183 replies to this topic

[Corvus Antaka]

100m - detect lights.

150m detect lightswith advanced

150m detect mediums, 200 with advanced,

200/250 for heavys

250/300 for assaults.

add a siesmic "muffle" module that cuts your signature distance in half ie 75/light, 100 with advanced.

add a tremor module to drop a mine and scare the enemy.

[MustrumRidcully]

The ability granted by Seismic Sensor is far superior to pretty much every other module we have currently in the game.

It can remove the ability of lighter mechs and close range mechs to "sneak up" on enemy mechs, and the mere potential that someone might have this module can alter the viability of such tactics in the metagame.

It's a cool ability, that much is certain. Being able to track a mech through River City is pretty awesome, no doubt about that, but it just seems a bit too much.

Ideas:

1) Turn it into a consumable you can drop on the map and that lasts the entire match. This way, you can use it to guard certain routes, but it becomes less effective if you stay mobile.
2) Lower the range by 25 % (Standard) to 50 % (Advanced).
3) Make it work only when you are stationary, or at least lower its range the faster you are.
4) Make it work only when you're heat is low enough (say, 33 % heat).
5) Make the detection range depend on mech weight and speed.
6) Make it create less "pings" on the map, say 1 ping per 10 seconds.

[Torarild]

Already said my piece on page 2, but wish to add that I believe that changing it to working only when standing still is a very bad move. It is logical, and makes sense, but if this is the only change to the module it will make the game even more locked down and non-mobile.

This will make it useless for lights and flankers while giving a further upper hand to stationary playstyles such as PPC boating stalkers and poptarts that can no longer be suprised or flanked without them blowing the flanker to bits.

[Alik Kerensky]

My issue other than being a lot OP (cool, but OP) is that it distinguishes enemies, but doesn't bother telling me where my friends are under the enemies ECM umbrella... so I'm still turning corners at 151 kph and slamming head-on into a friendly mech.

Edited by Alik Kerensky, 28 May 2013 - 05:12 AM.

[DeaconW]

Torarild, on 28 May 2013 - 02:24 AM, said:

. It is logical, and makes sense, but if this is the only change to the module it will make the game even more locked down and non-mobile.

This will make it useless for lights and flankers while giving a further upper hand to stationary playstyles such as PPC boating stalkers and poptarts that can no longer be suprised or flanked without them blowing the flanker to bits.

Ironic, isn't it? How messed up does your game design have to be that adding something that is "logical and makes sense" to a *simulator* makes it worse..but thankfully, if they fix the jumpjetting/poptarding meta, this will be less of an issue. BRING ON THE JJ SHAKE! (and pls add a feature that if you shutdown while jumping your mech falls down and takes damage when you come down)

MustrumRidcully, on 28 May 2013 - 01:10 AM, said:

The ability granted by Seismic Sensor is far superior to pretty much every other module we have currently in the game.

Deja vue...it's like ECM zero day all over again...

[Caboose30]

LT Satisfactory, on 21 May 2013 - 01:42 PM, said:

this is RIDICULOUS. It's borderline cheating. Perfect example on tourmaline - could tell the last enemy mech was on Ep for conquest and we were charging for him but had no line of sight. he finished his cap before we saw him and could either pick to go towards sig or gamma. He was faster than me or the aws I was with. normally, i would have ran at ep and tried to find him and get lucky with a laser shot, but with this sensor, i was clearly able to tell he was going towards sig well before I could see him and was able to cut him off and kill him.

ridiculous. at first i thought this would just be a tool for poptarts (since god knows PGI has a hrd-on for them and hates lights) but there are sooo many instances this is just flagrantly bad.

Of course, since PGI is determined to kill off lights, this sensor is basically for scouting now. No reason to go around that corner - you already know there are 3 mechs waiting around it.

Yeah, because there's no way that 1k years in the future these 5-10 million cbill machines would have a way to detect what's going on other than what you can see.

[Darwins Dog]

Now that I've finally had a chance to play with it myself I have to agree with the general consensus that it is currently too powerful. I have yet to talk to anyone that said "meh, I'm not really impressed" or "I don't think I'll get one". More often than not people are converting XP to GXP so they can get it right away.

My first thought would be to cut the range in half. I only have the 200m version and it's freaking awesome. 400m I can't even imagine.

No more sneaking through the tunnels or around buildings. Light mechs can't lose their pursuers around buildings. Ambushes are a thing of the past. There aren't many mechs or playstyles that don't benefit from it.

EDIT: I also like the above idea to make the detection radius size dependent.

Edited by Darwins Dog, 28 May 2013 - 08:47 AM.

[Rebas Kradd]

Forget range or weight fixes. Just make such a module inoperative when your own mech is moving. Doesn't make much sense for it to pick up tremors from a Spider 400m away when your own Atlas is pummeling the ground right under your feet.

