Playing the beta which overall is very good.
However, there are quite a few things that bothers me both in game mechanics and realism.
This thread is about the realism aspect only.
My suggestions apply to the hardcore setting, which currently isn't that hardcore.
These features that I want changed for the most realistic setting are fine for lower settings.
Wounds
Bandaging needs to disappear, it's just not needed and quite frankly feels like something that only belong in a less realistic game.
Problem:
If you're only hurt so much that you can put on a bandage and then forget about it, there's no need for the bandage.
If you're bleeding so much that you're about to die, it's quite unlikely that you could quickly patch yourself up and then continue fighting as if nothing had happened.
Solution:
Remove bandaging and replace it with "Suck it Up or Die!".
The "Suck it Up"-part:
If you're wouned you will need to suck the pain up, this is done automatically over a few seconds while you struggle with tunnel vision and some muffling of sounds as to simulate a pain reaction.
Pretty much what we have now.
The "Die"-part:
If the player is shot with a certain amount of "deadly damage" he will die, but slowly, much more slowly than "slow death" unless he takes himself back to spawn where he is excanged for a free reinforcement with equal equipment.
Basically you respawn for free and this effectively acts as bandaging but only at the spawn location.
If you don't get back to spawn you bleed out over a random time between 1 and 3 minutes over which time you get increasingly slower and weaker, get problems holding the weapon still, vision getting worse and so on until you finally become unconcious (death).
Result:
A more realistic feel to the game, and more diverse death and wound mechanics.
Kill messages
Kill messages, even delayed ones, very much affect how the game is played. Negatively.
At a tactical level you get an unrealistic amount of information about the situation you're in.
The difference is this:
Example 1
With kill messages:
With kill messages:
The difference:
With kill messages:
Remove all messages about kills. This also includes removing the scoring board, but then again, why would anyone need to see it until the round is over anyway?
Even spawnpool info should be restricted to a course scale, such as "Full, plenty, about half, low, almost depleated, depleated"
Result:
More realistic behaviour by players, communication and coordination among the teams become key to winning.
Personal skill and running between "hot zones" become less of a factor in the overall battle.
Better immersion as you de-clutter the interface and you have to keep your eyes and ears more open to gain situational awareness.
Gaining and attaining situational awareness becomes a key skill.
Victory point messaging
Problem:
Getting info on how many enemies are in the cap zone affects how the game is played as it affects if you will ask for reinforcements and if you'll get it and so on.
Solution:
Only keep the message about the victory location being attacked and or taken, don't show any relative numbers, also the time at which a place is capped should always be the same no matter how many more guys you have than the enemy.
Result:
More realistic behaviour by the players as there is confusion about the situation.
You get the ability to feign an attack against a position with a couple of men, while attacking another position in force.
Gaining and attaining situational awareness becomes a key skill.
Communication between players become more important.
That's only a few things, but it's and I really need to sleep.
However, there are quite a few things that bothers me both in game mechanics and realism.
This thread is about the realism aspect only.
My suggestions apply to the hardcore setting, which currently isn't that hardcore.
These features that I want changed for the most realistic setting are fine for lower settings.
Wounds
Bandaging needs to disappear, it's just not needed and quite frankly feels like something that only belong in a less realistic game.
Problem:
If you're only hurt so much that you can put on a bandage and then forget about it, there's no need for the bandage.
If you're bleeding so much that you're about to die, it's quite unlikely that you could quickly patch yourself up and then continue fighting as if nothing had happened.
Solution:
Remove bandaging and replace it with "Suck it Up or Die!".
The "Suck it Up"-part:
If you're wouned you will need to suck the pain up, this is done automatically over a few seconds while you struggle with tunnel vision and some muffling of sounds as to simulate a pain reaction.
Pretty much what we have now.
The "Die"-part:
If the player is shot with a certain amount of "deadly damage" he will die, but slowly, much more slowly than "slow death" unless he takes himself back to spawn where he is excanged for a free reinforcement with equal equipment.
