DETAILED PS2 SITREP (Summing Up All the QQ and PS2 Issues)

INTRODUCTION

This is going to be a long read, I may or may not do TL;DR.

Ohhhh the headache. Looking at the forums there is a motif: vehicles, anti vehicle weapons, bases, and maxes. they are the top things talked about and or qqed about. Vehicle commanders and enthusiast complain about the lock ons, dying as soon as they leave the vehicle pad, flak (from non rendering burster MAXs), and the plethora of other vehicles. No longer can they go on kill streaks. Infantry complains about the excessive vehicle spam, the explosive ordinance spam. MAX users, primarily NC MAX users, complain about losing power in their scatter cannons and hacksaws. MAX AV weapons suck, terribly under-powered. Base design is lacking. This is a factor that has been completely overlooked in our attempts to balance the combined arms engagements.

The headache, brought on by all this QQ, is dehabilitating. the overarching problem that Planetside 2 is having right now (outside of performance) is over-saturation in conjunction with weapon, vehicle, class balance, and lacking base design. Essentially the core of Planetside 2 is shallow, and not fleshed out. The fixes are simple, and from looking at the Road Map it is only a matter of patience - waiting for these things to be fixed. But for clarity lets lay out all the issues and problems, and provide constructive suggestions and feed back, so that the development team has solid information to work off of.

Where to begin?!?!?!

VEHICLES

INTRODUCTION

All vehicles need more dynamic weapon systems, and capabilities. Moreover, the amount of vehicles spawned in a given setting needs to be curtailed to some extent. The following is a thorough suggestion on how all the vehicles in the game should be structured.

GENERAL

One of the main problems with vehicles is that there are a lot of them being spawned and used in very confined play spaces. This overwhelming number causes minor problems to turn into major frustrating situations for players who are not in vehicles. In all honesty there are at least three potential solutions to this: 1) Vehicle Crews, 2) Resource Cost, 3) Weapon Systems and Ammunition.

Vehicle Crews would be an original Planetside game mechanic reintroduced into the game. Essentially vehicles being more set up like the Sunderer, driver (charged with driving and maneuvering the vehicle), and gunners (charged with aiming and firing the assorted weapon systems). This methodology can be applied to ESFs (Pilots and Co-Pilots), MBTs and Lightnings (Tank Driver (Commander), Gunner). Galaxies, Liberators, and Sunderer's already utilize this methodology; I don't see why the rest of the vehicles in the game can't. Moreover, this need to have a mandatory gunner would cut down on the over-saturation of vehicles that currently flood the game, and also dampen the force of Zergs.

Resource Cost, alternatively the resources needed to spawn MBTs, Lightnings, would be hire than the Sunderer = so plus 400. While the Sunderer resource cost is brought down. This adjustment could be introduced with the current resource system without any major side effects, or it could be introduced with a resource revampment. Either way it is an option.

Weapon Systems and Ammunition could be revamped for ESFs, Liberators, Lightnings, and MBTs. Essentially diversify the weapon systems available to a vehicle at any given time so that they have an: anti armor, anti infantry, and anti air solution all in one bundle. In addition to, the ammo capacity for each of the weapons is extremely restricted, forcing the vehicle commander to use the appropriate weapon for the appropriate situation. This could be implemented as an alternative to vehicle crews, for a wise vehicle commander would not waste munitions on inappropriate targets.

Example MBT: Main Cannon - anti armor, Coaxial - anti infantry, Turret - anti (infantry, air, armor). MBT has these three weapon systems per turret each with a dedicated roll, and limited ammo capacity. (more on this later)

With that being said, all vehicles should have complete armor packages. Front, side, and top armor certifications for MBTs and Lightnings is not the greatest of ideas. Give them complete composite armor sets that can be upgraded just like all the other vehicles in the game. Weather or not MBTs and Lightnings receive rear armor upgrades in that package is debatable. Personally, they shouldn't.

ESFs (Empire Specific Fighters) - Making it Rain

ESFs as with so many vehicles in this game, is a wanna be eveything. ESFs are sitting on the fence in terms of capabilities in turn, you have vehicle that just complicates the engagement space instead of really helping it. Here are some suggestions on how to better flesh out the ESF.

The Crew

The pilot would be in charge of flying, maneuvering the aircraft, and operating the nose gun. The co-pilot main job is to operate any secondary weapons (rocket pods, a2a missiles) and countermeasures (flares, fire suppression system).

