My friend said it "would be cool to use Fpv on your turrets and on the bridge" and we wanted to ask if anyone else would like to the idea
It might be a cool view, but terrible for the captain. Lose all of the big picture (no situational awareness).
He said it would also be cool if it was 2 people controlling one ship, one person controls the turrets using fpv and the other is the captain doing using sight
Tried back in the day with R/C paintball tanks. Did not work all that well. As Nick said, minimal situational awareness. While a dude was staring into his video display, I could easily flank and take him out. Maybe with today's much better FPV hardware and motion tracking goggles, it might be doable. But I'd suggest before trying to revolutionize the hobby, try building and battling old school to get a feel for the game.
With head tracking it might be an interesting way to play BigGun. But it'd be a disaster in fastgun. 2 people... If you have 2 interested and able captains its generally regarded as maximum fun for them to both be in the water in ships rather than share one.
I regularly fly FPV planes, and even occasionally drive FPV tanks. Not for combat, of course, because of the limitations. FPV cameras are great for immersion and enjoyment, but they do significantly limit your situational awareness. I have great fun flying formations with my brother that would be impossible without FPV, but even with a good pan/tilt gimble and a motion-tracking headset, it is very hard to maintain situational awareness. I also did some tests with the airsoft cannon on my FPV tank, and found aiming to actually be easier in 3rd person than in 1st person. This is due to the resolution and framerate limitations of the cameras - my own eyes are far better than a camera and headset can do, and if I lock the camera to the barrel to improve accuracy then my already-limited situational awareness gets even worse. I have also done a little experimentation with using drones for filming purposes. With up to 20-minute flight times, it is now entirely achievable to take off before a battle begins, film the entire thing, and land afterwards. The drone I tried last time, a Phantom 3, worked very well for the purpose but required an operator to drive it around to follow the action. Newer models of drones can be set to track and follow individual objects on the screen, so next time I attend a battle I hope to try this feature out.
It would be an entirely new sport. Multiple people per boat, as in one captain driving and looking around, one person per gun turret or cluster. The situational awareness would depend on the camera for the captain, but would be more realistic. 360 pan with head tracking. I have raced slotcars with it, it's harder but the adrenaline rush from the speeds at the scale height is crazy, a hard crash was just like a real one with respect to heart rate. It's not a bad idea, it's just not compatible with the current sport as it stands. You could build such a craft, and battle it normal with a club, and use it by fpv with other fpv boats. Just having the camera on and transmitting to a monitor and recording it would be worth it. It means needing more people in an already low volume sport.