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Communications Centre Functionality


yosh56

How could its functionality be changed [For the overview map]?  

25 members have voted

  1. 1. How could its functionality be changed [For the overview map]?

    • Keep as is
      5
    • Reveal all units except those in their own base
      9
    • Remove ability to see in base, but also add some other functionality [explain]
      11


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At the moment, I think the communications center is too powerful. It also changes the behaviour of players, in a way which I don't think suits the game - on Field for example, often 2-3 team members camp the CC, which nobody ever does for the silo. Means less people concentrating on focusing on the actual target - to destroy the enemies base.

How about this idea: Every 15 seconds, it reveals all enemy units on the minimap for 3 seconds. This way, the CC could still be a useful asset, but it won't be a total must-have anymore.

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The pug yesterday pretty much proved the value of the comms center.

Stank rush gathered in front of GDI base? Attack the building where there's no dots anywhere close on the overview map.

"Hey check this out, there's a bunch of dots in the barracks. Infantry rush inc soon." -- 2x

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It's also my opinion that the revealing ability should be limited somehow.

Maybe it should only show the enemies in a limited circular radius around it.

Going with that on Field the communication-center and silo could be swapped, so that you can see mostly the enemies in the field and a part of the tunnel-system.

Or Option 5: Remove it. :P

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Active buildings got jammers in it that provides signal jamming in small radius around the building. If the building is destroyed, the jammer is disabled for that certain building so units cannot hide it's cloak.

I think it's ok that com center is a little bit op. It makes teams fight for that strategic point and defend it.

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Guest Gliven

Make it so that you can only see people within your own mini map, which also broadcasts that info to your team. So if there is no one close enough to spot enemies with their radar, they wont be broadcasted on the global map. Which will make the com center good for only finding people through walls. Will also help find people trying to sneak, or help people when they are trying to sneak into a building.

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At the moment, I think the communications center is too powerful. It also changes the behaviour of players, in a way which I don't think suits the game - on Field for example, often 2-3 team members camp the CC, which nobody ever does for the silo. Means less people concentrating on focusing on the actual target - to destroy the enemies base.

How about this idea: Every 15 seconds, it reveals all enemy units on the minimap for 3 seconds. This way, the CC could still be a useful asset, but it won't be a total must-have anymore.

+1

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Coms Center is too strong, when it prevents infiltration, AND buffs your own infiltration by avoiding encounters. I'd prefer it keep the ability to help infiltrate, and lose the ability to prevent infiltration. Meaning, make it ONLY show units in enemy base, not in field, not in your own base.

Alternatively, could also just make it reveal "any enemy that gets within x units of your character", in the same manner that radar is shared. That technically still does both, but not total reveal, you still have to be close. I think in that case, the distance should be the width of the standard refinery on the minimap. If nobody is in a structure, structure is STILL unrevealed.

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  • Former Developers

I dont think the solution is to have it not reveal in the base. That seems more like an unfinished feature, or heck it even makes it seem like a bug. I can absolutely understand that it is way too good at it's current state.

I personally think the ability to reveal every where should remain intact, instead it's reveal capabilities should be modified. Instead of a real time reveal of everything everywhere, it should instead be more of a pulse scan. For example a scan of the entire map is done every 30 seconds, and it reveals the last known location of all enemies on the radar for something like 5 seconds or so. This way the purpose of the comm centre remains intact, but at the same time the blips are no longer real time but show location of things at the time of the pulse scan, and only for a brief period.

This allows the team that does not have the comm to be able to infiltrate with a reasonable window of opportunity, and it also gives the team whom holds the comm centre a much smaller window of opportunity to take advantage of the reveal.

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If achievable.

While moving, repairing ect. = Update location of players every 5 seconds with a radar scan graphic moving down the map

Firing un-silenced weaponry = Real time player location update

Perhaps you could also include a new 'item' which when purchased renders the player immune from radar scans. This would be useful for hotwires/techs who are looking to infiltrate but the team as a whole are unable to secure the communications center.

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Got another idea:

Standard map / radar should show mines (own team - can be handy to find overminer!)

Rader should also display enemy mines when com center captured

Would be good to have this added anyways.

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  • Totem Arts Staff
Got another idea:

Standard map / radar should show mines (own team - can be handy to find overminer!)

Rader should also display enemy mines when com center captured

Would be good to have this added anyways.

I can agree on friendly mines being shown, but not enemy mines even with comms centre, since the comms centre is about communication (players) not mines.

