walpurgis nacht Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Would someone do me the favor, humbly if possible, of explaining what they mean by "death clock"? In reading the posts I assume it refers to armor that actually isn't "knocked out", rather, overwhelmed by fire and scared the crew into abandoning. Is this correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Originally posted by Walpurgis Night: Would someone do me the favor, humbly if possible, of explaining what they mean by "death clock"? In reading the posts I assume it refers to armor that actually isn't "knocked out", rather, overwhelmed by fire and scared the crew into abandoning. Is this correct?from this thread: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=000282 karch Member Member # 3292 posted September 03, 2002 06:25 PM From my understanding of when BFI was describing it, this is all part of making the "Death Clock" work. Again, this is my understanding and may be wrong. Once crews leave the tank, the computer knows it is truly knocked out. The enemy sees it too. Programming limitation, no way around that. Keeping the crew inside the tank even though we know it is KOd and the crew is leaving is the only way they could have the enemy not know it is being abandoned. Because there are still troops in the tank, it is not listed as dead and the AI or even you, may still target it to be safe. The downside/byproduct of this is the crew stays inside the tank longer possibly all getting KOd by a catastrophic explosion. I understand that there are only 2 options for vehicles. Manned/active and dead/abandoned/KOd If there were a 3rd option, abandoned by the enemy doesn't know it yet, that would be great, but I understood that it couldn't be done with the engine and that this is the closet thing that could be done. Given the option of having my troops too long abandoning a vehicle to increase the unknown variable compared to knowing instantly if any vehicle is KOd or abandoned, I'll take the new version. I love it. I rarely have any use for crews, so the few that get roasted because they were too slow due to the death clock will be more than offset by the increased realism of not knowing what vehicles are truly dead. karch Member Member # 3292 posted September 08, 2002 11:27 AM I'm sure I read that the delay you see has nothing to do with how long it really takes people to bail from tanks, but to add the feature of the enemy not knowing your tank is actually dead yet and still fire at it. Once thee tank is actually abandond, the enemy knows it and would never keep firing at it (one of the cool new features). It's the only way they could figure out to have the tank effectively knocked out but not have the enemy know it for sure. I really think this has nothing at all to do with how long it takes someone to climb out of a tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snarker Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Your target is out of action, but it is not yet apparent to the firing unit. The death clock is the period of time it takes your unit to realize the target is finished. Your unit will continue to fire until the death clock expires and either the crew bails or your unit becomes very sure everyone inside is dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 You may not realise how big a deal the inclusion of death clock is if you haven't played the earlier CMBO. Death clock makes you use up precious ammunition, death clock makes you chew your fingernails while watching the playback. Imagine a chess game where the knight had to beat on the Bishop for awhile before you knew if you took the square or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Weiss Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 In lay terms, it represents that period of time between the first indication of something gone awry, and the final awful verbal confirmation of; Aw sh&t! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 If the tank has been hit and it is not burning it may or it may not be damaged, if it is damaged and the crew has decided to abandon, then there is a random time factor called the "Death Clock" which determines the random time between when the crew decides to bail and the enemy can see and KNOW the crew has bailed and the tank is dead. In between that time the enemy cannot KNOW for sure if the tank is dead or just playing dead, it could be shocked and idle but not damaged, the Death Clock makes sure the enemy cannot know until it sees smoke or the crew abandon the tank, whether the tank remains a threat or not, so JUST to be sure the TAC AI knows it must continue to fire on the "idle" tank until it sees the crew abandon or it sees the target on fire, during this time the death clock is ticking, when it expires the enemy then knows for SURE the tank is dead. I think that covers it. OK? -tom w [ October 16, 2002, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walpurgis nacht Posted October 16, 2002 Author Share Posted October 16, 2002 Got it. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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