Communication and teamwork within vehicles

Xaine · 2011-07-26, 09:04 PM

One thing i feel Planetside could benefit from is a slightly higher level of teamwork within a multi-person veichal. Real-time team work from the driver and gunner. Its there at the moment to some extent, but the driver drives and the gunner guns and thats about it.

You all might think this is a little strange, but i'll give you an example as to what i mean. I played Battlefield 2142 for a long time, and in this game was a fighter Aircraft. The pilot had use of Air-to-air lock on missiles which could also be used for dumb-fire air to ground attacks. The gunner had a very powerfull AI cannon and a camera-guided missile. (I really hope the new Reaver will be something like this)

In air-to-air dog fights, the gunner could 'mark' the enemy aircraft by pointing his targetting reticle over the other plane and hitting 'Q'. This would Mark an outline of the enemy aircraft so that your pilot could see where he was on his mini map for a few seconds. This gave a massive advantage to the pilot, who could see where the enemy was and so made sure the enemy wouldn't get behind him.

On the flip side, the AI cannon for the gunner was very powerfull but its range was limited. If you wanted to mop up and enemies with it, your pilot had to be going slow enough and be at the right angle. Also, the cam-missile was hard to use at the best of times, so again, your pilot had to line you up properly.

This added a whole new dimension of coordination, which passed the 'you drive, i gun' sort of thing we have going on now.

Adding a higher skill-cap for tank/aircraft crews would be brilliant, and with the new aesthetic customisation options you could really make a name for yourself as one of the best crews for your tank/plane, and be noticed for it.

Thoughts?

Talek Krell · 2011-07-26, 09:43 PM

Adding a higher skill cap in what way? What is it that you are suggesting?

cashfoyogash · 2011-07-26, 09:56 PM

i think in multi personal vehicles that there should be an option to paint targets, check out the targeting system on M1 Bradleys or M1A1 Abrams. The TC or Tank Commander has the ability to aquire targets for the gunner. This is a real life ability it should be allowed in the game too i think. Making it easier to spot targets of greater threat or importance.

Valdae · 2011-07-26, 10:24 PM

i like the idea of 'painting targets' for sure, but would it really add that much to the game? be definitely nice to see a reaver in the style of bf 2142 though, but i think they've already said it'll stay a 1 seater aircraft.

Bruttal · 2011-07-27, 04:01 AM

also I think something else that would be good is i hear there bring back a type of in game voice chat, i think anyone who enters your vehicle you two now add another voice channel with another hotkey and maybe some kinda HUD indicator when your driver/gunner is speaking would help too.

cashfoyogash · 2011-07-27, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by Valdae

i like the idea of 'painting targets' for sure, but would it really add that much to the game? be definitely nice to see a reaver in the style of bf 2142 though, but i think they've already said it'll stay a 1 seater aircraft.

The purpose for it would really only be for the TC, who ever is in charge of the tank and running the show. He can scan for targets of importance while the gunner mops up whatever he sees then say the TC notices an incoming enemy tank or AV he can paint it and the gunner can then switch fire to that. In RL the turrets can auto track and range find themselves after acquired but that would take away from the game if we made that happen. It would mainly just be for command purposes.

Xaine · 2011-07-27, 07:52 AM

To clarify my point slightly, i'd like to see more rewards for being coordinated and communicating within a veichal. Not just hopping in the back of someones Magrider and shooting the ducks as they pop up.

CutterJohn · 2011-07-27, 08:38 AM

Things I would enjoy:

-A 360 view for the driver so he can keep an eye out for other targets, in case the gunner is too fixated.

-A gunner to be able to give driving suggestions to the driver using the WASD keys. For example, pressing W would pop a small suggestion up on the drivers view to go forward. Pressing A would suggest turning left. This would aid in fast feedback so the driver can position the vehicle properly for the gunner.

-A spot command that announces a vehicle using a voice macro. "Incoming Reaver, 3 o'clock, 400 yards!"

cashfoyogash · 2011-07-27, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Things I would enjoy:

-A 360 view for the driver so he can keep an eye out for other targets, in case the gunner is too fixated.

