[Poll] Should Infiltrators be able to hack vehicles?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Dr. Euthanasia, May 14, 2013.

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  1. Bearcat

    No

    I might change my answer to "yes" if there are limitations similar to PS1:

    - Vehicle cannot be manned
    - Takes special certifications (say the top level of hacking) so only more dedicated infiltrators could do it
    - Requires a hacking tool (REK) that makes a visible beam w/ sound while hacking
    - The Darklight Vision implant is made available ;)
    • Up x 1
  2. PhilDun

    No. Talk about a horrible idea. Not every class needs to be able to counter vehicles.
  3. Teegeeack

    No, just every class except infiltrators, including combat medics.
  4. Vumpler

    Perhaps not actually take ownership of the vehicle, but may disable/affect it in certain ways? Disable firing systems, engine, reversing controls, cause the vehicle to detonate after a short period of time (maybe causing damage to everything around it), etc. Maybe even tie the options available to the hacking level of the infiltrator. After a successful hack the infiltrator is given a menu of options and can pick the effect that they want to implement.
  5. meucha

    Yes they should, but to balance that extremely OP thing there should be downsides :
    - make the vehicle hacking take longer than a terminal hack. Any movement from said vehicle will break the hack.
    - give the driver an audio signal that he's being hacked (should also be added to manned turrets)

    If the infiltrator still succeeds with these downsides, all current occupants will be kicked and he'll claim ownership of the vehicle.

    This way infiltrators will only be able to hack unmanned vehicles, or those with a clueless/AFK driver.
  6. }{ellKnight

    Remember all the complaints about suicide engineers vs Sundies? Not imagine that but with an infiltrator that can turn invisible and disable your Sundy in some way or take it over. People will QQ like mad.

    Funny thing is nothing has really changed about engineers though, they're still as powerful as ever and people are still as oblivious as ever to them yet nobody complains about them anymore.
  7. Aimeryan

    I've made my reasons clear in the other thread, but I'll do so again here. First, as Dr. Euthanasia said, the specifics are not important at the moment - this is merely regarding our ability to affect vehicles via hacking. Whether this is a full takeover of the vehicle or something else is not important.

    I will say though, personally, I would like this system:
    • If vehicle is manned, hack ejects occupants and locks vehicle for x number of seconds. This allows the vehicle to react. Hack would be normal length, since we have had to get both close and provide the enemy with a second chance.
    • If vehicle is empty, hack either switches control or destroys vehicle (depends on whether the developers can be bothered to put the artwork in or not). Both have the advantage of depriving our enemy of the vehicle, while also allowing us to get experience in some form (directly via the destruction, or indirectly via its use).
    On to the reasons.

    As long as sunderers are the power houses they are we need to be able to do something about them. Doesn't matter how many infantry I kill as long as that thing is spitting them out ad infinitum. By far the most important entity in the game; even more so than bases in my opinion since they provide the same benefit while also being mobile.

    Unmanned vehicles, fair game. If nothing else, give me the experience for destroying it at least, like every other class can.

    Manned vehicles, more controversial. Every other class has either two options: 1) attack it from ranged (Heavy, Max, Eng.) with the proviso that the vehicle can then react to this since it is non-instant, or 2) (practically) instant destruction, but has to get close (LA, Eng., Medic). Vehicle hacking would be the weak parts of both; have to get up close and is non-instant. If done right, the enemy would even have a chance to react. I am almost certain that it is possible to balance this if done right.

    The more important reason, once we have established that it should be possible to balance this, is the decide: a) do we need it, and/or b) would it increase the amount of fun (this is a game after all).

    For (a), I would say yes, at least for sunderers. I would also say that given SOE has made the game with the idea that no one is stuck being hard countered I would say we are by far the odd one out here and is a discrepancy that should be fixed. This is not rock-paper-scissors. If everyone can affect vehicles, and the game is balanced around this, yet we can not - well, I can only see this leading to imbalance if it already has not.

    For (b), I would certainly find it more enjoyable to be able to take part in this area of the game with everyone else - no one likes being left out at a party. I doubt other players would find it lessening their fun unless they seriously believe they should be inexplicably immune to one particular class. Maybe they would enjoy the new challenge, as long as it is not too punitive.
    • Up x 1
  8. Skippytjc

    I think we should be able to hack AMP Sundy's. How many times have I camped out near an enemy sundy and there isn't a damn thing I can do other than snipe them until I die or run out of ammo. Id love to troll them some more.
  9. Zan_Aus

    I play infiltrator more than any other class by a long shot and I spend most of that hacking terms and turrets.