Air Blocks/Variants

The idea here is a simple, in real life various air craft have variants for achieving specific performance in specific rolls. what if aerospace blocks/variants where introduced into Planetside as something you have to cert into. Essentially you cert into a Variant then that variant comes with all you various certification options. In turn the resource cost would scale to the degree of lethal that variant poses to another player.

Personal Transportation (25 Resources)

Personal Transportation variant would strip the ESF of any weapon systems. In turn, extended fuel tanks would receive certifications to increase the amount of time boost can be activated and recharged. In addition to, certification of the racer frame would make this an expedient means for travelling from one location to the next. Furthermore, the possible ability of the Wraith effect being added to the ESF for Infiltrators. This would be the cheapest ESF in terms of resources.

Scout VSTOL (Vertical/Short Takeoff Landing) (100 Resources)

Scout VSTOL variant would grant the ESF the means of operating as a UH-6 Little Bird. It would come with rumble seats to sit up to four passengers, and could provide a nice fast reaction team with quick nimble transport to anywhere on a continent. In turn, when the ESF drops off the passengers it can stay to provide air cover with whatever weapon systems it has equipped - nose gun, and missiles/rockets of choice. This variant would grant access to either the Hover or Racer frame, but deny access to Dog Fighter.

Interceptor (200 Resources)

Interceptor variant would be for pilots that want to race around the airspace to intercept mass aerospace squadrons and perform hit an run tactics on an aerospace team or unit. In essence, the Lightning brought to aerospace combat. The racer frame would be the performance certification of choice. Its trade off would be that it doesn't have a lot of armor, however it would have access to various anti air rotary cannons, and A2A missiles. Interceptor variant would be the second most expensive anti air variant ESF.

Dog Fighter (250 Resources)

Dog Fighter variant is targeted at pilots who want to tango with other aerospace units. Dog Fighting frame would be the optimal choice along with A2A missiles and a good anti air rotary cannon. it would come with more health than the Interceptor. Dog Fighter variant would be the most expensive ESF in terms of resources for anti air combat.

CAS (Close Air Support) (200 Resources)

CAS variant would make the ESF act like the modern day A10 Warthog Tank Buster. The CAS would unleash hell upon armor via strafing to runs. It would have a beastly rotary cannon that shreds through armor, along with a combination of rocket pods and bombs that it could drop on armor. CAS variant would be the second most expensive armor variant ESF.

Gunship (250 Resources)

Gunship variant would turn the ESF into an Apache Gunship or Hind. It would have access to rocket pods, and A2G missiles that could be lock on or guided. Gunship's primary roll would be to provide sustained fire support for ground units. The Hover Frame would be the primary and sole performance option available to the variant. Gunship variant would be the most expensive ESF in terms of resources for anti armor combat.

Current Weapon Systems

The current weapon systems for ESF are fine, however they need to be made more situational.

Rocket Pods fire rate needs to be decreased, for if infantry is engaged by rocket pods they are instantly killed with little ability to react.

A2A missiles need to have their lock on time decreased, and range increased.

In addition, A2G missiles should be added to better dictate the roll of anti armor support for ESF. These A2G missiles can either be lock on or guided.

Current Certifications

Hover Frame needs to see some adjustments. Control in hover is fine, however acceleration should be reduced. It quite ridiculous that ESFs using Hover Frame can drop in on ground units, light them up, and zoom away like Flash. Hover Frame should be just that, hover. And it should make ESFs act more like a helicopter, or an F-35B Lightning II - in which it should have a slow transition from hover state to flight state.

LIBERATORS

The biggest woe with Liberators is that there is an extreme lack of situational awareness. This can easily be corrected with the addition of certain camera views, and HUD features. First, 3rd person view should be re added to all passengers in the Liberator. When looking through first person, in the upper left hand corner there should be - for the pilot - toggle-able gunner cams, so the pilot can see what the gunners are seeing. For the gunners, their should be one cam of what the pilot sees.

There are many other woes that the Liberator encounters; they are well addressed in this thread here by, Lucidious: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/liberator-functionality-improvements.82072/

Variants

Unfortunately I could not really think of variants for the Lberator. If I do think of some things I will be sure to post them.

Current Weapon Systems

Zephyr Cannon

This cannon needs to be made into a single shot cannon like the Dalton. However it would have an extreme amount of damage and blast radius. The trade off being it is single shot, and has a lengthy reload time. However this single shot mechanic would give infantry the option to scatter for cover when the gun starts raining down salvos.

It is just wrong that the Zephyr is a six shooting HE cannon.

New Weapon

Small Diameter Bomb

This would be an alternative fire mode the gunner. A guided bomb that deals devastating effect upon armor vehicles.

