Speculation on Undisclosed Elements

[WarGimp]

There's a few elements of BF2142 that have been mentioned or aluded to, but haven't had any real info released about 'em yet. These are things I'm itchin ta see.

Fighters and Bombers.
Dice mentioned that they weren't ready to show of their futuristic planes yet. There was a direct comment about fighters, but nothing about bombers so far. My guess is that all will have VTOL capability and will act like vectored thrust planes (ie, be very manevuerable). Beyond that... clueless here.

'Chute replacement
They've said that parachutes have been removed and replaced with something else. What that something is... who knows? It's not jetpacks... they said that much. There's been rumors of "Landing Pods" that you can stear to the ground, but I find that rather unlikely since they would be one shot deals and would impair movement as compaired to previous games. Me, I'm thinking good 'ol low tech ropes. I'm hoping to see refinements made in the grappling hooks mechanics from SF and given to all classes. Bump up mobility all round and make things more interesting.

Tanks
Apparently Mechs aren't tank replacements. This suggests that we're likely to see tanks remaining on the field. I suspect they'll have lower mobility, but pack a bigger main gun than mechs. It's possible that they might go with hover tanks... but I personally hope to see some good old treads in there. Nothing beats tracks for ground contact and stability.

Sensors/detection systems
Nothing has been said about this at all. I'm hoping there'll be some improvement over BF2's Scan and UAV system. I'd love to see vehicle mounted sensors and radar emplacements. Tribes 2 remains the best sensor system I've seen implemented in a game and there's no reason that BF2142 couldn't/shouldn't surpass it. A comand controled UAV that acts like an RTS point and click drone unit would be a cool step. A kit focused on recon with a portable sensorpack would be very cool.

Command System
Again, nothing much has been said about what refinements we can expect for command. As mentioned above, I'd like to see a UAV that acts more like an RTS unit... but maybe some combat drones as well as recon focused.

I'm sure there's more as yet unmentioned/undisclosed elements that I haven't brought up here. What's for folk's thoughts?

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

Accounts
I'm curious as to how they're going to deal with the Stat integration from BF2 to 2142. It's pretty obvious that they need to port over all existing accounts to that game because you now how people are... everyone's account would get hijacked by people that bought the game earlier and want to 'mess around'.

BF Recorder
I haven't read any mention of BF recorder and if it's going to be used again. I think it was a great tool that needed some tweaking.

Mod Porting
If they make it easy for mods to port over to the new game, they could utilize the cool effects and features of the updated engine. Perhaps a porting tool is in order? It shouldn't be too hard since the engine is the same, right?

[RSS_TheGryffon]

Fighters and Bombers.
Dice mentioned that they weren't ready to show of their futuristic planes yet. There was a direct comment about fighters, but nothing about bombers so far. My guess is that all will have VTOL capability and will act like vectored thrust planes (ie, be very manevuerable). Beyond that... clueless here.

EMP bombs perchance?

'Chute replacement
They've said that parachutes have been removed and replaced with something else. What that something is... who knows? It's not jetpacks... they said that much. There's been rumors of "Landing Pods" that you can stear to the ground, but I find that rather unlikely since they would be one shot deals and would impair movement as compaired to previous games. Me, I'm thinking good 'ol low tech ropes. I'm hoping to see refinements made in the grappling hooks mechanics from SF and given to all classes. Bump up mobility all round and make things more interesting.

gravity cushions?

Tanks
Apparently Mechs aren't tank replacements. This suggests that we're likely to see tanks remaining on the field. I suspect they'll have lower mobility, but pack a bigger main gun than mechs. It's possible that they might go with hover tanks... but I personally hope to see some good old treads in there. Nothing beats tracks for ground contact and stability.
Mechs would be interesting if they were just exo-skeletons like Aliens and Matrix, but my god they better put tanks in

Sensors/detection systems
Nothing has been said about this at all. I'm hoping there'll be some improvement over BF2's Scan and UAV system. I'd love to see vehicle mounted sensors and radar emplacements. Tribes 2 remains the best sensor system I've seen implemented in a game and there's no reason that BF2142 couldn't/shouldn't surpass it. A comand controled UAV that acts like an RTS point and click drone unit would be a cool step. A kit focused on recon with a portable sensorpack would be very cool.
proximity sensors would be great for flag defense, if the commander drops down a proxy sensor in an area a certain radius will be monitored (ie flag, assets) and a "uav" type alarm is activated on the map

Command System
Again, nothing much has been said about what refinements we can expect for command. As mentioned above, I'd like to see a UAV that acts more like an RTS unit... but maybe some combat drones as well as recon focused.
Wouldnt want to guess

[WarGimp]

Spet: I was focusing more on actual game elements... but those are good points to raise too. Atleast they've confirmed the existance of an in-game buddy list!

