20 replies to this topic

[11 lazrs errwhere 11]

I can kind of see what weapons they have by looking at their physical mech (obviously a huge barrel is a ballistic weapon, and a bunch of orange dots are LRMs, etc.)

But why am I not allowed to get detailed info on their weapon loadout like I can when I target an enemy? Is there a reason I'm not allowed to? I vaguely remember wayy way back during Open Beta I used to be able to see my teammates' weapon loadouts, but maybe I'm just imagining things. I only played for about a month back then after all.

[martian]

11 lazrs errwhere 11, on 16 August 2016 - 12:15 AM, said:

I can kind of see what weapons they have by looking at their physical mech (obviously a huge barrel is a ballistic weapon, and a bunch of orange dots are LRMs, etc.)

But why am I not allowed to get detailed info on their weapon loadout like I can when I target an enemy? Is there a reason I'm not allowed to? I vaguely remember wayy way back during Open Beta I used to be able to see my teammates' weapon loadouts, but maybe I'm just imagining things. I only played for about a month back then after all.

In my opinion, there is no other reason than PGI's laziness and incompetence.

[The Basilisk]

Performance.
To reduce the strain on background database servers and avoid further issues with loading laggs and desyncs.

[mailin]

We've never been able to. Which, in my opinion, makes sense. If you want to know, all you have to do is ask your friendly mechs.

[Jingseng]

Was there a reason you need to? I could see the tactical and immediate significance of doing so for an enemy... but for an ally? If you are coming up with strategies, you ought to be communicating, in which case ask... if you are trying to decide a course of action, observe... or ask. I can't see the benefit to targeting an ally instead of an enemy just for this purpose =x Imho.

[Rogue Jedi]

There is a way to see a freindly Mechs weapon loadout

First you must have your Mech destroyed (preferably in combat with the enemy) then spectate your allies and you can see their weapons loadout.

To get target info you must target your allies, you have never been able to target allies. While it may be useful to see what weapons your team has if you are commanding and formulating a plan, it would be as quick to ask and if someone does not reply then they would probably not work with you anyway so no real loss

[Gibson Ibanez]

martian, on 16 August 2016 - 12:20 AM, said:

In my opinion, there is no other reason than PGI's laziness and incompetence.

Seems to me that you are being pretty harsh on a relatively small group of people that made this game available to us for free.

IMHO.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Its so people like me dont spend half the match chewing out some derp master for running an XL'd Atlas with lurms.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

I've many times now specially with assultt preferred to see the weapons of some other assult or heavy nearby, so I could see if I push will he follow. Or to make other judgement.

For example I have mostly long range weapons, I can't lock the enemy I can easily shoot with advanced zoom, so the assult nearby could have LRMs or short range weapons. So when I see someone next to me, until he shoots, I can't know.

If I push and that other mech has mostly LRMs, he won't follow and my long range lasers aren't really efficient in short range. -> I get screwed fast and thus I won't push.

[mailin]

All you have to do to find out what a friendly has is either ask him over comms or type it in team chat. The best time to do this is before the enemy gets spotted.

Edited by mailin, 16 August 2016 - 06:22 AM.

[Gibson Ibanez]

I also make an announcement that I will be pushing and which column. I learned to ask over comms if others will go with me when I do. No response from my teammates, no push from me.

People will usually tell you thier loadout if you ask.

Edited by Jack McKnight, 16 August 2016 - 06:44 AM.

[JC Daxion]

Rogue Jedi, on 16 August 2016 - 03:08 AM, said:

There is a way to see a freindly Mechs weapon loadout

Right you can just look actually.. The weapons are dynamic, so you can see what is loaded for the most part.. SRM tubes are the one exception on some mechs, as if tube count is lower than the launcher. Lasers can be a bit harder, But watching them fire, or even just looking as you know that on certain mechs, if you see 2 energy slots, you can say,, OK, large pulse or Large lasers.. PPC's are easy to see.. If you see 6-8+ they are typically mediums, unless they are lighter mechs, then they are typically small..

color is another way to pick out lasers as well.

Ballistics is all about the barrel, and fire rate.. if you are slightly confused on them, just wait till they fire.


But yea, you could just ask, Or say something simple, like who are the short ranged or medium ranged mechs.. ect.. Though it would be nice at the end of the match to look at all mech loads..


FYI I forget the Key, so look under keymap, i think its called unbound? you press it and it shows what % all the mechs are, so you can see who is hurt and how still has lots of armor/weapons left. It helps you urge some to take some time up front.

Teer5, on 16 August 2016 - 05:40 AM, said:

If I push and that other mech has mostly LRMs, he won't follow and my long range lasers aren't really efficient in short range. -> I get screwed fast and thus I won't push.

a good LRM skirmisher will very often follow pushes.. LRM's best range is actually 250-450.. they don't need direct lines, so you can lob them over the brawlers head, pouring on damage, opening up torso, while the brawler wrecks them as you open um up.. Nothing a brawler likes more than having LRM30's flyijngover my head adding on to what i am doing.. Even 100 ton assaults will drop like a bad habit.


Best part is you don't have to worry about getting torn a new one in your backside by some idiot that does not have any kinda trigger control,

Even hold off firing, because you might hit your buddy while better, the LRM's could of been fired Often waiting a few seconds can mean the difference of the brawler taking another volley, which can be 20-30-40 damage, they didn't need to take.

Edited by JC Daxion, 16 August 2016 - 11:00 AM.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

While I would love to know what my team mates are running...