GALAXIES

I love this thing unfortunately it just doesn't have a lot of capabilities in the world of Planetside. This has got to change. The current make up of people needed to efficiently operate a Galaxy is fine.

Air Blocks/Variants

The Galaxy could get the same treatment as the ESF. Here are the suggestions.

Support:

The Following two capabilities could be used in conjunction with the standard Galaxies roll of transporting and dropping off troops.

Mobile Repair and Resupply Station (350 Resources)

Galaxies would get the same certification that Sunderers have with the Repair/Resupply certification. Only it would be for aerospace units. Flying high up in the sky, or hovering over a hex friendly aerospace units could fly in tandem with the Galaxy and resupply their weapons, and repair their craft. This could be a great strategic asset for organized units, and provide something new for Engineers.

Moreover, this variant of the Galaxy can do supply drops, so that ground units can also keep their munitions up.

AWAC (Airborne Warning and Control System) (350 Resources)

AWAC would allow Galaxies to fly over a hexagon and maintain tabs on enemy units and movements for all friendly units inside that hex. it would add to the overall intelligence network, that organized units, and even solo players, could use to make logical decisions about certain engagements. If not a hex worth of intelligence, a certain radius that can be increased.

Cargo Plane (300 Resources)

Cargo Plane certification would allow Galaxies to transport a limited number of vehicles across the continent.

Loads: 1 MBT > 2 Lightnings > 1 Sunderer > 2 Buggies > 4 Flashes;

Fast Insertion (300 Resources)

Fast Insertion would reintroduce the smaller version of the Galaxy, with the folding wings. It could only carry up to six passengers, have two port side cannons, and one nose cannon. The purpose of this certification would be to allow a squad to rapidly insert into an outpost or major facility and at the same time receive air support via the Galaxy. Fast Insertion would be akin to the modern Black Hawk helicopter.

Fire Support:

The following two variants would be the fighter variants for Galaxies. In turn, the ability to transport units is loss.

Bomber (375 Resources - 400 Resources)

Bomber certification grants Galaxies the ability to strafe an area and drop various ordinances on enemies below. The Bomber would have the pilot, the targeter/bomb controller, and four gunners to control turrets on the side of the Galaxy for self defense.

Ordinance options:

Carpet Bomb

A bunch of medium size bombs that have a delayed explosion. Extremely effective against armor, mild damage against infantry. The delay in explosion combined with some kind of indicator would give anything in the blast radius the chance to get away. However, if you are in the center of the blast radius, you are as good as dead.

MOAB (Mother of All Bombs)/FOAB (Father of All Bombs)

Both the MOAB and FOAB would be the anti infantry solutions as far as bombs go. Only one can be equipped, and only one can be dropped every so many seconds (and I mean a lot of seconds). The MOAB is a large HE bomb that detonates on impact. The FOAB is a thermobaric fuel air bomb that detonates at a set level above the playing field.

JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions)

A player guided bomb that yields devastating effects against armor. However, it must be a direct hit in order to produce a kill.

Mines

A carpet of mines that would essentially act as an area denial system. OP, I know. But with the upcoming changes to the lattice system and a more clear direction of how battles would flow This could be a viable tool set that could be easily countered (See SUNDERER). Essentially a Galaxy could fly over a route and drop mines onto a passage way. When the mines are rolled over, or walked up they explode dealing marginal damage. The mines would not insta kill anything or anyone, nor would they chain react.

Gunship (375 Resources - 400 Resources)

Gunship certification would grant the Galaxy number 1 in providing immense firepower support in Planetside 2. (exaggerated) But essentially, the Gunship variant would mount all guns to one side of the Galaxy, supply forward guns, and ordinance (either lock on, or camera guided). In turn, it would be extremely slow, and require the most players to operate than any other vehicle. Its heavy cannons would all be single shot, and have long reload times.

Loadout: 2x 30mm 6 barreled gatling guns, 1x 40 mm single shot HE cannon, 1x 105 single shot AP cannon, 4x guided precision bombs; - This would bring the crew up to five - in order for the Gunship to be at full status.

Stay tuned for land vehicles and much more

VEHICLES CONTINUED

SUNDERER

The Sunderer has to be my most beloved vehicle in this game, due to all the options you have with it. The amount certifications (capabilities) that it has needs to equally represented and available in all the other vehicles in the game. Furthermore, the team work that it eschews also needs to be incorporated into all the other vehicles currently in the game. But with that said, there are still some things I would like to suggest.

General

Sunderers need more base health in my opinion. They are prime targets for all the other vehicles and infantry on the battlefield due to the Sunderers abilities. In addition more offensive turrets should be introduced for the Sunderer. It would be great for passengers to have port guns that they can shoot.