On the BattleRecorder, yeah some tweaking is required, but I see some limitations in the current system. Not being able to scan back isn't a missing feature... it's a MAJOR problem for the system.

Gryffon; Esh. No grav cusshions please! Doesn't fit with the general focus on plausible technology. We have no science that can even start to explain how you'd make something like that.

[Sevigon]

Spetsnaz']Accounts
I'm curious as to how they're going to deal with the Stat integration from BF2 to 2142. It's pretty obvious that they need to port over all existing accounts to that game because you now how people are... everyone's account would get hijacked by people that bought the game earlier and want to 'mess around'.


Seriously. Community forums would be flooded with "WATCH OUT FOR ######, NAME STEALER"

[ReaperOfsouls]

What is VTOL? I think its verticle takeoff and landing am I correct? In the pc gamer article they did say the kets would be useing VTOL whatever that is.

About tanks, they are going to be in along with mechs. The Mechs will be an added thing they are not taking tanks out.

The meck will have chain guns, an AA gun ontop of it and an anti tank missle on it.

Also, do you think they are going to roll stats Over?

I hope they fix the name thing and make it like Americas Army. Where the account is tied into your email address not your name. I doubt this will be fixed what do you think?

[RSS_TheGryffon]

Gryffon; Esh. No grav cusshions please! Doesn't fit with the general focus on plausible technology. We have no science that can even start to explain how you'd make something like that.

are you entirely sure about that ;)

[WarGimp]

TheGryffon']are you entirely sure about that ;)
Quite.
Not without using bottled micro blackholes, anyway. I would seriously have doubts about the wisdom of putting contained blackholes of any size in the hands of a bunch of grunts then asking them to jump out of aircraft...

Then again, that could make for one hell of a bombing campaign.
:p (<-- that's a very gay emote!)

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

Spet: I was focusing more on actual game elements...

In that case...

Infantry Maps
Hate to say it, but I'm a huge fan of infantry maps. Some people tell me to go *bleep* myself and play CS, Americas Army or Rainbow Six ... but that's just not the same. The sheer size of the maps in BF2 makes infantry battles, both large and small, very interesting. There is alot of room to maneuver and plenty of room for tactics.

The discouraging part about armor is that for players like myself who don't like using armor, it's a big nuisance. In my opinion, armored vehicles should not be so easy to control because of the amount of firepower that they bring.

It seems logical to me, seeing it's alot more difficult to succeed as a good tanker or pilot in the military. You can do more damage in an Abrams, but it takes alot more coordination and brains to manage. Infantry, on the other hand, is very straight forward and simply requires good reaction times and alot of guts (thus, grunts).

I'm sure that DICE has seen the percentage of players that play on Karkand 24/7 servers. There's a reason for that percentage... the majority of folks love urban warfare.

In my opinion, to accomplish non-urban warfare well, you need to give each side a -ton- of armored vehicles so that no one is stuck walking. The terrain should seem logical. For instance, Gulf of Oman just doesn't make sense in the way that it was mapped. Everyone seemed so cluttered together.

To further my point, infantry also have a distinct disadvantage by not being able to enter most buildings. This means that they must stay in the street, under the barrel of armored vehicles.

The frustrating part about all of this is that it often creates a mood of "there's nothing I can do about it". This causes players to get angry call people "armor whores" and other things.

Cloaking
I keep hearing all of these things about cloaking. What troubles me about this is the flag hopping problem we have with Conquest mode right now.

Even on the proper map size-to-player ratio, certain people often make it a habit to just run by everyone at full speed (directly across the frontline) and simply cap a flag in the back.

