Thx for EDO, it's great! And I don't mind the engi mats grind, I've got other goals in the game than to get best gear, so the mats sort of come as I go, slowly but surely. And G3 is fine against everything the game is throwing at me right now, if I wouldn't care about engineering at all. So I personally have no problem there and this thread is not about complaining the grind.
forums.frontier.co.uk
CommieMittens really inspired me with the reply written on the page two of this thread about the way combat handles and the weapon mods and such. So I wanted to make a thread about it in the suggestion forums in the same spirit because I do believe it's very immersion breaking in it's current form. As much as the immersion breaking POI's on never-visited far away systems for explorers.
And much like the open letters, praises, endless critique and doom threads in Odyssey general, this wall o' text is just to get these thoughts out of my brain by writing and maybe perhaps get other ideas and bumping from other likeminded people here. Some of these are sorta in the realm of big overhauls to an expansion that just released, I know. But considering the coming mission sharing, even with small tweaks you could make a huge difference and have roles that stand out in a squad while taking nothing out from solo players.
This would stop the weapon switching meta, which is pretty strange to me. I'll be fine if it never changes BUT, if it's the way of the warrior in 3300, then why are AI soldiers unable to do it etc etc.. This would also free the Dominator suit to use heavy weapons instead of two primaries to compliment the switch meta. Heavy machine guns, rail guns, anti-ship weaponry like shoulder-held torpedo-like missiles, long-range anti-material rifles, OR for those scout type operators out there, choose variety of future combat tech like targeting drones to mark ground troops for team members or even ships, whatever. The military choise, dominator suit, should be the only suit to specialize on these of course. Military tech and software compatibility and all...
Modifications and equipment
Perhaps some of these things can be loosely explained by "shooting in space"-physics, and how a highly sophisticated weapon needs to be properly calibrated (or calibrate itself with sensors) depending on environment. But something like extended magazine oughta be buyable with credits. Maybe it increases recoil because it's less ergonomic, that's cool. Maybe it increases reload time because it's rather cumbersome, that's also cool. But stuff like engineering a weapon so my hands move faster (faster reload speed)? That's a cybernetics (or maybe a suit) thing, or an "experienced with specific weapon through years of repetition" thing. Maybe apply one of those active reload minigames that for example Gears of War has, that'd be simulating the years of practice and could be harder depending on which mag you get... And stowed reloading mod? Maybe for plasma and laser because of a high tech modification package that your suit has, but not for kinetic. And it probably uses suit battery too...
There is alot of space here for similar personalization choises that ships have that make players attached to the gear and the mods they choose to use and which role they want to play in a team. Sure, the current system does the same job, but since everything else in the game aims loosely to be believeable and often feature decisions are explained via realism or believeability (it's a sim game), I hope this whole thing gets looked at a bit more in the future.
I'd like to see some weapon mods buyable with credits due to immersion (basic holographic and red dot sights for all, bigger mags, smaller mags, supperssors maybe), and to be a choise between different statistics like
ergonomics (move speed, ads speed, reload speed, weapon switch speed),
handling (recoil, ads speed, weapon switch speed, inertia)
weight (depending on gravity, affects handling and ergonomics)
Buyable suit mods too, like the backpack for example, and depending on size it'd affect something like
ergonomics (move speed, ads speed, reload speed, weapon switch speed)
weight (depending on gravity, you'd have trouble with ergonomics)
Then some things are changed by an engineer for weapons, like for example
Kinetic caliber (Magazine size, rate of fire, recoil, semi auto / auto, thermal or kinetic ammo, projectile speed)
Laser weaponry lenses (Magazine size, overheating, fire rate or beam)
Barrel (spread, recoil, ergonomics, shot speed)
Material (heavy reduces recoil and increases accuracy and inertia, lightweight increases recoil but it is faster to handle)
The current suit mods are pretty believeable, but I'd like to see heat signature added.