Certifications

Both the Repair and Resupply certifications should be combined. Weather you guys know it or not, the Repair certification is immensely good, especially at max rank. Vehicle Repair is an expensive certification as well, however merging of Vehicle Repair and Resupply would be great, and further round out the role of a Sunderer equipped with the certification.

Utility

If the Sunderer was treated like an MRAP, it could receive a mine clearing utility attached to the front of the vehicle that could clear mines for following convoys. This option would be better than the current option which is to roll your Sunderer (with mine guard) over mines to clear the way. Furthermore, this would be the true alternative to the Galaxy getting the ability to drop mines along a passage.

MBTs (Main Battle Tanks)

The Crew

The Vehicle Crew of a MBT would consist of three people. The driver (commander) - who unfortunately would control no gun. The main gunner who would control the main cannon and coaxial. The secondary gunner who would control the secondary turret.

Weapon Systems/Loadouts

Main Cannon:

Currently we have HEAT (default), AP, and HE. For the common infantryman HEAT and HE are the bane of their existence primarily due to the one hit kill potential and the excessive barrage that is unleashed upon them from multiple MBTs. Because of this I think the main cannons of MBTs should be streamlined into the following options.

HEAT should remain default, being a good anti armor and anti infantry solution, but not excelling in either one.

AP, which essentially is KEP (Kinetic Energy Penetrator) or APFSDS (Armor Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) should stay as the pure anti armor solution.

Instead of HE, Beehive or Canister Shot should be introduced. The utilization of Beehive/Canister Shot would remove the ability for MBTs to sit off at a distance and suppress infantry with overwhelming amounts of high explosive fire. Furthermore, it would force anti infantry vehicle variants to get in close to make their shots count. Hence giving the infantry man a more surviving chance. It would also cut down on the amount of explosive ordinance flying into key buildings in which controls points are located. Also the Canister Shot would be highly effective against greedy ESFs.

Coaxial Guns:

In addition to, the main turret should come with a coaxial machine gun gun for engaging soft targets. Not only would this provide more chance of survival for an infantryman, but it would also provide better ammunition management. For the main cannon would be used primarily engaging other armor (unless you are using Canister Shot) and the coaxial would be used for infantry.

Secondary Turrets;

These are fine in their current state.

Faction Specific

Prowler

This has been raised before, and probably will not change. But SOE, the Prowler is a terrible tank design. It really should be made into a single cannon, or both cannons should be made to fire at the same time and moved to the center of the turret.

LIGHTNINGS

These bad boys need a complete overall in my honest opinion. Here is what I have in mind. The Lightnings are meant to be the fast nimble hit and run vehicles that do have some armor. If you look at current military armaments you will see there are three sets of vehicles the Lightnings can adequately fill the roles of: IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle), Tank Destroyer, Anti Air.

On a side note, the tread system for the Lightning needs to be adjusted so that it is not easily stuck amongst the terrain.

The Crew

The vehicle crew for the Lightning is something I am torn on. It could easily be one manned, or it could be two manned. I am not really opposed to either.

Variants

At default the main cannon could be a 30mm - 40mm HEAT auto-cannon. That just like the MBT's HEAT is good at anti-armor and anti-infantry but not great at both or one over the armor. And comes with a coaxial machine gun for engaging soft targets (infantry).

IFV

The main turret for this variant should be a 30 mm non explosive auto-cannon or a single shot 50mm Canister Shot. That comes with a coaxial machine gun. Furthermore, I think the vehicle should have a ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) launcher for engaging MBTs and other Lightnings. However the ATGM would do diddly squat to infantry.

Tank Destroyer

The main turret for this variant would be a 105mm cannon that fire AP - KEP or APFDS - rounds. It would come with a coaxial machine gun and an ATGM or better yet an ATacMS (Army Tactical Missile System) also known as an SSM (Surface to Surface missile).

Anti Air

Skyguard needs to be reworked. Instead of just a flak spewing quad barreled auto cannon, what if we had a 25mm gatling gun in conjunction with dual guided missiles for SHORAD (Short Range Air Defense). Essentially the main gatling gun would be the range gun and the guided missiles would be the extremely close engagements alternative.

With these variants, the turrets could be given faction specific touches. For instance, the TR IFV turret and AA turret can be more in the style of gatling guns, while the NC turrets are more like reciprocating cannons, and the Vanu turrets are spewing non bursting and bursting plasma, respectively.

