7 replies to this topic

[D V Devnull]

Description: NARC'ing an Enemy Target while Stealth Armor is active FAILS to indicate to the Mech Pilot that's doing the NARC'ing that they've made a successful NARC hit.

Location: During Any Match (This likely happens in other places like the Testing Grounds and Academy, as well...)

Reproduction Rate: 100% -- This is ALWAYS REPRODUCIBLE!!!

Steps to Reproduce:

• Enter ANY Match with an Inner Sphere NARC-Capable Mech that has ECM & Stealth Armor equipped
  
• Make sure ECM is in Disrupt Mode (as it should already be by default)
  
• Engage the Stealth Armor
  
• Sneak around behind the Enemy
  
• Hit an Enemy Mech in the back with a NARC
  
• The NARC'd Enemy Target will fail to indicate to that Friendly Mech Pilot that the Enemy is NARC'd until they disable the Stealth Armor, even though they should be receiving telemetry of the NARC status.
  
• End up committing suicide by exposing yourself to the Enemy, because you had to disable Stealth Armor to check if your NARC had even successfully hit or not.

What should NOT happen: Failure of the Stealth Armored NARC-Firing Mech to get any indication that they successfully NARC'd an Enemy Mech.

What SHOULD be happening: Ability to see the indication of an Enemy Mech that's NARC'd, even if they're not able to scan the Enemy Mech for weak areas, WITHOUT Leaving Stealth Mode.


Comments: The Friendly NARC-Firing Stealth Armored Mech's Pilot should NOT have to stop using Stealth Armor Mode just to check for a successful hit. It's the Friendly NARC transmitting the targetable signal, NOT the NARC-Firing Mech reaching out with Sensors. This NARC Signal should be available to the Entire Friendly Team, INCLUDING the NARC-Firing Stealth Armored Mech, because they're only listening for a signal, and NOT actively trying to communicate back to the NARC beacon. If this can't be fixed to indicate the Friendly NARC signaling from an Enemy Mech's Torso, then the Target Crosshair should be made to flash red on successful hit of a Friendly NARC upon an Enemy Mech.

~Mr. D. V. "Friendly NARCs should NEVER fail to indicate attachment to Enemy Mechs, no matter what." Devnull




[One Minor Edit by Post Author for a Missed Error in Step #1's Specification... That's literally the only time they're touching this post...]

Edited by D V Devnull, 11 August 2017 - 12:02 PM.

[D V Devnull]

Updates for PGI's reference --

• Problem also happens in the Testing Grounds, so I'm sure it also affects the Academy as well now.
  
• This issue has likely been happening since the release of the New Weapons & Tech, at Patch 1.4.126 ... Not good, seeing how widespread this issue is.

For anyone else coming to this thread --

Yes, I understand Enemy ECM is supposed to knock out Friendly NARCs... However, I'm talking about situations where there isn't an Enemy ECM blocking a Friendly NARC... Let's not get derailed down that road, okay?


~Mr. D. V. "Just getting the additional info posted without having to resort to clunky post editing..." Devnull

[Admiral-Dan]

Critical Bug?
Rly???

[D V Devnull]

AlphaEtOmega, on 11 August 2017 - 02:22 PM, said:

Critical Bug?
Rly???

Yes, really. Don't troll me. I've already been negatively affected by this particular Critical Bug personally. I'm not easily pushed to consider any Bug as Critical, but this one pushed right over the line.


For those seeking an explanation... The Mech that's using ECM, Stealth Armor, and Firing the NARC, should NOT have to leave that mode in order to check for a valid hit. Being forced to disable the Stealth Armor at that close of range tips Balance way too far over in the favor of the Enemy Team. The way things are now basically forces that Scout (who's supposed to Hit-and-Run SILENTLY with the NARC, then move along, as damage is NOT their priority) into saying "HERE I AM!" when they do their check due to that missing indication (which would be either the NARC showing the enemy, or a red flash of the crosshair occurring) of the NARC hitting the target, causing them to be unfairly and unnecessarily made to Suicide theirself upon the weapons fire of an Enemy Mech. Effectively, PGI has failed to maintain or provide design that supports Role-Based Warfare, and set up Scout Mechs to end up dead before they could ever do their task. If PGI wants an even blend of Mech Weight-Class usage, problems like this are causing people to think of Light Mechs as useless.

~D. V. "Scouts are supposed to be Scouts, not self-revealing pincushions for Enemy weapons fire." Devnull




[Tiny Edit by Post Author for a missed word...]

Edited by D V Devnull, 13 August 2017 - 06:16 AM.

[Admiral-Dan]

D V Devnull, on 13 August 2017 - 06:13 AM, said:

Yes, really. Don't troll me.

I don´t try to troll you but I don’t think that you have understood Bug Severity levels. Critical is a very high severity classification which normally means things like crash, loss of data, corruption of data, severe memory leak …
This is an non-major loss of function.

[Hauptmann Keg Steiner]

...you are aware that active stealth armor massively reduces your sensor range, right? This even affects the range at which you get UAV data sent to you.

[Widowmaker1981]

Its not a 'Critical bug' - that is reserved for things that make the game actually unplayable (like not being able to get into a game, or it crashing as soon as you load, or not being able to move, or something like that). Its not for fairly minor (in the grand scheme) things that just happen to piss you off a lot.

This is actually just expected behaviour (if not entirely logical, because you shouldnt need active sensors to receive NARC information) . SA stops your sensors working, and in order to see the NARC symbol on a mech you need to be able to see the target icon above them.

A nice easy workaround would be to push your push to talk button and ask your teammates if the NARC is active. VOIP is unaffected by stealth armour.

A good FIX would be for active / passive radar to be implemented, and for Stealth Armour to disable active radar, but have NARC'd enemies show for people on passive radar. That wont happen though.

Another decent fix would be a visual effect when a NARC beacon attaches, like a crackle of electricity around the mech or something (which would have the added benefit of making it more obvious when you have been NARC'd)

Edited by Widowmaker1981, 14 August 2017 - 03:49 AM.

[Dee Eight]

A blinking light on the mech to show the beacon attached itself.