Especially with the addition of airplanes, but even now... How about targetting computers that give us a bead on how far ahead to lead or how high to arc our weapons to hit a target? Now, I know there's the whole thing about getting to know your weapon, and training and whatnot. But, as a new player, it gets a little testing to fire all my ammo at something just trying to figure out if I can hit it. Artillery is the same way, but worse, since I can't even see what I'm firing at half the time. Yes, Arty-feedback is nice... but you have to wait to see where it lands, adjust, then wait again. For balance, I'm thinking make this only available if there are engineered radars in range, or if you have a scout marking targets for you (*hint hint.. scout skill... *nudge nudge). But yeah... it's for us who can't bulls eye a womp rat from our t-16 back home...
Because human players are unpredictable, and can change course at any moment. Your computer can tell you to aim at coordinates X and Y, yet in the time before your projectile hits, the enemy could have moved and that information is no longer valid.
X3 uses a target prediction computer and it works fine, you just have to learn when to shoot, as you do now, the only thing that's removed is the need to memorise the travel speed and arc of all the weapons.
In freelancer, an extra cross hair is added to each enemy, if you shoot at it you will hit the enemy if he stays a bit on course hope this is helpful!
I say we have a pair of weapons. The Computer Targetted Cannon and the Computer Targetted Artillery Cannon Both of them display a simple GUI that has a trajectory drawn and shows you where it will hit. Make them heavy, and about as powerful as a Long Range cannon [minus the long range] and Medium Artillery Cannon respectively. Noob friendly, but it'll hurt you in the weight department. Put it under electronic with guided MLs.
Why not add it to ER cannon and medium arty by default? Neither of those have any other major benefit, and ER cannon is a perfect candidate because of its nature.
I would like something telling me the distance to a target, and a cross hair matched with that, so range finding isn't quite as much guess work. This would be a great help to arty and mortar
this makes me think of starsiege(no not tribes, the old one with mechs) it had a targeting follow system and it worked well for judging distances regaurdless of what weapon your useing or how much the enemy is turning. just knowing what kind of ballpark your throwing into is quite useful. the problem is you had to cycle targets and not having that would clutter the screen in a heartbeat.
well my 'story' or 'experience' is still relative in the respect of you will maybe need the same things to implement in your idea, like cycleing targets. The knowledge that this may have been utilized before to much success is various other games may not actually be as common knowledge as you may think. And a forseeable problem of having too cluttered of a UI if you do not go same route as the game I previously discussed.
i like the idea of making it a new weapon for tanks (replace guided missiles with this, give it to arty by default). what about infantry? go without? make it skill? make it research?
My suggestion would have been to give it as a class-skill for grens and have it be usable for their mortar/rpg and any vehicles. Again, it would work in tandem with a scout or engie radar and would only track vehicles or spots where the scout did the "I request artillery fire... blah blah..." As for the GUI, I suggest just having another orange diamond with a line connecting the two. Or perhaps a diamond with an X through it as the "fire here" target. Now, another issue I'm seeing is how this will work for when you have an arc weapon set as prim and a missile as sec... or if you have 2 weapons with different travel speeds... (you'd have to lead more with one, etc...) or ranges (lower arc)