STAY TUNED FOR CLASSES AND BASES

CLASSES

Currently Heavy Assualt is the bread and butter of many. I dont have numbers, but simple observation tells it all. Heavy Assualt is one of the most played classes, Engineer falls in a close second, while the other classes follow far behind in third, fourth, and fifth. It is because of this class dispersion vehicle commanders have to face a ridiculous number of lock ons, and other anti vehicle ordinance. Classes need to be fleshed out. Thankfully SOE has class revampment unscheduled in the roadmap. It is just a matter of time.
Even though, anti vehicle capabilities should be primary amongst Heavy Assault, Engineer, and MAXs; anti vehicle capabilities need to be better dispersed amongst all the classes. Furthermore, the other classes abilities need to be fleshed out, and expanded. I have already made a thread discussing this in lengthily detail, as well as posted my suggestions in the respective revampments. But here are some points that I would like to note and reiterate.

Heavy Assault

NMG (Nanite Mesh Generator)

NMG needs to be adjusted badly. NMG needs to lose the ability to absorb damage from small arms fire, and buffed against explosive ordinance. Currently Heavy Assaults can press F to win any small arms battle. This is terribly unfair in cases of 1v1 battles. Engineer, Light Assault, Medic, Infiltrator can easily get turned on, by Heavy Assaults tapping F at the last second - mitigating any incoming damage, and dumping bullets into the former. If losing the ability to mitigate/absorb small arms damage altogether is too much, then it needs to reduced.

Launchers

The launchers available in this game are a supreme example of SOE's current methods. All of the launchers - except for the recent empire specific launchers - need to be tweaked and made viable. All launchers need to not one hit kill any infantry. This tactic if not an oh **** event of popping NMG and firing a rocket in the face of an attacker needs to go. It is not fair in any shape form or fashion.

The default launcher (ML 7, Shrike, S1) currently is good. It has good damage output on all targets. However, the rocket speed - in my opinion - needs to be increased slightly. The NS Decimator which is supposed to be an upgrade from the default launcher needs to output more damage and also receive a rocket speed increase.

The anti tank launchers (Skep, Crow, Hades), that can dumb fire and lock on to ground vehicles, need to have their lock on time decreased. Furthermore the damage done needs to be way higher than what the default or NS Decimator can do against ground vehicles. However the anti tank launchers need to have negligible damage when it comes to air vehicles and infantry. Moreover, the firing mechanism for this should really be made more inline to its roll. The rocket should strike like the Javelin, in real life, from top down.

The anti air launchers (Grounder, Hawk, Nemesis), that can dumb fire and lock on to air vehicles, need to have their lock on time decreased. furthermore the damage done needs to be way higher than what the default or NS Decimator can do against air vehicles. However the anti tank launchers need to have negligible damage when it comes to ground vehicles, and infantry.

The NS Annihilator, needs to have its lock on time decreased drastically. Projectile speed should be increased.

The empire specific launchers are fine. the only thing i would suggest is that the Striker's lock on time be decreased, and that a lock on be available for MAX suits (or something that allows the Striker to be used against MAXs).

Grenade Launcher

If Heavy Assaults want to kill infantry with explosive munitions give them a grenade launcher in place of their rocket launchers. However, I am sorta oppose to this if MAXs are gonna receive a viable grenade launcher, for the amount of grenade spam that could stem from this would be overwhelming.

Infiltrator

Give these guys an EMP mine, or make the EMP grenade effective against vehicles. Furthermore, allow them to hack vehicles and bring them offline - not kick players out of the vehicle. Overall give them more things to hack. Community has already suggested ammo terminals, teleporters, etc. My suggestion would be to add a sentry main frame to bases - that only the Infiltrator class can sabotage.

Light Assault

Give these guys the ability to board a vehicle and sabotage it. Provide more thruster pack options. And give these guys a standalone grenade launcher (same as the Heavy Assaults could get).

STAY TUNED FOR MAXs

I think this is close to competing with the "Space" thread for length. Will read later.

CLASSES CONTINUED

MAX

MAXs have the potential to be one of the best infantry units that infantrymen can resource and cert into. however maxes need to be fixed. maxes need to be more team worked oriented and less of an infantry killing machine like they are now. moreover, all of their anti vehicle weapons needs buffing, and more certification options.

My suggestion for how MAXs should be are as follows: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/planetside-2-classes-fleshing-them-out.104453/

Currently MAXs are expected to get flame throwers, grenade launchers, and rocket launchers. Vehicle enthusiast are freaking out over the rocket launchers. Infantry are freaking out over the grenade launchers. I understand the reason for alarm, history can repeat itself. These new MAX weapons could come out and be completely OP then later nerfed. But only time will tell. The new weapons just need to be made to fit into the current weapon systems available instead of trumping them.

