This idea, at first, is going to sound absolutely ridiculous and unbalanced. But please hear me out. I suggest a jetpack variation for the LA that has flying mechanics much like an ESF. The user would be able to stay airborn indefinitely. The user would be able to use his primary and secondary weapons, but would not be able to aim down the sights. The utility and grenade slots would also be disabled, to prevent high altitude C4 drops from being too easy. As far as flight mechanics: the jetpack would, as I said before, work much like the ESF flight mechanics. The user would not be able to simply switch back and forth between walking and flying as with the original Jumpjets. The walking would not be possible as the pack would almost be a full body suit made only for flight. Sort of a lightweight ariel Max Unit, except that the user would retain the original LA's health, would gain no extra firepower, and health would be restored by medics, not engineers. The pack could even cost some nanites if you think balance would be an issue in that regard. I know that there is still horror movies of imbalance playing in your head, so back to the topic of mobility, that somehow I keep getting distracted from. As the thread topic implies, this variation of the jetpack would be for dogfighting and high-speed transport. The high-speed nature of this pack makes slipups costly, meaning much like an ESF, you can't just go running into things. Landing also work like an ESF, so care must be taken when landing. To prevent abuse of this flight system the "touch something while flying causes you to instantly die" system should be implemented. I would like for these jetpacks to have greater speed and agility than any previous vehicle design. This new loadout option doesn't sound like a very practical or useful combat option, and that's because it's not. It would just be awesome to fly around like superman/ironman and get from one place to another with precision and speed not possible with previous transport options. Just one of the many problems with this idea is getting from playing as infantry, to playing as an infantry/plane hybrid. Where do I spawn this new vehicle(? Class?) from? A vehicle terminal or a class loadout terminal? How do I get back from being a High Altitude Dogfighting Jetpack to just being normal infantry? Do I have to die? One thought I had about switching from one to the other is requiring the user to spawn it from an air vehicle terminal, and when he lands the jetpack is automatically destroyed and the user is reverted back to his normal LA loadout. The user would not be able to eject from the pack, as the only way to leave it would be carefully landing. Failure to land correctly and simply smashing into the ground would result in death. This mechanic would make the jetpack almost like a consumable item that must be activated again at a terminal to be reused. This mechanic also means that you cannot actually land or walk, you could hover at lower altitudes, but using this ability will require constant input from the user. These are a few things I haven't thought out yet, and of course this idea will take tweaking and rebalancing and overhauling, but I hope we can at least give it a try on PTS.
It would be cool, but the time until you'd get LA seeking lockons could be measured in femptoseconds, ruining your fun. Plus, you'd have to deal with non-LA infantry only players complain ceaslessly about you elitist "sky-moguls" (or somesuch, as skyknights is already taken.)
I'm not sure I understand what utility will such jetpack have. So, you will be fast(how fast?) but can't walk/enter buildings reliably/ADS/use explosives. Essentially, you'll be a small, super squishy ESF with a nosegun that has p!ss-poor damage and range. What is the point of this, really? Seems like uncerted ESF with fuel pods will be better at everything this loadout can do...
I suggested something similar to this a while back: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/sky-glider-jet-pack.190585/ This would be fun in my opinion but unfortunately I think it will never get into the game. There would be too many complications down the road even if they did implement this. Just Imagine though if they ever came out with airship alerts where you could fly on to another huge airship to battle the enemy...that would be awesome.
I think it would be a cool idea, but more of an "All Classes" individual transport vehicle than specifically for LA. Spawn it at an air terminal, and allow limited ground walking abilities (ie, as slow as a MAX's walk, no sprint ability, maybe limited distance, etc). Also use the Flash's damage theory (can damage both the pilot, and the suit independently) to bring out the vulnerability of the suit. You should still be able to dumb fire your weapon, and maybe have some semblance of your class' abilities embedded, like how the Inf can cloak their Flash. Maybe LA can have a speed boost, HA can use an overshield, Inf could cloak, Eng can auto repair, Med could have an increased healing aura distance while wearing it. Or just bail on the idea of using it like a transport vehicle for a soldier, and make it a straight up Aerial MAX. Same principle as any other aircraft, except this one can land and walk slowly (again, same as ground MAX's walk, no sprint). Equipped primarily with AA weapons (though it could use all the same weapons as a ground MAX), it could be made fast and small enough to be an air to air Scythe/Mosq/Reaver killer. The inherent speed would make Rocket locks difficult, but an instant kill if you get the hit.
