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J-Lewis
Edimmu Warfighters
Gallente Federation
11
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Posted - 2013.04.02 14:41:00 -
[1] - Quote
Cloak distortion, or "Shimmer" as some may call it, is the worst thing that has happened to cloaks in the history of FPS gaming; it encourages its use for sniping and camping and not much else. Woe be to anyone who dares move!
You see, the truth is: anything less than perfect invisibility actually stands out like a sore thumb.
The best way to balance cloaks (IMO) is with a very recognizable sound when cloaking and uncloaking, and a power mechanic for how long you can reliably use it (e.g. your basic cloak drains and restores x and y capacitor respectively while on or off), with power use amplified by movement. Taking damage, albeit only while cloaked, should drain power. Cloaks should require an amount of power to activate (a minimum threshold). Attacking should drain all remaining power and uncloak the user if cloaked.
For variants: Covert ops cloaks might be efficient enough to let the capacitor regenerate while cloaked as long as you're stationary. Maybe have a restock-able single use cloak variant (militia would be a variant of this). You might also not be able to move as fast while cloaked (unless you're using a Covert Ops suit?), so there could be a variant for that too. Cloaks that drain more power but also decrease your profile slightly. The list goes on...
Skills should affect power capacity, recharge, movement speed, and maybe even the volume of the sound made upon cloaking.
Finally, cloaks are very CPU hungry things which require fitting sacrifices. Forget complex damage mods, you're sacrificing damage output for the element of surprise (a good crutch for Nova Knives and Shotguns for example).
If a lot of what I'm typing seems familiar, it's because a lot of it is similar to how TF2 handles cloaking; TF2 does cloaking extremely well.
This is, of course, only my opinion. But I think there's enough evidence out there to prove that while "predator cloaks look awesome", but "awesome" does not make for balanced game play. I've probably missed a few points too.
Thoughts?
TL;DR/bottom line: Cloak distortion is a terrible mechanic by lazy game designers!
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J-Lewis
Edimmu Warfighters
Gallente Federation
11
|
Posted - 2013.04.02 15:37:00 -
[2] - Quote
Kushmir Nadian wrote:I actually like cloak distortion. As long as it harder to see the distortion the further away its fine.
I agree that it looks nice. But that's about as far as it goes for me. My beef with it lies from the fact that movement distortion encourages camping. The logic goes something like this:
- My cloak distorts when I move.
- Distortion makes me visible.
- I do not want to be seen.
- Therefore I will not move.
It has been suggested before that an inverse system - as long as you're moving and the module is on, you're invisible - could work, and I'd tend to agree though it makes about as little sense as HMG accuracy.
TBH it seems like a lot of things could be solved through variants.
e: Essentially, if you're not moving, you're not doing your job right. Even as a sniper. |
J-Lewis
Edimmu Warfighters
Gallente Federation
11
|
Posted - 2013.04.02 17:11:00 -
[3] - Quote
Kushmir Nadian wrote:I'll take guys who are advancing, taking ground and flanking over that every day of the week and TWICE on sunday.
This is exactly why I dislike regular distortion cloaks, and why I'm so opposed to things that encourage sitting still for extended periods of time. Those guys advancing, taking ground and flanking aren't going to use a cloak if it doesn't help them do what they need to do; being able to move unseen across open terrain is the wet dream of any soldier.
The RDVs are completely invisible until they deploy their payload, so obviously we have the level of tech to provide highly mobile units with perfect cloaking.
Ships in EVE are completely invisible while cloaked; and not only that but it also hides you from directional scans, probes, and lasts indefinitely as long as you don't get too close to anything.
Cloaks in Dust should by extension at least provide complete visual cloaking. |
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