General

Player Movement needs to be given phsyics. Currently players just lurch into one direction after another. This makes it hard as **** some times to hit players while ADS. Players need to be given momentum, and gradual initiation into sprinting or running in a certain direction, just not instant dart in one direction after the other.

Weapons

All small arms need to also be better organized amongst the various classes, as well as, made viable options. Currently SOE is adding new guns that trump the former iteration, instead of balancing and making the weapons even in capability, but different in aesthetic and execution of capability. It is unfortunate that amongst a library of guns, only a couple or few are viable in each family. Example being the Engineers carbines, on TR really only the Jaguar and the the default TRAC 5 are good. The only reason anybody buys or uses the TRAC 5 S is because of the grenade launcher attachments.

heavy assault: light machine gun, shotgun, battle rifle, smg, launcher, special weapons (no smg)

infiltrator: snipers, dmrs, scout rifles, smgs

engineer: carbine, shotgun, smg, battle rifle, turrets (no battle rifle)

combat medic: assault rifle, shotgun, smg (light machine gun, and battle rifle)

light assualt: carbine, shotgun, smg (battle rifle)

Special Weapons

Why not allow all the classes to have special weapons that they can only use, instead of just Heavy Assault. Engineer sorta already has a special weapon - turrets, while infiltrators have their snipers. However Combat Medic, and Light Assault do not.

Certifications

Current max rank of Flak Armor and Advanced Shield Capacitor Certifications need to be made default for all classes. With the certification options for both still available to increase the capability even further.

BASE DESIGN

Base redesign and improvement has been hit home in some very thought out threads. I am not going to beat on this anymore, more or less I will provide links to all the threads that have offered outstanding suggestions and discussion around the topic:

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...-overhaul-pics-included-tanknerfreset.112195/

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/continent-outpost-rework.97995/

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...e-against-vehicle-spam-for-small-bases.98687/

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/larger-diversity-of-base-models.105463/

So hit the jumps and provide your feed back, and thumbs up.

CONCLUSION

All in all Planetside 2 is suffering from a lot of little problems that are compacting on the never ending problem of performance. The Planetside 2 team needs to add more depth to alot of the core features this game is building itself off of. Classes need to be fleshed out, all the weapons available to them need to be balanced out and given an aesthetic touch to make them unique from player FOV. Vehicles need to be given more capabilities and rolls, and channeled to fight amongst each other more, rather than ground pounding infantry. And bases need to be intricate and offer a goal for every class to pursue.

All constructive feed back is welcomed. Leave a like, comment, and suggestion below. Thanks for reading.

TL;DR - none were made, read the ******* thread.

I am still reading through this but had to stop and comment on this line: "Essentially diversify the weapon systems available to a vehicle at any given time so that they have an: anti armor, anti infantry, and anti air solution all in one bundle." I realize you go on to suggest specialized variants (for ESFs), which is a much better idea, but I just want to say that giving a single vehicle (ESFs) a universal killing capability is the main reason for the plethora of lock-on weapons and buffed AA capabilities. I like the variants idea for ESFs, but I think vehicle specialization (as well as infantry specialization) should have real, game impacting, meaning.

No more swiss-army-knife vehicles or infantry classes.

Be swift in your Ctrl C Ctrl V otherwise, people will insert in between your thread.

Crew
MBTs should have been multi-crewed from day 1. Sometimes PS2 feels like a Prowler traffic simulator.
I remember Higby not being happy about people using their vehicles as disposable transport in PS1 but PS2 is worse in this regard

Resources
Just a reminder that you can't adjust vehicle spam by saying:
"Well, it's easy, just increase the cost of every vehicle!"

Keep in mind that sometimes you just can't get out of your warpgate. The attacker has 3x your resource income. Good luck getting out if pulling off a single tank depletes your entire resource pool while the enemy recovers armor faster than you do.

Weapons
Air balance has been a pain due to rocket pods in general. Simply put, the ESFs are too efficient by themselves especially against ground; there is not much of a tradeoff when taking lolpods while AI nose guns like PPA or Banshee force you to sacrifice a significant ammount of efficiency against some targets.
Even if you make AA overpowered ESFs can chose to bully infantry across the map, force them to grab a MAX and then just fly away leaving 1 guy on the ground with his useless burster arms.

