64 replies to this topic

[Asbjorn Jorgensson]

I apologise for my poorly written post. I agree with all your points and I made a poor attempt at explaining it. Thank you for correcting me.

I do not like our instant convergence either. Yeah, there has to be a reason for the pinpoint efficiency and a slow convergence is the way to go. Hmm would you recommend multiple reticles to account for the slow convergence so that you would know that it would hit those spots if fired? The targeting computer should do at least know that much, though it may probably be too complex to implement.

I favour a slow convergence mechanic for arm mounted weapons and a fixed convergence mechanic for torso mounted weapons. Also I favour a slower convergence mechanic for smaller weapons such as lasers vs bigger weapons such as AC20s and Gauss. It is probably too painful and too complex to implement though.

[Unbound Inferno]

Not multiple, oh hell not multiple.

One reticle that maybe increases in size as the shots become more inaccurate due to heat or other effects would be my preferred way. Its been around here somewhere before, so I'd need to search for it. Basically its what we have now - crosshairs for the torso weapons and a circle for the arms. They spread out and get bigger to indicate the shots becoming more inaccurate.

Then a second effect on the targeting box of the target to display the convergence tracking. My only insisting part on direct fire convergence is it should be done only with LOS. Lose that line of sight and you gotta start over, leading to less continual accuracy in a skirmish.

I see it essentially taking the corners of the box and bending them out to extend to the full Diamond shape with the Target Box within. The lock is automatic so long as the target is in LOS and targeted – it’s a visual display to show the slight delay to get the weapons to converge properly. It can be lost if the LOS is broken, forcing the weapons back to their default convergence points. However its not like the Missile Lock where it is completely lost, it begins to fade from the Diamond back to the Square and can be caught partial to reaquire it quickly.

Personally I'd lean on it being quicker than a missile lock, but not too much more.

Any number of ideas have been around for the regular convergence, and the more popular is that torso weapons just don't converge - only arms can do that. This forces many builds to just accept you'll never get pinpoint hits on all your weapons. But depending on the target's size you might still hit a certain part hard with most if not all of them. An Awesome or Atlas for example can't be missed, but a commando might only get one or two on a particular part from something like a Stalker's shot.

[Asbjorn Jorgensson]

Actually the larger reticle size is better than what I suggested. Yeah that makes a lot of sense. I mean the original idea is to show where you may hit if you fire at that range, but a decreasing reticle size to show convergence makes a lot more sense for a UI.

I like the idea of the LOS convergence for arms. I would like to recommend for some small bits of controls that allow you to lock on the last range that you converge at so the arms would not move to the default position. which is a converging target of whatever distance you last set it on? Maybe also use the scroll button to manually change the convergence point of the arms? Also small features such as when you look to the right you have a reticle also that converges faster since you are only firing from that arm? Features that may make the game too complicated but does add to the Mech simulator ideals?

I think Torsos should have fixed convergence because if they can only fire straight then you have to program a system of crosshairs which moves depending on the range of the target which would be needlessly complicated. If the Atlas is in your face, your torso crosshairs are outside your screen, makes designs such as Hollander hard to use. i.e. fighter jets analogy.

[Unbound Inferno]

Well, they are relatively simple solutions I would think - but a pain to do I imagine. Each individual mech needs reworking to get their particular convergence limitations.

I am partial now towards the torso weapons just being blind-fire forward instead of converging for simplicity, then just leave the arms as adjustable. Add that timed delay for LOS lock to converge properly and that should be about it in most cases.

The biggest problem with snipers and alphastrikes is that convergence without a target - but limiting that it ends up drastically hindering the damage accuracy against most mechs. Which only leaves the penalty system overhaul for the variable accuracy if they run hot continually needing to be implemented and tweaked for balance purposes.


Overall I'm pleased with how the poll is turning out so far. Most of us want the basic problem fixed to solve this - its more or less up to the devs if they pay attention and fix it.

[CancR]

Battletech won by no close margin. Battletech blow out