10 replies to this topic

[Shadowmant]

One of my biggest concerns with the game is information warfare and the ability to make it useful.

From the Developer videos (and admittedly they are very limited) it seems like even the longest range weapons don't seem to have that impressive of a range. It looks like about 1 kilometer is about the limit and that gap seem to be closed pretty quickly. Will information warfare allow us to extend our teams effective range at all?

I'm also concerned about the "Line of sight". I love the ideas the devs have stated, however, it seems like by the time most weapons are in range you have your own LoS and don't need a scout at that point. If this is the case, why bother with light scouts when mediums and heavies can get in there, shoot away and feed back location info to the team.

Don't get me wrong, the game is not done and the information we have is very limited at this point so my questions are probably spurred by my ignorance, however, this is one key area my fingers are crossed for and that I hope they get right!

[Vosgedzam]

I think the purpose of the lights is to force you to be "environmental aware" which means you want to make sure there's no light behind you. The lights can still spot you far away to allow his Cata mate to fire LRMs at you while you are getting there blindly. A good scout is the most dangerous threat to you, and/or to your lance mates.

Edited by Vosgedzam, 01 July 2012 - 02:19 AM.

[Fire for Effect]

Its information WARFARE so you have to wrestle the information from them...

[Connor Pratima]

Shadowmant, on 01 July 2012 - 01:55 AM, said:

One of my biggest concerns with the game is information warfare and the ability to make it useful.

Agree. This could be a very interesting and creative part of game play. I'm hoping they give us some scripting capabilities so that we can come up with our "exploits" in the information arena (not to cheat/or allow thinks that would break the game).

Shadowmant, on 01 July 2012 - 01:55 AM, said:

From the Developer videos (and admittedly they are very limited) it seems like even the longest range weapons don't seem to have that impressive of a range. It looks like about 1 kilometer is about the limit and that gap seem to be closed pretty quickly. Will information warfare allow us to extend our teams effective range at all?

I'm also concerned about the "Line of sight". I love the ideas the devs have stated, however, it seems like by the time most weapons are in range you have your own LoS and don't need a scout at that point. If this is the case, why bother with light scouts when mediums and heavies can get in there, shoot away and feed back location info to the team.

1km is the max range of the IS weapons I remember and LoS is all part of it. Hopefully, we'll be able to use scouts/drones to provide fire control solutions for targets not in the line of sight which would also be a kind information warfare.

[Noesis]

Information warfare is an important tactical consideration most pilots and teams need to consider.

To some extent it would also be nice to see the interplay of any relevant overview or command tools that Piranha intend to introduce or make available as tactical tools as an extension to the HUD. One example of this might be any overhead map.

Considering that information is intrinsically shared amongst fellow team members on the battlefield and certainly more relevant as a real time consideration for tactical knowledge, it will be important to also be able to gauge how cumbersome these tools might or might not be so as to realise their aid as information tools.

I'm kind of really hoping that Piranha could consider a debrief (video if possible) on the commander role elements with respect to including the applied use of tactial/information aids, whilst at the same time perhaps expanding further on the information sharing process generally for all pilots.

[Mad Squig]

The other thing that Scouts can give you is Eyes on your target, allowing you to fire your LRM's indirectly.

Never underestimate the damage that 4 LRM-20's can do. They will shread a light in 1 or 2 salvos, and cripple most other mechs.

At least in the Table-Top game they will. And since the Dev's are basing MWO on that I would assume it would be the same.

[BigJim]

Vosgedzam, on 01 July 2012 - 02:16 AM, said:

. The lights can still spot you far away to allow his Cata mate to fire LRMs at you while you are getting there blindly. A good scout is the most dangerous threat to you, and/or to your lance mates.

IDD; My founder's cat is going to be hidden in the most sneaky spot I can find, passive radar & dropping LRMs on people who didn't even know we had a cat in our team.

Fly my pretty ravens! Go find me baddies to spam! XD

[Xando]

we just don't know until we get in game

[Noesis]

Xando, on 01 July 2012 - 05:31 AM, said:

we just don't know until we get in game

We have been given some useful pieces of information from various sources:

Developer Blog

Developer Q&A thread

And a couple of the offical vids that detail the light mech and information role.

As such the main purpose of this thread (as presented by the OP) is to intentionally explore in further detail some of the questions the playerbase has surrounding information warfare.

[Kristarian]

I also have a concern with combat ranges, as someone stated by the looks of the vids by the time the scouts have found the enemy and lit them up so to speak, your medium and heavier are pretty much in close range. Make the maps larger so the lights and scouts can do what they are supposed to do, move out in front of the main assalt, sometimes miles ahead, hide, spot, and report to those with the LRM's and other long range boomers. I mean the missile tech of even today have ranges of 5 miles or more. I know as someone who is planning of driving a light/scout I would NOT want to find myself amongst a bunch of big ole ground pounders beating the dog snot out of each other, get in quietly, spot and when the fur starts flying get the heck out of the way.
But that's just my humble opinion.

[Synra]

I think some of you are not quite understanding the concept of information warfare. More than anything, it's about knowing where the enemies are. I saw a video recently where (Russ?) was explaining that in previous mechwarrior games you could simply hit your target button and your hud would target the enemy mechs anywhere on the map, and see just what they are and where they are. The only way they were hidden to you is if they were powered down. So in those older games you were always aware of the enemy threats and could go into battle prepared.

But have you ever played a first person shooter online? Not knowing where you will encounter the next enemy player? Sometimes walking around a corner and suddenly there is an enemy with a rocket launcher 5 feet in front of you?

Those are two examples of what information warfare is. In one case, knowing where the enemies are, and in the other case, you are wandering around blind, having no idea what you might run into. And remember, in MWO you don't respawn, so walking around a hill and coming face to face with an atlas you had no idea was there, could be a critical mistake. I remember a dev quote that said after a few battles beta testers tend to start playing more cautiously. With the lack of respawns, and not necessarily knowing where the enemies are, I expect there will be a certain thrill / fear to the gameplay of MWO.