C4 still one shots maxes. As a NSO Max with a seraph shield, WITH 50% damage reduction, C4 still kills you. Just doesn't seem right.
Seraph shield makes your hitbox into a vehicle... the dmg reduction should be dramatically more to compensate for the shared life pool and long cool down to be par with other MAX abilities. Shield reset should be just like a heavy overshield. If you deactivate it early, the reset starts at the point, not the entire 2 min 15 cycle... Other maxes have like 45 sec CD's on abilities...
C4 is perfectly fine, but orbital strikes have to be changed. Either so MAXes are save inside buildings, like normal infantry, or get rid of the outfit war asset orbital strikes entirely. The new damage reduction defensive option against orbital strikes for MAX is useless, since people will just throw a second pocket nuke to get rid of a single MAX.
C4 is a force multiplier that is a specifically designed to hard-counter other force multipliers. It requires the user to get dangerously close to the target and survive long enough to detonate it. These are factors to consider when adjusting interactions like this. The "real ask" here is "If I pull a max, I shouldn't be insta-killed." That's wrong. Every player should be able to be killed at any time. Every force multiplier needs a hard counter. The fact that some force multipliers DON'T have a hard counter is the real oversight. When it comes to force multipliers, there should always be a rock for the scissors, and scissors for the paper.
NSO MAX units are already quite vulnerable, and when equipped with a Seraph shield, they become even more susceptible to damage. The Seraph shield significantly increases their hitbox by 500%, and it operates on a shared life/health pool. Additionally, the intended mechanics of the Seraph shield include a supposed 50% damage reduction. As a result, this particular MAX unit not only becomes much easier to eliminate due to its massive size but also negates the need or desire for an even easier means of defeating it. While I understand your perspective, it's important to note that a Seraph Shield-equipped NSO MAX doesn't inherently function as a force multiplier requiring a hard counter.
I know, I used it. I also know to open fire on it whenever I see it because it's such an easy target and even at 50%, it drives most defectors back. Frankly, the real answer is to give NSOs a proper max. The defector is as broken as the model implies. There are more than enough NSO specific max weapons to give NSOs a real max. I'd like to see a robot-in-a-robot kind of exosuit design, where you can see the NSO inside the max framework. Then make it obvious whose team they're on by giving them empire color coded hardlight armor. I'd much rather see that, then any changes be made around a broken aspect of the game. On top of giving NSOs a real max, it would be nice for NSO to get real faction flavored abilities. The Searph shield is too much like an NC trait with it's shield and damage absorption. I'd much rather see NSO get something like a Icarus jump-jet or a dash-and-slash. Something that is wholly it's own trait. All that said, it's unlikely we'll ever see any major rework of the NSO Maxs, so maybe just a damage absorption adjustment on the shield itself would do the trick.
I agree 100%. It also doesn't help when you pop the shield, you also take friendly fire damage too. Glad you're sensible. Mind "liking" the post now that we're in consensus?
Been there done that, if someone throws c4 at your shield turn it off. It's actually a good way to bait out c4's since it's such an obvious target.
Excellent tactic, when it actually works. I also always thought being slowed down didn't make sense either since the reset lasts a full 2m15s duration, unlike other MAX abilities that reset on disable. Oh, and NSO MAXes run at 80% other MAX speed for some reason...
I can get it to work most of the time. Yes, NSO max has various problems, but given that it's still a max I find them to not at all be significant issues. The slow is them erring on the side of caution which I find understandable given the general strength of one way shields. I went ahead and tested it in VR, but NSO maxes are not noticeably slower than other maxes. Both maxes crossed 64 meters in roughly 12 seconds.
100% in agreement on this. i've been proposing for years that we take the C4 resistance out of Ordnance Armour and make it baseline. Ordnance armour should be a choice, instead i consider it to be mandatory because of C4 oneshots. one brick of C4 should leave a max with a small amount of health, that would be fair and balanced. and then we would have CHOICES, Ordnance Armour would still be a valuable choice for reducing damage from RLs and explosives. but you'd finally be able to choose kinetic if you'd prefer, for the reduced small arms and AMR damage. and also auto repair for those who've yet to get zerker. there is no reason, NO REASON, for c4 to still be oneshotting maxes, it was ridiculous before, and it is doubly so now that they can't be revived. there are also soooo many more max counters now than there used to be that there is no excuse for c4 oneshotting.
No really -- they run at a normal reduce speed compared to other maxes. Doesn't make sense. As for the shield being one way -- all shields are like that, with the exception YOU damage your own shield if someone stands inside/near it and you attack them. due to splash damage. On occasions, your own projectiles still collide regardless, with the shield. You need someone to run along with. You'll notice it -- regardless, there's no reason for the handicap that compounds even further when Timebomb or Seraph Shield is activated. Both should induce a sprint since they're used to push on offensive runs. Not only does the large size of the Seraph shield get exploited & attached through the walls/floors but being slowed down decreased survivability significantly as well.
Respect "-" for making appeal to authority. I agree 100% with this. MAXes are annoying AF to the ground vehicle crowd. The Vortex/Fracture/Raven cheese is pretty rotten, not gonna lie. Just to clarify, I'm speaking specifically about the MAXes that camp atop air pads or other high-elevation locations. C4 one-shotting MAXes is one of the few real counters to the air pad MAX griefers. I mean, sure, we have AMRs, but we need two headshots to put a MAX down, so what will happen is that I get the first *dink* on them, and in response, the MAX will retreat and get repairs from their pocket engineer. Once back to full health, they continue to grief from atop the air pad. To put these guys down with an MBT, driver and gunner must coordinate to fire simultaneously their main gun and Halberd respectively. If you are an ESF, you have to fly low and level with the air pad and then AB roadkill them (risking crashing into the pad in the process). Otherwise, there are no reliable ways to get rid of these griefers.You have to hope that after taking the first hit they decide to risk getting hit a second time (or third time if they wear flak armor). NSO Defector MAXes are the worst offenders in this case because they are spared the stress of actually having to aim. Why? Because their AV weapon of choice is a lock-on. At least the other MAXes have to be mindful of their ADAD movement because that can throw-off their aim. NSO Defectors though? Indiscriminate ADAD because the lock-on spares them the need to actually aim. What I would do, is make MAXes very vulnerable (tank-shells will one-shot, fewer infantry shots needed to drop them), BUT, in return they are revivable again and the cost drops to 100 nanites from 450 nanites. Maybe given them an innate Berserk implant but infantry guys should get a kill on a MAX with a single magazine dump. While I cannot speak for the logic that went into creating Seraph shield, due to the way it performs in practice, this might as well be true.
Excellent input. Thanks for sharing. Please consider: Hummingbird (lock-on) is very "dumb." - Very Slow Projectile - Very Low Damage, esp compared to hitscan AA/ Air Bursters - The projectiles have poor pathing - Lock on requires visibility of the center of the target, so a mosi can float being a stick and no lock on will occur - An Aircraft with flares easily kill a Defector w/ Hummingbirds since points 1 - 4 - Short range - Long lock-on times - Only has 5/6 in magazine before overheats, then LONG reset. Overall, they're very vulnerable and really easy to kill 1v1. A Burster MAX can solo a mosi... a Defector cannot.
