the Future of Spectrum

DirectorGunner

Space Marshal
Officer
Donor
Sep 17, 2016
2,911
12,710
2,900
RSI Handle
DirectorGunner
The ability to speak into two different channels at once or individually via assignable buttons/keys is definitely something that will improve our player experience and overall value of spectrum. Hearing two different channels and how to get there is a personal preference.

So many options should be allowed such as separating channels into left or right ear or as far as rear left/rear right/front left/front right/center if you have a surround sound setup or a virtual surround sound headphones. The subtle differences in virtual surround will help you identify which of the 5 channels is open on coms but I think that's WAAY more than most people can handle (or I can handle).. I think 3 coms at the same time is the most a person could comfortably handle.... unless lots of practice would make handling 5 com channels at once feasible.

just my 2 cents
 
Last edited:

Blind Owl

Hallucinogenic Owl
Donor
Nov 27, 2015
20,918
73,980
3,160
RSI Handle
BlindOwl
@TheNOOBIFIER1337 was/is an RCD? Gravy drinkers. Haha. Sorry Noob.

Great video. I have myself been wondering about this exact same issue. With the size of the ops and battles we're looking at, it's essential that we're able to monitor and use more than one channel at a time. You don't want to be hearing the battle chatter from the squadron on the other side of the op, especially if you're in a fight yourself. You need to have a dedicated net to communicate/coordinate with your own boys where you are.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
12,237
44,990
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
Ow damn, I have a single-ear headset. Does this mean that I only can listen to troop channel?
Doesn't help my deaf ear that much if it's coming L/R. Is there an option for those with mono hearing? Or no hearing?

EDIT - Have not watched the vid the soontobewife is talking to me.

EDIT - EDIT - Have watched the vid now. Nice to see the thinking here. Not sure if multi-ear would be the answer for everyone, as the military has Medicals/Competency training before you get to enter service. Perhaps this is an answer for the ADI's of this world?
 
Last edited:

Vavrik

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 19, 2017
5,476
21,988
3,025
RSI Handle
Vavrik
This is really interesting. For what it's worth, i'm not concerned so much about using left/right ear. You can pretty much get around single ear "deafness" and identifying multiple channels by using call-signs. That's exactly why the military uses them, so you can identify a speaker, and whether what's being said is relevant to you.

I don't think we need to consider this as militaristic either. I think it's a case of having the ability to co-ordinate groups of people so that they're more able to achieve a goal. Some of the activities we're talking about - piracy for example - are going to require a lot of coordination and clear leadership to be successful, unless your goal is to spend money.

I'm wondering if 2 channels is enough though. I think 4 or more, would become overly complex very quickly and I can work out how you would do this for arbitrarily large groups with 3 channels. Hopefully we can engage in at least squadron level activities, with a capital ship or two in the mix from time to time.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
12,237
44,990
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
One thing the Star Citizen VOIP may well have that Teamspeak, Dischord and other comms will not is jamming. If they don't include this in the game, it is hits E-War (Jamming comms is a basic and very effective tactic) however if they do people will just move over to teamspeak, dischord etc and bypass that particular game mechanic.

Communications networks in the game like the Comms Towers in Crusader mean bob-all (apart from things like game specific data like Crime Stat) when players can use other methods outside the game - Even if CIG create some clever code that can mute all other audio sources outside the game window, what is to stop a player having a cheap £30 Raspberry Pi or other microcomputer and using that as an off-grid source for their communications?

Even if CIG went to the extent of getting an agreement with Teamspeak/Dischord etc to send a players IP address to them and automatically mute their accounts while playing, telephone networks, Skype, hell even Blackberry Messenger if they get that desperate to have off-grid advantage.

Part of the Lore is that data transmission is a) slower than carrying it on a ship via jump-point and b) unsafe as it can be intercepted and stolen.

As players on other sides of the 'Verse will be able to share information instantly on forums like this and CIG won't be able to stop people using off-grid options that are unhackable outside of the game, in the Lore 900 years in the future are we to have unjammable and instant over any distance (it takes between 4 minutes and 24 minutes to get a radio signal traveling at the speed of light from Mars to Earth depending on where we are in our orbits) Quantum Communications to take account of communications methods CIG will have no control over?
 
