Thinking out loud about GV radar

[8thJinx]

Mark me down as a player that thinks some method of GV notification helps promote action.  So far we have had real-time GV icons, then some first passes at the red GV dar, then round GV quadrant dar, and now 3 mile square GV sector dar. 

I'm working on a Tank Night GV terrain, with hedgerows and such, and it got me thinking that in Normandy it was the infantry's job to provide the intel that directed where the limited air and armor resources were supposed to go to counter enemy armor.  My great uncle was a runner in the 4th ID, and he literally ran around hedgerow country from June 6th through July delivering intel that there were tanks spotted in this village or in the fields by that canal.

What if instead of a fixed 3-mile red square, we have a red GV icon at the center of that 3 mile square.  It still serves the purpose of notifying that there are GVs present.  But it makes it a little less gamey.  It changes the current game play of "all I need to do is find the GV inside of this red square" and returns it to "there is a GV present in this vicinity, and I need to hunt for it." 

I suppose one could argue 'what difference does it make if it's a red square or a red GV icon.'  I would argue that a red GV icon removes the oddity of having a red square on the map, a feature that can be quickly and efficiently searched from the air since you know the edges of the red square, and returns it to something closer to a simple report of "there are GVs over there."  You wouldn't know where the edge of the search area is with just an icon.  In fact you could play around with size of the sector: 2 mile, 3 mile, 4 mile, etc.   

In the AvA arenas, we can turn off GV dar, turn on GV icons, and time-delay the position update on the GV icons so that you don't really know where the GV actually is at the moment.  All you know is that there are GVs there.  It's a lot more fun.  The extension of that is no GV dar + simple GV icon at the center of the sector.

[nooby52]

Sounds good to me. I have a hard time differentiating between the current airplane dar bar and the gv bar. But I confess I don't frequent the "Main Arena" enough to keep up with the changes.

[Mano]

+1

 

[rvflyer]

I like it.

Mark me down as a player that thinks some method of GV notification helps promote action.  So far we have had real-time GV icons, then some first passes at the red GV dar, then round GV quadrant dar, and now 3 mile square GV sector dar. 

I'm working on a Tank Night GV terrain, with hedgerows and such, and it got me thinking that in Normandy it was the infantry's job to provide the intel that directed where the limited air and armor resources were supposed to go to counter enemy armor.  My great uncle was a runner in the 4th ID, and he literally ran around hedgerow country from June 6th through July delivering intel that there were tanks spotted in this village or in the fields by that canal.

What if instead of a fixed 3-mile red square, we have a red GV icon at the center of that 3 mile square.  It still serves the purpose of notifying that there are GVs present.  But it makes it a little less gamey.  It changes the current game play of "all I need to do is find the GV inside of this red square" and returns it to "there is a GV present in this vicinity, and I need to hunt for it." 

I suppose one could argue 'what difference does it make if it's a red square or a red GV icon.'  I would argue that a red GV icon removes the oddity of having a red square on the map, a feature that can be quickly and efficiently searched from the air since you know the edges of the red square, and returns it to something closer to a simple report of "there are GVs over there."  You wouldn't know where the edge of the search area is with just an icon.  In fact you could play around with size of the sector: 2 mile, 3 mile, 4 mile, etc.   

In the AvA arenas, we can turn off GV dar, turn on GV icons, and time-delay the position update on the GV icons so that you don't really know where the GV actually is at the moment.  All you know is that there are GVs there.  It's a lot more fun.  The extension of that is no GV dar + simple GV icon at the center of the sector.

[RUSH1]

Sounds good, but anything is better than what we have now.

[waystin2]

Gah.  No.    There needs to be a guide.  Hence the square.

[BOBO]

I liked it better without GV Radar.  I think it's too precise.  Maybe when buildings are added some will just create a darbar for vehicles within x range of it, and a alert delay to simulate the flow of information.  Maybe also have buildings occupied by partisan resistance that inform on the defending team.

[RUSH1]

Or have a dar bar just like for planes.  If base radar is down that's all you see, if radar is up you'll get your little squares.

[DLXIRON]

While I like Jinx idea you think there would be a cooler way to promote GV fights. 

Is there even a remote possibility to code in our vehicles to leave tracks in the ground that disappeared two or three minutes after leaving them.  At least then you would know there was a GV in the area IF you happened upon their tracks also you would be able to track them down more realistically. 

[Devil 505]

Gah.  No.    There needs to be a guide.  Hence the square.

Exactly.

[Chalenge]

When the base used to flash it was enough, in all honesty. The first time a GV got close enough to fire on the field, or within 3.2k you could quickly sortie a tank and kill them. If you were too slow and the hangar got dropped, well that's part of the game too.

If you have to have something to tell you that a GV is in the sector then a separate indicator is acceptable, but the square should come only after someone has designated the area through location. The way it is takes the fun out of it.

[BOBO]

Yeah but this squirrel was telling me that people worked really hard to write the gv radar program.  Nobody wants to see that much work that is that boring and tedious sit on the shelf.

[bustr]

The only thing GVDAR seems to have really accomplished is more players running a film, logging off, and pinpointing the hidden GV when they log back in. I'm not sure that is progress but, it appears to have helped some GVers to up their GV hiding skills.

You now hear players tell each other they will give the search x amount more time, then film and smack the hider. People do not like turning their back on a hidden GV the GVDAR tells them is within easy range of their field if they leave out of frustration. With that gamey consequence driven by frustration, I'm not sure what GVDAR is "now" accomplishing. Granted players ran film to locate GV's before GVDAR, I just didn't hear so many players talking about it as a standard game procedure before GVDAR. More back then looked down on it is gamey while now out of frustration are embracing it. Might as well show tank dots on the map and be done with it since players have come up with a solution almost the same. Then you could argue for making tank icons easier to see than they are now and do away with GVDAR.

[JimmyD3]

Waystin, Devil505 your biased just like me, so lets stay out of the conversation.

[Electroman]

Personally I still think the idea of GVDar implementation was a bad idea but I've come to accept it and use it as others have. As soon as I see GVDar now I'll up a bomb**** plane just as others have done to me, or a storch to hunt it down while others flush it out in tanks. The odd occasion I will use film to find the hiding GV as Bustr mentions when someone is really irritating and flashing a town / base for a long period of time to get rid of them.

I think if the GVDar stays which it obviously will it simply needed to be tweaked - i.e. - when the base radar goes down, GVDar also goes down. This is one of the biggest frustrations with it today as implemented. When dar ring goes down you lose visual area on aircraft but GVDar you still have the 3 mile sector pinpointed and can tell when vehicles move from one area to the next. It is lopsided - period. You can argue all you want that an airplane can travel faster / cover a search area more for other aircraft but it handicaps GV'ers when an airplane can also search in a specific area still with the dar up when it should be down.

Fix that first...

Cheers,
Elec1