Artificial visual aids - flameproof suit on

[Roblex]

When I fly with my squad I find it a nightmare forming up on my leader if we did not take off together as the only way to see who is who is to fly alongside at under 200yds and zoom in fully to read the letter and this will only work while everyone is flying in a straight line. Even when I do succeed in finding my leader, if I lose sight of him for even a second in a melee then I have no way of picking him out from the general mess again. I am sure it was not quite so tricky in real-life, tricky yes but not so tricky that you had to use a telescope from 200yds. Assuming it is even possible with the limited code access and time Team Fusion has, is there any support for a very limited form of close range friendly ID?

I get that people don't want their immersion ruined by unnatural neon signs over all the aircraft but how about something that only shows a single letter when a button is held down and you are within 200yds? Well within the range where you already know it is friendly so are not getting a 'friend or foe' cheat. Even limiting it to aircraft within your gunsight circle would help with forming and re-acquiring your wingman.

Maybe it is not a problem for most and I just have shit graphics but even at 200yds on full zoom it can be hard to read the codes, especially if either plane moves too much and anyone who has to turn model detail to 'low' would not even see a code at that range. If it could be done, even only flashing up the codes for 5 seconds in any five minute period would help.

I will get shot down in flames now I know but I am used it :-)

[ATAG_Snapper]

Heh, no flames here!

I like the very-short-range aspect to it so it gives no overt advantage to anyone, plus the push button to identify so only the player that desires this feature sees it. I'm not sure at what distance the yellow nose on the 109's becomes clearly visible, but a distance somewhat closer than that would be the distance the alpha-numerics should likely become visible as well.

I'm neither for nor against. It's an interesting idea, especially for squad players.

[1lokos]

Assuming it is even possible with the limited code access and time Team Fusion has, is there any support for a very limited form of close range friendly ID?


In fact no change in code is need, just adjust in RCU file - in server, like in 1946 ie:



mp_dotrange FOE DOT 15 COLOR 0,001 RANGE 0.001 TYPE 0.001 ID 0.001 NAME 0.001
mp_dotrange FRIENDLY DOT 15 COLOR 0,9 RANGE 0.001 TYPE 0.001 ID 0.001.0 NAME 0,9
timeout 60000 file icon.rcu


This settings show only player name, in color of your side (red/blue) at 900 meters(or preferred value). Dots at 15 (or any value).

Since CloD dont allow assign a button to "change icons" like in 1946, you see the friendly icon all time.

Offline you can turn this ON and OFF with console commands, but is clumsy.

Personally I vote NO for this type of aid, find horrible "neon signs" strolling through the sky, too "gamey". :D

Sokol1

[ATAG_Snapper]

Roblex was very clear on requesting a visual aid that was

1) limited in distance
2) possibly limited in viewing angle ie. within player's gun sight
3) viewable only by the player
4) switchable on/off by joystick button

At least that was my understanding. You have described something completely different, based on the known limitations of the game itself ie. icons on all the time and presumably viewed by all players continuously -- nothing like what Roblex described.

I agree 100% with you that I would NOT want to see what you described to be on the server; totally out of the question. I'm sure Roblex feels the same. What Roblex described, if possible by our clever scriptors, is entirely different and an interesting concept.

[CptJackSparrow]

+1 For Roblex idea.


I was always a fan of Warclouds icons back in '03.

[92 Sqn. Philstyle (QJ-P)]

Hi Roblex, I hope you don't mind a long response!

A bit of a tricky one. The computer screen tries to replicate up to 70 degrees of vision in a space that (depending on how close tot he screen you sit) might be only 45-50 degrees of your actual visual area. this is exacerbated by the rendering of objects and the need to work within the pixel limits of the screen and GPU. The illusion of this is that it seems everything is "zoomed out". This invariably makes identification in the computer game much harder than real life. One day this problem might be resolved, when we have screens that are 2m wide, slightly wrapped around and containing closer to 5940x3060 resolution.

In the meantime, you might be right that some additional visual aid ni the software might be necessary to replicate the actual visual capabilities that one would expect based on aircraft distance. However, the "field of view" settings in the game are not a "zoom". They are designed to more accurately represent the angle of vision that the screen presents before your eyes. In that sense, using the field of view controls to create the illusion of zooming in and out is realistic (in a computer-gamey sense).

