Progress Bar for FOB Building

[SeanRamey]

I was thinking one time "it would be kinda nice to be able to see what the current progress is of the FOB I'm building". So I think that there should be some kinda bar like there is for repairing vehicles in vBF2, only for when you have a shovel and your building a FOB. It wouldn't do much for gameplay but it shouldn't be hard to make either because vBF2 already does it. But yeah... just thought it would be nice, but not important.

[Rudd]

just when I thought there were no more good suggestions

[AfterDune]

Sounds good to me too.

[Acemantura]

Nope, wouldn't be realistic (Tongue planted firmly in cheek)

Wait a minute, what about my suggestions

Acknowledge me DAMMIT!!!

[Tonnie]

Sounds good to me too.

agreed. I like the idea of knowing when your done or how much longer is left

[Bringerof_D]

10 more sand bags to fill and we still need to get that 4th pole up for the camo net.

sounds good to me!

lol at acemantura

[dtacs]

Simple yet highly effective, question is can it be coded? IE only coming up when you are in range of building the FOB itself.

A small bar similar to the sprint one that fills up would be the best, so you can check firebase health when you go up to it.

Support, once again excellent idea.

[motherdear]

Simple yet highly effective, question is can it be coded? IE only coming up when you are in range of building the FOB itself.

Not really a problem to code AFAIK, was in the original game already. Only thing i would be worried about would be the visual effect. But that is minor.
In my mind it should be expanded to other parts such as repairs too.

[lucky.BOY]

+1 for this idea

[Spush]

I like this idea . So simple but yet so useful.

[dtacs]

Not really a problem to code AFAIK, was in the original game already. Only thing i would be worried about would be the visual effect. But that is minor.
In my mind it should be expanded to other parts such as repairs too.

Good point, its logical to know how far you have repaired a vehicle, defused explosives and reconstructed a door.

[Tirak]

I'm a little iffy on this. We kicked health bars and the ammo counters are laughably innacurate, so why have this? If it does get implemented, can it be coded instead be similar to what Bringer said in jest? Instead of a progress bar a text that changes at certain percentages? Ie

<25% it says: Unpacking equipment
<50%: Filling Sandbags
<75%: Setting up camo netting
<100%: Configuring radio

Or something similar?

[ma21212]

I'm a little iffy on this. We kicked health bars and the ammo counters are laughably innacurate, so why have this? If it does get implemented, can it be coded instead be similar to what Bringer said in jest? Instead of a progress bar a text that changes at certain percentages? Ie

<25% it says: Unpacking equipment
<50%: Filling Sandbags
<75%: Setting up camo netting
<100%: Configuring radio

Or something similar?

caus irl you would be able to see that you filled sandbags, set up the net, etc.

[Tirak]

caus irl you would be able to see that you filled sandbags, set up the net, etc.

And in real life I can see the sucking chest wound in the man I'm triageing.

[Bluedrake42]

I have an idea let's make 5 different models for each stage of construction for each asset! that's easy right!? get on it devs!! Only 100 more to go =) =) lol

but for real I'm not feeling this one too much, dig it till its done, no real need for a progress bar.
And as far as the vehicles you just repair the sucker until it stops smoking, and there's 3 levels of smoke so yeah
We pretty much already have a progress bar for that in a way. And really its kindof the same with the emplacements
You know you're halfway done when it goes up, since there's 2 stages of construction, so why add to that?
Leave it as it is is how I feel

[Psyko]

Good point, its logical to know how far you have repaired a vehicle, defused explosives and reconstructed a door.

doesnt this bring PR back full circle from the changes that it scrubbed years ago?
it is defenitly logical, but these virtual representations were removed so that the hud would look more realistic. having loading bars for everything bould be a lot like operation flashpoint or somthing. i think early on they were removed in the hopes of having such actions replaced with somthing like physical animations. (ie: defusing an IED would be an animation that took a fixed amount of time.) but BF2's engine limits all this.

i made the suggestion like two years ago that the animation for placing C4 should be longer and it was adopted after a while. the HAT deploy animation was done so it would seem realistic, and sniper Breathing was implimented as an effect to do a similar thing. in an ideal world, all these dynamics would be represented with a more complex system. counting your ammo would be like quickly holding out how many magazines you have left in your hand for example. same deal for ammunition and for field dressings and epipens. unfortunatly im sure thats impossible in bf2. and im very certain that visually representing how many sandbags it takes to build an FOB would be impossible as well apart from a hud counter/loading bar.

maybe it would be better if you could tell how long was left in the build process by how much smoke plumed out of it. or different models to show different stages in it's constuction. im sure this is how it would be done for repairing a vehicle, but modling different stages in a vehicle's state of disrepair is a rediculously laborious task. and you'd have to do it for all vehicles and deployables.

so long story short, it looks like dice, and a hell of a lot of main stream developers came to the conclusions that PR is slowly coming to by asking the most relevent questions.
"what do even the stupidist players need, so that they understand what the hell is going on, and what they are doing whatever they are using, wherever they are?" i dont think it would be any better than the current meathod to put more stuff on the player hud. but a loading bar for the FOb does seem like the easiest and most understaandable way to represent the build process.

[Rudd]

I'm a little iffy on this. We kicked health bars and the ammo counters are laughably innacurate, so why have this? If it does get implemented, can it be coded instead be similar to what Bringer said in jest? Instead of a progress bar a text that changes at certain percentages? Ie

<25% it says: Unpacking equipment
<50%: Filling Sandbags
<75%: Setting up camo netting
<100%: Configuring radio

Or something similar?

its not such a problem for asset building as you're just starting at some dirt for x seconds, nice to know how much longer you gotta stare at dirt for.

[Tirak]

its not such a problem for asset building as you're just starting at some dirt for x seconds, nice to know how much longer you gotta stare at dirt for.

Unless your FOB is under attack and you're getting an MG up to aid in the defense, suddenly it because a hell of a lot more important. Exactly as important as medicing your SAW gunner during a firefight. But I don't see my SAW gunners health bar once it goes over 50%.

[Rudd]

it would be done so that you can only see it while shoveling Tirak...

I don't see the issue. There won't be a big red dot above all damaged assets with 50m radius...

[Tirak]

it would be done so that you can only see it while shoveling Tirak...

I don't see the issue. There won't be a big red dot above all damaged assets with 50m radius...

That's my point, while you're shoveling you know exactly how long until it's up and running. While sure, that kind of appeals to me, I would also like a health bar when I'm medicing someone, but I'm not getting that now am I? Vehicles don't show health status or correct ammo status. This goes against the "clean HUD" ideal that PR has always worked for. Hell people have been looking for ways of getting rid of the sprint bar and if we had a way to get rid of the mag counter we'd do that too. Throwing in a progress bar is a step in the exact opposite direction PR has been moving in.