Heat signature (too much high tech and prolonged shield usage and ships can start to target you with turrets, albeit maybe slower than normally. Something like what missile lock looks like today. Or maybe low accuracy. Or both.)
Also, maybe allow users to outfit the amount of consumables they carry, and/or add some consumable specific mods. Maybe I'd like to be more of a support for my squad and have two or three medkits or energy cells to use and share instead of any frag or shield disruptor grenades.
Then there's Ship to Ground combat
Everyone I know uses dumbfire missiles or mines because they're the only things with AoE, even though cannon projectiles explode beautifully, they do not do any AoE damage. Same with rail guns. I'm sure there'll be a balance pass some day but currently ship to ground combat is really not even there - it's a way to cheese the AI soldiers with a couple of weapons. There'd be some variation in the weaponry at least if suits had heat signature. And maybe AI ships would be terrifying in those rare settlements that they do hover at if they'd notice my heat signature while on foot if I was being careless.
But even if heat signature for ground targets never materializes, consider this: The size of even class 1 multicannon is such that, the bullets would rip apart a person that came in contact with it. No doubt about it. I'm not asking for that of course but... I emptied half a magazine from one to an on-foot soldier to kill it. I got hit markers on each hit so if those are to be believed it could really use a buff. Maybe even some small AoE so I can do strafing runs to support my team members and have an effect. I'd imagine getting a projectile that size shot next to you, coming minimum 1600m/s, hurt or even disorient a bit. Whatever the change is, meet me halfway Frontier. It's not believeable in any sense right now.
AI also seems to run towards you instead of taking cover, if you are raining hell from above - that's if they react at all. They should call friendly ships to help, or if they don't have such resources, run inside buildings or AWAY from me, not towards me. Unless I'm in their weapon range.
If they carry infinite nades, maybe give some of them some medium range anti air too.
Settlements and POIs and me arriving
No weapons zone is big, and if I deploy hardpoints it's noticed by scanners and I am fined. That's fine. But if I land my ship right next to your power station, at least send a patrol to ask some questions because that ain't cool either. It's suspicious. If I have already disembarked, be alerted and search for intruders. If none are found, maybe it's alright to post a few guys to stay at the ship until the pilot does arrive. If I park some distance away, maybe it's not as noticeable. Unless maybe in a military settlement where the people are supposedly trained against that stuff...
If I hover, and loiter over and around the settlement looking at you without requesting permission to land, shoo me away and threathen to open fire with settlement weaponry. My death machine of fire and thunder should cause a reaction if it's acting in a threathening and or psychotic way to small squishy humans below.
POI guards - say, in those crash sites where the scavs are in the middle of the wasteland looting a wreck on a barren planet. If a ship is arriving, it's heard, and should cause a cautionary reaction. Call for ship support if it's available or turn off flashlights if it's night and take crouch cover behind obstacles to hide. Set an ambush.
Other
- Weapon inertia - it makes weapon handling very sexy and does a big dent to the current "arcadey" feel, which I'd love to see.
- If I have weapon equipped but I am not using ADS in awhile, I'll lower the weapon a bit. This has a tacticool feel, denting the current arcade feel. The low-ready position is also sexy for screenshots.
- Underhand throwing, or fuse setting of grenades - The enemy is behind that corner or wall, but I can't use frag grenades because I don't know how to throw something lightly and I have no consideration for gravity, and the grenades of future do not allow cooking or setting a manual fuse time.
- Kicking grenades that are next to my feet - But please, if you consider this, add a cooldown.
- Role variety in combat zones - It'd be cool to have a benefitting, even small, bonus objective if I bring my scav suit to a war zone to open an area. Same for e-breaches and power regulators and other stuff like that. Lemme specialize a bit here too. Activate some turrets on that busted SRV just lying there or disable / activate lights.
