Xyntech
2011-12-11, 02:44 AM
I was thinking about Platoons in Planetside 1, and it got me thinking about what a mess the screen became when you had 30 players health bars sitting up there. That's way more information than you usually need and way more than you can ever keep track of in a heated situation.
It's not so much that having access to that info was bad, so much as the fact that all of that info it was put on an equal pedestal with more important information.
I'd like to see Planetside 2 broken down more like this:
Fire teams = up to 4 players
Squads = up to 4 fire teams (16 players)
Platoons = up to 4 squads (64 players)
A fire team would just be a division within a squad, for easy command by the squad leader. It would also be there to prioritize which team mates a player was keeping track of.
Instead of having 10 health bars at the top of the screen, or 30, a player would only have 3 health bars, the health bars of the other members of his fire team.
The other members of the squad could be represented in a more minimalistic way. Each member of the other fire teams in your squad could be given a much smaller health bar, or you could have an indicator that showed you the general condition of their fire team as a whole. This would add up to either 12 tiny health bars or 3 squad status bars
As for fellow platoon mates, I don't think that info on those should even be shown to anyone other than the commanders. Obviously more information could be shown if a commander created a mission objective that called in support for a fellow squad, but that information would be information about the objective, not about each individual member of the rest of the platoon.
The idea is mostly about streamlining the information that players are given, so that they can pay attention to what's important and easily sort it out from less relevant info.
My ideas may not be the best way to reach that goal, but I think it's an important goal to reach.
Most of us want PS2 to be as supportive of team work as possible and I think that having tools that enhance team work will only make the game better.
Customization is good as well, so I would have no problem with players being able to customize their hud for a more PS1 style view of everyones health, but I don't think that should be the default.
Unless you are leading, you should tend to be focused on the objective, yourself, and the small team of guys you are with.
Obviously my numbers are also subject to change, but I thought 4/4/4 were good numbers.
Similar to the health bars, you could also have location indicators on the compass be more prioritized. You could have 3 indicators that showed you where each member of your fire team was, with 3 more indicators showing you a more generalized direction of the entire group of the rest of your squad.
It's not so much that having access to that info was bad, so much as the fact that all of that info it was put on an equal pedestal with more important information.
I'd like to see Planetside 2 broken down more like this:
Fire teams = up to 4 players
Squads = up to 4 fire teams (16 players)
Platoons = up to 4 squads (64 players)
A fire team would just be a division within a squad, for easy command by the squad leader. It would also be there to prioritize which team mates a player was keeping track of.
Instead of having 10 health bars at the top of the screen, or 30, a player would only have 3 health bars, the health bars of the other members of his fire team.
The other members of the squad could be represented in a more minimalistic way. Each member of the other fire teams in your squad could be given a much smaller health bar, or you could have an indicator that showed you the general condition of their fire team as a whole. This would add up to either 12 tiny health bars or 3 squad status bars
As for fellow platoon mates, I don't think that info on those should even be shown to anyone other than the commanders. Obviously more information could be shown if a commander created a mission objective that called in support for a fellow squad, but that information would be information about the objective, not about each individual member of the rest of the platoon.
The idea is mostly about streamlining the information that players are given, so that they can pay attention to what's important and easily sort it out from less relevant info.
My ideas may not be the best way to reach that goal, but I think it's an important goal to reach.
Most of us want PS2 to be as supportive of team work as possible and I think that having tools that enhance team work will only make the game better.
Customization is good as well, so I would have no problem with players being able to customize their hud for a more PS1 style view of everyones health, but I don't think that should be the default.
Unless you are leading, you should tend to be focused on the objective, yourself, and the small team of guys you are with.
Obviously my numbers are also subject to change, but I thought 4/4/4 were good numbers.
Similar to the health bars, you could also have location indicators on the compass be more prioritized. You could have 3 indicators that showed you where each member of your fire team was, with 3 more indicators showing you a more generalized direction of the entire group of the rest of your squad.