I know this has come up somewhere before, so if the idea makes you think "Hey wait, I came up with that!" then don't think of this as stealing - just bumping the idea. I want wider spread vehicle gameplay. Not to be confused with spawn room spamming, but instead have it out in the fields and valleys and skies. To that end, I would love to see vehicles be made free. There are the people who adore the infantry combat, and there are those who love their tank. Or their plane. Or their tiny, fragile quad bike. I say, let's thin out the 96+ super-zerg camping A at AuraxiCom by moving them into the giant field nearby. Now honestly, I don't see an inherent problem with the idea of just taking the costs off the vehicle terminal (other than making Indar even more of a hellhole). But it did strike me that maybe vehicles could use a Nanite sink system similar to grenades and medkits? Maybe it works so that the Utility slot is Nanite powered. Vanny shield, flares, fire supression - each of these eats nanites. And maybe are also ammo based? There's a small problem in that vehicles can't actually resupply right now so you'd have to pull another one - but hey, they're free now remember? Or maybe the 'off purpose' weapons resupply based on Nanites? ESFs are (presumably) an A2A platform, so maybe Hornets are a Nanite cost. Conversely Libs are A2G, so maybe their tail gun chews through Nanites? Ground vehicles don't often get these sorts of weapons so this might not be universally applicable right now. If you gave Prowlers a SAM top gun though...
During the resource revamp, there was talk of an ill-defined idea where a vehicle could incur a resource upkeep cost for the duration of its lifespan or retain a portion of the nanites used to purchase it or some such thing; but, being an ill-defined idea, it never properly came to fruition. Bering never properly explained, the concetp remained a concept. The real question is what this will bring and what is the goal of the feature inclusion. We'll start simple: "Why do Vehicles need a nanite sink?"
My question is, how the OP imagines that this would actually facilitate "wider spread vehicle gameplay" rather than inhibit it... -- Smoov
Depends, the 'free' part or the 'nanite sink' part? As they are now, they probably don't. But having one applied to them allows for a better lever if/when the resource system gets changed. It also opens up the idea that you could allow vehicles the same sort of 'class blurring' abilities that infantry gets without having to worry about it becoming a standard feature of every encounter. I.E. the SAM on a MBT and such. I'd be perfectly happy to just go with the cost elimination for now and figure out any sort of Nanite thing later though.
What you don`t get, is the fact the current resource system was put in place with the exact same train of thoughts behind it. Cooldown timers were removed,and vehicle prices were adjusted in order for everyone to be able to play with any vehicle he likes without feeling restricted as was before, and specifically to allow wanna be pilots and tankers to keep playing their plane/tank even if they get shot down/blown up shortly after they pull it. The cost and nanite cap is only to ensure that not every single player on TR(for example) shows up in a fully certed prowler that a couple guys keep pulling for everyone, making it completely pointless to invest certs or real money at the vehicles.
this maybe isn't what OP had in mind but i for one would love to see some kind of "fuel" system in this game. besides ammo and repairs, it would be a third element required to operate a ground/air vehicle properly. sunderers could be turned into fuel trucks for logistics support. fuel would power every vehicle, from tiny flash to large galaxy. light vehicles would consume less per mile driven, tanks would consume relatively more. but i get this would probably overcomplicate things
And I think it would be better if they went farther. While I doubt you'll have many people in the game who make a job of littering the WG with tanks, since it only takes one then you're right about possibly needed a revamp of what it means to be 'your' vehicle, and the deconstruction timer that comes from that. Yeah, fun from an RTS standpoint, but very difficult to manage in a Lone Wolf MMO.
Only if I can drive a massive, fuel-laden Sunderer into a base and blow up structures as if I were a giant guided missile!
