Command Center 16 & GU 15

- 07:50 - Projectile rendering issues "fixed"! Av Turrets, Strikers through terrain, etc. etc.
- 08:43 - ESF weapons, another update incoming on Test server with Fuel Pods Cert Tree!
- 09.50 - Higby talks about the upcoming Reverse Maneuver "tweak"
- 12-45 - Player Quiz! (amazing stuff this one!)


Thanks SOE! <3
If you have time consider watchin the full Episode, it's always damn funny atleast

GU15 Should come next week!


P.S. Empire Specific Sniper Rifles are coming with the Infiltrator Update

about 14min they said GU15 would be the week after next...

So, it appears they're going through with this, and are making the reverse manoeuver fuelpod based. They didn't give in to the forum whining.

P.P.S. brace yourselves Higby's going on vacation for 3 weeks starting now
Who will we tweet spam if the ESF weapons will be gamechanging?

Taking it away and giving it back to us through a cert line is absolutely ********.

Well, their reasoning seems ok, they want more diversity in loadouts, meaning that one will have to give up raw firepower in order to be able to perform the reverse maneuver, it's not like they're selling it back to us.

A lot of people were advocating it come back with the AB pods.

At least I have the certs saved up for fuel pods.

A new TR sniper rifle! I wish it would have an intersting twist on it, like an assault/sniper rifle mix or what not.

Not really.

All the new ESF weapons are A2A focused and an important part of air combat is using the RM.

Why would you release weapons that are a detriment to the role they are supposed to fill? I'd be fine if this were only the case for rocket pods or any further G2A weapons they released because that makes sense. You equip a weapon designed to attack ground and your ability to maneuver for air combat is hindered. I equip coyote A2A missiles that are designed to kill other air targets and yet it's still a hindrance to my ability to maneuver for dogfights. That's not good reasoning and they didn't even come to this reasoning until everyone started complaining about it which means they put NO thought into this. They didn't put any thought into wanting to nerf it in the first place because they don't know jack **** about their own game.

So basically here's what we have...we have all these brand new ESF weapons that were supposed to be fresh and game changing for air combat that no good pilot will use because it will make their aircraft handle like ***. So things will be exactly the same for us as before the update. What's the ******* point?

Oh well...plenty of noobs will buy these weapons and I guess that's what they want because all they care about is profit instead of actually doing good things for your air game. At least this won't ruin the airgame for me and I won't quit.

The external afterburner tanks already are supposed to give you a higher cruising speed and more overall afterburner...that is plenty of advantage right there, why must they be required to use a fundamental part of dogfighting since release? This does nothing...

Noobs will still get slaughtered by good pilots
Noobs will still kill noobs with annoying cheesy secondary weapons (a2a spam)

Fixes nothing that they claim to want to fix and brings nothing new to the table for veteran pilots except more afterburner...

At least hossin will be fun for dogfighting.

Splitting up ESFs to be less Jack-Of-All-Trades.... i like it. If your going to specialize into a certain loadout there should be a downside. Look at MBTs for instance, AP rounds are great against armor... not so much against infantry but is still doable. HE rounds, great at infantry, not so much against armor. If you want to be an air superiority fighter, you have that path to go. You wont be that good, or even that effective, at taking out ground target. The reverse is also true, if you want to go against ground then you are more vulnerable to air.

So i see these changes as a good, thing, though something that should have been in the game from the start. It probably would have saved a lot of the while AA vs Air nerf and buff storm that we've been getting since beta.

A fuelpod or A2A missle armed ESF already beats a rocket pod armed ESF 1v1 if the skill is equal, even without this baffling decision to 'slow down' vertical thrust.

All this means is ESF will die even faster to focus fire in large-scale air engages meaning player skill will mean less and sheer numbers more. Really, I cannot see any positives in this design decision.

Can the NC sniper rounds have a camera in the nose and guidance fins so I can steer it into the enemy's face?

Yes, but you can't hit past 300m and the bullet velocity is 50m/sec.
VS gets a charge mechanic that needs level 3 charge to have the same damage as the BASR.
TR gets a lock-on five round sniper rifle....but you can only lock onto vehicles and aircraft.

Want superior maneuverability?

Take fuel...

That seems fair considering the firepower you give up...

honestly I'd rather they put it on hover frame, and make the other frames more dramatic as well, so we'd have ESF's with vastly superior pitch/turn, Hovering RM airframes, and speed frames that gain a significant speed advantage.

Also, the nerf itself seems to high anyways. that's a huge discrepancy.

The reason why i said jack of all trade is because you can still be effective at both anti-air and anti ground. Sure someone ehose specialized to the T for anti air will have a leg up, slightly. But picking pods over tanks isnt this large balancing scale debate as other loadout choices are for other vehicles, especially those who are single maned.

Also, this game wasnt built around 1 v 1 engagements, its about large scale. If 30 people can fill the role of both air and ground attack. If your in the air you have to worry about 30 people, on the ground 30 people. If they say, only allow half of of that be effective in air and the other half in the ground then you split those numbers. Ground only has to worry about 15 threats, air only has to worry about 15.

Same number of people flying, same combined strength, but one sole person cant change roles instantly. Roles are more defined and have a clearer downside and dividing line between them. Just like choosing a shell that is more anti-armor centric or one that is more anti-infantry centric.

Looking forward to all the bugs that are going to come with the revamped projectile code.

Haven't you figured it out yet? All they care about is zerg on zerg; if they have to force you to zerg, they will.

Thanks for posting this.

Projectile changes are very much welcomed; no more damage from unseen sources.

I am also very interested in the outfit additions too.

As far as the RM change goes:

I think that if the A2A game revolves around this special maneuver (which it does) then a repurposing is very much warranted.

If they implement it how Higby said then the AB cert line will allow you to do the RM maneuver faster.

In my honest opinion, for how much of an advantage in A2A the RM maneuver gives a person this trade-off is balanced.

It would be a wholly different story if they removed it entirely.

Hey, they could have went the other direction by making the RM much easier to accomplish. Would that be more acceptable?

The VS will be getting a charge up sniper rifle that does more damage the longer you charge it. At charge level 1 it will require 2 head shots to kill, at charge level 2 it will be OHK headshot, at charge level 3 it will be OHK outright. Comes with a non changeable 1x scope.

The NC will be getting a shotgun sniper rifle. It will by far be the most powerful rifle in the game with every pellet striking for around 500 damage. It will be useless beyond 5m.

The TR will be getting a 5 shot semi automatic lock on sniper rifle with a target intercepting guidance mechanism and rounds that will dodge obstacles and terrain on their way to the targets brain. 700 damage per round.