So in three dimensional space there are three Axis of movement

Left and right

forward and Backward

and UP AND DOWN

It amazes me that cryptic studios; who up until this point specialized in super hero MMO's where everyone and their dog flies would screw up the UP and DOWN axis.

There is no Y axis increase or decrease (altitude is a bad word when talking about space) of more than 45 degrees. Meaning to gain height you have to do this wide corkscrew. which is fine for some ship but nerfs the escort all to pieces.

not to mention that but have you seen the Y axis capabilities of cannons? 45 degree angle left to right is accurate but it's only about a 5 degree capability up and down. have your nose pitched even so slightly and your cannons act like they're out of range..


Since these guys obviously can code gravity and gravity bypass effects (flying in their other MMO's) this should have been a no brainer.. yet it isn't right.

I think we should be able to pitch our nose any angle, as well as be able to increase and decrease our Y axis at will.

Like Spock said to Kirk in Wrath of Khaan "His actions so far hint of two dimensional thinking"

So does this game!

You can check any of the other threads on this very subject, but the summary is this: Cryptic's view was that having ships flying at all sorts of crazy angles to each other was not Trek-like.

I don't mind.. but they gotta fix the cannon problem.

not trying to be a jerk but i've watched my fair share of trek and i swear to god there have been episodes where the ship did a complete roller coaster loop through a dusty field to get behind the enemy ship with a surprise attack to hit the klingons in the rear. i swear there have been other episodes where the ships have done loops. i was extremely disappointed when my ship could not do a full loop on the... z axis, if thats what you want to call it.

space is space, it shouldn't matter if it's "star trek like"

Yeah they blew it with the lack of true 3d space. Very lame.

But I doubt many people care. Their version of space - "2 1/2 d" is playable and done fairly well. It is other parts of the game (lack of content, lack of variety, too much instancing, etc) that are the main issues folks have with he game.

This is one of the few things that does bug me about the game.

On a nerd level I wish we had that free range of motion, rather than the limits we have now which forces us to use a, to paraphrase a certain half-Vulcan, "pattern that indicates two dimensional thinking."

Plenty of fight scenes both in DS9 and Voyager that show ships attacking from multiple vectors (yes, including multi-vector assault :p) doing flips and rolls and loop-de-loops. I want to do that.

BUT

from a design standpoint I can understand the decision to put the limitation in there, they're trying to appeal to the widest possible audience, and being able to fly in all kinds of weird directions without any set frame of reference at all is going to leave a lot of people confused, disoriented, and waiting their 15s to respawn. As one of my friends put it "Not everyone earned their wings the hard way, with a Barf Bag and Descent on a 486."

Part of me wants them to make the pitch limitation optional, but it's something that would have to be tested, would people who didn't disable it be at a hopeless disadvantage to those who did? Or would it not affect balance much?

"Z minus 10,000 meters" Wrath of Khan

*Shrugs and walks off*

please your making me start to cry ....

I wouldn't expect a Galaxy Class to do a barrel roll or loop nor would I expect the same out of an Intrepid Class.

Why? I am just playing devil's advocate here, but as stated it is space, so as far as what is right side up or upside down is irrelevant. Any ship can realistically perform any maneuver. I do understand though why it is the way it is. I mean, think about it. How many times did you see an enemy ship in the view screen that was "upside down" from the crew's point of view, even when in combat?