New (turret)laser effects??

[DRAAK]

macuser, thanks for a compliment.

[Saberuneko]

Well as far as colors go, realism can and should be sacrificed in favor of visual clarity. When you see a laser in a fight, you want to be able to tell what unit it's coming from without a moment's thought.

So, red for commanders (as suggested by cinematics after Alpha 5), blue for flashlights, green for pulse lasers and, um, purple (?) for heavy lasers.

Yes yes! Purr-pley for heavy lasers!! Why not?

[lav_coyote25]

YEAH!!! a very very DEEP PURPLE!!!! cookie to the one that makes sense of what i just said.

[LZ compromised]

Yeah, and whenever a heavy laser fires on a map that has water, there would also be smoke on it

[Saberuneko]

YEAH!!! a very very DEEP PURPLE!!!! cookie to the one that makes sense of what i just said.

You mean that Deep Purple's music sound when firing the purr-ple lasers?
I want my cookie.

[lav_coyote25]

YEAH!!! a very very DEEP PURPLE!!!! cookie to the one that makes sense of what i just said.

You mean that Deep Purple's music sound when firing the purr-ple lasers?
I want my cookie.

just for knowing you get the cookie. YEAH!!! Smoke On The Water!!!! awesome.

[DRAAK]

*Female voice* WARNING! *alarm* Offtopic is detected...

[coppercore]

*Female voice* WARNING! *alarm* Offtopic is detected...

Hilarious!

I think something like that would be nice. Insta-hit beams instead of pulses, but you have to consider how long said coding would take.

[Jorzi]

At least the graphics wouldn't be hard to make
I guess the main problem with the current system is making a beam which is the right length and doesn't move.

[LZ compromised]

At least the graphics wouldn't be hard to make
I guess the main problem with the current system is making a beam which is the right length and doesn't move.

What are the engine limitations on fire rate, projectile size and projectile speed?

You could try something that the original dev team did: making a very fast, very rapid stream of very small bullets that also glow. Take it far enough and it'll look like a continuous line (albeit it will "bend" when the turret rotates).

Of course, if the current commander turret's "laser" is the best the engine can offer, another workaround will have to be found.

[macuser]

Well the trucks have a beam of sorts..... maybe those could be retooled and some of the same code used for lasers

[Jorzi]

That's true, it might just have what we need

[zamaszysty]

Well the trucks have a beam of sorts..... maybe those could be retooled and some of the same code used for lasers

Those beams are just new surfaces in 3d render created by selefting on constant point in the truck and rapidly changing points in the built structure (i'm guessing its totaly random). It COULD work is there was a simple modification by making in the game code point 1 = point 2 instead of 2 random selections we would have one and thats the only difference, but as i look closer its only the area in the new triangle filled with blue, so i don't know if it also colors the edges or not. IF not than You can't make laser effects put of it, or there would be a LOT more code to change (but still not that much tho...).

Anyway ... i think Your idea is the simplest of all possible. AND it would also look cool if we would keep the random selsction of points, so enemy tanks would bi hit in different parts like tracks, hull and weapon, which COULD be used in future to make "hit zones" in every vehicle (like tracks hit immobilise the unit, gun hit disables weapons, and hull hit affects the HP).

[Per]

Unfortunately, the truck beam is a huge hack that has no relation to projectiles or combat of any sort.

[Jorzi]

Unfortunately, the truck beam is a huge hack that has no relation to projectiles or combat of any sort.

I was afraid you would say that :/
So essentially one would need to code in a new "beam" type projectile which is essentially a billboard that stretches from the turret to the target, right?