AI Ground Tracer fire

[Maduce]

Not sure if this is already implemented. I wish there was an option in ME to have ground tracer fire. Similar to smoke and fire effect. I think it would look awesome and add a level of emersion when you are flying over an area, look down and see tracer fire going in different directions. 

[toutenglisse]

19 minutes ago, Maduce said:

Not sure if this is already implemented. I wish there was an option in ME to have ground tracer fire. Similar to smoke and fire effect. I think it would look awesome and add a level of emersion when you are flying over an area, look down and see tracer fire going in different directions. 

 

It is. Use "fire at point" with a ground unit.

[Maduce]

Thank you!

 

[Grimes]

Think he means having ambient tracers in a given area similar to what plenty of FPS games do with skyboxes or in a 3d space. Its not actual AI units that aim and shoot at specific targets, but rather virtual tracers that make it look like a battle is occurring in the distance or someplace else that doesn't matter to your actual mission. 

[Maduce]

On 6/25/2021 at 6:45 PM, Grimes said:

Think he means having ambient tracers in a given area similar to what plenty of FPS games do with skyboxes or in a 3d space. Its not actual AI units that aim and shoot at specific targets, but rather virtual tracers that make it look like a battle is occurring in the distance or someplace else that doesn't matter to your actual mission. 

Nailed it! Described it exactly. I just think it would add to the emersion.    

[cfrag]

The obvious issue here is of course that if you fly through such an effect (if done as described, the effect could simply be created using a 'billboard' quad with an animated texture that is mostly transparent except for the tracers that use emission rather than shaded color) this falls flat on it's face (almost literally), as there are no troops on the ground nor projectiles in the air - even though it looks as if there are.

 

If I see tracers during ingress, my first reaction would be to ready my HARMs and try to avoid the area - which would be dead wrong since I'll be reacting to pure eye candy, no actual threat. Even worse when I'm driving the Hog: I'd look for IR targets since possible AAA are always high prio targets - which aren't there. IMHO, such a feature isn't increasing immersion, it's breaking a critical aspect of the game and induces errors. 

 

[EDIT:

To elaborate: in FPS where you are on the ground and don't move fast, these sky boxes can add atmosphere because your mission will never take you to that place over the horizon where the tracers are marking a battle, perhaps 10-20 miles away. In a plane like the Falcon or Bug, 10-20 miles is only 1-2 minutes away, and it takes longer to ready your Mavs or FLIR than it takes you to cross the distance. That's why FPS-style thematic skyboxes don't work well with DCS]

Edited June 28, 2021 by cfrag

[Maduce]

Just a thought. I have been in choppers in conflict zones and you can see tracers at distant at night. With the new destructive zone option that was added to the ME my thought was it would look pretty immersive while flying either in a fixed wing or rotatory. I am not a coder or computer guy and I have no clue what that would do to FPS or anything else. Just a suggestion. 

 

Just to be clear I wasn't necessarily or even at all talking about AAA. I was talking about ground tracer fire. Green tracers going one direction and orange going the opposite. But your point is noted if there are no ground units in that zone, just eye candy. IMHO it would add immersion.    

Edited June 28, 2021 by Maduce
Additional clarification