[Suggestion] Mechs for Planetside 2 (Pics Included)

Hi Guys I know there has been occasional discussion about mechs in planetside 2 and from what i can tell there are some people that cannot bear the thought of mechs being added to the game. I never played the original planetside so I don't quite know how they were implemented there but I just wanted to show you guys how I think mechs could add a fun new option for players without disrupting the balance of the game.

My basic idea for mechs would be a lightweight 1 person vehicle capable of dishing out decent damage but being fairly easy to take down themselves. This would make them more suitable for smaller fights and skirmishes as they would quickly be taken down in a larger battle.

The armour setup would be slightly different to tanks and other vehicles with front, sides and top all taking 100% of damage and rear hits only taking 150% of damage which would be counted as the rear of the cockpit rather than the legs. (as apposed to the 240% tanks receive to the rear) this would make flanking them less worthwhile and give them more survivability in close range engagements. Possible weapons would include HE cannons, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, AV cannons and flamethrowers. An example of a weapon might be an AV specialized cannon which would deal approximatley 1000 damage per shot (aproximatley 60% of a MBT's equivalent) so even with two of these equipped you would only be able to achieve around 120% of the damage output.

Here is my idea for the Vanu Mech:

It would be the lightest mech of the 3 with roughly 4200 HP. MBT's all have 8000 and Lightnings have 6000 so compared to the tanks it's very weak in a straight up fight taking approximately 3 shots from most AV weapons to kill. It's defining feature between the other two mechs is it's locked frame meaning it operates similar to normal infantry or the magrider where it is always forward facing but has the capability to strafe. It would also have the quickest backwards moving speed and quickest turning but a top forward speed of around 40mph (the tanks are between 50 and 60).

It's weapons would follow Vanu tradition being accurate with decent damage and little drop. There would also be the option to cert a side dash ability allowing it to quickly reposition in fights.

Here is the Terran Republics:

This would be slightly tougher with around 4600 HP, not much more but meaning the shots to kill from some AV weapons would be 4. It would operate slightly differently with a swiveling top half allowing you to travel in one direction while facing another up to 90 degrees to each side. With the rear armour counting as rear of the cockpit this would mean the direction you face would always be the front armour unlike tanks. This mech would have by far the highest forward speed of around 50mph allowing it to match some of the slower tanks. It would also have fairly quick turning but slow backwards move speed.

They would be capable of dealing the most damage with the highest rates of fire or reload speeds but probably more medium to short ranged focused weapons. It's unique ability would be a charge allowing it to increase it's top speed for a short while but sacrifing its turning substantially, letting it quickly close the gap on it's target or burst out of a dangerous situation.

And Finally the NC's Mech:

In comparison to the others this would be much more of a tank with up to 6000 HP making it level with a lightning. It would operate similar to the terrans with the separated cockpit and legs but the cockpit would probably turn bit slower to give the feeling of weight. It would also be the slowest mover to balance out it's tankiness with a top speed of around 35mph and relatively slower turning ect. They would therefore be more suited to a bruiser role being more comfortable standing toe to toe with other vehicles in the game.

In keeping with the NC's style their weapons would be hard hitting with a slightly lower sustained damage output than the TR mech but more usability over longer ranges. It would also be able to cert into a deploy mode that would reduce incoming damage increasing it's ability to duke it out in 1 on 1's even more.

Now that you've seen my ideas feel free to let me know what you think. I believe something like this would add a lot more diversity and interest to the game giving a vehicle which is both fun to use but not overly frustrating to play against. Due to their mostly squishy nature they would not allow for a single person to roam around and dominate and they would require a decent amount of teamwork in order to take on tougher targets or larger forces. I hope you enjoyed the ideas and pictures, sorry for the huge post but I felt it was necessary in order to properly explain the idea. Thanks for reading.

TL;DR MECHS ARE AWESOME!!!!

I'll switch from VS to TR if that's the mech we get. Never read anything, but thanks for the pics! : D

So...they are just Over Sized MAX's...
...I like it...
...I support this suggestion!

For the 40k people here, this is more Dreadnaught walker, with the MAX serving as the Tactical Dreadnaught armor.

That said, if equipped in a way to make them more powerful than lightnings, the only advantage the lightnings would retain would be speed.

I suppose the pilots will salivate at the thought of something else to destroy on the ground.

please implement this!

It had a reason BFRs was the dead to the PS1. If you wanna play a game with mechs there are games like Hawken or Mechwarrior online...but let PS2 alone.

>Introduce mechs into planetside 1
>mechs kill planetside 1
>suggest mechs for planetside 2


nice art though.

This gives me flashbacks to Robotech/Macross with the Zentraedi battlepods, officer pod, and SDF riflemen mechs.

Ya also remember FASA getting the sued to hell and back over those designs aswell.

