68 replies to this topic

[Yeach]

How difficult to get a headshot? and rough estimate of frequency.

Factors would include hit-box size and weapon damage strength (if they were adjusted from TT values at 10 secs)

For multiplayer
In MW3, on one good night at one point I was able to get a headshot "kill" 1 per 10 alphas. If it were not for lag I believe the frequency could be tha high or higher.
In MW4 (from Vengeance to Mercs), I think I was only able to get a total of 2 headshots due to the mechanic that you had to hit the same spot twice (consequetively not instantaneously)

[Elizander]

If headshots were too easy to get, then it wouldn't be so fun I think. I don't find it too hard to align my crosshairs on a certain part of the enemy target. FPS headshots are too easy to get so hopefully nowhere near that easy.

They could also make it that headshots only disable all your sensor/radar equipment and mess up your targetting instead of killing the mech off.

[verybad]

They'll make your hula girl sway enticingly.

[UltraMek]

I played MW4 for many years and cannot remember at any point actually killing someone via a headshot. Damaged plenty of HUDs though, and its nice that they can't use zoom or see their radar very well.

[BduSlammer]

was playing MWLL and blew the head clean off of one mech with ac-20

[Listless Nomad]

Headshot frequency should depend on the actual location of the head as well. The summoner had a tiny little head off to the side - whereas a commando has a head proportional to a regular person and would be much easier to hit.

[Morashtak]

If TT rules come into play it will be a hitbox of approx the same size for each 'Mech regardless of the visual size of the cockpit. Some hits that look as thought the are hitting the head could damage the "shoulder" (torso or arm) instead.

If not, foresee 99.999% of pilots going for the 'Mechs with the smallest sized head vs the body/arms.

[Felicitatem Parco]

I noticed that, while playing MW4:Mercs that cockpit kills were most frequent when I used lasers, specifically medium-family lasers, and the shot had to be placed from a higher elevation than the target Mech (shooting down on the top of their head). I never got a cockpit kill from ballistics or PPC's.

I could just blame oversized torso hit boxes... And I will. I think the center torso hit boxes extended upward to cover most Mechs' faces.

[Listless Nomad]

Morashtak, on 19 January 2012 - 07:25 PM, said:

If TT rules come into play it will be a hitbox of approx the same size for each 'Mech regardless of the visual size of the cockpit. Some hits that look as thought the are hitting the head could damage the "shoulder" (torso or arm) instead.

If not, foresee 99.999% of pilots going for the 'Mechs with the smallest sized head vs the body/arms.

I hope the TT rules don't end up ruling this game. They have their place - and it was a great game, but there is a difference between a turn based table top game where you couldn't specify where your shot was going to go - and a FPS where I can place my aiming reticle. If I aim at the arm, I want to hit the arm, not the leg because a virtual dice roll said so. They have their place in some areas but should not be applied as a blanket for the new game.

[Dlardrageth]

Morashtak, on 19 January 2012 - 07:25 PM, said:

If TT rules come into play it will be a hitbox of approx the same size for each 'Mech regardless of the visual size of the cockpit. Some hits that look as thought the are hitting the head could damage the "shoulder" (torso or arm) instead.

If not, foresee 99.999% of pilots going for the 'Mechs with the smallest sized head vs the body/arms.

Ya, I'd definitely like some good balancing there. Same sized hitboxes for all heads don't make much sense in the computer version. OTOH... Going simply by the looks of a Mech model as sole factor might not be so great either. The risk of everybody shunning the Mechs with proportionally larger "heads" would somewhat be bad for variety on the battlefield. So just a very little modification in hitbox size/damage modeling might be best.

And the whole issue of TT aiming rules ported to computer version is unlikely to be done 1:1. I would prefer tho aiming in game being hard enough to frequently not hit the exact section aimed at initially.

Edited by Dlardrageth, 19 January 2012 - 10:16 PM.

[ShoveI]

i was thinkin about this topic the other day. way back on solaris before they nerfed head shots my fav mech was an aws-8q. i was able to decapitate any mech with one alpha strike. then they nerfed head shots and it took about 3x the amount of damage to do it. the only thing i can think of that might work is to have a targetting box instead of crosshairs. your shots will hit somewhere in the box, the closer you are to the target the more focused your shots will be, the farther away the more apt they are to be scattered to different parts of the mech.

[Listless Nomad]

A targeting box might not be a bad way to go - would make battles a little more drawn out as it would deal damage more liberally over mechs rather than to specific points.

[ShoveI]

I guess a role possibility would be a smaller targeting box the more levels you gain in skill.

[Listless Nomad]

perhaps a module to do the same thing with LP?

[Yogibear24]

I could get headshots in Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance, but I could never really hit the head more than twice, I usually only got the armor rating of the enemy's head down to flashing red, due to this. Either I got really lucky, or the headshot system is just random. I remember trying to test the headshot system by seeing if I could damage one of my lancemates' heads in the game, it never worked. (Probably due to the weapons I had, ppc, ultra ac 6) I also think medium lasers work the best for headshots in Mechwarrior 4. I started using those more recently, and that's when the headshots started showing up.

[Zervziel]

The only headshots in MW4 I ever remember getting consistently were when I was above a Mad Dog. I do occasionally pop the lid off a Nova Cat and to this day I have never once hit a Fafnir in the cockpit, it was always center torso. I did once get a Dire Wolf in the cocpit with a blast of four ER large laser. I don't know how many of them hit, because at that moment I was sliding on the ground. Basically got nailed while in a Timber Wolf by a Sunder's big autocannon and when I went down I just spammed my lasers and got a lucky hit on his pal.

[osito]

i like the idea of a shot box instead of cross hairs. in canon it was very difficult to hit specific areas or group your shots without aid of tc. in this game it may be a gunnery module......

[Canned_Dman]

Considering hitboxes, where do you consider the arms/r-l torsos/ center torso and head begin and end on a stalker?

[Nik Van Rhijn]

In both MW3 & MW4 I used to set up 1v1 against the AI to work out where the heads were, the hitboxes varied so much from mech to mech. It didn't always tally up with the visual representation. Some mechs were really easy, others very awkward. I think the Awesome was a little patch on the "chest" that you could only hit from the front?

[DEVASTATOR]

In MW4 they wote the code to specifically eliminate one shot kills of any kind regardless of how much fire power was involved. Even with head shots. I'd favour 2 hitboxes. One for the cockpit glass area that would be very, very small making a one shot head kill very rare but still achievable. Also, shouldn't there be some form of head hitbox for DFA's? You're probably not going to DFA someone by hitting the hitbox on the front glass. A second hitbox directly on top of the mech's head might be useful for this - one that normally wouldn't be hit by laser (or other) fire.

Edited by DEVASTATOR, 20 January 2012 - 07:51 AM.