2.8.X changelog - read this while testing

When he said targets he means how targets from comm works, squad leads can do the same thing. Giving yourself wall hax without a camera is pretty nifty, though I never use it because I have to spam the target button 5 times before it registers I want to mark something.

About squad points for being in a squad too, as said it only gives if squad actually generates squad power points, so squads that actually stick together don't just generate 100 squad points for powers they also give their members their 3rd skill by like 10 minutes into the match. It's bonuses on top of bonuses, though I misread and that's exactly what you said. Derp.

Mr. x, when I mentioned the map I wasn't talking about the minimap at all, I don't think doodles should show up on there just as you mentioned, it's too much stuff. When you expand it though there's definitely room. I do think doodles are a good idea too, move orders leave room for people to do dumb things, especially if you want players to go a certain way to avoid detection, or draw it but lead it in a different direction. Things I have definitely seen some commanders, or at least squad leads, struggle with.

Half the reason I suggest attaching squads to the map is so when you highlight a player in a squad, that player gets highlighted on the map. So you know exactly who and where everyone is. That's why it would be good.

 

I'm just running off assumptions, but I would assume when commander draws on map they are really just drawing on a transparent overlay and this would only show up when a player hits the map button, that would be the easy way to take it on and off, and wouldn't have to actually touch the minimap code. The bad thing of course is that this would kinda block any buildings or whatnot because it's being drawn on top of it, so it would kinda have to be wedged between the map and icons and I have no idea how empires does the minimap, but I've heard nothing but bad things. So yes, assumptions, the main one being "it's not that hard" when it most certainly is and I'm just doing a bit of wishful thinking.

Still though, that thing about squad members being highlighted on the map if you hover or simply click their name would be super nice.

 

inb4 the contest for the bestest dickbutt strategy :D

but yes, drawing on the map would be incredibly nice. but i only heard horror stories about the minimap so far. like looking at directory alone gives you goosebumps.

 

good point. but i think it would still be helpful to communicate plans, even if its ad hoc. so i guess whoever sits in the boom tank gets to draw penises ...

... maybe you also could draw on a "personal canvas" during vote time and once you got elected it gets syncronized with everyones minimap. and the plans of those not voted in simply get discarded.

if you take it very far, you could even have an option to save plans to disk (or even draw them outside in paint/gimp/ps/whatever..., if theyre just vtfs that should be easy) so you could have all sorts of plans available - maybe even provide default plans to pick from, there are quite a few well established strategies for the official maps.

you could even show small plan preview icons next to comm names during vote (and have them show a preview if you click them), to pick one with a plan you like.

but minimap code. though maybe tama is insanity resistant and finds a way? :fingerscrossed:

 

I remember beerdude talking about adding in a planning phase of like a minute or something after comm vote time if he got to adding in the drawing phase, I remember screen shots of him drawing something, probably dicks, on it. If commander vote time was reduced by like 30 seconds or something I think it would be a nice addition...

 

I blame spec not joining games til the match has actually started. No one can come up with plans when your team size suddenly doubles one match and the next no one plays and everyone is sitting in spec.

 

yeah thats a really shit habit. join the round right away or stay in spec. worst are those players who wait until a team archieved something just to ruin it by joining with all the knowledge you have as spec.

 

Personally thought wall hax was always annoying, I'd much prefer a more... ambiguous thing? Like against buildings it should be that diamond, but against infantry I thought it would be nice to just have some little pop up, off to the side so you don't get too distracted, that just gives a rundown of who's there. Like commander clicks a spot and boots on the ground get a couple of messages along the lines of"2 grens, 1 engy, light tank present". Something that said yes there's enemies around but not enough info for you to simply aim at the guy before you ever see him. Cameras are fine though, especially if that jammer idea ever came into play, mostly because it's fragile, range isn't huge, and needs engy to build which takes time.

Mostly say this because I am super tired of everyone wanting targets every 2 seconds. It's not fun to hand out, I've seen people look at the wrong guy and die because the attack targets box decides to select the rifle out there and not the gren rounding the corner, don't say how many people are there so people again assume it might be safe when it isn't, don't work on the thing I most want to give targets against(GODDAMN SCOUTS IN MAH BASE), and some other reason that I can't remember right now.