Why did CM13 decide on a helmet camera again?
If its because armor camera marines would then be able to see into hive instead of a helmet camera I agree.
But is there a way to have Armor Cameras to turn off or get “coated in resin”? I play as SO and XO quite a bit and lost count of how many times I’ve went to check on someone, or worse, check on a SL/Spec/SG and they dont use a helmet. Followed by obligatory “HELP!” and we can’t even check.
Almost 100% of marines use armor. So why not change?
Vasquez is one example of in lore armor camera.
Also inb4 xeno mains come and “No helmet cam? Skill issue.”
True, I’ve always thought. Cops have body cams, why can’t marines? There’s obvisouly been cases of marines not wearing helmets. No ways to counter this?
This would make being a SO and CIC way more enjoyable as a role. While sure finding the nest would be easier its not like the 20 dead marines gathered in one area all dead that isnt the FOB isnt a good clue on where the hive is.
The main logic behind helmet cameras; is that you know where the marine is looking as you are more or less looking from the marine’s POV (since the camera is on their helmet and all that). The main issue with body cameras is it doesnt show where the person is looking, only the direction their torso is.
Now for in game reasoning, its so you dont discover the hive too fast or whatever because the hugger brushes off the helmet and whatnot, removing the camera.
I unironically believe that if you’re too cool of an individual in a uniformed service to wear a damn helmet, then you have decided against needing Command Support, especially because of the information and utility you have denied CIC in your aesthetic choice and how you’re welcoming a great big target for Aliens to cut off of your shoulders.
SLs, Specs, and SGs should be wearing helmets. If they aren’t: chew them out. If they continue to be jackasses about it, set aSL somewhere else and ignore their commentary because they have selected one of the more important roles in the game and stacked the odds against them making prolonged use of it.
We already find the hive at the first cap. Sometimes even at the first Survivor cap.
Yes, it may be a fake hive but it still is where a marine is captured and (in theory) could still be saved.
So finding hive too fast is not a good enough reason for me.
The logic of looking as the marine POV is ok as a realistic point of view, problem is: realistically sometimes helmets falls off. Its better to have a less than ideal POV but still have camera vision.
C4x in the movie they dont have only helmet cams:
Arty, it’s not about what the marine think, it’s whats best for the USCM to have. If some grunts are dumb enough to be stubborn and dont use a helmet you think the USCM won’t have the cameras be built-in the armor? No amount of “Put on a helmet” will make some marines put a helmet on.
Case and point:
But command still NEEDS the camera. I’ve played some games where more than HALF of Delta had no helmets on at first drop. Including SL.
IF the marine decides it’s better NOT to wear armor because he can go faster without armor, then I wholeheartedly agree with you. The marine is trying to min-max stuff and should suffer consequences by dying faster once he is caught.
I really want it to be armor cam instead of helmet cam because my character’s description is literally “Always seen with his trusty Patrol Cap!” And every time I go SL and need to wear a helmet to not be a dick I go against that
Marines are tracked on the tactical map, even when they’re capped, so losing the helmet actually doesn’t prevent command seeing where the hive is - simply look at the tactical map, look at how there’s 10 unresponsive living marines in that one corner of the map. Oh I guess that’s where the hive is.
it’s mostly just a way to slightly nerf people who choose style over function
It is actually the movie thing @c4xmaniac said. Given the hive doesn’t have structures that give off light anymore the cams aren’t that useful for hive detection.
Taking something other than a helmet is one of the few ways to actually make your character feel unique in the amorphous blob that is the marines.
There’s already a ton of nerfs and debuffs one has to put up with when going without a helmet, like no head protection which feels great when half the marines are aiming for the head and friendly fire becomes more devastating, not being able to use a sensor mate anymore and the obvious thing of every xeno trying to go for the funny decap by aiming for the head.
Still, people like me choose to not wear a helmet because we’re supposed to be a playing a roleplaying game and not a milsim or some semi competitive pvp game. we play a character and characters make subobtimal choices.
The big issues arises here when those choices negatively impact someone elses gameplay experience, like the staff officer who can’t see where their aSL is due to a lack of helmets.
Its why i am hesitant to even attempt to play a role such as SL.
And honestly, “just chew them out” is just plain a poor response. Constant conflict is not exactly enjoyable for everyone and i for one dislike the thought of having pushback every round that i even dare try to play something more important than a rifleman.
Helmet alternatives exist, people use them. Deal with it or remove them from the game.
I do think the main point of this idea is to counter overwatch’s pain when they attempt to see what is happening on the frontline. The game doesn’t always have to stick to the lore.
The same way how xeno’s are powerful than marines reason being to balance out the game. In this case it’s more like a QoL.
Okay Im just being pedantic here I know, but the smartgunner sight has a camera built into it, Vasquez just doesn’t wear it save for when she’s actually deployed and using the smartgun, and even then she doesn’t always have it on
I feel like “This one player wants to be a special snowflake” isn’t the counter you want it to be. We could hit around 100 marines at any given point in the game. This means we have
16 Squad Leaders, Fireteam Leaders, Specialists, and Smartgunners who have accepted that they have an above-average level of power and gear at the cost of being extra accountable to roleplay standard, playing the role they have selected, and not wasting a role that someone else was likely gunning for. (16% of the marines)
6 - 12 (~8%) Corpsmen and Commtechs who are expected to be more competent and are important to keep tabs on, but are rarely expected to lead.
