70 replies to this topic

[Felix Dante]

Sound is more important here in my opinion. Each shot should cause a small sonic boom and shake the surrounding terrain when fired (small buildings and trees vibrate near the mech). That way anyone on the battlefield knows someone has a Gauss Rifle is in play. The rounds move too fast (a Blur) to matter much with a visual.

[Gigaton]

syngyne, on 10 April 2012 - 07:49 PM, said:

Battlezone got it right.

Noooo, you should not have mentioned that name. I'm already looking for the CDs now, I know I have them in my apartment somewhere.

Now, let's go find when this 14 year old epic was last patched... Hmm... It seems latest patch was released a week ago.

(Edit) On topic, plume and residual effects near the barrel. Near-invisible projectile.

Edited by Gigaton, 11 April 2012 - 09:38 AM.

[MaddMaxx]

I would like to see what would amount to a bow wave effect that would fan out like when a boat moves through a still body of water. Sound would also be a key component.

Like this. (of course the visual plane of reference would be different)

http://www.planetina...es/bowwave1.jpg

Edited by MaddMaxx, 11 April 2012 - 09:55 AM.

[Thomas Hogarth]

I've spoken on this before: Gauss rifles should have a massive, white flame for muzzle flash, and be a silver blur as it goes downrange at velocities higher than MW3, and a tad higher than MW4. It should also suffer drop to some degree. Also, it'd be great if firing kicked up dust and debris near the firer.

The reason devs in the past have made gauss so distinctively unreal looking is for differentiation. They want it to be readily obvious that the 'Mech over there just fired a gauss. Previously, the tech/hardware wasn't really up to doing a shiny ball lens(lense) flare moving that fast. MWLL continued the silly looking blue rings out of tradition and a desire to make gauss shots recognizable.

I say MWO should represent many "firsts" in the MechWarrior franchise. One of the "firsts" I'd like to see is gauss slugs that don't look silly.

[Cochise]

CCC_Dober, on 11 April 2012 - 06:04 AM, said:

I have a suspicion that these swirls were pretty vogue in back in the days ...


P.S. Totally unrelated, click the spoiler if you dare

Spoiler

Yeah the whole spiral thing came from that movie. Quake III incorporated the effect into their railgun effects. And we've lived with blue spirals ever since.

Kinda like the first electronics device that sported blue LED's. Now the Blue LED's rain of terror has no end in sight. You must have a blue LED on any electronic device or it just is fail. Quite silly really.

[Dihm]

Nik Van Rhijn, on 11 April 2012 - 05:54 AM, said:

You have no chance of seeing the slug as it's hypersonic, ie Mach 5 or greater, just as effective travel time is negligable. There should be a sonic boom and maybe a vapour trail as well as the plasma effects around the barrel.

This please.

[CCC Dober]

I'm not quite sure what effect a ferro-nickel steel ball has on the environment, weighing in at 125 kilos and going at ~3500m/sec down range. We can surely speculate, but even railguns today don't fire slugs of that size at such velocities. Friction may cause the air to heat up in the wake, but I can't really tell if the speed is sufficient. Maybe someone with more knowledge can shed some light on it.

As for drop, there will be none at all. Gravity barely has time to affect the ball/slug in the time it takes to hit the target.

Edited by CCC_Dober, 11 April 2012 - 10:57 AM.

[LaorDeLove]

Gigaton, on 11 April 2012 - 09:34 AM, said:

Noooo, you should not have mentioned that name. I'm already looking for the CDs now, I know I have them in my apartment somewhere.

Now, let's go find when this 14 year old epic was last patched... Hmm... It seems latest patch was released a week ago.

(Edit) On topic, plume and residual effects near the barrel. Near-invisible projectile.

Go here if you have windows 7 http://www.battlezon...ownloads/index. You can download the game and play it on it. It works.

[Cementblade]

i think it should be the mw2 way not some pretty fog

[Prosperity Park]

As a laboratory scientist, I will say that Gauss Rifles with short barrels (length<8m) firing large caliber slugs would not generate a plasma. There is no external electrical discharge, nor would the projectile reach the hypersonic velicities needed to ionize the air or the projectile's skin.

