Tank resupply/repair

[Bobdog]

In the new Rock, Paper, Shotgun article, Ramm-Jaeger mentioned that TWI is considering tank repairs. He also conceded that there aren't very many repairs that can be realistically completed during a map in RO.

Now I've always been more on the realism side of the Realism vs Gameplay spectrum, and I'd rather not have repairs done the way tank resupplies were done in Ostfront (drive into an area, and shells are magically reloaded into your tank at unrealistic speed). However, I completely understand the necessity of this from a gameplay perspective. The player can't wait for a reload or repair that would take hours in a game that lasts maybe 30 minutes at most.

Here's my idea to allow for quick repairs and reloads without making it look like your tank is being reloaded or repaired unrealistically quickly:

Don't reload or repair the player's tank, just replace it.

With a little bit of mapping, a few animations, and a little bit of AI scripting, this could be done in a beautifully immersive manner. Imagine this:

You're in a tank that has just lost its combat effectiveness; your optics are out, your turret is too damaged to function, most of your crew is dripping off the armor, or you're out of ammo, whatever. You drive your tank back to the resupply/repair area. It is a small hangar with some fresh (real, playable) tanks waiting in front and a few fake (static mesh) damaged tanks being worked on by some AI in the rear (whacking the static mesh tanks with hammers, or whatever). You arrive in your smoking/bloody/ammo depleted hulk, and the guy in charge there says "Hey, go take that one over there!" You and what's left of your crew hop out, and take a new tank, finding fresh AI crew in whatever slots aren't already filled. Meanwhile, an AI driver comes out of a door/from behind a curtain/around a corner and hops in your old tank. He drives it into the back of the hanger, and around a corner/behind boxes/past a curtain where it can be "repaired/resupplied" (despawned). You and your crew drive away in your shiny new tank.

IMO, solves the realism vs gameplay problem quite elegantly. From a gameplay perspective, the player gets his quick repair/resupply. From a realism/immersion perspective, however, he isn't magically getting his old tank fixed; his old tank is in the back somewhere undergoing hours of servicing. It is win/win

I think the only really hard thing to do here would be the animations for AI repairing a tank. Building a good repair hangar shouldn't be too hard for the mappers, and any retarded AI can be scripted to hop in a tank and drive it from point A to B over and over.

What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Do you have any ideas that could make this better?

Edit: Just to clarify, I mean you would drive your damaged but still drivable tank back to the hangar, not jump out of one and walk all the way back.

 

[Lucan946]

By far the best solution to this issue. Considering that repairing something as simple as a broken tread requires quite some time, I can't see tank repairs happening realistically.

 

[RedGuardist]

Repairs in the middle of the battle are lame and unrealistic, unless it

 

[Zetsumei]

Yeah a +1 for me although it could be quite some work.

 

[Peter.Steele]

I like the idea, Bob. Too bad I've already used all my plusses for the day.

 

[Kashash]

Good idea, I hope there will also be possibility to blow your tank up in case if it's immobilized and then get back on foot or either by someone giving you a lift to the resupply area to get a new tank.

 

[Leo]

Great idea that would not break immersion. How would you deal with a player attempting to attack and kill all the awaiting tanks though? this happened in the original a few times.

 

[Major_Day]

+1 Really good idea :IS2: and.........
maybe the A1 could open a "used tank showroom" somewhere round the back of the repair depot.:IS2:

 

[Extension7]

IMO I think major damages shouldn't be fixed, like the engine and turret rotator thingy, only optics, treads, and small parts.

I like the idea of having a new tank coming out but that would only make drivers retreat more often unless there is a limited amount of repairs you can do...

At least it's not like BC2 where you have 3 engis behind a tank repairing constantly while RPG's hit it.

 

[RedGuardist]

I like the idea of having a new tank coming out but that would only make drivers retreat more often unless there is a limited amount of repairs you can do...

Ofcourse a new tank should be taken from reinforcements.

 

[Bobdog]

Ofcourse a new tank should be taken from reinforcements.

IMO I think major damages shouldn't be fixed, like the engine and turret rotator thingy, only optics, treads, and small parts.

I like the idea of having a new tank coming out but that would only make drivers retreat more often unless there is a limited amount of repairs you can do...

At least it's not like BC2 where you have 3 engis behind a tank repairing constantly while RPG's hit it.

