Aim Cannons With Arrow Keys

[Im_a_Turtle]

Why hasn't this been mentioned before, I've done a small search and found nothing on aiming a cannon with your keyboard. Why suggest this? Because the mouse is inaccurate, sways alot when you man the artillery gun after loading, and is a pain to hit the same direction twice.

Using a keyboard will allow players to fire on positions more effectively. It allows players to not argue with each other while attempting to aim the cannon, usually missing its target 4-5 times in a row.

Pros:
Allows easy and exact aiming
Less time wasted when artillery is needed the most
Allows defenders on battle maps to fire long range artillery competently ;other than being a crumby display of buffoons attempting to not miss a target that is barely 30 yards away, while using canister shot.

Cons:
Turning speed would be slower,if im right, the turning speed is relatively based on mouse sensitivity movements, as the keyboard would be stuck on a set turn speed.

[Darky5]

Cannons weren't, and shouldn't be accurate over longer distances. Thus rendering your "Pros", (Even though it would probably be useful to be able to use the arrow keys.) useless.

And for Canister shot, it's not like a shotgun shell, it's alot more randomized then i believe it should, but 30 yards with canister shot is still down to it being completely random.

[Im_a_Turtle]

I see your point, but that still doesnt beat the fact that the mouse in a full server will lag, making artillery ungodly difficult to use. Im pretty sure you've experienced such. All i want is an option to switch the y axis and x axis to set keyboard keys. There shouldn't be any conflict in that, and would most likely increase effectiveness slightly (No im not ignoring your ''cancels out pros'' statement, just attempting to prove its effectiveness)

For example: A player using the mouse to aim compared to a player using the keyboard will be slightly more inaccurate than the keyboard user. Why? Mouse sensitivity is to blame, especially laser mouse users. One slight cm to the left is 4x's larger ingame and the artillery mouse sensitivity meter isn't in the options menu. As for a keyboard user, he can slightly tap a direction with ease with out worrying about wiggling his mouse.

I honestly think artillery players shouldn't be restricted to using the crumby mouse aiming. It shouldnt be "that" hard to insert into the game.

[Thokan]

I suppose it's high time to whip out that old ball-mouse then 

Those things are terribly accurate as they are. They put fear into people already in mmrussia and spawned simultaneously people who was feared with the use of the cannon. No need to create long distanced demi-gods.

[Col. Argus]

I have to agree with the previous poster. Artillery - particularly round shot from field guns, is already terribly too accurate. Line battles are still very much a game of "don't let the cannons see you!", and with servers now supporting only 200 players instead of 250, there are even less line infantry to go around. In line battles with both artillery and cavalry, any semblance of solid lines disappear, and such "lines" - few as they are, are forced to skirmish ineffectively.

If artillery were more realistic, we could always have more of them on the field. But as it is now, even one or two pieces can ruin a line battle.

[hrotha]

Left-handed players don't approve of this thread.

[MaHuD]

It would be good for mortars, but thats it.

[Bricktop]

But surely it makes no sense to cripple cannons accuracy by relying on inaccurate mouse-use. Make the controls as accurate as possible, and then actually built inaccuracy into the cannons themselves, rather than relying on a fluffed approach where the accuracy of cannons depends entirely on how laggy the server and how sensitive the operators mouse.

[Munro]

See, the thing is, Using the mouse to aim is much, much better than the keyboard. It not only allows precise control over the artillery barrel, it is much, much smoother then a keyboard when trying to fire at moving targets. If anyone has played The Deluge, a mod similar to NW, the artillery system has cannons which utilize keys to aim. Personally, it feels terrible. The cannon has a fixed distance per key press, meaning that the artilleryman is only able to aim within the preset ranges. Example: say there is a target at a certain range. The cannoneer aims and fires, but it goes over the target's head, so the cannoneer presses the down key, and fires again. Now it is too low. If the cannoneer were to press up on the arrow key, it would only go over the target's head again. Thus, there is absolutely nothing the cannoneer can do to hit the target, simply because of the restrictions that are applied to keyboard aiming. < That is frustrating as hell. The same can be applied for the horizontal axis. Whether the current cannon system is a benefit or a handicap to the artillery system, it allows much more control to the cannoneer, and it feels much better then using keys.

And honestly, if you are saying that the mouse control makes the cannon too inaccurate, that isn't really the cannon's fault. I have absolutely no problems aiming a cannon with mouse movement, and I am able to accurately drop rounds into lines within a second of a cannon being completely loaded because of the mouse-based aiming. Trying to aim with the keys would be slow, choppy, and overall inefficient.

Just think about how you would try to aim with the keys. You would not be able to make many of the aiming possibilities that you currently have. What about aiming diagonally? Would using keys make that better? Heck no. The Artillery system in this game is easy enough, I don't think we should resort to taking all of the entertainment out of it with a silly and inefficient control system.

If you want to try out keyboard-based aiming, download The Deluge mod and use the cannon. You will see what I am talking about.

[Sir Prince]

Mouse controls are anything but inaccurate and awkward for arty in NW :/

[Im_a_Turtle]

Still don't understand why people oppose this, its just a suggestion to add an OPTION for aiming with a keyboard. Mortars and howitzers would benefit greatly from this, and obviously the normal field cannon wont. Why not?

Also don't retort with "It will make them too powerful"
Well, that is the case only when you have a very good artillery crew, which is fairly rare in this game unless you're in an organized match.

A good artillery crew is 2-3 players all in teamspeak: one is a spotter relaying distance to the cannoneer, one's a cannoneer, and one is the reloader, just a head up for people who dont know.

[Megaberna]

I still think that aiming with the mouse is better and should remain like that...

[Thokan]

What Berna said ^

Also don't retort with "It will make them too powerful"
Well, that is the case only when you have a very good artillery crew, which is fairly rare in this game unless you're in an organized match.

That is more than enough to not implement it 

[Gragnok]

i like it as it is.

[Snowwi]

i like it as it is.

Same