Do you find it hard to differentiate between friend and foe?

Maasika · Post by **Maasika** » 2005-06-20 16:11

Especially in close quarter battles, I can't make the quick decision whether to shoot or not. Mostly I do but many times not. It was "easy" in AA because the opfor was always very different in quise, even indigenous forces could be quickly identified and without colored name tags. Without the nametags in BF2 I would be in serious trouble

But are the soldier models different enough or too similiar in your opinion? I'm hoping for some improvement...

Edit: Subject typos...

Post by **Dre** » 2005-06-20 16:16

There's always using the 3D map.

Psycho_Sam · Post by **Psycho_Sam** » 2005-06-20 16:38

Thats what i have to do when playing. As im usually in a chopper if i find a unit a quick glance too see if anything is on the radar tells me iif i should shoot or not

claygast · Post by **claygast** » 2005-06-20 16:50

MEC is darker

keef_haggerd · Post by **keef_haggerd** » 2005-06-20 17:13

maasika, how long have oyu been playing the demo? because i can relate to what your saying, but the more i play the more ive been able to quickly tell friend from foe.

i think i need to start looking at the minimap more often thought to help me.

Maasika · Post by **Maasika** » 2005-06-20 18:00

Maybe about 5 hrs... If we are to mod this to be more realistic, no tags, (is it even possible?), we'll have trouble. It's not a problem in longer distances because you usually see the blue tags even when not centering your crosshairs on target and thus it's easy to "guess" who's the enemy. But in close battle there's very little time to react, atleast when there's 64 players in a 32 player map

I guess it will come with time, but I'm just so trained in AA to react only to terrorist lookalikes

And come to think about it, the player models are so similiar that without a scope and without radar or nametags, you just can't know who you shoud be shooting at on longer distances.

Zazane · Post by **Zazane** » 2005-06-20 18:20

Personally... I use the hat identification method >.>

Post by **requiem** » 2005-06-20 18:50

I've had the problem before, but more when I'm in the BH Minigun spot or checking out a Sniper at long range.

Post by **BrokenArrow** » 2005-06-20 19:07

it will make it harder without tags, but thats the idea, you cant just gun everyone you see, it stresses communication and alertness when selecting a target. plus, you'll get used to it after a while, i played a DCF server with no tags and i went in there alot, they didnt have tags and you got used to it.

Ugly Duck · Post by **Ugly Duck** » 2005-06-20 19:18

I hate tags...

Too many time's I've come across an enemy and gone prone in the grass where he can't see me and I can't see him and yet I get shot because he just keeps his cross hairs where my name is. It completely ruins camoflauge. As for ID, after playing for a while it just gets to be second nature. In BF2 light = US, dark = MEC. I haven't had much trouble with identifying enemy from friendly, but that's just me.

Maasika · Post by **Maasika** » 2005-06-20 19:18

I'm used to having no tags, 300+ hours of AA

BF is just different, takes some time to adjust. Although it takes a split second in AA to recognize the foe (I've been successful around 3000 times

).

DarthMidget · Post by **DarthMidget** » 2005-06-20 19:31

I've made the mistake of gunning down a comrade in arms a few times in the demo. It can be difficult to tell one side or another apart in the heat of the moment, but to me that's just part of the game. One of the aspects of PR I'm looking forward to is the lack of a kill-indicator and no tags. Makes it a bit more intense IMHO.

Beckwith · Post by **Beckwith** » 2005-06-20 19:37

i used to play on a DC server that had the tags removed it was great one you learned to pay attention to the minimap you were fine

Maasika · Post by **Maasika** » 2005-06-20 20:53

And how about removing the minimap

? I guess that would render the commander side of the game unusable... so no go. Maybe only the commander can see the dots and the players would only see objectives?

DarthMidget · Post by **DarthMidget** » 2005-06-20 21:47

Removing the minimap is an interesting idea. Maybe keep the minimap in, but do not show enemy positions on it. Only icons/points identified by your SL or Commander show up on the minimap. No friendly or enemy positions.

Post by **BrokenArrow** » 2005-06-21 01:08

i think the minimap is okay, thats where you get to the limit of realism. inheritly the game will make communication difficult, so being able to see the red enemy icons that your teamates have spotted is, i think, a good thing.

TCS · Post by **TCS** » 2005-06-21 03:13

I struggle with this, the tags make it too easy, the mini-map makes it to easy, but without them it would be too hard. Because it's a game there are limitations that you don't have in real life... it's called "situational awareness" and it can't really be had with pixels on a screen.

I have been so immersed in the game that it's like a trance, you do get that involved when things are going just right... but you can't really be aware of your surroundings like you can in real life.

The nametags & maps are a crutch, they help regain a bit of the situational awareness that you lose by only have limited sight & sound as your main senses. Losing them might be too much, but keeping them is too much as well... dunno if that makes sense to anyone else, and it doesn't offer any solutions, but that's as far as I've gotten with this problem so far.

Flares · Post by **Flares** » 2005-06-21 03:17

The first night I played, it was difficult to tell the difference and at 4am bleary eyed on my last map, wiped out 3 or 4 of my own side during an attempted flag takeover before I'd realised what I'd done... *gulp* . Not since though, that was a lesson learned. I found turning the brightness up a little more helped a lot. I'd actually prefer no tags, then you don't rely on them.

keef_haggerd · Post by **keef_haggerd** » 2005-06-21 03:19

id like the mini map without enemies UNLESS they are spotted by a friendly, and have that dot show up for about 2-3 seconds, and have to be spotted every little while, because IRL you can telll your buddies where the guy is, but if he ducks behind a corner you wont know where he's going.

Maasika · Post by **Maasika** » 2005-06-21 07:15

keef_haggerd wrote:id like the mini map without enemies UNLESS they are spotted by a friendly, and have that dot show up for about 2-3 seconds, and have to be spotted every little while, because IRL you can telll your buddies where the guy is, but if he ducks behind a corner you wont know where he's going.

This sounds a balanced idea. But isn't it this way now? I mean you don't see the red dots all the time.

In the current state the game promotes mass ramboing with united goal. Which sounds like well oiled team at first glance. But so far the teamwork has been less than perfect. And I guess that would be too much to assume in the demo and without clan players...