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In MW4, a mech that was shut down wasn't totally blind.
You wouldn't have radar, but you would still pick up the image of the mech on your screen when they got within a certain range. So you knew they were near by somewhere, but you wouldn't know the exact range or location of the mech.
You could do this in 2 different ways. If you shutdown while active, you would first pick up a mech at 600-800m (its been awhile...someone who is still playing could correct the ranges), and if you shutdown while passive you'd pick them up 100-200m or so.
A lot people paid no attention to this, and so did I until many years after I started playing. Once I started using it, it added a very subtle but deep layer of strategy to radar warfare, which could be used in a wide variety of situations.
Scout mechs could use it to good effect. If the lone scout recon mech ever got caught by the opposing team and/or was being chased, it could shutdown behind cover and still keep track of them. Many times teams would pass right by, since they didn't see anything on radar. The shutdown recon mech would know when they were close, and when they were past a certain range. Of course it was risky trick, since smart teams would be looking for it. If they saw a mech suddenly disappear off radar, the first thing they check for is any shutdown mechs in that area. The recon mech had to be smart on where it decided to shut down. Going passive first, moving a few hundred yards and then finding cover before shutting down was good way to trick them into thinking it shutdown sooner.... but since the scout shuts down passive, it wouldn't know if enemy mechs were close by until they were on top of him. (In MWO, scouts could use Null-sig first to trick opposing teams before shutting down for good)
This is not just for scouts. Teams used this to shutdown and ambush enemy teams. If one mech shutdown while active and another while passive you could use it to coordinate when exactly to go active and attack. The mech that shutdown while active would first notify the team when an enemy mech got within 600-800m, then the other would know when exactly the enemy got within 200m, which was a perfect range for starting up and ambushing. Of course it was risky since you had no way of knowing where exactly they were.
It was also useful for taking out pesky scout mechs and harassers. In NBT-HC, ECM/Bap scat with JJ in the hands of a good pilot was very dangerous. However using a similar approach to ambushing, you could set up traps for them. A drop commander would set aside two pilots to shutdown behind cover (one shutsdown active the other passive). Then orders the rest of the team to move to a location in order to bait the scat to get close to the shutdown mechs. The shutdown mechs would track the scat once in range, and also know exactly when it entered 200m range. Of course it wasn't always a successful trap, but it would payoff big time if it worked. Again, they had a wide variety of uses.
I suggest implementing something similar in the form of a module. The LOS nature of radar in MWO limits its usefulness comparted to MW4, but is could still be used for good effect. If you want to look at this from a lore and simulation perspective, its basically another form passive radar, but only with the rest of the mech shutdown so its emmiting small amount of signals itself. However, since the mechs engines are not running, this form of "shutdown radar" is running off auxillary power and doesn't work as strong. This translates to only knowing if enemies are within certain range, but not exact range or location. Mechs that shutdown active have a more power consuming form of this shutdown radar, so they emit some signals and can be picked up at close range. Mechs that shutdown passive, have a weaker form, emit less signals and can not be picked up except by mechs with BAP at close range.
Edited by =Outlaw=, 05 February 2012 - 03:36 PM.
