Goonhub
11-03-2013, 04:29 AM
The changelog asked for feedback, so here is my opinion after playing six rounds with the new system. First things first: I do not oppose the removal of the AI's x-ray per se, just the current state of affairs.
1.) The change fails to address any of the system's real shortcomings. It was never smooth or very precise even on an empty server with little lag, and the absence of x-ray makes things more bothersome. Limited line of sight isn't a problem for an ordinary mob - your view is for the most part fixed and it's easy for you brain to relate what you can and cannot see to your current position on the map. For the AI, jumping from camera to camera is an abrupt and unnatural way of movement, so you are now faced with a horrible mess of piecemeal peeks and large patches of blackness flying all over the screen, which lack any degree of refinement, cohesion or smoothness. A typical example: you are moving down a main hallway and suddenly end up in a nearby maintenance tunnel with the view of said hallway completely blocked. I'm not trying to exaggerate here, it really is this bad (and disorientating to boot) for me.
2.) Though the blind spot situation has improved over the last two days, there are still areas and equipment remaining out of view. This can be fixed. What is probably more difficult to overcome is the issue of how hard it can be to focus on a person or object of interest. Another example: to access the AI intercom on the bridge, I usually have to move counter clockwise through the whole room to find the particular camera and hope I don't get to see bridge maintenance due to lag again. It's not possible to click on "invisible" cameras (the coordinates of which would be known to the AI) either.
3.) The tracking function defaults to the nearest camera, but quite often, that camera isn't useful at all. If the guy is stationary, you can attempt to switch to a better view on your own, but doing so of course breaks the automatic tracking. Because of this and the aforementioned general jerkiness of the system, I've basically given up on trying to follow somebody around manually (don't have time to work the popup list of targets, agent card etc).
4.) Theoretically, the AI shell should be more important now with the increased amount of blind spots. In practice, it's moving rather too slow and the built-in radio is still buggy. Leaving them parked somewhere is also an invitation for random assistants to beat them to pieces and they can't be replaced.
Please keep in mind that AIs spend ~95 % of their time using nothing but the cameras, and for all intents and purposes, this update made their job significantly less enjoyable. Reminder: I'm not against the removal of x-ray, however the current implementation is in my opinion unacceptable. To be blunt, the camera system went from "clunky, but workable" to "holy shit it's annoying all of the time". My apologies for the strong language.
1.) The change fails to address any of the system's real shortcomings. It was never smooth or very precise even on an empty server with little lag, and the absence of x-ray makes things more bothersome. Limited line of sight isn't a problem for an ordinary mob - your view is for the most part fixed and it's easy for you brain to relate what you can and cannot see to your current position on the map. For the AI, jumping from camera to camera is an abrupt and unnatural way of movement, so you are now faced with a horrible mess of piecemeal peeks and large patches of blackness flying all over the screen, which lack any degree of refinement, cohesion or smoothness. A typical example: you are moving down a main hallway and suddenly end up in a nearby maintenance tunnel with the view of said hallway completely blocked. I'm not trying to exaggerate here, it really is this bad (and disorientating to boot) for me.
2.) Though the blind spot situation has improved over the last two days, there are still areas and equipment remaining out of view. This can be fixed. What is probably more difficult to overcome is the issue of how hard it can be to focus on a person or object of interest. Another example: to access the AI intercom on the bridge, I usually have to move counter clockwise through the whole room to find the particular camera and hope I don't get to see bridge maintenance due to lag again. It's not possible to click on "invisible" cameras (the coordinates of which would be known to the AI) either.
3.) The tracking function defaults to the nearest camera, but quite often, that camera isn't useful at all. If the guy is stationary, you can attempt to switch to a better view on your own, but doing so of course breaks the automatic tracking. Because of this and the aforementioned general jerkiness of the system, I've basically given up on trying to follow somebody around manually (don't have time to work the popup list of targets, agent card etc).
4.) Theoretically, the AI shell should be more important now with the increased amount of blind spots. In practice, it's moving rather too slow and the built-in radio is still buggy. Leaving them parked somewhere is also an invitation for random assistants to beat them to pieces and they can't be replaced.
Please keep in mind that AIs spend ~95 % of their time using nothing but the cameras, and for all intents and purposes, this update made their job significantly less enjoyable. Reminder: I'm not against the removal of x-ray, however the current implementation is in my opinion unacceptable. To be blunt, the camera system went from "clunky, but workable" to "holy shit it's annoying all of the time". My apologies for the strong language.