71 replies to this topic

[Scar]

+1 Must be on the HUD

[thebraddigan]

Ok, here's my mockup with Stalker's change too.

Thoughts?

Edited by thebraddigan, 18 March 2012 - 11:25 AM.

[Vexgrave Lars]

Thumbs Up

[palebear]

I think there's a lot of clutter, but a toggle to keep the bearings displayed or hidden could fix that.

[thebraddigan]

This will probably be more to your liking. Fixed the full-yellow font, made it smaller and put it up inside the compass more. I think that might make it unreadably small ingame though.



...and a hastily-shoved together fullscreen mockup. The font does look slightly too small now but as long as it's sharp ingame it'd be readable enough. A point or two larger would probably be ideal.

Edited by thebraddigan, 18 March 2012 - 12:16 PM.

[StaIker]

I prefer a compass with numbers rather than letters too, for the same reasons you listed thebraddigan, although I don't think they need to be in such small graduations to be effective. Every 30 or 45 degrees would be adequate for quick referance so long as an exact digital bearing is also provided.

[Specter]

StaIker, on 18 March 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

I prefer a compass with numbers rather than letters too, for the same reasons you listed thebraddigan, although I don't think they need to be in such small graduations to be effective. Every 30 or 45 degrees would be adequate for quick referance so long as an exact digital bearing is also provided.

Mostly feel the same as Stalker and Thebraddigan with this. Point being, as long as we have a way to quickly derive a position at a glance is what is important. Map grids are great but at this time we don't know if the radar / map shows out to max view range or not or if the radar is even configurable for distance settings. When traveling in formation it is not uncommon at all to only have one or two mechs with a sensor package and the rest will travel passive scanning for visual targets while their command / scout mechs keep an eye on the sensors. Games are won and lost at first contact for many people. Can't tell you how many times first contact for us went by as "Contact bearing 125 800m Loki! Light em up!" and 3 seconds later all that was left was a smear on the ground where a mech used to be. In just a few seconds what could have been the command mech, seeing as it had a full sensor package has been reduced to scrap and the enemy team has just had its head cut off in one stroke. In any situation such as this it is easy to see which side has the clear advantage by being able to quickly and accurately provide information to their team.

Edited by Specter, 18 March 2012 - 09:00 PM.

[StaIker]

I've tried to draw an example of why formation keeping, and the navigation instruments that make it possible, are so vitally important.

In the picture, lance 1 is moving in a straight line doesn't really require navigation instruments. If each mech just follows the leader they will all stay on course without too much trouble. All they have to watch is their speed, their lateral movement is unobsctructed.

For lance 2 things are more complex. Any change in speed OR direction will almost certainly result in contact with another Mech. To hold a combat formation like this each player must maintain both an exact heading and an exact speed. Without this data, tight formations become inpossible in combat as the player has to spend almost 100% of their concentration on not colliding with team mates through watching their speed and heading, and consequently very little time looking at the enemy.

The advantages of a tight formation are obvious here. It takes lance 1 at least 27 seconds to bring all its Mechs into action at the point of contact while lance 2 requires only 6 seconds, but that can only happen if the information to hold that formation is available. Thus the need for precise instrument readings.

[GD26]

Quote

This will probably be more to your liking. Fixed the full-yellow font, made it smaller and put it up inside the compass more. I think that might make it unreadably small ingame though.


-thebraddigan

I don't need two readings. Only one. The legs' one. The other is irrelevant.

Edited by GD26, 19 March 2012 - 07:09 AM.

[MaddMaxx]

GD26, on 19 March 2012 - 07:07 AM, said:

I don't need two readings. Only one. The legs' one. The other is irrelevant.

Concur. Direction of travel is all that is needed. When I call out or get a Call for direction change, I will turn to that direction from my current one. The torso reading should be fluctuating a lot as one scans the area assigned while moving or patrolling.

Strong vote YES! This item needs to be on the HUD.

P.S. As noted above, please make it (BIG) so us OLD Farts can read it.

[Sean Cove]

Belisarius†, on 17 March 2012 - 07:26 PM, said:

I can't stress how essential this is. Stalker, I fear your OP might be a bit dense, because this absolutely has to get noticed. Maybe put the picture and a tl;dr at the top, and zoom in on just the change? We can't afford to lose it because someone important went "whoah wall of text" and closed the tab...

There is no wall of text to big to read, longer the better, gives me a break from working

FYI, I'm someone important when it comes to the HUD and I shall "borrow, (read as, steal your idea)" and see what can be done.

[Outlaw2]

Sean Cove, on 19 March 2012 - 08:42 AM, said:

There is no wall of text to big to read, longer the better, gives me a break from working

FYI, I'm someone important when it comes to the HUD and I shall "borrow, (read as, steal your idea)" and see what can be done.

Nice!
First post too. They just need to give you the cow skull avatar, so that you are officially important

[Sean Cove]

=Outlaw=, on 19 March 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:

cow skull avatar)

I don't know what you mean... its been there the whole... time.....

[Outlaw2]

I see what you did there

[HFHavenger]

I as well have to agree with the addition of bearing values. I remember the first time I called out a bearing to my team to point out an enemy during a lan party and watching everyone drop the poor soul simultaneously. No faster way to convey directional information with as much accuracy!

[StaIker]

Sean Cove, on 19 March 2012 - 08:42 AM, said:

There is no wall of text to big to read, longer the better, gives me a break from working

FYI, I'm someone important when it comes to the HUD and I shall "borrow, (read as, steal your idea)" and see what can be done.

Awesome.

[Trevnor]

Very good idea. If I recall correctly, it was something similar in MW2? Or was that an elevation meter?

[Belisarius1]

Sean Cove, on 19 March 2012 - 08:42 AM, said:

There is no wall of text to big to read, longer the better, gives me a break from working

FYI, I'm someone important when it comes to the HUD and I shall "borrow, (read as, steal your idea)" and see what can be done.

Fantastic.

MaddMaxx, on 19 March 2012 - 08:12 AM, said:

Concur. Direction of travel is all that is needed. When I call out or get a Call for direction change, I will turn to that direction from my current one. The torso reading should be fluctuating a lot as one scans the area assigned while moving or patrolling.

The torso indicator is just as important. Legs are for direction, torso is for calling targets.

If you have to center legs-to-torso every time you want to call an enemy's bearing, the call is delayed and you put yourself at risk by squaring up.

[MaddMaxx]

Belisarius†, on 19 March 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

Fantastic.



The torso indicator is just as important. Legs are for direction, torso is for calling targets.

If you have to center legs-to-torso every time you want to call an enemy's bearing, the call is delayed and you put yourself at risk by squaring up.

So with both indicators available which one do you call out? Torso or Legs? One could be as much as 90 off the other on some Mechs.

[StaIker]

MaddMaxx, on 19 March 2012 - 03:35 PM, said:

So with both indicators available which one do you call out? Torso or Legs? One could be as much as 90 off the other on some Mechs.

I can only tell you how I've done it, but I think a lot of others work this way too.

On sighting a target the player will call out

"[Mech Name] 235 degrees, 750m"

The commander will then respond with directional orders, such as

"Come left to 310 degrees, engage targets 235"

So the whole force will be maneuvered simultaniously to the combat action. It would be extremely rare that the direction of fire was also the direction of movement unless you were intentionally charging the enemy position. Usually you want to create a crossing angle to throw off their fire.

Edited by StaIker, 19 March 2012 - 05:52 PM.