567 replies to this topic

[SgtMagor]

I like the new Thermal view but, the heat sig from the target ( I assume is the white shading) where most of the heat is visible looks a little to washed out. this pick I'm showing might be to bright for the thermal affect. some type of balance between the new thermal view and this should work better at seeing heat signatures in game.

[CDLord HHGD]

Very nice.

Night vision and Thermal are in the Lore, but so is Magscan (highlighting magnetic metals). Is there a plan to include this mode as one of the standards in the future too? Thanks, everything looks great!

[MechWarrior131925]

Whatever you do, don't just throw away the old heat vision. Let us test out what you are planning and let us give you the feedback if changes need to be made. I for one use the heat vision more and any other because I suffer from red/green color blindness. When others see a mech against a mountain in forest colony, I see nothing unless it moves. I have noticed this in videos posted on youtube and have asked those who have posted that question. "How did you see them without heat vision?" Maybe if the new one is not up to par we can have options or adjustments to it...after all it is a thousand years in the future...just my thoughts.
So please, listen to the players after you implement it.

[Wun]

Any change that lets me spend more time looking at the pretty environment and less at blue silhouettes in grey murk will be an improvement.

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 07 March 2013 - 08:09 PM, said:

However, I would really like to see some screens on Frozen City during a blizzard before I will really say that these will work. As things stand now, you pretty much have to run heat mode whenever the snow starts falling. How that will interact with the new gray scale vision will determine whether or not that map will become pretty much unplayable.

In a blinding blizzard, all vision should be severely impaired. Info coming from friendlies is even more important, especially for long range mechs making ECM even more valuable.

Edited by Wun, 08 March 2013 - 01:14 PM.

[Logi]

ugh the physician in me starts crying. does the mech in thermal-alpine-peak-pic absorb the heat from outside or what? in any case the heat vision looks very odd to me. the old one was better. but it may be just my personal rating, since i was ALWAYS playing in heat vision mode. even in knife range
well i will give it a try

[OneEyed Jack]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 07 March 2013 - 08:09 PM, said:

However, I would really like to see some screens on Frozen City during a blizzard before I will really say that these will work. As things stand now, you pretty much have to run heat mode whenever the snow starts falling. How that will interact with the new gray scale vision will determine whether or not that map will become pretty much unplayable.

I can of think they just want everyone on reduced visibility in FC. If everyone has the same problem, it's not really an advantage or disadvantage, except in regards to missiles.

MightyMeatShield, on 07 March 2013 - 08:38 PM, said:

Question: What does "Also we will be masking out the Mechs cockpit from the effects" mean in laymans terms?

I'm thinking that cockpits in the new modes are currently standing out too much and they plan to make the blend in more. At a guess.

I understand the basic idea that a hot mech would stand out more in cold weather, and I agree. But at Arctic temperatures would it begin to fail as the ambient temp (really, really cold air between you and them) just kind of blanketed visibility at much range? I'm not an expert on the tech, but it makes sense to me.

[Chemie]

* 700m is too short given 1000m LRM range
* Despite the comment, snipers are in a world of hurt now...no more blue mech from 2000m hits (a good thing)
* Together with netcode change, this will make lights very difficult and likely very under played. Even the scouting role will take lights far too into danger areas (less than 700m) versus current "blue from way out" scouting

I might actually have to use night vision now instead of heat for entire game on every map (except caustic)

[Dark Radiance]

Matthew Craig, on 08 March 2013 - 11:30 AM, said:

No one said normal vision caps out, as mentioned in an earlier post the draw distance issue for Mechs was a bug that's been fixed.

No one said that it caps out, but it did - which is part of why Thermal was so valued by snipers. It was the only way to see out to the max range of certain weapons. If that was indeed a bug that's going to be fixed like you say, that's good, and I'll reserve judgment until it all shows up in game.

[Logi]

Thontor, on 08 March 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

Why would someone who practices medicine cry?