I would suggest there are also tactical ways of reducing the internal observational burden on each pilot in a formation. Having flown with 56sqn on quite a few occasions I'm surprised this is an issue for you. You chaps seem to have a pretty useful system for pairing up and identifying each other in the air. I wouldn't want to tell you boys to suck eggs, given that you generally display high proficiency in these areas anyways. But just a few tips:

1. Spread the squad formation (that is, the sets of pairs) so it has a clear left and right extent, so you know who's on the left and who's on the right
2. Use the wing-waggle to ID aircraft at ranges beyond where the decals show up
3. Combat spread for each pair should be side-by-side, not one behind the other, looking for 50-100m separation, that way you can easily see markings without having to use the full-zoom, or the tight Angle of View.
4. Encourage the flight leader to fly slowest, so everyone can keep up.
5. If you're lagging behind, when the formation makes a turn, cut the corner (or turn early) to gain ground

Once the battle starts, there are few pilots who can keep a constant check on who is who in the fight. The job of wingman is to stick like glue to his leader. Slip in behind him and stay there as long as you can. If you get separated, you really are on your own. Historically, once the fight broke up like this, it really was each pilot looking out for himself. In most cases, once you are alone, you would need to get out and get home fast, especially when over enemy territory.

The best way to manage this is to work hard on your situational awareness. Try to think of the fight as a 3D box (with a base, a northern, southern, eastern and western extent, and a lid). If you know where you are in that box, then you can use TS to call out your location relative to the fight, and hopefully relative to the other protagonists.

[1lokos]

Aicons on all the time and presumably viewed by all players continuously

To use actual icon system, mybee if MODers make a transparente color for default icon and a "highlight" console command like in old IE Warbirds (http://www.tabajarahost.org/news/images/rsgallery/original/WB%20Screenshots%2017.jpg)
that change icon color for a specific player name - ie .highlight Sokol1 - so only this player name icon are visible to player that type the command (or hit some button/key) and are in range set in RCU.

Sokol1

[Roblex]

Thanks Pstyle but as you are probably aware, 56 does employ all the methods you suggest and thus we are able to form up on the way out most of the time.

I think what spurred me to write was that on my previous squad night both my own leader and another wingman got delayed by the bugs with spawn points causing them to turn over etc. so we were looking back at a chasing pair that was actually two solo pilots. With the rest of the squadron orbiting the pairs were not as tight as they could be so it was not so obvious to the laggards which dots were solo and not so easy for us to tell them where we were in relation to the rest of the squadron because even the pairs that were managing to stay tight were accidently changing their positions in the overall group in the turns :-) Add to that the fact that when we did get formed up we were jumped by higher 109s and in the split second I looked over my shoulder to see where the tracers were coming from my leader made a violent turn and became just another dot in the chaotic dogfight. It is a bit easier to follow your leader as he initiates an attack than to follow him as you both avoid separate attacks!

1lokos, your suggestion does sound feasible and I like that it only helps you look for a specific pilot, ie your wingman. Just showing all friendlies at close range can still be an unfair advantage because even the best of pilots have been known to accidently mistake a friendly for an enemy at close range and just seeing no icons appear would tell them they were about to make a mistake (a certain respected pilot whose name starts with a K once shot down a hurricane for 'putting down his wheels and impersonating a stuka' :-P )

[ATAG_Bliss]

Thanks Pstyle but as you are probably aware, 56 does employ all the methods you suggest and thus we are able to form up on the way out most of the time.

I think what spurred me to write was that on my previous squad night both my own leader and another wingman got delayed by the bugs with spawn points causing them to turn over etc. so we were looking back at a chasing pair that was actually two solo pilots. With the rest of the squadron orbiting the pairs were not as tight as they could be so it was not so obvious to the laggards which dots were solo and not so easy for us to tell them where we were in relation to the rest of the squadron because even the pairs that were managing to stay tight were accidently changing their positions in the overall group in the turns :-) Add to that the fact that when we did get formed up we were jumped by higher 109s and in the split second I looked over my shoulder to see where the tracers were coming from my leader made a violent turn and became just another dot in the chaotic dogfight. It is a bit easier to follow your leader as he initiates an attack than to follow him as you both avoid separate attacks!

1lokos, your suggestion does sound feasible and I like that it only helps you look for a specific pilot, ie your wingman. Just showing all friendlies at close range can still be an unfair advantage because even the best of pilots have been known to accidently mistake a friendly for an enemy at close range and just seeing no icons appear would tell them they were about to make a mistake (a certain respected pilot whose name starts with a K once shot down a hurricane for 'putting down his wheels and impersonating a stuka' :-P )

We just need wingtip smoke and nav lights like the old game. That was the best way for form up. Give a blink of the lights put on some smoke and listen to your wingman say "Oh, there you are" . There's an idea for future Clod :)

[92 Sqn. Philstyle (QJ-P)]

We just need wingtip smoke and nav lights like the old game. That was the best way for form up. Give a blink of the lights put on some smoke and listen to your wingman say "Oh, there you are" . There's an idea for future Clod :)

Wingtip smoke would be great. It can be used for loads of other fun in-game activities too.

[ATAG_Snapper]

I was thinking we could purchase coloured streamers and scarves. Oh, wait, that's been done already in another sim......:ind:


:)