+ UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Description: For aerial recon. Small, light, unarmed, unarmored, quieter & lower ceiling than aircraft Any enemy unit that enters its range is automatically given a basic tag (infantry/aircraft/vehicle/building) Radar (one sector radius?) has more range than camera (half sector radius?). Enemy unit must be in camera range to get more than basic tag. Either given 'goto' order by COM, or guided (first person) by COM/scout(only class?) from CV/radar station/airfield by keys, mouse used to ID targets (hold crosshairs over target to ID), <ALT> + mouse guides camera turret, mwheel zooms in/out. The longer an operator keeps the crosshairs on a target, the more information is returned. (i.e from 'enemy vehicle' -> 'heavy chassis' -> 'reactive armor' -> 'driver's girlfriend's middle name' :p) Availability of UAV's dependent on having airfield & radar installation, and researching 'Electrical Engineering/Tracking Systems/UAV' tech. One per airfield. When exited with 'use' key, UAV maintains station, slowly rotating at current location and altitude, and tagging any enemy units that appear in it's view until recalled, shot down, or it runs out of fuel. If 'use' key pressed while in facing control panel (or separate menu?) in radar station/airfield or option chosen in CV, view & control automatically switches to UAV. Emergency speed is half again as fast, but uses twice the fuel. Pros: Allows relatively fast, safe recon of large maps Long range camera & radar. Provides priceless intel for COMs. (No more "OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!!! I've got five heavies flanking the main base from the west, and I'm all by myself. HEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!" :eek: ) Good match for someone who has patience and puts the team before his own, personal glory. Faster at regular speed than any ground vehicle except jeeps/bikes/lights w/three phase engines. Emergency speed can escape from any ground vehicle. Can hover in place, to minimize fuel usage. At regular speed, is too small for ML turret to lock on, and doesn't give off enough heat to trigger MG turret. Emergency speed allows UAV to get out of danger quickly. Much cheaper than aircraft. Losing one doesn't mean the loss of a ticket, or the possibility of an ejecting pilot going down in enemy territory. Cons: Limited fuel - has to return to airfield to refuel. Requires player to stay on one place; minimal chance for glory. (i.e. Suxxors for pwners. ) Bad match for someone who is impatient and puts his own, personal glory before the team. Can be easily overtaken by, and less maneuverable than, aircraft. Can be chased down by jeeps/bikes/lights w/three phase engines. While using emergency speed, makes enough 'noise' and heat that ML & MG turrets can target it. Has no armor, so even a pistol can eventually take one down. Can be heard from a distance. Takes time to get to area needing recon Alternatives: Solar powered - will slowly recharge if parked away from airfield. If power runs low in the field, will automatically land. Can be used for guiding other players' auto-tracking missiles as long as target is within view of UAV. It will ensure lock is maintained, even if the other player loses it. If level three ML turrets are within range of UAV, icons with numbers 1-0 light up; UAV operator can launch missiles from those turrets at painted target, while target in view of UAV. Automatically gives electronically guided missiles limited NOE capability (i.e. uneven ground-fine; cliffs/walls/buildings-...not so much. ) while missile in view of UAV. Any class that enters the radar can watch the camera output for any UAV. (menu/key?) Notes: Same tech type as v3 aircraft. Based on Sikorsky Cypher II - Dragon Warrior (model 1/model 2)
http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=1499 the old thread on this. my personal view: using a drone will not help your team. instead of doing whatever you could do to the team as a player, far better, far more efficiently and without leaving your body stranded somewhere where it won't . There is nothing that a drone will be able to do (kill buildings, kill infantry, scout out) that a player wouldn't be able to do better. The only difference is that with a drone, after having shot one or two players, instead of having pushed up with the team, you'll just have been a pest without actually expanding the team's hold over the map. It'll be similar to getting into their base and sabotaging one of the enemy armouries. a pest, but not actually helping your team. Similar to teams with several scouts, teams with several UAV users will likely find winning a lot harder. i know UAV's will be reasonably weak because no-one in their right mind would make a UAV as powerful as a player, right? using a UAV has nothing to do with going around with a squad of people, working together. in the unlikely event that you DO "work with your squad to use this", your squad will have to leave you behind. Shooting players that are using the drone (aka shooting afk players) is NOT fun. being shot at while piloting a drone is not as fun. I don't perticularly want three or four people at any one time just standing facing the wall while zooming about in annoying mosqitos. models need making, texturing, rigging. then it needs to be coded. for hours and hours. you might be happy waiting another couple of months for empires navy and aircraft, so you can fly around in little paper planes, but i'm not. pro's for UAVs: pew pew pew! cool stuffz yeah!
Okay I read UAV and then skimmed through the rest. I quite like the idea of having UAVs in Empires; it works well in BF2 (not that BF2 is just like Empires). I think the best option would be to have a miniature plane fly over and uncover a specific radius of area once it has reached it's target coordinate. This could reveal enemy buildings, troops, and vehicles. However I think the CV should remain stealthy. I prefer the current method whereby the person who spots the CV tells the coordinates to the rest of the team. The challenge of finding the CV is fun; no need to take that away.
Okay, I read the drone thread, and agree with you that, in the later game, they could work. The thing is, I'm not talking about autonomous robots. I'm suggesting player-controlled UAV's, so that thread doesn't really have a lot to do with my suggestion. To that end, I'll pull out the parts of your reply that either do, or aren't you engaging in your chosen profession of being a gluteal aperture. Well, duh. When you feel like actually reading and replying to the current thread, feel free; I'm all for having my ideas constructively critiqued.
I gave a lot of critique. then I said that this needs a disproportionate amount of time spent on it. I mean this suggestion, if to be implemented, would require a LOT of time. for almost no gameplay benefits. a LOT of time. even if the dev team was locked in a cage with a couple computers for a month, i wouldn't really want this in empires, I don't think it would add to the game. I have read the thread.
Sandbag: You know, I just did a long post responding in depth to every point you made, when I realized that there wasn't anything that I could say that you would even pay attention to. So I just erased it. That's kind of sad, but not as much as I would be if I fueled the flames, so I will simply say this: You are wrong. Wrong on both accounts.
I do recall saying that you'd be better off using aircraft, in this case, a fighter. There's no point in using UAV's, it only annoys people.
Instead of it being useless and flying around annoying everybody why not put a small bomb or an EMP grenade in it so it could be useful disabling turrets for a short while then get someone to go in a destroy it.
Or how about it thow tomatos at people and tants them as well. lol in BF2 i dont find the UAV's anoying there an invaluable asset to the team and comm. insted of someone flying them how about the comm can call one in like on BF2 but he only has this ability when he has a airfield and radar. also could cost resorce and takes time to recharge. hense the name UNMANED AIREAL VECIAL
