[Suggestion] Begin Working on ANT Modules for Sunderers

It's right there in the title.

Basically, we have the resource revamp phase 1. It is in, it works well enough for now, we need ANTs pronto. This doesn't need to be held off for 6 months. There are people all over the forums who have pointed this out. There are a hundred posts in the RR post about how people want Ants.

The back end work to get this is going to have to do with energy consumption on bases I imagine, but this is a hundred times more important than many of the other things on the roadmap. ESPECIALLY, considering the problems that were had with lattice and Hossin. I mean, that we all know Hossin was reworked because of the lattice. You would likewise have to rework all of the upcoming Battle Islands to fit this resource system, if you don't get the resource system done first.

Screw "ant modules", make actual ANTs. I'm sick of this idea of slapping everything on the sunderer. The sunderer is a battle bus, transport, spawn point, vehicle re-arm point, vehicle repair point, enough is enough goddamn. Let's get new vehicles that perform new tasks. The ANT should be a new, dedicated vehicle for the purpose of logistics. Besides, players need a way to know whether that's a high value ANT supplying a near-empty base or just another sundy traveling the plains, and at a distance you wont be able to tell. So an entirely new vehicle is just necessary all around.

For reference, in PS1 this was an ANT:



And this was a Sunderer:



ANTs were faster but squishier, whereas Sunderers were slower and stronger. Making them one and the same vehicle might result in a resource transport that simply isn't squishy enough to require much of a protective escort as it probably should need.

Agree, phase 1 is fair enough but phase 2 needs to be right behind it, this content is perhaps the most important thing in the game. Maybe even more so the continental lattice.... maybe?

After valkyrie, they should left mission behind and finish the resource revamp.

Okay, whatever. Ant Module, ant vehicle, ant flyer, Ant BFR.. who cares?

We need ant somethings, period.

Just want to get the entire community demanding SOE make an actual ant vehicle so they don't decide to be lazy and just go "lol look guys, the sunderer now transports nanites!". Cuz that's exactly what we ******* need, a sundie with dual bulldogs/walkers/whatever with more armor than a tank being the logistics vehicle. SOE would do it, too, so we have to yell at them before they even get the idea in their head.

Okay, lets do that thing, but we need Ants.

They have already said there is no value in creating a new vehicle just for an ANT, sadly. You just wait until there is naval warfare and they decide to slap an outboard motor on a Sunderer LOL.

To be honest they shouldn't have done a "phase 1" and "phase 2", shoulda just been a resource revamp. Since phase 1 is basically pointless on it's own there's really just no reason to do it. But now that they have done it, I firmly agree that they should shelve everything that isn't phase 2 of the RR and finish that ASAP. The longer it takes, the more inane features they add like the mission system, the more this game will suffer. Things like directives and the mission system are superfluous stuff that we don't really need, things like the resource revamp could very well save the game by giving it actual end game content, they need to get their priorities straight.

They also said that AMS on a galaxy was a brilliant idea and that they would never change it. SOE likes to try and re-invent the wheel only to realize they ****** up and spend months going back and fixing their mistake. We need to scream at them, and scream loudly, that sticking the ANT function on the sunderer is an absolutely stupid idea and fight with all our might to make sure they do things properly. I'd rather not see the bulk of 2015 spent with the devs fixing mistakes that never should have been made to begin with.

Could use the Gal as an ANT and call it a Galant! I agree there needs to be an ANT back in the game and have thought so since Beta but they had this resource system notion and ran with it. PS1 had 1 resource that powered bases fueled by the ANT. Brilliant and simple design that added depth to the game and I have no idea why it has taken so long to even come close to approaching it in PS2.

How about for ANTs, they also add maybe 4 rumble seats on it to allow infantry escort without dealing with the power and invincibility of turrets on it? It would also help keep fights more mobile. Of course, repairing from in seats would have to be removed or balanced correctly.

If you look at almost every 'feature' they've added to the game since launch, they've all been things from PS1. Changing the AMS to the sunderer rather than the galaxy, adding lattice systems, this resource revamp, **** like that. As time goes on they're learning that there's a reason their predecessors made the choices they did when they made PS1. And I'm sure if they do slap an ant module on the sundy it'll be a year or two until they accept that there's a reason the ANT was it's own dedicated vehicle, too. The whole point of the ANT is that it's a vital strategic resource that can make or break a base siege, and because of that it's exceptionally vulnerable and -HAS- to be protected as the enemy will try to kill it. If the ANT was put on the sundy then there's no reason to escort it, it can escort itself as it's the tankiest ground vehicle, one of the fastest ground vehicles, has two powerful turrets on it, all in all not condusive to the kind of gameplay the ANT is suppose to create.

So ultimately the question is, will they learn from their past mistakes and do it right the first time, or will they continue to blunder ahead and waste the next year fixing their own mistakes.

And that is basically phase 2 of the resource revamp.

I felt removing ANTs was one of the best parts of PS2. I'm all for adding logistics gameplay, but the necessity of massive amounts of boring driving time (ie ANT gameplay) is something I've never once missed in PS2.

You can implement logistics gameplay without forcing players to engage in a very shallow feature.

The problem with your line of thinking is that you think everyone thinks the same way you do. I've seen countless individuals complain that there's no logistics. I've seen countless people be all "I just wanna be a space trucker and haul nanites around". I've seen this kind of thing in all sorts of games. People like you don't enjoy "boring" tasks like that so you assume nobody else does either. For every person who hates those things there's someone who likes it. I, personally, would love to just drive an ANT around and refill bases, be the hero that kept a sieged base stocked with nanites or just make sure our zerg can keep pulling vehicles. I'd love to do that and I'd spend a lot of time doing that. Nobody has to "force" me, I do it because it's fun, just as you do stuff because you find it fun.

If you don't wanna pull ANTs, then don't, but that doesn't give you the right to deprive others of their fun.

I didn't play much Planetside, but the idea of driving around what is basically a Tiberium Harvester sounds awesome.

It doesn't have to be boring.

If it's from the warpgate to the base, then it would probably be boring. If it's from the frontline and goes back to the front line it probably wont be boring.

"Boring" is subjective anyways and shouldn't be used in these types of arguments. I mean just look at the guy above you, he likes the prospect of being a tiberium harvester and so would I.

I also think thjat warpgates should be the only place to pull nanites from, same as PS1. This means your enemies know where your ANTs come from and can thus plan ambushes along their routes to deny you resources. If they can come from anywhere to anywhere then the only place they can reliably set up is right outside the base they're attacking, but then if they're attacking that base then they'd already shoot at an ANT anyways so nothing changes. By forcing semi-predictable routes you allow players new forms of dynamic gameplay as they can plan, predict, and hunt ANTs away from bases.

Also you make boring, standard plans for doing everything that will be exploited by MLG outfits to farm ants into oblivion.