Time-stamped map info

[The Janitor]

Say I flew over a base just behind enemy lines and then raced back to the front. While I was there, I saw the enemy base pumping out a line of tanks about to roll to the front lines. How difficult would it be to implement timed markers on the map for your platoon/outfit to let them know about how much time they have until those tanks are no longer distant targets but very real threats? Like an ETA warning, using small symbols for tanks, infantry, gunships, etc. Or perhaps just to show how old some info might be. Arrows showing movement of said targets might also be helpful.

[Mark Olsen]

Technically its simple to either auto generate the map icons or create them personally.

Auto generating them would require the following information:
- The unique object of the vehicle
It could be acquired by the engine from you looking directly at it.
It could also be acquired from the radar detection sphere of the aircraft, but this means it would generate icons for everything within it.
This will give access to the following information:
- The type of vehicle
- Its position
- Its directional vector (If the engine has it)
If it doesn’t it could be acquired by looking at its position with a tiny interval between to determine the difference which is the directional vector.
Knowing all of this, a simple icon of the specific vehicle or the general vehicle type, could easily be printed on the map. Here are 3 simple examples:

One issue with this is map spam:

To get around it one could stack all of the same units onto one icon saying the quantity. But because it’s a group it’s difficult to add direction because they are all going I different directions:

If multiple different units where close to each other with the icons overlapping it would be difficult to see the icons properly:

To get around it, all of the units could be stacked into one icon saying mechanized infantry, army ect. depending on the unit composition. Clicking the individual icons would show the information of the composition:

The other approach would be to personally create the icons.
To personally create the icons the following information is needed:
- The unit type
- Its direction
Its direction can be acquired by the user clicking first where to put the icon followed by another click, or holding down left click, until the user is satisfied with its direction, which is the line between the two clicks.
But with the ability to personally create icons a new issue arises:

To get around this issue one could put a cool down on creating icons, but that won’t stop it. You could also limit to highly certified leaders. If you wanted put a notice on the map but you aren’t a leader, you would need to go in dialogue with a leader to crate it which could help increase team play.

Things I haven’t addressed:
Who says highly certified leaders won’t do the same?
The technical aspects of keeping the icons clean by grouping and without overlapping. It could be done by event handles on the icon create method, but the server power needed to manage this compared to the game play benefits?
Or synchronization, who is supposed to see what markers when and for how long?
The personal icon creation could be available within squads, platoons or outfits as they socially manage themselves to prevent abuse, and provide them with a useful strategic planning tool. But wouldn’t the rest of the teams be missing out on the strategic information?

Regardless, any solution that requires constant admin supervision is dreadful.

My conclusion is it could be a great strategic tool for a battlefield overview if used properly but with its freedoms follows complications.

[The Janitor]

An insightful, creative, and generally awesome post, sir. My compliments and thanks for taking the time to draw all this stuff up. Especially the giant phallic object made out of tanks. Pure genius.

[FredTomson]

Perhaps an auto-generated icon through the use of a spotting key would be the best solution. This would prevent excessive clutter on the map (provided that people aren't being assholes with it) but would also make it easy to do (having to select the right icon and place it with a vector would be time consuming, especially when done repeatedly).

This spotting key could definitely have a cool down to help prevent spam.

Another cool feature would be if you held down the spotting key a prompt would pop up allowing you to provide custom information such as force size, composition, etc.

This could make doing recon fluid but helpful.

Great idea Janitor and excellent addition Mark Olsen

[metziih]

I don't really like auto-generated stuff, but it would be nice to be able to mark position of enemy tank/infantry/aircraft/audio-contact in the map nevertheless, kinda like in Battleground Europe/WW2 Online.