Very interesting concept!!!

[MarkShot]

I never considered that dogfighting could be made into WEGO. I used to dog fight prop AC all the time (some jets; guns); tutor and write guides. It looks like your time slice might have been 5 seconds.

I can see some advantages with this approach:

* A good way to teach ACM, since there is plenty time to analyze what is happening and what to do.

* The ability to fly multiple planes. Yes, in some games you could switch cockpits, with the game's AI taking over the controls. But generally, you only did that when your plane was toast.

* If either lack of controls or disability makes it impossible to play flight sims. This is why I stopped 25 years ago; disability.

Comments:

* At first, I found it very disorienting, being external as I always flew from the cockpit using padlock. But I can see how external provides better perspective; especially in a game without hud, sound, and force feedback indicators. But it can still be disorienting, since your control inputs are not relative to you but an external object. The previewing the plane's path did seem to solve that. But it reminds me a little of cheating like shooting pool and seeing where the que ball will hit and the angles all impacted balls will take.

* I was in a vertical scissors heading down for my first and only fight, but failed to pull out before the water. It was nice your AI did a barrel roll to jam me up, followed by a scissors to exploit a potential overshoot.

* I did find myself wishing for a rudder. I was nose up and slow. It was going to take too much time to roll and pull back on the stick. Some hard rudder would have got my nose down, and gravity would have assisted in the recovery.

A very interesting concept. I never thought I could fly again, but maybe. These days the only war machine simulations I control in realtime are subs. There is nothing more slow and methodical than submarine combat (Uboats).

Good luck with your game!