10 replies to this topic

[Dlardrageth]

Even as far back as in the original tabletop game there were certain influencing factors on the battle as a possibility. That were dependent on certain... let's call them "random" factors. Like weather. And athmospheric pressure. And torrential downpour. And ground conditions. And what not...

To what extent do we really wish for PGI to incorporate that? Let's take two different battlefields on two different hypothetical planets as an example.

Planet A is an arid desert planet. Frequent sandstorms, a wind that basically never ceases totally, rather high daytime and low nighttime temperatures, not much in terms of seasons. Obviously daytime battle could suffer from somewhat reduced heat sink efficiency, making energy weapons like lasers/PPCs not the preferred weapon systems while turning Flamers e.g. into a real asset. Sandstorms and windy conditions also might turn missile weapons a bit less accurate than usual. If you happen to fight in/near a fertile strip/an oasis, chances are every misfire of an energy weapon will set the trees/bushes/etc. on fire. Quicksand spots might be an issue for even heavier Mech classes if they grow big enough. On a clear day though you will have excellent visibility and will spot an enemy from far off unless he hides behind a dune/ridge.

Planet B now is a cold, chilly place, quite mountainous and with some serious ore deposits underground. Which make the MAD sensors of your Mech mostly useless when fighting there. Also rapidly chnaging weather with servere snowstorms are no rarity, although they sledom have an impact on the below zero temperatures (zero degree celsius). Obviously your heat sinks work extremely well, as you can been seens standing knee-deep in snow half the time in your Mech. Skidding is a serious issue though, you never know if there isn't ice under that harmless looking snow strip ahead. And if you happen to be on a mission at night during a snowstorm, your visibility will be utter crap. Which can work both ways, especially for a recon Mech/Lance.


I'm pretty sure there are lots of other "planetary" factors I didn't even mention here, like gravity, instability on a tectonic level which might lead to sporadic volcanic outburts, etc, etc., etc.

Question here is, what kind of detail for these factors would we like from PGI? I'd rather like it high and varied, but might be alone with that wish, Also, what amount of random factor should be involved? Should we know what basically might await us before landing? At least in terms of general terrain, if not atmospheric weather conditions? Or should it be a complete roll of the dice every time, eventually even including day-/nighttime?

I expect most of the maps to be known to some degree once the game has been released for a while. Unless some sort of random mapgenerator will be implemented. But weather conditions and day-/nighttime options can make the same map a different experience many more times over IMHO.

Edited by Dlardrageth, 26 November 2011 - 01:26 PM.

[Black Sunder]

PGI has already said there would be different types of battlefield ranging from the cold to the hot.

I just want to wade into a nice pool of water, waist or torso deep and drink in all that water.

[Alistair Steiner]

I'm good for full and varied places/weather. There should certainly be a basic overview of the place (hey, it's icy, or hey, looks like a desert), and even some meteorological info, depending on the planet and the level of sensors on your DropShip. "Looks like a sandstorm is about to hit," or "Low-pressure system heading in. Expect wind and rain. Maybe a lightning storm." Something along those lines. Basically, I don't want "Desert day map, dark, rainy swamp map, clear grassy field map." We need various maps, and each have varying weather, time of day, etc. And of course, it would all have a major effect (or at least, a minor effect) on the gameplay.

ALSO, if it's raining, I would kill to see steam rise off of the 'Mechs when they're running hot, or especially off the barrels of the weapons after they fire, particularly lasers and PPCs. Just a thought.

[MaddMaxx]

Alistair Steiner, on 26 November 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

ALSO, if it's raining, I would kill to see steam rise off of the 'Mechs when they're running hot, or especially off the barrels of the weapons after they fire, particularly lasers and PPCs. Just a thought.

No worries. Everyone with a Pair of Quad Core 3.5 Ghz chips backed with a Pair of 4GB SLI's videos cards should be super excited.

I love the idea personally. But Tech may be an issue.

Edited by MaddMaxx, 26 November 2011 - 03:26 PM.

[verybad]

If physics is properly implemented, something on a low grav moon might be fun. Also make it no atmosphere, and super hot in the sun/super cold in shadows.

Other things I would like to see would be rivers with current that can knock you over, a fight in a cave system where you can shoot rocks off the cieling to fall onto opponents,

Fights in a canyon system where some mechs might have the capability to jump over a canyon (and some mechs might die trying ) though this is more of a map than a planetary condition..

I'm not fond of the lightning storm idea because random damage to a mech would just be irritating. Everything in a game should be something you can react to and use to your advantage or minimize problems.

A burning city might be good...

Edited by verybad, 26 November 2011 - 04:01 PM.

[Red Beard]

Having a map covered in thick patches of fog would be downright awesome. Imagine an Atlas walking out of a fog bank only twenty paces away. That might be intense!

Good topic.

[Cyttorak]

The updated technology should allow for a lot of terrain variation. I hope the different conditions have a real effect on gameplay. I can only hope that the devs include a random map generator (as long as it functions ok).

[Pht]

It would totally rock to see not only the colder and hotter conditions... but also things like sand storms (diablolis!) that affect energy weapons, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, swamps, mudpits, underwater and no atmosphere battles...

[Kaemon]

Terrain variation should be good, and the low grav/varying surfaces (ice,water,sand) that affect movement in different ways would be great as well.

actual weather effects are very hard (that's why you don't see them alot in online games) they suck up a ton of resources and generally cause performance issues (unless you do a 'off in the distance' type of thing).

I've said it in other posts, a map with interactive terrain that allows limited underwater movement would be awesome, seeing an atlas come up out of the water, steams coming off the hot spots, would cause an immediate need for a change of shorts.

[Dlardrageth]

Hm, that underwater idea triggered a fond memory of a certain underwater mission in the old MW games. I think it was a part of MW2:GBL if I'm not mistaken. I do remember though you had to swap out (well, actually it was done automatically) some equipment. Like your missile weapons were substitued by microtorpedoes and energy weapon range severely diminished or something. Good times...

[Alistair Steiner]

verybad, on 26 November 2011 - 04:00 PM, said:

If physics is properly implemented, something on a low grav moon might be fun. Also make it no atmosphere, and super hot in the sun/super cold in shadows.

There's a map in MWLL (I forget which one) that has this. Even has an area of "water" (it's like, purple-green or something) that freezes when the asteroid rotates to the cold side. I was covering a Long Tom, and he suddenly blew up after firing. Seems he didn't account for the heat not dissipating nearly as fast since it was in the "day cycle." Also, each cycle only lasted a few minutes. Made for an interesting match, to be sure. Also, Demolishers liked to hide in the "water" and tear apart 'Mechs that were wading through.