[Suggestion] Infantry gameplay is being killed off

I agree to all those points.
Just make vehicles much more expensive so they are worth to protect.
A tank for example should move with the infantry together to support the infantry and being protected by the infantry.
Instead we have tank zergs that just overrun the whole map. Every spawn is being camped by a Lib that just farms certs in a very cheap way. This ruins the game and scares away players.
I play mostly Vanu, I like the mag but I still would second to double the price of heavy tanks. If I would want to I could play 24/7 in a mag becouse 250 is really cheap. Only problems with ressources I had was when other faction is holding 90% of map. As soon as we have about 1/4 of the map you can use your tanks and your planes forever. I also agree that a sundi should be a bit cheaper and it should have some AA weapon so it can defend vs Libs.
At the moment a sundi is just a lib farm and if the lib gunner has a brain he will not kill the sundi as long as infantry respawns. He will just use his safe position and kill the infantry before they can spawn AA MAXes.
I also do not understand why it is not possible to spawn directly as a MAX? This could also help a bit!

Small arms cant do anything to Air as a rule. An never should. As far as infantry battle goes, its very much alive an well. I had over 300 kills today against infantry with using ***** bike tactics

Well, obviously to play mobile target for for people that drive/pilot vehicles.

Jokes aside, I expected PS2 to be combined arms, but futuristic combined arms. But that's not the case. Jetpacks, infiltrator's cloak, MAX suits and some minor details excluding, this is post-WW2 style of warfare. 1950-60 technology with fancy models and colorful textures. And with reduced effectiveness compared to their real-life counterparts to further promote vehicle zerg.

Seems realistic to me, doesn't air dominate in real-life too?

If your being camped in a spawn point, you should redeploy and go somewhere else, they've won that area.

And that´s good we don´t want them here we are planetside players!

PS1 cloaked AMS, PS1 mines, PS1 spitfires, PS1 motion detectors.

And then you get ground based AA systems in place that actually do their jobs properly and Air requires ground support to operate in the area. Sure you've got some exceptions, but hey, I'm betting you've never heard of the Wild Weasels and their rather unique way of taking out missile based AA. Here's an idea, where are our AA trucks? I don't mean the Skyguard. I mean dedicated AA Missile trucks with advanced radar and multiple shots per volley. Make it an expensive pull and let's truly clear the skies for once.

That said, it's kind of sad that the ZSU from years and years and years ago is a more effective weapon than the Skyguard supposedly from the future.

I'm a dedicated tank hunter. But, if I get caught and die and there's no secondary spawn point? I might as well find something else to do while they watch the ONE spawn point with an HE weapon. There's a few things wrong in this game and vehicles being so easy to pull is probably one of them. Tanks and air in particular are just easier and more rewarding than AA. Oh and yes, I regularly do the AA thing. I tend to die a lot for little to no gain other than helping my team. Sure that's a nice feeling, but being able to upgrade a different damn gun would be nice too.

Admittedly it's been a few years since I served (US Marines during Desert Shield/Storm), but there was never that high a ratio of armor/air to infantry. In Mogadishu we had Blackhawks taken out of the sky by civilians with dumbfire RPGs. The idea that it would take 8 stingers to bring down anything in the air that's not a fast mover is laughable.

Wow. You must be really terrible at the whole fps thing to write three such posts in a row.

This game is being marketed as an FPS. It's not being marketed as a tank or aircraft simulator. Consequently, the focus should be on infantry fights.

Also, your "combined arms" argument doesn't work as long as this game is not a combined arms game at all. In its current state this game's focus is skewed heavily towards vehicles, and aircraft in particular.

Maybe you should stop whining about how infantry killing you in a tank or a bomber would be imbalanced and learn how to play as a ground pounder instead.

IMO, people are leaving infantry combat because infantry combat is so much easier to hack. Quite a few PS2 players are advanced FPS players who can recognize hacking. It sucks to watch your squad of 8 get gunned down by one guy with cheesy rifle + hack. if you see this enough times, you give up on the game feature that focuses on hacking. Fix it or watch these experienced players jump ship once they get bored of driving tanks.

ok so we whould be using guided everything. In the year 2500.... we would all be sitting at home watching our drones fight.
Eitherway... still doesnt answer the question if you like infantry only fights, why did you join a combined arms game?

False dichotomy is false. There's a lot of room between complete air superiority and true "combined arms". If you and the devs think infantry should just be fodder for air vehicles then why not just make them AI and remove them as a playable altogether?

