General Here is how they can expand the cockpit gameplay

[Jibroni Gibironi]

For those clamoring for ship interior gameplay, I agree that they should to an extent. I just don't see much of a reason for it to expand beyond the cockpit. Realistically, if a pilot leaves the cockpit, its either to strap down cargo, or perform maintenance on something, and there would usually be an actual airframe technician on deck for that anyway. A realistic, or plausible way they can at least start adding ship interior gameplay is by adding gameplay that is akin to what is called a Flight Engineer in real life. In some aircraft, like the Boeing 727 or a C-5 Super Galaxy, you have three crew members, the captain, first officer, and flight engineer. This is the role of the flight engineer in a nutshell:

"The flight engineer ("air engineer" in the Royal Air Force) is primarily concerned with the operation and monitoring of all aircraft systems,[3] and is required to diagnose, and where possible rectify or eliminate, any faults that may arise."

With this, we can see that there is a LOT more to operating an airplane than just flying it. I should know with my experience as a flight dispatcher. Using this as inspiration to expand the ship gameplay would make flying itself a lot more interesting and an actual challenge like it actually would. So, you'll have the pilot flying the ship, while another player is watching the flight systems to make sure everything is on point. And if there is something to actually fix, either he or another crew member, namely the one operating some of the weapons, can physically leave the cockpit to examine and fix whatever is damaged. Or, imagine the player actually has to monitor the Fame Ship Drive systems during hyper space or super cruise flight to make sure it doesn't go overboard. This would make for some awesome gameplay never really seen before in any game. Here are some images of a Flight Engineer panel in real life aircraft, to give you some perspective of just how much actually goes into flying. Its definitely not as straight forward as the average joe assumes it is, and I want to see some of this in Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen as well going forward.

C-5 Super Galaxy:

Boeing 727:

 

[Chrystoph]

1,300 years of progress should have a bit more automation than this.

I first thought you were going to suggest Virtual Damage Control Petty Officer, but this, this is even more archaic than the FSS and my opinion of the "by hand telescope" is negative in the extreme.

If anyone from Frontier reads this thread and thinks this is a good idea, MAKE IT OPTIONAL.

 

[Jibroni Gibironi]

1,300 years of progress should have a bit more automation than this.

I first thought you were going to suggest Virtual Damage Control Petty Officer, but this, this is even more archaic than the FSS and my opinion of the "by hand telescope" is negative in the extreme.

If anyone from Frontier reads this thread and thinks this is a good idea, MAKE IT OPTIONAL.

I don't know that much about piloting, but the role of the flight engineer is more or less more automated now than it was when the B727 was first commissioned. However, I was talking to a pilot once, and he was giving his spiel about how he wishes he had a flight engineer, because it'd take a ton of the work load off him. So despite the automation, its still apparently a lot to handle even in modern aircraft. Automation will only take you so far. In modern aircraft, the pilot is also the flight engineer.

 

[Chrystoph]

I don't know that much about piloting, but the role of the flight engineer is more or less more automated now than it was when the B727 was first commissioned. However, I was talking to a pilot once, and he was giving his spiel about how he wishes he had a flight engineer, because it'd take a ton of the work load off him. So despite the automation, its still apparently a lot to handle even in modern aircraft. Automation will only take you so far. In modern aircraft, the pilot is also the flight engineer.

...and we have things like the AFMU which is an automated damage control system, which implies that routine mainenance functions are also automated.

Certainly, you can infer that some element of a long term pilot's time, such as an Explorer out in the Black, is going to be spent looking at a Maintenance Requirements Card (MRC), but, much like a sex scene in PG-13 novel, that function happens off screen because, while it is important to the character, it is not for the player/gameplay.