How will NPCs refer to players when they aren't using the backer titles? "Reaper unit"? I admit I have no idea how the NPC voiceovers and radio chatter (if any) will be planned, however...
I propose to add fully voiced, semi-customizable callsigns that are auto-generated upon login.
One callsign for every letter in the alphabet, plus up to one hundred numbers. Everything from A-00 all the way up to Z-99. Some callsigns may be reserved based on leaderboard rankings or backer status. Also need some objective leaderboard statistics if that's to be a thing, but that's another thread.
I realize this can and in all likelihood, will mean some awkward hack jobs on the voiceovers, but I'd much rather be referred to as "Reaper six-seven" or "Ace two-zero" than "ARES 35" when I know for a fact every single other player in the game is also supposed to be "ARES 35".
Ideally, a couple letters would be reserved for the backer titles, for instance A for "Ace" as in "Omni Ace". "S" for "Slayer" as in "Kaiju Slayer" (let's face it, the less syllables used, the better, and faster it is to call out other players and the easier it will be on the voiceover system, and I personally would rather hear "slayer" or "ace" over "kaiju slayer" or "omni ace" unless it's a formal NPC guard in a base saluting as you walk by or something). Failing that, a different callsign for "A" will be used, and Omni Aces would then be OA-##, with Kaiju Slayers being KS-##. Were the first milestone backers given any in-game titles? Same deal with them. Maybe "MX" for Max Kahunas, because that sounds way better than "MK".
You should be able to set one or more preferences for callsigns, as these are assigned upon login. If set to no preference, it will default to your highest backer title, leaderboard title, or regular callsign and assigned in an ascending order. No preferences for someone not on a leaderboard or with a backer title would simply start them off at whatever letter and number is the next available (should the default letter be 'R' as in 'reaper'?), so if we the default is R-00, and there are 46 players online, R-46 is the next available callsign, and NPCs would refer to you as "Reaper four-six" or "Reaper forty-six". In more intense combat situations, the voiceovers would automatically abbreviate to simply "R-four-six" or "R-forty-six".
Opening up your map should display the assigned callsign, as well as the player name on the icons of other players for easy reference on the map. Client-side options would include either callsigns only, player names only, or both (default).
If, by some miracle, an entire zone (or, if they're globally unique, the entire planet) is fully populated with every possible callsign, then simply add a third number digit to the end. Multiple letter prefixes might be acceptable as well, though I think those should be reserved for special cases (backer/leaderboard titles). We're talking several thousand players in a relatively small area at this point, but it could happen.
Preferences can be set in the options menu, and will let you pick any available callsign. For instance, someone at the omni ace level would be able to pick their own unique backer callsign, or any other freely available ones, plus leaderboard callsigns (if applicable - Would the "Reaper" callsign be reserved for the top 100 players, with each number being fixed and representing their individual ranking? #1 leaderboard ranking would equate to R-00 and so on, up to the #100 player being R-99). Preferencing into "K-17" wouldn't guarantee you get it if there's already someone else with that callsign currently online, but if there is not, you'll always receive it upon login. Reasonably "safe" areas should allow you to change your callsign without relogging, with an accompanying voiceover along the lines of "R-17, you are being reassigned callsign A-01".
You should be able to set a second and third preference as well, unless you choose your leaderboard ranking as your first (since that's guaranteed to be available to you, and you alone for as long as you hold that leaderboard rank), as well as backer callsigns. I don't think there are 100 kaiju slayers or omni aces out there, so there's likely to always be a number available. I also feel like having the numbers set based on the order they pledged in, if that's even possible or feasible to figure out, would be a decent way to set it, I would own that OA-24 or whatever backer callsign I get assigned so hard.
I'm aware this is a very large number of standalone words (26 letters + the full callsigns, 0-19, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90... We're talking something like 80 standalone words here) for every single voiced NPC that will ever refer to the player directly, not to mention the potentially awkward sounding hack job to put them together during gameplay, but personally I feel like it would be worth it for the end result. Player voices could also then call out individual other players directly via callsigns to give orders or status updates, without the need for voice chat. Despite being 2017, not everyone has or is willing to use their microphone, at least not all the time.
EDIT: tl;dr please put in the effort to make thousands of potential unique callsigns using standalone words that can be put together for the purposes of radio/NPC chatter. I think Arma 3 does this to some extent.
