New Thermal Imaging System - What are some other possible usages?

[CanuckCommander]

The new thermal system is just awesome. So much for hardcoding . Mosquill hacks!

In fact it is so awesome that it got me thinking of all the possibilities of cool things we can do with this. What are some other ideas for this system to work in PR, other than being in vehicles? I would like to know what the community can come up with.

Here are some of my ideas to get the thread started:

1) AN/PEQ - Maybe there can be a way to incorporate this into our current lasing system allowing infantry a more dynamic and direct way to coordinate with CAS or tank support.



How it will work in game? - As a separate weapon taking up 1 weapon slot, the An/peq will fire a stream of invisible projectiles with the new thermal texture which will look like a laser beam in thermal sights.

2) Thermal scopes for snipers - I don't know how much this is actually used on the battlefield, but I do know that such system exists.




How it will work in game? - Perhaps allow this as a secondary or tertiary option (right click selection) for snipers or marksmen in game for factions or maps with lots of vegetation and/or urban buildings? (Note: not inspired by modern warfare 2).

What other uses are there?

[Silly_Savage]

2) Thermal scopes for snipers - I don't know how much this is actually used on the battlefield, but I do know that such system exists.




How it will work in game? - Perhaps allow this as a secondary or tertiary option (right click selection) for snipers or marksmen in game for factions or maps with lots of vegetation and/or urban buildings? (Note: not inspired by modern warfare 2).

What other uses are there?

This would be so much win! Smoke won't save you poor ******** now!

[Jman234]

The first idea sounds good but the second one seems a bit more "tactical" than Project Reality should be.

[goguapsy]

The first idea sounds good but the second one seems a bit more "tactical" than Project Reality should be.

LOL.


Anyways, if the 2nd one is used a lot by non-SF units of the armies, that's fine I guess?

But about the laser beam: is that something that can only be seen by thermals (pointing targets for APC?)
That's a lot of win if that's so. And if it's possible.

Like you said, the setback would be to need an extra weapon slot for that... unless we can incorporate that while aiming down the sights?

[Beowulf2525]

The first idea sounds good but the second one seems a bit more "tactical" than Project Reality should be.

Pray tell how sniping somebody with a thermal scope is more tactical than lasing a tank for CAS? No hostility intended, just found your post amusing

The biggest benefit I see to the Thermal Imaging is maybe with Mosquill's sunlight altering capability, we might see maps that, while not night, could be dusk or dawn like maps and make the thermal imaging all the more fun to use.

[CanuckCommander]

I thought of another one

3) IR strobes - Use it to mark friendly positions as smoke cannot be seen on thermals.



How it will work in game? - Kind of like a aircraft flare except it will be only visible on thermals

Also,

I'm not a PR military adviser, so I don't know how prevalent the GLTD is on the battlefield and whether each squadleader will have one. In my understanding, usually GLTDs are mostly carried by SF or air combat controllers.

So, perhaps it would make more sense to incorporate a more squad level type of lasing capability with the AN/PEQ idea. This way, CAS aircraft will have to first identify targets rather than swooping in and shooting at a laser target. I can already see this working for helicopters because they have manually guided hellfires, but how will jets bombs work without the GLTD? For this idea to work, jets would need targeting pods with thermals like real life and bombs would need to work like hellfires in game (click to guide).

Here's a scenario of a CAS situation:

1) Target sighted
2) Call for CAS. Communicate grid
3) Point at target with AN/PEQ and/or Mark friendly position with IR strobe
4) Jet/Helo WILL HAVE TO survey the area and have visual on the target FIRST! (as opposed to how it works now, diving in and shooting at a laser and scoot)
5) Once target and friends are identified, release ordinance and guide via Thermal targeting pod/system

^This will work with or without IR strobe. The key things needed are Targeting Pod and AN/PEQ

Maybe this would be more complicated, but I think it may be more realistic.

[Imchicken1]

Its a great idea, but i dont think any way has been solved as to how to do this for infantry

I lol'd at the sniper pic. Looks a little ridiculous



IR strobes wouldnt be a smart thing to use in PR... Reason being the enemy team has thermals as well. It would light you up like a christmas tree

[Beowulf2525]

Besides your own recognition that IR strobes are mostly carried by SF, I think the CAS is fine as it is. Adding strobes would either junk up a fine tuned system, or simply add unnecessary coding. I think PR is fine without IR until we get the 70+ players per team fix where we can have dedicated SF (In my dreams ).

