Planetside 2 Player Compass - Moving Compass to bottom middle and enlarging it + degrees The current compass is very small and goes over top of the minimap. The problem here, is that the distance from the center of the screen is far enough, and at just the right lower left angle, that your eyes run into a blind spot, and you actually can't see enemies moving or shooting at you in your peripheral vision. The Compass is also so small that there are no numbers every 5-10 ticks or so. eg: "North West at 25 degrees". You aren't actually able to be very accurate with the compass in any meaningful way. When in a Platoon or a squad and trying to let your teammates know where enemies are, 2 issues occur. you either say things like "near the mountain to the left" or you say "North West of the mountain". If you state the compass position, all of your squad mates have to look at the micro-compass way off the screen to get an understanding, risking being shot or killed. You may or may not find yourself moving your face much closer to your monitor or screen and squinting to really get a look at the compass. During Battlefield 2, there was a mod Called Project Reality, its still around and being updated today. It attempted to turn BF2 into a military simulation, or as close as you could get in the BF2 engine. There was a a lot of things they did well, even things that could have worked in any mainstream Battlefield game. But one small thing that was very helpful was the compass they implemented. Project Reality Mod: Compass Screenshot (bottom of screen) Compass Screenshot 02 Implementing a similar compass in the game would actually be used more often in everyday gameplay. The following options would need to be available under 'Gameplay Settings' Player Compass Position Top of Screen Bottom of Screen Over Top Minimap (small version) Squad Leader Binoculars - New Unlockable tool for Squad Leaders: Binoculars (shows up in your weapon list when you spawn) - When you switch to Binoculars you can not fire any weapons - 20x zoom: While in use (right click to use scope mode) scroll wheel is overridden to freely zoom between 1x-20x in place of weapon scroll. Right clicking again to exit scope mode will return the the weapon scroll wheel functionality ARMA III Example: Binocular Screen shot As a squad leader in charge of several players of various roles, there can be many times where you find yourself scouring for more information to make the right choices. Constantly looking at your minimap, pop % at the base, squad member locations, where enemy sunderers are, enemy reinforcements / armor, enemy galaxies or ESF's etc. It can all be hard to digest and point out in a fluid and helpful manner for your team. With a 'free scroll' 20x zoom Binoculars for Squad leaders, you can scout an entire base in real time and report all information as it occurs. Such as enemy armor flanks, enemy skyguards or AA Maxes, enemy liberator direction, enemy squad beacons or reinforcement positions. In Planetside 2 Squad Leaders feel kind of empty, sure you can right click a lot on the Map, but Squad leaders and Platoon leaders seem to lack in-game gear that can allow them to really take part in the Battle and give incentives to new players to take on the Squad leader role. Binoculars are just one idea of many that I'm sure the community might have. But I feel like tactical gear for Squad Leaders would be an addition to the game that many would welcome. Almost like a new class.
Current render ranges do not really justify the need for 20x zoom binoculars. If you replicated this screenshot in PS2 you would just be staring at the low lod textures, even vehicles would be just out of render range. At least they've started working on continental lattice...
Maximum infantry render distance, without population modifiers, is 300m. That's shy of a full two hexes. Not bases, but the actual hexes that honeycomb the continents. Do you know why the Phoenix works like it currently does? That's because, if it traveled further, it would need loading time to temporarily push in the new targets and terrain that would have to be visible at those ranges. I don't thtink the client even receives anything but global news and all related chat when it comes to information from outside of where the game thinks you are. (Specific terminology, in light of the recent region desync issues.) Furthermore, there are animation issues that become apparent when viewing farther away units. It's part of the game optimizations - the game doesn't gaurantee that what another player looks like they are doing from (really) afar is actually what they are doing.
i want 12x binoculars. i currently have to run a 6x scope on my Lasher to scout out target and thats just stupid. i think the only weapon that could be worse than a 6x Lasher is a 7x+ Lasher. so PLEASE GIVE ME SEPERATE BINOCULARS!!
Hmm you guys make a good point on PS2 render optimizations. Maybe x12 Binoculars would be better. That way other players who don't use sniper scopes can at least scout the area properly before attacking, combined with improved Compass. Sniper rifles already can go up to x12 scope, so then I thought about x15, and then x20.
