Cruiser Command

So one of the things I look forward to the most is the ability to remove the distinction between showing the camera inside the battlecruiser and outside in space. Right now we all know there's a button to change between these views.

However, I want to remove the button and have the marines actually move around inside the battlecruiser that is moving around in space. This way, while you're moving around in the battlecruiser in the heat of the battle, you can see the projectiles and ships flying around outside.

Damage dealt to the hull is also easier to visualize and track. Right now the BC interior is divided into 4 zones (damage-wise). Top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right. When a projectile hits the BC, it calculates the angle it hit at and places it in the correct zone depending on where it hit. With seamless zoom the damage will be much more direct and you'll be able to get feedback on the damage much quicker instead of debris just spawning randomly around you, killing you.

There are a lot of aspects worth discussing. I'll bring up a few.

First of all, how do we handle the inside of the enemy BC? Will you be able to look inside of the enemy BC? I was thinking you should only be able to look inside your own BC, although maybe there's an upgrade or sensor ability to be able to see inside? The way this will work (how I imagine it anyway) is that the Battlecruiser model is created in two parts. One base and then a "lid". If you put the lid model on the base, it looks like a proper BC. Without the lid, you can see inside and watch the marines running around. The lid is only shown for the enemy team.

Second point to bring up: Camera rotation. If you think about it, the camera in the two different modes currently operate pretty differently. The space view one is locked so it always has "west" to the left, "east" to the right and so on. On the other hand, the ship view has the camera locked so it always follows the ship orientation. That means that no matter how much you rotate the BC in space, the bridge is always "north".

If you keep the space view the way it is now, you would have to try to move your marine around when the battlecruiser might be rotating a lot. This is hard and frustrating. If you keep the ship view, space battle will be a pretty different experience from what it is now. It might not be a bad change, but I'd like a little more customizability so I'm suggesting the ability to switch between the two.

What I'm suggesting is a simple hotkey to switch between locking the camera to world rotation and locking the camera to battlecruiser rotation.

Those are my thoughts about what I've come to call "seamless zoom".

"Vision" of your enemy's inner battlecruiser should definitely be earned. Perhaps by 'scanning,' or by 'infiltration,' -- but it should definitely not just outright be given. The moment you can see the position everyone is at on the enemy battlecruiser automatically, you can potentially 'target' that area to forcefully kill all of the players whilst on the ship. (This assuming debris will occur at the area of impact still.)

As for the second conundrum, it's always possible to automatically have it rotate to the 'default' zoom upon breaching a certain point. However, maintaining a 'relative north' for all ships (small or BC) would probably be the best decision in my opinion. This means that any UI that could unintentionally block the lower part of the screen will almost universally be applied to the 'back' of the ship -- in other words, it's a 'designed blind spot' if you're zoomed in.

Keeping the game locked so left is west and right is east makes it easier for teammates to communicate imo. But l'm not presenting that as an argument against camera rotation.

I'm curious about your implementation into the game with that. You will potentially need to update the X and Y positions and the facing of hundreds of objects on the BC every time the BC moves or changes its direction.
I think it would be immensely CPU heavy to always move the whole BC interior like that?

Karl913 wrote:Keeping the game locked so left is west and right is east makes it easier for teammates to communicate imo. But l'm not presenting that as an argument against camera rotation.

I disagree -- it does nothing to impede communication, it simply leaves 'more potential room for error' by people saying 'left' or 'right' rather than 'east' or 'north.' A thing to keep in mind is that there will be a minimap; and if we do decide to implement a camera based upon the ship's facing angle, it's also fair to assume a compass will also be provided.

Gives people more to think about, true, but I don't think it's that much extra depth. So long as the UI compensates for it, it shouldn't be a huge issue.

Again, not presenting it as an argument. Camera rotation would be cool. But l'm not thinking for the pros; l'm thinking for the newer players, assuming team play would be absolutely VITAL to win. But as you said, many things could be done to alleviate the issue. l'm not presenting it as an argument, just a factor. ..Anyway. As for the BC, l think a roof/cover would be good.. But when on the BC it'd be invisible. No other time, imo, though. Although scanning to see heat sources or some such could be interesting, and make them "shine" through the roof with the right sensors or something.. Guess we'll see how it's handled though.

Degra wrote:I'm curious about your implementation into the game with that. You will potentially need to update the X and Y positions and the facing of hundreds of objects on the BC every time the BC moves or changes its direction.
I think it would be immensely CPU heavy to always move the whole BC interior like that?

I don't think it's a problem. I'll be using the parenting system in unity to parent stuff (including marines) to the BC which means they automatically move when the BC moves. Pathfinding is converted to local space and calculated there, so the A* grid doesn't have to be recalculated every tick.

Mouse tracking is definitely a possibility now. Maybe make the small ships follow the mouse (Not the battlecruiser, most likely.) and also the possibility of using the left (or right..?) mouse button for firing, rather than spamming the fire key?

I for one...and for all these ideas, because we can simply add them to "interface" options. i myself like to click where my ship is going just like in sc2, but i know other people love mouse follow turning and keyboard turning! (like in Rock'N'Roll racing (first example that came to mind))

Karl913 wrote:Mouse tracking is definitely a possibility now. Maybe make the small ships follow the mouse (Not the battlecruiser, most likely.) and also the possibility of using the left (or right..?) mouse button for firing, rather than spamming the fire key?

See, this is an interesting point of notice for me.

I think this may cause issues with certain ships -- by example, the wraith. You don't necessarily want to turn towards where you're shooting your EMP, as that can be counter-productive to an escape.

However, I'm sure there are ways to get around it -- by example, you could have the ship follow your mouse except when you're utilizing a 'target' ability. Or, expanding upon this, the ship could have two toggle-able modes -- 'cruise' and 'control,' and you simply have target abilities automatically toggle to 'cruise' and allow the player to switch back to 'control' whenever they're gotten their mouse nice and back in position afterwards.

I don't think the current movement scheme for cruiser command is bad, but I do think it would have better game feel if you didn't have to constantly spam the right click in order to adjust your heading. It's a minor point, but it's a small detail that becomes a nuisance when you're also ramming down on the side thrust and laser fire. I think it would be a lot more fluent if we took 'spamming' the right click constantly out of the equation in favor of a toggle-able follow mouse.