How to Avoid Night Missions

[Captain Bipto]

Cpt. Bipto - no way!  you sure it was not a miss that hit a friendly that was standing next to an alien (dead man then, anyway)?  If the devs messed with target descrimination - mad props!

Naw I am sure there was not alien nearby cos the counter dropped.

[Aiki-Knight]

I'd like to see a couple things, done to make night More interesting:

#1: At night a light attachment on the ends of guns to give a cone of brighter light as you move (provided the game engine can handle this) and if using IR goggles and a plasma blast passes within 3-4 squares near you it blinds you for a round like a flash gren would (plasma is supposed to be as hot as the sun and probably just as bright)

I disagree with this. You don't go into night combat with a nice bright light on the end of your weapon, telling your enemy exactly where you are. The light could never illuminate enemies as far away as they could see the light. You'd only be giving them a target to shoot at. Better to let humans' natural night vision kick in after a few minutes than have agents go running around with bright targets showing the aliens where to shoot. Having the lights would seem like a good idea, except that it does more harm than good in night-fighting. The trick is to see in the dark without being seen.

[Doctor J]

Despite gallant notions of adapting to conditions, a surprising number of friendly fire incidents happen when somebody pulls the trigger w/o being absolutely sure what their barrel is pointing at.  That is why SWAT teams have tactical flashlights mounted on their guns.

[Silveressa]

If one wanted to get suitably high tech, one could use infrared flashlights (which are invisible to normal human vision) then supplement said soldiers with infrared sensitive goggles thus giving them  a clear tactical advantage. (.vs humans anyway, what spectrum of light the aliens see in is another matter entirely.)

[Winter]

If one wanted to get suitably high tech, one could use infrared flashlights (which are invisible to normal human vision) then supplement said soldiers with infrared sensitive goggles thus giving them  a clear tactical advantage. (.vs humans anyway, what spectrum of light the aliens see in is another matter entirely.)

Too fiddly. It's one of the main features of Shevaar that they have fine infrared vision, and the Ortnoks too have limited infrared sight.

Regards,
Winter

[DanielOR]

G-D I hate night missions...did in X-COM, still do here...I am solidly in the "hover and wait for daybreak" camp. 

[Darkpriest667]

G-D I hate night missions...did in X-COM, still do here...I am solidly in the "hover and wait for daybreak" camp. 

Daniel I am also part of the wait for daybreak camp.... Night missions =  more casualties civilian and team.. I'm not willing to do that

[Aiki-Knight]

Despite gallant notions of adapting to conditions, a surprising number of friendly fire incidents happen when somebody pulls the trigger w/o being absolutely sure what their barrel is pointing at.  That is why SWAT teams have tactical flashlights mounted on their guns.

What SWAT does against drug dealers is one thing. What a trained military force would do to flashlight-wielders at night is another. Flashlights could be needed in some cases, but on a large battlefield, it's exactly an invitation to get shot by anyone with a rifle. There's nothing gallant about it. I'd rather see the game get the IR goggles working, since that would likely require as much coding as a mutable light source on the end of a rifle.

[Falion]

Indeed, having a light source at the end of a firearm...just makes you a target. Consider an enemy hiding behind cover somewhere...watching for some intruder into his area. Here comes this light bouncing around all over the area...not exactly covert by any means...and a good invitation to getting shot is all it really is.