Is this an early April Fool's joke? Orbital strike obliterates entire base in one shot?

From this link: https://www.planetside2.com/news/ps2-orbital-strike-implants-march-2017

Am I just misinterpreting what's happening in the gif? It looks like it has been decimated with one shot. Or did it just wipe out all the shields and make it look burnt?

Obviously an OSOK for PMB's won't help construction..... :/ I've spent well over $30 plus countless thousands of cert points unlocking all the construction items. And now, anyone with $15 or 2000 cp can just wipe out a base with one click of the mouse? /omg /triple-facepalm /wallet-vacuum

May as well give ESF's the ability to drop nukes on lattice bases and legalize aim bots.

Somebody please tell me what I'm missing and why this is not a bad thing for construction.

I saw the same clip. This game is beyond repair. Nerf Hornets and thermals to nothingness, then introduce an orbital strike that wrecks cumulative hours of effort with a single click..... Add in a blatantly pay to win implant system..... Does anyone think a new player would see this game and want to stick around? Would anyone here actually recommend that a friend spend money on this game? Why the **** is there a PTS if they don't learn anything from it or take any feedback? There's no saving PS2 with the choices the devs are making. OK, back to Arma 3.

Well, if you're just gonna let the enemy build a base within OS range of your base and leave it there for half an hour...

As Thardus said, it takes 40 min to charge an orbital strike. This is a great equalizer. A PMB could just sit there and beat 4 to 1 odds, and all it took was put in some time. "But that's OK, because it took a long time to build the PMB!"
Well, it's going to take a long time to build the Orbital Strike PMB, and then the defenders of the other PMB will have to do something horrible... They have to get out. They have to assault the Orbital Strike PMB.
And you know what? If you had actually any smarts at all, you would just build your own Orbital Strike in your own base and whenever someone builds an Orbital Strike nearby you, you blow that thing up in one blow. But ofcourse you aren't going to think about that! No! You are just going to complain! "Now someone can blow me up in one go!". Yeah but it takes 40 minutes charge time+PMB construction time and the complete inaction of the defenders to do it!

For what its worth, this is a live test.

It should be noted that the skyshield was one that we added, and so it took reduced team damage, but did re-light shortly after. so I can't confirm or deny the OS's impact on skyshields.

It did one shot the silo and most of the base structures.

Well we'll see how this plays out. The thing the devs have to keep in mind is that this game still has, and will likely forever have, serious population issues. It was built for, IIRC, upwards of 6000 players per server, 2000 per continent, and it has never played right with a fraction of that. It has always played like a 3 legged dog with an inner ear infection.

The reality is, even in prime time, PMB's tend to be very low action most of the time, and builders end up abandoning them. Many bases are solo builds or just 2 or 3 players building them. For a small team of builders to have to tend to building, and at the same time, assault an OSU, will likely be too much to handle.

Now since these things are apparently visible (right away?) on the map to the whole faction, then maybe.....maybe that will be enough to entice players to assault it and thereby protect the HIVE bases.

But if it's not, then I guarantee you what you will see, starting with me, is people walking away from construction, and maybe even walking away from the game, for those whom construction is a major plank.

The thing is, for all of the talk of teamwork and outfits, you can't make anyone work construction, whether it's building or defending or attacking. Construction is still a mini game within the larger game, and now, massive amounts of hard work can be destroyed with just a click.

It would be far, far better, IMO, to implement an orbital strike system like BF 2142 had, which was basically an orbital artillery barrage, with heavy damage within a bout a 10m radius and dropping off out to about 30-40m or so, and then let them fire the gun more often.

That way, builders have a chance to repair the damage, and it's not essentially a nuke going off.

The bottom line is, this thing stands to be a construction killer, and by that I mean, killing that component of the game and eliminating that reason to play, as well as pay. I hope the devs are going to listen to feedback on this very, very closely, because I didn't spend all the money and certs I have, expecting to have a sqaud or zerg assault the base, only to have it nuked from someplace that's not even in line of sight.

With all of the work that the devs put into construction, I cannot fathom that they have designed the OSU to be this devastating. As a soon as a squad's hard earned base goes kaput in one shot, I can only imagine the complaints coming in off of that, and people throwing up their hands and saying, "what's the point".

