General: Separate class loadouts from squad composition; allow customizable classes

[EvilHobo]

One of the things I liked about creating maps for Ostfront was the degree of customization that was possible with the roles that one could add. As far as I have been able to tell with HOS, classes are tied to squads, and weapon assignments for roles are tied to hard code. This does not allow for mappers to create varied scenarios as was possible in Ostfront. What if we should want to create a map from the period of 1941? Much of what we have in HOS would prevent that from being a believable scenario as things like the Mkb42, MP40/II, and AVT-40 would be by virtue of player rank be available (in 'Realism' and Standard modes, at the least).

Ostfront provided players with weapons and vehicles which spanned the titular years of 1941-1945. No one weapon was necessarily forced into a scenario. A 1941 map need do away with the MG42, StG44, PPS43, and M44 carbine, among others. Similarly, late war maps can see a greater abundance of particular weapons and a reduction or elimination of others (such as the PPD40). Mappers were able to mix and match loadouts as was done on several maps to give some German captured weapons like the PPSh41 or SVT40: something that was historically not an uncommon sight, which is in contrast to, for example, every Russian using a German machine gun. Rare weapons like the MP41 could be added for flavor. Modifying the grenade loadout for some classes could go a long way to changing the flow of a map. Outright removing smoke grenades is another option that was available. Maybe you want to remove pistols from some key classes that get them in order to have them rely more on their teammates for support (see: MGs in Ostfront).

Although what I am advocating is obviously very "classic" in its approach, if we ever want to go beyond the Battle of Stalingrad in the future, this is one of the things that should be adjusted. Mappers shouldn't have their hands necessarily tied by the mode a map is being played on, as in the case of Classic Mode, the PPSh with drum mag is being removed when someone may wish for only engineers to have it and for assault troops to use drum mags, or some other combination.

This would, in my opinion, be a boon for the future of modding and mapping for RO2.

If I am incorrect concerning current implementation techniques, please feel free to correct me.

[Vyllis]

I'm not a HOS mapper myself but i support this. Roles armament shouldn't be hardcoded. For the sake of modding custom scenarios.

[Barber[FG]]

I totally agree with the OP! You have my vote +1

[Kerc Kasha]

At the very least there should be the ability to add custom classes that have nothing to do with the current classes so you can simply add a custom class called 'assault'(all variables available to the mapper ofcourse) which can then add and change whatever the mapper wishes.

That way the hard coded classes stay linked to the unlock system and the custom ones just bypass it entirely

[Zetsumei]

Personally what I hope for in regards to squads in general is that available weapons get disconnected from squads.

1) So mappers get the power to distribute weaponry over the map.
and
2) the squad system can be incorporated in such a way that people are more likely to work together in squads.
a) by letting friends form squads together or
b) make people part of a squad depending on selected respawn point. So that everybody that spawns at spawn point A belongs to squad A, and everybody that spawns at spawn B belongs to squad B.

[EvilHobo]

I personally would rather see squads abolished altogether as I believe it to be a tacked on "me too!" feature intended to draw in fans of the Battlefield series. A return to "classic" mapping would be ideal. This is much more flexible.

[Zetsumei]

Well currently I think squads are non existant. So if they would be removed probably nobody would notice. But i think there are a lot of nice features around in general for squadleaders, and you can see work is put into it.

But in its current way it just doesn't work in the sense nobody knows in what squad they are in, and nobody remotely cares.

[ross]

Originally Posted by EvilHobo

I personally would rather see squads abolished altogether as I believe it to be a tacked on "me too!" feature intended to draw in fans of the Battlefield series. A return to "classic" mapping would be ideal. This is much more flexible.

Agreed. Maybe if they actually influenced gameplay this wouldn't be the case, but I have honestly yet to see a squad sticking together, much less working together. All it does is limit options for mappers and force certain team compositions.