Buff the Flash, Nerf Redeploy

At the moment we have too many redeploy options. A platoon with any brains behind it can move 48 people across the map in about 20 secs. This has a few knock on effects.

First is that you never know what kind of defense is going to pop up in the next 20 seconds. We have all been at bases where there was less than a minute left on the clock and some defense platoon redeployed over to smash your 24 man assault. This is bad because it means that you get little to no warning when defenders decide to show up in overwhelming numbers, which means no time for you to respond by changing positions or calling in your own reinforcements.

The second problem is it makes infantry hate vehicles more. When you arrive at a base that is under attack you often find a ring of tanks. This is because the attackers had to cross the ground from their base to where they're attacking, whereas the lazy **** defenders just spawned there. If the defenders had to make their way to a base they wanted to defend they would have to pull vehicles. This would mean that we might get more tank battles and less rings of tanks farming infantry.

Third is that the current spawn system makes Galaxies and Sundies an attackers tool only meant to get you from one base to very next one. This means that logistics are nearly non-existent and that troop transport is an undervalued role. Forcing people to make more use of transport would mean that people placed more emphasis on intel and clever traps between bases, rather than just putting down a few darts and getting on point.

So what would I like to see? Well I'd like to see a spawn system where you could only spawn at the closest base (by lattice links) and the warpgate. There would still be instant action and squad deploy, but no "reinforcements needed" or spawn at the nearest facility.

Obviously this would need to be accompanied by some changes to the "transport vehicles", particularly the Flash.

The Flash needs wheels with actual friction, some weight moved so it isn't top heavy, a base cooldown reduction and a resource cost reduction. It could also do with a cert line that protected the driver in some way. At the moment you're better off in any other transport. Pulling one at the moment is effectively a very long way to redeploy (plus you get a death at the end).

The Harasser could use a buff to its negligible transport role (that or make it so I don't call out "enemy transport spotted" when Q spotting a Harasser). Removing back seat repair (while buffing auto-repair up to Lighting level) and adding a second seat in the back (but making it a choice between 2 inf or 1 MAX) would be good.

The Sundy is good. Don't change anything about my Battlebus.

The Galaxy might need a bit more utility. I'd love to see a AWACs Gal. But to the people who think it needs straight up buff, you're insane. At the very most it might need more resist against Daltons, but there are plenty of people on Briggs who already use it to farm effectively.

I'd also love to see a 6 seat transport aircraft (maybe following the Sundy's 1 driver 2 gunner model). At the moment there is no small, fast air transport unit that is pullable from normal airpads. This I feel is an oversight and something that I would cert out immediately. If it had a cloak option then SOE would have naming rights on my first born.

No. The game is slow enough and good fights are hard enough to find as it is.

Driving to every fight would be a nightmare.

That is partly a function of how long bases take to cap. At the moment bases take too long to cap when they have been obviously zerged out. I'd like to see small base cap times come down to 1.5 mins. This would get people moving faster and licking the spawn room windows less.

In the early days of this game there ways always something to do even though my outfit then drove everywhere. To get to bases we had to defend ourselves from libs and tanks. To get to a point we had to clear their sundy and fight our way in.

I don't want to see a slower game, I want to see one where more of the space is used to fight in rather than just the area between the spawn and the point.

I think that is why there would also be adjustments to air vehicles for longer drives/flights. Something with similar speeds to an ESF and similar armor to a liberator. But flight mechanics would handle like an ESF and you would actually have to land for most of your forces to get out. Basically a galaxy that ESF pilots could handle easily.

@OP I definitely like the idea but many players would not enjoy this down time. Before it is implemented, a few things would need to change.
-re-deploying should only go to the next lettuce link and the warp gate
-galaxies should get a buff in the field of abilities and support versatility so they don't just wait for cap exp or farm with bulldogs
-There was a suggestion a good long while ago about a fast insertion vehicle called the "vex"
--links for vex http://planetside.wikia.com/wiki/Community_Vehicle:_Vex and https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/insertion-vehicles.144466/
-Deploy exp for galaxies and sunderers should be raised to about 5 exp, this does include AMS spawning.

I like the concept of your idea and especially like the concept of a transport that handles like the ESF. +1

Just take everything that's not a major base (amp/tech/bio) off the lattice, and instead neutral capturable points. Problem solved.

(Sock has been saying this for months).

This guy gets it. Too many small bases in the lattice forcing zergs to pile up where they cannot or should not be fighting. Make the smaller bases outside of the lattice, so that they are nothing more than spawn points, and not just a zerg speedbump.

Yes. Whole platoons of flashes moving across an open field. It would be beautiful.