- Consumable to revive a friend, once - There oughta be a time window that forces you to do some moves to save that buddy, and usage time so you'd prolly need someone covering you too (or that shield grenade), not some cheesy mechanic that allows you to live forever if you duo with a buddy.
ty
If you had to choose one thing to fix in Odyssey, what would it be?
Performance. DX11 is so 2008.
CommieMittens really inspired me with the reply written on the page two of this thread about the way combat handles and the weapon mods and such. So I wanted to make a thread about it in the suggestion forums in the same spirit because I do believe it's very immersion breaking in it's current form. As much as the immersion breaking POI's on never-visited far away systems for explorers.
And much like the open letters, praises, endless critique and doom threads in Odyssey general, this wall o' text is just to get these thoughts out of my brain by writing and maybe perhaps get other ideas and bumping from other likeminded people here. Some of these are sorta in the realm of big overhauls to an expansion that just released, I know. But considering the coming mission sharing, even with small tweaks you could make a huge difference and have roles that stand out in a squad while taking nothing out from solo players.
This would stop the weapon switching meta, which is pretty strange to me. I'll be fine if it never changes BUT, if it's the way of the warrior in 3300, then why are AI soldiers unable to do it etc etc.. This would also free the Dominator suit to use heavy weapons instead of two primaries to compliment the switch meta. Heavy machine guns, rail guns, anti-ship weaponry like shoulder-held torpedo-like missiles, long-range anti-material rifles, OR for those scout type operators out there, choose variety of future combat tech like targeting drones to mark ground troops for team members or even ships, whatever. The military choise, dominator suit, should be the only suit to specialize on these of course. Military tech and software compatibility and all...
Modifications and equipment
Perhaps some of these things can be loosely explained by "shooting in space"-physics, and how a highly sophisticated weapon needs to be properly calibrated (or calibrate itself with sensors) depending on environment. But something like extended magazine oughta be buyable with credits. Maybe it increases recoil because it's less ergonomic, that's cool. Maybe it increases reload time because it's rather cumbersome, that's also cool. But stuff like engineering a weapon so my hands move faster (faster reload speed)? That's a cybernetics (or maybe a suit) thing, or an "experienced with specific weapon through years of repetition" thing. Maybe apply one of those active reload minigames that for example Gears of War has, that'd be simulating the years of practice and could be harder depending on which mag you get... And stowed reloading mod? Maybe for plasma and laser because of a high tech modification package that your suit has, but not for kinetic. And it probably uses suit battery too...
There is alot of space here for similar personalization choises that ships have that make players attached to the gear and the mods they choose to use and which role they want to play in a team. Sure, the current system does the same job, but since everything else in the game aims loosely to be believeable and often feature decisions are explained via realism or believeability (it's a sim game), I hope this whole thing gets looked at a bit more in the future.
I'd like to see some weapon mods buyable with credits due to immersion (basic holographic and red dot sights for all, bigger mags, smaller mags, supperssors maybe), and to be a choise between different statistics like
ergonomics (move speed, ads speed, reload speed, weapon switch speed),
handling (recoil, ads speed, weapon switch speed, inertia)
weight (depending on gravity, affects handling and ergonomics)
Buyable suit mods too, like the backpack for example, and depending on size it'd affect something like
ergonomics (move speed, ads speed, reload speed, weapon switch speed)
weight (depending on gravity, you'd have trouble with ergonomics)
Then some things are changed by an engineer for weapons, like for example
Kinetic caliber (Magazine size, rate of fire, recoil, semi auto / auto, thermal or kinetic ammo, projectile speed)
Laser weaponry lenses (Magazine size, overheating, fire rate or beam)
Barrel (spread, recoil, ergonomics, shot speed)
Material (heavy reduces recoil and increases accuracy and inertia, lightweight increases recoil but it is faster to handle)
The current suit mods are pretty believeable, but I'd like to see heat signature added.
Heat signature (too much high tech and prolonged shield usage and ships can start to target you with turrets, albeit maybe slower than normally. Something like what missile lock looks like today. Or maybe low accuracy. Or both.)
