The difference is not "huge", it's about 10-20% in most benchmarks I've seen. But anyway, this thread is not meant to be about Aaron being able to spend ridiculous amounts of money on computer hardware, whereas I can only buy the sensible stuff...

Anyway, what are teh new vehicles like in UT3?

(I really should get the demo...)

I am just gonna say no more so you HAVE to get the demo.

Pretty soon after I posted that, I did get the demo, lol. Played it a couple of hours and it was great! The graphics are incredible, but it still runs unbelievably smooth. As always, my favourite vehicle has to be the manta, I get so many kills by just crushing people with it. Unfortunately it looks like they've weakened the scorpion, it's new weapon isn't as good as the energy chain (it does more damage, but is harder to aim and not as uniquely fun) and the blades on the side have been shrunk.

I was playing Team DM on Heat Ray and a darkstalker appeared, the enemy got it and won from 15 kills behind... Played again, they got it again (worked out where it came from, though, just the blue swarmed it) but we killed it very quickly, lol.

Nearly as powerful? That's a funny way of saying half as powerful...
To be honest, I can imagine us getting roughly the same frame rates, you at 1600x1200 and me at 2560x1600.

OFFS! All I was saying is that I will be able to run the damn thing, which I can. You can stop going on about the ridiculous amounts you spend on computer hardware now and talk about the damn game!

If you had the money you would spend just as much as he does. But the point is yours is half as good as his and you were saying it was nearly as good. Which is just not correct at all. Really no need to get in a stress about it either :/ It's a computer... Not a living thing. That fact his is better shouldn't make any difference to you.

As for the game. Yes its pretty darn cool and it runs immensely well. The only vehicle I saw was the massive spider walking thing. Seems a bit ridiculous though cause you can stand there all day ripping up every enemy in site and they cant do much about it..

I'm annoyed cos you won't stop going on about it, I didn't even intend to start this discussion, was just saying I should be able to play it...

Anyway, the massive spider walker thing is the darkwalker, it's very powerful, but can be taken out. One time the other team owned us with it, but the next time we destroyed it within seconds. I was using a rocket launcher or shock rifle, as were a couple of teammates. I think the glowing blue bit may be a weakspot.

I fired at the area its legs were all attached too with some random gun. Destroyed it easy enough.

Yeah, I think they've probably introduced weakspots on some vehicles, like having the darkstalker's legs weaker would make perfect sense.

Yeah that definately makes the most sense on that thing. Cause it just looks like it would collapse if one took any real amount of damage.

Well in regards to physics, it would, it would loose balance and fall. Standing on two legs is actually really complicated, lol.

I think other weakspots would be the underside of tanks, the manta's blades and stuff like that. Of course it's really hard to test as it's usually just chaos.

underside of tanks? :S

Tanks general weakspots are on the back and the tracks...

The front and sides are always heavily armoured to the point of almost impossible to blow a whole in. Of course if they weren't they would fail at being a tank..

Though to be quite honest I had no idea what you were on about.

The underside, IE underneath them, is usually pretty weak, because it's rarely exposed. Tracks are also a weak point, but that is because you can knock them out and stop them moving, not because they'll explode because of it. Backs are generally weaker, though, don't really know about sides.

Thats what I meant about the tracks. But the front is always heavily armoured, the sides slightly less usually and the back is always alot weaker. In general if your dumb enough to show the back of your tank to an enemy you deserve to be blown up.

Underneath might actually be quite armoured to due to mines and stuff.

Traditionally it was weaker armoured, but you're right, that has probably changed now due to mines. It will still be weaker than the front, though.

I dunno.. Do you realise what kind of explosion mines can set off?..

Yes, but tanks are at more threat from direct enemy fire than mines, more often than not, so they compromise armour on the bottom to improve it on the front. Otherwise tanks would just be coated in super armour, if they didn't have to compromise for mobility...

IN all honesty its only gonna take a couple of shots to blow a whole in the front armour no matter how strong it is. Tanks can blow wholes in almost anything.

Bottom might not be that armoured but I would think it would be enough to just immobilise the tank rather than blow the thing up.

That would be considering they would have taken into account people are inside the thing and are trying to lower casualties. If it is just immoblised they could escape..

Yes, they do try to lower casualties, but having too much armour would increase them as they can't move quick enough to escape enemy fire.

Also, if a round is going to pierce a tank it will or it won't, and more shots won't make much difference unless you remove some armour plates. Most tank armour now works on deflecting the shots rather than stopping them. They still need some strength, though, to make sure the impact doesn't cause buckling.

Tanks have like zero mobility as it is. Their not really fast in the slightest because their like all terrain things. They can drive over anything. and if more armour is added they just improve the power of the tank...

Do you think were like in the stone age? :/

I have no idea what runs tanks but there is some serious momentum behind those things to be able to carry several tons of metal..

Modern tanks use gas turbines (bit like jet engines) and some can reach 60mph over most terrain... Mobility is still a huge part of tanks. If you've ever seen a Challenger Mk2 or an even faster tank go max speed, you'll see why. Heck, they can even leave the ground fully.

Adding more armour makes it heavier and slower, and also bigger, so more visible.

There huge as it is. If you can;t see one your blind but then thats what cammo is for.

But once it gets within range they'll be able to hear the damn thing. More armour aswell is going to make it a couple of inches thicker on each side. What the hell difference would that make on size? Almost none.

And I am sure they can give it a bit more power if they need it. This is quite a technological advance age were in :/

There are ways to make things go fast..

Add an inch of armour on the bottom is probably adding 1/2Ton or more, which means you need bigger engines, more fuel and generally just more in every sense, making the tank bigger in every way, and also more expensive. A balance has to be made, and that balance compromises armour on the bottom.

Anyway, this thread is about UT3...

Point is they still need to consider what is inside :/ not just ouside and considering possibilities of what happens doesn't make much differencee. Have you actually seen how big tanks are now?

Most of them are probably fully armoured anyway because that big and they have the technology. Why create something second rate that will be blown up when you can make something awesome that is insanely hard to be. Tanks are made to blow stuff up not be blown up :/

As for UT3 I would like to more of the game when it comes out properly. Seemed a good game a bit on the manic isane kiling side for me.. Kinda like tf2 which is the only thing I dislike about that game too sometimes..

Well they are heavily armoured, but the bottom armour will be weaker than the front armour. To make them relatively indestructible they would probably need to be twice as big anyway, lol.

Unreal Tournament has always been about manic killing, bot really about tactics. Teamwork does come into a bit, with people grouping up for the objective.