Possibility Of A Cloud Layer?

[Malecite]

Hello.

So after using the Aeros in the 0.3 for about 8 hours yesterday I came to the conclusion that I once again love this mod. The joystick I use (cyborg evo) works flawlessly and its alot of fun to fly now. However, the problem with this mod and most of the lag issues being resolved is well: people can hit things. If your flying in a plane, that person is you. The AA is DEVASTATING to the point where a single person in an AA tank can usually lock down the entire sky if they are even remotely talented.

Now Instead of having an endless game of tug o war with balance, why not implement a particle layer at oh say... 800-900 ft? The ceiling is a total of 1500 so you could also add a couple more to make dogfighting more fun (currently its pointless with the AA). This would greatly improve an Aero's chances of a) surviving a bombing run and b) actually getting the drop on something.

Tbolts hit like  a water pistol now, so there is almost nothing you can do against partisan tanks save getting the 80 LRM shiva which is now SO OVERPOWERED that I was able to completely wipe the enemy team including the partisans. Seriously... that thing needs to stay at its current price or get its payload reduced to 60 as it can absolutely destroy Assault mechs in about 20 seconds. As soon as their narced you just spin above them blindly launching hundreds of LRM's until they explode... rinse repeat.

If your going to leave things the way they are, please up the damage on the bloody Tbolts so I can actually do something with the Aeros. Last night I spent 45 minutes dropping Tbolt after Tbolt into those stupid partisans and I dont think I got a single kill with them.

[~SJ~KorbinWimmer]

Tanks in particular seem to take less damage proportionally to their total health since .3 because of their armor buff.  Tbolts do however still do tremendous damage to mechs that coupled with the extra reload makes the Sulla B even more of a threat than it used to be.  I think your best bet if you're dead set on maxing your k/d spread is to use them on mediums / stationary lights for semi-insta-gibs and heavy's and Assaults for the points.  Once you get a NARC off you can avoid most weapons by flying high or really really low and using the tbolts long range.


An extra cloud layer might make Aero vs Aero combat more interesting, but sounds like it may add to the game's already high bandwidth.   Flying high on most maps makes you invisble to pretty much all optics except Enhanced and even then you're still likely out of attack range.  All that said... i think Aero's need their weapons (AvA weapons that is) to be SLIGHTLY more effective vs aero before dogfighting will be worth it.  ATM it seems like the only decent anti aero player is the 4 RAC Shiva, but it pays heavily in maneuverability so..... you get me.

[Reiel]

No volumetrics, game's a hog as is. 

[~SJ~ Griffin]

there are some clouds in Clearcut, but really this would only be a great help if you are running passive or have a gecm. Otherwise the AA will track you down. As someone who flys very often, i usually avoid death by weaving in and around mountains, friendlys, and other obstacles very low to the ground. Dangerous but effective. AA usually cant follow or get distracted by slow-moving ground units.

On a side note, in a game a few nights ago a partisan was narced as it came out of its hanger while 3 tbolt sullas circled above. The ensuing explosion and death brought so much joy to my heart. 

[shadowkiller]

Cloud entities are VERY expensive to render. Thats why most of our maps dont have them. The closest thing we could do for what your asking is a giant fog volume above the map. Might be costly as well though.

[Malecite]

Ah, well thanks for the quick answer. Im at a loss really with what to do then, the current AA has the ability to: "reach out and touch you" from just about anywhere thanks to a range of 1200m. With very few physics obstacles to hide behind it quickly becomes a crap shoot to actually attack anything within range of the AA. I understand some people will add: "well yes thats what the AA does", however, the maps aren't sufficiently large that you can really avoid it. Mind you the LRM shiva has about 0 problems annihilating anything, partisans included. Oh and I did try the Tbolts against light mechs and yes they dominate like they used to, must just be the tanks have a better time absorbing the impact.

[(TLL) Zeh]

The AA is DEVASTATING to the point where a single person in an AA tank can usually lock down the entire sky if they are even remotely talented.

Seriously?  Did you stop playing before .3.0 was released and just decide to post this really late?  The above is VERY VERY far from the truth in the current release.  Actually, I would say most every comment about AA/Air since the patch is the exact opposite of what you're claiming here.  Most feel the AA is underpowered at this point. 

I think the AA is about right, the only thing I've been repeatedly annoyed by is the VTOLs ability to stay straight above mechs and rain down LRMs.  However, this shouldn't effect an AA tank much.

[Spyro]

AA < Me 90% of the time.   It generally takes 2 Huit Primes working in tandem in order to take me down unless I'm actively engaging Aeros and not caring about them.  Point in context there were 2 Partisans (both ballistics) and a Huit Prime against me in a Sulla, at the end of the match I took one death from them and all 3 tanks had died at least once from my bombs.  Not meaning to brag but my point is that you just have to know how to take them out.

