Tracers

[stdyhand]

I have been noticing that I am not consistantly seeing tracers in game. The same person can continue to fire, but sometimes I see them and sometimes I don't. Recently I was being fired on by an ATG and even though the shots kept coming, I was only randomly seeing the shot coming at me. 99% of the time I take a squaddie for infantry protection from sappers and this person also helps spot for ET's and ATG's but each time this person has also said he couldn't tell where the shots were coming from due to no visual of tracers. Given the total number of shots that were hitting around me, very few had a tracer that could be seen so it was vitually impossible to tell where the shots were coming from. After about 10 shots I managed to get an idea on the direction they were coming from, but by then even the poorest shot in game could have range on the target.

I also noticed the tracers from AAA guns don't seem to be very accurate. I have been using a bofor quite a bit more lately to see if I could figure out how to accurately aim and hit planes. I used to be much more accurate under 1.30 but now there seems to be no consistancy to the shots. Nevertheless, after using the bofor quite a bit, I noticed that shots always seem to go right by the plane. Even times when I saw a puff of black smoke like I hit the plane, the tracer never appeared to be anywhere near the plane and so naturally I thought I missed.

I'll keep trying this but so far I can't help but doubt the tracers in game.

[GOPHUR]

I'd be interested in more testing. I can't today.

I'll mark this down to look at though.

[DOC]

I suspect it's due to when we made the tracers more realistic, particularly in terms of size (they used to be way bigger than life sized in the past) ... they are just much harder to see now. I'm thinking the easiest solution, and the most effective, would be to scale them back up, maybe not as large as in the past but more so than currently implemented.

[dabar0n]

I know from personal experience it is very difficult to see the new ones. I have also heard the same comment from others. Certain rides appear affected by it more than others. For example the f2 has very faint tracers and makes aiming for us terrible shots, difficult. I love the plane but it has been a reason I choose not to use it. The new tracers are great and were much needed but perhaps just need to be tweeked a little bit to compensate for the difference in what a video screen can display and what was visible in real life.

Thank you for looking into this.

S!

dab

[oyaji]

Some of us (at least) miss being able to see tracers. It would be a boon to bring them back, at least to some degree. It would be especially cool to have them brighter at night...

[DOC]

"bring them back" ... you mean "to what they were before" right ? Tracers were not taken out.

[GOPHUR]

This isn't ticketed yet but we're going to try making them a little bigger again rather than go back to the old style lazers. Doc has the ball on this.

[rote7]

Some of us (at least) miss being able to see tracers.

Are you talking about 1st or 3rd person view?

[oyaji]

"bring them back" ... you mean "to what they were before" right ? Tracers were not taken out.

Well, you sure fooled me then! The only way I can see them now is by their smoke. Maybe I would be able to see them if I turned down the brightness of my monitor a bit?

Besides that, you should see plainly what I meant when I said "bring them back, at least to some degree". I know you were sick of hearing about "layzzzorz", but I really miss being able to see tracers farther than I could see the planes firing them. Light from any source is discernable from great distances in low-ambient-light conditions, so I'd suggest at least brightening up the tracers at night and under low cloud dim light at least. It is hardly a game breaker though, and I surely wouldn't make it a high priority... unless such is merely a 2-minute change of a setting.

By the way - I really miss being able to use the old bright tracers as a tactic to draw a fleeing enemy back to combat by firing some bursts at a friendly who is with me. It is funny to see the fellow who is showing an amazingly clean pair of heels suddenly recover his "courage" and double back to fight when he thinks he has help... I nearly always got the last laugh in those situations!

Edited December 8, 2010 by oyaji

[raptor]

Thanks Doc, I too preferred the more visible tracer. Watching old gun cam video's on the History channel makes me want more visible vapor trails too, but what the heck, I'll take what I can get.

[av8]

wrong thread... sry

Edited December 9, 2010 by av8

[romzburg]

Can you control LMG tracers separately from ATG or Tanks, et al?

The LMG tracers should be small as possible, so that in daytime they are almost impossible to see.

The fact that our screen is absolutely stationary so we can squint and scan downrange allows us to instantly pinpoint things in a way that in real life is simply impossible, due to the fact that we move, duck, sweat, get eye fatigue, have difficulty picking the exact same bush 400 yards away to look at again, etc.

____________________

motormouth:

Much as Romzy's posting style can give me headaches (and the fact that he's "NEVAR WRONG!!"), that post pretty much nails it on the head.

sgtchief:

romz you['re] my damn hero

sydney:

Ya know, at first Romsburg, you rubbed me the wrong way and I wasn't a fan. But over the past 12 months, you have really grown on me. You're precise, well spoken and although you are sometimes a little harsh, you are most often correct and in proper context with your responses.

irelandeb:

indeed he's one of the few voices of common sense on these forums

jw:

If you're going to argue with Romz, do your homework before you post. He gets it, and you can't teach common sense, you have to be born with it.

pete, linc & julie:

I can't say [any]thing else [than] that the ban was justified considering that you have an 'impressive' TOS history....

owilde:

The only thing worse than being talked about is *not* being talked about.