16 replies to this topic

[Mazen Drakhov]

Hey all. I played MWO a bunch in 2013, and recently got back into it and am having a blast. I'm really impressed by how much better the game plays now compared to then, but one thing bugs me. When I'm in a close-range fight, and I use A or D to turn my mech, my target reticle jumps in the direction i'm turning, and I have to re-adjust with my mouse.

What I mean is that when I turn my legs (necessary in a close-range fight), my crosshairs also instantly move in a way that's hard to compensate for with my mouse. As a result, I've found that my aim is only controllable and predictable when I'm moving in a straight line, with fine-grain adjustments being made only with the mouse, ideally before the reticle passes over the target during my straight forward or reverse movement (with no leg turning taking place).

I know I'm still very new to MWO right now, but I've been playing Mech games since Mechwarrior 2, so I understand that this type of thing would be a departure from past implementations of movement. I'm not trying to upset the establishment here, but I think this feature would be fun, and could add some more complexity to mech movement, while also making brawling a little smoother.

And if a player doesn't like it, they could just ignore it.

So anyways... bad idea? Interesting idea?

[Snazzy Dragon]

This is why brawlers take high burst damage loadouts, they can defensively maneuver and torso twist between volleys and snap aim the subsequent volleys afterwards rather than needing a constant bead on a target to do damage

[Mazen Drakhov]

If I had to write it as a concrete development requirement, I'd word it something like this:

• Torso Heading Lock: Toggled by a hotkey, or engaged by a press/hold button, cause the player mech's torso to maintain its current heading and arm orientation, regardless of changes in leg heading. The torso would maintain this orientation until it reaches its maximum twist value, at which point further leg heading changes would cause the torso to twist in the same direction as the legs, and at the same rate.

That's about as cut-and-dry and I can make it!

[Mazen Drakhov]

Yeah I don't doubt that people boat pinpoint burst damage for this reason. But defensive torso twisting and maintaining a stable reticle lock while maneuvering are two separate issues.

Defensive torso twist only occurs if you're under fire (or are anticipating fire). If you're dodging due to high-speed serpentine motion, you don't need to twist. That is where this type of feature could come in handy.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

I'm not opposed to this.

https://youtu.be/f5XUQ2beGfM?t=1m51s

[Mazen Drakhov]

Yeah buddy! That's what I was thinking actually...

Imagine how much fun that would be in an Urbanmech?

[LT. HARDCASE]

So you want to face tank, while your legs move in different directions?

That sounds detrimental to new players, and would develop poor habits..

Maybe you need to raise or lower you mouse's sensitivity? Turning your legs and and compensating with the mouse shouldn't feel difficult, outside learning the technique.

[Mazen Drakhov]

"Face tank" isn't quite what I had in mind. Perhaps citing brawling conditions wasn't the right way to communicate the use case I had in mind.

For background, I mainly play a Mist Lynx or a Shadow Cat, mostly as an ECM-enabled scout / sniper.

When I am on the flanks of the main force, looking for movement to our sides, I'll often need to engage enemies with one or two c/ER-PPCs at ranges of 500+ meters, while jinking left & right to dodge return fire. When I'm dodging, it is impossible to precisely fire at those small targets. I have to stop turning, move straight for a few seconds, and fire once I have a bead lined up. If I could simply decouple my torso heading from my legs for a few seconds, I could keep dodging.

My apologies, I shouldn't have said "brawl" above. That was my mistake. Usually I'm engaging at range, at high speeds, against physically small targets.

[Tarogato]

I understand what you're asking for, but it's not something that's very useful. I can't think of any scenarios where such a feature would be better or easier than what we have now. You don't really need to shoot while turning your legs except when you're a light mech and you're circle-strafing or if you're a heavier mech being circle-strafted by a light mech. And a "detach torso from legs" feature wouldn't help you in those scenarios, quite the opposite.

[Mole]

I'm so proficient at making my 'mechs torso behave like the turret on that Abrams in the above video with my mouse that having my 'mech do this automatically would actually seriously screw me up.

[Mazen Drakhov]

Not automatically. The option for a toggle.

Just like how you have the option for arm lock / unlock.

[ClockworkSoldier]

This is something I have been wanting in this game for a long time... And while I agree with the supportive points already raised in favor of this, my reasoning is a little different. I've been wanting to play this game (comfortably) with a controller for good while now. I've spent hours upon hours using different aftermarket controller interface programs to make this happen, but it just never felt right. The issue I always ran into was getting the joystick sensitivity JUST RIGHT to be able to counter the effects of turning my mech. In these situations I ended up creating multiple toggle buttons to change my sensitivity with the push of a button, just so that I could make these on the fly adjustments to simply compensate for an issue that has a VERY simple fix. And even with the macros I created, it was still a difficult thing to compensate for with a joystick, compared to a mouse.

That being said, and while I have little issue compensating with a mouse, while running, jump jetting, or anything else, this would honestly make running and gunning much easier, especially in fast mechs. Numerous times I find myself having to make lots of these small torso yaw adjustments, to give myself a chance to fire upon enemies, while moving to/from cover, flanking, or any other number of movements. And while these are minute adjustments, and may not seem like much to most people, that is valuable time when my weapons could be dealing damage.

And the last point, being the in game year that this is, and the advanced technology at work in mechs, this is a small option that would not be hindered by the technology where it would be present.

[Athom83]

Horizontal stabilizers are LostTech.

[UnofficialOperator]

Don't really understand. You can do this manually with the mouse so why the need for toggle?

[Alcom Isst]

UnofficialOperator, on 04 October 2017 - 05:13 AM, said:

Don't really understand. You can do this manually with the mouse so why the need for toggle?

Because unless you are able to slam A or D and move the mouse at the exact frame and speed as to not cause absolutely any reticle wobble, it would help. Like it would be very niche, you'd always be facing the same compass direction, so it'd only be helpful for fast pinpoint mechs that fire when the reticle passes over a target, but it would help.

What would be less niche is if they removed the damn deadzone from the damn joystick analog input.

Edited by Alcom Isst, 04 October 2017 - 05:36 AM.

[ClockworkSoldier]

Athom83, on 04 October 2017 - 04:59 AM, said:

Horizontal stabilizers are LostTech.

Horizontal stabilizers would not fall under LostTech in this universe. If they did, then VTOLs, helicopters, numerous manned/unmanned turrets, and most other "in atmosphere" craft would not exist. Unmanned turrets/weapon batteries are a prime example of this. In numerous applications they have been mounted on moving objects, especially dropships and spacecraft. In order for them to function properly, they require their targetting computers to make minute adjustments, without human input, to maintain their current orientation. In the case of a mech, these are the same systems that drive the gyro, and allow the mech to maintain its balance, but simply add one more function to the equations being utilized.

UnofficialOperator, on 04 October 2017 - 05:13 AM, said:

Don't really understand. You can do this manually with the mouse so why the need for toggle?

I would direct you to my response, as I detail the reasons why this is a topic I would like the see addressed. In short, it is a small change for those using a mouse, but helpful. But the big benefit in my case, is in trying to use a controller to play the game.

[ClockworkSoldier]

I have started a new topic for this idea in the Feature Suggestions section. Please show your support if you like the idea!

https://mwomercs.com...-toggle-please/

Edited by ClockworkSoldier, 04 October 2017 - 04:59 PM.