Mods that should be created

[Resin_Smoker]

Realistic Radar

The radar in Forged Alliance is all knowing, all seeing and all powerful. Any unit crossing into a radars area effect is instantly revealed (give or take 4-5 ticks) and remains so as long as its within the radars area of effect. IMO this is just wrong and limits the tactical effectiveness of stealth.

In Real Life (RL), radar can only scan a finite area as it sweeps around. This is done to maximize range, power and the quality of the radar return. During such a sweep it's possible for units to be missed and remain undiscovered until the next sweep passes over. Which depending on the range of said radar, could be anything from several seconds to several minutes. (Real Time)



What I propose...

Spoiler: show

Is that a realistic radar sweep be created. (as shown above) Such sweep could be created using a system of spawned radar-helper entities that are attached to and offset from the rotator bone of our radar structure. (Think string of pearls) Each entity would move with the rotator and would cast their own small radar radius as they are moved across the map. Radar helpers farthest away would cast a larger radius than those closest to the radar structure. The overall the end effect would be a radar "arc" that travels around the radar structure. During the time that the arc is over an enemy they would be revealed, after which the targets would vanish from Intel until the next sweep passed. The duration of such a sweep would be based solely on the range of the radar. Hence a smaller T1 radar would have a much higher scan / update rate than the T3, while the Omni would still have the advantage of range.

Note: A similar such a system already exists for the UEF radar jammer on the T1 frigates. This uses a system of helper entities to provide a false radar return. Hence the mechanics of the engine allow this to be modified to create a more realistic radar system.

LOS reduction while moving

Currently a units visual LOS is unaffected by it's movement, which for all intensive purposes is overpowered. What i propose is creating a system where by the units movement state affects its visual LOS. Thus a scout unit that is moving flank speed will have its visual range reduced, while a stationary unit would receive a bonus.

Pulsed Sonar

Just like with Radar, Sonar is all knowing all seeing. What i propose is making Sonar pulsed, where it radiates outwards from the transmitting unit. (think rain drop hitting water) After such a pulse, a small delay (wait cycle) takes place before the next pulse transmits.

Sub Stealth

Subs in FA are susceptible / visible to sonar under most all circumstances. What I propose is allowing subs to have Sonar stealth while stationary / not firing.

Directional Damage

What if during a fire fight a flanking maneuver on an enemy unit allowed for a damage bonus? What if a unit receiving damage to its frontal armor received a small resistance to that damage. All of this is possible via Directional Damage and is possible via a set of very simple Unit.lua changes.

Weight of Fire

What is this you ask... WOF allows for weapon impacts that "kill" a unit, to also throw that unit along the same vector and at a velocity comparable to the level of overkill. This applies to all forms of damage... Direct fire, beam weapons, area attacks, splash damage and of coarse, NUKES! Units thrown do damage to what ever they hit... so stacking up masses of smaller units can potentially mean that they all get thrown into the air from an artillery strike. Only to later land on other units and structures to do yet more damage lovely damage.

While this was a prior mod of mine, I think it's time that this mod be re-visited / re-worked for FAF.

Helpful Suggestions and Comments are welcome.

Resin

[nine2]

Directional damage sounds amazing. Weight of fire sounds like it would look awesome.

However I'm not such a big fan of the intelligence changes. This game is insanely difficult already and radar is one of the only things that keep it sane. I think I would stop playing

[belatedcube]

We need a clausterphobic murder party.

Realistic Radar...

if they have the technology to teleport why shouldn't they have the technology to have constant radar that doesn't need to constantly scan?

[Resin_Smoker]

What you both fail to understand is that these are MODs, not direct changes to FAF.

Resin

[nine2]

ahh yes I see. Then by all means

I have to say that the directional damage sounds like the sort of thing that should be in the game already. That's a real tactic in fighting that isn't represented in the game. Also it would be another way of balancing units. Like sure the [new unit] has long range and high hitpoints, but it its soft on it's side and it turns slowly. So now both players have new weaknesses to avoid/exploit = Tactics

[rxnnxs]

talking about realsim, would a mod possible that takes the height in account of the range of the projectiles.
should not this be also a awesome strategic extra dimension?
total annihilation can do it...

and radar as it works today (hm, not shure if todays radars are till one directional..).
it is today possible to realize an all around radar.
or think about 4 dishes, then they would observe only 90 degrees -> faster blimps.

but this way you could also say maybe that there are radars that look just in a given angle. if you make 90 degress and the radar goes back and forth it is scanning this smaller range just faster than turning around 360 degrees and so on.
the omni instead would then be possible to see all at once..
but is n't this a bit too much?

[nine2]

would a mod possible that takes the height in account of the range of the projectiles.

another example of something that should have been in the game. the highground should come with baked in advantages ... your arty can shoot further ... their units are slower walking up the hill... etc

[Resin_Smoker]

talking about realsim, would a mod possible that takes the height in account of the range of the projectiles.
should not this be also a awesome strategic extra dimension?
total annihilation can do it...

and radar as it works today (hm, not shure if todays radars are till one directional..).
it is today possible to realize an all around radar.
or think about 4 dishes, then they would observe only 90 degrees -> faster blimps.

but this way you could also say maybe that there are radars that look just in a given angle. if you make 90 degress and the radar goes back and forth it is scanning this smaller range just faster than turning around 360 degrees and so on.
the omni instead would then be possible to see all at once..
but is n't this a bit too much?

The "slant-range to target" may not be factored in during range calculations. I'm not really sure if the game is using the y axis coordinates as this is internal to the engine. (un-moddable) Truth be told, this will have a very negligible impact on gameplay and as such would go unnoticed by all but modders / scripters.

An example of slant range is the distance to an aircraft flying at high altitude with respect to that of the radar antenna. The slant range (1) is the hypotenuse of the triangle represented by the altitude of the aircraft and the distance between the radar antenna and the aircraft's ground track (point (3) on the earth directly below the aircraft). In the absence of altitude information, for example from a height finder, the aircraft location would be plotted farther (2) from the antenna than its actual ground track.

Now as for radars realism, I've worked in military grade radars for the better part of my early military career so I know quite a bit about how they work.

Radar in layman's terms...

-Radars broadcasts for X number of micro seconds then stop to listen for x number of micro seconds, usually with the the same antenna. (As is the case with aircraft) Ground stations can broadcast continuously and often use a separate antenna to receive the reflected signal.
-The closer a target is, the faster and stronger the return signal will be received.
-A radars cycle time is based primarily on the intended scanning range. Hence a short range radar will scan quickly, while a long range system may take several minutes to complete a single cycle.
-At any given moment a radar is scanning only a very small part of the horizon before moving to the next area and so on.
-The radar image seen by the controller / operator is the "remembered" return image and may be out of date by several seconds to a few minutes depending on the selected range the system.
-To continuously receive updated information about a single target that target must be locked onto and continuously scanned. Meanwhile potential targets outside of this area will go unnoticed.
-Some systems will shift frequencies often to bypass clouds, ground clutter or improve the quality of he received signal.

Resin

[IceDreamer]

I've wanted to integrate WoF, starting with ONLY the heavier artillery units and higher damage things like Percival blasts, for ages. This should happen!

[Resin_Smoker]

I've wanted to integrate WoF, starting with ONLY the heavier artillery units and higher damage things like Percival blasts, for ages. This should happen!

Well it's pretty much a given that anything I crelate will be ignored, hence why I made this thread... In the hope that other modders will step up.

Resin