A free hand (for officer kit)

[wookimonsta]

dunno, pointing doesn't really work that well to show things without depth perception

[AfterDune]

Hand signals have been suggested before, a couple of times already. It's not (yet) in the ***-thread, if I checked it correctly. Mods, please check this one and add it to the AAS-thread plz .

Markers, voip and the compass should be enough to get a good idea of where the enemy is. Compass coordinates aren't the same when you're 50 meters away from the person spotting the enemy, but at least it's far more accurate than a hand signal.

My opinion about it:

Does it look cool? Yes. It's more "human", sort of.
Would it be useful? Maybe. Sometimes.
Do we need it? No. As said before, we have voip, markers and a nice compass. A "hand signal weapon" takes yet another weaponslot.

[-=TB=-Tobakfromcuba]

srsly, i was about to suggest the removement of markers a few days ago cause they are not very realistic. especially not when u can use it for indirect fire.

[dtacs]

especially not when u can use it for indirect fire.

Makes up for stupidly low draw distances.

[Drav]

Yeah hypothetically I'd quite like to see the removal of the marker and the use of hand pointing, but to work well it really needs positional audio (aka mumble) and probably TrackIR too. I'd also have it as a press and release key, so you dont 'get your hand out' like a weapon, you just press and hold 'x' or whatever and you point, until you've had enough of pointing, then release back to your wep...

If someone shouts 'Over there!' on voip, you have no idea where he is, so have no idea who to look at to see where he's pointing. If someone shouts over there on mumble, you know whether hes left right, in front or behind you, and also how far away he is. This means the point is instantly much more effective....

However, due to all the complications just mentioned, and the fact we already have a sytem ingame, I wouldnt hold your breath while waiting for it....

[Redamare]

lol i wouldnt mind this feature ..... if theres room for it i say why not lol always fun to give people the finger (s) ;D

[KingKong.CCCP]

my thoughts on voip and markers...

when BF2 came out... I was absolutely stunned with the whole audio system implemented in that, at that time, fabulous game. I really loved it! The fact you can talk to your squad members, and that a squad leader can communicate with a CO, was (at that time) ingenious.
But, now, with mumble out there, voip feels totally obsolete. And unrealistic.

The first guys (and a girl) I played with who used markers the way we all do now were Spacecadett, fuzzhead and Hx Clavdivs few years ago, and the experience was amazing (at the time). It opened a completely new world of teamplay.
But now, every squad member is asking me to put a marker, even thou I'm giving them a perfect, realistic information "Crossroad, building on the right, rooftop, enemy MG!" - "... SL, put a marker on it?"

Markers, on-screen menu (like commo-rose), minimaps, compass at the bottom - all that stuff IMHO look too geekish, to game-like, not real... it's like what a geek think modern warfare looks like. The fact is, all those things can be helpful, if used properly, but 99% of the focus in all world armies haven't changed much since ww2 - work with your squad, get them to understand what their job is, and never loose the focus on a clean, quick and precise communication, observe, observe, observe, suppress, suppress, suppress - get control of the battle field, hit them when they're week, and you will win every time.

I played FH2, and one thing I enjoyed the most - you can not see the markers as well as in PR. It was a complete surprise, how not having markers can actually feel more PR then PR itself.

I'm not saying "a free hand" is a great idea... but I would like to see PR squad leader experience move from 'system administrator' style of play to more battle-hardened tough guy whose presence you can see and feel.
Also, I got my fate in DEVs, whatever they decide will probably be for the best - this is just a suggestion, if they haven't think about it already.

[hx.bjoffe]

^ i agree with your points.

But any how i would find hand gestures fun, i think it would still be unnecessary cosmetics.
If the suggestion is removing markers and getting used to actually relying more on good comms, i say exciting.
But signals would be a lot of work with little gain, no? Not to say the already pressed matter of weapon slots, and why should this feature be exclusive for SL kit?

We received compass bearings and improved communication software, and the team do seem to want to slice away all HUD that's not absolutely critical, so maybe there is hope in the long run.
Baaaby steps, one foot at the time.

[Ls4SpeedPilot]

I know hand gestures were suggested before (like combining them with voice commands), and this is not what I'm suggesting now.


How about a free hand for an officer kit, that he can use to show things or use it to do signals?

Details:
Free hand with a palm facing forward (as a weapon, very fast one). Maybe it can be added to radio weapon, cos the left mouse button is not used for that one.
Rifle in the left hand while using the hand.
Add poking move with an index finger on left mouse button click.

Usage:
1. You can use a poking index finger move to show things.
"Hey YOU! Yes, YOU. Get THAT mg kit and open fire on THAT window, over THERE!"
2. If on mumble, you can point at people
"Hey, YOU, buddy!? What squad are YOU from? ... Sq 6? What are you doing here then? Get the f out of here!" (while performing a quick move with a hand pointing in a gtfo direction)
3. You can make simple but effective signals
- STOP THE APC! (palm up/down)
- SEIZE FIRE (palm left-low/right-high)
- and you can come up with wicked signals that friendlies can see through a binocular/zoom: palm circle for a tank, poking down for infantry, poking up for a chopper, etc... followed by pointing at the direction of the tank/inf/whatever.

Praying with a civilian kit got me to think about this... I think if you would have a free hand, ingenious people from PR community would come up with something even more useful than what I stated above.
And I believe having a poking finger would bring good overall feeling to the officer, make him a true point-man.

supporting that idea