Head up Display

[Aniallator]

But in the game, all in one place . . . so you can easily compare different weapons, and just be able to see all the weapons in your faction. I think it'd be nice. At least show the loadout for each class, and some info on class weapons.

 

[VonMudra]

We actually showed that for the British class updates that have been posted. It would be doable and neat though. Perhaps an ingame 'library', accessible from main menu, a la Rise of Flight.

 

[Aniallator]

Yup, that's the kind of thing I'm referring to, could be handy for new players in particular. And I've seen the class updates you posted, yes . . . my mouth started to water when I saw the Sapper . . .

 

[siben]

Only problem is that looking in a magazine, all you'll see are the first two rounds if it's a staggered feed, and one round if it's a stack feed. Beyond that, there is no way to tell. IRL, the soldiers fired until it was dry, only taking pauses in action/end of the action to reload their magazines.

Well, yes and no, you can count how many bullets you have left by looking at the holes in the magazine. Give or take one.
To complicated to add to the game though, maybe the devs should focus on getting the game out first and then add details like this. No point to do many of the suggestions i read here in all these treads that are super high on workload but will never really be used.

 

[VonMudra]

Well, yes and no, you can count how many bullets you have left by looking at the holes in the magazine. Give or take one.
To complicated to add to the game though, maybe the devs should focus on getting the game out first and then add details like this. No point to do many of the suggestions i read here in all these treads that are super high on workload but will never really be used.

Problem there would be it takes a lot longer to stare and count holes and try to estimate it out, than to just finish shooting. Also, that only works for guns with exposed magazines with those holes, like MP40 and Thompson.

 

[Colonel__Klink]

Only problem is that looking in a magazine, all you'll see are the first two rounds if it's a staggered feed, and one round if it's a stack feed. Beyond that, there is no way to tell. IRL, the soldiers fired until it was dry, only taking pauses in action/end of the action to reload their magazines.

If someone suggests feeling the weight of the magazine, I might point out your probably gonna have too much adrenaline running through your system to be able to tell "over half full" or "half empty" like red orchestra does.

I assume in game you will be using a system where the game generates magazine objects for the weapon and keeps track of each individual magazine's ammunition instead of having one big pool of bullets like counter strike correct?

 

[VonMudra]

Actually we just plain aren't going to have an ammo counter. Do what they did in real life, either fire until it's depleted, or reload when action is over. The most we might have is a total number of magazines/clips that you have left (So say, 6 mags for the MP40, or 12 clips for the K98k). Basically, ammo will be standard load carried by the soldier for the weapon in particular. That also means engineer classes will have less ammo (for instance, standard practice in the German army was that only infantry riflemen carried 2 rifle ammo pouches, the rest only were issued one), and MG classes will have their ammunition spread out amoungst the squad, thus requiring squad cohesion in order to keep the MG gunner supplied. In that case, all british riflemen will carry 3 Bren mags each (as in real life), and German riflemen will carry a belt of 250 rounds each. The gunners themselves will only be given the amount of ammunition that gun team would have carried themselves, so 500 rounds (IE two belts) for the German MG34/42 gunner, and 90 rounds for the Bren gunner (IE 9 mags).

That said, there are no plans to have a dedicated loader, due to the massive problems that would create for animations (one would actually have to link both players into the same animation, as well as the problem in getting a player to literally do nothing all game but lay next to the gunner and stare at an animation. Much the same way for gun crews on AT guns/heavy MGs/mortars/etc- they will be one player manned, partly to ensure that as many players as possible are taking active roles (and so that weapons teams don't take too many players away from the front lines, considering the engine limitations on player counts), but also due to issues in gameplay- people will, generally, not want to play something that involves them just staring at their screen not doing anything. Also, gun crews operated as a well oiled team that has trained together for months or even years- not casual gamers who are meeting for the first time. Thus, in order to make gun crews effective, it is much better to simply hand it all off to one player, than to try to rely on someone to only ever want to click his mouse once every 5 seconds to load a new shell in.

 

[Aniallator]

So even with the same weapon, different classes will carry different amounts of ammunition? Riflemen will carry ammunition for the MGs? There are no words to describe how much I'm going to love the realisticity with TW xD It makes sense that there won't be a loader . . . like you said, nobody wants to spend the match watching an animation. So, the person manning the MG will have to do the loading himself? Makes sense. Also, you'd of course be able to give a machine gunner your MG magazines. Will there be an animation for this? Pulling out a magazine, and handing it to the machine gunner? I'd like to see it, if possible. Also, if you're a machine gunner and you're in need of ammunition, what better way to let nearby Riflemen know than telling them with three dimensional voice chat

VonMudra, you've just made my day.

 

[Colonel__Klink]

That said, there are no plans to have a dedicated loader, due to the massive problems that would create for animations (one would actually have to link both players into the same animation, as well as the problem in getting a player to literally do nothing all game but lay next to the gunner and stare at an animation. Much the same way for gun crews on AT guns/heavy MGs/mortars/etc- they will be one player manned, partly to ensure that as many players as possible are taking active roles (and so that weapons teams don't take too many players away from the front lines, considering the engine limitations on player counts), but also due to issues in gameplay- people will, generally, not want to play something that involves them just staring at their screen not doing anything. Also, gun crews operated as a well oiled team that has trained together for months or even years- not casual gamers who are meeting for the first time. Thus, in order to make gun crews effective, it is much better to simply hand it all off to one player, than to try to rely on someone to only ever want to click his mouse once every 5 seconds to load a new shell in.

