[Suggestion] Is the Striker underpowered?

Discussion in 'Heavy Assault' started by Mathgeekjoe, Mar 20, 2014.

  1. Mathgeekjoe

    The Striker is under powered because the of the time it takes to deal damage and reload. I know that if all 5 rounds hit, it will do 67% more damage than other lock on rockets but the wait from locking on, shooting 5 rounds, and having to wait until all 5 hit is a very long time and most other rocket would have reloaded by then. Also the fact that if you lose lock, all rockets in route will self destruct. I understand the "needs to be different from the Annihilator" argument but that doesn't mean nerf the striker to uselessness.

    My suggestion goal is to make the Striker its own unique weapon, give it a teamwork effectiveness, and make it more reliable than the rocket we have now.
    • greatly increase projectile speed of striker to 250 meters per second or higher
    • have rate of fire depends on distance of lock, faster for close range, slower at long range
    • give a slightly fast lock on time

    The current striker you typical ether get all 5 to hit or none at all. This suggestion will make rounds fired almost guarantied to hit while making you still wait for all five to hit. Making it a lot more reliable. So if you just got shot 3 rockets but need to retreat before you fire the fourth, you will get 3 hits instead of having all 5 being in the air and self-destruct.

    The suggested rate of fire and projectile speed will make it unique instead of being a 5 round annihilator.

    The current striker shoots 5 rounds in rapid secession that take a long while to hit target. This prevents teamwork. An example of this lack of teamwork follows: Lets say you have 7 or so heavies with strikers, if they all lock on to the same ESF only 2 or 3 heavies will get hits on it, the rest will be waiting for their rockets to hit making no difference in time to kill and will be wasting rockets. Same problem happens with tanks and libs, except this time only 4 to 5 heavies get hits at and the rest waste rounds having no effect. Time to kill in both scenarios will be depended on travel time. This suggestion will allow the 7 or so heavies to each get a hit on the ESF, only needing to use one round each to take it down. Or in the anti lib/tank example allow lets say squad of heavies to use two shots each to kill a lib or tank. The suggestion time to kill will depend on people working together.

    What do you think about this idea. Is it to much, not enough, bad idea, or a good idea?
    Please give feedback and your own suggestions.
  2. bonkfire

    The problem with buffing the striker is without buffing the other two rockets for NC and VS. And i don't want to start a flame war but. TR got annihilator 2.0. NC got a very specialized version of the decimator (YOU CAN SHOOT IT DOWN). Only the VS seems to have gotten something new and unique (gameplay wise). Also the striker is quite good its just Libs have a lot of health and ESF's pop a flare and fly behind a mountain the moment they get locked.
  3. LordMatt XLVIII

    I think they should change the striker to be like the coyote. Maybe reduce the damage a little in exchange.

    This'll solve the problems people have with this weapon, on both sides of the argument. The weapon will actually have mechanics beyond just "Point at the thing". It'll be a lot more fun to use. It'll be able to dumbfire similarily to the other ESL's. It will no longer create a large area of denial that so many people always ***** about.

    Also, it'll be awesome.
  4. bonkfire

    The only problem is that leaves nc with the short end of the stick. Honestly though if you couldn't shoot the phoenix rocket down
    it would make it a lot more friendly without actually making it any more powerful. Cuase lets be honest:

    Its bright Blue
    Cant turn enough to follow anything faster then a MBT *Actually most Mag riders can dodge it easy.
    And has a short enough range that most of the time a dumbfired decimator is just as useful

    Basically its for killing sunderers deployed behind cover and tr maxes that have locked down.
  5. MajiinBuu

