Indirect fire idea: not quite artillery

[hagagaga]

I admit to not having as much experience with PS2 as most people on this forum. However, I have an idea that might work even for some of the people who don't want artillery. It simply doesn't make sense to not have any kind of indirect fire in a game of this scale.

There could be a mortar or a few empire variants, potentially deployed by the Engineer as an alternative to the anti-infantry and anti-vehicle turret. While the mortar is in use, movement keys would do the aiming while the mouse wheel selects what type of round to launch. There would be two minimaps while the mortar is in use: one that shows the mortarman's surrounding area and one that shows the target area (with a circle representing the area of impact that widens with range and some other factors).

Each empire could have their own mortar rounds as well as a few shared ones (shared could be HE, AP, and smoke, while NC could get a bigger explosion, TR could get a cluster bomb, and VS could get plasma, for example).

One potential use could be defending an installation by taking out vehicles gathered outside the shield when they're waiting for the shield generator to go down.

They could certainly be able to do long-ranged fire as well. Squad leaders and Infiltrators above a certain Battle Rank could request mortar support (but Infiltrators would be more accurate) and a mortarman who accepts the request automatically aims in the general direction that the request for fire was pointed in and can further adjust the aim after shooting as long as there are friendlies within line of sight. Each call for fire could only be accepted by one mortar, but if additional fire support is deemed necessary, several calls for fire could be made in rapid succession. If proper artillery is added, a similar system could be used with Infiltrators as forward observers, with only them able to call for fire and only the one who called for fire could be used for refining aim.

[Taramafor]

Sounds like a good idea. Mortars and artillery are always used in wars. I have to admit that in strategy games, they really bug me (juggernauts in C&C being an exception because of sniper support for spotting which adds some realism) but PS2 being as it is, it's a good concept. I disagree with battle rank restrictions though. Instead, have infiltrators in a squad set coordinates for the mortors/artillery in that squad. This will encourage team play as well.

I say infiltrators because they do need to be a tag more useful over all and it would give them something to do other then hack and snipe. And they are the scouts in this game. Maybe a special dart gun round could be used to set the target area?

[hagagaga]

Yeah, that was kind of what I thought of for Infiltrators as well.

Target marker in addition to the default tool Infiltrator or replacing it? My idea would be programing what type of round (maybe even how many, but not likely) is requested into the dart and then when it lands, it transmits its coordinates to the appropriate mortar (or artillery piece if they get added as well). I'm not sure that limited ammunition would be particularly good with that.