In other words, we either need:
-Lock-on missiles for ESF with a infantry based lock mechanic (like Tracer dart and Chopper missiles from BFBC2)
-EMP weaponry like dumb bombs that do not kill ground units but weaken them so ground forces can finish the job



There are other ideas concerning air balance like:
-AA debuffs instead of more damage (screen shake, explosions, smoke, slow...)
-Forcing repair on air pads (and introducing a soft counter to air without nerfing it)

More details about Air balance here

That is way too much to read in one sitting, but I want to make a point on the introduction.

The NC max AV weapon, the falcon, is not horrible dps. If you load two of them it will kill a tank as fast or faster than any mbt main gun. Obviously MBT's have a secondary turret that could be loaded with an AV option, but if you're using two people anyway you could use two maxes and beat it. The only exception to this is a 1/2 where the driver is hotswappping between stations while reloading this doesn't work for the vulcan but would for the saron, enforcer, and halberd, assuming you don't get stuck with a double reload.

The problem with maxes as AV is that they are entirely too fragile and don't have enough mobility to really pull it off well. Sure they can hide around corners/buildings but it's just a matter of time before the tanker outmaneuvers him or gets a lucky shot.

When used in a pack maxes are more deadly to tanks than infantry rockets. Invisible bullets are much harder to dodge.

I like the roles you listed for the esf, but we could do those roles right now anyway. (except for the taxi one) cheaper than you are suggesting it. It's all about how you set up your esf.

I think rockets should do no splash damage and require direct hits to damage targets, this would keep them i their role as AV and with their CoF or maybe a slight adjustment to it (larger) keep them from being used against infantry. I don't think i've ever heard anyone complain about getting sniped with a nosegun as infantry.

I will post again after i've read some more.

I think the best aspect of your suggestions is the idea of variants for the base vehicles with different resource costs. I would also suggest different respawn times for the different variants, the ones with greater survivability (and the survivability for some vehicles like MBTs need drastic improvements) should have a longer respawn delay. With all the variants still taking up the same vehicle spawn that may help prevent players from perpetually using a specific vehicle if that vehicle has a long enough respawn delay.

Specialization is still essential, at least vehicles spam with a variety of vehicles is more interesting then vehicles spam of the same vehicle.

Liberators.

Everyone in the vehicle should be able to see where the guns are pointing via a display just like mbt's have for their turret in relation to the chassis.

One huge imbalance is that the dalton is a better version of a tank cannon. Faster reload, better range, the ability to ignore projectile drop by being over your target and firing down, etc. Also, I'm not sure but is the gravity boosting the projectile speed when firing down? Would need to test that somehow I guess.

You are right about the zephyr though, a 6 shot HE cannon is ridiculous. I would really like to see the liberator go back to being bombs like it was in PS1, not this garbage, better tank than real tanks that we have going on now. I don't necessarily agree with the idea of a huge aoe one shot gun either though.

Ideally, if it were up to me I would have the shredder as is for GP/AV use.
The Zephyr would be a grenade launcher that only killed on a direct hit, had relatively slow projectiles and a CoF, but a large magazine.
And the Dalton would be a tank buster bomb with low projectile speed, small/no aoe, and massive damage to armor on a direct hit.

I like most of these ideas but the Galaxy mine spewer would be funny as hell (from the enemies perspective). Imagine a griefer just spreading them over your current Sundy locations. You are now in an area where enemy fire will blow you to kingdom come by detonating those mines. They'll never take the time to do any of this even if it would make the game far far better.

Thanks for the very thorough post. I look forward to the discussion that occurs in this thread.

I would have suggested that, but the problem is that we really cannot remove a lot of things do to the fact that people have already put certs, and money into them.

On the topic of the galaxy. I agree it should be able to transport some vehicles. I also think it should have a better combat role.. I think you are overstepping a bi though and giving it too many roles, some of which would be better suited to the liberator.

I would like to see the galaxy as a mobile air base. I like the rearming aspect for it. That is good. How about a landing pad deploy option for it? You would have to go into hover mode and be completely stationary, just like a sunderer, then press deploy and voila your galaxy is now parked in the sky and a landing pad unfolds on it's top deck (over the dorsal turret) friendly aircraft would be able to land on it and rearm while they hop out and repair any damages they have.

I also like the awacs idea but it needs a range limit, if you do the hex based intel then people will just park them up at flight ceilng out of range of any enemy AA.

Sunderer: the mine clearer is only useful if you have the extensive mine field capabilities you introduced on the galaxy, I say ditch both, we don't need more mines.
Dragon's teeth on the other hand, or anti-traction slime, things that inhibit the movement of enemy vehicles, those would be interesting.

