Hi guys,
Great work with the ground vehicles, HTC. Now you "only" have to modify your whole arena setup to accomodate more-or less realistic and playable ground warfare before people get over their initial facination with tanks and trucks and stop using them.
As a former commander of a T72 platoon (started as a gunner and went through the ranks), let me drop my $0.02 on the subject.
1. During the war the tanks are on the front line and the airfields are to the rear (outside of the artillery range). I do not know how you would similate the front line when the airfields can be captured anywhere. Probably there should be at least two vehicle bases between two adjacent airfields. Whenever the airfield changes hands, the vehicle bases closest to it also do so (after a certain rebuild period - they get blown up when abandoned by the defeated side). That would ensure that any field would have vehicle bases between it and the enemy airfield.
That would cut down on the travel time for tanks.
2. Tanks could be repaired in the field and often were. If a tank gets a disabling damage - tracks, wheels or engine, that should not be the end of it. The "health points" and the repair time should be indicated and the repair process should begin with the clock ticking down somewhere (show damage command should show remaining repair time). So a tanker would have an option to wait for 5-15 minutes while his tank gets rebuilt rather then going back to the base and to start another 1+ hour drive. Usually the gunner stays in the turret while the rest of the crew is sweating it out.
If a crew(s) of the other tanks decide to stop nearby and add their efforts to the repairs (/.repair handle) they should proceed faster still. That can be implementing as the friendly tank shooting the repair packets at the damaged tank.
Of course if enemy decides to show up and add to the damage, that is a risk a tanker should be willing to take.
Of course once the tank catches fire or/and explodes the crew does not have a repair option any more.
3. Only a minutes of the tank life were spent charging the enemy. The rest was spent covering in the forest and during the sneak-marches through the aforementioned forests pretty safe from any but most persistent airborne enemy.
That is what we need - lots of forests with forest roads to hide the tank columns!
I do not propose that you add millions of trees to the arena. For all practical purposes a forest can be represented by a regular flat terrain with a slightly different coloring that should not allow ditching the aircraft on it.
That terrain should be raised by the height of the forest (100 feet?) and have have narrow intersecting canyons going through it representing the forest roads and wider canyons representing forest clearins.
Those canyons/roads should not be straight, but bend a bit. So a tank on such a road would be invisible from the air unless a plane flies directly above or in front/to the rear of that particular stretch of the road. May be the roads/canyons should have some overhung to simulate tree cover.
That would allow tanks to select a safer route or multiple routes to the objective, then cocentrate and attack over the open terrain. They would have to send air reconnecaince or sacrificial recon unit or two before crossing the open areas between forests and move in smaller groups lest to be caught in the open and destroyed, or request an air cover just for a few minutes of such a crossing. Many people who would not spend 1 hour flying CAP over the tank column would gladly do that for a few critical minutes.
Also mobile AAA can be set up/concentrated in the specific vulnerable points.
4. In conjunction with 2. and 3. If a tank/track is disabled, it should be possible for another tank to hook it up and drag it to a safer place (like under tree cover) where it could continue repairs. How about commands /.hook handle /.hook accept /.hook drop - and a damaged tank becomes slaved to the other one? We did that all the time in real life. You loose some speed, of course.
You would be able to use that hooking ability later to hook artillery pieces and may be even gliders.
5. Camuflage. If a tank stops and player hits /.camouflage it should become practically invisible after 2-3 minutes it takes to mount the nets (reduced icon range?, other means?). hitting /.camouflage remove should result in the 2 minutes of the camouflage being repacked. If a tank moves while camouflaged, it loses the ability to do that later.
That would greatly add to the coordination of attacks and make the whole concept much more attractive to players. Also repairs would be easier to perform.
Imagine a couple of AAA setting up under the camuflage near the enemy field and opening up in an inopportune moment!!
An obserwation - in RL tanks on the open ground are visible for tens of miles because of all the dust they stir up. Forget about 1 mile engagement range - the tanks often collide because you cannot see a thing in all that dust. Of course it is easier to detect the tanks but not strafe them - the only thing you see is a huge cloud of dust. Here is where you need your own tanks.
I do not propose to implement that here, at least not untill better clouds are developed. Then the clouds can be used to produce that effect near the ground.
I think my proposals are well withing the current technology and existing tools/code. If implemented, they should make the groung war possible and air war much more interesting. Instead of just the airfield furballs there will be CAPs, interdiction strikes, recon flights and recon-supression.
Also the feeling of community and cooperation - in the air you can cover your friend's 6, on the groound you can help him repair and cover him while he is doing that.
What do you think?
miko--
[This message has been edited by miko2d (edited 04-11-2000).]
