5 replies to this topic

[Tweaks]

The old thermal vision mode was wrong for many reasons and a lot of people found it overpowering for snipers. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's one of the reasons it was changed to the current monochromatic black and white mode.

Some people say it just takes time to get used to it, but personally, I think this mode is pretty much useless right now. One of the purpose of this mode was not only to spot players using their heat signature, but also to know who's running hot and is less of a threat because you know he will overheat if he alpha strikes you again. It's was also nice for flamer equipped 'Mechs to know which 'Mech to target first and more importantly, when to stop burning them.

The current mode doesn't really allow you to do that because the white on white blur does not show much contrast to indicate what is hot and what is cold. It's more "if it's white it's hot, if it's black it's cold". The base is just too bright and the different heat levels not contrasting enough to be able to clearly see it.

For example, if I see a single 'Mech in thermal, I have no scale to compare with to know if he's really hot, or just normally hot.

That brings me to suggestion...

The current mode would have to be modified as follows:

1. Increase the contrast of each heat level and display a scale bar on the HUD as a reference.
2. To make the contrast even better, add another colour to the scale. You could then have a scale going for example, from black to white to blue.
3. Increase the "tolerance" level of each heat level so that there's less of a smooth gradient and more of a stepped gradient.
4. Make thermal vision only work within a certain medium-short range (i.e. 400 meters or less) so that it can't be used by snipers like it used to.
5. Make the details (tolerance) higher the further away, meaning that past a certain range, you would only see a blur of a certain colour without any details (kind of like it was before but even worse in terms of blur).

Edited by Tweaks, 10 September 2013 - 10:52 AM.

[CPT Orangetayo]

Thermal vision is either white hot, or black hot. One mode could be better than the other for certain situations. We don't need colors necessarily, but I absolutely agree that the white hot areas need to taper off a lot quicker from the center of the mech outwards. When a mech begins firing, the arms/side torsos would start to glow accordingly.

[Tweaks]

CPT Orangetayo, on 10 September 2013 - 10:23 AM, said:

Thermal vision is either white hot, or black hot. One mode could be better than the other for certain situations. We don't need colors necessarily, but I absolutely agree that the white hot areas need to taper off a lot quicker from the center of the mech outwards. When a mech begins firing, the arms/side torsos would start to glow accordingly.

That's all I'm asking for really. More contrast so I can tell what is hotter and what is colder. Right now it's just one uniform blur without any contrast.

PS. You didn't vote.

Edited by Tweaks, 10 September 2013 - 10:26 AM.

[RandomLurker]

Heck with that, I want MagRes imaging from the canon Let's see through walls!

Voted yes btw.

[Tweaks]

Bump

[Foxfire]

CPT Orangetayo, on 10 September 2013 - 10:23 AM, said:

Thermal vision is either white hot, or black hot. One mode could be better than the other for certain situations. We don't need colors necessarily, but I absolutely agree that the white hot areas need to taper off a lot quicker from the center of the mech outwards. When a mech begins firing, the arms/side torsos would start to glow accordingly.

False.. White hot or black hot is used, ironically, for contrast reasons. The problem with their implementation is that there are conditions in which the depth perception and fidelity of the image are very questionable.

Look at a military grade thermal sensor and you'll see much better fidelity than what is represented in the game. I understand why they want to limit the range of thermal sensors in this game.. but the current implementation is more than worthless.. it is a hindrance at times with how bad it is.