[Suggestion] Because Skyguard is so very useless/boring against anything except air, give us this instead.

Would make a great alternative. Shreds infantry and light vehicles, useless versus armour, and good deterrant versus ESF's with a high elevation potential, near vertical. Obviously doesn't flak like the skyguard so direct hits would be required, and with a very high rate of fire. Lightning has been screaming for a weapon such as this since launch. Wouldn't be nearly as effective in an AA role as the skyguard but not useless either, a versatile weapon that keeps you relevant on the battlefield.

Also make the damn tank articulate/hinge in the centre so it rolls over rough terrain easier without getting stuck in even small ditches. Looking at the design of the tank itself it is obvious that was the original intention.

Now make it carry troops and create a BMP

How about they just delete the front portion altogether? It doesn't actually do anything anyway.

How to make the skyguard effective/useful/fun:

Someone get Vanulabs on the line. The TR have stolen the plans for the NS-77 Verdure!

More on topic; I'm glad to see a few ideas that were pitched around a few months ago slowly coming back in a favorable light.
Have been waiting on a redesign of the Skyguard platform that would jack up the fire rate, velocity, and accuracy. In trade for removing the flak burst, and removing it's ability to damage heavy armor.

You'd essentially get a command and conquer gatling tank; which would allow a sky-guard to have a job beyond shooing away ESFs. Plus, without the flak detonation the new tankers would have to actually hit their targets; upping the skill requirement slightly.

What is suprising to me is the range of all flak cannons. It takes forever to fly away from them. This should be changed. The apis phalanx is meant for base defense, yet it can be used as an offensive weapon 1-2 hexes away.

It's not terribly effective at that range though. The shell velocity is so low that if the aircraft is even drifting a little it's unlikely to hit unless it's a Galaxy. The one or two lucky shells that do hit will only do, IIRC, 60 damage out of the ESF's 3,000 health.

Libs are a little easier to hit than ESFs but harder to hit than Galaxies, but Libs also take way less damage per hit. Really past ~600-700m all flak really does is interrupt your autorepair now and then unless you're holding perfectly still for them.

Edit: also that thing still better be able to damage libs/gals or else it's really just an anti-infantry gun of possibly dubious quality.

Aka, the good ol' "Put the Shredder on the Lightning" suggestion.

Or, to put it a more reasonable way, a beefed up Basilisk. That'd be a much better sidegrade to HEAT than what they keep doing do the Viper. The Viper was interesting as an AI weapon with reasonable AV burst but poor sustained AV output (due to the long reload). A machine gun weapon would definitely give a different flavor from the standard tank shells we fire.

Would probably also be the anti-Harasser weapon of choice due to velocity 'n stuff.

Wow this would be a great addition to TR, because its TR.
Nice to see NC and VS appreciating the value of dakka.

At the very least keep the Shredder's awesome model. If the actual stats would be transferred, airchav would ragequit.

ORR, simply allow vehilce loadout changes to occur

i see what you did there

With the reduced velocity and splash from libs i find the skyguard can finaly be used. If you can drive and shoot you actually have a chance against libs, they wont die ofc. But at least give up trying to kill you.

I tree what you did there.

if you can lead properly flak cannons can be very accurate against any aircraft, but out at render range you need to lead targets between 2 and 3 seconds ahead of the target (it takes a bit of practice). while my skyguard can threaten pretty much anything i can see, killing anything intelligent more than 1.5 seconds out, is unlikely at best.

We should leaf it at that I think.