As most of the other players who were involved in the recent public beta testing know, the main focus of the test was the new tank maps. As I was involved in this, for the first time I found myself spending alot of time playing tank maps, and with so many players, I was often a driver. Now, being as I didn't really have a lot to do, it gave me time to think and I think I might have come up with an idea that would not only make the tanks more effective and easier to crew but would also make the job of the driver and perhaps machine gunner more involving.
Target Identification
As a lot of you know, driving the tank can be a little tedious at times. It's OK when your up close in the action, but I found a lot of my time spent just sitting waiting for a move order while the gunner gets to shoot stuff.
Now, a secondary role of the driver is obviously being a second pair of eyes. Fair enough, but its a shame that there's no real effective way of communicating with the gunner. If VoIP is being used then its fine, but a large proportion of the RO gaming community don't use it. There's a fine set of vehicle orders and commands built into RO already but none of them really useful for identifying targets. "Enemy ahead" is usually enough but if I want to warn the gunner that there's an enemy target at 8 o'clock, it involves me hitting 'I', typing it, and hitting enter....by which time it's usually too late.
My proposed idea (and here's the shocking part) is to give the drivers view a crosshair. Nothing extravagant.....just something to indicate exactly where the driver is looking. Then, integrate a system whereby when the driver clicks Fire (Currently both fire buttons are unused in the driver position), he calls out a target over the tank radio (ie, "Target, tank, 8 o clock, long range"). At the same time, on the gunner's clock display, an icon shows on the 8 o'clock heading to warn him of the target in the direction that the driver was looking when he clicked. The range call could be based on how far away the target is based on whereabouts the cross-hair is pointing on the ground. Should the target be destroyed, dissapear from view, or in some other way no longer become a threat, the driver simply clicks secondary fire to cancel....calls something like "Target down"...and the icon from the clock display disappears.
Simple but effective no? So instead of all that clunky typing, as a driver I can now simple look straight at a target, click once, and immediately call out that targets location to the gunner. It would make the whole process smoother, and give the driver an added responsibility. It might also be an idea to give the MG the same capability.....except he of course, uses his secondary fire.
Navigation
The system could of course be used in reverse. Perhaps an idea would be to give the unbuttoned tank commander a similar cross-hair. Then, call he has to do is point the cross-hair somewhere, press a button (I guess it would have to be a dedicated button...the two fire buttons will be in use) and you hear a call along the lines of "Driver, proceed xxxx" (x being "to way point", toward the designated clock heading or simply the nearest point of the compass). Then, the driver sees the required heading appear on his clock display, and again, simply has to follow that heading. I did toy with the idea of suggesting that he should get some sort of way point marker appear on his screen when the gunner pointed his cross-hair, al
Target Identification
As a lot of you know, driving the tank can be a little tedious at times. It's OK when your up close in the action, but I found a lot of my time spent just sitting waiting for a move order while the gunner gets to shoot stuff.
Now, a secondary role of the driver is obviously being a second pair of eyes. Fair enough, but its a shame that there's no real effective way of communicating with the gunner. If VoIP is being used then its fine, but a large proportion of the RO gaming community don't use it. There's a fine set of vehicle orders and commands built into RO already but none of them really useful for identifying targets. "Enemy ahead" is usually enough but if I want to warn the gunner that there's an enemy target at 8 o'clock, it involves me hitting 'I', typing it, and hitting enter....by which time it's usually too late.
My proposed idea (and here's the shocking part) is to give the drivers view a crosshair. Nothing extravagant.....just something to indicate exactly where the driver is looking. Then, integrate a system whereby when the driver clicks Fire (Currently both fire buttons are unused in the driver position), he calls out a target over the tank radio (ie, "Target, tank, 8 o clock, long range"). At the same time, on the gunner's clock display, an icon shows on the 8 o'clock heading to warn him of the target in the direction that the driver was looking when he clicked. The range call could be based on how far away the target is based on whereabouts the cross-hair is pointing on the ground. Should the target be destroyed, dissapear from view, or in some other way no longer become a threat, the driver simply clicks secondary fire to cancel....calls something like "Target down"...and the icon from the clock display disappears.
Simple but effective no? So instead of all that clunky typing, as a driver I can now simple look straight at a target, click once, and immediately call out that targets location to the gunner. It would make the whole process smoother, and give the driver an added responsibility. It might also be an idea to give the MG the same capability.....except he of course, uses his secondary fire.
Navigation
The system could of course be used in reverse. Perhaps an idea would be to give the unbuttoned tank commander a similar cross-hair. Then, call he has to do is point the cross-hair somewhere, press a button (I guess it would have to be a dedicated button...the two fire buttons will be in use) and you hear a call along the lines of "Driver, proceed xxxx" (x being "to way point", toward the designated clock heading or simply the nearest point of the compass). Then, the driver sees the required heading appear on his clock display, and again, simply has to follow that heading. I did toy with the idea of suggesting that he should get some sort of way point marker appear on his screen when the gunner pointed his cross-hair, al
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