Page 1 of 1

heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-01 21:15
by Conman51
is that for game play

or is it reall, u know after u fire a rocket and u wait like 15 secs. before putting it dwn

if its real then y do they wait


just wondering

Re: heavy at reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-01 21:23
by Spec
Its for gameplay and to simulate the difficulties setting up a heavy weapon. They would for sure have a deployment animation or something if it was that easy, but there is a lack of animators.

However, the main reason is indeed gameplay. HAT is extremely powerful.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-02 07:19
by Ninja2dan
Most heavier anti-tank missiles or rockets are a single-shot munition, with only the sighting device being reusable. An example being the Javelin, where the CLU is attached to the side of the missile tube prior to firing and is then removed after firing to be attached to the next tube. The fired tube is then discarded, having no further use.

Because the animations are still somewhat limited to copies from vBF2, where the HAT was unrealistic and the soldiers carried several rounds, that same animation is used in PR. While a HAT is not really "reloaded", the animation is used to simulate setting up another tube as Spec_Operator explained.

Even the "older" weapons like the Dragon use single-shot disposable tubes, and the M136 is also single-shot. The primary weapon that is reloaded in real life are the RPG variants, which are either front or rear loaded (similar to a bazooka or recoilless rifle). To keep the animations smooth and easy, the same animations are pretty much used regardless of the weapon in game. New animations might be possible, but would take a lot of work and the developers might feel other aspects of the game are more important at the moment.

As for time delays, the real weapon systems actually take a bit longer to set up. Attaching the optics unit, powering it up, setting the correct fire mode, locating your target, locking/fully acquiring your target, clearing backblast, etc take some time and I don't feel a 15-second delay in game is a long wait. Because setting up the unit realistically in game is not possible, having such a pre-use delay is not only acceptable, but required for gameplay balancing.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-02 18:38
by fuzzhead
thanks Ninja2dan couldnt have said it better myself :)

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 06:01
by Airsoft
ahh but dont i hear from somewhere that the actual rocketman only carries 1 tube and CLU/sight (javelin) since it's so cumbersome. His fellow comrades carry additional tubes.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 07:07
by Ninja2dan
Airs0ft_S0ldier11 wrote:ahh but dont i hear from somewhere that the actual rocketman only carries 1 tube and CLU/sight (javelin) since it's so cumbersome. His fellow comrades carry additional tubes.
That is correct. The AT gunner will carry the CLU in its "pouch", with the stowed tube on his back. Other soldiers in his squad will carry the additional tubes and possibley M136 tubes, it's not uncommon for a squad to be equipped with both.

Although the soldiers in PR might be equipped with more than one tube, it might be due to gameplay balancing. In real life your AT gunner will have his fellow squadmates (hence the additional tubes) nearby, so reloading will not take too long. In PR the number of soldiers in a squad is more like a fireteam, so giving the AT gunners say two rounds would help keep it balanced.

An even better option would be to have support soldiers able to drop a single-use reload for the LAT/HAT grunts, but I do not know how this would work with the game limits. I was lucky enough to be an AR, and never had to carry any of those damn things for more than a few miles.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 07:09
by Wolfe
Ya know, that's a good idea: one shot. The HAT wouldn't/shouldn't be used solo anyway, and other squad members can carry the extra ammo. This might help address the problem of the HAT being overpowered, and could be supplemented by lowering the damage vs. APC's so that 1 shot always disables, but doesn't always destroy them.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 08:26
by (HUN)Rud3bwoy
It already takes at least 2 shots for a HAT to destroy a tank, and in most cases the soldier wont have a second shot because the tank would retreat or track down the HAT with the help of the rocket's smoke trail.
I think that it is okay to reduce the ammunition to 1 shot to encourage teamwork(besides it does not quite add up, that a HAT has 2 shots while a LAT has only one), but I dont think that the HAT's damage capabilities should be lowered, not to say that it would just disable an APC but wont destroy it(then we would have two kind of LATs: one is guided and a little more powerful, and a less powerful fire and forget one).

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 10:23
by Sir.Saul
Yeah brilliant idea to reduce the ammo of the HAT -1 (2 - 1 = 1) I really love those moments where I have to get HAT because of nearby tank/apc and my fellow teammate freely volunteers to be my ammo guy, though not much use for him since I got 2 shots.

Let's look at it this way with 1 HAT shot only per HAT kit.
Makes you need a ammo guy in your squad for you.
With the m16a4 added to HAT so it should get reduce in HAT ammo by -1?
Your ammo teammate certainly get more points for teamworking.
APC/tanks stand a better chance if the HAT doesn't have a ammo guy which should encourage teamwork more in the squad.

I Don't know about LAT, somehow I kinda think they should have 1 extra rocket, somehow I don't think.
It is light equipment though if you only have 1 LAT you encourage ammo guy teamwork more.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 11:20
by Nick The Bubble
Even though this is about HAT, here is an idea about LAT. I think that the HAT kits for militia (2 rounds) and the LAT kit for MEC (1 round) should be RPG-29s, not RPG-7s, and not look so retro. The LAT for militia and insurgents should have RPG-7s, and have 3 rounds (corresponding with the rounds on the soldiers back). These rounds should be weaker against armour and should mainly be used to fire at infantry and jeeps, as in real life (RPG alley in Basra). This would result in a more hectic and exiting insurgent battle, with crazy jihadis running around firing RPGs at anything they can see. Not only would it be awesome, but also quite realistic.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 16:58
by fuzzhead
Actually MEC will get the RPG26 for LAT.... Russian faction is modeling an RPG 29 I believe for its HAT..

Carrying around 2 LAT plus a rifle is not too realistic of a loadout... Anyone who has carried around an M136 would probably agree ;)

there is a problem when giving HAT 1 round, it is very buggy/gimpy with reload animations and I think there was other problems, thats the only reason they get 2 rounds now, otherwise I agree giving HAT only 1 round makes perfect sense. I cant remember what the problems were exactly, but egg tried giving HAT only 1 round during v0.6 development and it was too buggy to use :(

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 19:09
by Wolfe
[R-DEV]fuzzhead wrote:there is a problem when giving HAT 1 round, it is very buggy/gimpy with reload animations ... I cant remember what the problems were exactly...
When the number of mags = 1, the reload animation doesn't show at all. No tube drop animation, no tube reload animation.

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 19:27
by AnRK
How come this can't be balanced by giving H-AT 1 round, and simply making it more powerful?

Re: heavy AT reload time??

Posted: 2008-06-03 19:49
by Wolfe
AnRK wrote:How come this can't be balanced by giving H-AT 1 round, and simply making it more powerful?
Read the posts above you. Giving the HAT only 1 round makes the reload animation disappear which is the coolest thing about the weapon.