Displaying fields of fire.

[Twinkie D-Lite]

OK, we can make it even easier then. Buy a mic and use these simple phrases.

Need left rotation
Need right rotation
Target to high
Target to low

[Thaago]

Ah, I think you may just be misunderstanding the suggestion - this isn't about helping the pilot get guns in arc while flying. This is a suggestion just for the design screen to aid in making builds with overlapping fields of fire. None of these arcs would show up in game - the gunners would still need to tell the pilot to turn if they were out of arc.

As a point of reference, there are 161051 different gun combinations on a Mobula - realistically its 32768 when taking out flares, harpoons, and mine launchers. Even further drastic reductions come from common sense building principles. Checking out which combinations give double and triple firing spots quickly on the several hundred interesting combos sounds like a valuable thing to me *shrug*.

[Twinkie D-Lite]

I got it. We went into the sandbox and saw what we needed to see. It took about 5 minutes. We did the same thing with a galleon so the pilot coud get a visual of where they need to be. Its called putting a little effort into it, Its been dumbed down enough, I mean we even have gun movement with a lochanger round. Easy is boring.

[naufrago]

I got it. We went into the sandbox and saw what we needed to see. It took about 5 minutes. We did the same thing with a galleon so the pilot coud get a visual of where they need to be. Its called putting a little effort into it, Its been dumbed down enough, I mean we even have gun movement with a lochanger round. Easy is boring.

So your logic is "Why should we make it only take a few seconds to check gun arcs when we can already do it in a way that takes a few minutes?" We can already check the gun arcs by firing up the Sandbox. This is just making it quicker to check what we already can. I don't understand why you hate the idea of a convenient, time-saving feature.

[Xarvier]

I just want to be clear: I don't think ANY of us suggested having the fields of fire display as part of the HUD. That would just be silly.

We were suggesting it for the ship customization screen.

I totally agree with this suggestion.

I'm a new player, but that is one of the first things I thought about when looking at the ship customization screen.

Viewing solid angles could be confusing in the 3D interface, but even a few 2D schematics would be helpful (e.g. TOP, PORT, STERN).

[Calico Jack]

its an entirely different matter to try out the literally hundreds of weapon combinations looking for overlaps.

You're going to be matching weapons to ships, where the positioning will limit the kind of gun you will be using - for example a mercury on the right side of a squid or the lower wing mounts of the mobula - yes you can fit those guns there but you would probably be better with something else. Then you'll be looking at the damage types. So while potentially any gun will fit in a mount point of the right type, you won't be going through them alphabetically.

[Cap'n Squidbeard]

I agree with that it makes the game less intelligent

But what if we show fields of fire in ship build mode, that would help out

[QKO]

I agree with that it makes the game less intelligent

But what if we show fields of fire in ship build mode, that would help out

How does it make the game less intelligent? Don't you think any intelligent player has figured out that practice mode is the best currently available tool for testing gun arcs and overlaps of arcs?

[Balisarda]

Something that might be nice in the Ship Customization screen would be the display of fields of fire per gun mounted.

Ugh, I can't believe that I'm quoting myself, but I guess it has to be done.  From my OP, bolded, italicized, and underlined for emphasis.

To all those who say, "Test it out in Practice or Sandbox."  Yes, understood, but it is time consuming, particularly if you lack a full crew.  This way, you could easily and quickly whip together a loadout in Ship Customization, and then give it a test in Practice without having to bounce in and out of Practice sessions to make one little change.  As Thaago smartly stated, just because the weapon variety is there, doesn't mean that certain combinations benefit each other, even if their arcs would overlap.

This is merely a suggestion for another tool in a toolbox.  I don't understand how this would be dumbing down anything.

[Calico Jack]

I apologise for the slight detour but y'know everytime I see this thread title I can't help thinking Big Country never played guns of Icarus but I'm pretty sure they would have cared about Fields of Fire too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0GAhe_9Was

[Eukari]

This is merely a suggestion for another tool in a toolbox.  I don't understand how this would be dumbing down anything.

My response to people who are reacting to this suggestion by saying it would "dumb things down" is: "So?"

This is a game. It should be played and enjoyed as a game. No, players shouldn't have access to every little bit of information about every gun and ship. But, we're not talking about some hidden variable that only the elite players will seek out and use- this is basic information about a gun, alongside "What kind of damage does it do" and "How fast does it fire." Putting a small arc representation on the ship loadout screen will hardly break the meta.

The most common argument against such a change, that I can see, is "Well, you can just figure it out after 30 minutes in Practice." Okay. Or, here's a thought, I could learn that in 30 seconds in the lobby before a game, then spend the next 29.5 minutes actually playing the game. Even putting how many degrees the arc can turn would remind captains, new and veteran alike, just where their guns will be able to fire.

There are real, legitimate coding issues with implementing this- I think awkm pointed them out earlier in the thread. Everyone else, though, seems to oppose it simply because doing things the hard way makes them feel smarter.

[Pickle]

This is merely a suggestion for another tool in a toolbox.  I don't understand how this would be dumbing down anything.

My response to people who are reacting to this suggestion by saying it would "dumb things down" is: "So?"

Who has said that this specific idea would be dumbing down?

[Piemanlives]

Who has said that this specific idea would be dumbing down?

I got it. We went into the sandbox and saw what we needed to see. It took about 5 minutes. We did the same thing with a galleon so the pilot coud get a visual of where they need to be. Its called putting a little effort into it, Its been dumbed down enough, I mean we even have gun movement with a lochanger round. Easy is boring.

TWINKIE DID, TWINKIE DID!!!!!!!!