Let me tell you a secret I learned over the years...

In puglandia, (if you dont know anyone on your team) expect to stand alone and die alone if you lead a push without verbal confirmation that people will follow you.

Your team mates dont care about you, they want you to run out and die in hopes you can get locks for them.

You are the bait... End of story!

I go into every game thinking every stranger on my team is a LRM boat... Even the atlas on my team is a LRM boat... And every enemy mech on the opposing team is perfectly optimized for the meta.

[knight-of-ni]

Well, there have been times when quickly seeing the functional weapon loadout + paper doll readout of surviving friendlies would have been helpful. Sure the "Q" key can reveal general % health, but something more precise would be more helpful. Asking your team-mates might work as well if there is time for that.

I'm thinking of times towards the end of a match when I'm trying to make a split second decision who has the most armor and weapons left. .....situations where you run behind your friendly assault mech thinking he'll tank for you, allowing you to maneuver around his side and support him.... only to realize too late that he was one spitwad away from going down.

Would this be worth the coding effort? Maybe not, but I can still wish.

[Ruccus]

I think instead of trying to implement some sort of way to see a teammate's exact build, what they could implement is a more simple description that will show up on the drop screen. You'd classify your mech based on a list of possible descriptions. Maybe something like Sniper, Brawler, Indirect Fire, Support, and Medium Range.

Say for example I've got a Raven 3L with ERLLs, I'll put my description as 'Sniper'. Same goes for if I drop in a dual gauss Jagermech. If I drop in my SRM Summoner I'll mark it as a 'Brawler', same goes for if I drop in my 12ERSL Nova. If I drop in my triple AMS or ECM Kit Fox, or my NARC Raven I'll list it as 'Support'. An LRM boat would choose Indirect Fire.

If you see a lot of 'Indirect Fire' mechs you know to keep your locks and don't bother expecting your team to try to go 'under' in Manifold. If you see a lot of Brawlers you know to try to close fast on the enemy, while if you see a lot of Snipers you want to hold back and let them go to work for a few minutes to soften up the enemy at range.

[11 lazrs errwhere 11]

Thank you for all of your answers. Overall there's nothing good communication can't solve regarding this issue, but I think it would still be nice to know exactly what your teammates are running. The difference between the effective ranges of ERLL and LPL are quite huge, after all. And in the heat of the moment it might be nice to immediately check what weapons your last living teammate just lost on his right torso and arm in that decisive 2v2 fight.

[Gibson Ibanez]

Ruccus, on 17 August 2016 - 10:55 AM, said:

I think instead of trying to implement some sort of way to see a teammate's exact build, what they could implement is a more simple description that will show up on the drop screen. You'd classify your mech based on a list of possible descriptions. Maybe something like Sniper, Brawler, Indirect Fire, Support, and Medium Range.

Say for example I've got a Raven 3L with ERLLs, I'll put my description as 'Sniper'. Same goes for if I drop in a dual gauss Jagermech. If I drop in my SRM Summoner I'll mark it as a 'Brawler', same goes for if I drop in my 12ERSL Nova. If I drop in my triple AMS or ECM Kit Fox, or my NARC Raven I'll list it as 'Support'. An LRM boat would choose Indirect Fire.

If you see a lot of 'Indirect Fire' mechs you know to keep your locks and don't bother expecting your team to try to go 'under' in Manifold. If you see a lot of Brawlers you know to try to close fast on the enemy, while if you see a lot of Snipers you want to hold back and let them go to work for a few minutes to soften up the enemy at range.

I think you have a great idea there.

I ask over comms and, "I am a brawler", "LRM boat here", "I am a sniper" is usually good enough for me in match. It would be nice to have a role symbol by our name to keep comms clear when it hits the fan.

[Void Angel]

11 lazrs errwhere 11, on 17 August 2016 - 11:33 AM, said:

Thank you for all of your answers. Overall there's nothing good communication can't solve regarding this issue, but I think it would still be nice to know exactly what your teammates are running. The difference between the effective ranges of ERLL and LPL are quite huge, after all. And in the heat of the moment it might be nice to immediately check what weapons your last living teammate just lost on his right torso and arm in that decisive 2v2 fight.

It definitely would - it's just a non-trivial technical problem to put it into the game. I'm sure it could be done, but PGI has been prioritizing those resources elsewhere.

PS: You should know that there are a loud minority of the player base who will simply bash PGI for anything. There's a long, sordid history behind this, but all you really need to know is that anyone who answers a simple question like yours with "PGI's just lazy and incompetent" has left the path of reason - and you should disregard anything they say about PGI as being grounded in discontent rather than facts and evidence.

Edited by Void Angel, 17 August 2016 - 11:45 AM.

[PurplePuke]

11 lazrs errwhere 11, on 17 August 2016 - 11:33 AM, said:

Thank you for all of your answers. Overall there's nothing good communication can't solve regarding this issue, but I think it would still be nice to know exactly what your teammates are running. The difference between the effective ranges of ERLL and LPL are quite huge, after all. And in the heat of the moment it might be nice to immediately check what weapons your last living teammate just lost on his right torso and arm in that decisive 2v2 fight.

I agree with you.

Being able to quickly know any teammate's loadout is very useful, tactically speaking. Asking over chat/comms is not the same and takes too long. And how will you remember it throughout the match?

In MW4 you could cycle through friendly targets with your HUD and quickly know what your teammates were loaded with.

That was great, and I miss it.

[Tarl Cabot]

PGI could code it so at least your lance mates could simply see their weapon load.