New C4 damage to tanks + Video

I know HA already has that, it also is the only infantry class that can take on aircraft, the only infantry class that can equip one loadout to take AV+AA+AI, the only infantry class that can directly increase its health. So why make it the only infantry class that can take on a tank? It can already do this with 2 Deci rockets to the rear; why shouldn't Medics, Engies, and LA be able to take a MUCH higher risk for the same reward?

APC has more survivability.... Because it's bigger? Has more armour? Costs more resources? Is less defensible? Is a target of higher strategic priority? I mean really, the list goes on. You're not talking about a Humvee here, it's a mobile base, and it's got damned thick armour, clearly.

LA's are the second least utilised class (last I checked, somewhere like 70% less used than HA). To me, that's simple stagnation. There is no reason for a game to be based around 50%/20%/10%/5%/5% class distribution when it could be based around 20%/20%/20%/20%/20% or similar. Diversity is a good thing.

They're not just sacrificing not having an overshield. They're also sacrificing AI range, ESHW, ESRLs, rocket launchers, AV ability, AA ability, and ammo capacity. All for a jetpack that's already been nerfed to ****. With this change, they're now sacrificing point-blank AV ability (since it's essentially worthless in this form), meaning they can only meaningfully threaten infantry, putting them on the same par as Medics (which are vital for team survival) and infiltrators (which are already being revamped, but at least have a few vital purposes in game such as hacking, ultra-long-range AI, and recon), but without any of the necessity.

Aside from one or two desperate tactics of "Okay guys, we can't bring down the shield; everyone try to go over it", why on earth would I want a single one of my platoon to be a Light Assault when they could instead be a Heavy Assault? By their very nature, LA's will spend far longer waiting for respawn than HAs, reducing my AI combat efficacy, and now can't threaten tanks in a meaningful way either, reducing AV combat efficacy. Tactical utility has almost no place in the game, as players respawn almost immediately and respawn points are local and plentiful; it doesn't matter if a crack squad of 6 of my guys can hop a wall and flank, the defenders only wait 10 seconds and then they come back with the knowledge of your position.

If C4 dropping is what really makes you QQ, maybe that should be nerfed instead of the C4 itself?.... Instead, C4 will now exclusively be used vs MAXs, until they all QQ and get the ability to resist one block even without flak... Won't that be a great idea...

QFE.

Then you either have problems with situational awareness or they are using drop pods/vehicles.
If they are using drop pods, I personally have no problem with them getting rid of deployables from pods. I detest that tactic and refuse to use it.
If they ran the whole way to you, then you had 30 seconds to several minutes to find, see, and kill them. Considering that the only weapon LA have that can kill vehicles is ultra short range, pretty much a touch attack, there is absolutely nothing you can really say to defend your position other than bad gameplay. Seems that even SOE agrees, at least in part, because they are giving a buff to proximity radar, something that sounds like you could definitely use more of.

MBT pilots have the tools they need to counter C4 users, they just are choosing not to actually use them. Recently I've been pulling a lot more of my scout radar flash. I'll drive it to the battle and then get off of it. Then I either play as infantry or hop into the secondary gunner spot of a tank. I'm sure to let them know as well that there is 100m radar present. Hmmm... lets see... I chose to use radar to help my team out, I still get the protection of an MBT, they get the benefit I brought along, and I still get to kill vehicles + infantry from the gunner spot? Sounds like a win situation for me! Sounds like I learned to play fine, adapted to the strategy of others, and have absolutely no issues with it now. Why can't you? You have the tools, ADAPT and LEARN. You guys keep saying "it should be a team game" and when I do that with MBTs, THEY ARE FINE. Yet you seem to think you should be singular gods on the battlefield, just because you spent resources. Sorry guys, C4 is a risk vs rewards weapon.

I heard someone describe C4 perfectly in another thread, they compared it to pump action shotguns. *whine* "But I can't cert to survive an OHK from a pump." */whine* That is exactly what you sound like when you complain about C4 MBT pilots. It is pathetic. C4 has been this way since before Alpha of this game. They give you the tools to survive, so go and use them. Learn to use them properly and you'll be much better off.

