Commanders!
Last week, we’ve unveiled one of the most important American Dream season features – Mechanized Infantry!
Since then, we have collected a number of your questions regarding this topic and, today, we’d like to give you the answers to the most commonly asked ones. Without further ado, here they are.
What are your thoughts regarding making coaxial and cupola-mounted MGs usable, now that they would actually serve a purpose – fighting infantry?
That's something we want to look into after the initial Mechanized Infantry feedback and statistics are in. It's far more effective to balance MI's attack power first and only after that balance special anti-infantry countermeasures (and coax MGs are basically purely anti-infantry). However, the general plan is to add coax MGs to the game as semi-automatic fire mode, since the infantry needs those countermeasures in any case. That would mean that right-clicking an enemy soldier would make the coax MG open fire on the targeted squad.
Will the AI opponents also be able to use Mechanized Infantry?
Not in Update 0.30. It’s something we are planning to look into in Update 0.31 but, again, it’s far easier to properly balance the feature for PvP and only consider its use by the AI afterwards.
How about making a special Infantry type that would repair your or allied vehicles?
Maybe in the future, more squad types are planned for Update 0.31 and beyond. First, we have to get the three basic ones working properly.
Will the Mortar Squad have a minimum range?
Yes, but not that big – we’re talking about perhaps 40 meters here. This is a bit shorter than the actual minimum mortar range, which is around 80-100 meters. However, the final decision will be taken after seeing the PTS results (yes, there will be a PTS round for this feature).
How easy to spot will a Mechanized Infantry squad be?
Each squad will have its own camouflage factor that will work the same way as it does for vehicles, ranging from approximately 40% camouflage for the Mortar Squad to 75% for a sniper. This may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that MI will also use the 50 meter automatic spotting range rule. In practice, the actual spotting range for a sniper versus a 500m viewrange vehicle would look like this:
50 + (500 - 50) * (1 - 0.75) = 162m
Additionally, infantry also loses camouflage for firing. But, in any case, it will be harder to spot than a tank (which is completely logical).
The T-15 is rather powerful already, contrary to the Rosomaks and Cobras, which do need quite a buff to be decent. Won't that make the T-15 a bit too strong?
Most infantry-carrying vehicles actually do need a buff to perform at least decently. For the few that don’t, we'll review their performance after the introduction of Mechanized Infantry and will take steps to make sure they do not overperform, including possibly limiting their infantry options.
Will the infantry use buildings as cover?
Infantry AI does recognize covers and can go around them to engage targets or to dodge enemy tanks. However, infantry using "pop out, shoot, then get back into cover" tactic turned out to be very annoying during internal playtesting, which is why we decided to not let them do it, at least while we haven't enabled coaxial MGs for tanks to use. Currently, stealth is infantry's best protection and it doesn’t take much effort to take down a squad when spotted. As for whether the infantry will be able to enter and occupy buildings to turn them into ad-hoc fortifications – that’s currently not planned.
Will we see infantry in future PvE missions without vehicles, just as an enemy?
Yes, that’s planned for the next series of Special Operations that are coming in Update 0.31.
Does infantry carry limited or unlimited ammunition?
It's currently unlimited, but we may introduce some limits depending on how it performs.
Will commander skills affect infantry?
Regular commander skills will not affect deployed infantry squads, even though they can be used against it (i.e. Erin's spot-through-foliage skill would help your vehicle see enemy infantry through foliage but would not help your own infantry). We are planning to introduce infantry-specific commander skills later, such as "increase your infantry's camouflage factor by 10%."
Will it be possible for the infantry to hold fire and only engage the enemy when commanded to do so?
We plan to let players order their infantry to open or hold fire, but that's likely to come later.
Can the mortars or rocket teams aim in front of moving vehicles in order to hit them?
Yes, but not very well. This is a deliberate choice to make staying mobile a valid anti-infantry tactic.
Will the infantry have its own AI-controlled abilities such as target designation?
We plan to let the deployed snipers designate targets in the future. As for giving the AI vehicles some abilities of their own, we don't want to do that. Given the usual way the AI opponents outnumber players in a PvE match, giving the AI extra abilities would make them too powerful since bots do not care about cooldowns or their own survival. They’d just spam these abilities without end and being targeted by a group of such bots at the same time would lead to unwinnable scenarios. Some special AIs may be given extra abilities, but not all of them.
See you on the battlefield!
