Hazard Beacon

Weylin · Post by **Weylin** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:12 am

A scout deployable device with 0 scan range and 1 hull point, a low signature of 10% or so, and possibly, a bright pulsing light.
The device would only last for a few minutes, 3-5 probably being best, but have a very low cargo usage, allowing a scout to carry many of them, (2-6 on a standard scout.)

This probe could serve a few purposes:
First would be as an indicator for ships of importance to know at what point they will be eyed. A scout flys ahead of the pack, picks up an eye while having there signature up to that of the bomber, and immediately dropping a beacon to mark this "edge". The bomber can then park behind it, and wait for reinforcements.
(You can always tell the bomber "350% Eye at 1300 from aleph" but this leaves a visual, and will probably reinforce the fact that, if they pass this very object, they WILL be eyed unless it was able to be cleared.)

The second use would be as a waypoint flag for when hunting for eyes. When a scout is eyed, they drop one of these probes as a "reminder" of that being the edge of an enemy's scan range, such as that of a stealth bomber or TP scout. When many of these are pieced together, it's then possible to find the "center" of these beacons. It's easily countered by facing your ship in a constantly different direction and moving around.
(Otherwise I have to use a dry erase marker on my monitor to mark the spots, or place EWS probes (that last far too long for this) in pointless spots)

If you find that an aleph is mined and/or droned, you can place a hazard beacon next to the entrance as a reminder to other pilots later on not to blast through it at top speed.

Icon:

Probe itself could just use the caltrop model

PS
Could this be discussed at all without calling me an idiot, spammer, clueless voob or outright locking it immediately? Please?
I know how vets dislike change, especially changes that are not an absolutely necessary one, and that new users want to add all there @#(! to "fix" the game or make it "fun".
But... would this cause any possible imbalance? Would it be difficult to add? Would it be abused too much somehow?

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:14 am

making a giant pulsing light isn't excessively difficult.

Makida · Post by **Makida** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:33 pm

That sounds pretty cool. A very basic, harmless thing that with a bit of creativity could be used for all sorts of stuff. The only problem, I think, is that there'd be no way to turn it "off" (unless that experimental mode thing where probes always act as if FF is on is implemented, and applied to this too). Rather than a short lifespan it'd be nice if it had a long lifespan, but could be killed once the hazard/eye/whatever was gone. But, in the absence of this option, it sounds awesome.

Icky · Post by **Icky** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:57 pm

It could also be fun to set up runways with it, and would make a lot of new options for probe art: PULSING PROBEART!

spideycw · Post by **spideycw** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:07 pm

Frankly this just sounds like a way to just dumb down Allegiance

Adam4 · Post by **Adam4** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:12 pm

What insect said.

Hermit · Post by **Hermit** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:21 pm

Problems:

1. A scout loaded with probes or prox is much much more usefeul than a scout loaded with these beacons. Using these would take a pilot away from doing useful things instead - thus pissing the comm off.

2. The generic (0) will pretty sure use them, usually at the wrong places so any kind of information these beacons provide would be first incorrect, then outright ignored from like day 2.

3. You can ignore a wrong command or ignore a wrong voicechat coming in, but you can't ignore these beacons even if they aren't valid.

I'm sure there are other problems as well but I think this stuff would be more annoying than useful in-game. I'm pretty sure _I_ wouldn't want to encounter an annoying bright light which only would just get me started thinking about what danger it represents and thus breaking up concentration on other tasks.

Besides, coordinating between a bomber and a forward scout is part of the teamwork and the fun. Why make it automated?

Edit: What they said (they were faster

)

Broodwich · Post by **Broodwich** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:22 pm

use a probe

uberkill · Post by **uberkill** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:56 pm

It sounds awesome, but if you think about it, it's probably better to do this with probes, they have a chance of seeing what you're hunting for. Besides, I've never heard a comm complain about TOO MANY probes.
But, I do like the probe art possibilities

Psychosis · Post by **Psychosis** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:18 pm

I really do like the sound of this for sheer cool factor, however, i dont see much functional use beyond the "ohh pretty" aspect