Give UEF and Aeon t3 scouts sonar

Fun fact:

--****************************************************************************
--**
--**  File     :  /cdimage/units/UEA0302/UEA0302_script.lua
--**  Author(s):  Jessica St. Croix, David Tomandl
--**
--**  Summary  :  UEF Spy Plane Script
--**
--**  Copyright © 2005 Gas Powered Games, Inc.  All rights reserved.
--****************************************************************************

local TAirUnit = import("/lua/terranunits.lua").TAirUnit
-- The torpedo is a temporary implementation of the ability to launch sonar buoys.
-- Currently, a torpedo is dropped into the water that transforms into the buoy.
-- Once we get proper "alt abilities", we can switch the buoy creation to use that system.
local TANTorpedoAngler = import("/lua/terranweapons.lua").TANTorpedoAngler

---@class UEA0302 : TAirUnit
UEA0302 = Class(TAirUnit) {
-- Disabling for now, while Design decides whether they want this functionality
--    Weapons = {
--        BuoyLauncher = Class(TANTorpedoAngler) {
--            FiringMuzzleBones = {'Projectile',},
--        },
--    },

}

TypeClass = UEA0302

They were experimenting with the UEF spy planes to be able to drop sonar buoys

That's pretty cool!
Any idea of what it actually looked like in-game?
Would it be possible to bring back?

~ Stryker

Apparently this is the buoy:

• https://github.com/FAForever/fa/blob/deploy/fafdevelop/units/UEB5208/UEB5208_unit.bp

It instantly crashes the game to desktop when I try to spawn it

Why don't these scouts have sonar, to begin with?
Is it due to it being like a faction ability of sorts?
Or balance?

~ Stryker

I suspect it is because it has always been like this, nothing too special.

We need to find Jessica St. Croix and David Tomandl immediately

Honestly, just give it slightly bigger omni radar as compensation for lack of sonar.

How much larger?
Because I don't think that a slighter larger Omni radius would help solve the lack of sonar situation.
It would have to be a considerably larger radius. 15 - 20% or larger, I imagine.

~ Stryker

The issue is actually quite simple - intel ranges are spherical - and you need to account for the altitude of the air unit - and the depth of the naval units. This has always been the case, which is why the attempt was made to implement something like sonar buoys - unfortunately, it littered the game with many more entities, which choked performance, so it was never revisited.

To properly utilize sonar, on the air scouts - the sonar range would need to take the above mentioned values into account - and it would look very wrong, as far as the range rings are concerned. The best implementation I have seen, comes from BrewLAN, which creates an invisible appendage attached to the air unit, but simply hanging well below - and a sonar entity is attached to that.

Hanging appendage ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

It would be really cool to see if these buoys could make a return, but it seems unlikely, as @Jip mentioned.

In hindsight, however...
I don't think it'll actually be as useful as having the sonar on the unit itself, as the plane can move much faster and therefore be able to cover a larger area quickly.

That is, unless the Spy plane is dropping a buoy that covers the size of a 10 x 10 km area or even just multiple buoys.

Nevertheless, if this ability is ever brought back to life somehow - obviously with some tweaking and all - I'm sure it'll make a great addition to FAF.

~ Stryker

If we want it as a community then it is possible. But it requires to determine how it should function.

It should function as intended -
I imagine it is just like placing down a temporary T1 Sonar, no?

~ Stryker

for temporary part, it could use fuel passively and destroy itself once it runs out, like mercies

@jip said in Give UEF and Aeon t3 scouts sonar:

If we want it as a community then it is possible.

Where can I throw in my vote?!
Count mine in!

@mach said in Give UEF and Aeon t3 scouts sonar:

for temporary part, it could use fuel passively and destroy itself once it runs out, like mercies

Sounds like a really neat idea.
Though, I imagine they should be destroyable by units, too - unless it's a completely passive thing like T1 Walls?
(Where enemies can't auto-attack but can manually target, perhaps?)

~ Stryker

Cybran has radar stealth, give UEF T3 scouts jamming, give the Seraphim scouts a temporary vision bubble where they crash, give Aeon scout a larger Omni radius.

At the very least I think giving sonar to these spy planes would be reasonable.