So you say, "assault the OSU". Well, I say, how about "assaulting the base with a squad or zerg?". A large scale assault, or even a smaller one, is the way it's supposed to be done, not an orbital OSOK. Where is the battle in an OSOK?

Let's see. The builders of a base, which is designed to be defended from the INSIDE, and designed by concept to be attacked from the outside by an UP CLOSE, line of sight assault of 10-100 players, now have to leave the base and go assault another 'base' in the field that has an OSOK.

Yeah, gee....why didn't I think of that? Are you actually serious? That's a total 180 of the construction concept. Builders are supposed to defend against a front lines assault, not go on the offensive against an orbital unit!

Hey, here's an idea. If we don't build any bases at all, and just play lattice, then we won't have to waste time assaulting the OSU's. /sarc

Right, why didn't I think, "hey, we can just play OSU vs. OSU, and at the end of the battle, we'll get to see a giant explosion. Wow!"

I can't even believe you intended that as a serious comment. Of course, yes, I'm "just complaining". Anyone who dares to question the almighty devs and fanboy club are nothing more than complainers. I mean, what could be more natural and expected than a gigantic OSOK'er.

Look, if this thing "works out in the end", then so be it, and I will be happy to be happy, but adding an OSOK weapon into the game is just an unbelievably bad idea.

So a massive 40 meter total blast radius around the 10 meters, or do you mean 3-40 meters of bloody range?

Builders repairing damage from a should-be-base-killer.
Builders, as in a hand full, can repair damages from a dozen tanks, and keep them firing for hours, add in automations, such as AI, Repair and Alarm, that can literally warn the builders, defend the base, and repair the base without interaction... and it's a one-side grind fest.

Now to use an Orbital Strike, you need cortium.
You need to fuel the damn thing, and defend it for the entire charge period.
Then get the designator to the target area, survive long enough for the shot, and not have the enemy kill the guy, the Orbital Strike weapon, or the ANTs in fueling it for a grand period of time.

And after all of that, you want the base to basically be able to auto-repair all that damage from that Orbital Strike.
So that Your Base, can best a base designed around firing a weapon at it to destroy it.

I'm sorry you can't build a base that takes hours to die, without even being there now that a Construction exists that could destroy it after nearly an hour of work, with advanced notice of said weapon's existence, and the need to have a person designate said base isn't countered by a Module you placed at said base.

You take an entire platoon's work, to simply break your base, and you can undo it in a minute of repairs.
And you're annoyed a squad of equal size could possibly break your base, with the same amount of effort?
Both sides, have to build.
The first gets to pick the location, and can literally **** block that Cannon from working in a matter of minutes.
If not, then that Cannon base literally spent equal or more time than Your damn base, just to fire at it!


Summary:

Your little base can literally kill the time of anyone that attacks it, and kill them literally without you being there.
It can self repair.
It can even warn you ahead of time.
It takes more people than builders just to scratch the crap.
Your little base also can lock off the entire damn map.
And it pisses you off, that a base builder can blow up your base by putting in the time?



Edit: The number of typos I have had. Dear lord.

You've made a number of assumptions about my position. I will clarify....and some things may surprise you.

In BF 2142, it tapered off, but for this game and the concept, it would be appropriate, IMO, to have it be equal damage across the entire AoE. I just would like it toned down so it's not an OSOK and can be survived if enough players are there.

Should be? That's a matter of preference. It doesn't have to be.

First off, with or without automation, PMB's were never supposed to be easy targets. If they were, what would be the point of building them. They're not supposed to be any easier than a regular base. I get the feeling that some players think they should be able to steam roll any PMB in 10 minutes or less.

As for the length of time it takes....I've played all sizes of bases and all quality. Virtually every base I've helped defend has fallen. And those times where I left early, it was clear what direction it was headed. In my experience, it's rare that a serious attack does not succeed. Do the huge bases with a hundred defenders take a lot of time? Of course, why wouldn't they?

Any time I hear these arguments, I believe the bulk of the attackers are players who just don't care for construction that much, and want a fairly easy kill so they can 'get back to the real game'. Having said that, I have agreed with some of the complaints that they have had. I actually have agreed that attackers need more options, and I am not opposed to an orbital strike. I simply have great concerns about an OSOK orbital strike.