[CHHš Rampage]

Ah, well thanks for the quick answer. Im at a loss really with what to do then, the current AA has the ability to: "reach out and touch you" from just about anywhere thanks to a range of 1200m. With very few physics obstacles to hide behind it quickly becomes a crap shoot to actually attack anything within range of the AA. I understand some people will add: "well yes thats what the AA does", however, the maps aren't sufficiently large that you can really avoid it. Mind you the LRM shiva has about 0 problems annihilating anything, partisans included. Oh and I did try the Tbolts against light mechs and yes they dominate like they used to, must just be the tanks have a better time absorbing the impact.

I have not been taken out in one pass by T Bolts while in a Partisan but I have been taken out in one pass by Fire bombs. While a Partican may be able to "reach out and touch you" at range it is highly unlikely that he will be able to "clear the skies" of you or anyone else at this stage of the game. Even the Huits with their bigger guns and much heavier load of ammo have difficulty bringing down the flyers. The Sparrowhawks are almost too quick and erratic to hit and the Shivas are too well armored to bring down unless the pilot abstains from repairs and just continues to make passes until all the damage builds up. While AA had a huge advantage in earlier revisions of the Beta the pendulum has now swung fully the other way. Any decent aero pilot will simply dominate the entire battlefield. Just look at the top scorers on the maps that utilize aero. These days they are almost always now using aero.

[Malecite]

Not really sure if you guys are just prone to hyperbole or playing the same game, but the last few times I've played on the IW public server I have been getting shredded by a couple of guys in the AA tanks. I cant really recall the names but one guys was cocoa something, he was able to absolutely tear apart my sulla again and again. Having said that, The sparrow hawks cant really do much against anything so they are more of an annoyance, and once you get to the Shiva you could care less about AA, so I guess my main complaint was the sulla's lack of effectiveness.

Although the more I play the more I realize that the Tbolts still freaking own, their splash damage has just been reduced it seems. The lack of the lag problem really makes it easier to fly planes and im now discovering that you dont really need narcs against stationary AA tanks so taking them down with tbolts that are dumbfired is not only possible, but extremely profitable.

I still wish the planes had more of a role than just bombing the living bejesus out of the poor slobs below, before retreating back to base to reload. It would be fun to actually dogfight people if we had an upper ceiling that allowed for it, however, I find that half the time I just get blown away by the AA on the ground in pursuit of an enemy bomber.

[4204ME]

Most people are still trying to make it play like its 2.0. Put down the parti prime and step away from the OP pipe. The huit does what AA guns do. They repel aircraft. The LBX however is to an aero what a shotgun is to a dove.  I spend to much time getting shredded and one shotted in aero including sheiva to entertain the aero is too armored. Plenty of other air hating meanies have learned how to make me spend 5 times as long before I can make a clean strike or die. Sheiva making you mad? Get a beatstick go passive and wait near his favorite target.... 100k plus asset is instaboomed.

[Deathbane]

The AA is DEVASTATING to the point where a single person in an AA tank can usually lock down the entire sky if they are even remotely talented.

Seriously?  Did you stop playing before .3.0 was released and just decide to post this really late?  The above is VERY VERY far from the truth in the current release.  Actually, I would say most every comment about AA/Air since the patch is the exact opposite of what you're claiming here.  Most feel the AA is underpowered at this point. 

I think the AA is about right, the only thing I've been repeatedly annoyed by is the VTOLs ability to stay straight above mechs and rain down LRMs.  However, this shouldn't effect an AA tank much.

By most he means virt. Aeros have had a altitude boost, and are pretty hard to spot up high anyway. Sounds like a good idea, but possibly you could force the effect on the plane itself, rather than making it a mapping solution?

[Malecite]

If your getting shot down in the shiva your doing something wrong. My usual strategy is flying up to about 1500 hundred feet, killing the throttle and floating around till I find the AA tank thats usually easy to spot, then I just target him with a narc, pull back up to 1300ft and rain LRMS down upon him. Its boring, stupid, and the only viable variant against the AA tanks seems to be the LRM boat... or the FBombs if you can get close enough.

Im curious about this modeling effect you speak of though, could you perhaps elaborate on how that would work? Like a model fade at a certain altitude? That would certainly be viable as its a hell of alot harder to hit something you cant see, and it would make going passive on radar a viable method of escape.

[~SJ~KorbinWimmer]

Fbombs actually get MORE accurate against stationary targets the higher you are (gives them more time to pinpoint your bomber crosshair) the problem is leading moving targets.

[Jaso the Sniper]

Instead of particles, why not decrease visibility above, say, 750 feet? This would not create much of a problem, right, KingLeer?

Also, giving a larger ceiling and maybe rewards for winning Air-air combat would have people also look for targets fighting fire with fire (or aero with aero...)

Also would be cool if there could be an aero that would be HUGE and could make giant bombing runs. You would have to escort it while the others would attack it. Especially cool in a gamemode where bases can be destroyed