PPC v nightvision

[LordHack]

I was messing around with this tonight.   What is frequency/dependency of this taking out nighvision on opposing mech?(I blinded myself a couple of times shooting close BA).  Just curious if it was consistent or random or location-based (like direct/splash cockpit)??

[(TLL)Siilk]

AFAIK, it's 100% chance, i.e. every time PPC hits you it's EMP effect messes with your mech' electronics and shuts down your NV.

[LordHack]

sure didn't seem that way.  people (single targets) returned fire just fine (accurately) at mid-max distances, even when I slow-cycled ppc or er-ppc. 

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

people are gamma cheating sometimes not me of course. but if you're radar on all they have to do is target you to get the nice big glowy red brackets on you.  from there it's just them aiming dead center of the kill box.

[HAARP]

Can you force gamma and brightness values? I noticed the same, even though I was passive+ECM and PPCed the shit outta them

[(TLL)Sky_walker]

Can you force gamma and brightness values?

You can do this in monitor.
Also some of LCDs have contrast high enough to make Mechs visible in the middle of the night anyway.

Finally: The Glowing Weapons, anyone?

[MerfMerf]

Loosing nightvision does very little in a one vs. one fight in open terrain. As have already been pointed out the targeting reticule, lights on the mechs (weapons and weapons muzzle when firing) provide plenty of guidance for aiming. So I don't think one should assume someone upped their brightness just because they hit you consistently when you think their nightvision is disabled. It is however a real bother if you suddenly lose nightvision when in a real furball and/or in difficult terrain, so its definitely a valid tactic at times to try and disable that nightvision (Thank you devs for darker maps that enable this aspect!). This also introduced a need to get good at quickly switching on the lights to avoid running into things when you are suddenly without nightvision among glue covered buildings; me like!

So, to the issue at hand. PPC vs. nightvision consistency. I feel convinced it is not 100% sure you loose nightvision when hit by PPC. I've been in numerous engagements where I've experienced PPC-hits (least I think so. I see PPC trails and experience the cockpit shake and increase in heat) but still been able to retain my nightvision. My first reaction was that it probably only disabled nightvision when dealing damage to the cockpit, but that was just my initial gut feeling. I have done no testing as to validate the feeling. Would definitley be nice if someone did (and/or a dev could share what the intended behaviour is so we know if we have a potential bug).

Personally I feel having to hit cockpit for the nightvision to be disabled would be very nice. Otherwise I fear many would avoid any difficult terrain like the plague for fear of being PPCed in the dark and/or resort to brightness cheats. Also more little details you can get good at (hitting cockpit with PPC to disable nightvision) is always nice me thinks. Arguably the PPC already has a high skill need due to the new slower "projectile" (Its not really a projectile per say I know...) speed.

/Merf - Would have liked a stronger external light that could be used in part to "white out" others nightvision (Just partialy coering the mechs visual profile. Kinda like a mech firing a large LRM salvo).

[LordHack]

Thanks for the replies.  Don't think it has been 100% when I've been hit by them either, so didn't mean to imply anyone was doing something to avoid the effect.  Also you all brought up another point, and I can't honestly remember (but I'm old, so....), I thought it brought down all electronics (including radar/hit box), as well as nightvision.

[(TLL)Siilk]

I thought it brought down all electronics (including radar/hit box), as well as nightvision.

 No unfortunately it's not (yet) doing that.

[MerfMerf]

Definitely does not bring down all electronics (technically that would sorta shut the reactor down too.. but I know what you mean). I think it really is just nightvision lost from PPC.
Standing too close to a mech going critical however ruins a bit more (Removes nightvision and messes up radar/map. Unsure about he radar actually, but definitely map view is filled with static).

Also, having lost nightvision to PPC or mech going critical is only temporary. Wait a while and you get it back. I sort of feel it would be better to require a repair for this (or increased time until you get it back is better perhaps?) but I realize nightvision is not a component on the asset and thus not something that get "destroyed" per say, so might not be feasible in regards to effort put in contra benefits to gameplay gained.

/Merf - Wants more mechs running around with search lights activated!

