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Quxudica, on 19 November 2014 - 06:52 AM, said:
Everytime we launch we see the readout of info on whatever nameless contextless space we will be killing eachother in. The readout shows us temperature data, gravity and surface water. What if there was more to it than that. What if more than just temperature made a difference to us.
What if planets had unique properties, electrical storms that messed with lock ons and uav spotting, severe wind that messed with ballistics, high or low gravity that affected fall damage, jump jet flight time and even movement speed. Thick atmospheres that reduced energy weapon range, thin or non-existent atmosphere's that increased them. Storms that made support strikes impossible. Maps with non-water rivers that corrode mech armor, slow mech movement, or frozen bodies of water that support light and medium mechs but shatter under the weight of an assault. Tectonic tremors that shake the map periodically, screwing with peoples aim. Meteor Showers that rain down on the map, no damage but visually awesome. There's an endless number of ideas they could use, yet every map except HPG could really just be Earth.
These are alien worlds and it would be so much more interesting if we cared about more than just how hot it was.
It occurred to me on the new Jungle map how much more awesome it would be if the thick fog and plant life screwed with minimap detection for enemy mechs, either reducing range, eliminating it entirely or causing sporadic blips, so that we could only reliably see the other team via visual. As it stands with the magical red box there's little benefit to "hiding" in fog or in foliage, if something isn't physically between you and the enemy you still get highlighted.
Of course such attributes would mess with builds, some might not even be viable. Which is why we should have map selection. Some weapons just do not work in some environments, they aren't meant to work in them and it's a part of the concept behind a "Thinking Man's Shooter" which MWO was touted as originally. You don't bring an MRLS into a place like the Jungle map, just like you don't bring a shotgun to something like Alpine. Every other shooter has this concept, you look at the map and decide what to outfit yourself with. MWO seems terrified of giving that control to the players however under the misguided assumption that it would destroy the games balance. I'd argue that, if knowing where you are dropping is enough to destroy the games balance, then something is already horribly wrong - either with your weapons or with your map design.
Negative and positive planetary attributes beyond heat would help give character to the battles, make it feel like a real place instead of just "Nameless Arenas #1 - 12". The new map could have a real vietnam vibe to it, but with the lack of characterization it's really just every other heat neutral map with new paint. Mono-tone green this time instead of brown or grey.
What if planets had unique properties, electrical storms that messed with lock ons and uav spotting, severe wind that messed with ballistics, high or low gravity that affected fall damage, jump jet flight time and even movement speed. Thick atmospheres that reduced energy weapon range, thin or non-existent atmosphere's that increased them. Storms that made support strikes impossible. Maps with non-water rivers that corrode mech armor, slow mech movement, or frozen bodies of water that support light and medium mechs but shatter under the weight of an assault. Tectonic tremors that shake the map periodically, screwing with peoples aim. Meteor Showers that rain down on the map, no damage but visually awesome. There's an endless number of ideas they could use, yet every map except HPG could really just be Earth.
These are alien worlds and it would be so much more interesting if we cared about more than just how hot it was.
It occurred to me on the new Jungle map how much more awesome it would be if the thick fog and plant life screwed with minimap detection for enemy mechs, either reducing range, eliminating it entirely or causing sporadic blips, so that we could only reliably see the other team via visual. As it stands with the magical red box there's little benefit to "hiding" in fog or in foliage, if something isn't physically between you and the enemy you still get highlighted.
Of course such attributes would mess with builds, some might not even be viable. Which is why we should have map selection. Some weapons just do not work in some environments, they aren't meant to work in them and it's a part of the concept behind a "Thinking Man's Shooter" which MWO was touted as originally. You don't bring an MRLS into a place like the Jungle map, just like you don't bring a shotgun to something like Alpine. Every other shooter has this concept, you look at the map and decide what to outfit yourself with. MWO seems terrified of giving that control to the players however under the misguided assumption that it would destroy the games balance. I'd argue that, if knowing where you are dropping is enough to destroy the games balance, then something is already horribly wrong - either with your weapons or with your map design.
Negative and positive planetary attributes beyond heat would help give character to the battles, make it feel like a real place instead of just "Nameless Arenas #1 - 12". The new map could have a real vietnam vibe to it, but with the lack of characterization it's really just every other heat neutral map with new paint. Mono-tone green this time instead of brown or grey.
Just two letters: - NO
Lasers in think atmosphere would work same, simply cause of relative quantum mechanic. Other thing if there would be atmosphere like water... but than all weapons become a trash.
Any way implementing such mechanics we make game unplayable. Better get more maps, fix for "assault" base spawns and give us FDE/Fully Destructible Environment.
Edited by Sachimon, 19 November 2014 - 11:46 AM.
