[Suggestion] ESF Empire Utilities

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by JKomm, Jun 18, 2016.

  1. JKomm

    So I've been thinking lately, it is odd that our Empire Specific Fighters do not have Empire Specific ability options... this is partly due to balance and mechanics(Mostly revolving around the Reaver and Mosquito respectively for what their faction could offer them). But there are very nice ways we could make the air game a little more unique.

    First of, the NC Reaver, arguably the worst choice of fighter in the game, and I speak from experience here. I've always been very good at controlling air vehicles but the Reaver just never felt right, it's slow, it's heavy, and none of this corresponds to a discerning advantage. It was meant to have more health but I see no result of that even if it does exist, so... naturally, the Reaver should have a utility option for a Shield. Much like the Vanguard shield in fact, however it would have much lower capacity, the impact of a single lock-on rocket is enough to drain the shields as well as slightly damage the craft. This is to the point where it will still take 3 rockets to destroy a Reaver, not making it extremely powerful, but giving it more survivability at the least.

    Second, the TR Mosquito(This idea is my personal favourite). Very fast and puts out a hell of a lot of damage, the Mosquito is my best choice for air combat, but when it comes to faction traits how exactly do you give it an ability close to Lockdown/Anchor? Simple, a utility called Stabilisation Thrusters. What this utility does is, when activated, reduces movement speed of the aircraft substantially, almost to the point of no input(You can still move slightly, however not nearly enough for evasive movement). In this stable mode the aircraft is in a perfect hover state, the nose gun has it's rate of fire increased, all weapon's reloads are shorter, as well, when zooming the nose gun unlocks much the same as the Liberator's Spur allowing easy targeting.

    Third, the VS Scythe, quite possibly the most difficult to imagine for... there really is no consistent Vanu faction abilities, the Magrider has turbo(Which would be useless on an ESF as it already exists) and the MAX has Zealot Overdrive(Which would never work on an ESF)... the only thought I have had for the Scythe is an ability which changes the way the craft controls, allowing movements such as "air strafing" where the A and D keys do not turn, but rather move the fighter left or right on the same altitude. If you have a better idea for Vanu please feel free to share... and no, cloaking isn't a viable option, never for aircraft.

    Thank you for reading, I'm eager to read your feedback on the idea of ESF unique utilities.
  2. Insignus


    I'm not sold on adding these, mind you, but the following occur to me:

    1) Reaver - No I win shield. Instead, a choice of directional shield. Not terribly powerful, but rechargeable, will block a coyote or a 1/4 of nosegun, in a direction that the player chooses, such as front, top, sides. This would let players balance out their reaver's god awful hitbox according to what fits their playstyle best, while not giving them a Vanguard level of IWIN. Tradeoff could decrease afterburner performance (Since it has to draw power off something).

    2) Mossieis hard to to work out. I don't think the lockdown would be terribly useful, just because if you stop moving as ESF you're kinda dead. Instead, I think a salvo ability that could launch more rounds from the secondary weapon, might work. With upcoming tomcat changes, two missiles at once might be acceptable (Since the effectiveness vs. ESFs it going down). The kicker here is that is reduces your ammo capacity. You can shoot more at ta time for a short duration, but you'll have fewer rounds to shoot.

    3) Scythe strafe might work, but could instead cause the after burner to boost the scythe in a given direction (Activating it would let the afterburner strafe you, but also let you go really fast up and down and back/forward). Kicker here is that it dramatically reduces your afterburner capacity, by initially 50%, down to 35% once you've upped it fully. You'd partially be able to negate it with AB Tanks, but they'd turn your AB tanks into almost dead weight.
  3. LaughingDead

    1. Let's not forget that these are taking up the utility slot for ESFs and will take over your fire suppression, which is one of, if not the most powerful ESF utility.
    2. ES utilities should be much more mobile than the tank counterparts since these are not tanks.

    That being said, any ability with a drawback should be crossed off the list.