Final thing, if you make C4 less than it is, you will utterly break Light Assault. Are you honestly saying that they should break Light Assault? Yes it'd break the class. Already it is the 2nd lowest scoring and only 1200 points per hour less (about 1.5 vehicles worth, what you are asking us to sacrifice) would make the class THE LOWEST SCORING CLASS. Already it is the 2nd least played class. Get rid of the LA ability to destroy vehicles and it could easily become THE LEAST USED CLASS. Are you honestly saying that you want to break the Light Assault class? If so, I'm pretty sure every single LA user would say that you can go to hell for that kind of attitude.

Obviously you haven't spent much time as a medic or engineer in big infantry fights, because that xp per hour is easily obtained.

I always had the impression that, yes, it has more armor, but mostly because it is a TROOP transport more than anything. How does this sound... lets put 12 people in a vehicle with paper sides and drive them across the battlefield. Oh we'll give them only 2 weapons to defend those 12 with, and they won't be quite as good at MBT weapons. Hmmm... yeah, sounds kind'a weird to me. The Sunderer is ground transport and has incredible armor. The Galaxy is air transport and has incredible armor. Kind of fits doesn't it?

EXACTLY! They are out to break Light Assault, at least it feels that way to me. I'll cry BS on that one big time.

There are already many outfits that won't let their members run Light Assault because they feel it doesn't contribute enough to the team battle. I love LA, don't want to see it nerfed any more (it has the most of all classes too), and even I am starting to agree with the people who don't allow it. It truly is sad, the state that they have put Light Assault into, yet people like these whiny MBT pilots just want to make it even worse. *shakes head* They have no sympathy for others and many of them even refuse to experience what it is like.

Thank you for your post, I like it!

Yes I consider the planting of the C4 and other things but having the ability to destroy a tank without it being able to react is too much power for one person. A tank needs time to react to a person after the explosion.

Light assault is the second least used class because it doesn't have a role. It is just a flying engineer without any of the utility. But the usefulness of a class shouldn't depend on some cheap gimmicky attack like flying c4. Light assaults need to be looked at overall, and additions like attack objectives that can only be reached by light assaults should be added.

C4 dropping is the ******** part. If I die to a heavy, engineer, or medic with C4, I absolutely deserved it. If c4 was changed so that it had to be physically affixed to a tank, that would almost solve the problem, but that still leaves the buggy drop pods, and people just jumping out of planes. As it is, every time an enemy galaxy or liberator is around I have to worry about light assaults bailing out of passenger seats and drifting over me. This is one of those things that I don't think people get when they say, "Oh it's just a lack of situational awareness."

C4 is ******** right now. You can be in the middle of a field, no one in sight, but a light assault bailing from a plane at flight ceiling with drifter jump jets can cover 500 meters before he's on the ground. And you still have drop pods to worry about. You don't have to be anywhere near a base, or even under something tall. A light assault with c4 can pop up pretty much out of nowhere, situational awareness be damned. It's a stupid thing to have to spend your entire time in a tank in third person spinning your turret in circles just to survive. Something desperately needs to change. I'd prefer a blockade armor for the tank, but I'll take a nerf to c4 if that's what I'm offered.

Also, just to clarify, sunderer doesn't cost more than tanks anymore, it's actually 50 less.

Just like infantry can react after they are hit by MBT rounds? Oh wait, they can't.
How about allowing them to react after they are hit by two Prowler rounds? Oh wait, they can't because they are still DEAD.

Well gosh, lets see.... how about allowing the infantry to run up to your vehicle, traversing over 50 m (sometimes 200 m or more), while you MISS them over and over, then they can react! Oh wait... they can't often because you still have plenty of time to spot, shoot, get splash damage, reload again, shoot again, reload again, and shoot again before they traverse the distance to you. So... Oh wait, they still can't react to you cause they are DEAD.

