Aircraft vs. Ground Vehicle Alert Idea

[Kingpin]

I’ve seen a couple threads recently where HT mentioned wanting to add some kind of “notification” when enemy GVs are around.  I think that is a great idea for the game, not only for finding combat but also in terms of realism. 

The existing dar-bar and flashing fields are really just an abstraction of getting “reports” of enemy activity: from spotters, OP’s, civilians, other units, etc.  I think anyone making one of those  “reports” would say whether it was an enemy ground vehicle or aircraft they spotted/heard or that attacked them! 

So, here are two versions of an idea to address this based on this concept:  Have towns or airfields flash according to the threat type.

Version A: Only enemy aircraft would make a field flash (but not towns).  Only enemy ground vehicles would make the town flash (but not the field).  In other words, if the field is flashing there are enemy aircraft in the area, if the town is flashing there are enemy GV’s in range and if both are flashing there are both air and GVs in the area.  Simple to understand and possibly simple to implement.

The one downside to version A, as I see it, is you lose the ability to guess the location/approach of the threat, because you wouldn’t see a town or field flash first.  This could be a good thing though, in terms of realism, as I always thought it was a bit gamey for an aircraft to flash a town when it is outside of the enemy dar circle.  That said, it is nice to see a field flashing if a GV is approaching the field as opposed to the town.  So…

Version B:  Keeping the current alert system and ranges, simply have the town or airfield flash a different COLOR based on the threat type.  Perhaps flash blue if it is an air threat and red if it is a ground threat and purple if it is both.  Or something like that.  This provides slightly more information, with regard to proximity to a base or town, but is a little less intuitive because people would have to learn what the different colors meant.

These both seem relatively easy to implement because they use existing map items instead of requiring something new on the map.  And they both accomplish the goal of representing reports of an air attack, ground attack or both going on at a given field.

Let me know what you think.  (Flame retardant suit on.)

<S>
Kingpin

[bustr]

He could tag onto the black panel hover info for each field a contact object type status when it's flashing.

[hitech]

Neither do what I feel the need is for.  What I am looking for is not to aid in field defense, but rather simply letting you know after you spawned a vehicle  if some one is in range to go find and fight.

The road block I keep hitting is that the methods I have thought of all would give more information then I wish.

For instance a red circle around your tank that displays if some one is in range. It would not take long to figure out how to move to turn the red on and off to locate the enemy.

Currently I am leaning to about a 10 x 10 mile areas around you divided into 2X2 mile sectors  (or some other size variation) that would highlight if some one is in them if you were in a vehicle. Similar to sector counter idea except smaller sectors and only on or off.

HiTech

[Kingpin]

Neither do what I feel the need is for.  What I am looking for is not to aid in field defense, but rather simply letting you know after you spawned a vehicle  if some one is in range to go find and fight.

The road block I keep hitting is that the methods I have thought of all would give more information then I wish.

For instance a red circle around your tank that displays if some one is in range. It would not take long to figure out how to move to turn the red on and off to locate the enemy.

Currently I am leaning to about a 10 x 10 mile areas around you divided into 2X2 mile sectors  (or some other size variation) that would highlight if some one is in them if you were in a vehicle. Similar to sector counter idea except smaller sectors and only on or off.

HiTech

Ah, cool, I see what you are saying.  This would be good for both offensive and defensive players. 

Do you want only the player driving the GV to see the prompt or would all friendly players see it on the map? 

Maybe you could just have the reticle circle in the commander's position turn red if an enemy GV is within a certain proximity?  This would limit the intel to just that player.  AND it would also allow the player to drive around without needing the map open.  If the "proximity" range was wide enough (at least 2K-ish) this wouldn't give away exact position of the enemy but still be useful.  The problem with grids that I see is someone could be literally right next to you but just over an adjacent grid line or quite far away in a corner of the same grid.

A lot of players do currently use the green or red "end sortie" on the clipboard as something like this, but it isn't specific to GVs.

I still think adding a GV-specific alert that lets you know that GVs are some place would help the game.   The behavior I tend to see is that GVers will launch if they KNOW where a fight is.  So, if someone spots and announces there are GVs at a base, then they launch.  That's why I like the idea of adding GV's to the alert system.  Right now, if the dar is down and there is one air con in the sector, there is no way to know if there are GV's there.

<S>

[Tilt]

Version B seems easy enough from the OP's perspective.

If we can see that GV's are local to towns or fields then we know when we spawn that they are there to fight.

For "Tank fight" zones  that are a long way from towns or fields just put an uncapturable map room object in the middle for each country and let it flash appropriately.

[BowHTR]

Version B:  Keeping the current alert system and ranges, simply have the town or airfield flash a different COLOR based on the threat type.  Perhaps flash blue if it is an air threat and red if it is a ground threat and purple if it is both.  Or something like that.  This provides slightly more information, with regard to proximity to a base or town, but is a little less intuitive because people would have to learn what the different colors meant.

The only problem with this is currently, the bases flash the inverted color. This could easily get very messy with different colors.

[popeye]

Version A: Only enemy aircraft would make a field flash (but not towns).  Only enemy ground vehicles would make the town flash (but not the field).  In other words, if the field is flashing there are enemy aircraft in the area, if the town is flashing there are enemy GV’s in range and if both are flashing there are both air and GVs in the area.  Simple to understand and possibly simple to implement.

+1

As Tilt suggested, just add uncapturable map room objects to "tank fight" zones.

[Sabre]

Rather than flashing a different color, have them flash at different rates for GVs versus AC. Fast flash for AC, slow pulse for GVs. doesn't give too much more info than you get now. Just allows you to make a more informed decision as to what you might want to selects as a ride. Don't know if that addresses HiTech's concern about providing too much info.

[bustr]

Currently I am leaning to about a 10 x 10 mile areas around you divided into 2X2 mile sectors  (or some other size variation) that would highlight if some one is in them if you were in a vehicle. Similar to sector counter idea except smaller sectors and only on or off.

HiTech

Would this be the beginning of two CBM with a localized 10x10 GVer's CBM only toggle able when in a GV? Or just a local 10x10 grind that shows up when in a GV that you add code to flash the 2x2 boxes?

[Randy1]

The green end sortie has really been nice and has served  the purpose of knowing a GV is in range of another GV.  In it is in the top 5 new features in AH3.

[Chalenge]

Just a proximity meter would be easier to add, wouldn't it?