Good natured players usually chase these people all the way back. Veteran players like myself are simply tired of chasing around the flag hoppers and want to fight, so we ignore the flag hopper and continue on our merry way.

It seems to me that cloaking will be used to bypass defenses and start capping flags in the back.... a little too often. Maps could possibly degrade into team A chasing team B for 20 minutes.

Screen Clutter
To keep a nominal framerate, I'm forced to play at 1024x768. These means 3 things:

1) Everytime someone initiates a kick vote, I get a nice long message that distracts me. (this means it happens all round).
2) Everytime someone types a long sentence, it gets in my way. Especially those players that like to add about 100 spaces to make it seem like their text is in the middle of the screen.
3) Certain game bugs like ("Squad Size Limit Reached") get spammed across the bottom left of my screen, also distracting me.

It would be nice to have the option of customizing your hud.

--

A bit tired and doing some work so I can't think of anything else for now.

[Splinter]

well from the little knowledge I have of Bf2142, The main issue Im worry'ed about is this stealth kit. Just the thought of an entire team running around with cloak on, is well think C-4 chucking before it got fixed.

[WarGimp]

Spetsnaz']In that case...

You'll toss another couple curve balls.
:p (gah! We need less marshmellow emotes! Find a mean lookin set!)

Infantry Maps
Hate to say it, but I'm a huge fan of infantry maps. Some people tell me to go *bleep* myself and play CS, Americas Army or Rainbow Six ... but that's just not the same. The sheer size of the maps in BF2 makes infantry battles, both large and small, very interesting. There is alot of room to maneuver and plenty of room for tactics.

The discouraging part about armor is that for players like myself who don't like using armor, it's a big nuisance. In my opinion, armored vehicles should not be so easy to control because of the amount of firepower that they bring.

[snipe]

The frustrating part about all of this is that it often creates a mood of "there's nothing I can do about it". This causes players to get angry call people "armor whores" and other things.

I suspect that BF2142 is going to be the most vehicle-centric BF game yet. That's not to say that infantry won't be important, but these vehicles are looking mean. Infantry will have to play smart and hard. They're gonna get chewed, but they'll still be the backbone. I play the groundpounder most often myself, but I don't get ticked by vehicle usage. They're an element of challenge and thinking "TANK!! RUN!!" is a big part of BF2's charm fer me.

Still, yeah, I hope they have some good infantry maps. Burned out cities, icey craigs, forests... maybe even an underground complex. Places where it's never going to be practical to bring vehicles.

I'd like to see more of a mix of vehicle focused maps too. Tank focused maps, Mech maps, plane maps, or infantry with transport ship support. More elements and more varied use of them makes me :D


Cloaking
I keep hearing all of these things about cloaking. What troubles me about this is the flag hopping problem we have with Conquest mode right now.

Even on the proper map size-to-player ratio, certain people often make it a habit to just run by everyone at full speed (directly across the frontline) and simply cap a flag in the back.

Good natured players usually chase these people all the way back. Veteran players like myself are simply tired of chasing around the flag hoppers and want to fight, so we ignore the flag hopper and continue on our merry way.

It seems to me that cloaking will be used to bypass defenses and start capping flags in the back.... a little too often. Maps could possibly degrade into team A chasing team B for 20 minutes.

Ouch. Are you serious about the bolded bit?
Man... a big part of holding a modern line is picking off people trying to bust it. As a ground pounder, you really need to be falling back and nailing those guys sneaking through. I can't stand watching players ignore them when I'm commanding and spotting those guys out. Being a vet means you should be smart enough to know that it's important.

That said, I share your fear. I wasn't a big fan of the way cloaks worked out in Tribes 2. I thought it disrupted gameplay much more than it added to it. Yeah, defending against cloakers was another element... but it was primarily an annoying one and felt like a waste of time more than a challenge.

Hopefully the cloak will be balanced enough as to not be a pain in the rear.

Screen Clutter
To keep a nominal framerate, I'm forced to play at 1024x768. These means 3 things:

1) Everytime someone initiates a kick vote, I get a nice long message that distracts me. (this means it happens all round).
2) Everytime someone types a long sentence, it gets in my way. Especially those players that like to add about 100 spaces to make it seem like their text is in the middle of the screen.
3) Certain game bugs like ("Squad Size Limit Reached") get spammed across the bottom left of my screen, also distracting me.