You know what I think the OSOK aspect of this is all about? I think it's the big explosion at the end. The grand finale. They're hoping for a duel between the PMB and the OSU base, or and OSU duel, and then at the end of it all, a giant, vid cap worthy explosion.

And hey, as I said, if I just end up being flat out wrong in how the meta works out on this, then I'm fine with it. I want things to work out. I just suspect that an OSOK base weapon is a very risky gamble.

All sounds great on paper.

There's an assumption here about what exactly I want so I'll clarify. There's any number of ways the OSU strike could damage the base. For example, it could do 50% damage to walls and structures, 75% damage to turrets, and 100% damage to modules and vehicles and personnel. That's just one example to demonstrate the concept. On the extreme end it could do 99% damage to everything, setting everything on fire with only one minute to run around and put out the fires, but all on site personnel are dead, requiring a standby gal drop or something to save the base, and even then, a few tanks, decimators and archers could finish it all off.

There's unlimited possibilities besides an OSOK.

As I clarified earlier, I have long felt that attackers needed more options. An OSOK, however, was not on my list of ideas.

I see, you want an easy assault. You want a handful of prowlers to take down a large base in short order. Gee...I'm sorry it's not an easy ten minute victory for you and you need more than 5 tanks shelling walls.

If you guys had attacked more often from the beginning then AI would never have been needed, because the only reason why they put it in was because builders abandoned their bases, and the reason why builders left was because they were sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for someone to attack!

You know what's so ironic about that? Before the OSU, the attackers didn't have to build a darn thing most of the time. They just roll vehicles and troops and attack, and virtually all bases fall in time. But now, you've "created this extra work" for yourselves. heh

Instead of just a normal assault, which actually does work, you want a long range offensive base......so you can build too.

Maybe that's what this is all about after all. The attackers want to build instead of just the defenders, but they don't want to build too close to the enemy base....perhaps because of limited terrain choices, so the devs are opting for long range base on base warfare.

Ok, fine. We'll see how it goes.

Gee, I'm sorry this game takes up so much of your time. I gather you only spend 5 minutes tops at Amp, Tech and Labs?

And yet self repairable bases get destroyed a 150 times every day. Imagine that. Cry me a river.

Perhaps a new assault strategy will do you some good, like, stop sitting around shelling walls and try some covert tactics or a gal drop instead.

Yes, and that was needed due to the issue of abandoned bases.

They're designed to be tough, and designed to be built by few.....but they are not built quickly by few. If attackers are vigilant, they can fly around and find transitional bases and assault them early, forcing the cores into neutral status faster than they could be capped post build.

Your sarcastic 'little base' comment is ironic, because little bases fall very easily, and if a couple of tanks and an Inf or LA can't take one down, then I would suggest an easier game, like CS. The big bases, which are hard to take down, take a lot of time to build.

If it goes the way the theory suggests, then I may be fine with it....or fine enough. Time will tell.

There's a difference between easy target, and one single squad that can afk, but literally lock the map after spending a fraction of the time it takes to destroy what they built.

It should take triple or double your numbers, to destroy a nearly fully-automated base, that also generates an unlimited supply of victory points.
How exactly is it fun for the attackers? it ain't.
Any force that attacks a base either
A) Pulls excessive numbers, and grinds against it for what feels like eternity.
B) Has to hope a Gal drop directly inside the shield works, which has so much against it.

A small base with 5 people can take hours, unless the attackers are damn in huge numbers, or manage to get inside & make progress.

A grand difference between wanting to Fight a base that literally takes hours, and having to or the entire map gets locked by AFK builders.

Your concern is that a base can't shake off a dedicated weapon, that requires damn infrastructure & grants ample response time.
Like dear lord.

If those possibilities are existing that aren't literally ensuring the few builders, can dominate the fate of the map, and can AFK while doing it, ensuring those Builder's hour of work, requires double the time to destroy... Then say em.
Otherwise, what in hell is the point in any of it?