    That said, I am of two minds about this. Yes it would be cool but my god, I think of the devastation and chaos I could create if I had this ability. Especially the ability to screw with sunderers, with cloak it is too easy to get right onto a sunderer and this would really screw with the current balance of the battlefield.

    I don't think you should be able to take them over, that's too unfair, its too easy to get close to a vehicle with his limited vision. If you could do smaller things like disabling movement for 1 min or hacking a deployed sunderer's weapon terminal or creating an effect like an EMP grenade or disabling weapons for 1min then yeah OK, maybe.

    If you are going to implement something like this you really have to think how its going to be used by the best infiltrators.
  10. Vaphell

    it's annoyingly craptastic that I can't do **** to unguarded sundies. I even mounted 250c cannon on my flash just to fill that gaping hole (1000c fury was too much for my budget).
  11. }{ellKnight

    On the flip side you could go hack an infantry terminal and C4/Mine it.
  12. Dr. Euthanasia

    Yeah, unless that terminal is on the Sunderer you want to blow up.

    I'd say vehicles are important enough in this game that yes, every class should have the ability to at least defend itself against vehicles. The cloak lets us run away, hacking makes them go away. Sounds fair to me.
  13. LT_Latency

    Hackers hack terminals which makes them go away. The most devastating thing you can do to a base is take there terminals away. It stronger then any RPG in the game.
  14. }{ellKnight

    It doesn't to me simply because of how easy it is for you to go near it and hack it. Not every class is supposed to easily counter vehicles.
  15. Posse

    I'd make them able only to disable vehicles, and you'd need a friendly infiltrator to restore it. For deployed sunderers I'd use the following mechanic: When you hack them they are disabled the same way, and you can't redeploy there anymore, plus, the terminal gets hacked, which makes you able to switch to another class and destroy it, a good incentive for people to leave someone protecting the sunderer.
  16. Aimeryan

    As long as you got decent exp for it I could agree with that.

    That said, this thread isn't about specifics (the infiltrator forum has many posts on how it could specifically work). This thread is really just about seeing whether people think infiltrators should be able to affect vehicles, preferably giving reasons. If people can not think of a single way it could be done and be balanced then they should state that if they wish to, but in terms of the thread it is not so important.

    Besides the obvious remark that every class except us can do something about vehicles, the real reason your comment holds no merit is because, once again, this thread isn't about specifics. Who cares if you can't think of a way to balance it - you just might not be the only person with ideas. Assume there was a balanced way to do it, should infiltrators be able to? That is what this thread is asking, preferably with reasons for why/why not.
  17. }{ellKnight

    Bascally that means that if the sundy guys don't have an infil nearby they're screwed.
  18. Dr. Euthanasia

    So without me specifying the conditions of the hack (like the time it takes to complete) or the effects that it has upon the vehicle, you've already jumped to the conclusion that it's unbalanced because we can get next to a lone vehicle without its driver spotting us.

    Not really. Not when any Engineer can just blow them up and repair them, or switch to Infiltrator from the unreachable terminals in their spawning room which exist without fail in every base. Reverting the damage done by a hacked terminal is trivial unless the enemy faction has control of the area in which it resides, which has already accomplished the goal of making them "go away" from your perspective.
  19. LT_Latency

    I just think it would be too strong. Even just c4. Sneaking up on tanks with stealth is so damn easy.

    They are suppose to be sneaking around in bases sabotaging stuff not driving around in enemy tanks roflstomping there lines. Maybe hacking to turn them off......but still this is going to be WAY to strong IMO.


    What is fair is sneaking close to enemy tanks and killing the crew and support so you team can finish of the tank which is already in game.
  20. HMR85

    IMO, give infiltrators the ability to hack it completely. In turn bring back the AMS bubble to make it all the more harder to find the deployed sundy. Also, give engineers the option to deploy motion sensors. Problem solved IMO. If the infiltrators are able to find it and then sneak past all that undetected and still get the hack on the Sundy they deserve it. Lets look back at how PS1 did it and maybe take lessons from it.
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