It would be nice to have the option of customizing your hud.

--

A bit tired and doing some work so I can't think of anything else for now.
You can edit those screen messages in your localized files. There's a big thread on how to do it on TBF2. It would be better if you could do it through the user interface. Also, being able to move hud elements around in a point 'n drag format would kick a lot of arse. I'm not sure why that hasn't become a more popular feature in FPSs yet.

[WarGimp]

well from the little knowledge I have of Bf2142, The main issue Im worry'ed about is this stealth kit. Just the thought of an entire team running around with cloak on, is well think C-4 chucking before it got fixed.
Hehe... ya know, I hadden't thought about the possibility of a cloak squad. That could actually be quite fun to do and would take some good teamwork.

I'm betting the cloak will have a very limited active time. To move as a cloaked group, you'll have to sync that time up while dashing from cover to cover letting the thing recharge.

I've been thinking nasty thoughts about the cloak until just now.

I really like the idea of trying to pull off "a band of ninjas" type raids.

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

I suspect that BF2142 is going to be the most vehicle-centric BF game yet. That's not to say that infantry won't be important, but these vehicles are looking mean. Infantry will have to play smart and hard. They're gonna get chewed, but they'll still be the backbone. I play the groundpounder most often myself, but I don't get ticked by vehicle usage. They're an element of challenge and thinking "TANK!! RUN!!" is a big part of BF2's charm fer me.

Still, yeah, I hope they have some good infantry maps. Burned out cities, icey craigs, forests... maybe even an underground complex. Places where it's never going to be practical to bring vehicles.

I'd like to see more of a mix of vehicle focused maps too. Tank focused maps, Mech maps, plane maps, or infantry with transport ship support. More elements and more varied use of them makes me :D

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like vehicles. In DC, one of my favorite maps was 73 Eastings because of the way they pulled it off.

I just find that armor is so easy to use that by mixing in with infantry for balance causes alot of situations where players are unable to defend themselves. They can't run, they can't hide. The disadvantages of armored vehicles are:

a) Can't go in buildings (without reducing them to rubble :P)
b) Can't go in tight spaces.
c) Has limited field of view at close ranges.

None of these disadvantages can be exercised in the game because:

a) Infantry can't go into buildings either.
b) Most tanks can just roll on the curb and get inside the tight spaces. They're like giant dune buggies.
c) The turrent moves around really fast and the tanks can move back forth quickly so they can react in split seconds and run down infantry as if they were chasing on foot.

Ouch. Are you serious about the bolded bit?

Dead serious. Some people hate my gameplay tactics for it.

When I just started playing BF2, I chased down the flags with everyone else. I even got pissed when others didnt do the same.

At some point I started experiencing some great firefights and now I just play to relive those moments.. which happen quite often. I usually pick 2 flags that I need to hold and hold them for the entire round, regardless of what happens.

I know that it may seem selfish, but I just don't see the fun in chasing down down grey flags. This is why I'm a big advocate of Push maps and Objective based maps.

Oh, and DC/BF1942/BFVietnam were much different. Those games had much fewer flags (Eastings had 2 cappable flags, Bashra Nights had 3 or 4 cappable flags, Urban Seige had like 4 or 5 if remember right).

In BF2, a dense urban map like Karkand has 9 (or is it 8?) cappable flags. That's a whole ton of flags to keep track of and makes it way too easy for the back flags to get capped.

You can edit those screen messages in your localized files. There's a big thread on how to do it on TBF2. It would be better if you could do it through the user interface. Also, being able to move hud elements around in a point 'n drag format would kick a lot of arse. I'm not sure why that hasn't become a more popular feature in FPSs yet.

Yea, I know. I edited the TK message so it shows what weapon did the teamkilling. It's still not a very straight forward method and frankly I dont have the time screw around with all of those files.

[ReaperOfsouls]

Hehe... ya know, I hadden't thought about the possibility of a cloak squad. That could actually be quite fun to do and would take some good teamwork.