Basically you respawn for free and this effectively acts as bandaging but only at the spawn location.
If you don't get back to spawn you bleed out over a random time between 1 and 3 minutes over which time you get increasingly slower and weaker, get problems holding the weapon still, vision getting worse and so on until you finally become unconcious (death).
Result:
A more realistic feel to the game, and more diverse death and wound mechanics.
Kill messages
Kill messages, even delayed ones, very much affect how the game is played. Negatively.
At a tactical level you get an unrealistic amount of information about the situation you're in.
The difference is this:
Example 1
With kill messages:
You see two enemies run into a room, without seeing the enemy you throw in a grenade and soon see two kill messages. You're then fairly sure that the room is clear and you can run inside without being careful.
Without kill messages:
You see two enemies run into a room, without seeing the enemy you throw in a grenade and hope you get them, you then proceed cautiously inside the room because you cannot be sure that you got any of them.
Example 2
With kill messages:
You shoot at an enemy behind cover, he drops behind the cover and then you get a kill message, you immediately run towards his position and help in taking it.
Without kill messages:
You shoot at an enemy behind cover, he drops behind the cover and you instantly wonder if you hit him or not, you wait for a moment to see if you spot any movement, then cautiosly move towards his postion, before you get there a new enemy appear, reinforcing the enemy postion.
At a strategic level you get unrealistic information about how the fight is going for your side even though it happens somewhere out of sight and out of hearing range.
The difference:
With kill messages:
You spawn and run towards the fighting, you see a few guys run towards the right flank as you go for the left.
You run into a fierce firefight where your team is defending a victory position against attacking enemies.
You decide to stick around and help out, even though your team seems to have a handle on the situation.
At the same time you see a lot of kill and death messages appearing from the same guys you saw moving towards the right flank.
Now without being there you know that they need help.
You decide to join them and with your added help you over run the enemy captures the final victory point.
Without kill messages:You run into a fierce firefight where your team is defending a victory position against attacking enemies.
You decide to stick around and help out, even though your team seems to have a handle on the situation.
At the same time you see a lot of kill and death messages appearing from the same guys you saw moving towards the right flank.
Now without being there you know that they need help.
You decide to join them and with your added help you over run the enemy captures the final victory point.
You spawn and run towards the fighting, you see a few guys run towards the right flank as you go for the left.
You run into a fierce firefight where your team is defending a victory position against attacking enemies.
You decide to stick around and help out, even though your team seems to have a handle on the situation.
Now you don't know that the guys on the right need help and without it they ended up dead and the enemy soon outflanked your position and thereafter won the match.
Solution: You run into a fierce firefight where your team is defending a victory position against attacking enemies.
You decide to stick around and help out, even though your team seems to have a handle on the situation.
Now you don't know that the guys on the right need help and without it they ended up dead and the enemy soon outflanked your position and thereafter won the match.
Remove all messages about kills. This also includes removing the scoring board, but then again, why would anyone need to see it until the round is over anyway?
Even spawnpool info should be restricted to a course scale, such as "Full, plenty, about half, low, almost depleated, depleated"
Result:
More realistic behaviour by players, communication and coordination among the teams become key to winning.
Personal skill and running between "hot zones" become less of a factor in the overall battle.
Better immersion as you de-clutter the interface and you have to keep your eyes and ears more open to gain situational awareness.
Gaining and attaining situational awareness becomes a key skill.
Victory point messaging
Problem:
Getting info on how many enemies are in the cap zone affects how the game is played as it affects if you will ask for reinforcements and if you'll get it and so on.
Solution:
Only keep the message about the victory location being attacked and or taken, don't show any relative numbers, also the time at which a place is capped should always be the same no matter how many more guys you have than the enemy.
Result:
More realistic behaviour by the players as there is confusion about the situation.
You get the ability to feign an attack against a position with a couple of men, while attacking another position in force.
Gaining and attaining situational awareness becomes a key skill.
Communication between players become more important.
That's only a few things, but it's and I really need to sleep.