MBT pilots are NOT asking for equality. They are asking for a pure buff to their power just because some of them haven't figured out how to deal with this one game mechanic. Others have figured it out and don't fear C4 users.

Seriously, how many times can you post the same lie and keep a straight face? Nobody runs up to a tank to c4 it. 70% of your play time is as a light assault, stop pretending you're defending the ability of heavies, medics, and engineers to c4 a tank.

No one plays 1 class exclusively.

I pull light assault atm to do exactly what everyone abuses it for, dropping C4 on tanks close to the building for free kills. Each class is situational.

I can't pull a radar flash park it next to my tank, and then have radar.

people tend to ignore what you say if you say incorrect facts.
The tank costs more resources.
Sundy has 2 turrets that can use 2 different weapons, allowing it to be MUCH more defensible then any tank from infantry and air, just not other tanks as well.

A tank can obliterate alot of things effectively and quickly.. and its not a target of higher strategic Priority?.. By your, and most other peoples comments, tanks are too OP, infantry (LAs) much have OP C4 to kill them.. so the sundy which spawns these Underpowered infantry is higher priority then the tank killing you?... Little bit flipfloppy there.

If everyone was abusing LA like you say, then that is pretty much the only way vehicles would die. I think that the word "abuse" doesn't mean what you seem to think it means. Since we both know that it isn't the case that vehicles ONLY die to C4, and we can actually prove it showing that C4 deaths for vehicles are actually around 1/3rd the default launchers, we both know that your statement is nothing but an opinion. Thanks for sharing but I'm going to have to disagree with you that people "abuse Light Assault."

C4 costs resources just like tanks and Sunderers. Are you saying that C4 should also help defend against infantry, air AND vehicles? Damn I'd like to buy some bricks of that kind of C4. NO DUH you can't pull a flash AND a tank. Yet the funny thing is that I can pull it and support you. Really funny thing is, there are many tankers that seem to think that C4 should be lowered in damage, thus NECESSITATING that we work as a team. Let me remind you that C4 is so bugged right now, that HALF of that team would get absolutely NOTHING out of it other than the chance to help kill a vehicle (no exp). Now here I am, suggesting that tank drivers do the same thing by one person pulling a flash (like I do) and helping the team out by being a secondary gunner in a tank once they reach the objective, and you seem (please correct me if I'm wrong) to be wanting tanks to be able to operate on their own without backup? Wouldn't someone who goes that route be a called a hypocrite? I hope you aren't that. Finally you DO have the capability of putting prox radar on your MBT, only you are choosing not to do so. That's a choice you are making. Even the devs seem to think that's a decent counter to those people using C4 since they mentioned it in their post when they said that C4 damage was not going to be nerfed like it is on test. Use the tools you have available! If you don't, in all honesty you shouldn't be complaining. It is like me saying "I hate how long my shields take to recharge" but then I also refuse to change to the shield cert line for my armor. Come on, please give it a try for a while.

My opinion is tanks are fine (other than I'd lower their cost to 375). My opinion is C4 is fine. YOU guys are the ones who want things changed. I have never really wanted this to change. Please stop putting words in my mouth. Quotes are there for a reason.

Finally OF COURSE Sunderers are the highest priority target on the battle field! Anyone who thinks otherwise.... sure doesn't realize that by killing all the spawns, you SHUT DOWN THE BATTLE even more effectively than killing any other vehicles. *shakes head* I'm through with you. Why do I have a feeling you are also not worth the time and effort to convince otherwise? Probably because it seems to me you aren't listening to much of anything that people say that has substance so far. Again, I'd love to be proved otherwise.

Mechanized resources are less valuable than infantry resources.

Stop making this ridiculous comparative cost argument - it has no basis in reality.

Absolutely disagree, here. Breaking out of a tower or other camped requires a good deal of coordination; C4 is a key part of that. People complain that bases aren't defensible, and then others (or the same?) complain about C4 when it is the best defense weapon in the game, in a strategic sense.

