51 replies to this topic

[wanderer]

Some 'Mechs canonically have lights along these lines, like the old Unseen Warhammer.

There's definitely times I'd cheerfully flip one on.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Yes there should be a "key" to turn on night /low light beams. And I am sure there are/should be standard night obstacle avoidance lights on all Mech's, for use in non tactical environments. (I could sure use one in the tunnel on forest colony.)

- And as with all image devices, there needs to be a "gain" dial for the amount of contrast, that alone would satisfy most players that say the image is too bright. (just turn down the intensity)
- I wouldn't want to go button crazy and ask for a "hot" white/black switch for thermal as it's not that bad when used at night. But for daylight use, you would normally switch the hot to black.

As a note, true real life night vision (image intensifiers) can be "over saturated" and shut down for a short time, even with nearly instant shutters, still happens. And technically just firing those huge guns is enough to have the system "blink" during the actual fire sequence. The current real life "next generation" Gen5Mod has the ability to render night images in colour, so the all green we see in game now could be a thing of the past. [ though you will loose some distance on the colour field of depth.]

Tactically during night battles, switching the light on could be a tactical advantage if you close with an enemy Mech that is using "night vision", temporarily blind them for maybe just the amount of time you need to move and fire. Before the advent of thermal, and night vision, most real tanks actually had "unbelievably bright" Arc/spot lights for night combat. With a range of about 1.5Km pin point beam, bright enough that even during the day if one was trained on you from about 800mtrs you suddenly got very hot. And if you made the mistake of looking at the light, were blinded for a few seconds. Try making out the outline of a truck that has it's high beams aimed right at you, not going to happen.

Just some thoughts,
9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 03 February 2014 - 01:02 AM.

[Tewaz]

I think it should be a component only mountable in the heads of mechs and it should weigh in at 0.5 tons.

[Prezimonto]

Bhael Fire, on 11 September 2013 - 11:22 AM, said:

I support the idea of floodlights being standard on mechs and for enhanced optics like Nightvision and Thermal to be part of an Advanced Optics module instead of being standard.

THIS.

[SuperBroHeroFella]

Nothing says COME AT ME BRO like flood lights.

[Durahl]

For everyone NOT sold to the Idea of having Flood Lights mounted on a giant, angry Robot:
Video set to skip to 0:23 where the action starts but actually worth watching every second
I simply love this movie.

[wanderer]

Quote

I think it should be a component only mountable in the heads of mechs and it should weigh in at 0.5 tons.

'Mech sized searchlights are indeed .5 tons in TT, but don't need to be head-mounted only.

Just give them a weapons group option when installed so you flip them on/off as needed (and give TAG the same "always on" toggle ability as well.)

[tucsonspeed6]

Anyone know how cryengine handles light sources? That's not rhetorical... I really don't know. But if it's doing ray tracing on 24 different moving sources over a network, it might be performance inhibitive.

It could very well be impossible to add that feature at all.

[Sephlock]

Tweaks, on 10 September 2013 - 10:46 AM, said:

Does not only counters the night vision of enemies, but also your own and your teammates'.

Trolls would abuse the hell out of this.

[Timuroslav]

Not really, Flood lights typically need minutes to warm up. Since this is the future... They could have like a 5 second warm up delay and Cool down. Flickering the Flood lights on and off will cause them to Burn out. Aka not usuable for the rest of the match. Assign a special key to the keyboard. Have them generate like an extra 1% heat when on. In addition they have miniscule Hitboxes and Viola Done!


Not to mention Flood lights are Standard on MOST mechs not ALL mechs.

However having the Cone of Illumination be shared among all the players could create player side problems.
But, it is an opportunity to make Mech Chasis even More Unique.

Edited by Timuroslav, 14 February 2014 - 01:04 PM.

[stjobe]

wanderer, on 14 February 2014 - 04:29 AM, said:

'Mech sized searchlights are indeed .5 tons in TT, but don't need to be head-mounted only.

Almost, the first one's free:

Quote

combat vehicles and 'Mechs may have a larger mounted searchlight at no cost in weight, slots or C-Bills. Additional mounted searchlights adhere to standard core construction rules, and for both vehicles and 'Mechs weigh .5 tons and take up one critical slot in 'Mechs, combat and support vehicles.

And these aren't some piddly little hand-held torches:

Quote

Heavier and larger searchlights mounted on vehicles and Mechs can light up targets as far away as five kilometers with thousands of watts of illumination.

Quote

mounted searchlights have a range of 30 [hexes].

(all quotes from sarna)

wanderer, on 14 February 2014 - 04:29 AM, said:

Just give them a weapons group option when installed so you flip them on/off as needed (and give TAG the same "always on" toggle ability as well.)

Agreed.

Edited by stjobe, 16 February 2014 - 02:51 PM.

[Deadmeat313]

Definitely support this. Off the top of my head the Warhammer, Rifleman and Guillotine all have searchlights.

We probably won't get the first two - but even just for the Guillotine it'd be worth it.

[Sirslicey]

This is actually a great idea. I'm surprised they haven't thought of something like this.

[Wildstreak]

I recall from TT only certain Mechs had such lights, offhand I remember the Warhammer and Rifleman. The look of the design had to support it.

[The Shredder]

Raise awareness of this LONG overdue game addition! Bump THIS thread and bump: http://mwomercs.com/...5896-headlamps/
The engine already has all the tools they need to add player-mounted light sources. Add in a few more night maps, maybe a foggy cliff-side map... Come on PGI, let's play with some light!

[Koniving]

I think the generating heat part is unnecessary, though a brighter signature on thermal isn't a big deal.

For a con quite simply they are BRIGHT, directional sources of light warning everyone of where you are and which way you are looking at.

[Exilyth]

Thread about Searchlights... y u no link to sarna? http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Searchlight

If it weren't for the engine constraints, this would be a great addition.

[stjobe]

Exilyth, on 06 July 2014 - 02:49 AM, said:

Thread about Searchlights... y u no link to sarna? http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Searchlight

If it weren't for the engine constraints, this would be a great addition.

Er, didn't read the thread did you? I linked to Sarna in post #31 above

Edited by stjobe, 06 July 2014 - 05:53 AM.

[Exilyth]

stjobe, on 06 July 2014 - 03:17 AM, said:

Er, didn't read the thread did you? I linked to Sarna in post #31 above

Sorry, didn't see that between all the quotes.

[stjobe]

Exilyth, on 06 July 2014 - 06:15 AM, said:

Sorry, didn't see that between all the quotes.

...quotes from the sarna page on floodlights