The main reason it's got nose cam is that every other vehicle has nose cam.

Personally, I'd love an FH approach, with no nose cam at all, but I don't think it'll happen.

*slap*
Leave it on if like it so much.

I played the xwing series of games and saw the progression from trying to represent all the fighter instruments in a cockpit format to representing them in a abstract HUD. The same information was still there but was just easier to implement .

Some people used to turn off their cockpits for an edge in dogfighting but there was no real need- all the information they needed was already on-screen.

ATSTs and X-wings in FS are more abstract simulations of the craft than not, seeing as how the plethora of displays are missing.

However you still get ammo display, hull display and camera angles to fill in the info gaps that looking around the cockpit would provide. For example, while you cant turn your head and look to the rear of your fighter, there is a rear view camera angle.
The driver in an atst would not be limited to what he could see from a window the size of a small banknote, he would have information relayed to him via weapons cameras, CMD screens and even the co-pilot. Abstracting this wealth of info by simply removing the restricting cockpit view when needs be is appropriate.

''Its over. Angel won.''   RSF Gurd

Because First Strike isn't a realism mod, and it's player base is mostly arcade-loving run-and-gun people who don't want "realistic" features (with "realistic", of course I mean any feature that makes the game less of a run-and-gun experience and more of a teamwork/thinking experience, be the features actually realistic or not).

I, for one, as well as certain others in the dev and tester teams, want FS to be more realistic. We want locked heavy vehicles, no nose cams, restricted or removed external views, less stuff carried by infantry, pick-up kits, etc., etc., etc. Unfortunately (in my opinion), we're the minority .

Not a valid argument, in my opinion. The external view doesn't provide nearly as much info as the things you talk about. Nose cams and external views are simply not realistic. And as for devices like gun cams and such, they could be added and activated by the player using the X key or whatever.

Look, I see your point, but I don't buy it. Edit: Oh, and remember ROTJ? AT-ST' were boarded by a Wookiee and Ewoks they never saw coming. So much for situational awareness.