I think all of the thoughts, and opinions for the rifle, are pretty right on. Other ideas about some sort of anti-vehicle (whatever) are great too. It seems like the class can do/be so much more, without falling into the "OP" category. I think many of us would like to see some of these suggestions put to use (hopefully SOE is listening)
Since you're sniping large vehicles, maybe you can just get an inaccurate sniper rifle unsuitable for hitting infantry unless you're close enough where HS are really easy anyways or make it so that it will have permanent scope sway or some other thingies. anti materiel rifles are super heavy.
If something like this (long range AV rifle) would to be implemented, which i very much doubt, it would have to have some serious drawbacks. I didn't read every post in this thread, so maybe some of these may have been mentioned already, and tbh i just wanted something to do while waiting for my dinner to be ready So here is something that i was thinking: 1. Deployment, meaning that the inf would have to set up shop in the location he/she has chosen. This would probably mean going prone and setting somekind of bipod or similar, this would take a second or two, and make you immobile. 2. Limited cone/line of fire, since the range is the thing (supposedly) is quite long, something like 10-15 degree horizontal movement would be fair. Plus since you're prone, dragging your crotch on the rocks doesn't feel that good. (unless you're into that kind of thing) 3. No cloaking, the discharge of the weapon would produce large amount of heat/radiation, disrupting the cloaking generator (or make up some other sciency explanation if you need one to justify this ) 4.Slow RoF, 1 bullet in the chamber kind of thing, meaning having to reload after every shot, similar reload speed as the rocket launchers i recon would be ok. 5.Heavy weapon/ordnance, meaning you only get to carry your knife and maybe a pistol with limited ammo if you have this as your primary. As to damage, i don't know if you should be able to kill a MBT with the ammo you are carrying, maybe if you get to shoot one in the ***, but it should be high enough to cause some reaction, i'm guessing them shooting you in the face with a tank shell would be the one you could expect. That's my 2cents concerning the matter, personally i'd be fine with an EMP dart gun, that would disable a vehicle long enough for me to tuck my tail between my legs, and head for the nearest corner/tree/rock or whatever.
without reading the whole thread ... the best way to balance it is via speed and damage factor: - bullet speed (rough guess: 300-400 ?) - AP damage factor 1.5 (Body shots can't kill infantry. Head shots difficult to achieve due to low bullet speed.) farther possible stats: - rounds ~ 3 (= magazines, similar to rocket luncher, can be increased via ammo belt) - reload slower compared to rocket luncher - COF hip > 3
I didn't read through all the posts in detail but I don't think that anyone mentioned using infantry resource points as the balance point. Yeah make it OP with a one hit infantry kill, even to the chest, and have it do damage to vehicles but make it so you have to use resource points to "buy" the ammo (50 points per bullet. that's 15 bullets max you can buy at a time and have a supply cap of say 60 and can pull out 20 bullets at a time. Might make it easier to treat it as a single consumable instead of 5 shot magazines). Specifics on the rifle can be whatever (1shot/19pool/long reload/no bullet drop/vapor trails/HE round-kidding/etc., etc.) but limiting the ammo may be enough to balance out the super high damage. This will: 1. make it so it wouldn't be used all the time as you have limited resources (kind of adds to the use of being a subscriber/buying boosts since you get gains on resources). 2. make them not have "unlimited ammo" in the field when an engineer is around, they have to run back to the Sunderer/terminal to resupply. I can see outfit doing an anti-material sniper army but don't think it'd last terrible long because of the resource drain. And I don't see trying to waste bullets on infantry unless I had to. tl;dr: Use resources to balance the OP-ness of a high damage sniper rifle, via ammo purchasing.
When I originally posted this idea, I thought about the role as being a "strong" idea for Infiltrators. Now, with the introduction of the pump shotty (one hit kill, thanks for playing!), AV turrets, and the NC's Phoenix Missle (camera guided, which means you don't need LOS, thanks for playing!), the idea of being stationary is a little scarey....with the least amount of health/shields......the term "glass cannon" comes to mind. AV Turrets - stationary, free resources, but reload time Phoenix Missle - limited (but free) resources, no LOS needed, and reload time Anti-material Rifle - costs resources for specific ammo type, stationary, reload time (and this would be OP?)
