Spotlights

[Sarah_U.]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
Spotlights are not your general floodlights; Infact, they're directional lights that needs to be anchored and wrenched into a certain direction to work properly.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
This would greatly benefit areas where marines are defending and ALSO add to the horror as floodlights wouldn't properly cover their sides and rear with ligthning.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):
The floodlight would be a great advantage for marines defending as long as they protect it (Like turrets) and keep it powered.
Furthermore, the floodlights would require a power cell AND/OR to be connected to a wire system to keep working.

Here's the BASIC IDEA- which can be changed and modified as the staff sees fit, only a suggestion -for how the floodlights work.

1) Must be connected to a power-grid by the course of wires.
2) It can hold a single powercell.
3) It have about half the health of a sentry or so.
4) When broken, it requires welding, wiring and a replacement for the lightbulb/lighttube(?) to work.
5) It can only turn when wrenched and needs to be turned on and off to do so.

Here's a suggestion on where and how they spawn, entirely up to you:
- 4 in engineering storage.
- 1 per engineering prep.
- 2 to 5 planetside (randomly spawned?)
- RO's console.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it):
I'd take the sentry and rework the code to fit. Furthermore, using generators code would help.
For the repairs, make the scrap an assembly or simply entirely destroy it if that's what you agree on.

[oprayx73]

this sounds genius and super nescessary. +1

[KingKire]

+1 Alright, after looking at this post, i think this would be a pretty cool idea to have. Now i hope i got the idea right, but if my thoughts are correct the spotlights would work like the old world war 2 spotlights? If so, then that would be really cool.
small thoughts:
- Unfortunately, with the way the ground works, you can only lay wires on metal flooring and not grass or ground tiles. This means if you wanted to wire them into the grid, the floodlights would only work in a limited amount of areas on the colony.

- I think the idea that it can work off batteries is a better way to go. All squad engineers spawn with 10 batteries in their vendors and its really rare to see engineers take even one extra( they have no need, and it fills up their pockets). So having a use for batteries at the start would be great.
-The spotlight would act as a great tool in the lighting kit that has its own niche:
1) Colony floodlights: large omnidirectional lighting, essentially no need to power, stationary
2) Portable floolights: moderate-large directional lighting, only lasts a moderate amount of time, movable
3) Flashlights: small radius of light, lasts forever, no time to move or set up.
4) Flares: moderate radius of light, lasts a moderate amount of time, no time to move or set up

- I would hope they could provide two modes: a narrow spot beam and a wide flood beam. the narrow beam would be a 30* angle spread up to 14 or so tiles. the wide flood beam would maybe be 75* angle and spread out to 7-8 tiles out.

- It would be nice if it could be built in the field somehow or manufactured. heck, maybe instead it could be ordered in crates for a replacements or spares, although that puts alot of strain on the already strained supply points system. ( maybe autolathe the assembly?)

- It would be really great if there was a way to hook them into generators and give generators an actual use for troops instead of only being used for emergency reactor energy. We are combat engineers, Brighting up the night sky for a fireline or FOB is easy as pie compared to the other tasks that are needed to get done.

- Nothing says scary like having your floodlights burnout as you scramble to find extra powercells to keep them lit, or fuel for the generators.

[Surrealistik]

Make them buildable:

To Construct: 20 metal for frame -> Cable Coil for wiring -> 2 large light tubes -> 1 sheet of glass/reinforced glass -> battery -> screwdriver -> welder
Screwdriver to secure/unsecure, wrench to pivot/change direction, welder to repair.

To Dismantle: Welder (while at maximum health) -> screwdriver (removes light tubes, battery and glass) -> wirecutter (removes cable coil) -> wrench (dismantles frame into metal)

[Boltersam]

Duplicate.

Aside from that, it's a very sound idea and a valuable tool to the marines. I disagree with making them buildable, as they'd be very powerful in lighting up the outskirts of FOBs, but this will help the marines set up a perimeter, unlike now, when they toss flares and flashlights outside to see. +1.

[KingKire]

Theres a duplicate spotlight thread out?

[Boltersam]

Theres a duplicate spotlight thread out?

There was a thread that had a similar idea, yes. It was a small spotlight that could be moved around, bolted and unbolted.

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=6703&p=71386&hilit ... ght#p71386

[SecretStamos (Joshuu)]

Directional lights are near impossible in SS13. We've denied this idea so many times

[Surrealistik]

Directional lights are near impossible in SS13. We've denied this idea so many times

Wouldn't it be possible to have it project a line/cone of light emitters?

[Sarah_U.]

It's too performance hungry I take it?
If so, I'm saddened xD

[Jeser]

Directional lights are near impossible in SS13. We've denied this idea so many times

Well, will be possible in 511. Will wait and hope.

[Sarah_U.]

I guess if it can't work now, maybe you can judge it for the FUTURE and NOT NOW... As in when it stops being laggy you will have it in your list of potential ideas if accepted, but not before.

[RoswellRay]

Directional lights are near impossible in SS13. We've denied this idea so many times

I always figured that was only for moving directional lights, would nothing work for a stationary light? Is there no way to jsut block the light from going backwards and make it a very bright light? Like making it think there is a wall behind it? After all a light with a wall behind it is a directional light,it doesn't go backwards past the wall. I know fuck all about coding though.

[Sarah_U.]

I always figured that was only for moving directional lights, would nothing work for a stationary light? Is there no way to jsut block the light from going backwards and make it a very bright light? Like making it think there is a wall behind it? After all a light with a wall behind it is a directional light,it doesn't go backwards past the wall. I know fuck all about coding though.

Problem is, you'd be possibly blocking OTHER LIGHTS too.

[Snypehunter007]

Asking for dev review.