[Lugh]

arghmace, on 21 May 2013 - 01:33 PM, said:

Seismic sensor is simply too good. The range of 400 meters is huge. Speaking in general I don't like it that you no longer can flank and hit someone in the back. But at least reduce the range. Maybe 150m at first level and 250 at 2nd.

EDIT: By the way, why doesn't seismic sensor spot friendly mechs as well?

I could swear it does..but maybe it's a 360 module I have too...not sure.

[Deathlike]

Alik Kerensky, on 28 May 2013 - 05:10 AM, said:

My issue other than being a lot OP (cool, but OP) is that it distinguishes enemies, but doesn't bother telling me where my friends are under the enemies ECM umbrella... so I'm still turning corners at 151 kph and slamming head-on into a friendly mech.

For the record, the last patch (not hotfix) removes the effect of ECM making teammates disappear off the radar (teammates disappear off the radar due to a different bug though).

[DeaconW]

Darwins Dog, on 28 May 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

More often than not people are converting XP to GXP so they can get it right away.

And the cynic in me says that maybe this is part of PGI's business strategy...

[ColdFusionn]

Make this module a consumable. It is way too powerful, why did they even add it? Was the community crying for this OP module?

If it was a consumable that was placed on the ground (with a very small targetable object) and lasted 30 seconds to 1 minute then I think it would satisfy most people. It would not be used in everyones mechs. They couldn't use it more than once a match to hunt flankers and it would still be useful in certain scenarios that people would still load it in their mechs.

[Nick Drezary]

At least something that really cost GXP required to unlock it.

[AntharPrime]

It should only detect the direction of a seismic disturbance unless you have 3 mechs on your team equipped with it and in range. As implemented now, as said before, this is essentially a legal wall hack. Also, if you move you should not be able to detect anything with your own mech lumbering around. Like it was mentioned earlier, maybe make it a consumable that you drop and move away. That way you can detect mechs coming from certain directions if they pass through the sensor area. Also, for some odd reason my enter key won't work in the forum, I tested it in wordpad and other forums and it works but not here.

Edited by AntharPrime, 28 May 2013 - 11:49 AM.

[Alik Kerensky]

Deathlike, on 28 May 2013 - 09:07 AM, said:

For the record, the last patch (not hotfix) removes the effect of ECM making teammates disappear off the radar (teammates disappear off the radar due to a different bug though).

That's weird cause all it was showing me was just red under the sesmic sensor and enemy ECM... but as soon as I rechecked it wasn't my bad.

Edited by Alik Kerensky, 28 May 2013 - 12:17 PM.

[Budor]

Easy fix to consider: Lower the update frequency drastically.

[HarmAssassin]

Yesterday I was using the seismic module on a light mech, and ran into a group of enemy mediums and heavies that obviously had it equipped as well. Despite being behind a mountain, I watched as they instantly turned to counter every evasive move I made. They knew exactly where I was (as I knew where they were), and I had ZERO chance to get away.

So much for sneaking (using cover/concealment) to flank the enemy... gone. Now they know exactly where you are, which direction you are traveling, etc.

This is truly no different than a wallhack.

On a different map, tried using tunnel to flank enemy (they were all on the ridge on frozen city). By the time I got to their end of the tunnel half their team was standing there waiting for me.

Thank you for removing what little skill was left in the game. What's next? How about introducing aimbot - module (to go with the wallhack-module)?

[MoonUnitBeta]

The range is good.
What I think would be fair and probably the best type of adjustment is to lower the refresh frequency a touch. I'm having some moments where i feel it's just right, but rarely am I stuck with "i know here's there but which way is he going?" , and i'm often watching my minimap to see how the mechs around me are moving. I'm good with knowing they're there.
It's so fast actually I watched it once and could almost time exactly when the enemy mech was going to crest the hill based off when it refreshed and I ended up coring him before he could even get his reticle on me.

Should probably reduce the accuracy of the blips as well on the minimap. Something like, 300-400m, the blip is in about a 25-30m radius approximation, 200-299 it's around 10m approximation, 200m and below it is 5m approximation.

End notes:
- Range is at a good range
- Blips on the minimap refresh too frequently
- Reduce accuracy of the blips the greater the distance is from the sensor (or as someone has mentioned above, significantly reduce the accuracy or negate the module's effects when your mech is in motion)

P.S. I understand the update frequency is related to the speed of the mechs...

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 28 May 2013 - 04:30 PM.

[L A V A]

As a scout I think it is great. Now I can use terrain and be able to do my job while not having to get shot to pieces trying to take a look.

[Ralgas]

Too much as is. I like the idea floated of range by weight class, however i'd only cut it into light/med and heavy/assault so it's not giving too much info away and for simplicities sake. Also drop at least 1/4 off range (ie 100/200 l/m and 150/300 h/a).

Edited by Ralgas, 28 May 2013 - 11:21 PM.