The nerf to Thermals was justified, however because Night Vision doesn't work, infantry are quite literally invisible on the map. This makes it a literal death trap for air because we cannot see Burster MAXes, or the myriad of lock-ons from HAs and LAs. For Armor, it makes it impossible to spot the so-called "C4 faires" or again, the armies worth of HAs with lock-ons. Basically anything where vehicles are involved, got screwed with the Thermals Change. I try to think about ideas where DBG can make a profit not only as some incentive but also to make a change realistic in the process. I propose we revert the Thermals change but reduce the visibility on infantry to somewhere within 300-250 meters. Infantry give off much less heat than a machine like a Lightning or a Sunderer, so it makes sense that they would be less visible at a longer distance. Additionally, for nighttime say like simple infiltration, there would be a new suit slot option called "Heat Dampening Suit". The HDS for short, would reduce the heat range for things like thermals by up to 50% reduction and for some classes, like Infiltrators or perhaps Light Assaults, it would provide a full 100% heat visibility reduction, allowing a player to become truly invisible. As a side Note, thermals should not work at all in the daytime. Unless a continent is unusually cold, the heat from the sun should cause everything to be warm, even the air, which should scramble thermals completely from seeing much of anything.
Don't put too much confidence in the names of things in this game. As is apparent when you begin to break down the nomenclature of Infantry weaponry, not a lot of effort was actually put into accuracy.
Basically, players need to learn how to do this thing called "looking around" instead of having a scope highlight their enemies. This can easily be amplified by situational awareness, which severely cuts down on the area you need to survey to stay safe. If you cant spot a c4 fairy, those units who have to practically jump on top of you with christmaslights for jumpjets, without a scope that basically magic-markers them, then the problem is with you. Keep in mind that all AA and AV infantry, even if they arent holding it in their hands, renders up to 450m nowadays. And while its difficult to spot infantry at 300m, its a lot easier at 100m. For the idea you propose: infantry already showed up at 300m, so nothing much would have changed. You would still be looking at a dark blue background with yellow targets, so reducing the amount of yellow doesnt really do much. Thermals shouldnt work on contrast. I saywe keep the new threat detection, but change its properties: Enemies are highlighted with a slim, not extremely visible wire-frame. Including infantry. The normal range for vehicles and infantry would be around 150m (for example). However, spotted targets would show up at 300m (but again, it only helps you spot targets, it doesnt hold up a giant neon SHOOT HERE sign). Addittiinally, any target spotted by you or one of your gunners is visible through terrain, and have a different color wire-frame to identify them for yourself and gunners. That way you can more easily keep track of hostiles you are engaging. Best part of this design: combined arms. Spotting a target makes it even easier for allies to spot. Potentally you could even add a Q-radial menu, allowing players to highlight a single spotted target even more than usual so hes easier for allies to spot and take down.
Well, I have look a bit more carefully but I've found that NV lets me detect infantry who are close enough to be a threat. And then there is proximity radar to give clues where to look. The only vehicle top gun that I think could justifiably be given thermal sights would be the Kobalt - a pure anti infantry weapon for vehicle defence. HE farming at 300 meters or more and ground strafing against dayglo infantry is just a non starter imo. Whatever reasons DBG had for the nerf I'm betting that abuse of the thermal optics was one of them. And even without thermals I still see planetmen merrily spamming HE from long range into bases. [ The irl equivalent of the HDS were called infra red invisible combat denims btw......they were thick and heavy and damned hot to wear too, except in the coldest weather ]