[LordHack]

Since I'm out brawling, and get criticals going off all around, I say NO to repair!  I think the temporary effect is disruptive enough (and about long enough, too).  Like you, I think those little disruptive "features" are cool to kind of throw a small curve into things - hence, why I was sort of testing this whole thing out.

[completely off topic] Every day since release I keep finding more and more I'm liking about this version.  I hope they only tweak a few things and don't cave in to people who are crying about how much this has changed their playstyle.   It definitely changed mine; but, I'm really enjoying the change.

[MerfMerf]

Ah, true. I like to brawl as well. But you really have to be very close for a critical to strip away your nightvision. When I do most of my brawling I use MASC-equipped machines and then one can usually avoid the criticals. True, with he beatstick you are doomed to get caught up in them every now and then. Still, I think I would prefer the nightvision to actually require repair and instead get more useful searchlights on the mechs (on some models it really just lights up your feet).

To each their own though. Maybe I'm just biased cause I think it looks awesome with search lights?

/Merf - Loving the darkness (Yes, that includes the band )!

[=KoS= Eldragon]

I like the concept of the night maps, and when people are shooting its a beautiful sight to behold. But I hate actually trying to shoot anything. Its too dark to see on some maps (Marshes I'm looking at you), so everyone uses night vision (or ghetto night vision via gamma settings).

Making people run back to repair their night vision equipment would be great fun if the natural lighting wasn't pitch black. Having people actually forced to use their searchlights would be great.

It seems to me it defeats the purpose of having night fighting in the first place if most people are just using video settings to eliminate the handicap of night fighting.  Better to bring up the ambient light (a Moon or two perhaps?).

[MerfMerf]

I disagree (On having the natural light be enough to fight semi-properly in anything but plain terrain).
The more you deviate from pitch-blackness the more natural differences in brightness settings will emerge. People have different light settings. This is a fact. They don't have to have them set "cheatingly high" for this to be a problem if one is trying to find the magic fine line where people can see a bit in the dark, but still feel they need to turn on the nightvision at times. I am 100% sure this problem (problem in that the difficulty for two players differ) exist today as well since we have maps that cycle from light to dark or dark to light. But since its a flowing shift everyone (except those with "cheatingly high" brightness) suffer through this magic sweet spot at one time or another, so we don't really notice this difference. If you on the other hand had the max darkness set to an attempt at this "sweet spot" you will have a bunch of people who never have to use their nightvision at all, and another bunch who are "on the verge" to see good enough so they simply adjust their brightness a bit so they don't have to bother with the nightvision (and thus switch to belonging to the first group of players who don't need to use nightvision at all).

A much better solution, in my not so humble opinion (I'm never wrong you see =P), is to keep the pitch-black episode and instead make searchlights a bit more useful. That way you have the game aspect where you really want to use nightvision to see, PPC can take this away from you but you are not totally left in the dark (oh I'm so funny at times...) since you have a searchlight that provides vision that is better then nothing but not as good as nightvision. Also everyone ("Cheatingly high" brightness again ignored) will get to play during the "sweet spot" (Although different setups will have this at a slightly different time in game) where you can sort of see enough without ANY aid, but want to turn on searchlight or nightvision at times.

/Merf - Hopefully managed to get a point across despite the horrid jokes

[Tsorevitch]

Definitely does not bring down all electronics (technically that would sorta shut the reactor down too.. but I know what you mean). I think it really is just nightvision lost from PPC.
Standing too close to a mech going critical however ruins a bit more (Removes nightvision and messes up radar/map. Unsure about he radar actually, but definitely map view is filled with static).

Also, having lost nightvision to PPC or mech going critical is only temporary. Wait a while and you get it back. I sort of feel it would be better to require a repair for this (or increased time until you get it back is better perhaps?) but I realize nightvision is not a component on the asset and thus not something that get "destroyed" per say, so might not be feasible in regards to effort put in contra benefits to gameplay gained.

/Merf - Wants more mechs running around with search lights activated!

Actually Reactor should be protected from such kind of effects. and no EMP should stop fusion reaction, the best (or worst..it depends on point On view) it can do is dissable the control mechanism. It won't lead to immediate meltdown or power loss