Idea #27 Planetside2 : Drone Warfare This is a simple outline of an idea I have for drones in Planetside2. Any and all suggestions, comments, remarks, opinions etc. are welcome. I am simply playing around with ideas hoping to help make Planetside2 even cooler than it already is. *Drone Behaviours -A. Player Controlled 'The player should find a secure location or hiding spot before deploying the drone. Then once deployed the player should be able to control the drone as if he/she was controlling a vehicle.' -B. A.I. Controlled 'If the player deploys the drone in A.I. mode then the drone will simply stay as close as possible to the player while attempting to perfom it's tasks. If the player moves away from the drone, the drone will cancel it's tasks and follow the player to thier new position where it will find new automated tasks to perform.' *Drone Types // Player Controlled - A.I. -A. Surveillance (Can do reconnaissance and spy missions) [Possible Restrictions : Infiltrator/Light Assault] -B. Medical (Can help heal/revive anyone in range of the drone) [Possible Restrictions : Combat Medic] -C. Engineering (Can help repair anything in range of the drone) [Possible Restrictions : Engineer] -D. Offensive (Can attack anything in range of the drone) [Possible Restrictions : Heavy Assault/MAX] -E. Defensive (Can attack anything in range of the drone) [Possible Restrictions : Heavy Assault/MAX] *Drone Abilities -A. Surveillance 1. Camera Control (If player controlled) 2. 360° Movement (If player controlled) 3. Shields 4. Nanite Regeneration 5. Hack Ability 6. Cloak Ability 7. Cloak Scan (Reveal hidden Infiltrators) 8. Scanner (Detect enemies within scanner range) 9. Radar (Detect enemy vehicles/aircraft within scanner range) 10. Self Destruct (Last resort measure) 11. Take Screen Shots -B. Medical 1. Camera Control (If player controlled) 2. 360° Movement (If player controlled) 3. Shields 4. Nanite Regeneration 5. Heal Ability 6. Revive Ability 7. Revive Radius Ability (Revive everyone within revive radius) 8. Triage (If A.I. controlled the drone will heal the most injured allies in range) 9. Vitality (Releases a revitalizing agent within a certain radius which enhances the stats of nearby allies) 10. Healing Effect (When more than one medical drone is in proximity to another they create an energy field which heals nearby allies) -C. Engineering 1. Camera Control (If player controlled) 2. 360° Movement (If player controlled) 3. Shields 4. Nanite Regeneration 5. Onboard Console (Equipped with a small terminal allowing players to change thier class with the drone) 6. Repair Ability 7. Ammo Dispenser 8. Prioritize (If A.I. controlled the drone will repair the most damaged vehicles/aircraft/equipment in range) 9. EMP Discharge (Can detonate an EMP charge that will disable any enemy technology within radius of the blast) 10. Nanite Charge (When in close proximity to another engineering drone they create an energy field filled with nanites that repair nearby vehicles/aircraft/equipment) -D. Offensive 1. 360° Movement (A.I. Controlled) 2. Weapons (Light Weapons / Heavy Weapons / Artillery Weapons) 3. Shields 4. Nanite Regeneration 5. Enemy Detection (Can detect enemies within range and make them show up on owners mini map) 6. Self Destruct (Last resort measure) -E. Defensive 1. 360° Movement (A.I. Controlled) 2. Shields 3. Nanite Regeneration 4. Enemy Detection (Can detect enemies within range and make them show up on owners mini map) 5. Barricade (This defensive drone strenghtens and regenerates the shielding of any player/vehicle/aircraft/equipment within a certain radius) 6. Self Destruct (Last resort measure) *Other Drone Ideas -A. Aircraft Drones (Drones that can detach from aircraft which are A.I. controlled) -B. Vehicle Drones (Mechanized robotic vehicles that can be released or detached from other vehicles which are A.I. controlled) -C. Base Drone (A small set of automated drones that protect and maintain the base)
the devs played a little with recon drones it did not work out as attended, the lucky one's who got to test them used them to roadkill players result: no drones in PS2
Wow, I wasn't aware of those facts. I wonder what else they played around with. At any rate the current build is still top notch.