They could completely remove Instant Action from the game and implement a system that rewards Galaxy pilots for successfully transporting infantry to places that actually need the troops. For example, if a claimed territory is overrun by the enemy and being taken over...a Galaxy pilot could transport a large force to this location and then drop them for a sizable chunk of experience. This experience is awarded for simply dropping the infantry into the assaulted hex, but the closer they get to the base itself...the higher the bonus experience gained for a successful drop. There could be a myriad of factors that increase or decrease the amount of experience points awarded for a successful drop.

Either way, getting transportation into the hands of the transportation vehicles would be nice. Instant Action blows now days anyway.

Leave Instant Action as an ability available from the warpgate on a 15-30 min timer or when you change continents.

How would a player get around who has ran out of vehicle resources? It is a very rare occurance for me, but Im a member and we do not currently have to pull a vehicle every time we want to move. Having to pull them constantly and not being a member would be quite taxing on resources.

Forcing players to pull lightly armored (or not armored at all) vehicles constantly to get around would be absurd. The entire vehicle system would need a revamp, and it would feed the useless Lib and ESF farmers who just fly around behind enemy lines looking for helpless targets to bolster their KDRs and egos.

No, oh god no.

Right now its hard enough for a lone wolf or small Squad/Outfit. Redeploy is terribad already; sometimes I have to redeploy nearly ten times to get where I want to be without turning into fodder for some ESF lolpodding hero. You cant just pull a vehicle and go somewhere on my server. There are a few Outfits who are usually found patrolling unpopulated hexes looking for easy kills in players who cant fight off an ESF or Lib alone. Even if you can damage it, they will either kill you first or simply fly away, repair, and come back to finish you off. There are also many, many non-affiliated players who skirt the actual battles in favor of flying around looking for helpless victims just trying to get from point A to point B.

'Nerfing' redeploy would completely ruin the game. Redeploy in fact, needs to be fixed so that you can get to any of the fights connected to the warpgate with one click. Redepoying to the nearest large base when you own 70% of the continent is pretty pointless. Vehicles will always be needed to defend and there will always be battles between bases, just as there are now.

I like a good half n half balance of Infantry and vehicles. This doesnt leave me in a place to pull vehicles solely for transportation as I may need the resources to pull one later when its needed. Then there are players who focus on the Infantry game only. I dont think forcing them to rely on others to get around is very productive nor would it be enjoyable.

I'd rather see it removed to be perfectly honest.

It was faulty at best BEFORE they changed it to what we have now. I can't begin to count the amount of times it has taken me three to six hexes BEHIND enemy lines or to a base already controlled by my faction with absolutely no battle going on around it. Besides, Galaxy pilots need a lot of love...and actually forcing players to use them for transportation by redesigning the entire system to encourage these pilots to do so would be nice.

This would also allow jumping behind a zerg and using one of the neutral bases to pull armor or forces from... but wouldn't require the zerg to then go back and recapture it... (they could keep moving down the lattice if they really wanted to)... this would let smaller 12-24 forces also have a goal (resecure any neutral facilites in the back if needed) once the main base has been locked down.

As long as the back hacking force can't attack main facilities, I think this sounds good. The zerg can go back and resecure their rear flank, or push forward in hopes of capturing whatever their objective is before the back hackers catch up to them.

IMO instant action has nothing to do with the issue ESPECIALLY right now, because 95% of the time it drops you in the middle of nowhere where there is no actual fight. The other 5% you get thrown into 4:1 odds.

They couldn't if they didn't have a lattice link. This is why the main facilities would still be latticed. Basically only the actually important facilities would be latticed, the rest would be just captureable spawn points. This is very similar to how the PS1 lattice system worked, and how most of us wanted the PS2 lattice to work, SOE didn't seem to realize the issues that latticing every single facility would cause.

Yea, my thought is that Main bases, subcaps, towers, etc.... would be on lattice and bound by lattice restrictions fully. The single point <A> only type minibases that are scattered about would be independant and have no bearing on lattice or capture ability. They'd just be spawn rooms and vehicle terms surrounded by defensive structures. Could also make them ANT depots for when/if they put in resources like that. Can be fought over to cut off resource flow, even if way behind enemy lines... but not be part of capture lattice. The intention is to make smaller little fights for lone-wolfs and/or 1/2 squads to fight over, maybe a larger squad if they are trying to do a PITA op or something.

At least you cited your sources this time.

Hell no. I hate the flash. A freakin suicide vehicle. And if you manage not to kill yourself you will be sniped/lolpodded/ Harrassed to death.

No to the redeploy.
Yes to Flash physics fix. The vehicle itself is just undriveable, even with improved chassis it lacks off-road capabilities and it tilts too easily.

You, my friend, are completely missing the point. Did the lattice teach you nothing? The goal is to remove strategy completely from the game, turning it into QuakesideMMO.

Force people to plan and intelligently deploy so that they can protect and assault specific assets, rather than just zipping them into the fight in seconds? MADNESS, I say!!