[Suggestion] How about Mechs

Okay, so who else thinks Mech units would be a good idea? I don't mean power armor, I'm talking full on, megazord ****. Large heavy weapon utilizing mechs that control like a lethargic soldier, almost mimicking the slow penalty on the Max units. It'd be a massive game changer and it'd make the battlefield have a fresh new feeling and it'd be really interesting to see how the devs could implement it, and it would look awesome to show your friends, bringing more people into the game, keeping it alive.

You'll have to consult a PS1 Veteran, but the established consensus generally revolves around "Hell" and "No"

The only place I can see it being an advantage is potentially walking over walls. But that would require it to be so insanely tall that it'd be a really easy target. To make it viable they'd have to give it a lot of armor. This would turn it into basically a BFR from PS1, which reliable sources tell me seriously damaged that game's viability.

How about no sounds about right and too tired to discuss the whys behind it.

As Insignius said, a giant mech is a giant target. A giant target needs at least one of the following things to keep it alive:
1) Be strong enough to take a lot of hits.
2) Be deadly enough to kill things before it takes a lot of hits.
3) Be fast enough to avoid taking a lot of hits.

Any single one of these things will quite easily make the mech absurdly powerful compared to anything already in the game. It does not make sense that a mech would be able to be more heavily armoured, armed, or faster than a tank.

We do already sort of have a giant tank in the works, the NS Colossus:



Even without the disadvantages of a mech, the disadvantages of a giant tank are significant enough.

The Colossus seems to have been in the works for quite some time now and with little information yet about it, I doubt we'll see it anytime soon... with that said, it's a hell of a lot more progress than we'd see on any BFRs in the game. I'm hoping the Colossus is the HBT dream we've all been waiting for.

I feel like it could be big enough to be able to navigate the sketchy terrain, and but also armored enough to take enough punishment to find the target and take it out if it's that big of a threat. Kind of like tanks in general, large and bulky enough to take some punishment, but also definitely capable of being taken down with enough focus fire, compare it almost to the heavies against a tank, but instead it's tanks against a mech. I don't even know what kind of weapons it would use, but it's definitely a creative idea that could spruce up an aging battlefield.

Bad idea.

your giant megazord **** mech wouldn't take a new role, it would take roles away. The way you describe it the mech would completely outperform MBT's, and in extension all other vehicles. It would attract people who enjoy Mech's and farming, and completely kick any vehicle player in the teeth and cause them to leave. It would also mean that the game becomes stale. Why pull a Lightning or MBT if you will only get obliterated by a Mech?

There's only two types of Mech that have a place in PS2:

1. Somewhat different playstyle but same power as an MBT. The Mech walks so it could get infantry aiming (IE moving up a slope does not affect your aim), as a drawback it's slower than MBT's. It does not replace the MBT however due to having the same weapons, abilities and armor available. The Mech becomes a choice for a different playstyle MBT.
2. A mech that actually takes a role that isn't taken yet. My idea has always been a Heavy-MAX. Where the MAX is more infantry than vehicle, the H-MAX is more vehicle than infantry. It would still walk, run and shoot like infantry but you can exit the vehicle and run around. For weapons it could carry aircraft MG's. This gives it great AI power (even without the AI noseguns) and it can fulfill a walker-style AA role to boot.
   For armor, 1 C4 sets it to burning. 3 rocketstrikes destroys it. It's got Harasser armor and health vs small-arms. This makes the H-MAX require vehicle support to stay alive against enemy vehicles. At the same time it's a valuable vehicle to have with your tank column since it can protect you against infantry, C4 fairies and aircraft attacks. The H-MAX would have little problem entering most bases and unleashing hell, but it's not without risks.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18KJGk1eteTfrK5ehBXn9PocWGcilDxgZJh6ezf6wROw/edit?usp=sharing

this was my mech idea a while back, but got destroyed by everyone who complains they want more stuff but reject every suggestion thats thrown at them XD check it out if u want to

The biggest issue with 'Mechs is that we'd have to find a unique niche for them. Something that is beyond merely a tank with legs. Don't get me wrong, 'Mechs look badass and should be. But there has to be a reason for it.

So lets find one. I've reminded of the Walkers from Battlefield 2142. These vehicles didn't replace tanks as they provided an alternate means of moving around the battlefield. Not entirely quicker than other ground vehicles, but they did sport some surprisingly good agility. And this was needed as even though they were as armored as the MBTs their profile was larger.