Last edited:

marcsand2

Space Marshal
Staff member
Officer
Donor
Mar 15, 2016
7,007
22,018
3,025
RSI Handle
marcsand2
Our SOP is to have 2 channels broadcast into one ear, but we can identify callers by call sign.
That means strickt brevity discipline in SC... :beers::beers::beers:

[EDIT] and some extra controls to manage multi channel comms.... maybe I'm not over exaggerate after all with 5 tablets :grin:
 
Last edited:

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
12,237
44,990
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
If you're talking about your girlfriend when someone else needs to be telling your comrades about a target, you can get everyone killed. As much as we all want to have fun, everyone needs to "cut the chatter" in conflict situations.
K.

Snds Fn. I lv brvty.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Blind Owl

Stevetank

Lead Aurora Theorycrafter
Donor
Jun 3, 2016
3,252
14,934
2,900
RSI Handle
Stevetank
If you're talking about your girlfriend when someone else needs to be telling your comrades about a target, you can get everyone killed. As much as we all want to have fun, everyone needs to "cut the chatter" in conflict situations.
Agreed. If we want to fool around, we'll fool around. If we want to get something done, we'll need this.
 

DarthMunkee

Space Marshal
Donor
Aug 28, 2016
883
4,051
2,660
RSI Handle
DarthMunkee
I have not watched the video but this is completely pointless, they should focus on things that really matter like making more expensive jpegs. If people really wanted the ability to listen to more channels at once, they should just get more ears.

But for reals, just reading through the comments here and I really like the thought of multiple channels in my headset. Looks like I am going to have to build a macro pad just for Spectrum coms.
 

BadMoonRicin

Space Marshal
Donor
Nov 6, 2016
348
1,536
2,460
RSI Handle
BadMoonRicin
That means strickt brevity discipline in SC... :beers::beers::beers:
Yeah, brevity discipline is important... like that one time while i was flying, well not really flying , i was online. And while i was flying, that guy, you know him, the one with the red aurora? he blew up my ship while i was in SPK. Well i wasnt IN SPK I was outside..........
 

Shadow Reaper

Space Marshal
Jun 3, 2016
5,420
15,031
2,975
RSI Handle
Shadow Reaper
Agreed. If we want to fool around, we'll fool around. If we want to get something done, we'll need this.
In my youth I was a taxi driver and dispatcher, and actually grew up around two way radios that broadcast to all the cabs on one channel but they broadcast back on another they could not receive on. The reason was to cut the chatter. So all the cabs could hear dispatch but not each other.

You'll see the "cut the chatter" comment in many military situations in film, from strike squadrons to Hudson talking smack in Aliens, and "cut the chatter" is common. For us it is too much to have overbearing rules. That's not fun. Thing is in a military op, if you are talking about something else, you are not focused on the thing at hand and will indeed talk over others doing their jobs. So you need to have some kind of structure where there is a right person to say "cut the chatter" and have people actually do what they're told. If I am leading a boarding party and have to say "cut the chatter" and someone keeps talking, that person will not be invited back for future ops because that lack of cooperation does not lead to success. It gets people killed.

Very similar to Doom, where Carl Urban's character "Reaper" is telling the druggie punk kid to be quite and he keeps on talking and giving away their position. You need to be patient with an idiot for a little while only, and then you smack him.
 

Stevetank

Lead Aurora Theorycrafter
Donor
Jun 3, 2016
3,252
14,934
2,900
RSI Handle
Stevetank
In my youth I was a taxi driver and dispatcher, and actually grew up around two way radios that broadcast to all the cabs on one channel but they broadcast back on another they could not receive on. The reason was to cut the chatter. So all the cabs could hear dispatch but not each other.

You'll see the "cut the chatter" comment in many military situations in film, from strike squadrons to Hudson talking smack in Aliens, and "cut the chatter" is common. For us it is too much to have overbearing rules. That's not fun. Thing is in a military op, if you are talking about something else, you are not focused on the thing at hand and will indeed talk over others doing their jobs. So you need to have some kind of structure where there is a right person to say "cut the chatter" and have people actually do what they're told. If I am leading a boarding party and have to say "cut the chatter" and someone keeps talking, that person will not be invited back for future ops because that lack of cooperation does not lead to success. It gets people killed.

Very similar to Doom, where Carl Urban's character "Reaper" is telling the druggie punk kid to be quite and he keeps on talking and giving away their position. You need to be patient with an idiot for a little while only, and then you smack him.
Right, but keep in mind that TEST isn't full of hard core gamers. We'll need a system that can do both.

The lollygaggers can drink and have fun chatting.

The more refined can objectively conquer missions with efficient communication.

I have a quirk of not being able to speak if I'm concentrating on something too much.

Either Spectrum will have all of these features or we'll use something else.
 
Forgot your password?