Light Assault: The Question

If those magnetic charges still worked against MAX units it'd be fine. The underbarrel one might need some tweaking, but I like the rest of it.

I just changed it, it sticks to max units as well now, although obviously you have to either wait on the timer or shoot it off of them, so it still isn't quite as good as C4, unfortunately I don't think much can be done about that, as there simply isn't ANYTHING that is quite as good as C4 when it comes to taking max units...

I imagine MAXes would start crying a reaver if they hear about a C4 equivalent that coyote-style automatically sticks to them.
However, our counter-argument should be that it will stick only if we throw the brick with such precision, that if it was C4, you'd be dead for sure. But with magnetic charges, a MAX with magnetic charge stuck to him at least has 10 seconds to escape to an allied engineer that can take it off.
MAXes love justifying their OPness with the fact that MAXes need support to be effective, it's time we take them up on their words.

this is where you caught most of my attention a grenade that can break choke points would push the enemys out or push them back sunch as bio lab situation but if everyone use these stuff planetside will become so toxic around a fight u run there gas over there they will spam it but yess that grenade is overpowered say your team is holding a succsefull cap point against enemies now 3 4 light assault throws that cloud dmaging grenade into near the cap point the winneers will lose just because of the grendae spam of light assault coz they will have to get out of the room i dont hink its gonna work think again please

but what if that dense smoke makes your enemies lit up like fireflies in their respective colours like red shield blink for tr and faction colours but does not damage them just make their shields blink i think you have got youreself a very useful grenade. this will force the team back and help ur team target the blinking shields but i dont know what this will create in game some sort of problem. like in bio lab choke points both team and enemies la use these and theres smoke everywhere and we are blinking red and they are blinking purple in the smoke. while light assault are immune to blinking shields. they can properly hunt targets inside the cloud

i have a dought the smoke grendae already is somewhat capable of breaking choke points when your team is using hs nv

still ur idea is somewhat eye catching a grenade that makes shields blink but in what way i dont know but this could lead to grende spam you think and reply back. theres a idea here that needs polishing

With 2 damage per second, that's what it will do.

yes after careful thinking this fire fight grenade that makes shield blink is a great idea that soe can have discussion on i would definitely up this one the most in all. i wud love to see some fire flies in the smoke at night in ps2 good idea man

if possible you could make it a separate thread on test server discussion or reddit forms where it needs to be separately posted for discussion not buched up.

That logic is the logic I thought of, you still have to throw it in the max damage range of c4 anyway, except instead of detonating, you have to wait 10 seconds or shoot it off of them. In either case it is less effective than C4.

You do bring up a valid point though, that people will look at it in a negative way rather than a logical one, and many max users will just whine because it is in human nature to resist change even to one's own detriment.

This is why I don't post my own ideas often, I always end up feeling like the guy at the end of "War of the Worlds" when the people are in such a panic they are raiding potentially world saving items off the truck, and it's just this feeling of helplessness over the fact that people are such idiots.

That's what I feel everytime I see the news on TV.

2 dmg per second x buy 5 LA's throwing 1 each plus grenade bandoleer. If you ever played Planetside 1 you will know the horror of the Plasma Grenade and how choke points, doorways, corridors got litered with the stuff.

I would like simple things that could help but not give 2 much of an advantage to prevent the nerf threads going up.
Flash nades with a hit markers, a full EMP claymore or placed explosive, causes minor damage but prevent and shuts off jetpack, healing, repairing, cloak and heavies sheild for 5 seconds.

Booster Jet, ability to carry a fellow squad member with for twice the energy drain, giving some use in a squad to help a heavy over a wall etc or even get a sniper to a better vantage point within height limits of the

Easily solved by making the damage from multiple grenades not stack.

I'm not even going to bring up Iridar's idea of making them not stack, because that's common sense and not emotion, you don't seem capable of that...

that is a total of 20 Nanite Clouds, or 40dps, taking 25 seconds to do what 20 frags would get done instantly. Additionally, The Nanite Cloud wouldn't have a 25 second duration, you just made up the idea that they last forever in your head to support your fear.

If I could get 20 of a grenade on the point, I would use frags and simply insta-gib every heavy, flack user, and max on it, and immediately be able to jump on the point afterwards as there isn't flesh eating nanites all over it, but then again that is logic, not fear.

The horror of plasma grenades was that it did the damage instantly, there was no moving away from it. Yes I understand it was damage over time, but this is not, it is damage in an area, painfields did not ruin PS1, and this doesn't go through walls like a radiator. I can see where you would make a 2dps area dot that at full effect would take about 20-25 shields into a much higher dps dot which sticks to all effected targets and takes about 60 damage max, out of 100 hp in ps1.... I can see how, fear.

