39 replies to this topic

[CobraFive]

I think a decent dynamic terrain system would add loads to this game.

A big mech could crash through buildings instead of around them! Of course doing so would waste ammo/time or whatever. But it'd be pretty menacing to smash through everything between you and your enemy.

[PsihoKekec]

I would love to see the option of demolishing buildings and pushing them on the enemies. Anyway, since this will be MMO they can always add it later if it's not in at the beginning.

[MaddMaxx]

A Deformable environment would be very cool. Destroying large buildings can take a lot of explosives (or a large Airplane) in RL,

Now blowing out large chunck and creating holes that could be shot through, oh yaaah! Last thing you want is to jump up on a roof and end up in the basement covered in tons of debris thus ending your career.

[TheRulesLawyer]

I hope its only partial. As cools as destroying the level looks, it quickly ends up being rubble. BF3 has the feel right here. There is a lot of stuff you can break, but enough stuff that you can't so games don't end up in featureless wastelands.

[Iron Horse]

I never thought about the massive amount of dust a collapsed building would kick off, and especially how this would affect LOS, and possibly even communications!

cobrafive, on 09 November 2011 - 03:34 PM, said:

I think a decent dynamic terrain system would add loads to this game.

A big mech could crash through buildings instead of around them! Of course doing so would waste ammo/time or whatever. But it'd be pretty menacing to smash through everything between you and your enemy.

This would be awesome! I can already picture the urban combat scenarios! Makes me want to dust off a Hollander and take up an elevated sniping position inside of a tall tower !

Edited by Iron Horse, 21 November 2011 - 09:08 PM.

[rollermint]

I strongly suspect that they are taking a lot of notes from World of Tanks so I'm convinced we are going to see destructible buildings and trees. Simple ones, not as detailed as Destruction Engine 3 obviously (ala BF3)...well, they only have 8 months to a year anyway.

So yeah, play WoT and you probably will have a very good idea how MWO will be.

Edited by rollermint, 18 November 2011 - 06:56 PM.

[pizza koopa]

Its possible, but I do not know if it will be implemented. Honestly, MechAssault did a good job of building destruction and making your mech feel really powerful. (But I want this game to have nothing to do with MA, as everyone knows why).

I think it has always been part of the series. I do hope the urban environments are destructable, because it will be really boring if they are like the cities in MW4. Which just felt like a labyrinth to fight in.

Fortunately under the F2P model, they will be seeking to constantly improve the game, and if it is not there at launch it does not mean it wont be there later. Here is to hoping though that everything is destroyable at launch.

[DFDelta]

Some smaller buildings should be destructible by weapon fire, or even when a heavy mech (or 2 or more lights) jumps on it. Bigger ones should not be possible to destroy.

[Webclaw]

They should be able to achieve destructible environments due to CryEngine 3 they're using, Crysis 1/Warhead and Crysis 2 implemented it without going over board on it.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

I like the idea of being able to blow holes in the walls of some buildings, or use a mechs hands to open the doors of a warehouse to hide in side.

[Woodstock]

When they announced the cryengine 3 thing I went onto the youtube site for it ... and you clearly see grenades being shot into huts and the hut going BOOM.

So I think from what I saw that the physics are there ... no idea if they will be implemented in MWO

[MaddMaxx]

The whole running a Mech through a building would not be possible "if" when the Mech (say a Medium 50T) initially ran into the building itself and actually made it deep enough in and then didn't immediately fall 2-3 stories into the basement and be immobilized.

Now think of it this way. If the floor the Mech is standing on does not immediately collapse under it weight, all the subsequent floors above it, and their similar concrete and re-bar construction, would also be of sufficient strength to also hold it up and as such, stop it cold in its tracks.

Now that is not say that during the Battle enough structure is not remove to open a whole large enough to actually smash through to the other side but in most cases, it would be much more efficient and timely to simple walk around to the other side.

Edited by MaddMaxx, 19 November 2011 - 07:52 AM.

[EGG]

BF3 handles it in a fairly intelligent way with the two aims being graphics (chunks flying out of walls on Seine/Metro) or altering tactics (fences/walls - Kharg), it's not just implemented haphazardly.

