Flags

[kurisu]

Im probably about to be told that this has already been suggested ;D but would it be possble to have player designed flags within the game , they could be mounted as turrets and and experience the to nearby units,a bit like earth 2150.

not sure if i should have mentioned this in bugs as its really more cosmetic but i noticed that the lasers weapons projectiles have shadows underneath them as they move through the air :-\

[DevUrandom]

The latter is partly known, I think. We'll fix it one day. (Maybe Per? You are working on the renderer anyway...)

As for the flags: Something like in Rome: Total War would be nice, indeed.
(Though it serves a different purpose there. It is not cosmetic: You controll the banners and not each soldier.)

[Per]

not sure if i should have mentioned this in bugs as its really more cosmetic but i noticed that the lasers weapons projectiles have shadows underneath them as they move through the air :-\

Which revision is this? It should have been fixed a while ago.

[EvilGuru]

not sure if i should have mentioned this in bugs as its really more cosmetic but i noticed that the lasers weapons projectiles have shadows underneath them as they move through the air

Actually you should not really be able to see the laser projectiles at all! That and they should be a constant beam with a velocity of c. (Although if the wavelength is right you may be able to see the beam in some circumstances).

Regards, Freddie.

[kage]

Actually you should not really be able to see the laser projectiles at all! That and they should be a constant beam with a velocity of c. (Although if the wavelength is right you may be able to see the beam in some circumstances).

Regards, Freddie.

many lasers are low enough power that nobody can see them until something opaque or diffuse (like a cloud) crosses its path, and even then in military roles, most of the time they're infrared so as to prevent some soldier from seeing the shiny dot and saying: "oh, there's somebody aiming at our tank".  specifically, it's just smart to make lasers infrared in any situation where the backend human can see in infrared via nightvision goggles, some computer display, or whatever else -- this includes use of laser rangefinders in general, any kind of aiming laser when used from a tank, lasers used for guiding bombs/missiles, etc.

however, lasers actually powerful enough to be used as weapons superheat the air it travels through, causing the air to release energy in the form of light, so, while in space, laser weapons would be 100% undetectable until it hits something, in an atmosphere, laser weapons can be seen by pretty much everybody (even high quality pen-lasers have been designed this way, and are powerful enough to irritate or harm skin when focused on it).

the one problem with most games is that they show these sorts of beam weapons as going very slow, as if slowing down a laser is in some way beneficial, where in some cases it gets ridiculous (such as descent: love the game, but projectile weapons arriving to target faster than lasers do... yeah).  homeworld is especially good at showing how to do this kind of thing the right way.

[Coincident]

http://www.counterfrag.com/screenshots/ ... 0war/3.jpg
(Though it serves a different purpose there. It is not cosmetic: You controll the banners and not each soldier.)

That got me thinking:
What about adding a colored flag on top of the command turret?


Just an idea anyway... no big deal.
You can see the color of the units everywhere else.

[DevUrandom]

Some random thoughts:
Flags seem to associate middle-ages somehow... Maybe some light-signs? (I think I saw that as comercials in some SciFi movie...)
However huge SciFi stories are built around some ancient feeling, eg. Frank Herbert's unforgotten Dune...
I am no expert on WZ's story/atmosphere, so maybe someone else can recommend something that fits...

[doom3r]

Flags are too ancient, i dont think armys would use them to distinguish every unit. i think they would simply use different camouflage [colours in wz] or armaments, so i think flags aren't needed.

[kage]

Flags are too ancient, i dont think armys would use them to distinguish every unit. i think they would simply use different camouflage [colours in wz] or armaments, so i think flags aren't needed.

i would agree. since world-war one, armies have tended to not carry flags into battle since...

• it takes away any possibility of stealth
• the flag bearer always gets shot, and so does the person who picks it up
• soldiers now tend to be valued more than emblems
• the basis for part of their formely common use (distinguishing different divisions of soldiers) has become archaic (not survivable and insane) in modern warfare

[doom3r]

Yeah, you're right. And i think a banner/flag wouldn't look good with the actual wz graphics. Plus, why would you need to place a flag on a tank in place of a turret? Maybe flagged-cyborgs would be better [and die faster  ], even if I definetly dont like the idea of flags.