uhm - Mouseaim?

[Blinzler]

Well, wouldn't it be able to add a third alternative to the straight-shooter, the omni/auto-gun and then - the mouse-aim?

I think the name is pretty much self-explanatory, but anyways:
You use the regular *steering* keys to move around and use your mouse-pointer and buttons to do the shooting.

Now I'm sure some are going to say this will be to easy - but hey - omnigun will always be better, right?
And still, if you wanted to make it harder - make it so you can only shoot if you really have the pointer over your respective target.

You could differentiate the - for a better word - heavyness/effectiveness of weapon systems by the way you aim.
one-directional weapons - heavy weapon systems that pack a punch, but are harder to aim, pretty much used as ship and station *busters*.
omni-directional weapons - your light and middle weapon system, good for taking out fighters and average ships; ships that are fast but with relatively weak defenses.
mouse-aimed - weapons that are a little heavier and (more importantly) slower than the omni cousins. Why? Cos your smarter than any AI and know how to predict where your target is likely going to be - so you can fore-aim.
Comments?

[Karl]

I like mouseaim in games. UniBall makes excellent use of mouseaim, for instance. (Know any other good games with mouseaim?)

However, it's a different type of aiming system, so integrating it into the game would be awkward... or would it?

The best way to do it, I think, would be to make omnidirectional weapons optionally mouse-aimed. That would make omni-weapons a hell of a lot more fun and challenging to use, and people who didn't like it could just use computer-aiming like you do now. (It's like I've said before... options make the most people happy. Options kick ass!) This would also integrate smoothly into the current game setup.

[TedStudley]

for some people it's difficult to aim just by moving the ship, and often you can't get your ship at the right angle to hit the enemy. Mouse aim would fix that. You should be only able to mouse aim on some certain weapons, though, as some would be fixed in place.

[Sponge]

Although mouse-aim is a cool feature in some games, it doesn't seem like it would fit in Transcendence. I honestly don't know why, but it seems so different from any other style in the game that it would be out of place.

[TedStudley]

You never know until you try

[OddBob]

I think the reason you're thinking of is that transcendence is playable without using a mouse. Playing transcendence requires both hands, as well, one on movement and one on fire/dock/etc.