Topic: The Forest Problem
So I've seen a number of posts/threads about the new forest clusters of low tree-like, non harvest-able, plants.
Quoted from patch notes with the change:
"A lot of plants have been reduced in size to combat the perceived feeling of small robots. We have also changed the way they are growing, so they will now more likely gather in colonies and form forests. If you experience reduced client performance because of this, try to reduce the "draw distance" slider in the options. "
This manifests issues with impassibility, auto-pilots path-solver, client performance, and I would guess server performance given they are all unique objects.
So my humble, ill-informed, nooby-ridden suggestion tackles issue of performance, but also aesthetics with respect to the point brought up in the quote.
Let there be trees, but as large, maybe just tall, maybe multiple tiles, but fewer in number. Similar to perhaps how it was before the patch ironically.
This addresses the number of objects that are instanced and loaded when players cross the grid lines, thereby reducing load client side. Having singular larger objects will allow for the same use of cover, and restrict motion for strategic dis/advantage. Perhaps some are still low-lying for ballistic fire, while some are higher and provide cover from missile volleys.
Also, having larger convex objects will make autopilot pathing solve more effectively through these forests (I think according to how I've seen it operate).
The second point is on the aesthetic justification, which I don't agree with as stated in the quote above. Sure, maybe we should have large lumbering robot/mechs to play more towards the MechWarrior crowd. But the camera perspective already diminishes the scale, as does the landscape, and infrastructure. So to remain consistent and allow you, the devs and designers, to really sculpt visually and spatially appealing places to explore, uncover, or exploit, taller tree-life will augment this.
Without taller trees, the landscape feels kind of bald, you can see very far on the horizon, and nothing feels 'hidden'. Why not allow for things to be obscured? Why can't alien plant life dwarf our bots?
Perhaps even the tree of the forest can have growth in size and height over its maturation.
So I offer this compromise to the forest idea:
Less in number, larger in size (of each object).