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Suggestion: "cowering" for exposed vehicle crews and passengers


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I think we've had this problem for quite some time: halftrack and AFV crews getting killed by bullets, because they're unwilling (for AFV commander and HT gunner) or unable (HT passenger) to duck their heads under hails of bullets.

I propose we introduce a suppression mechanism for exposed vehicle crews similar to infantry, but instead of reducing them to the state of "cower", vehicle crews will be prompted to "sit back" into their buttoned positions when under suppression. When the hails of bullets have stopped, they pop back up by themselves, with no player intervention: just like with cowered infantry.

AFV commanders do button themselves up currently, but it is way too late. It looks like the game engine do not exert the same level of suppression to AFV crews compared to out-in-the-open infantry, as their suppression level only goes up when hit by a large enough cannon round. But for an unbuttoned TC or gunner, they should be treated like exposed infantry.

And yes we can already do this for HT gunner and AFV commander with manual control, but apparently it is not in a timely fashion when a turn is in progress, and it is tedious when there're lots of vehicles under your command.

For HT passenger, the space in the back of HT is cramped, so it would be uncomfortable for the riders to always hunch down. But they should... under bullet fire. When the bullet fire stops, they pop back up to stretch their limbs, which makes sense.

And maybe it can even be copied to tank riders in CMRT. At least hunching down reduces their target cross section when getting shot.

The details need to be hashed out for sure. Most obvious one: suppression level usually applies to an entire squad, but how to apply it only to the commander/gunner. Maybe the game engine can assume a split squad between him and the rest of the crew when an unbutton command is given... or something like that. It certainly requires some effort to implement this but I really hope BF can consider it for the next engine upgrade.

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I agree. I want my TC's unbuttoned for as long as possible to help with spotting, but in the middle of a turn it's not possible to have them button up at the first sign of danger. There are many times I will be watching a replay and screaming at my TC's "button up you idiot you're getting shot at!". Most of the time vehicle crew don't button up until bullets actually impact on the vehicle, and 7 out of 10 times that's usually too late.

 

Right now it's a trade-off, either you drive around buttoned up all the time, or you just accept that a few tank commanders are gonna die. I usually do the latter.

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I've lost count of the times I've yelled at my tank commanders in somewhat more expletive-laden language than Slim's when the lead has started flying. It would be nice if the moment the words "Hit, front turret" appeared on screen the commander buttoned up. Although I suspect if that was built into the game, we would then get people complaining that commanders were buttoning-up too quickly.

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