Iv'e also thought about this seeing how its a real gun, but I also had and Idea for vehicle weak spots basically spots that any vehicle can take damage from, even infantry weapons, but these spots would be very tiny and would require you to be very close to the vehicle, or have a high powered scope, making the sniper rifle useful against vehicles. It would take about 10-15 shots from a bolt action to destroy it. This will make tanks drives and even slow hovering aircraft think again about standing still. It's not over powered seeing how if they don't want to get shot they can just strafe a little to throw off the shot; but they compromise their aim a little because that pesky infiltrator.
In my opinion all that is needed, is to have vehicle windows actually be destructable so that the driver/pilot can be shot while operating it.
As much as I'd like to see this weapon type in the game (check my posts at pages... 2 and on, I think? they have pictures). The current state of how much AV is in the game makes me honestly believe that this idea should be shelved for the time being. Not burying this idea, just saying that we don't need another AV weapon right now. And with the current feelings about OHK weapons (shotguns) this weapon would not go over well at all with the rest of the community.
Would this allow me to kill the AV turrets that spring up on cliffs like mushrooms? Currently they seem to have an "invisible shield" and it seems night impossible to get a hit if the turret has an elevation advantage. I'd happily pay 700SC for the ability to "hard counter" a weapon with no real counter (I kill dozens of vehicles, turrets, etc and make 100+ certs/hr using an AV turret and I think I've died once to tank fire all weekend).... makes me feel kinda dirty Might also help make Planetside less overwhelmingly infantry-centric like it is now...
Kaisuke7 - I believe there are already sort of "softer" spots on vehicles. I think the TR Prowler has it's gas tank exposed in the rear, and if you drop pod on to a Liberator, you can kill it if you aim at the cockpit (otherwise, if you hit the body of the Lib you just damage it a lot, and die). Makora - I have to agree with you a little bit on this one. TONS of AV type weapons to choose and play with in the game, it's sort of over the top. However, the fact remains that the Infiltrator class is STILL the only class that can't damage heavy armor in any way. As to OSK...resource cost would limit this. The pump shotty has unlimited shots Evil Monkey - and basically the AV turret has infinite ammo to boot (just a reload time). Yes it's stationary, yes it makes you a target for tanks/planes/rockets/etc, but you have the ability to blow up the same exact things. So...going back to my original post....stationary (target for multiple things), long reload time, resource cost for the special ammo (which means it would be more limited use)....do people still think the idea is OP?
I think that being able to head shot drivers/gunners would be cool and would allow the infiltrator to keep it's own flavour, rather than just "Here, have a rocket launcher with a sniper scope!" That said, something similar to the TF2 spy's *sapper* would be cool as well.
I would really love to see some way for an infiltrator to deal with vehicles. I recently posted a similar "AV rifle" idea in the roadmap thread for infiltrators. I spend lots of time flanking enemy positions. All that time behind enemy lines has shown me that infiltrators tend to be free xp for vehicles. I would feel a lot better if I had some way to discourage tanks from hunting me down for a free kill. I'm very interested in an AV rifle and really like some of the ideas posted in this thread. One thing I am positive of: I wouldn't consider touching an AV rifle if there were a setup requirement or an ammo cost. There are too many other types of AV weapons without these kinds of drawbacks to justify them on this rifle.
Sorry for the double post, but I just had a super interesting idea: make the rifle OP. Have it one shot vehicles of any kind. Only has a 10 bullet magazine with longer chamber times between shots. No backup ammo carried. Must be crouched to scope/use. Weapon would be part of a new "veterans initiative" for planetside 2. These would be special weapons available to only the most dedicated users of each class (so each class would have a unique weapon). Requirement for use of the weapon would be an auraxium medal on all bolt action rifles (4 atm I think) and 2000 certs to purchase. Weapon would not be available via station cash.I think this would really narrow down the number of players using the weapon. Still OP, but very controlled...
