5 replies to this topic

[Col Potter]

Hi there

Having a shooting gallery is quite nice, so we all can practice leading targets with different weapons, Mechs and so on, but..

Like it is now, it is quite time consuming, and the usefulness somewhat limited.

Suggestions for improvement:

1:
Heat/Ammo management:
Since we are in an academy mech simulator, one could deactivate heat and/or ammo consumtion for training purpose. No more waiting for cooldown or low ammo while practicing leading targets at different ranges. Also useful for infinity mode that i willl explain later.
2:
Drones:
Uav drones that fly all over the place like clay pigeons with adjustable movementspeed for varying challenge could also be fun. Reminds me of master Joda's force training...
Movement speed should be adjustable from nearly statoinary to very fast.
3:
Improve control over what mech spawns where:
You want to practice shooting light mech at very different ranges? Select distance 50 - 800 meters and light mechs spawn somewhere in between, like this it is still a challenge at 50 meters (hitting KCs or DDTs at this distance is way too easy).
Change these values to 0 - 200 and mediums to practice close quarter combat
or 800 - 1000 meters for long range training.
Another box for mech speed variability could also be added: like pre defining 60 - 80% throttle.
4:
Option to select how many targets get spawned at the same time and how long you want to practice:
Select 5 and you get five mechs at the same time, select 10 and 10 spawn and so on.
Reinfocement pool: Everytime you destoy a target a new one spawns until the pool is empty. ->50/100/83/... targets before practice is finished (0 for limitless fun). Saves a lot of time that you can spend practicing instead of walking back to the platform and restart the challenge all the time.
6:
Some simple movement patterns:
Predefined simple movement patters the targets can be shot at, like circles or infinitys -> adds the change of distance while practicing.
7:
Statistics:
Statistic tables for measuring improvements could be considered, since we are at the academy after all. Sorry if i have just overseen those.
8:
Integration:
-Most of these features can be integrated with sliders (e.g. number of mechs at the same time or movement speed range)
-Boxes where you can type in numbers (e.g. 500 meters or 150 mechs reinfocement)
-Ticboxes you can just click (e.g. type of targets -> ligh/medium/heavy/assault/drones or heat-management)

I have not found any of those suggestions in forum, if they exist already i am sorry for wasting your time with a useless wall of text.

More useful suggestions and opinions are welcome.


Cya on the battlefield.

[ShadowFire]

How about AI controlled SRM equipped hovercraft, tanks, both lights with PPCs and heavy's with AC10s, hellos, strafing aerotech fighters, Drop ships dropping jump pod equipped mechs and bouncing IS Battle Armors/Clan Elementals with SRM/Infernos missles and claws if they could program them. Add all these and the target range would get mighty interesting!!!

[Hunter 2015]

It would be nice, if we could go against (custom, players choice) AI controlled Mechs .

[LiGhtningFF13]

AI controlled Mechs like the instructor in his Atlas and the aim of the drop ships. Ready ... go!

[Dave Forsey]

All good ideas.. here's some of my limitations

- Drones can't be spawned as yet
- Ammo does get replenished between rounds, but limited within a round to re-enforce the concept of limited ammo for new players
- Ditto for heat
- No AI control at all
- No UI. No sliders, text boxes, tick boxes... Nada. I can redraw that screen and detect key presses

Having stated that... the idea of a roll your own round structured around the UI limitations (hit "H" to add more heavies, "n" and "N" to change the near range) might not be a complete interaction abomination. (except for those with non-NorthAm keyboards... :-) )

[Fiona Marshe]

Isn't this called "Onslaught" mode already?