I'm betting the cloak will have a very limited active time. To move as a cloaked group, you'll have to sync that time up while dashing from cover to cover letting the thing recharge.

I've been thinking nasty thoughts about the cloak until just now.

I really like the idea of trying to pull off "a band of ninjas" type raids.

Lol ya that would be bad ***. I can't wait till E3.

[Ownerofall]

it screens i have seen some hovering stuff (ie rockets under so hover like f35), i think that will replace helicopter

[UK-Sniper]

will there be 128 player, like it said bf2 would have 128 players but didnt. Also it would be nice if the maps did shrink size untill enough players joined to go to the next size like magazines made it sound before it came out. I hope you can move freely in dropships.

[straylight]

Spetz you read my mind on most points, Im impressed and happy ot notice someone else with my point of view.

I'm a HUGE fan of infantry games/ maps. They're jusrt more fun. The thought of squads and such trampling through abandoned buildings in a coordinated assualt... Yipeee...

I think the 'cloak' bit will have to be tweaked though, I'd imagine it wears off when you fire or something like that, otherwise jeez... run into enemy territory and knife everyone. I've seen no pics of cloak so i can only imagine its a bit like the 'predator camoflauge'.

Looks good to me though.

[[MyIS]Spetsnaz]

I've seen no pics of cloak so i can only imagine its a bit like the 'predator camoflauge'.

Watch this video again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2b6NOCjFaI&search=new%20battlefield

About 3/4 into the movie, you should see 3 soldiers attacking in formation. They'll be runnming and shooting. Then they'll reload while running. About 3-4 seconds after that you'll see a cloaked "thing".

[ReaperOfsouls]

well from the little knowledge I have of Bf2142, The main issue Im worry'ed about is this stealth kit. Just the thought of an entire team running around with cloak on, is well think C-4 chucking before it got fixed.

I read in the article that you have to turn cloak off before you plany the c4.

The discouraging part about armor is that for players like myself who don't like using armor, it's a big nuisance. In my opinion, armored vehicles should not be so easy to control because of the amount of firepower that they bring.

I love spec ops I have about 240 hours with that kit. I like the armor even thoight I very rarly use it. Its an added challenge. You just to know how to distract there attection and sneak up on them. It took me 10 hours to learn how do it but now im a master at it.

Just do somethign to get the tank to look away from you and sneak up on him and plant c4 then run away and blow it.

If he is constantly rotating his turret just wait till he looks away from you, run up ot him and go prone(getting into his blindspot) plat c4 when he looks away again run away and blow it up.

Also use your noob team mates to an advantage.

[straylight]

Also use your noob team mates to an advantage.


I only do this if they deserve it, most of the time I try to look out for my squadmates. I have to admit its damn fun to use a bragging jackass as bait to take down a problematic foe...

[Punisher18]

they should replace the parachuites with boot thrusters. suppose x is the activate button. You press x and than move like your walking but it can only slow your decent, that way people cant use it to fly up.

[Raphael]

Spetsnaz']Accounts
I'm curious as to how they're going to deal with the Stat integration from BF2 to 2142. It's pretty obvious that they need to port over all existing accounts to that game because you now how people are... everyone's account would get hijacked by people that bought the game earlier and want to 'mess around'.


Good point if they dont do this i can only imagine if blazin or firestorm actually get there names.

[Ownerofall]

Good point if they dont do this i can only imagine if blazin or firestorm actually get there names.

millions of pts on the way...

[NoRC]

About Cloaking....

Personally im looking forward to it... I loved it in the Tribes series and it was never a huge issue there. The maps in that game were massive and in Tribes 2 they put the large BF2 maps to shame.

My guess is, if its based anything off the tribes series which BF2142 looks like it is (Mechs, Ground, Air, Inf, Cloaking, Sensors etc)... then the SENSORS will do as they did in Tribes. Put a sensor down so that your defense system can see the intruder. On the same token, the pack has a limited effictive range so that you can im guessing only use it for a period before its engergy is drained and you need to recharge it. All in all... Im looking forward to Cloaking.

