Camo spec is nice way to express one's individuality, but what about min-maxing it too? Camo is camouflage and camouflage is thing that hide you by lowering visual contrast with environment, isn't it? Jester's attention seeking camo is not really «camo», isn't it? So, my questions: [list type=decimal] [*]What difference can it make? In which cases (maybe it's more important with ECM)? [*]Which camo spec will be most effective and versatile (effective in all/most maps)? [*]Which most effective camo spec can be created on C-Bills only? [/list]
Right now it makes next to zero difference. Maybe an all black mech on a night map with ECM and the moon being in your eyes would be okay but for the most part a moving mech is too easy to spot. I have yet to see anyone power down as a tactical maneuver so camo tends to be tits on a bull.
It's probably only useful in a sniper or an ECM + cap accel light on conquest. Snipers don't have to move as much, and may well be outside the 1km limit where a targeting box will show up, or be covered by friendly ECM. A light or medium with ECM and cap accelerator may be the last mech alive and end up powering down to hide with enough points capped to win. Otherwise moving mechs are too easy to spot, so camo isn't that useful. And even with that, background matters. The maps vary too much to have a one-size fits all scheme. And dazzle camo won't work, because that is to prevent accurate distance estimation by manual methods, and distances are calculated automatically by the HUD. As an example, take the exact same plane with the same camo scheme against 2 different backgrounds: [img width=700 height=466]http://puu.sh/5bU0f.jpg[/img] Pretty big difference. If you zoom the images down to 25% scale side by side it becomes even more of a difference, the upper plane nearly disappears into the background. The camo is effective against a quick glance by a distant viewer, but won't work nearly as well when the plane is moving or the viewer is close. So we'd need the ability to change camo scheme after we know what map we're playing on. If PGI did that I'd buy a lot more schemes and colors. As it stands I'll just keep my mechs with a scheme I like the look of.
Sometimes (mostly before action starts) I shoot through smoke/trees and/or across all map (which leads to some fog). Red triangles above them helps to aim, but still it's easy to miss or to not notice when they jumped to cover. Bright colors help a lot. Especially in case of big distance, since less obscureness and many standing still mechs (because they're in process of deciding where to go and/or waiting for brawlers lead them). Half of maps tends to be a little darkish: water, dirt and rocks. Unlike bright color which tends to contrasting a lot, dark color tends to be low contrast even when completely different hue (ex. dark green is not very perceptible on dark brown). I think actually any of C-Bill color would work (maybe not red though). Should work on River City Both and Forest Colony Both, which is 4, half of maps.
I personally use the gun metal gray as much as possible. It's fairly dark and the shader attached seems to pick up the ambient color fairly well. Acts almost like reactive camo. Gun Metal vs Artic White, I die a lot more and faster in white.
If you're trying to be stealthy, your best option is to never be in LOS of the enemy. For paint, I go with unit colors. It gives something for your team to rally behind.
He means colors that represent certain mercenary groups or factions in the battle tech universe. Groups such as the Northwind Highlanders, Wacko's Rangers (if you want to get uniformly slaughtered and die in a blaze of fire) or the Gray Death Legion. Consequently you can also use Kuritan, Davion, Steiner, Liao, and Marik colors. That's what he means by unit colors. Or you can go so far as to pick out individual lances from battle tech and copy their paint job if you wish.
http://www.camospecs.com/Gallery.asp Behold, the Battletech Colour-Your-World and Benjamin Moore all rolled into one.
Indeed. The DMH's colors are Red, Yellow and Black (typical, I know). When a lance of us drop together, the rest of the team tends to listen to the Commander.
I'm a firm believer that it's 'meaningfully' hard to visually spot and hit mechs that leverage subtle/blending paint schemes. Even when they are targetable if they are at range it's hard to really tell if they are enjoying partial or full cover. However, I'm also a firm believer in having a FAAAABULOUS looking mech. Barbie dress up is *engaged* :wub: Probably in clan matches I would expect there to be some mandatory pain job for sake of min-maxing, and that is fine.
I came to like camo patterns which make it difficult to tell where exactly the side torsi are, for example Dazzle on a BJ.
Unless you're using ECM, it makes no difference at all. Can't out-camo a targeting computer. IF using ECM, then it's still a matter of chance. Some maps will camo best with sand, some to snow and some to gunmetal/dark blues. Until we can select a map and you have ECM equipped, camo is simply a way to customize your mechs and look badass. (Which is good, because, I'd be pissed if this turned any more towards pay-to-win)
I know camo isnt very effective in game, but I still look to put one one and imagine its effective. Dark to medium and dull greys, greens and blues seem to work the best. Any of the patterns are decent, as long as they are breaking up your profile and making it harder for enemies to determine what weapons you have by a visual look. I wish there was some kind of range/cover/visual spotting mechanic. So if Im on Forest Colony and hanging out in the trees by either spawn, I shouldnt immediately be able to be targeted from the other side of the map. But if Im walking in the water and not a light, I should be pretty visible. Maybe tie a module in with the lore for MAD detectors, or make the command console have a better target computer/spotting sensors. A man can dream.
I also use Gunmetal as a base for most of my mechs. It blends well on multiple maps. Then I usually mix in lighter greys for accents and patterns. I find it is useful at ranges above 600m, when protected by ECM, and during "tactical shutdowns" Lately, shutting down in a strategic location has been paying off for me. The enemy doesn't notice me even when I am not hidden vary well. Id like to thank my color choice for that, as well as BAP not being on the majority of mechs. But being in a purple and bright green mech would make "tactical shutdowns" a bit tough... I am also a firm believer in blending with your background. I don't care that there is a giant red box around my mech, most players still try to focus on a specific part of your mech. The harder it is for them to see what they want to hit, the less I give my enemy. For example, if I have a glowing red LT, but the rest of my armor is intact, I don't want to display an education style poster highlighting with big bold arrows where all of my components are. And here is the mech's Center torso notice how it smoothly transitions around this edge, here, into the LEFT torso... class dismissed.
River City Night: Cheating bastard edition Normal: Brightness 1.0: http://i.imgur.com/9N898o8.jpg[/img] Brightness and Gamma 1.0: http://i.imgur.com/pX6QBsA.jpg[/img] Then I use my video card to mess with the contrast and fix some of the washed-out look, but I can't easily screenshot that. Night Vision (and thermal vision) have a ridiculously short cut-off range, after which things just go invisible. Also, the night vision is the old photomultiplier tube + CRT green-glow style, which is silly. Even with all the lost knowledge they still have technology vastly better than what we have now. The idea that the Battletech universe hasn't invented a replacement for a photomultiplier vacuum tube instantly breaks my suspension of disbelief. The type of tube used in the green night vision systems was invented in 1937. Over 1100 years later, and they still haven't figured out how to get color?!