With that said, we can emulate that in PS2.

So what is the movement profile? Bi-pedal movement allows for some decent speeds. Around 50kph on average. The benefit over treads is that such movement isn't slowed as much going uphill. Small barriers can simply be walked over, these barriers are NO higher than a soldier's height. Basically those tank barriers in bases and such (think Amp Stations) can be simply walked over.

In addition the agility of WASD walking. W moves forward in the direction the pilot is looking, S moves backward, while A and D move left and right like a strafing movement rather than turning left and right. The 'Mech can simply walk in any direction it wishes. Its movement is slow (around 25-35kph) at first with a sprinting movement of about 50-60kph.

As for size, imagine a Sunderer standing up on its rear end and thats about how tall and wide the 'Mech would be. A large target to be hit by AV rounds for sure. But a tricky target to hit due to its ability to side step and sprint.

Looking with the mouse rotates the torso and aims the arm mounted weapons. A dual basilisk-like cannon or a ES version of the Viper cannon (slightly toned down). On top of the 'Mech is a turret carrying typical Harasser/MBT type secondaries. In the rear of the 'Mech, but below the twisting torso is a rumbleseat that can mount non-MAX infantry. Engineer can repair from this seat but is as exposed as a Harasser and has reduced repair cabaility like the harasser.

Health and Armor is similar to a MBT's. With the legs counting as side armor. The back, just above where the engineer sits is vulnerable like the rear of a MBT. Tricky to hit as the torso can rotate 360deg. However... the underside, in the middle between the legs and under the torso is even more vulnerable (like the Walkers in 2142). Infantry with decimators there are VERY dangerous, as well as anyone crazy enough to get C4 to stick there. Infantry will have a hard time getting under these things.. so risk vs reward for those lucky enough to pull it off.

The idea is a sort of an amalgamation of a Harasser and MBT. At least in role. While not quick like the Harasser, it is very agile. While somewhat tough like a MBT, it is a larger profile. And just so it does replace a MBT, its role is more.. supplementary. Its main weapons are decent at firing at any target, but not specialized like a MBT or Harasser would be. While it could hold its own against a MBT in a Tank vs Mech fight, it comes down to the skill of both crews with the Tank with a AV loadout having a slight advantage, but not a forgone conclusion.

Seems very similar in role and capability to Lightnings. Well Lightnings are a little quicker over flat land. And of course are logistically easier to pull. They can be pulled from any terminal. "Mechs will be restricted to Warpgates, bases with Mech Hangars, and Techplants. In addition due to their general nature, they will cost a bit in Nanites.. 600.

So there you have it. A 'Mech that doesn't replace any existing vehicles, has its own niche, and doesn't wipe out vehicles or infantry with impunity. If you need some heavy armor that can avoid a bad situation, while supporting your other vehicles.. or just need something that can generally not be a bad choice as your solo support vehicle used in a small unit push. The 'Mech is your machine. While MBT's excel at killing Sunderers. Nothing would be better suited for Sunderer Defense. Just make sure its an ammo Sundy to keep yourself well stocked.

no

Sounds like just a bigger Max (they can climb hills and cover rough ground already can't they?).

I had exactly same concept (I opened thread with mechs a day ago or so). But I rather wanted it to be Light Assault-like vehicle. With some kind of Icarus jetpack so it can jump over some obstacles. Of course it should be too big to fit into buildings and generally slow overall (but capable of fighting in very rough terrain). Harasser-like armor seems right, and Harraser weaponry should be good too. I'm not entirely sure, but if you would give it two Harasser-like weapons it could be OP (Fury in left hand, Vulcan in right? or dual Fury? just holy shieet), but hey - they have test server, that's the place where such things should be tested before they will become official.



Hawken presents idea of agile, jumping mechs. Sure, they could be replaced by tanks, but looking at the terrain they are fighting it would be really hard to find something better than walking machine with capability of jumping and side stepping.

The top guns of these are just sitting in some bases I forget what there called, super long up/down pads that lead to different floors like the bottom is the loading/vehicle bay, top floor has turrets on each side with three aircraft terminals on one side, teleporters on either side. The turrets on one side overlook the landing pads.

Basically infil heaven until you shoot down everyones aircraft then they come looking for you.

Not saying i wouldn't enjoy mechs in this game but I don't think it would 'fit' in PS2, having not played PS1 you could chalk up my responses to 'snarky bullsh!t.'