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Ehh, if it limited the ability, then showing enemy mines wouldn't be that bad. What you suggested about seeing team mines, is... somewhere between "campy-OP" and "should be a default feature of the radar".

I wouldn't mind reduced airstrike cost, airstrike cooldown time, and reduced beacon cost. That'd be pretty skong actually...

...it makes less sense, but what about reduced "respawn time", and this is again, pushing the fact that respawns should "get" longer later in the game. After 40 minutes, a death should set you 18 seconds, so you have one and precisely one chance to defend against any launched attack, and if an enemy thins you out, their attack has more unopposed impact, instead of instant respawn and building-save. Maybe with ComCenter, your respawn time is either always half, and has more effect later-game, or is always -6 so is instant early-game and significant late-game.

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As it stands, while I love the feature of seeing all hostiles on the map when the Comm Center is captured, as it stands as a tech structure it does seem a bit overpowered.

When I play, I place importance on the Comm Center as I value combat intel and knowing where my enemies are. I tend to capture it at the start and try to keep it that way, defending it if the need arises. It also helps immensely with infiltration and dealing with infiltrators, as well as getting the general idea of what the enemy is doing and where. The Silo is an "obtain and forget" tech structure, and when it is lost, it is only recaptured when convenient. The Comm Center has priority over almost anything else when it is lost due to the benefits it provides.

As for suggestions...

1: Make the Comm Center pulse radar. It pings enemies on the main map every few seconds instead of a live feed. The time will likely need to be tinkered with, perhaps every 15-30 seconds. The blips could be a "last known location" or track the target for 3-5 seconds before disappearing.

2: Reduce death timers, transforming the Comm Center into "calling reinforcements faster" or something.

3: Cheaper Beacons and Airstrikes (easier contact with Command, so cheaper prices.)

4: The Comm Center becomes an activatable tech structure, providing map vision for a minute or so. It then goes into a cooldown period before it can be turned on again. When the radar is active, everyone knows. (It is a mini-radar station, not a fully functional one.)

I'm partial to the first point, the pulse radar. One can get an idea of where the enemy is at, but not the exact location. The important point to consider here is how long it takes to walk or sprint across a map, as well as vehicle speeds, when determining the timers.

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I think comms center should be used as a balancing tool and should only be effective for the losing team. If a team is behind in points, or has lost multiple buildings.. having the comms center gives them the ability to sneak and infiltrate to level the playing field. I think the effective strength of the comms center (radius around you it sees, or seeing into enemy base.. etc) should improve the further behind you get from the winning team. If you are the winning team, the comms center should not work at all for you. after all you are winning. you dont need the comms center. I say get rid of it being something that has to be "captured" and just make its effects automati

as it stands now, the comms center is a conquering tool. If you take over field, the comms center can be used to completely annihilate the other team. I dont like that. The losing team is the one that needs it the most

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Got another idea:

Standard map / radar should show mines (own team - can be handy to find overminer!)

Rader should also display enemy mines when com center captured

Would be good to have this added anyways.

I can agree on friendly mines being shown, but not enemy mines even with comms centre, since the comms centre is about communication (players) not mines.

So it communicates enemy intell like vehicles, mines, players, and stuff?

Own mines would be a great step allready!

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My two cents on this:

In the original Renegade the Comms jammed the player's mini-map radar (at least in the single-player campaign). So, in lieu of that, I would suggest that the Comms in Ren X would jam the opponent team's radar maps once captured: effect may range from not being able to spot enemies, not being able to see allied players on both mini and overview map, or replacing both mini and overview maps with a black screen or a typical jamming interference lines screen.

Such will not grant any advantages directly to the team who controls it, the advantage comes indirectly from hampering the opponent team instead.

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Jaming radar doesn't do anything, in fact maps like eyes that have no minimap work just fine.

I think pinging seems to be the most logical every 10-15 secs you get a ping of enemy units and where they last were. This comboed with cheaper air strikes would be a nice compromise.

As for now its pretty strong, I value comm center over base defenses.

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Jamming radar doesn't do anything

Granted most players will focus on their main screen rather than maps, but it is still better than nothing.

A more powerful jamming effect may be employed: for example, the Comms, once captured, will disrupt both enemy radar and communication channels; because of such, opponent players will not be able to view Ctrl and/or Alt radio commands and team chat statements. (Still you can circumvent this by getting on TS or warn your allies on global chat or private chat.) Something fancier would be scrambling the original messages and display phrases as combination of inconsistent characters instead. Not really sure how to tackle on the chat; if anything else, just disabling radio commands may make the opponent team reaction a little slower.