I feel like, if you as a player or group or players decide that you are going to choose one method of fighting (infantry) and not be flexible enough to shift towards what is needed at the time, then you had better coordinate with other groups to cover you in that missing aspect of attack/defense. Hoping for any group of only infantry, air or ground armor to defeat an opposing group that utilizes all 3 forms of combat is ridiculous.

I'm not arguing with any of your points though, OP. But, i do wonder if the solution to the original problem was to simply have some fighters back you up and the problem is solved. Perhaps that is just a tactical victory and my favorite form of combat (air) isn't actually a problem, but coordination is in fact the key. Unless you have a zerg coming at you, it really doesn't take all that much to scare away air, it just comes down to whether or not you have the numbers to scare away ALL of the air for some period of time.

As some people have already said in the thread, removing splash damage from Dalton/Rocket pods will fix the unbalanced air in the game. Sure they are very effective weapons in their respected role, but that is where it should have stayed. Look at MBT for example; they have AP, HE and HEAT as a choice of side grade. The Dalton/Rocket pods are simply upgrades that do all those kinds of damage with no thought for target acquisition.

Main facilities could also do with going back to how they where in early Beta too. Where the outer lying buildings (towers, Depot etc.) influenced as capture points to take the facility. Now I know some of you may argue that this draws the fight away from the main facility, but I will like to add that they only contribute to a low capture timer. For example lets take the Tech plants; the 3 outer bases have a 1/1 capture timer, where the main building capture timer is 6/6. That means that the surrounding buildings if all taken can only influence the capture by 50%. This brings incentive for players in the defence of the base, where to stop any capture timer they must break out into the surroundings and retake the buildings. The same can apply to the attackers, where if they lost one or all the bases they will have to revert to retake them to further influence the capture. This not only opens up the entire region, but also creates various fights for infantry and vehicles. Where as the game currently stands, once you lose your SCU and the main building capture point, you’re done and finished.

I'm sure there are many better ideas out there, but this thought occurs to me every time I find myself in a fight to attack or defend the main facilities.

Because I assumed that combined arms means that infantry would have a fighting chance too. Currently it doesn't have it - and not because PS2 vehicles are so awesome, no. It because AT and AA weapons are designed to be grossly ineffective. I don't expect situations like in real life, where lonely grunt can 1-shot a tank with Javelin launcher. It's a video game, so let's be reasonable.

But what we have now, it is a situation where tanks can farm infantry from afar without any threat of retaliation, because AT weapons are too slow (both in RoF and projectile speed) and do too little damage. Air is somewhat contained only due to render issues, so AA Maxes can actually "deter" libs and sometimes even kill ESFs.

Well, I'd like to have some chances against a mixed platoon of air and ground vehicles with an infantry-only squad, but only if we are defending a facility. Vehicles should be able clear the area around bases and some accessible areas inside, but not destroy everything walking outside a spawn room.

I like the combined arms aspect, but like what has been stated in this thread the balance is skewed. Infantry spend far more time concentrating on vehicles then infantry vs infantry combat.
I'd love that in the midst of infantry combat several tanks rolled up and became priority targets because of the ability to sway the battle in favor of one side or the other, but as it is now, tanks and planes ARE the battles. They aren't priority targets, they are by far your most common target.

Vehicles are far too cheap for how effective they are. They have the greatest range, the most effective health and the greatest offense. When driving a tank it's as if you are a sniper that has 10x more health and shoots explosive rounds, and for Liberators just add in the ability to fly.
I don't mind vehicles being powerful, I actually like that, but they are used in such large numbers that the only way to beat them and to not die instantly is to join them, which is what a lot of people have done.

Not to mention EXPLOSIONS EXPLOSIONS EXPLOSIONS everywhere!

Welcome to the modern battlefield. Its how it should be.

Nah i'd say BF3 is more realistic. What happens when aircraft get near a C-RAM or an IGLA on there? They usually die.

Infantry vs infantry requires far more skill. Aiming, fire rate to reduce recoil and bloom, quick reflexes because you are dead in 2 seconds. Vehicles on the other hand don't have to aim as effectively since they for the most part shoot explosive rounds, some vehicle weapons have no recoil and bloom isn't much of an issue due to explosiveness. They also have the ability to retreat from combat and repair. Yet even after all this vehicles are rewarded full xp per infantry kill.

Make it a tactical choice to use vehicles, not economical. Give vehicles something like 10 xp per infantry kill. This would bring vehicles in line with AA where it's a necessity in certain situations, not an obvious choice in all situations.