Turret turn speed variation and upgrade

[jagman]

Could the turret turn speed be an aspect in future game development ? Up-gradable turret turn speed could give a unit the edge . getting the first shot while executing a turn maneuver .

[Stratadrake]

Interesting ... turret rotation speed is one of those subtle differences that can make or break the balance between lightweight and heavyweight units. After all, in original retail Warzone the turret rotation was either "Fast" or "Slow" depending on which side of the 100k threshold the weapon was.

Another one of the subtle things that can affect the balance of power versus speed: Whether or not a unit "leads" a moving target before firing. Original retail WZ did not, and I have some memories of making an experimental cyborg zip past an AI's defense perimeter at about 500+ speed -- the defenses took aim and fired at him despite that there was no practical way those hardpoints would be able to actually land the shot. (And despite being 10+ squares away by the time the projectile impacted its target area, the cyborg still incurred damage from the attack.)

[Searge-Major]

Currently, at least some units can fire their shots before aiming, as I have seen many a heavy tank fire it's cannon while pointing the other way, usually when I try to "attack from the rear". If turret rotation speed can be coupled with the ability (restriction?) to fire only when aiming directly at or when "leading" the target, then I would be wholly in favour of this as it would add an extra tactical dimension to the game.

As an aside, this topic seems to be more suited to ideas and suggestions?

Regards, Searge

[Stratadrake]

The exact behavior of turret rotation is defined in /action.cpp. Let's see, according to github, the current behavior should be:

Code: Select all

/** Droids heavier than this rotate and pitch more slowly. */
#define HEAVY_WEAPON_WEIGHT 50000
define ACTION_TURRET_ROTATION_RATE   45
.
.
.
// extra heavy weapons on some structures need to rotate and pitch more slowly
if (psWeapStats->weight > HEAVY_WEAPON_WEIGHT && !bRepair)
{
UDWORD excess = DEG(100) * (psWeapStats->weight - HEAVY_WEAPON_WEIGHT) / psWeapStats->weight;

rotRate = DEG(ACTION_TURRET_ROTATION_RATE) * 2 - excess;
pitchRate = rotRate / 2;
}

This creates a dynamic rotation rate for any weapon heavier than 50k. Less than 50k, a turret rotates at 90° per time, but as the excess weight over 50k increases, turret rotation slows. At 100k, you have 50% excess weight which reduces turret rotation from 90 to 40 - about half. At 200k, the excess is 75%, reducing turret rotation to 15 per time - very much slower. If I'm reading this right, then theoretically, any weapon with about >550k weight will be unable to move its turret at all because that will cause turret rotation to bottom out at zero (or even negative - ouch).