Lock-on launchers more expensive? Make 'em avoid obstacles again!

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by DevsAnswerMe, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. LodeTria


    There was a time when lock on rockets went around every object to hit. Think it was during the strikers reign of terror.
  2. Pikachu

    I thought it came from striker missiles being bugged so they would ignore terrain collision after a certain duration.
    • Up x 1
  3. Antillie

    This thread is going places.

    [IMG]
    • Up x 2
  4. SoljVS

    LOL thats why they have locks in the first place. People don't want to develop skill they want to be hand fed by simplistic game mechanics.

    That being said locks are the problem with this game and need to be brought into some kind of balance. Hate when they are always coming up with simple things to help the low iq, untalented players instead of pushing them to better their game.
  5. Rentago

    Lock on launcher mechanics has always seemed really odd to me.

    I don't think whoever was behind the coding knows exactly how to make them work like an actual rocket.

    When you shoot a rocket, usually there is a second of it flying straight forward or in some cases some launch vertically to gain altitude and dive down in the case of anti ground vehicle weapon designs.

    Our current lock on launchers have the missile homing right out of the muzzle, so it is making a 90 degree turn out of the barrel into a rock or ally standing next to you. That is a huge issue.

    The second thing is that you can't even EVADE the rockets, the homing is dead on about chasing its target, so much so that it will turn on a dime and is known to be a 100% chance of hitting its target unless they make the rocket hit the ground or something.
    Currently, the new rocket launcher has a homing mechanic that either makes the rocket home in like any other homing launcher or a new type of homing where the rocket flies fast and can't turn as sharp meaning it can be evaded. ONLY TO HAVE IT PARK MID AIR AND REDIRECT ITSELF BACK TOWARDS CHASING ITS MISSED TARGET.

    This is some ridiculous stuff and I assume the only explanation for having these ridiculously smart physics defying rockets is nanites.

    What should happen is if they miss their targets they lose their lock and fly off, also rocket launchers should vary in firing mechanics where AV lock on launchers vertically take off and come down from above, AA launchers should fly straight for a second to clear any obstacles before it begins chasing its target.

    I also think that pilots should be rewarded for being REALLY good at piloting. Flares are mandatory to avoid a locked missile, but if you could time a barrel roll or something just to dodge the missile that would be pretty neat.

    In return though if they do make missiles possible to evade I think they should reduce their lock on time and increase ammunition carried maybe.




    this is what we want, rocket launchers that vary in how they fire and seek.

    However the way that vanu energy launchers work aren't like ballistic missiles, so the idea that energy simply chases like it currently does sorta makes sense, I kinda wish they were lobbed much like the magrider's HE cannon however.
    • Up x 1
  6. Liewec123

    HELL and NO.
  7. Ronin Oni

    No, what they used to do was "follow" in your trail. Now they predict your heading and intercept.

    The previous model was almost impossible to force into terrain. The new model allows pilots to ditch missiles into objects.

    The striker bug was something different, and yeah, broken as hell. It ALSO ignored flares for every rocket past the first, making it 4/5 rounds 100% unavoidable damage as it'd ignore flares and fly through mountains to hit you... those were fun days :eek:
  8. Flag

    There was that, but they had this interesting mechanic (if I remember things right). If they lost the lock, they'd go to last known and try again. If they still can't "see" the target, they've been evaded. If not, it's back to square 1.
    And then sometimes the missiles went "**** it" and used magic instead.
  9. Some1


    That is all I would like the lock on launchers to do is travel forward a little bit before they start seeking there target a la this video

    I cant tell you how many times I have fired a rocket off only to have it make a 90 degree turn when the missile spawns in at the end of launcher and blow up in my face because it hit the piece of cover I was standing behind when it was fired.
    • Up x 1
  10. Ballto21

    maybe if you stopped expecting one class to be a demigod that can do everything like some CoD crap and pulled, i dont know, a burster, a skyguard, a walker bus, another aircraft, or even an AP tank youd have better results with AA?
  11. Dethonlegs

    The history on this goes back a long way. All Lock-on launchers used to behave as they do in real life where they move in the direction launched for short while before tracking. If you had line of sight when you fired then the rocket would nearly always find it's target.

