Allied Ship Nametags

[Verbose Mode]

It would be extremely convenient for intra-ship coordination to be able to see allied ship names. Many times in 3v3 and 4v4 matches I have heard the captain complaining that he did not know which of the three Squids we where flying with was which, and could not communicate effectively with his own team. Additionally, as a newbie captain, discerning ships can be difficult, especially if there is little time to get a spot.

May I suggest that allied ships with line-of-sight be given nametags, similar to spotted ships but without the bounding box. That will make shouting at the other captain or relaying tactical information much easer and faster.

[Mod Josie]

This could certainly be a useful mechanic for larger matches. An alternative would be to display an allied ship's name close to their position icon on the mini-map. That way it wouldn't clog up your regular field of view, but would still allow you to work out who is who.

[Crafeksterty]

Constant map awareness can better your skill of identifying what squid is what. Ive got map bound to Q.
For the most part, the ally will be shown there.

For other situations spotting is incredibly vital and pretty much is the advantage. As soon as you have 2 ships spotted its done (for 2v2 atleast).
The compass shows your allies position, albeit very badly. In comparison to enemy spots, would be nice to see the allys name and box that would be nice if togglable.

But for now, you must deal with it until they decide to do anything with it.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I ran across this in 3v3's last night. At one point we had a team of all junkers, and I had to ask which ship was getting to far forward and hammered by a pyra. Sure, we figured it out, but with spotting giving that info for your enemy, it should be a given for your allies. An easy way would just be putting the name on your allies as if they are spotted (with no brackets, to keep it clean).

If you do that though, you'll have to color all the labels (I guess by team) to avoid the confusion of firing on allies you think are spotted enemies.

Names on the minimap could work, but long ship names will probably look silly. Worth a shot too.

[shaelyn]

hmmmmmm.  I...actually like the confusion.  it's a bit more realistic, I guess.  I wouldn't care to see ally names in the sky under their ship.  maybe that could be an option when setting up the match, like team-swapping?  or maybe you have to spot your allies to know who's who, just like you have to spot your enemies?
I wouldn't mind seeing the ship's names on the minimap either...it has potential to be a nice touch.  the harder part is making it so it's not confusing when ally ships are so close to each other that names overlap.  I could see the long name thing being fixed with a short character limit on the map only - it'd just truncate.  would still look silly, but unless you have more than one ship in a fleet with the same handful of characters, it works.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Well if this was a perfect world, Spotting wouldn't give names like it does now. I too enjoyed the "confusion" and immersion. Since they do now though, and that's a fairly solidified addition, it only makes sense that allied ships present their name in some fashion.

[GeoRmr]

Make allied ships spot-able with a different boarder than marked enemy ships?

Zill, you're famous for bringing your spyglass, but I'm curious why you continue to do so after the addition of captain spot? All captains have the innate ability to pseudo-mark ships; just point at them and press 'B'! =P

[RearAdmiralZill]

Make allied ships spot-able with a different boarder than marked enemy ships?

Zill, you're famous for bringing your spyglass, but I'm curious why you continue to do so after the addition of captain spot? All captains have the innate ability to pseudo-mark ships; just point at them and press 'B'! =P

That spot isn't permanent, and doesn't show up on the map (least when I first saw it in dev app ages ago). I don't want fake spots, I want real ones ;]