Suppressing/Covering Fire

[Celestial1]

I've recently picked up v0.75 again, after taking a month or two break, and have come back to some things I missed about old gameplay. I've come up with a bunch of ideas (not only for this thread; I'm just going to keep them organized).

One of the BIGGEST things I miss in this version, is that covering/suppressing fire is almost NEVER used. And that has made many firefights less about who has the better position and tactics, and more about who can aim the quickest and most accurate. I hope I'm not the only one who detests this.

Currently, when a bullet hits near you, you get a hard blur. The only problem with this, is that when your enemy is on a hill, you cannot hit close enough to them to simulate this effect, while you are on the low ground taking fire and being blinded by the blur while Mr. High and Mighty continues firing.

To counteract this action, here are some suggestions:

-The area in which a bullet may land is increased in different intervals. The current area should be a "damn close" indicator, while a hit 10m away should cause a slight blur and indicate that you should get under some cover, quick.

-Shots that fly past your body should also affect you. Extremely close bullets should produce the current "bullet hitting ground near you" effect, but extremely shortened. If possible, ranges should be implemented as well.

-Bring back the tinnitus effect for shots that pass/land very near to you (could use a bit of toning down, don't want to break eardrums now). That sound alone makes you want to hide.

-Size of round affects the intensity of the effect? I don't know if that would be hardcoded or not, but say a pistol causes the smallest amount of blur/tinnitus (or, more likely, almost none at all) but a tank barrel a few meters away would nearly incapacitate you for a moment.

-Devastating shots near you would cause a short "reposition" time in which you would be unable to fire your weapon for a few seconds until the blur wore off.


Hopefully this long post will give a nudge for some improvements for supporting fire and make it a necessary thing in larger firefights.

[vilhelm123]

I like your suggestions mate and it'll be interesting to hear what the other more experienced lads think of them.
I'll add though that the main reason i don't use cover fire all that often is because deviation has made my covering fire shoot the back of the head of my attacking team mates more than once... (and yes i know i suck at shooting)

[Celestial1]

Originally Posted by vilhelm123

I like your suggestions mate and it'll be interesting to hear what the other more experienced lads think of them.
I'll add though that the main reason i don't use cover fire all that often is because deviation has made my covering fire shoot the back of the head of my attacking team mates more than once... (and yes i know i suck at shooting)

And this is why proper line formations are good to have (You can either have "Mama duck" leading all of her little ducks into a death trap, or you can have a "Rake" clearing out the field evenly and effectively)... And yes, I do really call those line formations "Mama Duck" and "Rake".

Hopefully this will somehow encourage this proper squad-form, as well.

Thanks for the support!

[arjan]

isnt it always so, that the people on the hill have a advantage?

[GoreZiad]

I like them as well. It's boring to see the enemy you supress for your squad just keep standing up, and trying to get his kill at all costs. If you could put a chip into peoples heads, then maybe it could be fixed

[LtSoucy]

Suppression effects I think are being changed for 0.8 to be more realistic. And when you get blinded keep going, last time I played you could run when blinded, MR.Hil cant do anything but waste rounds if you move. (And guys on hills always lose in PR due to there bodies showing out)

[bigwookie]

wanders in....

...not realistic...

...wanders out

[PrivateJson]

Originally Posted by bigwookie

wanders in....

...not realistic...

...wanders out

Well, that was constructive!

Nothing about the suppression effect is realistic, but it's in the game to make the gameplay realistic!

[@bsurd]

i like the idea! Hope we get a big fix in the next release for the s effect. Now it isnt good.

Time based plz, not fps based. And hope there is then no more way to switch it off. I see so many guys who have no effect @ all. Dont know how they do it, but it seemed that they have no effect.

If i get under heavy maschine gun fire i cant see a shit for 5-10 sec. But if i have the heavy toy and shot the guy only stands up and give me a headshot.

Hope this all get fixed. Then s effect is the coolest thing in the game!

[M.Warren]

As much as I like the ideas provided by countless individuals about aspects of infantry combat, I don't think it's going to help the game much.

From what I heard and spoken about in other threads, there cannot be multiple types of "suppression effects". The "suppression effect" is a single type of effect that remains the same reguardless if anything lands near you like a bullet, grenade, shells, bomb, etc.

A developer commented about having the "suppression effect" trigger while bullets fly overhead as you've already asked. I find this ironic as Project Reality doesn't have that distinctive "whizzing" sound while bullets pass overhead to begin with.

In all honesty, I think a majority of players find the cons of the "suppression effect" more annoying than the benefits of the pro's. Partly because of this is the fact that people still run and gun, people still do the same'ol same while getting shot at, and it doesn't promote better teamwork through force of gameplay. The largest reason being is that in accordance to the limitations of the BF2 engine, it cannot be refined enough to have it work the way it theoretically should.

One of my suggestions long ago was to have the "suppression effect" trigger based upon how many shots land near you in a certain timeframe. Such as 3 shots that land 4 meters near you within 1 second. If 3 shots are landing near you within 1 second, chances are is that you're taking serious concentrated fire from multiple sources or someone is firing deliberately to suppress you. Of course vehicle munitions are of such a high caliber should instantly suppress you.

Of course a developer suggested he would investigate this possibility, however I highly doubt this can occur at this point. What can I say? The "suppression effect" remains in game still. A majority of people still dislike it, as it seems like we've truely reached an impass where there are no possible means to refine it.

It simply comes down to what you want to do with it... Do you want leave it as the botchy mess that it is? Or do we finally turn down the road to remove it and accept the realization that it may not be possible to get it to work as intended?

Personally I hope it is removed one day. Because right now I love shooting at bunched up groups of infantry spraying silly at thier feet so they have no chance to see in order to fire back. This usually results in enabling myself to drop all 3 of them. And you know what? I must admit, It's not fair to them at all. So unless it can finally be fixed, do it. If not... Just trash it. Let's move on, shall we?