I propose to add fully voiced, semi-customizable callsigns that are auto-generated upon login.
One callsign for every letter in the alphabet, plus up to one hundred numbers. Everything from A-00 all the way up to Z-99. Some callsigns may be reserved based on leaderboard rankings or backer status. Also need some objective leaderboard statistics if that's to be a thing, but that's another thread.
I realize this can and in all likelihood, will mean some awkward hack jobs on the voiceovers, but I'd much rather be referred to as "Reaper six-seven" or "Ace two-zero" than "ARES 35" when I know for a fact every single other player in the game is also supposed to be "ARES 35".
Ideally, a couple letters would be reserved for the backer titles, for instance A for "Ace" as in "Omni Ace". "S" for "Slayer" as in "Kaiju Slayer" (let's face it, the less syllables used, the better, and faster it is to call out other players and the easier it will be on the voiceover system, and I personally would rather hear "slayer" or "ace" over "kaiju slayer" or "omni ace" unless it's a formal NPC guard in a base saluting as you walk by or something). Failing that, a different callsign for "A" will be used, and Omni Aces would then be OA-##, with Kaiju Slayers being KS-##. Were the first milestone backers given any in-game titles? Same deal with them. Maybe "MX" for Max Kahunas, because that sounds way better than "MK".
You should be able to set one or more preferences for callsigns, as these are assigned upon login. If set to no preference, it will default to your highest backer title, leaderboard title, or regular callsign and assigned in an ascending order. No preferences for someone not on a leaderboard or with a backer title would simply start them off at whatever letter and number is the next available (should the default letter be 'R' as in 'reaper'?), so if we the default is R-00, and there are 46 players online, R-46 is the next available callsign, and NPCs would refer to you as "Reaper four-six" or "Reaper forty-six". In more intense combat situations, the voiceovers would automatically abbreviate to simply "R-four-six" or "R-forty-six".
Opening up your map should display the assigned callsign, as well as the player name on the icons of other players for easy reference on the map. Client-side options would include either callsigns only, player names only, or both (default).
If, by some miracle, an entire zone (or, if they're globally unique, the entire planet) is fully populated with every possible callsign, then simply add a third number digit to the end. Multiple letter prefixes might be acceptable as well, though I think those should be reserved for special cases (backer/leaderboard titles). We're talking several thousand players in a relatively small area at this point, but it could happen.
Preferences can be set in the options menu, and will let you pick any available callsign. For instance, someone at the omni ace level would be able to pick their own unique backer callsign, or any other freely available ones, plus leaderboard callsigns (if applicable - Would the "Reaper" callsign be reserved for the top 100 players, with each number being fixed and representing their individual ranking? #1 leaderboard ranking would equate to R-00 and so on, up to the #100 player being R-99). Preferencing into "K-17" wouldn't guarantee you get it if there's already someone else with that callsign currently online, but if there is not, you'll always receive it upon login. Reasonably "safe" areas should allow you to change your callsign without relogging, with an accompanying voiceover along the lines of "R-17, you are being reassigned callsign A-01".
You should be able to set a second and third preference as well, unless you choose your leaderboard ranking as your first (since that's guaranteed to be available to you, and you alone for as long as you hold that leaderboard rank), as well as backer callsigns. I don't think there are 100 kaiju slayers or omni aces out there, so there's likely to always be a number available. I also feel like having the numbers set based on the order they pledged in, if that's even possible or feasible to figure out, would be a decent way to set it, I would own that OA-24 or whatever backer callsign I get assigned so hard.
I'm aware this is a very large number of standalone words (26 letters + the full callsigns, 0-19, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90... We're talking something like 80 standalone words here) for every single voiced NPC that will ever refer to the player directly, not to mention the potentially awkward sounding hack job to put them together during gameplay, but personally I feel like it would be worth it for the end result. Player voices could also then call out individual other players directly via callsigns to give orders or status updates, without the need for voice chat. Despite being 2017, not everyone has or is willing to use their microphone, at least not all the time.
EDIT: tl;dr please put in the effort to make thousands of potential unique callsigns using standalone words that can be put together for the purposes of radio/NPC chatter. I think Arma 3 does this to some extent.
Likes:
Silv3r Shadow