I like the fact, that a grandly abandoned base shoved into the most pain-in-the-***-location, fortified & automated to hell, with AFK builders, can actually die without prayer.
I also like the fact that it requires work to achieve but none excessively more than the builders.
Whom can react, can stop each stage, and can see it coming.
Hell, they can have their own cannon, and start pre-emptive strikes.


Who in **** wants to attack a base in the most annoying places, to be shelled at, while every bit of damage is automatically repaired?
Manage to get there, and the reward for it? Not even worth the trouble.
The Builders get more EXP running and building the thing, than the attackers get trying to destroy it.


Yeah, you just needed to grind against a wall for actual hours, while said wall took 3 minutes to build.
I've built bases; Building is way the **** easier than attacking.

As well, if you were to engage said base, you'd also need superior numbers or any defenders that would arrive, could easily wipe you out, or literally extend the hour long engagement to far worse.
And again, more trouble than it is worth, for Attackers.

The Builders literally build these things in the most horrid places, and for that exact purpose.
And you are surprised people don't want to spend hours shooting walls in such places?
What's the reward? To be farmed, and still watch the Hive inside lock the map.

I actually spend hours attacking bases if need be, hours defending in the horrid lattice bases, and hours attacking.
I spend the time. If I give a damn to it.
I don't find much value however in literally having to spend triple the time , just to bash a wall, so maybe the map locks less quick.
A massive cannon that needs basically an entire base around it, and has nearly an hour to fire.
That is a grand solution rather than Hours of "maybe".


If attackers are vigilant, they can fly around the map looking for hives unplaced, and base frame works being constructed.
And then travel to them, ignoring the lattice works, to try to stop patient squads from building a base, whom unlike the attackers are gaining more certs for every attempt stopped, and success than the Attackers.
Whom also must deal with everything including the Builders.
And all the while, another base not found, finished, and installed a Hive, ******* all the efforts prior to it.

Considering that a single base with a Hive, can literally by itself provide 20 victory points, and is basically worth more than any tech plant, is harder to capture, and the points gained can not be removed;
It's pretty ******* tiny for the value.

Like dear lord.
Here's a grand idea; Try to use a Cannon against that Enemy hive, likely on the map border or half inside a rockface.
All they need to do is.... re-emptively strike against the base, or any time during the 40 minute charging period.
Or intercept the guy wielding the little laser pointer.

What can you do against a Hive, which starts instantly?
Right the same thing, expect unlike the Cannon, it will gain progress you can't erase during it all.
Oh, and it kills every bloody sod around the Hive when it explodes.

Did I mention Cannons can't Lock Maps, but Hives can gain multiple Victory Points during the siege that can't be blocked, prevented or undone, which locks the bloody Map?
What does a Cannon do?
Allow a dedicated Team to kill a Hive, like a Hive allows a team to Lock a Map.

The whole point of building a base is to stunt enemy forces, why do players hate that so much? Personally I find it a flaw in coordination and tactics. I've lead squads before that take out massive bases with 10+ AI towers with just 5 people, when you know the ins and outs of base building, it's rather easy to get a squad up that actually follows orders to kill a base. However if a base is TEAMING with people inside it, no **** it's going to be annoying to take, the artillery, the construct counter to constructs, the anti "people don't fuggin move" counter is just terrible, put a dart down and watch it get destroyed, 15 direct hits takes 1 skywall down and 10 seconds between bursts, not even counting the time to aim.

We didn't need a scale up of that, we needed the damn cannon to actually do ****. This could have been the "kill their spawns" button, the tactical nuke, I would've even taken a more lenient role based on energy usage and give it different hex powers like showering regenerative nanites to all allies in that hex or a scan of an area that bypasses stealth, or many other cool powers. But if this things only measure of worth is a painful charge up cannon to supposedly counter bases then it's just stupid.

But seriously, whats with all the base hate? It's more fun than sub or biolabs. Not saying much sure but I don't see why they are so hated. Or is the mob rush tactical always employed and results are terrible?

Jimminy Christmas.

Ok....

First off, the one point I'm in complete agreement with you on are the 'wedge bases', or whatever people want to call them, that, once built, are impenetrable.....or were, until the IPC was put in, but even then, they're wedged in so well, that it requires pretty much the whole faction to assault it.