I may point out from personal experience that while every mg to this day has an assigned a-gunner/loader but really it would actually work out to the a-gunner being a supporting rifle and ammo mule. The assistance of one extra rifle or eyes open looking for targets and changing conditions outweighs the support of ensuring the cartridge belt is perfectly fed. So having one guy man a mg34/42 is not unimaginable. And you said that the riflemen will have more ammunition for the mg so they can fill the role of ammo mule .

Course the brits have the Bren so the a-gunner is needed even less. I don't think you will have HMG in game though right?

 

[LuckyOne]

^ I guess you missed the beautiful render of the Vickers that was posted a couple of months ago? (Yes I know they said they will most likely be randomly placed in static positions, but still I'd guess it will have some sort of an ammo counter - no teammates needed to move it though).

 

[VonMudra]

Actually they will most likely be kits that can be deployed by the player for that class, as well as some being placed in static positions. But yes, HMGs, the Vickers and the lafette-mounted MG34 and 42, will be ingame.

 

[Aniallator]

^ I guess you missed the beautiful render of the Vickers that was posted a couple of months ago? (Yes I know they said they will most likely be randomly placed in static positions, but still I'd guess it will have some sort of an ammo counter - no teammates needed to move it though).

Well, the Vickers is actually an MMG An example of an HMG is Browning's M2. As a matter of fact, I believe the only HMGs used by the United Kingdom during the Second World War were lend-lease M2s mounted on lend-lease vehicles. Anyway, as far as MMGs go, I'd like to see a few static ones - machine gun nests, that kind of thing - and a class that can spawn with one, so you'll have at least a few that are mobile. Having all static MMGs wouldn't work, because those kinds of things wouldn't be difficult to bypass.

 

[siben]

A simple question, do water cooled machine guns over heat in this game for the sake of balance? or can i just shoot my 250 round belts without a worry in the world.

 

[VonMudra]

A simple question, do water cooled machine guns over heat in this game for the sake of balance? or can i just shoot my 250 round belts without a worry in the world.

They will not overheat. You will indeed be able to, if you want, hold the trigger down and not let go until you reload.

The balance, in my opinion, is that the German heavy MGs will have better fire rates, will have scopes, and will be a lot smaller and easier to conceal, whilst the Vickers will be incredible at offering non-stop fire support. Albeit, holding that trigger down will also make you quiet the obvious target.

 

[Colonel__Klink]

Well, the Vickers is actually an MMG An example of an HMG is Browning's M2. As a matter of fact, I believe the only HMGs used by the United Kingdom during the Second World War were lend-lease M2s mounted on lend-lease vehicles. Anyway, as far as MMGs go, I'd like to see a few static ones - machine gun nests, that kind of thing - and a class that can spawn with one, so you'll have at least a few that are mobile. Having all static MMGs wouldn't work, because those kinds of things wouldn't be difficult to bypass.

The distinction is more confusing than you would think at first. While many today think of heavy machineguns as 12.7mm or .50 caliber bore machineguns, consider in ww2 there really wasn't anything else in the world fitting that role other than the Browning m2.

Really the difference between the machineguns are their crew requirements, the weight and the mount type. For example a Light machinegun is designed so that one person is all that is required for optimum performance. A Bren is a perfect example. A medium machinegun is man portable but generally on paper requires a loader to ensure the cartridge belt is fed, as well as to help carry the added weight of ammunition and extra barrels. A heavy machinegun is designed to be mounted on a tripod with a traverse and elevation device such as the vickers, m1919, m2 ect. It takes an entire team to transport this weapon in pieces into the field but their range due to the quality of the mount is quite exceptional. The tripod itself usually weighs as much as a medium or light machinegun (I know this from experience, carrying a tripod mg setup into the field sucks )

The mg34/42 are called General Purpose Machine Guns because they can be transported by one person and operated by one person. Especially with the ease of using the drums designed to contain 50 round cartridge belts. They were often operated in small teams with larger cartridge belts up to 250 rounds with an assistant to at the very least help carry barrels and ammunition. They were also mounted on tripods for exceptional range, up to 2,000m effective range for the mg42. It was a revolutionary concept, manufacture one machinegun and through accessories you transform it into the type you need.

 

[Boltaction]

Will you implement an Option to designate a 2nd in command so the sl can Do his Job and guide the mg fire while his junior leads the attack ( at least that was the german way ) thats something i always miss from ro2 ( only 1 Bino )

 

[VonMudra]

Will you implement an Option to designate a 2nd in command so the sl can Do his Job and guide the mg fire while his junior leads the attack ( at least that was the german way ) thats something i always miss from ro2 ( only 1 Bino )

There will still only be one bino, for the squad leader, but each squad will be allowed an extra SMG, so that role would probably be taken by the squad XO. We would indeed encourage players to use the squad leader as the guy directing the MG's placement and fire, how, we're not quite settled on yet.

 

[Aniallator]

I agree in that only the squad leader should have binocs, however I'd have to agree with Boltaction in that I'd like to see the assisstant squad leader assissting the squad leader. I'm not sure how, but it's be nice to see. Directing the MG's fire would be awesome

 

[Boltaction]

Yeah I just checked there was only One bino so thats okay ;-)

Anyway now that I have vonMudras attention any hints how you guys want to deal with hipfiring mg's *cough* ro2 *cough*

 

[VonMudra]

Yeah I just checked there was only One bino so thats okay ;-)

Anyway now that I have vonMudras attention any hints how you guys want to deal with hipfiring mg's *cough* ro2 *cough*

We have thought about it, and it will prob be a deploy animation that will also considerably slow you and be terribly inaccurate at any distance. It should only be an emergency thing, not something we want to encourage players to do.