Greetings Planetside 2 Forum, Coaxials! Am I right? Yeah. You guys know whats up. Alot of people think tanks should have them. Alot of people think tanks shouldn't have them. Well - I think I have an idea on the topic! Give the -F (thats Flash) version of NS Weapons to tanks as Coaxial weapons and add a coaxial slot. But wait, it gets better. The NC Vanguard gets dual. Choose a Kobalt? Two Kobalt-Fs. Choose a Fury? Two Fury-Fs. We all know where this goes on the Vanguard turret, and dammit, should have been from the beginning. So whats the catch? Obviously the guns are fire linked, and most importantly, give them a point of convergence like real gosh darned multi-mount guns. What is a point of convergence? It is the point both guns are actually aimed at. So when you put the dot on the target at, say, 100 meters, the bullets will hit that dot. But closer or farther they technically go a bit to either side. Now the NC get more raw firepower, but pinpoint aiming takes skill. A fixed point of convergence of 100m or 150m by the way, would be ideal. The VS Magrider get two also - but differently! Instead, equipping a coaxial on the Magrider gives one to the driver and one to the gunner. Flexibility is the Vanus thing, and what is more flexible than that? Saron and Fury? Sure! Kobalt and Kobalt? **** it, why not! Where would it mount? Next to the gun obviously. This makes adapting the model easy too - just stick it on the side of the gimbal of the main gun on the Magrider and stick out the side. The hull model will hide everything else. It will just be a barrel peeping out. Neat-o. High-Tech. Wow. What about for the gunner you say? Stick the -F model on the side of whatever. It is already made to be stuck to the side of whatever. Done. The TR Prowler gets two also - but differently! Surprise! Bet you didn't expect that. Lets start with where it will go - in that flat spot in the center of the turret. Duh. If you refuse to put the god damn guns there - guess what - I am going to suggest a coaxial there. How do the two guns on the Prowler work differently? They are chained! What does that even mean?! It works how the main gun should! You start firing and the first one is firing, then when it gets empty and starts reloading, the second one starts firing. Depending on attachments, and weapon, and other random factors - this might mean you can just fire NON STOP FOREVER (TR DAKKA WOOO) or with minor delay. Sort of like TAK TAK TAK Pause TAK TAK TAK Pause TAK TAK TAK... ect. Instead of TAK TAK TAK Whens Tea? TAK TAK TAK. The Lightning gets one. Someone had to get shafted here, and by tradition, it is One Man Magriders and Lightnings. But man. Could you imagine a Skyguard Lightning with a Basilisk-F secondary? Where would we put it? Well in that stupid square next to the stupid red dot on the Lightnings stupid face, obviously. To the left of the gun. You know damn well where I am talking about. How does the user cycle weapons? The same damn way ESFs do. Don't ask dumb questions. There. Coaxials with negligible new art and code.
co-axial kobalt would be great for tanks, it would be far easier to balance if they all got the same simple one turret driver controlled co-axial rather then asymmetrical designs to give the devs balance headaches.
It would make tanks a lot like ESF, especially for Prowlers who rarely run with a gunner because of their crazy DPS.
Tanks should probably get two coaxials, just to be on the safe side. Take for instance the M1 TUSK: Comes with a 7.62mm coaxial GPMG and on top of that a 12.7mm coaxial HMG. Oh, and the HMG is laser-accurate and is used for counter-sniping operations (because nothing is more fun than sniping a sniper from behind a few hundred millimetres of armour). Pretty much MBTs ought to have both Kobalts and Basilisks on top of their primary weapons. These should have almost a zero CoF and no bloom on account of the fact that they are directly bolted to extremely stable tanks.
If we are being strictly technical, the .50 Cal in that picture is pintle mounted. Not coaxial. There is a difference. I see no reason why tanks can't get a pintle mounted weapon as well, though that would be more involved to implement (in terms of art). Press 1 for Main Cannon. Press 2 for Coaxial Configuration. Which, in response to the above, I still would like to be asymmetrical. NS platform are for symmetry. ES stuff should be different on SOME level. Press 3 for Pintle. Pintle mounted weapons would be single mounts of one of the -F options, and have a longer reload. Because that is the difference between Pintle and Coaxial, really. Coaxial can be reloaded in the vehicle. Pintle someone has to get out and do it; which in Planetside 2 terms means it takes longer because nanites.
Tanks don't/aren't supposed to get new ways to kill infantry. In the meantime check out DBG flavor of the month anti-mbt release... We've wanted coax's for a LONG time, but DBG caters to infantry, who whined about tanks since beta and now they (unless in the right hands) are nothing but cert pinatas. Have you guys seen the lightnings concept art? It had an ATGM and a f***ing minigun. That would be so awesome. In the meantime I also think the Kobalt should get a reduced cof...
