gazzthompson wrote:thats what PR is all about tho, im sure you know crewning tanks and defiantly aircraft is nowhere near as easy as it is in PR.
it wouldnt be that easy tho, would require a spotter (SL's) and adjustment etc
Yes, I know what you mean about reducing realism in certain aspects in order to better support gaming. But crewing an artillery platform is actually a bit different than crewing a vehicle.
I know first-hand about operating military wheeled and tracked vehicles, and operating aircraft. Yes, using those vehicles takes a lot of training, but that's more of a personal skill level that can be simulated in the game. You can let players drive a car around the map with just the WASD keys, without requiring the player to shift gears or adjust tire pressure, etc. But operating artillery isn't just about crewmember skill, it's about the actual function of the platform.
In reality, I could probably teach just about any semi-intelligent PR gamer age 14-60 how to operate either a towed or SP artillery system in about a week. And I'm not talking about just moving it around or making it go boom, I'm talking about actually making those people combat effective. But there is so much more involved than just ramming a round and charge, priming the breech, and pulling a string. We can simulate crew skill by removing the real tasks such as using the collimator, lining up witness marks, swabbing the breech, fuzing the rounds, breaking down charge bags, etc. But people don't seem to understand the concept of how artillery works OUTSIDE the gun system, and how they plan to get those rounds on target.
I do not want to see some asset where a player hops in, points a crosshair at another crosshair, and clicks the fire button. I want to see people using artillery actually have to train with it, train to coordinate their actions with an FO, and learn to adjust fire. Artillery is a very powerful form of fire support, and it would only be fair to make it a challenge to be effective. So there needs to be some form of automated FDC system that can help point the gun in the general direction, but require the players (gunner and FO) to get the rounds on target. To do it any other way would be pointless, you might as well just have the artillery system off-map.
I don't know anything about coding, especially not for BF2. So I honestly don't know if creating a feasible system is even possible or not. If it is possible, then I'd be willing to help who ever tried taking the helm of such a project. But so far, with this topic being years old and still no results, it makes me think it just can't be done to a satisfactory level that fits with the rest of PR's quality.
As a former Artillery Instructor and Cannon Crewmember myself, I'm willing to offer my help if someone requests it. I still have plenty of support material that is declassified regarding US towed and SP artillery systems, pretty much everything that I used to support the development of the VBS Artillery Simulator that wasn't marked confidential. I would love to see artillery in PR, and maybe some day we might, but right now I honestly don't see it happening beyond what we have now or something similar.
) that are used in the same way as FH2.2.
