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CedricB

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Posts posted by CedricB

  1. Oops....... I mean the X45... my bad....

    and I kinda... erm... lost my keyboard ref sheet... *cough* and the manual..... *double cough* Could someone kindly tell me where I can aquire a new one... I still have the CD Sleeve with the key on it to prove I bought it....

    Now if Saitek got off their lazy bums and wrote good WinXP programing software, I'd have no probs. I could just reassign the axes or turn off the rudder to allow it to work.

    The X36/45 have around 20 or so buttons including an X,Y,Z, Rudder, and 2 rotary switches. The rudder is on the back side of the throttle. You use your left fingers to operate it. This is my Yaw control, and it is very sensitive. It only has about 1/2" give to either side, so small movements give big results.

    When I am dogfighting, it is very difficult to quickly realign my nose with a target about 1-3 degrees to either side. The roll takes too long and if I use the rudder control for yaw it goes too far. THAT is what makes flying hard for me. Is it just me or does it seem the fighters should have faster turning rates? According to the appendix, the numbers average out about twices as fast. Isn't that a small performance increase over a big cruiser?

    All I wanna do is change the axes... *sniff*

    [ 11-27-2002, 05:35 AM: Message edited by: CedricB ]

  2. I've played more than enough Operation Flashpoint to see the whole "steal the transport" played and replayed. I feel your pain. On with the show....

    AI Transports:

    The concept of the regularly running transports is a great idea, at first. It gives those players stranded a way to get from base to base. However, one problem is the difficulty in shooting them down. Set too high and they make defense almost impossible, too weak and offense get's the disadvantage. The strength should be carefully tested to see the equilibrium point for unit strength.

    Would the AI transports just mindlessly continue along their waypoint path even if they are attacked? That's the real deciding factor. If they simply move like trains, I as a player wouldn't bother with the system. It's too predictable. If you know where the transport is going to be at a certain time, it invites disaster. The North Vietnamese knew that American planes were ALWAYS spaced at certain time intervals. They'd just look at their watches, fill the sky with AA, and watch the clock again. They didn't even have to aim. These are going to be the most heavily attacked objects in the game. Although players can jump off the transport at any time and sustain minor injuries, this leaves them in the middle of nowhere under enemy air assets. It becomes a game of "protect the transport" with "destroying the enemy base" as a secondary objective. Unless the transports are totally ignored and then they serve no purpose but to eat up more CPU cycles.

    Detection and Travel Times:

    Although they seem like seperate subjects, they are more interlinked than first realized. If you know that the attack is coming, you can prepare. If you know where the enemy is (or in the case of AI transports, where he is going to be), then you can ambush him. If the bases are 5 minutes away, but you detect an attack when it's 3 minutes away, the attackers are simply traveling to their doom. Decrease the detection time down to one minute or less, and the attackers stand much better chances. Without a way to decrease already specified detection zones, no matter the traveling times, it is a matter of speed.

    WWIIOL suffered for a long time from "Truck Rushes." Only infantry can capture facilities, so everyone just filled a truck, ran into a town, caped everything and moved on. It wasn't until an extensive automated AI system was put into place that this stopped. BCM/G obviously doesn't have to deal with massive amounts of bases across a wide area, with as many players. The deciding factor here is how effective small numbers of PCs can be manning the defenses of their base. How much skill will be involved in having the weapon systems work properly? What are the capabilities of these systems? How easily are they defeated? And the most important question, what are the ranges on these weapons? Again, the problem of detection rears it's ugly head.

    Although nearly every airborne craft carries an EMD, it doesn't really do anything about the sensor it's jamming. You still detect the enemy craft, although you can't get a firing solution. As long as you know where the enemy is, wether or not you can shoot is a moot point. I realize this is a two way street, but the losing side is the attacker, as he has lost the element of surprise, the defenders can prepare. There are ways to make it more balanced and spice things up. First, decoys. Being able to drop a mine of sorts that follows waypoints and looks like the craft that dropped it and self-destructs after a time could cause enough disruption to the enemy sensors that it allows the real craft to slip through. Secondly, some sort of jamming device that renders all sensors within it's range nearly useless (like what your screen looks like when you activate your EMD, plus the intermittent signals.) Although the enemy could clearly detect the jamming, not knowing from which direction the attack will come gives the attackers some advantage.

    Just a few things to mull over.

  3. That doesn't work if you have a setup with pedals like my X41. The stick always seems to control roll and the pedals yaw... makes combat hard. I have winXP so I can't use their program to adjust the axes yet... damn joo saitek.... But I usually just let the AI do the fighting sometimes.

  4. Speaking of long dev times......

    *coughteamfortress2cough*

    The really good thing about 3000ad titles is that us rabid fans get to talk to the Developer on a regular basis so we get a general feel for how close to r-day things get.

    With some other companies it's like trying to talk about Area 51.

