Systems: Simple Vehicle Lighting Request

headphase · 2012-05-13, 04:22 AM

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:

???

Toppopia · 2012-05-13, 04:34 AM

This sounds awesome, hopefully it will be better than Battlefield 3 with using Forgelight, and having aircraft with powerful spotlights would be awesome to see when on foot, having to quickly get into cover before it shines on you and hiding beneath trees and such, would be awesome for ambushes, maybe engineers could deploy spotlights and set up a killing zone by turning on all lights in an area to light up the enemy and blind them for a short time and disorientate them so they can't fight back effectively. Flashlights should be blinding but maybe for the first 5 seconds of it being shined at you then it slowly loses effectiveness, unlike BF3 where you are constantly blinded and can't see a damn thing, even if they are 50 metres away.

headphase · 2012-05-13, 04:42 AM

I think spotlights would be a perfect example of a good sidegrade, especially for aircraft. I was actually thinking about making a separate thread for that as well

I don't know how feasible the blinding idea is, but spotlights would still serve as a great way to highlight enemy infantry/armor and of focusing your team's firepower on a specific target.

Toppopia · 2012-05-13, 04:55 AM

As long as lights either don't work during daytime or make them so they can't blind you at all, because i hated that about BF3, i mean i am not using a flashlight like this.

http://kuberdas.hubpages.com/hub/MostPowerfulFlashlight

But imagine the forest fires you could start with that thing, can burn something in a few seconds.

Purple · 2012-05-13, 01:05 PM

i think it would be cool if you should shoot lights out.

Xyntech · 2012-05-13, 07:41 PM

Forgelight already seems to have a good handle on lighting and blinding. The sun is very bright, but not absurd. Hopefully that translates well across the board, and vehicle lights will be slightly visible during the day, while potentially blinding during pitch black nights.

It's about time we had more games use HDR lighting properly.

I like the idea of multiple sets of controllable lights, headphase. Seems like it would be pretty cool, especially if night is as dynamic as it sounds like it will be.

I could imagine seeing a squad using navigation lights on their aircraft to fly in a tight formation, then turn them off as they neared the enemy to help evade detection.

While I think blinding should be kept to a minimum, like spotlights only blinding you if you suddenly look directly at them after looking at a nearly pitch black area for a while, I do think that light should still play a large part in engaging targets in dark environments.

For example, while someone shining a base spotlight on you shouldn't blind you per say, it should hide everything that is left in shadow, making them very dark and impossible to make out. That way, players being illuminated by powerful light sources would only be able to effectively shoot back at the target shining the light on them, or other targets emitting their own bright light sources.

This would allow for some interesting gameplay, where you could have most squad members turn their lights off making them hard to hit, while something like a MAX turns powerful lights on to light up enemy targets.

Obviously they would be easy pickings for AV weapons, but at least they would be pretty resistant to snipers and other small arms units.

Ideally, lights will probably be used sparingly, but hopefully things like light amplification will be able to be negated by enemies using lights which will blind them, while an infrared system could have limited range and clarity in passive mode, and essentially be as obvious as a spotlight to other IR users in active mode.

One thing seems pretty certain though. Cloakers and Snipers will be nightmare fuel on dark nights.

Noivad · 2012-05-14, 02:36 AM

I think Higby stated that there will be night and day light times. The vehicles will have lights, and there wil be weapons attachments for flashlights as well.

Kipper · 2012-05-14, 06:52 AM

Absolutely agree that vehicle lighting should be controllable. If you're operating an aircraft in friendly space it might be nice to be able to switch on strobes so that people can see you.

Additionally, I'd like a control between aircraft and aircraft pads so that you could remotely switch on ground lighting at night time to ease landing, without having to have someone on the ground to do it for you, or perma-lighting which can be used by the enemy to see into your base.

The idea of engineer "spotlight" turrets is cool too. Imagine a night time base attack, with night vision goggles - but the defenders had a scout, and they know you're there. As you get within range, they all switch on lights simultaneously and everyone starts shooting. F'kin epic tbh.

Gonefshn · 2012-05-15, 07:55 PM

No matter what sort of lighting they integrate I hope it has the ability to be toggled on and off. Nothing seems cooler to me than running around as a soldier at night with a flashlight I can turn on and off. Work for vehicle headlights/spotlights too. The idea is awesome because choosing when to turn it off and on is so important for tactics because it both helps you see and reveals your position.

headphase · 2012-05-15, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Gonefshn

No matter what sort of lighting they integrate I hope it has the ability to be toggled on and off. Nothing seems cooler to me than running around as a soldier at night with a flashlight I can turn on and off. Work for vehicle headlights/spotlights too. The idea is awesome because choosing when to turn it off and on is so important for tactics because it both helps you see and reveals your position.

Exactly

It would also be great to extend the concept of player-affected lighting to bases & towers themselves, by giving Infiltrators a sidegrade that allows them to cut the power to a building's lights.

Originally Posted by Noivad

I think Higby stated that there will be night and day light times. The vehicles will have lights, and there wil be weapons attachments for flashlights as well.

The important thing is that vehicle lights should be controllable by the driver. If I remember correctly, they were 'always-on' in the original game, whenever you were in the vehicle.