MBT's: I like the idea of increasing tank damage to each other, reducing the number of shots to kill another tank, and reducing the overall ammo counts. It would help cut back on infantry farming, but you would need to get rid of ammo sunderers for it to have any effect. Large ammo pools are not what allow tanks to farm infantry all day, ammo sunderers are.

And yes, MBT's definitely should have coaxial machine guns.

I would love to see canister shot (or plasma spray) replace HE rounds. It would be more useful in it's intended role (killing infantry charging across open fields) and harder to use in unintended ways (shooting through windows to kill enemies in rooms/around corners.

OP, allow me to give you a tl;dr of all your post:
Everyone can be killed as easily as anyone else: It's a cheesy game.

I think you're a bit ambitious with this, and most of your other posts as well. However you bring up a lot of good points. A lot of what you suggest is infeasible and will take a long time to implement, but you also have a lot of really good ideas that can be pretty quickly implemented. All in all, ALL the devs should look at this post.

Lightning tank:

The lightning has always seemed to me to be the esf of the ground vehicles. The red-headed stepchild esf of ground vehicles, but nonetheless.

What I don't get is the ESF has two weapon systems, each one better than what tanks get (in dps) but the land-borne version only gets very highly specialized roles. What gives? They both have the same cost and timers, they are both one man vehicles, it doesn't make any sense.

This is what I would like to see instead. Bring back the concept lightning, the one that had a rotary turret and a 2 pack missile launcher on it. Let's start from there.

Chain gun weapons.
AI: Grenades. Enough said.
Not really, I'm thinking very small, very weak grenades, basically like a lasher but faster firing. Alternatively, gatling shotgun. Enough said (really this time)
AV: 30mm DU rounds. Basically the default nosegun on the liberator. It works well and feels about right. Just make sure it has a cone of fire small enough to hit tanks at 200m but large enough to make it not great against infantry.
AA: your basic ESF nosegun but with higher bullet velocity so it can reach the pesky buggers. Alternatively, copy the stats from the burster arms and double the RoF.

The missile launchers
AI: Really? You expect an AI missile launcher? No.
AV: Can have lockon and guided variants, I don't think I need to elaborate on this.
Alternate: Dumbfire rocketpack. ESF rocketpod on a tank. No splash, odd flight paths (like the scythe rockets) make it hard to hit infantry with but great dps vs. armor/tanks.

If you're going to stay with the current turret designs then the skyguard really needs more projectile velocity and a tighter Cof.

Doing this with the lightning would provide at least 6 new weapons to sell, 24 if you made factional variants. Oh, they would also be much more fun than just another boring old tank cannon if that counts for anything.

I disagree with your assesment of the G2A Rocket Launchers. I love my Grounder and use it 90% of the time. Imo G2A launchers are in a good place right now.

The G2G Launchers do probably need to be buffed/reimplemented.

I'm gonna jump in and say I disagree with a good portion of the original post. But at the moment I don't have the time nor the will to explain what I disagree with since it's such a long post.

I'd like to start by saying Wow, carbonite.

I've seen you post in a few of my things in the past, and recommend moving towards larger posts of yours. I'd never really read them at length, but I found this very well thought out and incredibly informative. Thank you for compiling all of this.

To address your points, at which I have an opinion:

MBTs: Yes, crewed vehicles are a must. I think if enough people reiterate this enough it'll finally get through.

Aircraft: I am not wild about crewed ESFs, I think all vehicles need to have one varient which can be operated by a single person. But, the rest of your recommendations I wholly agree with.

Lightnings: As they are now, they are disposable, but fine.

Vehicle Cost: Yes, boost this please.

Maxes: I don't think you go far enough here. I think that they need more Anti-infantry weapon resistance, and you should have to go get the Anti-max weapons on your max, if you want to start mowing them down wholesale. A max running with Ai weapons shouldn't be a threat to another max. A max running around with dual anti-max weapons, should cause maxes to flee.

Base design: I like the linked threads but would like to reinforce something that was mentioned: Bases need more objectives. Currently we have generators in large facilities, SCUs in larger facilities, and some turrets scattered around. We need turrets, doors, generators, SCUs, security systems, walls, etc. in ALL bases. You should not regard one base as a death trap comparatively to another. Each base should leave you a strong defense that has to be dismantled by the enemy, that without people manning it can be bypassed easily enough.

Basically, if I walk into a base and there is no one there, I should be able to get past the doors and get inside easily enough to take the place. But, if I have defenders, it should be harrowing. Frankly, as is now, we are being pushed towards base capture times being fixed or tied to adjacency. Why can't it be tied to how far you actually are into the base, and how much of it you actually control?