This is the kinda **** I'm talking about, Iridar, people are just delusional. Half a squad of LA coordinating attacks, like you see half a squad of anything coordinating attacks to that level, and like any grenade wouldn't be completely effective in this instance, but common sense is overridden by fear in the case of this one, so there is no point in debating an idea with his emotions, emotions don't think. I bet next he is going to say "yeah but it's 40 dps on top of allies shooting at them and if I, in my fear scenario, coordinate half a squad of LA with 2 allied platoons against half a squad of AFK people, then the clouds win, OP!"

Really, Iridar, this just makes my head hurt. I don't even understand how he can roll his face across the keyboard hard enough every session to cause this level of brain damage...

Then he goes to talk about getting the ability to put heavies and engineers on roofs, and thinks that's a small thing...

Big think or not, I never understood the allure of being a glorified liftman.

Also, imagine this:

But with a manly hug between LA and HA. That's not something I want to see on a daily basis.

that would be actually kind of funny, though what would be really funny is if you could do that with a max suit.

Imho all this class needs to be perfect is more speed and more accuracy during flight.

We need like an improved version of the Adrenaline Pump giving more speed and reload speed, but that can be toggled on with F.
And we need the accuracy penalty while flying needs to be tweaked. No one pretends to snipe when jetpacking but at the moment fighting during jumps is impossible. And its even more evident with drifters.

Killing and damaging has never really been our problem if half capable person is playing the class, Heavies are wanted because of their explosives and ability to better take out armour of all types. Engies are wanted for repairing maxes and vehicles when it comes to out door combat. Medics get a really handy group heal and ability to revive and are a no brainer for any squad and Infils are perfect for sensors darts, hacking terms in enemy bases for quick AMS deploy and handy claymores. We just don't have a reason to be in a squad when Heavies can really do anything we can accept camp roof tops which I do frown upon. We need something that makes SL want 1 or 2 LA's in a squad.
I know i keep referring to squad play but it is a core part of the game even though a lot of people can have their fun farming, As I said most Tactical SL would rather you as any other class bar LA. Then again im only stating the obvious, we know what's wrong with out class but need a solution to make us useful other than being able to hop a wall. a limited piece of equipment like a nade, ones thrown makes LA useless again, where as other classes have constant usefulness in a squad save the slightly more situational MAX

Well Corezer, nice post.
I do have a small problem with the magnetic charge as I'm not sure it will really help squad play a whole lot. You said it would take less rockets to take out a a vehicle after one of these has been used, but has that ever been a problem after one C4 has landed on a lightning/MBT? I've never really noticed one and .25% extra damage is not enough to improve squad play a lot. The plus side is it would be better against sundies. I do kind of cringe at having C4 removed from LA. It's an excellent tool for clearing out a small group of infantry that isn't paying attention, also, great against maxes. I have a feeling that if this was implemented all engie tools would have to have the ability to diffuse it. C4 has always been the light assault's thing because we can drop it from really great places. The problem is as soon as this hits a magrider it will hear the clink sound and magburn away before I manage to drop another one, even if it doesn't get it diffused it's not going to die. I could see this being used in interesting ways though, a max is coming up the stairs, a brave light assault tosses a charge down at the top, as the max gets to the top he is stuck with the charge, soon after exploding. Anyways, moving on.

The nanite cloud grenade is by far my favorite idea in this post. Although at 2 damage a second it would take 250 seconds just to down a shield. I know this isn't supposed to be a lethal grenade but but it seems like if someone inside the cloud had HS/NV they wouldn't have a whole lot of reason to leave other than their shield can be seen. An interesting feature would be to make everyone inside the cloud flinch, like when an explosive goes off nearby but maybe not quite that much. That being said, this grenade would be far better than smoke while increasing squad play a ton.

Jump jet speed is a no brainer, should have been buffed long ago, mini grenades are interesting though I think they should cost 25 resources, seeing as they have to be used in groups to be very effective.
Overall, nice suggestions. Glad somebody cares about the future of light assault. Sadly I don't see the devs caring. I don't think Higby gives a cert(or nanite) about the light assault, not sure about the other devs. Hopefully I am proven wrong about this.

