Equinox, Solstice? Night attacks?

[SpacemanSpiff]

What? If it was once a day at a pre-designated time... everyone would be prepared that much more easily for an attack.

[Trebor95]

I wouldnt want a dark period to be every day or so, that way as Unico says it would become predictable and boring in my opinion, however darkness should be at irregular times (in the short run, but with a pattern over longer periods) that way (as I see it) when darkness is forcast you would get some really tense times waiting for an expected attack.

Picture the scene, the last 3 darkness tiems had passed with little or no action. It is a hour or so until dark fall and outfits, platoons, commanders etc. are all rushing around to finalise their defence perimiters (it would be theoretical suicide to ignore the fact that an attacker would have a major advantage at night and not prepare)
Therefore having taken positions, or having setup and automated perimiter you wait patiently.
Activity detected by a remote sensor on one side, then activity on the other. Then you realise they're all around you outside your visual range. Who are they? what are they? how many? that way recon would be needed, to find any build up of forces nearby before dark falls

commanders would then really show what they are made of. what do you do, do you fall back inside the base, charge with a counter offensive? withdraw and leave a few stealthed people? simply riddle the area with fire?

it would make a nice change from constant melees, defending after hacking, transporting etc. anyone caught out in the open by themselves may not find it easyat night

all in my opinion however

of course there maybe the possibility that everyone simply defends, booooring! but due to the fact that night battles would have more CEP's or BEP's available and as said before you will get the creation of "night hawks" as I like to think of them as

I'm trying to imagine it in my head, but it is hard not having played it

[cell.nerve]

^^ poser trying to make a long post like me! PSSH :P jp. Ya, like i said voice comm would help commanders and such alot, and nighttime would really help them show their colors as you said

[mr_luc]

Originally posted by cell.nerve
^^ poser trying to make a long post like me! PSSH :P jp. Ya, like is aid voice comm would help commanders and such alot, and nighttime would really help them show their colors as you said

Actually, wouldn't it kind of make it hard to see their color*SMACK*

[Trebor95]

Originally posted by cell.nerve
^^ poser trying to make a long post like me! PSSH :P jp. Ya, like i said voice comm would help commanders and such alot, and nighttime would really help them show their colors as you said

I have to admit I really liked your post especially the voice comms idea, would make it a lot easier, probably use too many resources to have an ingame one, but RW or something might work (not the nicest of programs)

[SpacemanSpiff]

We can only hope for something like that in a future expansion.

[NARF]

lets see, theres, how many moons? Well, they can never ALL have ecipses, so maybe have one eclipse every two weeks, alternating days?

[Trebor95]

Originally posted by NARF
lets see, theres, how many moons? Well, they can never ALL have ecipses, so maybe have one eclipse every two weeks, alternating days?

yeah thats what I was thinking not too close/regular that it gets tedious and not so far apart that people get caught out and dont know what to do to add suspense

you'd have to plan operations with this in mind, dont want to be transporting a large platoon somewhere as darkness falls

[mr_luc]

Wait wait.

Maybe this planet doesn't have an equinox.

[balab]

i just hope your normal weather patterns don't disperse in matter of minutes. imagine that a squad planning to use storm as cover, they'll be crawling and crawling and all of a sudden, your perfect san diego weather shows up...

[1024]

Originally posted by Fire_Monkey
Welcome to PSU

I think the idea is great, since their are random weather patterns, why not random days with extended darkness, perhaps forecasted on AGN (Auraxis Global Network) a day ahead or whatnot. Since there are lights on all armors/vehicles I see no problem with it.

same here

[cell.nerve]

weather patterns seem to move around and be generated randomly, but i cant really tell you all much else, i.e. how long they last how big they are/etc/etc guess you'll just have to wait til open beta.

[mr_luc]

What I really wonder is, is there a 1-to-1 correspondence between those clouds that we see on the command map view, and the actual storms. I would imagine that those systems don't just sit there, that they move -- and it would look fake if they just drifted one way without swirling etc.

The server could be running a very complex cloud/weather simulation, and of course the client only has to know if it's dark/rainy in his area or not. But as far as those clouds being displayed on the client machine from the overhead map view, I'm wondering how they're doing that.

[Hamma]

The clouds move, the colored circles with arrows on them area weather fronts. Red being the worse.

[Manitou]

To piggyback what Hamma is saying and add a little detail on the weather patterns:

The huge systems are color coded, as Hamma said, red being worse. They are slow moving as real weather and the will affect some ops in the area of the storm.

Flying through one of these storms in mountainous terrain can ruin a squad's day real quick. Visibility is greatly reduced in a cloud bank.