6 replies to this topic

[Helsbane]

Alright. I've brought this concept up in a few other threads. The slope detection system is badly, BADLY, flawed. I got stuck on yet another inviso-wall last night, so I'm placing this alternate mobility mechanic here for the devs to consider.

Currently, the slope mechanic is in place to stop mechs from running up slopes like a Skyrim horse, and I'm all for that aspect of it. The terrain should have areas that force you to find alternate routes. The trouble is, a month after implementation, the curb of a sidewalk is still 90 degrees, stopping me cold.

So what could be implemented to overcome the overzealous nature of the slope detector? Simple. Exclusion zones. Areas of the map that represent a 'wall' style terrain feature would become impassable without the use of jump jets. Implementation of this style of limitation mechanic would do away with the entire 'pebbles of steel' issue and allow pilots to gauge terrain access more easily. Looks like a wall? Is a wall. Not the 'WTF AM I STUCK ON NOW?!?' mechanic we have atm.

Anything knee height or lower would be a non factor. Mobility is the reason Mechs supplanted tanks as the primary war machine of the MW/ BT universe, right? The top edge of a cliff or the rim of a crater would be traversable instead of suddenly becoming a steel trap.

My solution allows the thought process behind the slope detection system to be realized without the truckload of issues that pop up with every new map that gets released. That way we can still have the high level of detail on the maps, but not get our toes caught on them.

[wickwire]

Ah, the Skyrim horse!



anyway, I like your idea

[YueFei]

I vote for this idea, too. It's an easier way to implement it than a >45 degree slope detection.

[Blue Footed Booby]

Manually placing "exclusion zones" is easy, but it's really time consuming to do, and even more so to test. I think the best approach is still an algorithmic one. I'm honestly not sure whether the current system is relying on slope with no considering for height/width, or if it just needs thresholds tweaked. The problem is exacerbated by obstacles that really should be permeable, if not destructible (I'm looking at you, River City).

Valve put out some interesting papers on how logic for how stuff in Left 4 Dead like zombies climbing fences works. It doesn't have fences or walls marked individually as climbable/not climbable. Rather, they have an algorithm for detecting what is climbable. It may not be directly relevant, but it gives you an idea of what PGI could do (and might already be doing)

Edited by Blue Footed Booby, 07 August 2013 - 08:30 AM.

[Syrkres]

Problem with this idea is OUT OF BOUNDS....

If you simply put Exclusion zones in the map and still allow full speed up slopes, then all a mech has to do is run at a slope full speed, hit the exclusion zone, pass through it, and bang he is through the zone before the time out pop-goes-the-mech and he is up to the top.

So why even include them?

(example - ever see a Jenner/Spider jump over the "exclusion zone" in Forest Colony coming out of the tunnel near the little town to get to the cap? - same concept though a jump instead of a run...)

Where as now the mech can't get up there.

So NO, do not include exclusion zones in place of slope detection.

Edited by Syrkres, 07 August 2013 - 08:55 AM.

[Helsbane]

The exclusion zones would function as though the mech in question broken traction, 'spinning out' to use an effect we're all familiar with. This would cause the mech to lose all forward momentum in a pace or two, instead of allowing forward momentum to propell the mech through the zone. I allows the same effect of limiting access to terrain without causing hundreds of impassable items to appear on the maps due to sharp edges on the ground.

I also like the idea put forth by Blue Foot above. This approach makes sense as well, without causing a ton of issues. I was admittedly trying to take the simplest approach to the issue, but I can see how that alternate approach would work well.

Basically, either of these concepts would work far better than the slope derptector we're saddled with atm.

[YueFei]

I would welcome some kind of improvement over the current system we have now. I pilot my Hunchbacks most frequently, and just the other night I ran into a situation that got me killed, which under the old movement system I could have escaped. I was moving through a ravine on the Canyon map, trying to reposition unnoticed, and saw a single contact on Seismic on the ridgeline. The enemy, who turned out to be an Atlas, must have also had Seismic cuz he came trundling over the edge of the ridge. As he slid down the slope, me in my addled brain decided to try to dash up the slope, knowing that most of an Atlas's weapons are torso mounted so the elevation difference would give me a momentary advantage. In that moment I had forgotten about the new slope mechanics. So what do you know, I get stuck on some stupid little rocks on the slope trying futilely to climb it, and the Atlas blows me away.


"Slope derptector" is exactly the right term for it, haha.