In your opinion, how useful is the mini-map radar, and the Hornet overdrive (wallhack)?

[Maf 32,300]

So I've been thinking about this for a while, especially now that I play with Vacuum Thunder a lot. How many players understand and actively use the in-game abilities to see enemies, who are otherwise obscured?

I'm talking about the minimap radar that everyone has to the right of their supply bar, and Hornet's overdrive ability, which not too long ago got buffed to an impressive 90-second duration.

Seeing as both of those abilities are readily available at all times (one is always there, and the other can potentially be used non-stop), it makes me think that developers either don't see them as particularly useful, or they think that most players won't bother to take advantage of them.

To me personally, Hornet's ability is one of the most poweful in the game. A Hornet (or two) camping at base and providing non-stop wallhack to the whole team gives that team a massive advantage over the enemy, such as being able to avoid encounters when escaping with the flag, seeing a potential ambush, and seeing enemies before you turn the corner.

The minimap is less useful, especially since it doesn't show context of the surrounding map. But still, it can give you valuable information regarding teammates and enemies behind your back, as well as enemies hiding behind obstacles nearby. Fun fact: I've actually been accused of hacking at least twice, when people noticed that I somehow always know where they are despite them hiding behind a building.

 

        

 

What's your own take on this?

 

[Okami 3,041]

Hornet is an underrated hull so I personally don’t see Scout Radar use all too often, but it’s nice to know where most enemies are clustered so I can either 1) safely get to where I want to go (whether a flag or a point that can be easily capped without opposition) or 2) find enemies and get kills. 
 

I don’t remember when I started using the minimap radar but it’s an amazing feature, and one I use all the time. It really reduces the amount of times you get surprise deaths (sometimes Overdrives get in the way, but /shrug)

Low-visibility maps with lots of obstacles/buildings will of course get more use out of the radar, but it’s really always useful in the enemy base or more neutral territory with a lot of enemies (I think there’s a slight delay where you can see enemies right before they spawn?)

[Shadow_Error_X 50]

I absolutely love it when teammates use Hornet's OD, as a long-ranger for the most part, it is extremely useful - and honestly I feel like people do underestimate it compared to the rest.

I usually prefer when using it to hang around edges or use very calculated movements while it's active, to keep it from just being wasted by getting cut short.

As for the Mini Map, I actually use it quite often as well; it helps me to know general positioning that I likely wouldn't have without it.

Edited October 24, 2022 by Shadow_Error_X

[wild001 1,422]

On 10/25/2022 at 4:58 AM, Maf said:

such as being able to avoid encounters when escaping with the flag, seeing a potential ambush, and seeing enemies before you turn the corner.

That is the most useful use case for hornet radar, especially on large map, like the largest maze map started with Dxxfxx

Also useful to plan weakest enemy CTF attack route on lost temple.

But on small medium map is not much use, as you constant move can see everywhere and no place to hide anyway, especial with spawn sky camera view every time you die.

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Rail Hornet is my only combo for 5-6 years, even before overdrive invented, 

But since intro of hammer, striker and too many combo can one shot hornet on double amor, i moved to titan and then other medium hulls.

Light hull is too weak nowaday, while hopper is OP at time and wasp bomb can more powerful,

Hornet is more a cheaper solo version of dictator super charge OD 

--

Small radar is too far my focus sight to be useful, my eye is on the center and OD charge on the left and health cooldown, no eye to focus on small radar

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Mobile doesn't have a mini map. When I was shortly on PC, I didn't use it often. 

 

The tripling of Hornet's Overdrive duration made it seem like wallhacks was from then on intended to be a primary feature of battles. I hope this increased uptime made people realise how crucial a Hornet OD is for your team to have. Being able to see enemy positions, turret-hull combos and HP bars for up to 90 seconds (if they survive and no other radars stack) is huge. 

I don't play with sound so I have to rely on the visual queue for Hornet's Overdrive by a small "Your armour is destroyed" randomly popping up on the screen for 2 seconds. If no enemy is trying to get my attention, I try to find and dispatch of the Hornet as quickly as possible, if possible. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail and have to play with the enemy knowing our positions for the next minute or more. 

 

Since the initial change, I've had a few battles where there was almost no downtime on Hornet ODs on our team. Feels good to have wallhacks for almost the entire battle. 

[Akame 4,578]

The position of the mini radar is somewhat questionable, but I mainly also use it for 1v1 counters where players go around structures/houses and some might return back or go the other way. Solid for vacuum thunder since anything within the radar range is good, as long as you know what structures lay in the vicinity.

Especially handy to know an enemy or ally has died in an encounter if you decided to sneak an OD/Status effect and take a short retreat to only realise your ally couldn't complete the kill or if they did.

Hornet ODs radar is amazing and helps ALL players, especially to prepare for attacking bases or getting prepared to defend. I do always aim to destroy any enemy Hornet that is making sure their radar stays on to maintain most of the element of surprise.

[Cor7y 13,862]

Hornet OD is very useful indeed for the reasons mentioned in the original post like tagging all enemies on the map for 90 seconds and applying mapwide AP and jammer.

But the problem is that light hulls aren't really viable at endgame because they just die too quickly, thanks to an increase in the number and strength of burst damage outputs like Rico Helios, Shaft RFM, Vacuum shells thunder etc. You're far better off using a medium hull with trickster equipped.

OD can't really be put to good use if the Hornet user doesn't have much longevity.

 

Note: Sure you can use Crisis to counter a part of the problem, but that's not a viable option for a vast variety of the playerbase.

[krokorok 838]

Hornet OD is very unique and super helpful for teammates as well as the player itself. The only problem I see is that light hulls are just extremely oppressed rn, especially after the Gauss instalock update, and addition of Scorpion and the uprising of Thunder through the new OP augments (mainly Hyperspeed and vacuum), the light hulls just became too frail to effectively function or compete with sturdier Medium hulls. It has become such a rarity to actually see an effective light hull player, and even if you somehow run into one, it is usually because of using other powerful augments and drones.

Common drones such as Booster, Crisis and nonstop DD Hyperions paired with equipment such as Gauss, Thunder augments, Scorpions, Shafts, Helios, Hammers, Magnums, and Critical hits make it extremely difficult to have any effective combination of protections to facilitate the use of light hulls. There is just too much equipment right now that deals 2k damage either directly or in a span of couple of seconds. Not saying you cannot perform good with light hull, I just feel you are put in a great disadvantage, especially with how prominent camping has become.

As for the minimap, I personally never use it. I feel like in most maps, it isn't really that hard to pinpoint the location of enemy as they are still usually quite visible, and when you know the map, you can still accurately guess the locations  of campers depending on the most popular camping spots, incoming projectiles, etc. In close ranges, most enemies are also visible simply by adjusting the camera views (Q, E). You might use the radar strategically to know how many campers are protecting the flag, and such, but I think the game lost most of the strategic element to even need such feature, as you can simply plow through objectives with overpowered equipment choices, groups, or abusing the low GS players, skill level differences and common enemy ignorance towards mode objectives.

Edited November 6, 2022 by krokorok

[awesomepeter 33]

Would the second answer option for 3 be correspond to often? Because I feel like there should be an "often" option. 

[alkyng 3,080]

Hornet radar is very useful voted for Great.  Players who hide in base for giving teammates infinity radar are Mults for me, I don't like giving anyone an excuse for not playing the mode.  Through the time I become less-interested in the game so I didn't learn how to use radar