[Suggestion] Empire specific Traits spitballing

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Greiztoph, Dec 19, 2015.

  1. Greiztoph

    So looking back, NC and TR don't really have much difference really aside from one shoots faster, and Vanu is really the only one different bullet wise but their trait seems to be no bullet drop and fast reload. I want to suggest stuff, anyone can give feedback, counter arguments, or throw out ideas as well.

    Empire bullet traits:

    Terran Republic: Overall I think Gyrocs or Ramjet bullets would fit them pretty well.

    Gyrocs or Gyrojet: Gyrostabalized rocket lanchers fire spin stabalized rockets the size of bullets, you can load them with payloads and have them be laser guided.

    Ramjet: bullets fire off a rocket midflight to go faster and have more penetrating power.

    Vanu Sovereignty:Sticking with their laser theme I think they should have variable scopes and variable firing focusers.

    Variable Scopes: I think tying this in with some tech that makes the cone of fire smaller would make Vanu happy and since lasers have no bullet drop would definitely give them their faction power. I dunno I personally hate Vanu so techfags can go crazy if they want.

    New Conglomerate: Railgun EVERYTHING, seriously that should be their faction trait. I haven't really looked at NC lately but when I played they had guass guns and some rail stuff but they still had actual bullets, should just be metal fired with magnets.

    To be honest having shotguns as your faction thing is dumb.

    I'll probably add more to this later in the thread and update this at the same time.
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  2. EnsignPistol

    Funny. I also tend to associate the TR with gyrojet weaponry. Probably because rockets go well with their be-goggled, 1984-esque sci-fi military dictatorship theme. Break out the military motorcycles with sidecars and perhaps change their jumpjet sound effects to sound more like gee-whiz rocket packs and you'd have it down pat. Oddly enough though, I tend to associate actual lasers (as opposed to Vanu particle beams and plasma launchers) with the NC, probably repurposed from industrial laser cutting equipment used for prototype milling (I tend to imagine the Gauss Rifle as being similarly prototyped from common industrial electromagnets, probably salvaged from heavy duty electric motors or other such equipment).

    For the VS I tend to go truly off the deep-end into speculative weapons technology: Ultrasonic cannons that fire concentrated bursts of sound waves that explode into a concussion effect on impact, electrolasers that fire electric currents down laser-induced plasma channels (which could admittedly also be an NC thing, but how is using laser beams to shoot lightning at people not the finest example of SCIENCE!?), Microwave death rays if you're feeling more old-school, Invaders from Mars-esque, and the like.

    Though back on the TR front, I also tend to imagine them having a thing for incendiary weapons. Flamethrowers, purpose-built incendiary grenades, flame tanks, and the like. Fire's not only about as conventional as it gets for weapons technology (not that the Vanu have readily evolved to be fireproof, so eat it, space nerds), it's even suitably faction-colored.
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  3. Greiztoph

    Chlorine Triflouride?
  4. EnsignPistol

    Hey now, we're fighting a war here, not proving through the marvels of chemistry that the universe hates you and wants you to suffer.

    Seriously. Have you seen that stuff? It sets normally inflammable materials on fire (glass, steel, asbestos, etc.), explodes on contact with water, releasing clouds of hydrochloric and hydroflouric acid. That's like, grade A methylethylbads@#t, as we say in ths business.
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  5. Campagne

    High velocity ammunition is more of an NC thing, I think. Kinda comes with railguns. :p

    The rest sounds cool though. Especially more railguns for NC, and less shotguns.
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  6. Demigan

    I still have no idea why everyone thinks that Vanu use lasers. They use heated Plasma pellets, nothing more, nothing less. A gun shooting molten lava has more in common with Plasma than a laser.

    As for faction traits, I think some ammo variation for each faction but also some common pool ammo variations wouldn't be amiss.

    Take from it what you like, make them ES or make them NS I don't care, some could even be used on vehicles! To keep standard ammo as a choice over special ammo, all special ammo would have a drawback such as notably less muzzle velocity, slower reload, slower weapon switch, less ammo carried (and I'm talking a minimum of 2 clips less or it wouldn't be noticeable for most players) or a damage tier lower.
    Bouncing bullets: These will bounce off the environment, allowing you to fire around corners or hit people in the back with bullets that hit a straight wall and bounce back (or shoot yourself in the face, your choice). After a bounce they deal reduced damage.

    Rail-bullets:
    Also good on vehicles, the bullet/shell hits a target, deals damage but moves through and can hit another target behind it (with reduced damage). Not as useful for infantry unless fighting tightly packed infantry, it would be mightily useful for vehicles to finishes off a fleeing vehicle that uses his teammates to get to safety and repair.