So here is my input to this discussion.
I play mainly LA with all three Empires. Mostly the NC with the AC X.
But I did try all other classes for a good amount of time (especially the Infiltrator).
Overall I dont feel, that the LA lacks something and because of this reason is not competitive enough or so.
The main problem is, that everybody uses C-4 with it. But C-4 isnt the "starter" Loadout for the LA.
The medic got its revive tool and the shield regendevice, the engie got a turret and his repair tool, the Infi got its cloaking ability and its recon darts and the HA got its Rocketlauncher and its Shield.
And finally the LA got its Jumpjets and... Well thats it.
The idea from the forums that I like best is the ability to press F amd create a wall of smoke. But overall that isnt a solution (and with smoke gremades already in the game).
Then I got the idea of giving the LA 2 Secondaries instead of a primary weapon. Like some cool Cowboy with two Rebels or Mag Shots. But this causes more Problems than solutions. But lets keep it in mind for later.
So I thought about it a while and here are my final ideas:
-New Conglomerate Light Assault:
Tool Slot: A Railgun style rifle with around 8 shots (you have to load every single shot). You can load AP or HE rounds. Let us give it the name "GD-91 Annihilator"
Than you charge up the weapon. When you charge only short the projectile flies like a gremade launcher. Very effective with HE, because it explodes on impact. So you could simply short charge a shot and let the "bullet" "drop" over a wall.
A full charge should take ~5 Secs and be able to hit targets in good distances.
A fully charged shot should do 600 direct damage and 1000 Splash.
A not charged shot should do 50 direct damage and 1000 Splash.
Splash radius is 2 Meters.
The HE Shell should damage Maxes and all sorts of vehicles.
The muzzle velocity of a fully charges shot sould be ~400m/s.
When you have fully charged the weapon (~5secs) and stay on charging for another ~2 secs the weapon overheats and you need to wait for a cooldown time.
The weapon can only be rearmed at terminals and Sundis.
You only got 1,35 Zoom Iron sights. Its the only of the three factions weapons that got Zoom.
When you load AP you are able to half the HP of a Max in a range about ~10m. The muzzle velocity of a fully charged shot AP should be ~600m/s.
The charge should take ~8 secs.
Infantry is a oneshot, MBTs take good amount of damage from a fully charged shot. Reload of every single shot (like in an old hunting shotgun) should take long enough to kill the LA twice. So about 5 secs as well. (cooldown for overheated weapon the same time). The standard ammo somewhere between this.
- Terran Republic
Tool Slot: A 6 Shot Grenade Launcher.
Low muzzle velocity (~100m/s) but high RoF and 200 direct and 500 Splash (radius 3m). Name it "GL-3 Annoyer"
You have to press RMB in order to reload.
When you only press R only one time the soldier only puts grenades in some of the chamber. (Like with some Shotguns).
The weapon should do Damage to ALL kinds of armor.
Rearmable with Engies (only ammo pack level 3 and above).
Then there should be lets call it "AdvancedBallisticAmmunition" or short ABA. ABA should have higher muzzle velocity (~200m/s) and nearly no splash (maybe 200 radius 1m). But it should do around 400 direct damage per Hit at a tank.
And last but not least a "FragGrenadeAmmunition" or FGA. Does no damage to heavily armored Vehicles and low direct damage (~100), but has great increased Splash radius (up to ~5m) and does ~700 splash damage.
Overall give the weapon 1 clip loaded and two reserve.
- Vanu Souverignity:
Tool Slot: A chargeable Laser cannon.
Lets call it the "XV-22 Nanite-Cannon".
When you pull the weapon out you wont have an ammunition pool but an bar in which stands " 100%". Thats the ammount of remaining nanites in the gun.
When you press LMB youll fire a permanent laserbeam till your weapon is empty. A little bit like a chaingun but with less damage and less ammo.
Lets say it does 400 damage per second you fire at a target. This "Nanite-Beam" is able to penetrate armor and damage vehicles.
Then when you press RMB youll charge up a heavy exploding package.
In order to shoot this package youll have to charge for 6 Seconds. When the charge is interrupted or too short you have to charge again. When you charge too long youll have to wait for the weapon to cool down.
The charged shot is really slow (~70m/s) but OHK Infantry in a range of 2m (1000dmg) and damages everything in a radius of 5m with 400 Dmg.
One charged shot should take away one third of your energy. The laserbeam should be able to stay for ~10-20 secs.
You can cert into the duration of both and the time needed to charge up.
And now here is the most interesting thing about it: As its called Nanite Gun, you cant rearm on a Ammobox, but an Engi can rearm you with his repair tool. (Of course you can recharge the weapon at a terminal ;-) )
(The idea for NC and VS would als work as MBT armament)
-Nanite Systems
For everybody who doesnt like the ideas. 4 shot Grenade Launcher (like TRs) but can OHK Infantry. Pretty much the same as TR but lower RoF.
~750 Certs.
.
Finally I got some Ideas that could really work and fullfill all the wishes players got. NC got a really destructive but unforgiving Railgun. Hard hitting slow firing.
TR got an Grenade Launcher. Normal way and fast firing. TR like.
And VS got something shiny and ugly sh*t.
.
So what do you guys think about the weapons and their balancing? (Feel free to repost the idea everywhere if you like it so the devs can see them)
.
And now theres only one thing left: I apologize for my bad english xD

Well the Rocket Rifle is already in design stages i think from a vid i see with Higby answering question which is a 6 shot revolver style launcher

About the nanite cloud nade, maybe an interesting feature would be to add an effect to the damaging cloud :

Any people damaged by the cloud would get their HUD display a message warning them they're in close proximity to a hazardous cloud.
That could be inspired from the "restricted area" messages you get around painfields or map borders.

Ontop of dealing damage to infantry and denying shields regen, it would also have a psychological impact...

Another idea I'm not sure about would be that this nade could affect the players with a special "Nanite marker" which would negate all life / shields and abilities regenerations, thus weakening indirectly your opponents in the nade's range