Like it or not, this game needs Orbital Strike.

DOES THIS HAVE TO BE EXPLOSIVE??


Can't OS be like a GIANT EMP? That's what I would like to see.

The concerns in this thread as to why OS would not work are:

1. 1 person can wipe out a squad/platoon (even though nothing is set in stone this concern is valid but all hyperbole)
2. We don't need more getting insta-killed out of nowhere weapons

I think a good way for OS to be implemented in PS2 is as an EMP that, if used, would:

• disable shields on infantry
• disable any mines/motion detectors
• disable all vehicles from shooting
• bring vehicle movement to what it is if its on fire
• disable AMS but not spawn beacons

Make the area of effect a 50 meters in diameter. Maybe more/maybe less
Have the effect on vehicles last 30 seconds. maybe more/maybe less

This would eliminate direct kills from the weapon and still be a good counter against zerging. AND it would eliminate the possibility of team killing that would other wise be a concern with explosives.

And possibly obtained in one of these ways (my two favorite)

Please follow my link to bring more on this topic.

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...a-of-denial-weaponry-o-b-s-and-others.170370/

....that's some troubling wording

Doesn't sound like just plain "No" is an option anymore.
Which makes sense I guess, Smedley was the one who wanted it put in afterall.

How about 2 ground rules here?

1. If a player just died in the last 90 seconds to ANY Orbital strike... they're left with 25% health by the next one that hits them
2. The "caster" of the Strike has to point a clearly visible laser/tracer at a FLAT/sloped GROUND surface or an exact player entity (eg: vehicle) for atleast 2 seconds. No pointing it at walls or at some part of the ground on one side of a building and then moving the pointer to other side where all your enemies get hit by it at the last possible milisecond with no Warning at all

Well outnumbered is outnumbered, so yeah you can be totally screwed if the enemy doesn't mess up and you're outnumbered.

But personally 've had a lot of success when I understand that I'm going to be drastically outnumbered and take pot-shots at the enemy to siphon off a few lone players to kill them, gradually widdling down enemy vehicle zergs. Works best as ESF since you're most agile and punchy. Solo shredder Liberator I've had some good success with too, since you can basically engage ground vehicles from render range and do some pretty good damage to them. Ground vehicles are a bit riskier, but some of the most ridiculous things I've ever been a part of is flanking with my Prowler and wiping out like 6+ successive vehicles with basically just non-stop every-shot-hitting AP prowler shots. Admittedly with the other tanks it's a lot trickier since you don't have the same sort of DPS laser to melt people with, but depending on the terrain you can control how many enemies your'e engaging at once and create multiple 1v1 fights without making yourself too vulnerable to the rest of them (the pot-shot method can help with this.)

With 1-2 full squads of players willing to coordinate with the above tactics, obviously that makes it dramatically more likely that you can push them out of the base on defense.

But yeah sometimes all you can do is widdle them down a little, and sometimes you can genuinely convince enough friendlies to make the right choice, clear out the enemy sunderer, and win the battle with that one important vehicle kill on its own, and sometimes the enemy is just too numerous to deal with and you need to fight elsewhere.

Planetside 1 still has better vehicle wreckage then PS2.

Well, does it HAVE to be a giant explosive nuke or some Deorbited Stick of Tungsten?
It could be something less devastating, such as a gradually intensifying series of plasma blasts with an initially low DPS, that spools up to be rather dangerous. For example, stick it on the AMS with the engie zerg around it, and that AMS is either gonna have to move out from under that rock cover, exposing itself, or get its rear bumper blasted in by superheated death.

Character models with weapons on them? When was this game made? THE FUTURE?
(Cause clearly we can't have that now even though it looks great)

Can we all agree they'd be fun to watch?

So you're one of those guys "Surrender, go to warpgate and suck a thumb"

So the devs can have an opinion from a similar game:

I played MAG o nthe PS3(sadly it's servers were recently shut off)- and it's a shame no devs here played it- I think you would have been in awe of how they handled a lot of what PS2 is now encountering..