That has most certainly been a problem, and as I said, I have agreed with attackers that they need more tools to hit bases. But jumping all the way to an OSOK base killer weapon seems a bit extreme.

You know, awhile back I suggested a new cert for Gals and Valks, that would allow for cloaked drops for all players. For example, anyone dropping out would get a 10 second cloak after they hit the ground. Additionally there could be a vehicle gun that charges and shoots the base, temporarily disabling all automated systems in preparation for the cloaked drop.

At the time, it almost seemed like an extreme idea, but compared to a base killer, it's baby stuff. The difference is, a cloaked gal drop is interacting right inside the base. A real battle at the base the way it was supposed to be, vs. an OSU that now must have its' own base for defense.

Regarding VP. All factions can gen this stuff, and even build in the wedge locations. I just don't understand the fuss over VP. Honestly, that's the type of argument I hear from people who never really wanted construction in the first place. Have you watched how fast a 100% base refines cort? It's not that fast. A serious lattice faction can beat HIVE work all day long, plus, they can run multiple low rate HIVEs and still pick up a couple of perma points by lock time, as well as the 2 VP temp bonus if they have the most, even with 1% HIVE's.

Back to wedge bases: Construction has been out for a year. In that amount of time, they could have simply zoned off the trouble spots. No need for an OSU and all the design time that goes with it. Just red zone the trouble spots and the ENTIRE ARGUMENT IS MOOT. In fact, even with the OSU, I would still zone off the trouble spots, at least partially.

I also think you're missing the circular logic here. You have all of these negative opinions about PMB's and how tough they are to assault, how worthless it is to hit transition bases, poor xp (definitely agree on the xp, but it's also bad for defense and building, it's just attackers have it worse), etc, etc., but, what is it you are going to need to defend that OSU for 45 minutes?

A giant, fully fortified, heavily automated PMB that repairs every ding and scratch. Do you really think players will want to hang around a PMB with an OSU more than a PMB without one when no one is attacking? And then the primary PMB will also build one too.

So, here's what we've got in the end, theoretically. Two PMB's instead of one, both with OSU's, both mostly or completely abandoned and running on automation, perhaps until the last 5 or 10 minutes of OSU charge, and then everyone will theoretically flood in.....or not.

And then one of the PMB's blows up in grand fashion. So, potentially, every 45 minutes, there's going to be a big explosion somewhere.

So, my summary, for the proponent's of this: PMB's are hard and unfun to attack, so give us an OSOK gun so we don't have to actually attack bases head on anymore. Instead, both factions will setup a PMB, running on auto, and quite possible, even fewer PMB's will be directly attacked than are now.

I don't know how this meta will go. I can't predict it. I can predict one possibility, and that is LESS PMB action, and more automation. I do hope I"m wrong. I hope this all works very well.

Btw, your point earlier about the 'dart guy' having a hard time getting close.......unless he's got be within 10m or something.....no. That's a non starter. Worst case: Wraith Flash, or suicide aircraft drop.

It is a 180 of the construction system, great isn't it! Because the old system was completely lobsided in favor of the defenders.
With the addition the orbital strike, players need to control more than the inside of their base, they need to control the area. And that creates much better gameplay. You were never supposed to sit in your base for hours while the attackers couldn't even break your base with 4 to 1 odds. The fact that you have to go out to get resources for your Silo was part of that. Now they've added another system so that the attackers don't have to siege your place until it finally runs out of power. Suddenly you need *gasp* to actually come outside? Oh noes! And... What's that... You need to have some actual skill to control the area? The game is doomed, dooooooooooooomed!

I can't believe you actually think that PMB's were supposed to be this tough. Go dig a hole and be deeply ashamed.

"it takes 40 minutes to charge"

"it takes 8 seconds to cloak"

Really, is that all they (and you fanboys) can come up with to justify this huge pile of ****?

Orbital strike seems like a decent counter to the practice of dumping bases with Hives around the place for victory point generation.

I can see how it must be frustrating for people who like building bases and have taken the time to invest in contruction but the answer would seem to be smaller bases and more of them. With a recharge time of 40 minutes doesn't it become a strategy of building bases faster than the other side can knock them down?