As far as drone idea's go, this one has merit. I would make the B option "Semi-AI controlled" or "semi-player controlled". The drones would never go about their tasks completely automatic around you. Use a button like X to control your drone. A medical drone could be send to heal a player for instance by looking at him and pressing X. The Phoenix missile has a maximum range of 300m because going beyond 300m means you need to reload a part of the environment, meaning you might get a short loading screen if there's too much going on around you. This is the same when you redeploy to a nearby Sunderer that's more than 300m away. So a distance limit similar to that is necessary for Drones when controlled by the player. I would change the offensive drone to shoot at the place you are shooting at too. That way it's "just" a DPS enhancer. I would change the defensive drone to do things like project a shield with X amount of health before the player, or a player that's selected. The drone can then be taken out to destroy the advantage. Then you've added a ton of functionality that makes these drone's OP as hell unless there's a hefty pricetag to them, and even with a heavy pricetag I would be hesitant of adding them: Hacking with a drone would be too good against turrets. Simply sit somewhere safe and hack the turret, who with limited vision already is pretty helpless. Cloak detection ability: While adding new abilities to drones is good, adding them on top of a HUGE list of already available abilities is not. Adding a scanner and radar to them makes them too multi-purpose. A drone should fulfill one or two functions, not be a pocket-class. Same thing for the Medical drone. It's a pocket-medic with some extra's, such as an AOE revive and stat-boost. Thats just too good. Just make it heal nearby friendlies and yourself! That's all the boost you would need from the drone. No revives, no stat boosts, just either AOE heal or heal friendlies/yourself. Engineer the same: Changing classes on a drone is absolutely not done. It leads to players being able to resupply their explosives. If you disallow resupplying of explosives I still can't agree with it. The class you pick is an important stragetic choice that shouldn't be changeable on a whim. What's "nanite regeneration"? Does it improve your resource gain? Or is it 'just' repairing? Nanite charge: A Sunderer ability on a tiny drone, no thanks. EMP discharge is too good: It's on a class that doesn't have EMP's yet and the EMP blast only works on enemies. That's too much. Basically the same for the offensive and defensive drones, just stick with them performing one or two tasks.
I just want to see NS dumb bots wandering around big bases (Tech plant, Amp Station, Biolab). Make them as loud and as slow as the Spitfire turrets.
I like it. What about player controlled spitfires, AV spitfires or AA spitfires ? This would be similar to what TFC had back in the day where you got a camera in your HUD of what your spitfire sees, then you can take it over when action happens. The trade off would be the player controlled one would have a cool down to refresh once blown up. I only played the modded version of TFC.
Th Recon Drone was almost finished, it was going to go on the Infiltrator class, and then SOE had no ******* idea what to do and then derped out.
like i say the unofficial reason, but your also right with no explanation to the players they ******** dropped it this information came to me from a player on the test server who tested it with some devs now was he truthfully, i don't know i was not there to see it happening now if you want to keep saying i am wrong then by all means do so, i will no more respond to it
Probably the worst idea that's ever been brought up here. Ever. As if ESF's and Libs everywhere aren't enough to deal with. But AI controlled and player controlled drones that can be piloted from safety with ZERO risk to the user? Just...come on. No!
We need this stuff. Infis are supposed to deal with high-tech equipments. What do we have ? A barely interesting hacking ability. (And darts, which are great) Non lethal Recon drones, viruses, satellite transmissions, empty vehicules hacking (no sundy), sticky darts on vehicules, something to temporarly slow down vehicules for a very short period of time (kind of trap to put on the ground in replacement of AV mines), personal defensive shields in order to help teammates, high-tech personal remote automatons in order to regen (just cancel Medkits)... Some of those ideas may seem to be game breaking at first for sure. But i guess they may be introduced in a fair way in a way or another. That would add more depth, more fun to the Infi gameplay.