I think the main problem with the devs is they have kept listening to infantry only players since launch where tanks were extremely AI effective and ignoring the actual metrics and actually playing their own game to see that when tanks are a problem it's nothing to do with their power, it's to do with infantry failing to use their own power to counter vehicles properly. devs need to realize infantry whine about tanks because they want pure infantry play in a game that isn't supposed to be designed that way. the biggest issue with vehicles is infantry not wanting to counter them in any way, they just plain expect vehicles never to bother them, i can understand not wanting to AA it's just not rewarding compared to say playing as infantry or pulling a vehicle that isn't AA specced. the addition of engagement radar to lightnings and new MBT secondaries shows that they are listening and have shifted a bit in their perceptions but we need to push them a little more. I'm pretty happy with the kobalt as-is. getting a co-axial kobalt would put tanks in a good place the only icing on the cake that would make me happier is combining the tank armors into composite armor as well.
I would love it, but there is one thing you have to fear: Everyone will take the AV capable weapons. Just like with every other weapon, the AI weapons just don't deliver enough oomph to the mix, while AV weapons can simply be multi-tasked against infantry just as easily. So the only weapons people would use, would be the Fury and Basilisk. So I would suggest giving the AI weapons some other advantages. For instance, instead of co-axial guns the AI weapons come in the form of a second, remote-controlled turret at the forefront of the vehicle. This turret has a much higher elevation than the main gun, and has a very low depression as well. This allows people with those weapons to have a far wider situational awareness and allows these AI weapons to double as light AA weapons, especially if you really do have two equipped at a time. This hopefully gives those weapons the edge they need to be competitive with the AV weapons available. Also, isn't the TR shafted with this system? They have the least to gain from these co-axials... Oh never mind, they can use some disadvantages. Edit: I assume that this will also open up the road for more infantry-AV options. With enough strong infantry AV options we can remove those ridiculous walls and allow vehicles to get (almost or completely) on top of points to blow away infantry, while infantry can do the same to them.
Yeah if i were designing the co-axial first i'd give out the kobalt as the only option, then i would consider wether to allow reloads while weapons is inactive, if so people would take the basilisk if it was available to increase their AV DPS. which is why if i were designing them i'd only allow AI weapons, and yes TR gets the shaft if furies are available. if i had to choose between kobalt or marauder as TR i'd take kobalt every time. point and click is better then having to account for drop against targets that may be airborne or traversing terrain to change their altitude. plus it's NS so you don't have to adapt when you swap factions. sure the marauder has it's uses but i prefer the kobalt.
That is debateable. I arx'd the marauder and found it quite effective, when properly adjusted you can kill large group of infantry, people behind cover and various other situations its quite useful. However if I need to suppress, kobalt hands down. Maruader/ppa in general I think are better than the kobalt... However canister... Meh, maybe if it had an explosive radius... Still want less COF on it, I feel it used to be alot more accurate...
I guess it's just down to practice and using them enough to become proficient in their use, i do enjoy watching people die fast when i can headshot them with the kobalt though and i like having the option of suppression w/e i need it for a co-axial.
Not sure I agree with your distinction between a pintle mount and a coaxial mount. Simply put, if the mount incorporates a pintle, then it is a pintle mount regardless of if you reload if from inside or outside of a vehicle. This is a pintle: A pintle just allows the secondary weapon to be independently aimed in a certain direction. A coaxial weapon, on the other hand, simply means that it always points in the same direction as the primary weapon. That's pretty basic. Pintle-mounted weapons can move independently. Coaxial-mounted weapons are fixed. The second 12.7 HMG in the picture is obviously coaxial, not in a pintle mount. It lacks the ability to point in any direction other than where the main gun is pointing, meaning that it probably does not have a pintle in the mounting system at all and (roughly) shares an axis with the primary weapon. It even shares the fire control system of the main gun and lacks the ability to be operated through other means while in the mount. I mean it's rather difficult to think of something as pintle-mounted if it it doesn't have a pintle (looks like it's held in place by crossbars and a set of two, non-movable pins). Also comes with an anti-Infiltrator spotlight/darklight and can fire simultaneously with the main gun.
I would support this if it didn't make Tanks OP as hell vs infantry. Also, the ways the factions would work differently are very cool.
You mean like four barrels, considering that most Basilisks already come in pairs? Anyhow, the original Vanguard was supposed to have coaxial Basilisks: That's why the current Vanguard has two inexplicable slots cut into it which serve no purpose at all other than to compromise the turret armour. The original concept art had the 20mm HMGs placed on opposite sides of the main gun: Oddly enough the Vanguard design ditched any roof-mounted weaponry at all. The Prowler, on the other hand, came with two roof-mounted weapons but no coaxial one: Really though they just need someone who knows tanks to design their tanks.
Why? You're either worried about the only completely NON-AV class in this game or your infantry farming craze has reached foamy levels. You should get that checked out.
