I've been thinking, lately, of what additional team utility would be reasonable for Light Assaults to have. Deployable items like spawn beacons, I think, would be entirely too annoying to allow LA's to have. It's already something of an irritation to clear them from tops of roofs when only the squad leader has one. So any other deployable, such as a special radar deployable, radar interruption deployable, or anything that requires another player to reach it to destroy it wouldn't be good. We also don't want to have a duplicate ability. We need something that fits with the Light Assault mentally of "be up front and up high" and that meshes well with its gameplay style. Light Assaults tend to be off on their own, doing their own thing rather than sticking with the group, and that put me in mind of artillery observers. Since LA's are, indeed, usually forward of the main force, atop roofs and buildings, perhaps they should receive a tool that allows them to coordinate with forces other than infantry? Now, this game doesn't currently have proper artillery (yet, at least. Just waiting on the Flail...), but it does have aircraft. What if it received a tool that allows them to designate an area for a ground strike? What would it do, exactly? Well, it would act as a sort of laser designator. The LA aims at a specific point, which then creates a small beacon that is only visible to nearby aircraft equipped with rocketpods and Liberators. Ever been an ESF pilot, flying over a battlefield and desperately attempting to find where the enemy hoard is, trying to balance fighting against the render distance and flak while also attempting to fly slow enough to get a good strafing run in? Well, now you get a nice little designated area that tells you "Here they are." You can fly in full speed, unload your rockets with precision, and be gone far faster than normal. As upgrades, you can allow the targeting designator to lock onto vehicles, perhaps giving them a nice, solidly bright outline to make them easier targets. You can allow it a longer range, shorten the time it takes to designate an area, or enable it to help out friendly tanks in targeting as well. Perhaps even give any rockets or bombs that land in the area a greater AOE effect or more damage? (Not sure about that one). I think it would synergize nicely with the class, given that it usually has the better vantage points and tends to be up front where all the action is. They'd best know where the large concentrations of enemies are. ...wouldn't be as effective in a Bio Lab or indoors, granted. Tl;dr: Give LA a targeting tool that allows aircraft to better spot ground targets.
