Armor Smoke: Give control back to the driver.

nedlands1 · Post by **nedlands1** » 2008-03-21 11:43

kilroy0097 wrote:So smoke for gunner and driver is my vote.

Mine too except instead of releasing the smoke all at once (like in previous versions) it should be a steady stream out the back to simulate a engine mounted smoke generator.

Pluizert · Post by **Pluizert** » 2008-03-21 13:03

I think the new smoke for the gunner should stay. As well as the driver smoke has to come back. The new smoke is really handy when an APC defends a firebase (yeah guys i do like to defend) and you just smoke 20 meters in front (as in towards the enemy) of the firebase so the infantry has a good-covered way to get inside the city of EJOD for example. And it looks smokin'.

Post by **Spearhead** » 2008-03-21 13:35

APC smoke seems to work fine due to the quick switching possibility. The tanks have some trouble associated with the switching. Nedlands maybe you can look into the possibility of any extra keys to be used.

Maybe you could put them back on the countermeasure key and have the zoom associated with the cycle camera key or something alike. Didn't look into this topic much yet so excuse me please if I suggest something that clearly won't work.

Tef · Post by **Tef** » 2008-03-21 16:23

Yeah put smoke back on the counter-measure, put cameras back on the cycle cam button and give the driver engine generated smoke is my vote.

Post by **LeadMagnet** » 2008-03-21 17:41

If you plan on leaving the smoke as is then the only viable alternative is to drastically cut down on the ready time when switching rounds like you've done on the APC's. I for one could live with that comprimise. As it stands now it's pretty silly to have to switch from your loaded round in the tube, deploy smoke then switch back and wait 15-25 seconds to be able to fire the ready round. Between removing the lock-on warning (which is a postive in my books), lowering the gunner's zoom (why??) and the new smoke setup you've drastically nerfed armors effectiveness.

Seeing as their are also fewer maps with armor on them as ever before it's sad to see the trend towards infantry only focus by the team. .7's armor matchs were some of the beast tank on tank battles I've seen on the BF2 engine. This new build seems to be a quantum step backwards (or forwards for the gameplay over realism crowd that seems to run the show now).

Guardian[]B()b · Post by **Guardian[]B()b** » 2008-03-21 20:46

I didn't understand the change and the delay until after reading through this, I see the limits faced by the hardcode and key setting assignments VS the intended effect, where smoke cans are deployed from (the turret). Maybe add that to the change log/wiki ?

I assume that shortening the round swap time would default for all 3 round types ? Then would realists complain the round swap is now too short ?
The new effect looks good, hopefully one of the other keys can be used to pop it.

Adding driver smoke screen gets my vote as well.

I agree Leadmagnet, had a couple excellent nights in armor right before 0.75 launched, hoping there's more to come.

edit: by my testing it is 12-13 seconds round swap time, smoke back to heat/sabot. It only FEELS like forever as you see that enemy tank cresting the ridge and his turret is rotating your direction

Post by **77SiCaRiO77** » 2008-03-21 22:37

if the devs find a way to deploy smoke quickly and without interferin with the cannon/machingun , im all for that , but if not , smoke (all kind) should back to the driver/comander hands and be deployed from the hull , not from the turret .

Halcyon · Post by **Halcyon** » 2008-03-21 23:04

If coding doesn't allow for driver control, then get rid of the system and go back with the old .7 smoke version.
I gun for tanks quite a bit, and I'm NEVER going to switch to smoke "hoping" we'll be able to use it when I can have a sabot round loaded instead.

Smoke has no business being controlled by the gunner. It's a driver tactic and should be controlled by the driver, period.

Jester_Prince · Post by **Jester_Prince** » 2008-03-21 23:52

I vote having both.

Though make the one deployed by the driver spread wider if possible, currently its too small and most RPG's only have to aim at the smoke center to score a hit if the tank hasnt moved a larger distance and even then if the tank moves out from behind the some hes vulnerable again.

So increasing the radius the driver smoke spreads would increase its effectiveness. in 0.7 it was kind of feeble and didnt provide a whole lot of cover, ive yet to see 0.75's in use but from what i read here it would be useful but only if it can be coupled with the drivers some as well.

DeePsix · Post by **DeePsix** » 2008-03-22 00:01

I would be willing to see the original smoke launching system - as ineffective as it was at times - return to the game. The new smoke effects and launching look fantastic but the method in which they are deployed by the gunner simply makes them ineffective.

Serbiak · Post by **Serbiak** » 2008-03-22 00:26

I as well think that smoke should be deployable by the driver as well as the gunner.

But I have an other issue.

As you can see here the smoke does not cover the tank from above at all. Imo it´s realistic and even quite useful against chopper and aircraft attacks that the tank is partially covered from above.

Well maybe these videos explain better what I mean. They show the Leopard 2 but who cares I still like those smoke systems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUoX-Gqd35o[/youtube]

here at 2:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86syxIAI ... re=related[/youtube]