You could hyperaccelerate something using a coilgun (a.k.a. Gauss Rifle; Magnetic Accelerator; Mass Accelerator; Magnetic Cannon; Magnetic Accelerator Canon, etc.) only if you have a much longer barrel or a tiny projectile, and even then you have to deal with magnetic saturation which will limit your total possible acceleration.

If you want plasma, use a railgun.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 11 April 2012 - 11:55 AM.

[verybad]

The visuals to me aren't as important as what the sound should be. I want a serious Mach boom after one of these bad boys is fired. You should here it far away.

I voted for plasma plume however.

In reality, ther isn't going to be a visual, just like you don't see one for bullets unless there are tracers being fired. However, in games, no visuals for fired shots lead to confusion amongst many players, and is a HIGHLY unpopular design decision.

Try it in any game and you're gonna get lots of PO'd players complaining about cheaters and rage quitters.

Edited by verybad, 11 April 2012 - 12:02 PM.

[Gigaton]

LaorDeLove, on 11 April 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

Go here if you have windows 7 http://www.battlezon...ownloads/index. You can download the game and play it on it. It works.

That's the one I found. Link to those forums was the first thing I found after Googling "does battlezone work on windows 7" after watching the Rave Gun vid. Good thing I found my CD in the closet too, so I can have the music.

Edited by Gigaton, 11 April 2012 - 12:08 PM.

[CCC Dober]

LOL, here we're talking about the standard gauss making the walls shake. Just imagine what the heavy version would do ^^

[Hawk3y394]

If the normal gauss made walls shake would the heavy cause earthquakes that could bury the other team?

[CCC Dober]

Idk, but I'd pay premium to see that happen hahaha

[Johannes Falkner]

CCC_Dober, on 11 April 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

LOL, here we're talking about the standard gauss making the walls shake. Just imagine what the heavy version would do ^^

Jericho?

[Solis Obscuri]

I'm happy with any combination of plasma plumes, vapor trails, or silver blurs, just as long as there are no damn rainbow donuts coming out the gun barrel!

[Strum Wealh]

As with the previous thread on the same subject, my opinion is that the Gauss Rifle, as a coilgun (NOT A RAILGUN!) firing a 125 kg nickel-ferrous slug at "hypersonic velocities" (somewhere between Mach 5.0 (1,710 m/s) and Mach 10.0 (3,415 m/s)), would produce no significant muzzle flash; the muzzle flash from conventional firearms is the still-burning propellant from the cartridge, and the muzzle flash/flare from a railgun is a result of arcing between the projectile and the eponymous rails causing material to ablate from both the projectile and the rails - neither of which is an issue for a coilgun.

As far as shockwaves on the projectile itself:

Shadowgraph Images of Re-entry Vehicles
"A blunt body produces a shockwave in front of the vehicle--visible in the photo--that actually shields the vehicle from excessive heating. As a result, blunt body vehicles can stay cooler than pointy, low drag vehicles."

Yet we can see from the BT artwork (all available on Sarna.net) that the slugs fired by most members of the Gauss Rifle family (the LB-X like "Silver Bullet Gauss Rifles" and the MetalStorm-like "HAGs" being noted exceptions) are actually more pointed than blunt.

Gauss Rifle


Light Gauss Rifle


Heavy Gauss Rifle


Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle ("SB Gauss")


Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifle ("HAG")


So, it seems that shockwaves and contrails would/should be minimal and effectively invisible, leaving only the projectile as a silver or gray blur accompanied by a thunderclap-like sonic boom...

[Zakatak]

I think audio is more important then visual, so long as we don't get those stupid spirals again.

The sound is simple: huge but short bang from the sonic boom, and whining capacitors shortly after. No MW has seemingly gotten this right.

Edited by Zakatak, 11 April 2012 - 03:27 PM.

[Prosperity Park]

If you're the shooter then, trust me, you don't want a plasma trail at the barrel. This is one problem with railguns - they make a big flash and a big bang just like a normal cannon does. Coilguns have the potential for stealthy kills becuse they are quiet and non-illuminating.