over, just to lock on a ship basically sitting infront of me.

I don't know what the answer is - maybe to relax the position a ship has to be directly infront of you in order to target it? - but it does seem a little too fiddly at the moment (while using head look).

I wonder how TrackIR and OR folks get on?

ps: I know some people run a dedicated target app to introduce a reticule onto the screen just for this purpose, but I find that very distracting personally. But given the current "behaviour" I suspect I'll be resorting to using it.

 

[Arsen Cross]

maybe to relax the position a ship has to be directly infront of you in order to target it?

I use a TrackIR and I believe the quoted statement hits the nail on the head. It's aggrivated to say the least but they have disabled a lot of features and tightened a lot of restrictions in CQC to ensure that everyone can compete as close to the same level as possible. It's very frustrating though.

 

[NeilF]

I use a TrackIR and I believe the quoted statement hits the nail on the head. It's aggrivated to say the least but they have disabled a lot of features and tightened a lot of restrictions in CQC to ensure that everyone can compete as close to the same level as possible. It's very frustrating though.

So you find it tricky to target ships ahead of you at times too?

 

[Arsen Cross]

So you find it tricky to target ships ahead of you at times too?

Yes I do, and also often find myself spamming my target ahead button until I get a lock. I've always attributed it to a stupidly low cone of what we're allowed to target in front of us.

 

[NeilF]

Yes I do, and also often find myself spamming my target ahead button until I get a lock. I've always attributed it to a stupidly low cone of what we're allowed to target in front of us.

I wonder if a HUD improvement might be useful?

ie: If you press target ahead, a quick HUD effect shows you where the "cone" is? So if you miss (the target is outside the cone), chances are you'll then instantly know where to re-align to for the next attempt?

 

[Arsen Cross]

While cool it could get annoying. I've found that the gimballing radius of the "fixed" pulse lasers is roughly about the same size as the cone.

 

[NeilF]

While cool it could get annoying. I've found that the gimballing radius of the "fixed" pulse lasers is roughly about the same size as the cone.

Why would it get annoying? You press "Target Ahead" and a quick (animated) HUD effect shows you the "cone of capture". You could then quickly see how badly your desired target is from "center"... This effect would also give you a visual confirmation that you've successfully pressed target ahead too!

 

[Arsen Cross]

Why would it get annoying? You press "Target Ahead" and a quick (animated) HUD effect shows you the "cone of capture". You could then quickly see how badly your desired target is from "center"... This effect would also give you a visual confirmation that you've successfully pressed target ahead too!

It'd annoy me after awhile. I'd only need to see the actual cone a couple of times and it'd be committed to memory forever and the animated HUD effect would at that point just be a superfluous consumption of screen space. If able to be toggled, win.

I think the better thing would be to make the brackets that show you can target a ship more prominent. As they stand now it's excessively hard to see them at times, more so if you have your chaff activated and are flying backwards. Targeting becomes even more of a nightmare.

 

[NeilF]

I think the better thing would be to make the brackets that show you can target a ship more prominent. As they stand now it's excessively hard to see them at times, more so if you have your chaff activated and are flying backwards. Targeting becomes even more of a nightmare.

Fair enough... I feel anything would help!

 

[wstephenson]

Like I said in the discussion of this topic that you were party to during beta - it's harder than for fixed look-ahead, because you have no point of reference in the centre of the screen to use to pickle targets with 'Target Ahead'.

Also the amount of head movement necessary to perform this task varies from player to player with screen size, screen distance, and head tracking response curves. I would also like the option to show the 'ahead zone' on the HUD.

For anyone who missed the earlier thread: use a bit of tape or the handy crosshair generator program we talked about in the earlier thread to give yourself something to put onto a target, and you will find targetting with headlook much easier.

In case you've lost it, here's the link to the old thread and the crosshair generator: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=183789.