- Not all weapons can destroy any destructible terrain
- Nothing can be used as a city-leveler
- There's more than anyone can feasibly destroy
- destructible terrain is only used in objective points, or access-ways leading to them.
- vehicles can get bogged when trying to take out sections of buildings
- terrain can be destroyed to alter tactics, but not to completely rewrite them, eg you cannot collapse the floors in the Offices on Kharg.

The MWO devs essentially need to come up with a set of rules so that it enhances existing gameplay rather than detracts from it.

Edited by EGG, 20 November 2011 - 06:55 AM.

[izoli]

Haeso, on 09 November 2011 - 09:29 AM, said:

If we can destroy buildings they had better take some serious firepower to bring down and cause massive visibility problems with smoke and debris. One of the things that annoyed me in mech assault was any map with buildings eventually turned into a flat plane with no buildings as teams set up huge firing lines only leaving the buildings they wanted to use as cover standing. I'm in favor of partial destruction that leaves piles of debris rather than total removal, so it still functions as cover, perhaps if the building was small at the start it wouldn't be much help, but a tall building should cause damage to anything nearby when destroyed and leave a pile of rubble big enough to block LoS/Weapons fire.

I agree with this, I don't mind the destrucable idea, but if large buildings can be it should take a lot of firepower, cause damage to nearby mechs, cause a very large dust cloud, and leave a large pile of debris.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

It's the best way to fight the Clan's when they arrive - lure them into evacuated cities, ambush them & collapse buildings on them & then set the whole thing on fire - mmm B-B-Q Clanner After all, if were going to lose a world eventually, theres no point in leaving anything worth having. IS is going to havwe to think USSR V Germany and "scorched earth"

[Fear Radick]

With the crytek engine it should certainly be possible. Keeping the damage persistent from battle to battle I think would be difficult, unless they devise more of a percentage method for it. Rather than having specific damage stay persistent, t hey could say have various texture packs that reflect a certain amount of warfare that has happened in the urban environment.

[Iron Horse]

CaveMan, on 09 November 2011 - 02:10 PM, said:

I want to be able to set fires and use the smoke to block LOS. Would make the Firestarter an extremely useful 'Mech to have in your company. Set up some fires upwind of the enemy to screen your assault, then move in with heavy firepower while he's blind.

This is a great mental image! I would love to see a raging battle in the middle of a fire zone! Ever since I started reading the novels this has been an especially hard-to-shake image of BattleTech to me. It would be so awesome to actually be there and have to fight through it!

[Iron Horse]

EGG, on 20 November 2011 - 06:54 AM, said:

BF3 handles it in a fairly intelligent way with the two aims being graphics (chunks flying out of walls on Seine/Metro) or altering tactics (fences/walls - Kharg), it's not just implemented haphazardly.

- Not all weapons can destroy any destructible terrain
- Nothing can be used as a city-leveler
- There's more than anyone can feasibly destroy
- destructible terrain is only used in objective points, or access-ways leading to them.
- vehicles can get bogged when trying to take out sections of buildings
- terrain can be destroyed to alter tactics, but not to completely rewrite them, eg you cannot collapse the floors in the Offices on Kharg.

The MWO devs essentially need to come up with a set of rules so that it enhances existing gameplay rather than detracts from it.

This style of gameplay seems to be exactly what we're all talking about, and seems to parallel CityTech rules too.
BF3 runs on Frostbite 2 engine, unfortunately though, so probably no chances for any kind of direct porting of that type of terrain modification system.
I couldn't find any info on how well CryEngine3 handles this stuff. Does anyone here have experience with or know how adept CryEngine is with deformable terrain?

Edited by Iron Horse, 21 November 2011 - 09:18 PM.

[Silent]

CryEngine3 can handle destruction pretty well. Chunks can fly out of walls, dust will kick up, trees react to physical force and will sever from bullets, looks like there's support for procedural destruciton and physics from the demonstrations of the engine. Not sure if that is only feasible for "cinematic moments" beyond the players control or if it could be applied to the game with Mechs crashing through buildings.

[Moppelkotze]

Even in the first Crysis you could destroy a hut with a grenade.
You even could destroy single parts or beat them away (thanks to the nano suit).
So the CryEngine 3 should be capable of destroying buildings and destroying them partially.

This video shows how someone beats some kind of small house to nothing.

Edited by Moppelkotze, 22 November 2011 - 03:29 AM.