Briefing screen - Load out

[metallicAL 0]

As teamleader, selecting gear for your troops is a pain the ass.

Im sorry but it is.

I think whats needed is some inspiration from "Rainbow six" and "hidden & dangerous 2". certain features which can spead up the time and also at the same time, allow for more options.

1. Save load outs!!! this would save an incredilbe amount of time. (save markers on map too!

2. select for all (teammates), this could be for uniforms, weapons, armour, ammo.

3. presets ie - assualter, AT gunner, stealth commando (SF option only)

4. weight restrictions. IE 4 LAWS shouldnt weigh the same as 9 mags.

5. Team mates able to "request" weapons, armour, class. team leader can approve, edit, deny that request.

6. Real time update of equipment in MP. this is almost a must.

I play alot of COOP and what happens more often than not, is that some one joins when your selecting gear, or the mission fails or the server crashes, all of the above means you have to go back to the briefing screen and remember who had what and its a very long and dull process.

I must say though, the layout its very original, what i think needs done is the choosing of gear done on a nice gui which is then turned into handing writing on the "paper" form, that would look awsome.

-thanks

[matt54 0]

even if they gave us a new setting in the mission editor where each unit has a place to pick its weapon.

for example:

click on the unit, go into its properties - goto weapon (pick its weapon loadout this could be divided into 3 categories Primary Secondary and AT/AA/G/deployable MG.) i would personally send a gift in the mail if they did that. maybe some lotions and a all day pass to the spa they want. hahaha

[PainDealer 0]

I don't much like this loadout idea at all. in full scale war soldiers usually carry their personal rifles, and that's pretty much all they have. on the front you just don't go to a rack of 50 different rifles and pick one for each day. of course special forces use different loadouts for different missions but that's another story. and so far I've come to the conclusion that Next Gen Game isn't about tactical 3 man patrols with compact SMG's in a nuclear plant. it's about war man...

[metallicAL 0]

That may be. But im assuming you've actually played the original, you were able to select weapons for your team (or at least swap guns) . It would be insane to take this feature away, what im suggesting is improvement apon it.

Ive also gathered that next gen will be more about puting you as a soldier in a war, so in that sense this doesnt count entirely. But as i have said, im keeping COOP in mind when i forward these suggestions. COOP for me (as well as the mods that we play COOP with) have stopped OFP collecting dust on the shelf.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

This wouldn't work very well, you would actualy be making more work for yourself. You see, you can only chose weapons from a pool defined by the mission's creator, and any weapons your squad starts with. If you only have a limited amount of one weapon type, you couldn't use an "assign to all" function. The same goes for preset loadouts and saving loadouts. Also, as stated, you won't have a place to select anything, you can only use what you're given. Furthermore, it gives more valuable control to the mission editor, which is allways good. I think there are more important things that actually need fixing.

[Mr. Cheese 0]

An 'allow player to access weapon pool' function would be nice. Possibly not for public coops, but for coops within clans/communities who you'd know would equip themselves with their assigned loadout. i.e. SL says what role/equipment they need, allows them to access pool and they take it.

[metallicAL 0]

This wouldn't work very well, you would actualy be making more work for yourself. You see, you can only chose weapons from a pool defined by the mission's creator, and any weapons your squad starts with. If you only have a limited amount of one weapon type, you couldn't use an "assign to all" function. The same goes for preset loadouts and saving loadouts. Also, as stated, you won't have a place to select anything, you can only use what you're given. Furthermore, it gives more valuable control to the mission editor, which is allways good. I think there are more important things that actually need fixing.

I think if you played as much coop as i do you wouldnt be saying "there are more important things that need fixing".

This was just a few suggestions, not definitive ideas. The loadout screen really does need improving, its too slow, its got too few options and its too slow.

As for the map (this could be a new thread) It would really really sweet if the team leader was able to draw on the map with a "paint burst), have sellectable icons/markers with GUI, and maybe a way to measure distances quickly. ie click points that link up on the map and calculate the distance.(like what naval people use at sea)

All these ideas may seem unecessary to alot of you but i play in a very mature/serious community of coop players and the briefing screen is very, very important for planning.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Choosing a weapon loadout is not a defining factor of coop gameplay. It is a convenience, not a requirement, it doesn't need to be too in-depth, and the theme behind flashpoint of throwing you into combat without being able to do anything about it means that you're limited to what you're given. If you want an in-depth loadout selection feature, then add it into the mission (and you would probably get better results), it saves BIS from developing something that a lot of us aren't going to use.

[funnyguy1 0]

I think It would`nt change much in sp... When you`re not a commander or spec op, choosing weapons wouldn`t be good.

Even if you are one, you rather upgrade your own rifle than choose another, better or something like this...

When spec op, though, it would be nice to, have the ability to a fire few more types than your primary/secondary one (depending on a mission style).

When it comes to the mission editor and mp, well that`s a different story, and I second metallicAL`s arguments.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

I would not want to se anything like this, because this can all (well, most of it) be done by the mission creator, and hard-coding them into the game would make it less flexible. The less things that are hard-coded into the game the better, it has to be as simple as possible for maximum modifiability. Don't forget, its because of hard-coded "features" that OFP couldn't support things like multiple turrets or missiles on wheeled vehicles, among others. Secondly, the mission editor should have complete control over loadouts (and anything that effects the mission and its gameplay), else you'll be robbing him of potential.