Seriously.

Regarding the Orbital Strike- I must add the disclaimer of never having played PS1,but I will go into detail on how MAG handled strikes of this wort

-

You havd 4 squads of 8 men, you have a platoon leader who controlled 4 squads, and you had a company commander who controlled 4 platoons.


Each leader could call in abilities- the squad leader could call in very minor artillery attacks on a target, the platoon leader had a precision strike which could take out one enemy bunker provided the enemy's AA emplacement had been destroyed- and could also call in poison gas strikes-

and the OIC- had various abilties

For example, all powers had a cooldown - one of the OIC's 4 powers was a reset, where all powers would instantly be countdown=0, so he would have to communicate to all 127 men over a tool called company broadcast letting them know when he was about to do it

HE also had the power to jam the enemy's minimaps......i can't remember too muc helse, sadly

:''(


Anyway, when you look at the idea of a Orbital strike- it's a special ability to help clear out a enemy base right?

Well, this off the bat implies it'd be used more often against large enemy groups, rather than one man
Also, it sounds like it would be a bit useless in that it would not work on underground bases, or enemies located inside buildings


Fair enough- after all ,it's not like you can destroy bases currently in planetside 2.....................Anyway


Because of that, it has some self-limitng factors as to what it can accomplish

since, if it hits a enemy base and they die- they spawn inside a spawn room, and they are now safe except the few who run out....





So, My suggestion is this- Perhaps this would work with squad leaders, I do not know

But based on how MAG did it, I do think if you were to give it to someone, you would want to give it to platoon leaders.

(I personally hope you add company commanders eventually in planetside2, as platoons only get so big, and some of us aren't too big on outfits(I'm one of the few dedicated Platoon leaders of randoms on Waterson)

Anyway, you would want the ability to be accessable by platoon leaders- as giving it to one person, turns it into a COD killstrak(sorrt for the comparison)- and I feel it would not be as ...immersive, or inclusive.

Now, if you give it to platoon leaders, when they use it- it'll likely be on a strategic level in that it's intention is to aid the macro-game

As for limitations- the MAG solution would be to give it a cooldown of I dont know, 10,20, minutes-maybe a half hour if you could not bring yourselves to go shorter.

If you did this, then 2 platoon leaders at the same base could, if theirs had cooled down, use 2 strikes....






During a base assault, as base attacks dont normally last over half a hour unless it's a massive fight , in which case i suspect a orbital strike will not do too much due to being inadequate in size to make a serious dent(but it might make enough of a dent to gain a little ground_)

Anyway, I have heard PS1 had some thing called a command rank....I am not familiar with this and do not know how it worked- but I would think any platoon leader who's spent some time leading should have an idea of the macro scale, or as they call it, mapside2.


I understand it's the nature of them, that cause Orbital strikes to not be too effective in the end- regardless of if they kill a dozen or two people, due to indoor fights, and respawns- I suppose if it lasts for over half a minute, maybe a minute, it could provide sustained fire over a room with a control point in it.....people still arent going to intentionally walk into the beam/rods from god

As for XP from it- there's multiple ways to handle that. IT could go to everyone in a platoon, you COULD give it all to a platoon leader, etc....that'd be a nice 5 - 10 certs....and I understand a lot of PL's would like this, as playing mapside2 does not bring in the certs..



I have also thought of a drawback- what stops people from making a 3 man platoon....to obtain it....

I can't think of too many ways around this except for making the size of the OS based on the forces in the platoon- perhaps..

You guys, the devs, will have to make some calls, such as if half a platoon can access it, if 3/4ths of a platoon is enough(know that few platoons operate with a full 48 constantly...)

Hm..perhaps that 30 minute timer is looking more appealing...lol


My case, is to allow it to be used by the PL's (and no, I do not think it should be connected to outfits.....perhaps companies, if you introduce those- ) , as they are the leaders commanding the majority of forces on Servers....

