[delta]

Hello,

I use to believe that the Grief Point system was fine, and I still believe that, for the most part, it is. But after gunning in a vanguard for a few hours I now have 1018 Grief Points. This is only from gunning and not a single point of my grief was earned from deliberately attacking a friendly unit. You're probably thinking that I'm a "bad shot", I'm a good shot, and that's where we have the problem. I used to think that people complaining about the Grief System were stupid, and they team killed or weren't good at hitting the enemy. But now I realize that there IS a flaw to it, a major flaw which hurts all gunners of heavy assault tanks.

Two main problems:

� The splash damage on the Vanguard is so large that you'll often have to damage a friendly when you hit an enemy tank. There are times when it's best not to shoot at a target if you're friendly unit is too close (the grief system enforces this) and there are times when you SHOULD fire (the grief system punishes you for this).

�*If a Vanguard Gunner destroys an enemy tank and the explosion of that enemy tank hits a friendly unit the Gunner of the Vanguard will receive Grief. This makes you think twice about shooting an enemy tank...this ISN'T the way combat should be, why should you be afraid of shooting an enemy? This is one of the reason's you'll often see a damaged enemy AMS in the center of hundreds of friendly infantry, no one will shoot that AMS because they're afraid of receiving Grief.

Example 1:

Situation
Vanguard A and Vanguard B are engaging MagRider A.
Vanguard B and MagRider A are ramming each other. MagRider A has 10% health left while Vanguard B has 30%. Vanguard B is stuck and therefore CAN NOT fire at MagRider A, MagRider A can and is fireing at Vanguard B. The Gunner for Vanguard A knows that he will have to shoot the MagRider. Yes he will injure Vanguard B but he will not destroy it. He WILL destroy MagRider A, thus he will save Vanguard B's life.

Outcome
The gunner for Vanguard A will receive 80-120 Grief Points for SAVING Vanguard B's Life!

Proposed Modification
I propose we modfiy the Grief System so if a unit shoots an bullet and that bullet hits the enemy BEFORE hitting a friendly unit all grief for that shot is VOID.

Example 2:

Situation
MagRider A is about to run over NC Soldier 1 and NC Soldier 2. Vanguard A sees this and fires at MagRider A. He hits and destroys MagRider A but the explosion of MagRider A kills NC Soldier 1 and NC Soldier 2.

OutCome
Vanguard A's Gunner is then awarded for a large amount of Grief. This should NOT be the case because NC Soldier 1 and NC Soldier 2 were going to be killed by the MagRider anyway and Vanguard Gunner A did not intend to injure NC Soldier 1 and NC Soldier 2, this was just a misfortune of combat.

Proposed Modification
The same modification as above should be implemented: I propose we modfiy the Grief System so if a unit shoots an bullet and that bullet hits the enemy BEFORE hitting a friendly unit all grief for that shot is VOID.

Counter Arguments

� Some people will say "the Grief system will punish you for occasionally accidentally shooting a friendly, but it is designed so that only deliberate and repititive team killers will suffer".

My response: Not true, this is true for Infantry assaulting other friendly Infantry, but not for Tank to Tank Combat. I fired ONE SHELL at an enemy MagRider, I destroyed that MagRider and recevied 80 Grief Points because it slightly damaged another friendly unit. This means all you have to do is destroy 16 Enemy Tanks who happen to be near another friendly unit, and then you'll get WEAPONS LOCK. That is exactly what happened to me.

� Some may say "this could be exploited"

My response: Yes it could, but it would be so difficult it isn't worth it. A team killer would have to align it so that an enemy unit was next to a friendly when he shot him. This is practically impossible...

Closure
The Grief system is designed to punish people who INTENTIONALLY shoot enemy units. It does a very good job doing that, but it is harming the Gunners of Heavy Tanks. This proposal requires no new features, only a minor code modification. "I don't know about you but I won't be gunning for a vanguard anytime soon, and when I do I'm not going to hit an enemy if he is even remotely near another friendly unit." Devs: Is that what you want to hear?

-Delta