Something like this?

Planetside 1 had BFRs (Battle Frame Robotics), the pic above is an updated to PS2 graphics version of the TR BFR from PS1.
But that is as far as they went, 'the community' as a whole doesnt like the idea and is scared like little children on haloween about a possible implementation because they were OP in PS1.
It used to be inside the large unused building north of howling pass checkpoint, but it was removed, presumably because it scared some players that much.

In case you didnt pick it up, i feel anyone who feared / fears BFRs is pathetic.

Having said that, i doubt they would fit into the game, the size of it would limit it from traversing under gate shields for example.

I agree. The small minority of the community that hates BFR is a neglible minority. It really is. Think about it. There wasn't enough of them to save PS1. They couldn't even get a red alert to spawn which is I believe over a hundred players in a fight. And then they act surprised that it was shutdown.

Well there's a few options here. Gate shields are pretty big actually. They could allow them to simply clip through like the Sunderer does under some of those low catwalks near Techplant SCUs. Or they could simply make the gates larger to accommodate them. Maybe even just block them. Making it so you need to go around or simply find another means of pulling another on the other side.

Just throwing this out but I feel this would be a indirect buff to TR, our MBT out-dps the others by a pretty hefty margin in lockdown we could essentially nuke them down from range with other factions tanks would have a tougher time fighting them.

With all that extra bulk I feel they'd be prime targets for the more mobile things in the game as well, esfs, libs, and harassers would laugh at the free certs.

Read my suggestion for the 'Mechs. Long range shots wouldn't be that effective. The two-shot mechanic would be the actual advantage if you put two rounds down, knowing they can't avoid both.

Though Vulcans will still be pretty scary.. if you're willing to get a Harasser that close.

Here's an old thread where people discussed how overpowered the BFRs were when they were first implemented in PS1:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=26784

They did eventually make the BFRs easier to kill (There were at least 7 patches with BFR nerfs), but a large portion of the population had already left the game.

Unless they want to emphasize how they want to be an underdog, everyone always says the other side is a minority.

As one of the afterlife players of PlanetSide Classic, I'm not surprised that it was shutdown either, given what state it was abandoned by SOE. What population did remain in 2014 was hastened out the door by hackers -- just a hacker, we believe -- soon after it was put into "no one minding the storefront" mode. It took a year before the people still stubbornly playing moved to develop an in-house methodology to attempt combat against the most ludicrous clientside bias that may have ever been coded but that's just a story of severe degradation. The damage was done long ago by then.

Regardless, I've never even seen the playable side of Core Combat. I only have secondary knowledge of opinions regarding battleframe robotics and what (players) felt it did to the game after being implemented. My complaints for this game are purely aesthetic and thematic, with a touch of the illogic behind large bipedal robotics in general. It's the problem with a lot of development in this game's history: instead of designing something into a cohesive narrative - the why something is the way it is - that something just gets dumped into the soup and you hope it mixes in somehow. The justification "giant mechas are cool" (or worded by the late Megas XLR as "we dig giant robots") is sleight of hand. It's not a purpose or a justification, it's an excuse. I don't believe we came here to collate a random lot of scifi elements "just because they sound cool together." That's the realm of series crossover fanfiction.

Mechs are an AMAZING idea.

The way to fix it from being a problem like PS1 is to make Mechs VERY VERY easy to kill.

If a mech dies in 3 or 4 infantry rockets then players will LOVE killing them if the reward is high enough. If the mech dies in 2 seconds if 20 soldiers all turn and fire their rifle at it. Players will LOVE killing them.

Then people can use the mechs as ambushers agains infantry and tanks. The only way to rack up TONS of kills in a mech is to be a great ambusher.

Thats exactly how the mechs are in Hawken at the fighting is pretty damn fun. It feels like the mechs die SUPER FAST if you focused.

Plus if you can just take a Harrasser and crash it into a mechs leg, destroying both the harrasser and the mech it would make it very easy to balance and allow the mechs firepower and gun load to be AMAZING.

Sure mechs crouching alont a mountain ridge and tearing up infantry would be annoying. But ANY mech left out in the open would get utterly destroyed. So it balances out. I assume mechs and air game would be pretty balanaced if you gave mechs enough guns to do very very nice burst, but also allowed the mech to die super fast. Then it would be a game of who sees who first. Even when it comes to Airgame Vs Mech.