Ganelon wrote:I find it a bit odd that a combat viewpoint is done far enough away from the weapon's "muzzle" to introduce an inaccuracy in the targeting reticle in the first place.
I think the simple reason is that most ship designers still tend to lean towards the window-paradigm. Therefore the visible 'window' is where they stick their viewpoint to. And for most ships it's easy to assume that the laser comes from its very tip. (Talking about front lasers here; for the other sides it's usually not that obvious what the view position and laser position is; therefore in the end one simply has to make a decision.)
Obviously it depends on the ship type how many meters the 'window' is above the tip.
Some ships may feature a 'gun camera' with a much closer viewpoint as an external view. The same is possible for an upward- or downward-pointing camera. I suppose the four 'classic' view positions are there because they represent the directions into which you can fire.
For me personally it was always natural that my laser originates from the bottom of my screen, not from its centre. Perhaps it's just because I got used to it (and the resulting parallax) since 1985 when I first played Elite. It really doesn't bother me. It's the way I like to look at my laser. The flickering cross effect if the view- and laser-position are the same
does bother me. I don't like it aesthetically and therefore wouldn't want it on my ship. For me it doesn't add accuracy (therefore no advantage), but on the other hand it kind of annoys me (disadvantage). Not wanting something which has a downside without having an upside is a no-brainer.
But that's my personal opinion. If you guys don't mind the optical effect, please go for it for your next ship-building project. Coming up with some technobabble about how and why it works should be the least of your worries.