My thoughts as a long time insurgency player

Hello! First of all I'd like to thank you guys at NWI for continuing one of my favorite games of all time. My community and I have been playing Insurgency since around 2006, and its been a very long journey that I have been happy to witness. I never thought the Unreal Insurgency everyone always talked about was every going to be realized. Leaving the beloved Source Engine was a bold move, but one that I think the community will ultimately support. The increased functionality of everything from doors to vehicles, all the nice little ambient touches, the explosions and the shrapnel modelling, it makes the game feel so much more alive. I'm in disbelief at what a wonderful job has been done with the lastest iteration. A lot of people are complaining about the stability and the FPS drops and the bugs, but I remember playing the mod on a crap PC getting anywhere from 15-30 frames and still loving every second. I feel much the same way about Sandstorm. I'll be playing voraciously and trying everything out before release so I can give better feedback and also because its damn fun to just ogle things in this game.

So now the nitty gritty. I'd love to just jerk Insurgency off until my arms cramp but there is a lot I've noticed that needs changing, and I'd assume is already in the works for the most part. I'll list it out for easier indexing and visual pleasure.

  • Ballistics, are they really a thing? I've played around a lot with the beta at scores of different ranges, but it still seems like a hitscan game to me. I haven't had to lead a target at any range, not even in the slightest. It could be because engagements happen so close range for the most part, but even at 150m+ I don't even notice the delay. I could test this out for sure and shoot a pistol at a running person 100m away, but I still have a lot of doubts about the way ballistics are implemented. The long barrel seems like it does diddly when I'm already having zero problems with long range/running targets.

  • I'm unsure of the way in which most attachments on a weapon actually interact with the game mechanics. I know what compesators, extended mags, suppressors, and flash hiders do IRL, but the knowledge available in game as to how they actually effect your weapon is missing. It seems to me like compensators increase vertical recoil, rather than decrease them. The purpose of a comensator is not to control horizontal recoil, it's to stop the muzzle from rising and reduce felt recoil (which translates into more horizontal control). I could be entirely wrong about this, but I felt like I was having trouble controlling most weapons with compensators. Since I've stopped using them I've consistently had a higher score. It also seems to me that suppressors lower the amount of recoil you receive, as they should, but it could also be in my head. Regardless of what design decisions you actually want to take with the attachments, we need a clear description and some example/stat bar/ something to let us know what things do. Do extended mags increase reload time? Do flash hiders do anything other than reduce muzzle flash? Do suppressors reduce recoil? Is the MP7's 5.7 AP round actually AP in this game? What the hell do flechettes actually do? I am not necessarily saying answer these right now, but I'm using them as examples of things that I think most players would like to know.

  • Why cant we loot bodies? For real. If I pick up that dead person's M249, why can't I scrounge around for the boxes they have? I know you can find another of the same weapon and pick up mags from that, but I want taking weapons from fallen enemies to be more viable. Be fun if you had to search a dead body to find their explosives too, and not just pick them up with the very temperamental system in place now.

On a similar note, you should be able to pick up weapons (If you cant already, but I think this isn't a thing) that your magazines will fit and use them with your stored ammo. For example, If I'm using the insurgent M16A2, and I kill an enemy carrying an M16A4, I should be able to pick up his weapon and load my magazines into it. Same with the AKM and the SKS w/Extended mag. Shotguns, too. The M249 can use magazines from the M16 if it runs out of boxes. Its not efficient, but it can save someones life. I hope all this kind of stuff is planned, but I have to put it out there.

  • Explosives are broken in more way than one. Right now a couch or a wireframe bed with a mattress will save you from an RPG, C4, Frag, or IED. It's incredibly frustrating to throw an IED into a room and find ANYONE alive that wasn't behind a concrete block, and even then the pressure from the blast going off inside the room should kill you. C4 and IEDs seem to have lost their ability to kill through walls, and thus through small obstacles. They are damn near useless unless you're using them on open ground or a very tight space. Anything in between and someone will hide behind a sign. Another way in which explosives are frustrating is the rocket delay. If I move my mouse a hair after I've already fired it, I might kill myself. Or in the last game, someone ran in front of my rocket after the heard the sound, assuming it was done. Wrong, for him and 3 other teammates (Which I also got the "Efficient" achievement for, go figure. Probably shouldn't give that for TKs.) Also, I'm aware wallbagning with explosives sucks for defending a cache, that could be worked on.

  • The wave system is terrible. Often I am left not spawning with the wave I'm in queue for. Even more often I'm penalized for living a second too long, I miss the wave and have to wait 60+ seconds some times. In Push mode right now the defenders can barely, IF EVEN get to the objective before the attackers after the initial objective is taken. It seems far too random, and it baffles me as to why this system was chosen.

Oof, that was a lot to type. I may come back with some more feedback when I'm not burned out, but here is it so far. Thanks NWI so damn much for continuing this amazing series, and keep up the good work.

Edit: Spelling

last edited by Marxman LMC

@marxman-lmc said in My thoughts as a long time insurgency player:

Ballistics, are they really a thing?

Yes they are. On Crossing, if you look at the sun-sided cache (the one farthest from the town) there is a sniper's nest that can be seen from like half the map. I was able to get a shot in there from like 300-400m, and I think I had to raise it up by like 1/2 to 1 full dot with the M24, and took like half a second to get there. So yeah they do, it's just that the bullets have a really flat trajectory. As far as everything else goes, I agree, especially with the explosives. Their radius seems to be much smaller compared to INS2.