I can see a lot of teamwork involved where 2 leaders try to come together to get 2 strikes on a base to try to keep people off of a point enough to get their own forces nearby... it might not succeed, aka underground base, amp station, etc- but it should be enough to help make a difference....


Look to MAG for inspiration-

-=================================================

Non serious answer=====================
have the interlink facilities's secondary ability be connected- hence, it turns into this





:O

I'd implement them as an infiltrator (and maybe engineer) deployable.

Deploy like a mine. Trigger with red button (because everyone needs red buttons) like c4. Before activation it can be destroyed by explosions / small arms, rendering it useless. Must be uncloaked to deploy / fire.

Once activated it starts a process that cannot be stopped. It creates a very visible FX from itself that lets everyone know that a strike is on its way. A short time later (~10 seconds) the actual bombardment starts.

What the bombardment does can vary for different types:
* EMP blast that disables stuff in a wide area, but doesn't kill.
* Targeted bombardment that is not dissimilar to c75 rounds bombs a tight area for a duration - mainly used for taking out parked sundies, or providing area denial. The bombardment may well last a while; making it designed for suppression fire on a specific location.
* Many other cool ideas, but none of them 'wipe clean all forces in a 2 mile radius' - because that would be daft.

So its limitations:
1) it's a resource-costing device, likely with a cost that means you can't have one person spamming it.
2) it is spammable by multiple people if you can get multiple people to use them at once
3) the person using it has to actually get themselves to the location it is intended to be used and deploy it
4) the deployment process involves a short window of vulnerability, during which time an enemy can render the whole process moot by shooting the person deploying it
5) once activated, it provides sufficient warning to those in its area of effect to get the heck out of the way.

I would absolutely NOT give it to Light Assault.

Orbital strikes would just be slapping a band aid on the zerging problem. The real problem with zergs is they have no downsides, no upkeep costs for individual soldiers, guarantee an eventual win (unless they hit another zerg), and have deep cumulative resource pockets.

No, I'm both aggressive (~666 SPM) and smart (~3.5 K/D).

Whereas, based on your comment, I imagine you're suicidally reckless and simply offer your opponents a ton of free certs. Your inability to distinguish between playing smart and running from all fights is a big hindrance to your effectiveness. Instead of trying to fling insults maybe you should practice up or learn from better players.

Prooflink please. Or you gonna squirm and evade again?

Uh, I linked it many times in the other thread.

OS's were somewhat useful in Planetside 1, mainly for taking out those troublesome AMS's, since AMS's are not cloaked in Ps2, and LA are pretty effective at taking them out, I do not see how useful OS's can be. In Ps1 if you were inside your ground vehicle when an OS started to take effect usually you could simply move out of the blast radius it was only occasionally that you could score hits on occupied vehicles or troops.

In Ps2 the main question that arises for me is how to balance an Orbital Strike versus resource costs of vehicles and max units it would potentially destroy. In Ps1 these things were free (once certed into) so dying to an OS was only a slight hindrance assuming your cooldown timer had expired. In Ps2 a single OS could potentially wipe out thousands of vehicle/max resources gained in an instant, leaving those people unfortunate enough to be hit by them with cooldown timers and resource accumulation to deal with.

The other issue is spamability, OS's in planetside1 were limited by both cooldown timers and a long period of leading squads until you attained Command rank 4-5, that said after a year or so there were significant numbers of people who were able to do them. In planetside2 i can only assume that an OS would be certed into, it would have to be a very restrictive cert cost for this.

You wont get OS. Don't like it? Door is at the left behind the corner... yes, where pro-Hex people left. Thank you, bye

Did you read any of the other posts?

Never seen it.

Oh. Nice vehicle farming skills, "aggressive" and "smart" one.

Nice "NO U" comment. Have you did your homework, kid?