I tried the Javelin and it needs some tweaking to find its niche. The harasser is superior as a general combat vehicle in every way: A harasser costs 150 nanites, the Javelin costs 200 nanites. The harasser has a wide range of effective weapons with each serving a special role: AI/AV/AA the Javelin has one weapon the nest missiles. They only lock on to vehicles and air with no way for the operator of the Javelin to control what target they lock. The reload time on the Nest missiles is too long, the damage output low and lack of control of targeting makes the Javelin an unreliable combat vehicle. A harasser can transport 3 people including a Max while the Javelin only transports two and cannot carry a max. Only someone in the rumble seat of a harasser takes direct damage. The driver and gunner are protected as damage goes to the harasser not the individuals. The Driver and Passenger on a Javelin are fully exposed. The speeds are comparable, the advantage of the Javelin being a hover vehicle is negated by the fact that it does not have weapons that take advantage of that. The flash is also superior to the Javelin as a quick infantry transport The flash costs only 50 nanites vs Javelin 200 nanites. Both vehicles transport 2. The flash also has a large selection of weapons effective for different target types. The Javelin has one that is ineffective. The wraith flash has the capability to cloak to overcome that it has a low health pool and the operators are exposed. The Javelin has no such capability. In summary for quick transport the flash is superior to the Javelin, for a general purpose combat vehicle the harasser is superior to the Javelin. Some ideas that may make the Javelin find a niche among the other vehicles: The Nest Missiles could also auto spot vehicles including stealth/cloaked that they damage giving the Javelin a role for recon different from the flash or harasser. The Nest Missiles could reduce the lock on time for friendly launchers for targets that the Javelin "paints" for them. This would make having a passenger with lock on launchers a viable combination of high risk/high reward play. It would also increase the combined arms combat capability so the Javelin is not just transport but serves the whole empire in a fight. The Javelin could have the ability for squad mates to spawn on it while it is mobile. This may be necessary as the passenger has no protection. With only one additional seat it does not take the role of a Sunderer but allow a squad to quickly flank/infiltrate an area. The Javelin could be a mine layer that could deploy tank mines while mobile. These could come from the Engineer count of tank mines. The Javelin could have a burst "Darklight flashlight" that illuminates cloaked infiltrators/sunderes/ants within a specific radius. The Javelin could have a NSO specific ability to allow other NSO currently on the same faction to spawn in the hex similar to the reinforcements tower of a player made base extending the range that a sunderer can be deployed on. This would be an NSO specific ability to give some uniqueness and build community among NSO players. Just some ideas to give constructive feedback. In its current form the Javelin does not fill a niche that is already better served by the flash or harasser. Once the novelty of a new vehicle wears off it will need to have a niche to continue to be used.
I hope that the nanite cost is just a bug and it will cost 50 nanites once it comes to live. 200 nanites for a vehicle that is worse than a 50 nanite vehicle is just ridiculous.
Ahhh I didn't even look at the nanite costs, I assumed it was more in line with flash costs. Just spawned it and jumped on. Seeing those numbers in comparison to each other it should be much cheaper in it's current form. It shouldn't cost more than a harasser by any means, and the flash is pretty devastating in the right hands. Hopefully when it hits Live it is more like 50 nanites. I don't know what I would change or add to up the value. I suppose the Nest would have to be a really good weapon. We will see how it does when players use it in Live. I like the sound of ideas 1,2. If stealth/cloaked vehicle it is only spotted while decloaked. Could be interesting and would require a decent amount of skill to keep the target painted. Due to how the Javelin reticle works. On the fence about A mine laying vehicle could be interesting, but I'd want to see it in action before agreeing or disagreeing. I like the sound of it and wouldn't mind seeing it in action for testing. Had a thought of it disrupting cloak on stealth vehicles after reading the suggestion. On the fence about.
I take this opportunity to say that right after the patch I will looking for a javelin driver. I am somewhat experienced flash gunner and have almost completely certed loadout for this which include T7 mini-blame gun, Thumper, Decimator\Groundlock\Airlock\Striker, 2 C4, Jockey4 and even Nightshade (Bring me closer, i want to hit them with my sword!) +av nade. My requirements for all drivers (including harrasers) is minimal: minesweeper HUD rank 5 and survivability must be on high priority, untill you keep my KDR higher than 3 i can play with you for hours, unfortinately only every ~8th can keep us both alive well enough and i actually never meet such flash driver in my entire career, so my hopes for the best, but i prepared for the worst. Anyway don't expect me to do "die-respawn-repeat" sequence for too long. IVANVANIVAN, miller, TR, english (i can barely understand slang and aphorisms, so try to keep your speech clear, usually i can make out 95% of what average person saying to me, but sometimes struggle to answer back, especially during fight)
