I guess this question of mine has more to do with flavor, but it also touches on game mechanics.

Being both a bit of a scien"e AND science-fiction AND military buff, I have to say that warfare depicted in Dust doesn't feel very "science fiction".

Oh sure, combat clones, laser rifles, plasma blasters, personal shields etc. all cool, but if you have a military advisor or consultant involved in development I can pretty much guarantee you that he or she would feel a bit disappointed with performance or certain weapons and the lack of certain pieces of gear.

For starters our supposedly "tactical" satellite overview maps don't even have numbered grids or even basic NSWE-indicators, which of course mess up all efforts at team coordination (in a team oriented FPS no less). Having to talk to your team in terms of "The enemy is over there by that huge mushroom-like thingie" is only confusing and a bit silly. A lot of us want to give out quick and curt broadcasts like "Hostiles moving south through grid Charlie-7" and everyone will know exactly where that is relative to their own position.

Real world militaries have GPS systems, with grids and of course, a compass. Yet the supposed "sci-fi setting" of New Eden lack these things. A bit strange as i'm sure you'd agree.

Also we have a lack of thermal imaging (night vision, IR etc.). Having to use a radar scanner to find cloaked scouts and our "naked" eyes, seem a bit primitive. My advice: take inspiration from the Predator movies, because those alien trophy hunters haveadvanced imaging systems that real world militaries drool over).

Then there's the unimpressive performance of artillery. The supposed main battle tank weapons are severely outperformed by modern day counterparts. Both railguns and blasters have pathetic range and are easily stopped completely by the most flimsy of obstacles (no, a thin catwalk railing shouldn't stop a supposedly 80 GJ railgun round). We have big missile launcher pods, with a pathetic blast radius and the missiles aren't even guided, but dumb-fire (huge inconsistency seeing as how Caldari ships in Eve spam guided missiles all the time in space above us Dust mercs heads).

I could go on of course, but I think any reader will get the gist of what I mean when I say that Dust doesen't "feel" very sci-fi.

Sci-fi usually means noticeable technological improvements over current tech after all.

Now I don't just want to nag, demand and complain. If you lack a military advisor in your team I'd happily do some research and share my knowledge with you. Pro Bono and without credit if you'd like. I just want to see the game develop into something that can really brag about being a sci-fi shooter and make all players feel it.

Keep up the otherwise good work.