I've been known to zoom in on enemy fleets in FTL in an attempt to figure out what I'm looking at... generally doesn't tell me much, thanks to the graphics of the jump. Its wierd, whereas my ships loose their jump animation (the corona thingey) half the time (its SOP for half the fleet not to have it when in a joined jump) the enemy never seems to have that problem.

I'll happily accept the sacrifice of aesthetics to keep my zoom-to-cursor.

It's an option to mod it, so people who want the feature can turn it on. Sounds good to me.

Actually you can get up to a 7950 512MB AGP card apparently, but it's rather expensive. I just bought a 7800 256MB AGP card for my home PC that should tide me over until I can buy a new system.

7800gt was a great card, I had mine for just under 2 years, I now have a 8800gts... Talk about performance gain!

Sots 3d starmap was in turned based . Which meant you had more time to negotiate and orientate yourself to the confusing 3d map.

But soase is like homeworld 2 -> real time.

In Homeworld 2 , the best and most popular official maps were the flat ones like Sarum Dust clouds and Crimson Bond.

The most 3d type map is imposed cosmos. This map was pathetic , tedious and annoying and people rarely played it. Most of the time, id be tied up trying get the camera to a good angle to see everything and it was frustrating at best.

Talking about new computers is forbidden! Well, it's not desired. Ok ok, PLEASE don't talk about things I can't afford!  

That's because we are without a Nexus camera Psy!

...even though it is in the main menu. Huh...

Sins is nothing like the Homeworld series.... Ok, maybe a little bit, but still There were some great 3d maps i played in HW, but like was said the most popular maps were played in 2d. While most players played HW in 2d, the 3d option was there to exploit if you wanted to. I think thats what this is all about. The option to use it.

I can see how the 3d maps would get confusing especially if you added in the phase lanes. I played SoTS. I didn't like the game overall, but it had its moments. The 3d map was the most annoying part of it IMO (next to the childish cartoony feel of the game). True being turn based you had time to look over the map. The problem was the map was a disorganized mess of lines. That is just my opinion of SoTS. Im sure anime fans will enjoy SoTS

I can live with the Sins maps the way they are now IF the option of utilizing 3d is there. Be it incorporated in game, or through modding. If 3D maps can be modded in, the best way to avoid the SoTS confusion i guess is to make the maps fully connected (like what also was originally planned for sins), and get rid of the lines altogether. This is all a moot point right now because we cant do that until the game is released. I am just glad to know the option is there.

i understand that alot of you want 2D maps and i may preffer it in 2D once ive played 3D... however for the games sake and propper implementation of the 3D id really like to see the Devs make it an official opption in the game. Plus i think it would really be a selling point for alot of people if they saw "Opptional 3D spacial maps" on the back of the box. atleast i know it would be a selling point for me!

could you have two viewing settings so you could click a button somewhere and switch between a 2D/3D view? you could probably incorporate a strategic/tactical element into each view...

yeah we can hope...

But then the tactical level of 3D connections falls short. Being in 3d gives you more tactics, where you come directly above the planet? Or a little below sometimes?

It's much more than just aethetics guys.

I have a question. I cant play the Beta all this week so I'll have to post.

It is possible to have 3D movement right?

I mean having a 2D starmap is fine with me as long as you can manually move the ships up and down the map.

LizardPariah, yes you can access movement on the Z-axis. You have to use the manual (left click as opposed to right click)move option and use the ¬ key, which is located just below the escape key, above the tab key and to the left of the 1 key, to access the z-axis.

its not the key he said though, its the tilde(~) key, same place he described though.

~ on an english keyboard.

Can you build or attack on a 3D axis? That would create a lot more strategy to the game. If you could build at the very top or bottom of a planet's gravity well, you could place precious structures where they can only be attacked in a certain direction. I understand that 3D was mostly aesthetic, but in a PLANET conquering game, I think 3D could be used much more usefully than in Homeworld, where no matter what you do, you'll end up on the same plane as the mothership.

Imagine this: You send a large fleet at the bottom of a planet, causing the enemy to send his forces down to the bottom. Meanwhile, a small fleet, say of siege frigits and a flagship or two comes from the top, quickly destroying the planet. You then quickly run that group away, as well as the main fleet, leaving them needing to rebuild everything on that planet. (I mean infrastructure, etc.) It could make for more tactical battles, and give advantages to people who are really good at coordinating and microing several groups of units at once. Because your fighting on a planet rather than a smallish ship, it would be much easier.

I also would like to be able to specify where I jump my ships, it could make for some interesting decisions

Inside a gravity well you can move, and attack in 3d using the tilde key. this will come in handy for MP, but the AI doesnt use 3d movement. I suggested a while back that the structure placement disk be converted to a sphere so we can place structures in 3d as well, but i think that idea was shot down in flames a long time ago.

Any idea why? It would make for much more tactical battles.

EDIT

I know, I should dig around the forums, but I'm a tad bit lazy right now