The other 72% of People who can get away with deploying naked because nobody gives a shit about them unless it becomes a problem.
Individuality is valuable, I feel. This can be reflected in a wide variety of loadouts, playstyles, and roleplay. However, I can’t help but feel “I should be allowed to have the biggest guns and the coolest armor restricted to a role essential to squad support, but I should be held above expectations of seriousness” is a mindset best reserved to neon-haired catgirls in Skyrat’s security team.
I wholeheartedly agree: Some amount of Delta should be reigned in and even the most room-temperature IQ ape of an SL among them should be actually doing their job. The thing here is, of course, Delta has largely signed-on to be useless. 20 PFCs don’t need to be kept track of because they’re a blob anyways and visible via the the tac map. The few who can get you coordinates, lead the squad, and keep them alive via pills or cades is all you need helmets on.
When you’re deploying in an important role, yous should be expected to have the kit needed to both do it properly and to make sure you do it properly for a while.
You don’t see threads or specific debates over rules that Medics need to bring defibs or that commtechs need to bring welders, because it’s common sense. In that case . . . what’s the issue?
It’s probably a two-hour round. You - John Marine - have decided that as you are a 1/100 specimen and a gift to the Marines, you don’t need to wear the tool that command needs to keep track of your equipment - which is often able to turn the tide of battles - squad or your body. You go out, get decapitated or brain damaged into crit, and waste one of the more important slots in the game for the next hour and a half or likely beyond now that the Falling Falcons are missing an important link in their war machine. Screw you, the individual who could do the same thing in dozens of other games: How is that fair to the hundred or so other players who came to play the game tonight?
Finally: I love Vasquez, she is a role model to aspire to . . . except for the part where her entire squad went unsupported into the middle of the hive, she almost got everyone killed doing FearRP, before getting blown-up in an air vent. Everyone from that squad failed their mission and died horrifically except their squad leader. I’m not sure what kind of point “hey look at the non-interactive/cooperative media where people make non-optimal choices for the sake of drama and excitement” is supposed to prove that doesn’t also apply to the APC’s removal, the lack of explosive M41A rounds, us having strains beside Drone and Warrior, and so-on.
If you boiled down those previous paragraphs, then you forgot the part about how those “lore accurate” characters exist to entertain an audience and all died horribly, often because of Protagonist Syndrome of wanting the kickass last stand, or the most specialist weapon, or feeling like they’re too cool for command.
Sound familiar?
If you care about lore when it isn’t in service of making you the specialist lil’ lad in God’s own army, yes you are, yes you are! then be sure to weigh-in on cripples-you-instantly acid blood - like what killed Vasquaz - that also destroys your guns, crushing Xeno winrates and numbers to reflect how they succeed in the majority of their media with minimal survivors, and more Xeno unfairness like hitching a ride on the dropship and slaughtering cryo marines, since that has never been an issue in any of the lore you care so badly about.
Helmets aren’t just a good idea for you, they’re a courtesy.
You need that SO to lead you, inform you, and resupply you. In exchange, you offer them more info on you and help make their job easier.
Let’s say that goes away, and we get armor cams:
You just got a 4/200 (1/50) roll if it’s SL, Spec, or SG. Don’t waste it with a decap or brain damage when your team is depending on you to support them. Wear a helmet.
Your medics are likely fighting tooth and nail to keep you alive. They will do what they can to drag you back from No Man’s Land, they will put your life above that of other’s, and they will put some of their best resources into keeping you alive. Speaking from experience as a medical main: there is a lot of toxicity towards medics who weren’t able to do enough for a suicidally entitled elite unit who kept moving despite having broken bones or was upset that the medic only had enough hands to drag them to safety and defend themselves with a sidearm instead of grabbing their whole kit on the way back. Do them a solid, and wear a helmet.
Bringing your smartgun as a smartgunner is “meta”. The Scout using their cloak is “meta”. Don’t act like you’re being forced to comply with some asinine loadout where you’re spending ten minutes and using exploits to carry the optimal amount of gear in as little space as possible: wearing a helmet as an important role is your job, like having your dog tags and boots on.
There is more helmet customization than non-helmets. You can pick patrol caps, berets, boonie hats, and headbands . . . or helmets with headbands and feathers and goggles and barbed wire and netting and rain covers and shotgun shells and flairs and HUDs and gun oil and cards and custom designs based on role and so-on, which isn’t even including the fact that you can fit utility items in there like cigarettes and lighters and injectors and bandages.
All of those options and likely several I’ve forgotten help you to - even in a low-resolution game where around seven pixels makes the difference between a few dozen haircuts - distinguish your soldier in a roleplaying server . . .about roleplaying as a uniformed soldier. I get customization and working to distinguish your character from others, but that’s way easier to do on other servers where by contrast you’ve got dozens of people in the same “department”, which would be like trying to not look too much like sixty to a hundred other doctors by deciding to ditch your scrubs, labcoat, and gloves.
