7 replies to this topic

[DAYLEET]

here is a cool idea that i would like to expand further.

1) The Dorito would have different form depending on the weight class.

2) The size of the dorito would represent the distance it is from you.

3) The dorito of the enemy team would stay simple unless your team have it targeted at the time. If your team lose target it goes back to being simple.

Edited by DAYLEET, 28 October 2015 - 09:43 AM.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

I'd rather see different minimap shapes for my team, to better see what's what.

Assaults could be a hollow circle, with a cross inside
Heavies could be a diamond
Mediums retain the current radar arrow blimp
Lights could be an I shape

Then Alpha Lance is say Purple, Bravo stays Blue, and Charlie uses the current active greenish color



And the enemy could then use the shapes. too and stay red.

[Khobai]

When you bring up the map overlay it needs to show a ragdoll and the loadouts of all 12 mechs on your team too.

Its totally dumb you cant see what weapons your teammates are using.

[Spleenslitta]

Praetor Knight, on 28 October 2015 - 10:08 AM, said:

I asked Solahma if we could add a small colored light to the dorito to indicate prefered engagement range.
Solahma went....well...he just seems quite angry with me.

That light could be something we decide on in the mechlab after our prefered engagement range.
For example we put the colored light inside the dorito itself to prevent clutter as Solahma pointed out.

Red light: Short range 0-180
Green: Medium 270-600
Blue: Long range 600- over 1000
Yellow: Jack of all ranges. Capable of hitting targets at all ranges. Mixed loadout.
Purple: LRM or standard PPC only???

Being able to target your teammates to know their loadouts is a good thing, but sometimes we need the information instantly no matter how incomplete that information is.

[Navid A1]

Solahma's idea makes too much sense ===> not gonna happen.




You see.... there are many factors in this game that are still in beta. As an example, because the map selection is completely random, it would be very logical for players to at least be able to choose... or even see lance drop locations... before the match starts. Players should even be able to drop all the lances in one spot (with a 30 sec penalty between lance drops).
It also creates some degree of unpredictability and gives some purpose to scouting.
Nothing is more frustrating than seeing the MM screw a match for you and you can not do anything about it. (e.g. assault lance in the middle of nowhere in alpine... battle is finished when they arrive)


Look at the utterly useless battlegrid for example. The UI design is non-existent. its just a blob of lines and texts mashed together. Its just...there. You were supposed to have more info about your lances and mechs than the normal minimap... not looking at the large blue text mesh!


As another example, you can see the enemy load-outs (even his UAC jam status)... but for some reason you can not have the same info about your own team mates... even their detailed paperdoll. Does anyone know how valuable that single piece of info is when the battle comes to a final 3v3 or 2v2!?


As is said, if it makes sense... then its not happening!

Edited by Navid A1, 28 October 2015 - 10:36 AM.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Spleenslitta, on 28 October 2015 - 10:21 AM, said:

I asked Solahma if we could add a small colored light to the dorito to indicate prefered engagement range.
Solahma went....well...he just seems quite angry with me.

That light could be something we decide on in the mechlab after our prefered engagement range.
For example we put the colored light inside the dorito itself to prevent clutter as Solahma pointed out.

Red light: Short range 0-180
Green: Medium 270-600
Blue: Long range 600- over 1000
Yellow: Jack of all ranges. Capable of hitting targets at all ranges. Mixed loadout.
Purple: LRM or standard PPC only???

Being able to target your teammates to know their loadouts is a good thing, but sometimes we need the information instantly no matter how incomplete that information is.

Well, maybe.

I use Q to see where the blue blobs are and try to decipher mech variants to guess what we have on our team. With the extra titles, it can often easily get washed out.

Then I like the idea of using either Tab, and/or the minimap to be able to display additional Teammate info.

And when holding Q and placing your arm crosshair/reticle over a Teammate to see there loadout and health state instantly appear as if targeting an enemy. And only when holding Q, and enemy info stays as-is.


With Ranges, I was thinking of just keeping the current Range Finder in place.

[Spleenslitta]

Just had a small idea for how we could shape the symbols so we know which way the heavy, assault and light symbols are facing.

Light symbol gets a pointer at the end. Just like the arrow symbol on your keyboard arrow keys.
Heavy diamond gets the side spikes go back a a bit. Or it could just be a simple pyramid with a narrower base.
Assault symbol get's a sharp part on it's circle in the way it's pointing.

[Solahma]

Spleenslitta, on 28 October 2015 - 10:21 AM, said:

Solahma went....well...he just seems quite angry with me.

It's easy to read text in the worst way possible. Please don't mistake my critical feedback with anger

Spleenslitta, on 28 October 2015 - 10:21 AM, said:

Red light: Short range 0-180
Green: Medium 270-600
Blue: Long range 600- over 1000
Yellow: Jack of all ranges. Capable of hitting targets at all ranges. Mixed loadout.
Purple: LRM or standard PPC only???

Limiting these to as little as possible is probably best. Red->Orange->Yellow for ranges. Blue for a larger amount of LRMs/PPCs than any other weapon system.

You can determine their build's range by using a formula like:
(((Nominal Range * Weapon Quantity)*3) + (Max Range * Weapon Quantity)) divided by (Weapon Quantity * 4)

This puts 3 times more weight on a build's nominal range and considers all weapons and how many. I use this formula for my mech statistics spreadsheet to determine the builds best engagement distance. Of course this isn't always accurate. Such as when a mech has 2 ERLL and 6 Small Lasers for example. But it does pretty well.

Going off this idea, you would have a pretty decent idea of what a mech's purpose is.

A mix build indicator wouldn't really be necessary. If it was present, many builds would fall into that category with only a few that don't. Also, where to the system draw a line on a mixed build? TBH, we don't need that much information communicated with something like this. Short, Medium, Long range indicators would suffice. Possibly an LRM and PPC indicator to show they have a minimum range.

The biggest problem with this is the build diversity in the game. You're not going to avoid help from a "long range" laser vomit assault mech just because he isn't rated as "close range". The quickest asset available is typically the best. If I have a 2LPL+5ERML build, or 1GAUSS+6ERML, rated for 600m combat, it can still turn around and sink a 61 alpha into something you need help killing at any closer range. So why is that less valuable than a brawler medium with nothing but SRMs? It really isn't IMO. So then what's the point if most mechs can handle most situations?

Edited by Solahma, 28 October 2015 - 03:36 PM.