Also, maybe allow users to outfit the amount of consumables they carry, and/or add some consumable specific mods. Maybe I'd like to be more of a support for my squad and have two or three medkits or energy cells to use and share instead of any frag or shield disruptor grenades.
Then there's Ship to Ground combat
Everyone I know uses dumbfire missiles or mines because they're the only things with AoE, even though cannon projectiles explode beautifully, they do not do any AoE damage. Same with rail guns. I'm sure there'll be a balance pass some day but currently ship to ground combat is really not even there - it's a way to cheese the AI soldiers with a couple of weapons. There'd be some variation in the weaponry at least if suits had heat signature. And maybe AI ships would be terrifying in those rare settlements that they do hover at if they'd notice my heat signature while on foot if I was being careless.
But even if heat signature for ground targets never materializes, consider this: The size of even class 1 multicannon is such that, the bullets would rip apart a person that came in contact with it. No doubt about it. I'm not asking for that of course but... I emptied half a magazine from one to an on-foot soldier to kill it. I got hit markers on each hit so if those are to be believed it could really use a buff. Maybe even some small AoE so I can do strafing runs to support my team members and have an effect. I'd imagine getting a projectile that size shot next to you, coming minimum 1600m/s, hurt or even disorient a bit. Whatever the change is, meet me halfway Frontier. It's not believeable in any sense right now.
AI also seems to run towards you instead of taking cover, if you are raining hell from above - that's if they react at all. They should call friendly ships to help, or if they don't have such resources, run inside buildings or AWAY from me, not towards me. Unless I'm in their weapon range.
If they carry infinite nades, maybe give some of them some medium range anti air too.
Settlements and POIs and me arriving
No weapons zone is big, and if I deploy hardpoints it's noticed by scanners and I am fined. That's fine. But if I land my ship right next to your power station, at least send a patrol to ask some questions because that ain't cool either. It's suspicious. If I have already disembarked, be alerted and search for intruders. If none are found, maybe it's alright to post a few guys to stay at the ship until the pilot does arrive. If I park some distance away, maybe it's not as noticeable. Unless maybe in a military settlement where the people are supposedly trained against that stuff...
If I hover, and loiter over and around the settlement looking at you without requesting permission to land, shoo me away and threathen to open fire with settlement weaponry. My death machine of fire and thunder should cause a reaction if it's acting in a threathening and or psychotic way to small squishy humans below.
POI guards - say, in those crash sites where the scavs are in the middle of the wasteland looting a wreck on a barren planet. If a ship is arriving, it's heard, and should cause a cautionary reaction. Call for ship support if it's available or turn off flashlights if it's night and take crouch cover behind obstacles to hide. Set an ambush.
Other
- Weapon inertia - it makes weapon handling very sexy and does a big dent to the current "arcadey" feel, which I'd love to see.
- If I have weapon equipped but I am not using ADS in awhile, I'll lower the weapon a bit. This has a tacticool feel, denting the current arcade feel. The low-ready position is also sexy for screenshots.
- Underhand throwing, or fuse setting of grenades - The enemy is behind that corner or wall, but I can't use frag grenades because I don't know how to throw something lightly and I have no consideration for gravity, and the grenades of future do not allow cooking or setting a manual fuse time.
- Kicking grenades that are next to my feet - But please, if you consider this, add a cooldown.
- Role variety in combat zones - It'd be cool to have a benefitting, even small, bonus objective if I bring my scav suit to a war zone to open an area. Same for e-breaches and power regulators and other stuff like that. Lemme specialize a bit here too. Activate some turrets on that busted SRV just lying there or disable / activate lights.
- Consumable to revive a friend, once - There oughta be a time window that forces you to do some moves to save that buddy, and usage time so you'd prolly need someone covering you too (or that shield grenade), not some cheesy mechanic that allows you to live forever if you duo with a buddy.
ty
I appreciate it.