[metallicAL 0]

how can it be "less flexible" if im talking about expanding whats already there?

Also i agree that missions are sometimes to be designed to have particular loadouts. In those cases i think the mission maker should be able to lock weapon loadouts.

[Balschoiw 0]

The nifty point about all that is that IRL you don´t have that selection unless you are part of some kind of special unit.

You´re given a worn gun at training and stay with that weapon unless you are trained on a different weapon or weapon system.

In that context I´d like to raise another point. In current OFP it´s this way:

1. You have your loadout determined by missionmaker or leader if a weaponpool is available at briefing screen.

2. There is no influence on weapon skill by the class of soldier you choose.

3. You get rid of that weapon once you have some fallen enemies around and grab a weapon that is more to your likings.

Those are especially sniper rifles and machine guns.

I´d like to see a change in this.

Dependant on the class of soldier you choose the weapon handling should differ. This means that if you choose a regular grunt in the mission he will be able to shoot fine with his standard rifle but will have a decrease in weapon handling when going for a different type of weapon ingame. For example let him pick up a sniper rifle and it will shake more than in the hands of a sniper class soldier. Reload time could be longer aswell. Same goes for machineguns.

This idea could even be expanded to special items like satchels, mines, grenades, etc.

This way it could be prevented that a whole squad runs around with 6 machineguns and 3 sniper rifles. Well they could, but the hit-ratio would be terrible and the intitial intention of the different soldier classes in OFP would finally find it´s reflection ingame.

It´s like the RPG 7VR in FDF. People who have not shot with it very often have a really hard time with the visor. That´s what should be implemented in OFP2 imo.

Of course it´s thinkable to make this an option that can be turned off or on, so people who don´t want that limitation can disable it, but especially for Multiplayer it would add even more reality.

[funnyguy1 0]

Only for AI imho...

Although irl you are not a mix of sniper/mg gunner/at soldier thing, it WILL be some kind of limitation in game....

The other idea is to make those particular `professions` much more sophisticated/harder which in my opinion would be much more `fair`.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]Only for AI imho...

AI don´t change weapons ingame. At least I haven´t seen such unless you order them to pick up another weapon.

Quote[/b] ]Although irl you are not a mix of sniper/mg gunner/at soldier thing, it WILL be some kind of limitation in game....

Of course it will be some kind of limitation. Therefore they should make it optional. The different classes of soldiers imo need a reflection of their skill in the weapons they can handle.

Otherwise the classes are just different in their ability to carry things. That´s a bit off. Different unit classes have different weapon skills and are specialized on different weapons. That´s why there are different unit types. I guess it would contributing to gameplay if that special knowledge on weapons or ammunitions finds a reflection ingame. Optional of course.

Right now it´s like you have specialists for any weapons available united in one soldier type. I guess it would level up reality aspects and uniqueness of the different soldier types if they have the ability to be trained on their designated standard weapons like irl. It´s like it is with the medic today. In multiplayer games a decent serious squad will try to protect the medic as he´s an important factor ingame. Now if a decent limitation in weapon handling for the different unit types is in action this would value up AT units, machine gunners and other units aswell. Let´s think of combat engineers for example. They are the ones who are trained to lay mines for example. Now imagine a mission where the vital goal is to place mines. If the combat engineer is shot and someone else who is a different unittype picks up his mines there could be a chance that that the mine does fail as the unit is no expert in handling mines.

In general this would put more value on the different types of units and furthermore tighten up teamwork as vital parts of the squad need to be protected in order to fulfill the mission.

Of course this should be an option, not a must. I guess people who play coops or coordinated multiplayer games would honor such an option very much as it gets the game even more close to reality.

[funnyguy1 0]

I thought about forcing  the player to choose the class/profession he is good at by adding much more details to the particular roles in game.

Sniper has to be protected because he`s the only one in the team who spots and destroys targets beyond other teammates` range. I understand you Balschoiw, and know that ofp2 will still be just a game. But the reason why this sniper has to be protected, why he`s an important factor in game, and why he has an advanage with m24, over the mg gunner with the same rifle, is that he can calculate the range, wind (sadly there aren`t spotters in ofp), and do other things which simply aren`t part of the mg gunners training. It doesn`t mean that mg gunner`s hands are shaking more.

I also understand that the thing I`m talking about would also be a limitation...

The classic solution works well I admit, but on the other hand It`s arcadish (if you want to change your class, you just do it in the class menu, or wait for a next respawn/game, it forces you to stick with the chosen class all the time during the game)

, and I expect something else. The other one is realistic, theoretically, but on the other hand It`s an utopia(you`re forced to practice everytime you want to use a different strategy).

[metallicAL 0]

Those are some heavy posts

i understand what your saying about roles of different classes.

Playing coop, if im teamleader, i follow a set of some of my own rules. One of which is that if your a sniper with a sniper rifle you snipe, you dont pick up AT. If your MG you dont pickup AT. further more, our riflemen/operator scopes dont have powerful anymore (4x Acog), this further increases the need for a sniper and MG. It was also decided to ban HE rounds for sniper rifles because they although cool, lessend the need for AT and M203 guys.

Stats should be made depending on CLASS you are. I think this would make for better teamplay.

[funnyguy1 0]

I think mp should be based on the classic system with option to switch to the other one...

In sp only AI should be limited to stick with their primary weapons. What about a separate training for each class, before the campaign?