Besides... nothing says I love your cloak more than a few sticks of C4 sitting around a flag. I mean its not like you wont notice a flag dropping as it gets capped... failing that a few granades or airstrike will do the trick. All else failing just make sure you avoid any fire untill their pack runs out :)

[$kelet0r]

I wonder if the cloaking devices for snipers mean that we will see infra red goggles or something similar

[Sharp]

Here's your parachute replacement:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2797/ha042166th6ge.jpg (http://www.somua.com/Up/Images/4-2006/HA-Parasphere-1.jpg)

[WarGimp]

Here's your parachute replacement:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2797/ha042166th6ge.jpg (http://www.somua.com/Up/Images/4-2006/HA-Parasphere-1.jpg)
I really don't like that solution. Plausible technology is one of the design focuses for BF2142 and there's no tech that could even start to explain how such a field could be generated... especially in a man portable form.

Gimmie ropes and I'll be a happy player.
:D

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

TheGryffon']gravity cushions?

That's exactly what I was thinking.

It would be cool if they gave off that ripple effect in the air when they were used. They should also be able to send anyone about 5-10ft near the gravity cushion flying.

For a more plausible idea, the "gravity cushion" could be replaced with a force being shot downward when you reach a certain elevation, and the power of this force becomes greater as time passes.
ie. You jump out of a chopper from 300m and start falling to the ground. As soon as you reach about 30m, the force starts acting at low power, and as you fall to the ground, the force's power increases.



OR....



Each marine is equiped with an aboject that is shot at the ground as he jumps from the chopper, plane, whatever. This object created a stong magnetic or whatever field that the jumper is jumping into which repels him. The field and his suit can sense his velocity, and automatically adjust the repelling force acordingly.

[WarGimp]

The problem with using any kind of field is that you blow away plausibility instantly. There's no such thing as a "gravity" cushion. We can't make gravity. You'd need micro blackholes to do it and I'm perty sure you don't want to be handing those out to grunts jumping outta aircraft! Magnatism wouldn't really work either. You'd need such a powerful magnetic field that it would likely kill you (They can kill you. The iron in you blood is magnetic).

Inflatible airbags would be much more efficent... but would be kinda stupid.

A silicon based gell that's stored super compressed and foams when released might work... but extraction might be dificult.
"Whee!!"
*Glorp*
"Ah, guys? Get me outta here!!"

Retrothrusters of some kind could possibly work, but they'd be bulky, one shot affairs. Currently, the best rocket fuel avalible can only provide 30 seconds worth of flight in the very best jetpacks. Anymore and noone could stand under the weight of the pack.

I still like ropes. An integrated grapple hook/zipline/repelling rope would be very effective and we can easily imagine that there could be some very strong/thin ropes by then. Synthetic spider silk (http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/spider/page4h.htm) would be very strong and very light. Coupled with a harness and a micro winch, it would boost a grunts mobility drasicly.

Yeah, I am a science geek. Wanna make something of it?
:p

[David Champion]

Can't be that hard to intergrate accounts, can it?

I mean Special forces is dependant on BF2 as it's an expansion, but they could make 2142 a Standalone and still have it be BF2 dependant? or just make it an expansion entirely and there you go.

I'm thinking HALO diving the same way it is now in BF2 and once you get to a certain point you have a landing jelly A La' Final Fantasy :eek: , or a Landing buffer of some sort? Jet boots? not the same as Jet packs but...

I'm curious how EMPs'll play in this will I go black on my screen if I am in a MECH or will it be statickie?

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

So with the ropes, the marine could shoot a hook from the chopper into the ground and zip down, slowly descelerating near the end. I'm not sure if this would be plausible when jumping from a jet, which is a fast moving platform. Also, the height in which the jumper descends from can cause problems. Will the marine's rope be hundreds of meters long?

How will they jump out of fast moving or extremely high-up platforms?

[WarGimp]

Hrm. Good point.

Maybe when jumping out of a fast moving/high altitude aircraft you'd have to do a little spiderman action to avoid *spat*?

[NiSsE]

we will see when the demo is released

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

I hope it's released before summer (the demo), but that's highly unlikely.

[Splinter]

Also use your noob team mates to an advantage.

yep 90% of the time the only thing your team mates are good for, is they give the enemy someone else to shoot at

[PsYcHo.KiLLa]

Sadly, that's true. I hope that's not the case in BF2142.