You are able to React because C4 has the slowest delivery method of all the weapons in the game. The player themselves are the projectile and they must travel to an intended target before any damage can even have a chance to be calculated.

Just because a player outsmart/outplayed/outmaneuvered you does not mean that there was no time to react... He simply applied his superior capabilities to reduce the amount of time YOU specifically have to react. It is no different then rear shotting a tank with a CAS30 lib, because he too has to position himself in a way to achieve it. And if you didn't see him hovering up, who's fault is it?

Except players can freely position themselves pretty much safely. Drop pods and drifter jump jets allow players to either land directly on top of a tank or drift hundreds of meters from a cliff or aircraft, sometimes remaining at altitude that makes it nearly impossible for the tank to see the light assault. This isn't a question of situational awareness anymore.

the role of tanks is to take out other vehicles?
Then why is it on your stats, a majority of your score in vehicles is derived from killing infantry?
how come you have effectively a 2:1 Infantry:Vehicle kill ratio?
Shouldn't it be the other way around?

and really, you are going to argue that HE Is intended to take out other vehicles?

and being a dedicated tank driver across all the faction, i can say with out a doubt that it takes a LOT more skill to use C4 then it does to drive any tank. Surviving long enough in a tank to take out a string of vehicles, or groups of infantry is hardly a challenge for a vehicle which takes 5+ shots to kill from most dedicated anti-tank means... exspecially if you're an engineer yourself (which you seemingly only play according to your stats)

if you're tank is getting scrapped faster then it takes you to get at least 10 'kills', then a tank driver is obviously not you're stronger suits and i would suggest stopping.

https://players.planetside2.com/#!/5428010618040283857/stats

Even if that is not you, that is the statistical equivalent of the average tank spammer, which you are.
predominantly Engineer class, 2:1 (or higher) infantry:vehicle kill ratios, x5 more time in Armor then in any other vehicle.

Most of your 'kills' don't come from vehicles... they come from killing infantry.
Probably with AP shot because ever since the Off-set change of tank weapons, they take the least amount of skill to get infantry kills with across all the vehicle weapons.

Its not... it requires 2 c4 to be killed.
the belief that it is 'one shot' just shows that you're a tank-spammer.

it is 2 shots of damage stacked to deal it all instantaneously. You are outright ignoring the challenge it takes to get into a situation that allows you to do that and simply focusing on what happens to you... you die instantly... Waahhh.

If you get killed by C4 by ANY class then you should be giving kudos to that person because it is by no means an easy thing to do.

And how many light assaults use Drifter Jets?
If you're using that as the crux of your argument, then you should know...

seriously, are you even listening to yourself?
Even with Drifter Jets, do you know How Long it takes to get from a high position like a cliff to a Tank?

Lastly, Situational Awareness is always the point in question because if you know that there is a Drifter LA trying to swoop you... simply popping your tank into Drive is usually more then enough to save you. Even with the additional speed boost given with the Drifter JumpJets, you still will not out-pace most vehicles going in a straight line.

you're kinda grasping at straws to make your argument...
Drop Pods which are by no means a relible method of attack any more, even if you're using a squad beacon, Aircraft which all of a sudden make the LA's attack method cost more then you're meazely tank, and Drifter Jets, which are not exactly popular amongst Light Assault, placed on Cliff Sides and high points which kinda is a paradox because Drifter Jump jets make it Harder to get to higher places then standard jump jets.

Just going to interject and say that this isn't true. I have Racer 3 Prowler meaning I get the fastest possible forward acceleration on my tank. Just the other day I had a drop pod land right next to me around 150-200 meters away from a camp waterson's walls. The moment the pod started touching down I drove away as fast as possible,put on third person, and then 2 seconds later I died to C4 even though nothing had even rendered yet.

This isn't a C4 problem as much as it is a drop pod exploit though.

Get ready for heavy assults jumping out of a tree.