Developer Thread: Valkyrie

That'd be cool. I'll see if we can do that, but lighting can be tricky/costly.

Check out the latest model on Test - that hover mode is intended. Not saying it can't change, but that's what we went with.

Not planned at this time. But we may add afterburners as a solution if it's needed.

Yes, you can squad spawn into it.

Sweet, sounds like there will be some awesome new tactics with it

OK I think I got everything before this point. I'll check back later today.

Thanks for the feedback, folks.

Thx for the reply carey! I just checked the flight model, and I'm sorry to say that it's still far too slow. You need maxed evasiveness airframe to reach speeds that the galaxy can reach with racer frame, it's simply too slow. I'm not sure what kind of idea you guys have for the final version of the valkyrie, but if it's to have any troop transport capabilities without having a lot more health, it just needs to be much faster. It might sound like too much of an improvement, but I think that without the evasiveness frame it should have speeds equal to liberator/reaver.

Thanks for all the answers, good stuff in there!

I am still wondering why the thermal optics are that short ranged on the Valkyrie compared to the thermals on other vehicles. Some more range (around 150 meters or so) would be nice.

About the squad spawn ability, that does not seem to work on the PTS at the moment. Nice that its planned for the Valkyrie tho.

Being able to cert for guns on the side doors would be awesome. A pair of door mounted Kobalts would be so much fun.

Just flew the Valkyrie a bit more on test. With the HUD working I realized top speed in nose-down level flight was 145kph. That makes it about 40kph slower than a nose-down high-g frame Galaxy. That's a huge speed gap - no way my outfit will start using these for transport when they're so much slower than what's already available. In order to justify taking a smaller, less survivable transport that requires more pilots (because two craft required instead of just one), the Valkyrie will need to be at least 15-20 kph faster than the Galaxy. So somewhere right around 200kph should make it a good option when you're in a big hurry to get bodies on point.

The adjusted FOV is better, but top speed at nose-down level flight was 44 degrees below zero and it still left me feeling blind. I guess I could just fly slower, but the top speed is already so slow. I don't know if it would be better to adjust the thruster so top forward speed is more in the 30-40 degrees below horizon or simply adjust the camera further. It would help a lot if the cross bar where the fire suppression indicator is currently placed was removed.

If it's a helicopter model then shouldn't it be MORE capable of withstanding small arms fire? Unless the helicopter you're thinking of is a jetranger.

Modern helicopter gunships can withstand .50 caliber machine gun fire to the armour and the windshield. Fighter jets armour is no where near as thick.


Real world logic aside. I personally feel the Valk would be a lot more fun if it was tougher and the gun was less accurate but more stable, forcing it to stay low, but making it capable of going toe to toe with ground vehicles. The problem with making it fragile with with a super unstable gun is that it's just going to end up hovering up in the air, next to the galaxies while the gunner spams shots at the ground.

I really want to see it weaving around at low levels strafing ground targets, and it just won't be able to do that the way it's set up now.

What about making the radius large like say 20m or something? I don't know I just want it to have a large support role. Thanks for the dev response though!

Just tested the new flight model out. It feels faster and maybe gravity + vertical thrust was increased slightly. Overall it feels a little more like a really maneuverable heli and less like a hot air balloon lol. It is definitely the best handling aircraft in the game as it stands as you can weave through trees and pillars with ease.

It's still not behaving completely like a VTOL or heli should in some ways but it's getting there I think. I think that the vertical thrust while not pushing space should just about match the force of gravity when perfectly vertical so that the craft feels more stabilized, and of course by tilting you should start to move in the direction of the tilt + lose some altitude. Might have to increase gravity and vertical thrust a bit more to get the dramatic effect I am thinking of, but that's how helicopters work in games like BF2. It's just my opinion though. Anyway thanks for listening to our feedback!

Sorry to say that, but 145KPH is still WAAAYYY too slow, I mean why should a one use it instead of a gal (for longer distances) or harrasser/flash (for closer ranges), it's just too vulnerable to anything from squad of burster maxes to stalker infil with a basic pistol
as for fast assault/support class, you have actually forgotten it should be a fast

Just tried it out on the PTS. Feels much better flying.

Didn't like how the Altimeter is on the left, when I think in every Vanu vehicle it's on the right?

It's hard to see how the current Valkyrie will be effective as insertion/transport if it is so weak against... everything

I don't see it surviving well against aircraft. Lockons are not effective in the rumble seat due to vehicle stabilization, lock-on ranges, if the attacker has flares, and again the valkyrie speed.

Flying low for troop insertions, it's going to get 1-2 shot at by tanks (happens with low flying Liberators already), on top of small arms fire.

Needs more tankiness survivability, and/or more speed/thrusters.

It's great to have someone answer questions on this forum, please continue with this practice in the future, it's really appreciated.

^THAT. ...and then do another one for the upcoming Striker/Spiker/MAX-ability changes.
(& then once all of those are out of the way... do one for the ES-BASR's b/c they're teh suck / redundant)

I'm hoping it stays that way TBH. It's the best argument it will ever have for a cloaking Util (even if that Cloaking "unit" has to either completely replace the Main Gun slot, or 2 of the rumble seats for Trade-off balance).

Something else that would REALLY REALLY REALLY help it in the Quality of Life department here with such a cumbersome speed ... and will already kind of happen on its own /w the Squad-Spawning, which Carey pointed out --- Would be the "engineer Update" Mini-Terminal we should be expecting this winter or next year. If they updated all deployable placement "On a Flat Surface" to behave like the Ammo packs are supposed to, then you could also twist around behind you and put a mini Terminal in it to allow instant loadout & class-switching for all passengers, thus making it several times more adaptable in-real-time and then more able to respond to specific kinds of faster enemy Vehicle threats. IE:

• Stealth + Yotes ESF shows up & gets in close, change to LMG heavies /w Striker/Lancer
• Composite Rocket Podder shows up: Standard lockons / swap back to Engineer for repairs
• Skyguard starts chasing you from the ground: switch in Medics to out-heal the Flak.
• Lib comes in range: get in close to IT, hail-marry Decimator shots and pray for the best.
• Racer Ramming Gal inbound: Go LightAssault and bail the **** out.

What about allowing MAXs to sit in the gunner seat like in the other transports. It would make it more consistent with the other vehicles and it would mean the Valk wouldn't have to abandon their MAX squad mates without having to deal with the obvious balance problems flying quad-dual bursters would have.

I think making it a heal/repair beam would be cooler, like a Starcraft Medivac chopper.

You shouldnt bet on that. There are pilots who can get it anywhere and i never found a place where i couldnt get my Galaxy to.