    For the reaver, the shield would be fine, it is active damage mitigation over passive damage mitigation, while also blocking more than just rockets or other ESF noseguns, however this DOES NEED TO BE TONED DOWN FROM THE VANGUARD SHIELD, a super mobile fighter with a high powered shield would make anyone rq. Also shares cooldown with the vanguard shield

    For the mossy, I couldn't imagine something like anchoring or even slowing down would be helpful, however maybe a carpet bomb ability would suffice? You'd trade utility for a gap closer in ground pounding if you ran an AA build.

    The scythe has good manuevering and an overdrive state wouldn't be bad, what the overdrive boost is would be a different question, maybe bullet velocity along with bullet RoF. I am unsure
  4. JKomm

    The shield for the Reaver wouldn't be an "I win" situation, the capacity will certainly help prevent most of the damage, but consider being shot by lock-on rockets... 2 will set a craft on fire(For which most players immediately use Fire Suppression to fix that) and the third will kill it, with the shield, it'll still be three shots to kill with lock-on as the capacity is enough to prevent most of a single rocket's damage. This shield will be best used to negate non-lock-on weaponry more such as tank shells, small arms fire, or Walker/Ranger attacks. Unlike the Vanguard shield however, it takes slightly longer to recharge, this being that an ESF is capable of leaving danger more easily than an MBT.

    The Stabilisation for the Mosquito would be extremely useful in situations where Anti-Air is not present, such as attacking MBTs from high above... this gives you a moment where you can deal extreme damage in relative safety... as well it suits the faction traits perfectly. Because the craft becomes super stable, you can point directly down without even budging, however as I stated you are not completely immobile, your speed is just reduced severely, but you can maintain perfect hover abilities in this mode.

    I do agree with your Scythe ideas however, that suits more with balance.
  5. JKomm

    I'd say it absolutely needs to be lesser than the Vanguard shield... the Reaver is not in such a bad state where it needs to be able to survive several tank shells. As I said in another reply, it would have a longer cooldown than the Vanguard counterpart due to ESFs having the speed and mobility to escape danger easily. It's also not a win situation as the capacity isn't terribly large but still effective against small arms fire, Walkers, or flak damage.

    It would be extremely difficult to include a carpet bomb feature with the Mosquito, that sort of defeats the purpose of the Liberator... the Stabilisation is intended for when Anti-Air may not be present, or when you need a more precision shot on a target... thus why this mode allows a small radius which the nosegun can adjust it's fire while aiming... much like the Spur, but not as massive of an area.
  6. SwornJupiter

    The ESFs are already very balanced. They have asymmetric characteristics that make them niched, but also useful in some respect. These asymmetric designs doesn't make any fighter overpowered, and doesn't cross any lines which it shouldn't.

    They are currently:
    - The Reaver has the most powerful afterburners.
    - The Mosquito has the highest cruise speed without afterburners.
    - The Scythe has the best frame, and (arguably, maybe not) the best maneuverability.

    It's already been said, but damage mitigation on a Reaver would be frankly, broken. It would give the Reaver an instant A2A i-win button, which would completely break the air meta and negate any advantage of the other ESFs.

    The anchored mode on the Mosquito is an instant death sentence for the fighter. Nothing more needs to be said. Besides, the noseguns already fire so fast at 750rpm. It's pointless to make them fire any faster.

    The strafing might not work imho. The problem with the 0.75x ADS lmg problem we had before was because the HA seemed to have no momentum. The scythe would have plenty of momentum while flying through the air, so it would make an omnidirectional burner unnecessarily difficult to use, and to counter.
  7. Insignus


    What would be your thoughts on a directional shield for the reaver? Something capable of blocking a 1/4 clip of a nosegun or a coyote rocket, but only from a single direction that the pilot has to choose when spawning?
  8. SwornJupiter

    Wouldn't work reliably because of inherent netcode issues in the game. The front, side, back and top of vehicles is a bit wonky, so a directional shield would honestly be a gamble for reaver pilots.,
  9. EPIC389

    Just actually give the mosquito lockdown. When activated, a massive pole will extend from the bottom of the mosquito and plant it into the ground. Anything directly under the pole will die/blow up. The mosquito will stop movement but can rotate in every direction

    Jk
    ;)
  10. NXR1

    When someone says the reaver is the worst fighter thats when you know its time to leave the thread.

    /thread