    It worked well.....too well I think for SOE.

    They needed to reduce lock on effectiveness and in their usual way introduced a ridiculous mechanic to make it happen. End result: Rockets leaving the tube at right angles to hit the nearest rock.

    Selling back this mechanic (on the Swarm) for something they once sold us and then took away is money grabbing at it's worst.
  12. Shadowomega

    Roni they dropped the Prediction model as it was even easier to dodge missiles as diving toward the ground the missile would then impact the ground instead of aircraft. So they went back to the follow model as it had a higher hit percentage then the prediction model. If anything without creating new code increase the speed and acceleration of the Ground to Air Missiles while locked on.
  13. Agarthan

    Make them more effective, but make them cost nanites to resupply.
  14. Pikachu

    Follow your trail? It wasnt just a regular tracking mechanic with too sharp turns? Speakikg of turns i remember on release when G2A RL were useless. Slow and huge turning radius.
  15. Ronin Oni

    It was after that, and before the intercept mechanics that are current.

    It was the age that flares were basically required because otherwise lockons were basically guaranteed damage.

    This was during the same period of launch ESRL's when the striker was completely broken.... began before ESRL launch, and changed before the Striker was fully fixed with terrain collision IIRC (I flew a lot of mossie those days and remember still needing to equip flares because there was no way to force G2A into terrain reliably)
  16. S7ntheR


    That's what I'm telling you, use it for ESFs instead of lock ons. You basically don't need skill to use it against ground targets unless you're like me and you like to snipe harasers and flashes from 500+ meters.
  17. DevsAnswerMe

    I think most of u don't get my point! The price was raised on both the Nemesis and the Hades (and probably also on the other factions' equivalents to those) but they don't perform any better than they did when I last used them! And In return for the higher price I just want them to curve around obstacles again, SLIGHTLY increasing the chance of actually hitting a target again! There's still more than enough ways to avoid or break a lock! Like turning around and killing the shooter, flying out of range immidiatly, descending behind a cliff or tree or deploying flares! Why does it have to be that the chance of hitting is further reduced by the rocket not noticing obstacles in front of it and instead following its target in a straight line, totally ignoring anything that is blocking the way?

    All I want is to have the damn thing be worth its price again!
  18. Silkensmooth

    I read that as you want to win without having to try. Thats what lock-ons are for right?
  19. DevsAnswerMe

    If that bullsh!t is all u can secrete then p!ss off and go on shooting planes from 300 meters away with ur S1! I want the damn things to do their damn job right again! And their job is to chase targets they've locked on to while avoiding all objects that block their way!

    As I ******' said before, the chance of actually destroying a target with them is already hard enough WITHOUT them being too stupid to sense something in their path!

    1. It takes at least 2 hits to destroy an ESF that didn't already take damage before!
    2. U can buy and equip flares on any aircraft in the game which reliably break any lock and send the rockets straight up to explode in mid-air!
    Due to how long the lock-on takes the pilot has enough time to
    3. quickly turn and kill u,
    4. quickly descend behind an obstacle or
    5. quickly fly out of the low lock-on range
    to avoid even being locked on to!
    6. Sometimes they even get away with a rocket successfully locked on to them, not hitting any damn obstacles and no flares deployed! The rocket loses its lock after a while and does the same as it would do with flares deployed!

    All these things already reduce the effectiveness of the lock-ons and there's absolutely no need to make them dumb enough to not notice a thing that blocks the way! And now the price was raised from 250 to an absolutely unnecessary 650 certs without bringing that ability back! That's utter crap and needs to be fixed! PERIOD!
  20. Pikachu

    :confused: More strange changes than I ever remember. Well I never knew that Esamir used to have super fog either.