You could even take into account the condition of the incoming tank. If it is just an ammo resupply or a quick repair (replacing the glass on a periscope for example) maybe you don't count that against the supply of new tanks. Anything like major armor or mechanical repair should count against reinforcements, of course.

 

[Kashash]

It would be cool if you could actually run out of tank reinforcments just like it is with infantry in ROost, you have certain amount of tanks so tank crews need to be careful to not drive like rambo and this going back to the resupply stuff with your damaged tank would be more profitable than typing "suicide" in console...

 

[Extension7]

You could even take into account the condition of the incoming tank. If it is just an ammo resupply or a quick repair (replacing the glass on a periscope for example) maybe you don't count that against the supply of new tanks. Anything like major armor or mechanical repair should count against reinforcements, of course.

I'm starting to like that idea. But then when the "idiots" come into play they will waste all our reinforcements unless there is a separate reinforcement for tanks and infantry.

 

[Mormegil]

If badly damaged tanks counted against reinforcements as much as a dead tank on the battlefield, there isn't much incentive to bother limping back.

I say badly damaged tank counts as half a reinforcement tank. Even with this, most pubers probably won't care. More of an issue either in Clan play or Campaign play.


OOOHH, that's it. Damaged tanks brought back help in Campaign play, as those can realistically be brought back into action in another battle.

 

[Bobdog]

I like that idea, Mormegil. Excellent!

 

[Psycho_Sam]

I like the concept, however it sounds like a lot of work to do.

Perhaps only light or medium damage should be repairable, wheras heavy damage is permanent.

Obviously things like optics which can be damaged by small arms fire can be quickly replaced, a damaged turret ring, whilst harder to damage cripples the tank. It would be nice to see some damaged tanks littering the battlefield. Maybe the commander could issue a "bail" command which forces his crew to get out and then the tank is technically "dead" so it cannot be entered again and is deducted from the reinforcement pool.

 

[barakas]

OOOHH, that's it. Damaged tanks brought back help in Campaign play, as those can realistically be brought back into action in another battle.

yes, yes, yes.

Especially if you have the option to play a whole campaign as a Tanker, that way keeping your tank in working order becomes even more important.

ALSO, how about a dynamic campaign mission, where if your tank is damaged during a mission, you get an extra mission where a platoon has to defend while the tank is repaired.

Depending on how badly damaged that tank is, decides how long you have to survive against the oncoming Axis/Soviet forces.

So if the tank is severely damaged, it could take from day to night to fix it, and the player platoon would have to defend trucks coming in with parts for the tank repair.

 

[Mormegil]

IMO I think major damages shouldn't be fixed, like the engine and turret rotator thingy, only optics, treads, and small parts.

I like the idea of having a new tank coming out but that would only make drivers retreat more often unless there is a limited amount of repairs you can do...

At least it's not like BC2 where you have 3 engis behind a tank repairing constantly while RPG's hit it.

Don't know about the periscope, but I recall the view slit glass for the driver was easily replaceable from inside the tank. Done in less than a minute or something like that.

 

[=GG= Mr Moe]

Hmmm, at first when I read the initial posts, I was against the idea.

But, if this was to be done as suggested, the replacement tank should at least count somewhat against the number of tanks available. Half sounds fair at this point. Also the tanks should be driven back to the designated replacement area where with a short or no delay, they get another tank.

This should not be possible with some damage such as to tracks where the tank can't make it back. In a case like that, perhaps those in the tank can vote to abandon and demolish it after a delay, then spawn back in a new tank which counts fully against the number of tanks available. Also, those abandoning the tank in such a manner should suffer a penalty (perk, achievement, or whatever). I only added this last part because there is always a chance a tank gets stranded in an area where it will not see anymore fighting.

 

[Bobdog]

This should not be possible with some damage such as to tracks where the tank can't make it back.

Yeah, what I meant was that the damaged tank would drive back to the resupply/repair area and the AI guy could take it from there, so he has very minimal pathfinding; I didn't word it well enough initially. A tank that cannot drive shouldn't get repaired like this. Anyway as Ramm-Jaeger said in the interview:

But not allowing repairs leads to unrealistic gameplay where everyone always fights to the death, instead of retreating for repairs when they are too damaged to continue fighting.

A tank whose track is broken or whose engine is destroyed in battle isn't capable of retreating. Either the crew should ditch or just fight where they stand.