Cockpit

The  is the section of a mech in which the pilot controls the mech from. In Hawken, the cockpit contains the interface that players use to interact with the game.

HUD
A reticule is located in the center of the screen showing enemies, heat, and reload time. The two large sections of a circle flanking the central reticule are heat indicators. They fill up with weapon usage indicating how much heat has been generated, eventually showing a large warning symbol (!) on the left and right of the screen when they are almost full and overheat is imminent. (see gallery picture 1 at the bottom of the page)

The central reticule is used to help pilots aim with their weapons. The outer element (by default, the four lines in a cross pattern seen in the picture below) represents the primary (left-click) weapon, and the inner element (by default, the box shape) represents the secondary (right-click) weapon. Their position indicates if the weapon can be fired. If the reticule elements are moving away from the dot at the centre of the screen, the weapon can currently not be fired (either because your mech is boosting forwards, or because the weapon is reloading). (see gallery pictures 2 and 3 at the bottom of the page)

Reload information is further given by a secondary bar that appears inside the heat bar when a weapon is fired (next to the left heat bar for primary weapons, next to the right heat bar for secondary weapons). It is represented as a series of lines as long as the heat bar that drains as the weapon reloads. When this bar is gone the weapon is good to fire again. Furthermore, if a shot is a hit on an enemy target, elongated triangular shapes will very briefly appear at the corners of the reticule, in the pilot's selected "neutral" colour. (see gallery pictures 4 and 5 at the bottom of the page)

Information about mission-critical objects and locations are shown at the top. Teammates and enemies have text floating over them that displays their health (shown as a bar), their name, how much EU they are carrying, their kill indicators, and their mech's special ability's icon. The player's own health and fuel are towards the mid-bottom of the screen, represented as bars. Displays on the actual mech show the status of the mech's special ability and equipped items. The radar is in the bottom-left, and the EU tanks' status is in the bottom-right.

The mech's weapons are viewable from the cockpit, appearing on both sides of the screen. During an overheat or EMP blast, the weapon arms fall downwards and raise back up when the mech has recovered. As the weapons gather heat, they take on a red hue before shining brightly from the heat. This can serve as an additional indicator of the amount of heat gathered.



Gameplay
As mentioned above, the cockpit's HUD displays important game objective related elements in the top centre of the screen. In Deathmatch, it indicates the time left, the player's score, and number of kills. In Team Deathmatch it displays the time left in the game, the allied team's total kills, and the enemy team's total kills. In Siege mode it displays the allied base's health, the enemy base's health, and if ships were launched their position (in a straight line between the two bases) and their life bar. In Missile Assault mode, it shows the allied base's health, the enemy base's health, and the status of the 3 silos on the map, represented by the circles S1, S2, and S3. The periphery of these circles changes colour as enemies capture them or as the player's team capture them from the enemy, enabling to check at a glance which ones are under whose control.

Customizations
There are three categories of customizations available from the cockpit menu: The physical space of the cockpit can be customised with cockpit accessories, items that are displayed around the cockpit and can sometimes react to the mech's condition. The colours used by the HUD (heads up display) to show what is happening can be customised with HUD Colors. The shape of the aiming reticles can be changed via another menu.