I love mechs. I would love if they added mechs someday. But the way the game is right now.... It would just be a tank that is easier to target/lock-on to and would die very quickly.

My personal suggestion was that they remove the Prowler and replace with a small tank sized mech as the TR MBT to add some visual variety with similar mechanics(turret(waist), doublebarrel shoulder gun)

I understand the fear given what happened with BFR's, but you're blind if you think that it's what the BFR was rather than how it was implemented that dealt the blow. They were poorly balanced. Even so, a BFR could be brought down by 1 infantry repeatably if he knew what he was doing, so I assume you were one of the ones who bailed at first sight of one and never played again after the balancing.(refering to the guy asking to keep mechs out)
I like this much more than the BFR's To be a light BFR style suit with its own place is really cool. Its vertical orientation as opposed to a tank would mean its getting pinned down by rockets more easily, so I have no fear for their balancing. This is a great idea, I like it.
edit: also, i like the art

Why VS has legs?

If MBTs retained their crew from PS1, as in a driver, gunner, and top gunner, these would serve as a slower, meatier option for solo players.

Think of it like this, MBTs are inaccessible to lonewolf players. It requires a driver and gunner minimum to operate properly. This leaves the Lightning for solo players. These walkers could provide an alternative option to the Lightning. For example you could focus the Lightning on having more speed, it's all about flanking and shooting on the move, scouting around and providing support for the MBTs. The walkers could do the exact opposite. They could be slower, more cumbersome but have a lot more durability to them, making them great for defense and generally just holding the line. This gives lonewolf players options in case they dislike the Lightning.

Other than that I can't see any role ANOTHER one-man vehicle will play. To get variety within PS2 you have to divide vehicles by manpower. This vehicle requires more players thus it can be more powerful and do more things. But if every single vehicle only requires a single player, and every single vehicle can wield different weapons for different roles, you really can't add new things.

It really scares me when posts like this are made, requesting BFRs, and all the people who didn't see what they did to the first game say...'omg yeah, that's a great idea!' While I can tell you put some thought into this, and made some nice art, this is not a good idea.

There are a ton of vehicles from the first game, and i'm sure some new ones, that can be added to this game for variety and fun without going to the dark place you describe. I would much rather have lodestars, routers, deliverers, skyguards, wraiths, enforcers, marauders, threshers, and even flails.

I'll pass on more vehicles that are effective against all types of enemies. BFRs only introduce an endless balance issue between people that love big f'n robots and don't understand how anything should be able to kill them, and the people that don't want to get stepped on. I can also do without the headache inducing screen shake whenever they walk by. No thanks.

Cool drawings OP but I do feel that Planetside 2 has no place for more mech's along side the current MAX suits. They will just devalue the MAX and Tanks at both their intended roles.

However not to let your obvious talent go to waste, I think you should draw faction specific Sunderer's, Lightnings and Liberators and post them on the forum or send them to TRay.

The fact that the three factions are ment to be unique but we share half the same vehicles and weapons is just sad. It also seems somewhat lazy from an art POV.

At the moment Nanite systems seems like the "get-out clause" for creating unique faction equipment.

I understand why PS1 players are still upset over BFR's, but it's riddiculous for them to be so close minded over what can be functionally no different than a heavy tank. As long as they are approached differently than BFR's it's only a cosmetic difference.

If they were similar to BF2142 mechs I would be super excited to see them in the game. Just keep that flying and one-man crew garbage out of the picture.

I like the concept arts, but no. Mechs broke PS1, we don't need that here.

Nice art but...

GOLF-TANGO-FOXTROT-OSCAR

Thanks for the feedback so far guys, glad you enjoyed the art. I do just want to address some of the posts referring back to the BFR's from planetside 1. While i appreciate your concern that it was presumably extremely poorly balanced I do not feel that there is anything inherently overpowered about a mech-like vehicle.

Just because a mech in one game was overpowered doesn't mean a completely differently designed mech will be overpowered in another game that is a huge over assumption with no logical grounding. While i understand the thinking that it is a mech so it must be the same as the old mechs I would hope you at some point get the chance to read the post fully. I've done my best to keep balance in mind as much as possible and genuinely do not think they would be 1 man owning machines like a lot of people seem to fear.

Legs make everything cooler...because this game isn't complete with out walking Annihilator targets.

*sighs*


New ideas for the win right? I mean this game isn't homogenized enough lets just add in some playable zerglings too, and some VS sisters of battle, or maybe we can add pirates and ninjas. Because screw lore and balance and all the rest of the bugs we currently have issues with...cool stuff is cool, new stuff will just make me forget about all the broke stuff that they should actually make better.

*edit* Nice art though guy I commend you on having the will to put so much work into your idea. If this was the first time this idea was actually posed I might not have been so cynical. But at this point...I'm just tried of this thread showing up every few weeks from the same few people. *frowns*