Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: Fineus on January 31, 2006, 07:01:24 am
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Whilst replaying the campaign earlier I realised what a difference proper use of wingmen could be.
This got me thinking. Wouldn't it be nice if one could hand out "proper" orders to wingmen / friendly ships on the fly without having to go through the cumbersome "c-2-1-1" combination etc.
Would it be possible to code in a brand new screen dedicated specifically to ship communications / orders. Pressing "C" would pause the game and bring up this menu, allowing you to order an individual ship, wing or all fighters to attack a hostile ships turrets, subsystems, destroy the ship itself etc. etc.
The point of this being that - as a bomber pilot - you could have fighters cover you and attack a ships flak/beam turrets as you make your run against the ship itself. As a fighter pilot you could do the same thing and have the bombers hit the capital ship while you attack the turrets to provide protection for them.
Whatcha think?
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That would be great :yes:, but multiplayers... though i suppose it would possible to disable that screen during multiplayer sessions.
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While I would also like the possibility to have some new comms ( I remember the good old WingCommander "Request clearance for land" before you are allowed to land on the carrier) :)
On the other hand, I wouldn't like it if the game will always pauses when opening the comm-menu. That's like reducing the gameplay to turnbased style. But that's just my 2 cents :)
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That's not what Kalfireth meant IMHO....
....or at least that's not how I see the implementation.
There should 2 comm. systems:
1) Direct Command systy
2) Tac-Net sys
The first is the already in game comm.sys.
The later is a tactical interface that allows you to upload battleplans on-the-fly. Actually IMHO the FRED code could be reused.
IMHO useful functions:
1) Set navpoint
2) Set orders with priority
a) go to navpoint
b) go to jumpnode
c) attack target priority list
d) shipcomponent priority list
e) protect ship priority list
What I really lack in FS is the ability to use formations and hunt in packs.
This is an AI improovement, but it should tie into the comm. sysytem too.
If fighters/bombers could stick close in a formation they could actually dramatically increase their lifespan against attackers. This can be done as pinguins do in on Anctartis - you continously change who's on the outside, and that way you can divide damage between ships.
Similarly hunting in formation could drastically improove the ammount of damage you can dish out. The method here is timing the attacks between ships, denying and letup to the target.
Pincer manuevers are the next level of this. You could order a formation/wing to go pincer-right/left/up/down
Joint missile doctrine could also be devastating. It should actually be a auto-fuction, so by selecting missile-wave, the game automatically assigns targets for everyone in the formation. It takes 2 arguments - which formation should attack which. Similarly multi-target locking could also be implemented in a similar manner. (That would be handy for the Macross mod).
I'm also sick of how bad the AI is at joining a fight. Some basic manuvers should be implemented:
-Lead turn. Istead passing the bogey and then turning, you start turning before the pass, giving you an advantage. Since turn speed is independent of speed (as it should in space!), it's not that hard to calculate an optimum.
-Single Circle Fight. Actually it has nothing to do with single circle, you merly do a lead turn. You do this if your bogey goes faster than you giving you a smaller turn radius.
-Two Circle Fight. You do this if you have a bigger turn speed. You turn in one direction, tempting the bogey to start a lead turn, then reverse course, getting in his six.
-Scissor: it only happens when you're parallel to your target. You should initiate the manuever if you can decelarate faster putting you on his six.
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nah, i like the comms the way they are now. (especially if you have gamecommander programmed to every keystroke in the game. :drevil: )
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Flaser has actually taken what I had in mind and run with it far beyond what I was thinking of (though not necessarily for the worse!).
Starman01s fear could well be realised. The very nature of increasing the possible command options and having the game pause while accessing the menu would make it vaguely more turn-based.. however it would also make it much more tactical.
To look at it from another angle though... it would make for a much deeper game. In any mission where a Shivan bomber wing jumps in to attack a target, you may find they have fighters attack alongside them as cover. There's no reason the Terrans can't do that - and this change would allow you to tactically simulate that ability and coordination.
Of course.... one could always leave the existing comms menu as it is (as has been suggested above) and input this as an optional extra. Those who want the added depth can make use of it, those that don't could leave it.
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Two suggestions
1) Add it but don't make it possible to pause the game while doing it to prevent it becoming turn based.
2) Add it and make it an on/off thing under the mission designers control. I loved Hostile Waters and I have no problem with someone trying to make it possible to do the same thing in the FS2 engine. Just make it so that it won't pause normally unless the campaign flag is present.
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Actually half the point of it pausing is because it would be really hard to get everything set up right on the fly while you try and attack the enemy yourself / evade fire etc.
Assuming that you could issue voice commands to your wingmen etc. it would be pretty much easier but this is the next best thing. In the absence of "Alpha 2, cover me. Alpha 3 and 4 take out those turrets and give the bombers some assistance. Beta wing, attack the cruisers left flank. GTC Orff, provide cover fire" - this is the next best thing.
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But the best thing is already in CVS then. Have you not checked out RTs voice commands stuff? :)