Infantry Vs Mech? is it possible, how will it work?

[Hamilton]

Targeting weapons will be possible, though harder to hit.
Hand held weapons will need their armor and do not enjoy the armor protection of the Mech.  But hand held weapons will be protected by the Mech's energy screens.

So hand held weapons (including all other externally mounted weapons) should be expected to be loss during combat and as such, should be of standard quality.  Basically treated as consumable items.

[Stigmatax]

OOH WE CAN DO THAT WITH NEWBIES!!! 

No, no, no, we use L337 speakers for that Stigmatax.

But are they smarter than dogs? I think not!

[Stigmatax]

now with pitch and roll for camera movement it should help in increasing difficulty in targeting heads and weapons. Making the need for precision firing skills even more necessary for arena combat, let alone all out battles.

But this is besides the topic... what needs to be made clear is the roll of infantry over mech pilots and other vehicles. Should infantry be player positions or should they be NPC's as we all know that no one wants to really play an infantry position since it's a really great way to get squashed or killed really fast, armor level = -0
compared to a mech or vehicle.

[Wild_Card]

I don't know, playing as infantry might be my thing. Then again, i'm weird.

[Kellzz]

I might have already said this but...


If the cost of a decent mech (not the generic stuff) is prohibitive (player run economy) you might find that most fights are infantry fights.

[TheWanderingJew]

When a mech is incapacitated, the pilot would just sit in the cockpit like a sitting duck.

I do not think so.

He'd get out of the cockpit, bring out an RPG or something and continue to fight on foot!

So, I strongly believe that infantry is also needed.

BTW, is this a First-person shooter-like style?

[Hamilton]

BTW, is this a First-person shooter-like style?

No.  FPS capability for an MMO environment is not yet perfected.  I figure about 5 more years.  To get to a near FPS (or real-time) environment, would require to rely on the extensive use of Instance Servers, which I think makes a game not really an MMO.

Going to use more of a Hybrid environment, but for the most part would rely on Auto-Targeting.
Now just in case before anyone goes on a rant about "just use TAB to target anything around is lame," there is more to it.
Combat systems in the far future are likely to become more automated.  Sensor locks will not only apply to missiles, but also to direct weapons (this doesn't mean a direct weapon must have a sensor lock to fire, just makes it easier).  Sensor locks can be done by Active, Passive and Optical.  With auto-targeting, arm mounted weapons will be able to fire to the side arcs instead of only to front. 
However, auto-targeting does have its limitations, a valid Line of Sight (LOS) must exist.

[Kellzz]

Passive systems. This made me think of something that drives some players blind with rage in today's games.
The absence of hit indicators. Not knowing the direction the damage came from.

Now in a FPS, i can understand the need for it, since if someone shoots you, you are going to know damn well which direction the shooter is. but in a mech, you are protected by tons of metal.

If you are out doing your own thing, and a sniper start to pick at you, will there be a flash of (insert color here) to indicate the direction? or will the only thing you have to go off of is the shock and damage your mech suffered as a result?

will certain type of radar be able to pick up the noise generated by the weapon? or other signatures the weapon gives when fired?