    You lost me at "67% more damage is underpowered"
  6. bonkfire

    *No sarcasm, Who are you responding to?
  7. Mathgeekjoe

    He is responding to the main post. Where I said the strike does 67% more damage than other lock on rockets when all 5 rockets hit. I don't think he has ever used the striker to know how weak it is. I thought I explained why the extra damage didn't make it stronger but he said he lost me at the 67% more damage so I don't think he read the rest. 3 Striker rockets do the damage of a single lock on rocket so 5 would be 67% more damage. The reason why the striker is underpowered is because of the time it takes to fire the 5 rockets and then wait for them to hit target or otherwise all five missiles will self destruct once you lose lock. While this does make it different from the annihilator it also makes it weaker than the annihilator. The other lock on rockets could reload and fire before the striker will get its 5 hits at range. A second rocket is 100% more damage making the striker's 67% more damage weak. No to mention all of the things that can go wrong while you are aiming down sights that whole time.
    My suggestion is not to buff the striker but more like a change in mechanics. The current damage the strike does over time is : lock on 2 seconds, 0.6 seconds to fire 5 rockets, then (distance of target divided by 100) seconds, plus reload, and repeat. Damage occurs (distances of target divided by 100) seconds after each rocket is fired.
    Lock on rocket's damage over time is (lock on 2 seconds), 0 seconds to fire, reload, and repeat.
    My suggestion: lock on 2 seconds, (distance of target divided by 500) seconds to fire each rocket after the first one (over all time at 300 meters to fire 5 rockets is 2.4 seconds), reload and repeat. Damage occurs (target distance divided by 250) seconds after each rocket is fired.
    If you think this is too powerful then you could always increase the time between rockets to make it weaker. Overall this suggestion in striker mechanics is also easier to buff or nerf depending on what is needed.
  8. Hiding in VR

    All Lock-ons are in a bad place right now, with this strange bug of the rocket firing directly from your rib cage rather than from your launcher. But having said that, the Striker is only usable where you can stand in the open without fear of reprisal for 7+ seconds. Does that situation actually exist in game? I doubt.

    The current version of the Striker definitely needs a change. The time necessary to maintain the lock with the current configuration is suicide IMO. The original concept is okay but to make it workable, the overall lockon time needs to be massively reduced. With other Lock-ons, once I have fired the rocket, I duck and cover. So why would I be tempted to use a Launcher that requires I maintain the lock? Certainly not the unachievable extra 675 damage.

    If the lock for the first missile was near instant and time to hit target was much much quicker than the other lock-ons, then I would be tempted. Obviously the time required to get all 5 rockets to hit should be longer than the others and the times you actually get all 5 to hit should be rare. In game this would mean TR using the Striker would be rapidly doing 335 points of damage to vehicles. Which would be very annoying as a pilot and may be too dangerous when used by an organised group.

    So if that is not acceptable, then the concept needs to be scrapped and replaced with something else.
  9. OldMaster80

    The reason why it's like that is it was spammed: 3+ strikers were a no-pass zone for everyone.
  10. DevDevBooday

    ..... I die to Phoenix rocket launcher more than any other launcher. If I am in a tank i get pelted by Phoenix rockets, I hide, STILL getting hit, die because there is nothing more I can do.

    On a mana turret? OHK
    hiding behind a turret repairing it? HIT.

    Phoenix is the most versatile and useful rocket launcher in the game, If anything the VS got the short end of the stick because since you are practically guaranteed to hit they have jack all damage.

    Striker as it is, is just a longer to kill Annhilator with software issues (maintain lock)

    Striker isnt UP its just weaker than the NS version which fulfills the EXACT SAME ROLE but BETTER.

    heh, Phoenix needing a buff too, dear lord.
  11. Nerazim


    Out of interest, how much damage can these rockets take?

    I've hit them with my Prowler HEAT shells on several occasions and it has not stopped the projectile from hitting me.

    I'm not complaining, I was only shooting them for fun. Just feels to me like they are unlikely to be shot down.

    ____

    As for the Striker, I prefer the Grounder for killing aircraft (~45% easy damage to an ESF beats ~65% with less range and more chance of evasion) and it's borderline suicidal to try and use it against tanks most of the time. I find it's a great cannon to use in a huge fight where the chances of vehicles/snipers picking you out of the crowd is low.

