Siper

Right now in OF1 I have a hard time recognizing individuals in my squad. Making people more recognizable would be awesome. Although it's not out yet, Soldner seems to have come up with something here. The screen shots look awesome. http://soldner.jowood.com/index.php?RubrikIdentifier=942〈=en

I know - I have used custom faces in OF1 myself. Problem is - not many people do this so you end up with the same problem - you can recognize nobody or just a handful of people. Bottom line is it has to be very easy to use and integrated into the game. And it would be nice if it goes beyond just the face/head. Soldiers in Vietnam didn't all look the same after some period in the field. You can still have the same overall look but still look quite different. Rolled up sleves, flak jacket or no flak jacket, arm bands, rolled up towel around the neck, etc. As long as the overall look (base color of uniform or something) is the same you can still identify who's on your team and who's not.

It would be great if you can peek around corners. In OF1 I now have to throw my whole body in view to see what’s around a corner.

I agree that a replay function where you can follow your moves – combining this with the possibility to save the replay and exchange it with other players would be a great training tool. It’s also a great way to enjoy a mission after the fact again. It would need fast forward etc. though. For multi-player it would be cool if you re-play from other people’s perspectives so that you can learn from people who are more skilled by seeing how they play. Here’s another thought along the same lines: For multi-player games, right after you die a quick replay sequence from the perspective of the person who shot you – this would be great as a learning tool.

solder secret wars http://soldner.jowood.com/ full spectrum warrior http://www.fullspectrumwarrior.com/

I think most people would agree that OF2 needs built-in tools for voice communication (such as Skype, Teamspeak, RogerWilco, whatever). For one, it would make the game so much more accessible for multi-player. In OF1, unless you’re in a clan, when playing a multi-player Capture The Flag online you’re basically a one-man army with no idea where everyone else is. Most people don’t take the time to type text messages. Also - one of the great strengths of Operation Flashpoint is its cooperative model. Unfortunately, the text based communication system is too basic to truly take advantage of cooperative mode when playing a coop online with some other players. So - apparently OF1 had some integrated voice capability. I have also played around with Teamspeak and Roger Wilco. The problem with the built OF1 voice capability is that it was not easy to find (for example, I never knew about it). The problem with Teamspeak and Roger Wilco is that they’re not easy to use. When you’re going to have some sort of in-game voice communication it should 1) be very clear that you have the capability and 2) you should be able to just plug in your headset and go. That’s one of the problems I have with Teamspeak or Roger Wilco. It always took like 10 minutes to get everyone on the same server, adjust settings etc before we could go ahead and play with my clan. I found out about some new shareware called Skype (www.skype.com). It’s totally plug and play and I didn’t have to adjust my settings at all. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, when I tried to run Skype and play OF1 online, it totally degraded performance of OF1. So I guess that’s another thing to consider. Last thought - It would be cool if one of the channels allows for the volume to depend on how close you are to someone. That way you only hear relevant chatter.

I would like to see some variation in mines. Some can be anti-personnel, others blow when a truck or armor drives over it, others only blow when armor rolls over it. I would also like to see real mortars and artillery and flame throwers.

First of, let me say that I have been playing Operation Flashpoint for several years now and I just LOVE the game. For a while I was in a clan but now I play mostly cooperative missions. With that being said, here are my suggestions for AI: 1. AI in OF1 doesn’t seem to use support weapons such as mortars or grenade launchers. It would be nice if they would, for example, fire grenade launcher/mortar automatically at troop concentrations 2. Commanding a squad is difficult to learn and I still at times struggle with finding the right codes. It may be an idea to replace the OF1 command interface with something more user-friendly. Point and click methods as used in Full Spectrum Warrior would be useful (Note that in the preview of Full Spectrum Warrior a cool way is demoed to target grenade launchers and mortars by using an arch that you can drag and drop it looks very intuitive). Soldner Secret Wars may also have something cool with their advanced gesture system (see http://www.fullspectrumwarrior.com/ and http://soldner.jowood.com/ ) 3. When setting a perimeter to defend an area, it takes a long time to tell every individual soldier where to stand. It would be great if you could just highlight a general area (quickly line out a circle, rectangle, line, whatever) and say “Defend perimeter†upon which every soldier intelligently takes up a position, behind sand bags, rocks, etc.. 4. Would it be an idea to have AI suggest things like “UAZ spotted, should I take them out with my grenade launcher?†or “Out of ammo - should I get ammo from xyz†and you just say “okay†5. If my LAW officer dies, I find myself scrambling to his dead body to pick it up. It would be great if soldiers who are closest to a fallen comrade would automatically pick up key weapons 6. In OF1, when I give a LAW officer a target, I find myself trying to move him in the right spot until he sees the target. It would be better if the LAW officer (if he doesn’t see armor that has been given as a target to him) moves quickly into position in an intelligent way and then shoots at it. 7. A “Man†command would be a quick way to have one or more of your troops man a position. As in “man pill box†or “man bunker†(This wouldn’t apply to machine guns but also to sandbags, bunkers, etc.). They would then take up position and effectively man ports etc. If there are multiple troops that are given this order, they would divide up positions. In OF1, AI is sometimes hopelessly lost in bunkers. 8. I like the earlier voiced idea of interacting with AI soldiers who are not part of your group. Instead of commands you could make suggestions to them: they make or may not decide to follow your suggestions. 9. Retreating units should have the option to walk backwards and keep firing suppressive fire 10. A one-order type command to have multiple soldiers use mines etc. in an intelligent manner. Just highlight the general direction or area and it will be sprinkled with mines/ satchels. When ambushing convoys etc. in OF1 I do all the mine and satchel laying – it’s too cumbersome to tell all the AI individually where to lay mines etc. 11. AI should allow for Infantry using advancing armor as cover 12. Sometimes, taking cover results in strange positions taking up by AI. I have seen my AI run towards the enemy in the open, laying down, and starting to shoot, with a perfectly fine bunker right next to them 13. If you order several soldiers to go on a small sub mission (flank left or right, man bunker complex), the most senior soldier (sergeant, whatever) should take charge and direct the others must the same way an officer would direct his squad. 14. If you run too fast, AI falls out of formation: could AI just follow the speed of the commander? 15. Combat in buildings is non-existent in Flashpoint. It would be great if AI could intelligently move around in, fight in, and shoot from buildings 16. Entering buildings is almost impossible as a team 17. AI doesn’t use corners of buildings as cover 18. AI doesn’t really kneel when you stop and kneel Hope that helps!

I don't know if this is possible yet but maybe it would be an idea to have the ability to show your all-time score/ranking etc. on multi-player servers? It would be cool to see how you rank among others who frequent a server. Or how you have performed across servers. Also, if somehow player-specific stats carry over with you as you come onto a new server, people won't assume you're a noob. If you're good but not completely plugged into the community, it would make it easier to be invited by a clan to join perhaps. Hit-rates (hits/bullets fired) etc. would be nice to know as well. Or how long you have been playing the game, how many missions, all-time total played etc.