Or do you mean physicist?

the second one^^

[Weatherman]

Chemie, on 08 March 2013 - 01:27 PM, said:

* 700m is too short given 1000m LRM range
* Despite the comment, snipers are in a world of hurt now...no more blue mech from 2000m hits (a good thing)
* Together with netcode change, this will make lights very difficult and likely very under played. Even the scouting role will take lights far too into danger areas (less than 700m) versus current "blue from way out" scouting

I might actually have to use night vision now instead of heat for entire game on every map (except caustic)

Actually this is where light mechs will probably shine. They generally have a lower profile and are small enough to hide in areas where ambient heat sources or light source will conceal their presence. While hiding they can transmit information back to their team. Very useful.

Also, I very much like the look of the new thermal and night vision. I think that this game is supposed to play on uncertainty, not knowing where someone is simply by switching over to thermal is an excellent balance move. I figure that the Devs will keep an eye on the changes and tweak them towards a good balance, but all in all I like it.

Edited by Weatherman, 08 March 2013 - 02:14 PM.

[Mordynak]

Looks awesome. So happy to see these changes. Don't mind waiting me.

Keep up the good work!

[Sundervine]

I really like these changes! I can not wait to see them in action. Night vision being useful? Who would have ever imagined it lol ^^ Good job guys!

[Arisaema]

Using Thermal vision on arctic maps should show hot mechs very clearly. Below is a image from a FLIR camera.




Hots show up brightly and cooler colours are dark. This is more realistic than the image you present. It seems that you are more interested in balancing gameplay via vision modes. The problem is that mechs are just huge heat generators and should show up a nice bright spots when a thermal imaging mode is used.

Arisaema

[ragingmunkyz]

All I can say about these changes is: Thank you, PGI!

I'm glad to see most of the comments in this thread are supportive as well. I was getting really sick of thermal, I've honestly never really liked it in any game, and then there is the issue of it occasionally destroying my fps. All it ever seems to do is force you to use it and forgo getting to see all the nice details and graphics that you actually want to be looking at. Thermal was becoming more and more a necessity, especially on certain maps, and I'm glad I won't feel gimped if I don't constantly have it on. It was also far too powerful a tool as a snipers, taking a lot of the skill in sniping and sighting targets out of the game, so the range nerf in particular should hopefully shake up the sniper meta as well.

Night Vision change is also welcome, I've hate RCN since my first drop there, and a big part of that is it required thermal more than any other map due to night vision being basically unusable. If these changes actually make night vision look how its supposed to, it might actually be fun to have it as a useful mode on RCN and any future night maps.

Edited by ragingmunkyz, 08 March 2013 - 02:53 PM.

[Wolfgang Landsknecht]

Thontor, on 08 March 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

they did say gameplay and visuals come before accuracy (realism) on their priority list.

It's just that they offered zero explanation why a realistic heat vision would disturb the gameplay ...

[3rdworld]

Wolfgang Landsknecht, on 08 March 2013 - 03:08 PM, said:

It's just that they offered zero explanation why a realistic heat vision would disturb the gameplay ...

He said they don't want people shooting across the entire map.

Apparently using a guns full range potential is frowned upon.

[Rigiroth]

Approved.

[Tarman]

Wolfgang Landsknecht, on 08 March 2013 - 03:08 PM, said:

It's just that they offered zero explanation why a realistic heat vision would disturb the gameplay ...

Realism + Battletech = No Giant Robots.

[EvangelionUnit]

Matthew Craig, on 08 March 2013 - 08:53 AM, said:

As mentioned I don't disagree Scipio but we didn't want thermal to have unlimited range this falls in the gameplay category of considerations. If anyone has better ideas of how to reduce it's effectiveness rapidly after a certain distance while keeping it more realistic looking I'm all ears.

heat sinks heat up the air around the mech, so make it a wobbely big dot in far distance that didnt allow aimed shots ...
when the mech moves make it a smeard dot so the pilot who use heat vison can only make out the approx direction of his target ... (maybe let the air take some time to cool down behind the mech)

i dont know if the game engine allows things like this, but this would be basicly a fog generator for heat vison on long distance when someone rund around in a hot mech ...

[Mechavelli]

A useful and realistic feature of thermal sights is the ability to switch between a hot white and hot black image. Is this being considered?