    I do enjoy it from time to time. I have three friends IRL who have them too and if we get together with them it's good fun. Although we'd get the same job done with Annihilators, with less hassle. Only reason to use it over the Annihilator is style points.

    pew pew pew pew pew

    I'd like to see a small projectile increase to give people a harder time dodging at least some of them, or removal of the maintained lock.

    Perhaps a slight projectile speed increase whilst lock is maintained, and then a noticeable drop in speed when the lock is no longer maintained. Against aircraft it would still be required to maintain the lock for the majority of the flight time or they'll be able to escape, and against vehicles you can maintain the lock for as long as you dare, but if you do have to duck for cover, your slow rockets might still hit. Also, using this method, if you trip over a pebble it's not a total waste of ammo.
  12. bonkfire

    As far as i know tank shells cant his phoenix rockets but one hit from any bullet will cause them to spin one 180 and go the other way.
  13. Shadowomega

    After doing some test with the Striker, best option would be to change the Missiles once the lock is lost to keep going forward, instead of strait up into the air, and explode. Thus giving the option to lock onto a new target.
  14. R4GING

    if I can change the ESRLs,
    I would make the Striker a one-click-fire-entire-clip dumb-fire rocket launcher that is inaccurate (due to the 5-shot burst fire mode) but works like Coyotes (locks-on to nearby enemy vehicles) - this way, the Striker can also be used against non-vehicle targets.
    this change would make both the Phoenix and the Striker the better rocket launcher options for dealing with nearby targets while still being able to do some damage to distant targets.
    not sure about the Lancer, pretty sure it already has damage drop off making it less effective at range.
  15. lawn gnome

    from the perspective of a strictly vanu player, i kind of like the suggestions in the OP as i understand them. it would make the striker a useful weapon at long range without it being the ruthless murder machine it was before.

    also could we find a way to make the lancer slightly useful pls. (i feel compelled to make a statement about the lancer in any post that it is even mildly related to) allowing us to hold a charge indefinitely would be a good step (last i checked it auto fired after about 3 to 5 seconds).
  16. Mathgeekjoe

    In what world does the Lancer not hit hard. When charge up it does the damage of a lock on rocket. That's like have two lock on rockets per mag that don't need lock on warning. You can 4 shot any tank in the rear, and that is only two magazines. The Lancer is the strongest rocket. If you have high accuracy, it is even better than lock on air, against air targets.
  17. Paulus

    Striker is weak by itself, but if you get 4 or more guys on a hillside, that ESF is doomed. If you're looking for a 1shot kill or farm mode rocket launcher, you want the Decimator. Lure the ESF in with small arms fire so they try and hover-spam you, then shove the rocket in their face.
  18. CNR4806

    Beamer is weak by itself. But if you get a dozen guys shooting non-stop from all angles, that MAX is doomed.

    The Striker in its current state is underpowered. However, fixing it is more than just buffing it. With the current mechanism (lockon), the Striker is doomed to be a straight downgrade or upgrade from the Annihilator.
  19. starlinvf

    Ironically, this was how it worked in early Planetside 1, and was eventually changed because people would pre-fire them and then have them lock on the target at the last second. The lack of warning, and high alpha this method enabled gave the target no time to react. Throw in the counter measures added in Planetside 2, and it becomes an even bigger mess to Analyze and balance properly.
  20. lawn gnome

    two lock on rockets that are dumbfire, charge up, loses damage over range, and that auto fires after being charged for 3 to 5 seconds. how many times have you died to a lancer? i know i rarely see any on the field playing as a vanu and would never trade a real rocket launcher for that piece of crap.

    i was genuinely shocked the other day when a TR yelled in chat that he died to a lancer, and apparently he thought it was a significant enough event to warrant telling everyone.

    and each of those charge shots takes as long or longer than just reloading single shot rocket launchers ON TOP OF the real reloads that happen after the clip is empty.

    i am simply asking to be able to hold a charge until we release the trigger instead of autofiring after some arbitrary time limit.

    and this is the last post i will make for the lancer here since i don't want to derail a thread that has good ideas.