Systems: Simple Vehicle Lighting Request

[headphase]

Hi all, I'm new to these forums so I'm not sure if this has been covered yet (had a quick search but couldn't find anything).

The purpose of this thread is to request vehicle lighting systems that can be fully controlled by the driver/pilot at any time of day.

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[Most of this post is common sense but I wanted to fully explain the point to justify this request]

Forgelight looks like it's more than capable of providing some amazing environmental effects, and the one I'm excited for the most is the realtime day/night cycle because of the obvious deep tactical ramifications that night brings. As I understand it, darkness in PS2 is real darkness. One of the devs even mentioned the need for building-mounted lighting fixtures (like spotlights) in order to see properly on moonless evenings...

To get to the point: to a vehicle operator, the most important night-fighting consideration is vision. This can be achieved by night-vision equipment (do we have any details on this yet?) or artificial light sources (headlights, strobe beacons, marker/navigation lights, etc.)

Player management of these two systems is critical because each has large advantages and disadvantages... artificial light sources are very effective at illuminating the area around the vehicle (and the vehicle itself, to aid friendly units like wingmen or other units in a convoy) but they betray the exact location of the vehicle to enemy forces. Night vision can be used to give the driver vision while preserving stealth, but it may not be as effective as a light source at short range, and it doesn't do anything to help friendly units see the vehicle.

Ideally, each vehicle would have two lighting systems (L#), with a single hotkey to switch between modes:

- Ground vehicles are equipped with white Headlights (L1) and red+amber Tail/Marker lights (L2).
- Aircraft are equipped with white Landing/Spot lights (L1) and colored navigation lights (L2) [strobe lights optional..?]

For simplicity, external lighting in every vehicle should be controlled by a single hotkey which cycles through four states...

mode 0 (all OFF)
mode 1 (L2 ON)
mode 2 (L1 ON)
mode 3 (L1+L2 ON)

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ADVANTAGES OF THIS IDEA:

• Added realism and player immersion, by simply allowing control of a system which I assume is already in place on the vehicle models.
• Increased gameplay flexibility (if we can turn off our vehicles' lights, we can mount stealthy night attacks/ambushes)
• Inclusion of navigation lights on aircraft allows friendly players to see each other more easily for formation flying, ground-to-air support, etc.

DISADVANTAGES OF THIS IDEA:

• ???