There are actually a few interesting arguments to choose from in terms of building a counterargument above your post.

I place an orbital strike generator yesterday and waited for it to charge. Seemed to charge a lot quicker than 40 mins, i could be mistaken tho, 40 mins might be its full radius charge, but it can fire a lot sooner with a much smaller range.

Then waited for the radius to 'grow', which costs cortium, if silo empties charge stops.
It grew to a 730m radius at which point i OSd a large enemy base that had its own OS generator, skyshields, walls, bunkers, the works.
It destroyed almost the entire base in 1 hit, eveything left standing was on a slither of health and only required a shot from the xplosive crossbow to finish, perhaps they should have been destroyed in the explosion too. OS generator was destroyed easily.

I like it, finally a way to attack ridiculous sized bases, but if the enemy responds its quite easy to take out a OS generator as it doesnt seem to aquire the immunity from repair mods that other buildings do.
Feels like a command and conquer WMD, and looks very similar to the ION cannon.

But youll have your own OS generator, and if you charge it as a defensive 'deterent' then anyone who places one near yours will be OSd instantly, as your radius is larger, and theirs isnt even charged yet.
The OS appears on the map as a symbol. It has, when first deployed, an orange circle around it, and a yellow one inside that. As it charges the yellow circle moves out to meet the orange one, this is its initial charge time and blast range radius. As time goes on (and cortium is consumed) the OS generator charges further and the now completely yellow circle moves outwards increasing the radius.

What i getting at, is these things are very very visible, and you know exactly when it can strike and at how much distance. Anyone not responding to the enemy building and charging one of these near their base is asking for trouble.
You dont let the enemy fully charge their superweapon in command and conquer because you know for sure itll annihilate your turtle base, same goes here.

Orbital Strikes are a very stupid idea., weapons like that must have Greater handicaps., Why not giving diferents weapons to the three factions., The Laser like shoot may be used by VS., NC must have something like a Kinetic Strike and TR have a Nuclear Missile., ( to think a little about Lore!!! ).

but really., i think is a bad idea to add a superweapon with this measures ingame.

Also., i think the devs are very lax., They Still building common pool weapons but what about Faction arsenals? ., i think is much better to add 3 new weapons ( 1 for each faction ) .,and feed the lore, but no., they still building NS weapons., Another thing., almost all the guns have the same design? ., could be very nice if each armor have is unique form.h is too much to ask?

What about new vehicles., i cant believe to have only one ESF and one Tank be factional wide., they dont invent anything else?
like all factions have an -ESF variant and a -MBT Variant. when the invent the Valkirie., i think they kill the oportunity to build dedicated aerial troop transports for each faction. the things are already done., but still have some things that can be added 1 for each faction.

- Heavy tanks
- Walkers
- Deployable artillery (a great idea to avoid overpowered and dumb orbital strikes mechanic, use artillery like effective siege weapon).
- Deployable anti-air artillery.
- Bikes
- Dive bomber ground attack aircraft.
- Fighters aircraft.

For example.!.

So after using the OS last night I thought I should give you some information on how it works in general

-It takes 40 min to charge to MAX range of 800m. It takes around 5-10 minutes to get to minimum range of 200m.
- the OS cannon and it's fire range is visible on the Map for anyone close to it, so it's not like you cant see it coming
- The designators Projectile life span is short enough that in order to really hit the target your going to have to be close enough that you run like hell after targeting or die
- Glaves out range an Orbital strike
- Orbital strikes have the same no build zone shared with Hives
- Only the Orbital Strike builder can fire the Orbital strike

Now lets look at this information. So really in order to Hit another base with an Orbital strike they ether need to defend it well themselves, or have the person who built the other base not pay attention to their own base. You also can counter an OS base with a Glave that is out of range of the OS when it is fully charged. I know this as I had people doing it to my own OS last night.

If anything right now the OS is more of a Defensive weapon rather then offense as the time it takes to setup, the ease of people seeing it (remember glaves for example don't show up on the map) makes this something you can see coming from quite a ways away.

In a way complaining about how it can blow up a small base is like Complaining about being run over by a steamroller that you saw 10 minutes ago and didn't get out of the way.