Edited by Guest
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I lean more towards Havoc's and Kaiser's thinking, some sort of radar pulse or it reveals enemies every minute or so.

But also I like LavaDragon's idea of it being able to take damage - not for it to be totally destructible but if it takes a certain amount of damage then it stops working and it's up to the team to repair it to bring it back to full functionality. Or the other team can still swoop in and grab it of course.

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Why is it so small?

I think Thommy remade the original Communications Center a couple months back, not sure what happened to that building model. It should definitely be a destructible building and part of the base for both teams, not a tech building. The jamming feature would be the best idea, once you destroy the building it stops scrambling your radar.

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First of all... rename it to something else such as Communications Array or Communications outpost.

It seems silly calling it a centre, it's barely a structure due to its small size, let alone it doesn't pay homage to the c&c Communications Centre.

While i would agree with a full size Communication Centre to do a similar function, maybe not as powerful, this thing is tiny, and should not be capable of a function so powerful.

Realistically, something it's size should provide a minor enhancement.

I do agree with what havoc said and think it fits something this size well.

Make it reveal the map every two minutes for a finite period of time (10 seconds or so).

My two cents.

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How about this idea: Every 15 seconds, it reveals all enemy units on the minimap for 3 seconds. This way, the CC could still be a useful asset, but it won't be a total must-have anymore.

I would like to see something like this.

First of all... rename it to something else such as Communications Array or Communications outpost.

It seems silly calling it a centre, it's barely a structure due to its small size, let alone it doesn't pay homage to the c&c Communications Centre.

Also this

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Jaming radar doesn't do anything, in fact maps like eyes that have no minimap work just fine.

I think pinging seems to be the most logical every 10-15 secs you get a ping of enemy units and where they last were. This comboed with cheaper air strikes would be a nice compromise.

As for now its pretty strong, I value comm center over base defenses.

Good maps have radar. I meant to do one on Eyes, when Glasses is released it will have one, assuming it replaces Eyes then problem solved. Otherwise, I'll do one on Eyes anyway. At any rate, enemy blips are important, especially for spotting beacons for instance.

I too like the idea of disabling the enemy radar. Maybe disable enemy radar and healthbars? That would be cool. I am okay with just radar though. It seems "strong enough" given it's just a tech building.

Note, radar is visual, q-spots are basically a faster way to do something, q-spots should be unaffected, just not show on radar. Otherwise, I'm going to redownload RenAutoComplete and bypass it anyway because logic.

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Jaming radar doesn't do anything, in fact maps like eyes that have no minimap work just fine.

I think pinging seems to be the most logical every 10-15 secs you get a ping of enemy units and where they last were. This comboed with cheaper air strikes would be a nice compromise.

As for now its pretty strong, I value comm center over base defenses.

Your example is one where neither team has a minimap. Now take into account when one team has one, but the other team hasn't. No matter if you use it or not, it gives your team an advantage.

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I was thinking it just wouldn't occupy a slot, and would only apply to the individual to hide them from radar; the communications center would then be reverted to show within your base (essentially providing a very false sense of security). This probably wouldn't apply to vehicles. So far everybody I've ran the idea by seems to like it.

An actual item though that jams a radius would also be neat, though I still tend to lean in favor of the individual jammer.

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Just throwing this out there. If it's an item that keeps you off radar, tying it to a credit purchase, is really making it easy. Then the radar is just never to be trusted, and if it's too cheap to purchase, is too effective, and if too expensive, just increases the cost of infiltration when the infiltration is already a semi-costly endeavor.

Just throwing this out here, why not tie ownership of com center, to purchase of jammer? That way, you have to capture center, to get jammer, so when you lose center, you can still infiltrate, and just need to recapture to get another jammer in case you die.

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Just throwing this out here, why not tie ownership of com center, to purchase of jammer? That way, you have to capture center, to get jammer, so when you lose center, you can still infiltrate, and just need to recapture to get another jammer in case you die.

That's a terrible idea; the communications center already gives more than enough. The primary reason I particularly want a personal radar jammer is to allow for potential infiltration, while also removing the current wonky mechanic of not seeing enemies in your own base.

I was thinking the cost could be 200 or so, but I'm pretty not great at pricing.

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