-A gunner to be able to give driving suggestions to the driver using the WASD keys. For example, pressing W would pop a small suggestion up on the drivers view to go forward. Pressing A would suggest turning left. This would aid in fast feedback so the driver can position the vehicle properly for the gunner.

-A spot command that announces a vehicle using a voice macro. "Incoming Reaver, 3 o'clock, 400 yards!"

No to the 360 degree radius as thats kinda like third person for the grunts.

suggestions on where to go should be there to a point. I dont wanna see a W flash on my screen. this should all be done easily with the new voice chat. Also the gunner shouldnt have to do this and should be more of a role for a TC. So tanks should be three spots: driver, gunner, tc.

CutterJohn · 2011-07-27, 08:50 AM

No, its like turning around for the grunts. They just don't have to take 20 seconds to do so. A small turnable camera would be trivial to include in a tank.

I don't want to bog down voice chat with a bunch of "Wait, stop. Back up, back up. To far, go forward. He's right over that hill. No, the other hill, go there.", etc. When simple voice macros using currently unused keys could perform the function just fine.

TC is just a horrible idea. I can look around just fine as a driver. Wasting a spot on someone whose job is looking around is silly.

NapalmEnima · 2011-07-27, 06:57 PM

This is the Distant Future. Sensor-laden PAINT could be all over these vehicles for all we know. A 360-degree view for a driver should be fairly simple to implement for our theoretical Advanced Technology here.

A "3rd person" view via a destroyable sensor boom/antenna thing would be cool. Ditto for looking around corners as an infantry/MAX. Your armor's DisposoSensor sticks out a couple meters in whichever direction you like and you can use that spot as a viewpoint for as long as you like... at least until it gets Blown Off. Fully repairing the armor might give your sensor back, or it might require some consumable thing you carry around.

Talek Krell · 2011-07-27, 08:57 PM

They mentioned something about having sticky cameras that could be tossed onto walls to look around corners.

With third person going the way of the dinosaur it would be nice to have some way of keeping situational awareness as the driver. I like the idea of having a periscope on the turret with a camera feed. Sort of like the bomb bay view on the lib, but maybe it could be disabled or destroyed. A normal tank would probably just have a TC with a viewport, but adding another crewman just for that wouldn't work.

Sovereign · 2011-07-27, 09:01 PM

... Also if they have a specific voip feature for vehicles it would add allot in terms of teamwork especially with regards to random squads...

kaffis · 2011-07-28, 02:06 AM

I'd support giving the driver extra cameras he could view from. Side cameras, rear camera, etc. Like mirrors in a car, or those newfangled parking cameras. In other words, i support giving the driver more situational awareness, but it should still require focusing in a direction.

Alternately, let him pan his non-3rd person view all the way around, as if viewing the world through a camera turret. I like the idea of having fixed directions, though, as it promotes the notion of blind spots for more tactical interest.

I'm all for offering more tools for the driver and gunner(s) to communicate. I'd certainly like the driver to be able to highlight areas, at least, if not paint targets specifically. Indicate the vicinity he's going to try to provide shots for, etc.

I'd also like the driver to see via some UI element what direction his gunner is aimed at, and, if his gunner's crosshairs (or predicted firing arc, whatever) fall on or near a target, for that target to get automatically highlighted for the driver.

I'm also a big fan of CutterJohn's voice macro for detailed incoming announcements. In fact, I'd like to see that for infantry, too. Hit the incoming macro, and the voice macro announces the type of target nearest your crosshairs (within reason, so it can't be used for fishing, as it were), along with the direction (or relative direction, for vehicles).

Some vehicles should probably get more specialized communication elements. Liberators, for instance, ought to let the bombardier, who has a much better view of the ground than the pilot when the pilot's flying level enough to drop bombs, should be able to drop markers of some sort on the pilot's minimap, perhaps, to give the pilot a better idea about what he should line up on, rather than having to rely on attempting to make hasty, crude adjustments based on the minimap's radar.

Evilmp · 2011-07-28, 02:19 AM

Some kind of HUD element would be nice - such as displaying the approximate position of the gunner's current reticule position.

I'd like to be able to suggest points of interest for the gunner to look at, and vice versa. A small arrow telling me, "something's up over here!" followed by some kind of marker when focus is brought.

Individual voice channels for every tank in the game would be too much to hope for I believe.