UAVs? Concept Discussion

What about adding UAVs some time in the future? I'm thinking of something like the RQ-11, launchable by an engineer?

As far as what the craft would do, I'm thinking that maybe it'll work like a super camera / radar. I think the engineer should have to build it (like a regular building) before launching.

Maybe have two pilot modes, mode one is autonomous, e.g. the pilot tells the UAV to circle a certain area, and in the second mode, allow the enginner to pilot the craft from a 3rd person view of the craft.

It should also be relatively easy to shoot down. It should also make some kind of engine noise, so that enemies know it's coming, but this should be minimizable by flying higher (you would lose some feature by doing this).

I know this would be a lot of work to impliment... It's just an idea... I know you guys already have plenty to do...

So, good idea? Bad idea? Worse idea ever?

 

Maybe as a skill.
But I dunno, how can it be easy to kill a small flying target?

 

The skill idea is good...

Re killing a flying target, maybe make it large enough so that gren can easily draw a bead on it... It should be a one shot kill from the gren's RPG IMHO... I'm not sure how the anti-aircraft stuff works with grens or if theres a deferent class entirely so I can only speculate.

Also, if the engineer dies, the UAV should automatically switch to autonomous mode.

 

It has been discussed before, and shot down. Search before you post.

 

i can see this work as a scout skill but only when the engineer gets stripped of camera and radar

 

Stop fighting the devs guys.

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This is a new day. Besides, just about everything has been discussed and some of these new people missed out on that discussion. Let them talk.

 

Also, can the suggesters please start with gameplay mechanics, and then find a way to achieve that with technology, instead of suggesting every piece of military technology ever devised be implemented into Empires?

 

aircraft ideas being shot down, ho-oh the irony :p

 

Uh oh. D:

 

Quoted for ...well just flippin' well pay attention to it!

 

Oh this could be epic, get it as a first skill, hide out the way and fly her up high over the enemy base.

During that stage when all the troops are out and the comm is left to build the base, wait till he gets out of the CV and tw@ him in the head with a UAV.

No more sitting in their base as a sniper scout...

Yeah, on balance probably not...

 

I don't think the RQ-11 can attack anything (short of flying into someone), but since this is a game, I think it shouldn't be able to damage anything... If it could, it would get unbalanced and there would be people abusing it...

Well... As far as implementation, I don't know how you guys are implementing aircraft, so I can only speculate...

The launch: The engineer tool will have a button (if the engineer has the skill) to deploy the craft. The craft appears like a turret (not fully built), and the engineer builds it. Then, the engineer can pick launch menu (from the UAV menu), and then select the mode (autonomous or piloted). If the engineer selects autonomous mode, they should be presented with a commander like view of the surrounding area and they should be able to draw a box in which they want the craft to patrol. The engineer should be able to change the partol area for autonomous mode at any time from the engineer tool.

Autonomous mode: I think we can probably borrow some of the bot code from CS:S (mainly the follow me command). Then, the engineer tool's code would send the follow me command from different coordinates in the patrol area. It'd still be a lot of work to implement, but it should be do-able.

Once launched, if in autonomous mode, the engineer will get a commander like view of the surrounding area and will be able to draw a box in which the craft should patrol. If in piloted mode, the engineer will be presented with a 3rd person view of the craft. I haven't ever worked with the source engine so the dev team can probably answer this, how hard would it be to separate the driver's seat from the vehicle for autonomous mode?

 

IMO this isn't something suitable for empires, people get pissed off enough about wallhax targets and cameras, we shouldn't give them some kind of air unit that is small fast, and features like a camera.

Nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't fit.

And I swear, next person to yell at me about something being shot down before, I will give you a thrashing. :mad:

 

UAVs don't fit very well with the technonazi theme. Unless you have them ridden by gnomes.
If you wanted to rip off CoD4 (or was it a MoH game? QW:ET? America's Army?), you could rename the Recon squad power as UAV and leave it at that.

Dev/Catfight!

 

Brenodi aren't technonazis. There's really no villains in Empires, it's just a gritty unhappy everyday war.

 

I said that it should be big enough so that it's easy to shoot down... Give it air properties similar to the ground properties of a camera (a part from the size) so it's easy to shot down...

I'm only suggesting this because aircraft are coming to Empires... And since engineers can already do so many useful things, I think they should be incorporated into the aircraft portion of Empires.

 

I don't think it should be like that.
I'm concerned however, as to what engineers are for in air combat.
In ground tank combat, engineers are a necessity for repairs, but in the air you can't just hide and fix it up, so maybe aircraft should slowly regenerate in teh hands of an engineer?
Also, Bio will chew up planes, you can't repair and stop it, so it'll just go straight through...

 

It's just a fancy camera / radar... Not an air combat weapon... Although... You raise a good point... Maybe the craft should be able to rapair other aircraft... But we're getting OT here...

[Coming soon - pseudo code for autonomous mode]

 

I still feel that this just doesn't fit with empires, it's too fragile to be Brenodi, and I doubt NF could even work out how to make it work.