    Concussion bullets:
    Causes a cumulative 5% of a concussion effect per hit (with 7 hit TTK at most 35% of a full concussion effect). Deals somewhat less damage (one tier?) to compensate for the added ability of slowing down your enemy and hampering his movements. Good for messing with MAX's and preventing them from doing the famous instant-turn+charge to flee.

    Poison bullets:
    Similar to concussion bullets but with less severe drawbacks. These bullets only blur the vision of the player getting shot at and don't affect their movement.

    Tracker ammo:
    Spots enemies you hit. To make it unique in comparison to the implant (there is an implant that does that right?) an enemy tagged by tracker ammo would get a wire-frame around him that's visible through walls so you can see them more easily. Like most ammo they would deal reduced damage to compensate and make the choice between special ammo and normal ammo more clear.

    Explosive ammo:
    seems to overlap too much with the Lasher. Maybe only with a tiny AOE.

    EMP ammo:
    Sucks away a portion of ability energy (not shields) and shuts down HUD after repeat hits. Handy for combating Heavies with overshields, preventing infiltrators from cloaking and trying to escape or medics that self-heal during a battle.

    Signature ammo:
    Creates false radar signatures that remain in place for 1 second on enemy radar. Great for messing with your enemies and diverting their attention: Miss shots and they have trouble discerning the real you from the fake one's (you are firing +/-30 of them with just a Carbine after all). Hit shots on an enemy, and his friends might be looking for an enemy on that spot.

    self-detonated shotgun pellets:
    For shotguns. You fire a solid-slug that deals even less damage than normal slugs and has a lower muzzle velocity. However, you can detonate a shotgun pellet in-air and cause the pellets to burst forwards and deal normal damage. Handy for getting your shotgun power at a far-away doorway. Hold the detonation button to cause the pellets to explode as they exit the barrel for normal shotgun use.

    Double magazine:
    The magazine has another one taped against it for extra-fast reloading. Your starting COF is slightly increased due to the weight.

    I can probably think of some more but I'll do that some other time.
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  7. Greiztoph

    To be fair I personally hate vanu so I don't know anything about their tech.
  8. Zombo

    repeating what was allready said a dozen times, vanus usefull traits boil down to the hovertank, the lancer and the no bullet drop on the Spectre and the Phaseshift

    regarding infantry guns, vanu just recently lost it's mobility perk on LMGs, so the only thing remaining is a slightly faster reload, however also way less damage per mag, which means reloading more often

    no bullet drop makes no difference on LMGs, Carbines, or Assault rifles, more bullets per mag (TR) and a higher damage tier (NC)
    make far more difference, giving vanu changeable scope zoom sounds underwhelming with the other traits you offer

    probably doesn't matter anyway, i doubt that Daybreak will add any new traits or empire diversity,
    since they seem to like the concept on empires just being a different color
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  9. Greiztoph

    As I stated I don't like nor play Vanu so I don't really know what they would like aside from more tech stuff which they should get since they are the tech faction. I gave the scope thing as just a relative idea.
  10. Zombo

    yeah, it's not easy with vanu, futuristic tech stuff is always kinda hard to not be op as well
    the heat mechanic for example is only okay because you need auraxium to get it, if every vanu gun would have it, engies woud be pretty useless, and vanu infantry would be extremely OP in cases of long range unsupported combat (sniping from ridges fo example)

    giving back no bullet drop on shotgun slugs would be a start, and additionally give it to all BASRs, since on most BASRs the drop in effective and infantry render distance is neglible at best, it wouldn't be that OP how Daybreak or SOE think it is

    i think some sidearms having no bullet travel time, firing actual lasers, would be nice as well, but it may be to powerfull against esfs, maybe make esfs 100% resistant to it or similar, and you'd be good, these sidearms would have to trade it in with damage and magazine size even more than normal vanu infantry guns for that though, since instant bullet travel time is really powerfull if used right

    i remember a whole month of the Flare being bugged, equipping the Flare with high velocity ammo made it's bullet travel time instant, resulting in many many ESF kills and funny business o_O

    im still for VS MAXs getting their high jump from PS1 back, that sure would be funny as heck,
    give NC it's MAX oversield back as well,
    and maybe TR gets something new for the maxs, maybe a fast magdump you can't stop or something, while still being able to move?

    it all sounds what most people here call "OP" in some situations, i call it empire diversity, you know, like in PS1, where nobody *****ed about vanu being able to float over water with it's MBTs ;) or NC being able to push through a highly contested area with overshield, etc.
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