[Celestial1]

IR strobes wouldnt be a smart thing to use in PR... Reason being the enemy team has thermals as well. It would light you up like a christmas tree

Quite the contrary, my good friend. You are already christmas trees to thermals.

The reason it would be good is because you could call CAS/Armor support on an enemy squad, mark yourselves with an IR strobe, and the enemy squad would never know (because they can't see the strobe's emissions).


Also, I wouldn't speak of IR strobes being only used in SF teams; let an MA/DEV confirm that, or get a source. I would think they are on the rise in some militaries (at what rate would be completely beyond me).

[CanuckCommander]

Yea the sniper one is just for fun of course, but think of how deadly that can be in an urban environment like Muttrah?

I actually said that GLTDs may be used more by SF, but you may also be right about IR strobes. Either way, I think the laser thing would work and you see plenty of them on rifles these days in the US forces (not sure about other nato forces).

GLTDs' uses gameplay wise are limited right now because they only direct aircraft, but lasers can be used to direct tank and apc fire as well. I think the laser designation ability should be kept in game, but not as prevalent as it is now. Maybe give it to the commander UAV or something.

By the way guys, please contribute to the thread with more ideas if you think of it, not just discuss them.

[Murphy]

I really like the first idea, it would be quite an awesome tool, buy there are some possible issues with it. We would need night maps for this to be truly functional, and what about two modern factions facing off? That would be even more confusing for CAS. "Which of those twenty visible lasers is my team?". If it could function off of the Q menu then maybe we could avoid the weapon slot situation, if......

It just seems overly situational for its worth.

[Pariel]

IR strobes are not a commonly issued piece of hardware, at least at the individual level.

They are issued to pilots and units in order to prevent friendly fire from CAS though, so the idea is probably not without merit.

[Imchicken1]

Quite the contrary, my good friend. You are already christmas trees to thermals.

Good point...

Maybe if they're "toggle-able" for only when you know there's CAS runs. Might be exploitable though. Considering if you knew there was an enemy CAS run coming in you could just flip on your IR strobes and protect yourself from CAS

[lukeyu2005]

Another idea would be to modify the incendiary grenades so they can be effectively used like smoke grenades but against thermal

[SGT.MARCO]

Another idea would be to modify the incendiary grenades so they can be effectively used like smoke grenades but against thermal

hmm. that is actually not a bad idea because it can help protect against tanks

[HMARS]

Keep in mind that high-intensity IR sources (like a strobe or weapon-mounted IR designator) are visible not just to thermals, but also with standard NVGs. Obviously these don't loom too large in PR currently, but if we end up with night maps then these things will not be nearly as invisible as they seem. Granted, something like a flare would still only show up on thermals, but the other stuff is worth noting.

Also, it seems (though I might be wrong) like really high-level IR sources like a strobe or whatever might mess with thermals, because thermal sights are detecting very low levels of IR emitted by warm/hot stuff.

[BloodBane611]

This is just a suggestion. Feel free to discuss it when the suggestion forum is re-opened

[lukeyu2005]

Well the suggestion forum is open now. We can discuss now.

Sorry, someone had to break the ice

[Bluedrake42]

+1 to sniper idea, I love that, that'll make the sniper kit more deadly, and definitely better for spotting.
I also like the laser idea, but I don't know how well that'll work in the BF2 engine
IR strobes... is a cool idea but yeah, I don't think it would work very well with modern factions
especially if the strobes are attached to different kits, meaning picking up an enemy kit = safe
Well. or friendly fire haha

[Bufl4x]

I'm loving thermals even though they make my eyes bleed and have some minor issues.

Would it be possible to assing a key to turn it on/off instead of the commo rose menu? It's a bit clumsy and makes me freeze for 2 seconds when switching to day view, or accidentaly fire as the menu doesn't register the click fast enough.
It feels like some things might be hotter then they should be, like the glowing stop signs on iron eagle. Thermals also decrease your view distance by a few meters, this might be intended though.

As for future ideas i just saw Restrepo, a documentary about an outpost in the korengal valley. They used a huge device to spot targets



I don't know anything about it, but by the size of it i would assume some kind of night vision or thermal capabilities. If an MA could confirm that we could have deployable thermals just like an hmg or tow. A small non offensive asset that you don't need an FB for to build but something smaller, a rally and ammo crates for example.
It could slowly use ammo all the time to simulate battery drain, maybe 1 ammo bag/2minutes and would be black and white only.

Another version could require a firebase and crates while having a build radius of 400 or more to act as a forward observing point. This would have a longer battery life and a better(?) green image.

Both versions would have day/night vision, high zoom and could laze targets.