    [ 11-20-2002, 05:38 AM: Message edited by: CedricB ]

  5. Lt. Cedric Boseman Personal Log

    Location: Sol, Saturn

    Shields: 100%

    Hull: 100%

    Condition: GREEN

    Things with the flight engineers have been getting better and better lately. Mostly because we've had a mutual target for our hate: our new commander. Ususally we spend time hating each other. I fly too hard, they fix it, scold me not to fly hard, repeat. Now, we BOTH hate this guy.

    Week in week out we're off doing drills. I'd have to say that our reaction time is getting better, much better than it probably was. Pirates and the baddies here generally don't do things fast enough to out run my Zodiac, so I do spose we got kinda complacent.... but this is getting to be too much.

    We got a pool going to see how long before someone pulls a practical joke on this guy. Wait, someone's at the door... Looks like I lost. I was giving him another week, but someone did the ol lubricant in the shampoo just now. It'll take him a buzz to fix his hair now.

    OOC: The one and only fighter pilot is still alive and kicking and waiting eagerly for MP... ^_^

  6. Does the current programing architecture (sp?) allow for multiple monitors to be used to split the 3 MFDs from the main screen? Or even a 4th to run the tactical computer?

    MSFS2002 has a similar module called WideFS that uses other computers on a network (the server actually the one the use actually plays FS2002 on) to run multiple monitors for panoramic views with one client PC for each monitor. A company called Project Magenta (www.projectmagenta.com) has software that can run the digital displays for home-made glass cockpits.

    I was considering undertaking the task of building a home-made cockpit for FS2002 and thought that a similar cockpit for BCM would be absolutely awsome! You could probably build a small bridge with helm/weapons, sensors/Flight commander for the larger ships.

    Just wondering if you ever might implement some sort of system to allow such a thing to happen.

  7. Third World Emerging Markets:

    You have two cows, a coup errupts and the UN Peace keepers come in and accidentally kill your two existing cows. After an interim government is set up, a venture capitalist from a 1st world company hires you for $5 a week and gives you two cows. All is well, until someone assasinates the interim president. The venture capitalist freaks and takes the two cows back.

    [ 04-19-2002, 15:13: Message edited by: CedricB ]

  8. You guessed right GreyFox... We got another game going on this weekend. Send me an email at [email protected] and I'll give you the particulars. We're going to meet at 9am at the Santa Fe and play all day.

    Don't forget the British Sten Machine-gun was also held by the magazine....

    Speaking of terminology, Me and my buddies just call em "mags" for short. Many times has profanity been uttered when Hi-capacity mags have failed..... Mostly by me... When you can't trust the equipment, battle sucks really fast and hard.

  9. Oopsie... sorry about that SC... I fixed it.

    The 6mm BBs (measure it) don't hurt all that much, but that sniper rifle just ain't koshier. It pushes 560fps with metal bbs... hurts like heck. The others usually push around 300-400fps but when the mass of the bb is around .2g-.25g it doesn't hurt nearly as much as a big ol .68cal paintball. A few people play with a face mask but I don't like the feel.

    Ep5... sue me. If I hit, it doesn't matter how I'm holding the gun. It doesn't have that much recoil do it didn't matter.

    You can check out www.redwolfairsoft.com to check out the guns for sale... they have just about everything and all the real-steel accesorites (sights, lasers, lights) will fit these. Tac-vests are also a must have!

    Do a general search on yahoo for Airsoft and you'll find some very good sites.

    [ 04-01-2002, 18:13: Message edited by: CedricB ]

  10. Well... I recently had the chance to try out the wonderful sport of Airsoft....

    What is Airsoft?

    Like paintball with the following differences:

    1. The Guns, clips, and accesories all look real

    2. You shoot 6mm BBs at one another from 250-560fps

    3. It does not hurt as much and no paint mess.

    4. Therefore, it requires more honesty.

    Here are some pics for you to enjoy!

    Me!

    http://www.fear.net/~elbarto/sadf/16mar/jon.JPG

    http://www.fear.net/~elbarto/sadf/16mar/jon02.JPG

    The thing I fear most, Wes and his sniper rifle. Hurts like a mother when it hits.

    http://www.fear.net/~elbarto/sadf/16mar/wesghil.JPG

    There they are! GET EM!!!!

    http://www.fear.net/~elbarto/sadf/16mar/kneal.JPG

    The whole gang

    http://www.fear.net/~elbarto/sadf/16mar/group02.JPG

    [ 04-01-2002, 18:03: Message edited by: CedricB ]

  11. Check this out.... I don't know if it has been discussed yet.

    If you are closer than HyperJump minimum range to a planetoid, if you target the planet and initiate a jump, it will ask if you want to make planetfall.

    If you say yes, you will immediately teleport to the planet and make planetfall!

    Good way to get away from an enemy station when you're getting whacked pretty hard.

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