Rifleman Archive
Thread: Why I think we are stuck at 64 meters...
Lets start out by saying, I really think rifles should have a longer range than 64m. The following are just guesses by me....
I think alot of the systems in SWG are built around the 64 meter range. I notice many mobs only appear on my radar at 64 meters. I think this means that the server will only push objects to your client that are 64 meters away max.
Making the range higher than 64 would be a change that I think might be easy for devs to do, but they might be very leary of doing it. What I mean is that if they increase our range to say 85 meters, then everything in the game will need to work differently. Instead of ignoring objects that are 65m away and over, your client and the server will now have to "deal" with this new influx of data/objects.
This could be easy to do from a programming point (maybe its a global var ie: max_range := 64
but doing so might increase lag so much so that the devs might be leary of doing it. It would basically mean that EVERYONE playing will be looking at more objects, doing more calculations etc etc.
This is the equivalent of saying imagine houses appeared on your screen (and all there objects) at twice the distance. Lots of overhead.
Having said this, the other option is to limit the range of the other weapons to less than there current range and leave rifles at 64. This still stinks for riflemen since the distance is so small, that our opponents just have to run for a couple seconds and they are in range.
So bottom line I think the devs need to increase the range past 64 meters. The net code seems relatively stable, but the slowdowns in city battles would probably get even worse...
Did I put anyone to sleep with this thread? Ithink Iam putting myself to sleep... Anyone have any thoughts on this...
Its most likely a risk vs reward calculation. If you can do damage, and especially in PvP, without risk then you would see people staying in range for themselves and out of range for their opponnent. Imagine doing a faction mission and getting hit beyond 64 meters. You move toward, they move away. You go back to your mission, they come back.
Things that pop on map as you move has more to do with your ability to sight them than the 64 meters. I see things pop on outside of 80 meters and inside of 50 meters on my map normally.
I'm inclined to agree that this is a coding issue. You made the fairly obvious points that I think make the issue what it is.
The problem isn't the range v. other weapons, the problem is that within 2 shotssomething can rush you past your range of accuracy. Makes the use of a rifle...or anything, at long range almost pointless.
64m is absolutely ridiculous for rng on rifles... if this isn't a code issue, this should be upped to 128m or more. I know I can hit a target with deadly accuracy at over 500m IRL. (but I can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn with a rifle at 150m IRL, go figure.)
Also, the propsed spd changes will also cripple the rifleman without the proposed dmg increase. Again, the 2shot rule. If it aint dead by that point, there is no point in using a rifle against it.