El Bandito, on 01 May 2013 - 11:45 AM, said:
One thing I love as much as playing Mechwarrior games is reading classic Battle Tech novels. From them I got this idea to change the current stale meta of long range sniping. It is a long post so please bear with me and finish reading my post before you vote/comment.
First, read the following parts I specifically took from the BT novel "End Game".
"The khaki-painted BattleMech was scarred along its right side from earlier damage. Careful of the buildings behind the Cestus, Pierce worked to lock his targeting computer over the wounded flank.
The targeting crosshairs burned a deep golden hue, and he pulled into the trigger. Both of his rotary cannon spat out several hundred rounds, the slugs tipped with depleted uranium for 'Mech-stopping power."
"Pierce's targeting computer couldn't grab an angle on the Cestus's already-damaged side, and his crosshairs flashed the alternating gold and black of partial lock."
"The hard-hammering blows left Peter's ears ringing as he dragged his own crosshairs over the wispy gray cloud and searched for the Viking. The reticle changed from red to a flashing gold, and then burned steadily as his targeting system found a solid lock. Peter braced the Fafnir forward, leaning into the heavy recoil as each of his gauss rifles spat out a hypersonic mass."
"Tancred knew the Nightstar and the kind of hurt it was capable of dishing out among other 'Mechs. He swallowed dryly, facing his old ride, then toggled in his large laser with his rotary autocannons. His crosshairs burned a deep gold as the Templar's targeting computer grabbed a hard lock, and Tancred drilled a good measure of scarlet energy and hot metal into the Nightstar's chest."
Basically the parts I selected all talk about novel's characters trying to lock on to the enemy with direct fire weapons such as Rotary AC, Gauss Rifle, and Lasers. That's right, to make an accurate shot they need to wait for a solid lock using direct fire weapons. (not even guaranteed then).
Why not use the novel's idea of targeting in MWO to address pin-point shooting with direct fire weapons (non-missile) from 1000 meters away? With some tweaks?
Suppose every mechs' targeting computer--being Inner Sphere junk--can only give you 100% accurate shots with ballistics and lasers/PPCs within 400 meters (actual distance is subject to change--it can be 500 or 600 depending on balance). To shoot accurately over 400 meters you will need to lock on to the enemy and hold your targeting reticule for 0.5-2 seconds (also subject to change) depending on how far the enemy is. Further away the enemy is, longer you will have to keep you cross hair over the enemy before it achieves hard lock.
Once a hard-lock is achieved, the cursor will change color and/or give you a warning sound (or have some different animation), and the direct fire weapon will hit the exact spot when fired.
You can still immediately fire (ie, without hard lock) any direct fire weapons if you choose to, but it will only hit targets accurately up to 400 meters. More than 400 meters and without a hard lock, the shot will not go straight forward, instead it will shoot at slight angle (the path of the shot is random within certain limit). How wide the shot will go will depend on the distance. For example, if the enemy is standing at 600 meters, your shot without hard lock will most likely still hit the enemy but might not hit the section you targeted. If the enemy is over 1000 meters your shot will probably completely miss him even if he is standing still, without hard lock.
Unlike Missiles, direct fire hard-lock will end immediately if the enemy move out of your reticule zone. There is no target decay time.
In regards to leading shots: Without a hard lock, the shot will not be 100% accurate. With hard lock, you can accurately lead the target.
To repeat for clarification--In order to accurately shoot a target over 400 meters (did I mention that it is subject to change?)...
1. You must have a lock onto the enemy. Your allies can spot for you to achieve such lock if the enemy is further away from your max targeting range.
2. After you lock onto the enemy you must keep the cross hair on the target for 0.5-2 seconds (subject to change) depending on the distance. Longer the distance, longer the lock time.
Reminder: You can still shoot your guns without hard lock but over 400 meters its accuracy will not be guaranteed and it gets worse as the bullet/laser/PPC travels further.
I believe with these changes, snipers and poptarts will now have to expose themselves longer for retaliatory fire and lights/mediums will have much better survival rate crossing the field.
With such drastic change comes pros and cons. I do not yet know the all specifics about them since I just wrote this thread but IMO:
Biggest con--Introducing RNG, or luck in this game. Your shots might still hit the moving enemy at long distances even without lock depending on the random path of the shot. Or you might completely miss a target that is traveling around 600 meters without hard lock. Lore wise, it is correct though.
Biggest pro--Making the game feel more Battle Tech, less common FPS.
Discuss away, ask questions and vote. Thanks.
This is basically convergence slowed down. I like the idea because it is canon.
The flickering crosshair means that they have converged enough for a good shot.
5
