PLEASE! Rotate Connery's maps! It's Esamir/Oshur every night!

Please, DEVS, for the love of Vanu, could you please kick the rotation on Connery a bit. We log into Esamir every single night for 2 months. People don't even wanna play anymore. I'm begging you. Thank you.

I would love if they cut the continent sizes in half, but doubled the amount of them instead. Maps are too big and it's difficult to focus battles where it matters. Right now it's kind of Wild West with people spread out everywhere.

Continent lock is player-driven. When one faction captures enough of the map, a Meltdown alert starts. After the alert, the continent locks and, if there are enough players in the server, the continent that has been locked for the longest time gets opened up.

Don't suppose you have a cartel on your server, doing its upmost to force those two continents?

The it seems like there isn't enough players on your server. So your options are to switch server and find one with a population, OR, you continue on like you are doing now. Don't expect DBG to do anything. They don't seem to care about these matters for some reason. During day-time, my server Cobolt is practically empty. If you look at the server population every single PS2 server is low.

No. Not enough pop on Connery. Map rotation means chance of Esamir or Oshur being next in queue when primetime hits is very high. Then, people (myself included), see Esamir and just log off. Esamir is just awful now. Awful. Between containment sites and capture the flag....AWFUL. And with so little pop on Connery already, the one or two decent sized fights get stuck in one of those awful areas, and more people log off, removing chance for an alert and a new continent.

literally esamir and oshur every night for the past 2 months, fkn kill me now

I'm sure hundreds and hundreds and hundreds enjoy it. Why change it, you'll anger the hundreds?

Imagine being a developer team that could increase the player count immediately by ROLLING BACK features (namely, deleting Oshur), but without the pride. Oops! here comes Mithril. In all seriousness though, I propose that Oshur be removed from the map pool for one month just to experiment. We're interested in tracking # players before and after to see if that helps the game. Why? there is something wrong with that map, it is custom-built for A2G and Construction griefers.

We, of course badly need the other maps to be re-added to the pool. This is outrageous. The last time I recall having these kind of shenanigans was when for months Indar would auto-lock for the TR (around 2016).

I do hope you're joking. Oshur is my favorite map at the moment. Underwater fights are a nice change of pace. It's also the only continent in which Corsair can be used and the novelty of the human cannon hasn't worn off yet.

I would love to see this. I personally dislike Oshur and log out if it's the only continent open. I find construction on Oshur is not really that good and the only thing viable is artillery. Hell, I farmed over 1000 kills during 1 alert with the flail in the center of the map. Frankly, I felt a little bad doing it. I do enjoy the underwater fights but it's not enough to keep me enticed. Especially with the deadlock in the center of the map, now adays it's just an artillery farming stalemate until someone decides to push the sides of the map.

I guess you're right, this would likely bother the people who enjoy the underwater fighting or sailing the Corsair.

The reason I characterized Oshur to the effect of a paradise for A2G and Construction griefers (and I forgot "plinker" griefers) is because of the following:

• Air can shoot through the water at submersible vehicles, (thus, A2G unfairness is exacerbated).
• Remind me, how good is flak against an ESF that is diving underwater?
• Amphibious vehicles are easily picked-off because of how slow they are at traversing the water, while they can sink, air can still take them out.
• The coastlines for the overwhelming majority of the Archipelagos consist of tall ledges from which it is too easy to fall-off into the water. When you do fall, it takes 2:00 minutes to circumvent the archipelago to this tiny bit of coast-proper that will allow you to climb up. Meanwhile, if an A2G griefer loses their ESF, they can pull a new one for Cortium in ~15 seconds.
• The bridges connecting the Archipelagos are excessively long, leading to stalemates that favor the TR (because of Prowler barrage and anchoring) or VS (if they happen to wield enough Perihelions), or the side with a substantial agglomeration of Larion users. Yes, these bridges are THAT long.
• The archipelagos themselves are too narrow. It takes a single Construction griefer to choke the innermost, *sigh*..., "bitten-off donut" at the middle of Oshur. I forget the name of the Tower that the developer team decided to sink (to force that niche of underwater fights that they are soo proud of onto players), but, to the south of it there is that partially-raised bridge that *connects* the middle donut to another archipelago. Currently, Oshur gameplay devolves into a stalemate due to player-made bases to the East and West of the sunken tower. The third faction builds a player-made base across that raised bridge that connects to that archipelago from earlier. While the two factions are busy duking it out in the main donut, the griefers in the faction to the south amass Larions, Perihelions, or anchor Prowlers and plink at the two factions. That's essentially Oshur in a nutshell.
• Because of the previous two points, Construction players find the Flail particularly lucrative. Lots of forcibly still or moving but relatively confined targets due to the flaws of the map.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Water slows down projectiles and causes them to sink. Projectiles with no bullet drop only travel for a limited distance underwater before they're erased (for Pariah, it's ~90 meters). The water surface effect also obscures the view of anyone above it. I find it quite hard to shoot at something under from above water. The people that manage it have always impressed me.

Aircraft being able to fly underwater for safety really has been an issue, but from a design standpoint, what is the alternative? There are few mountains in Oshur that aircraft can use for cover. If they can go under, then it's too hard to kill them, but if they can't – they're dead meat. How would you solve this issue?

While not exactly on this issue, one of the guys in my outfit suggests Corsair depth charges and submarines.

The rough terrain of Oshur is one of the selling points for me. Not every map should be an open field like Indar or Esamir.
You need to have either a Valkyrie or a Corsair in your squad for mobility. Either that or just redeploy.

If you're fighting at a choke point like that, then you're committing a strategic mistake. Drive around it – all vehicles can go through water. Or just ditch your tank, grab aircraft or Corsair and start C4ing everything you can get your hands on.

Amusingly, just last night on Emerald, the South did a pretty good job at pushing the center with armor. It was still a fight that goes no where, like it usually is and like it is in every other continent's center, but it was fun.

If I recall correctly, Excavation Cleanup Site doesn't have a no-construction zone. This allows for the Flail to fire directly on it, which is a bit of a problem when a Stalker can do it in a mere split second of visibility, but they're testing the whole laser designator thing in PTS currently, which will hopefully mitigate it.

Honestly, I would love to fire the Flail on more bases in the game. Crown, Ascent, Gourney Dam and Nason's Defiance. They all gather people that are disinclined to contribute to their faction and just want to fight it out until the end of time. Nuking them a few times is only just.

I know several spots on other continents that are just as good, if not better, for Flailing. Even though Flail is powerful, if set up correctly, Oshur is largely water and there you can't build. There are only 3-4 sweet spots in a circle around the center where you can place a Flail and fire across the water – the range on that thing is 500m and the exclusion zone for other Flails is 200m, which (given that the Silo radius is 100m) means only one Flail per Silo.

When a Flail fires on me, I don't just grit my teeth and get back into the zerg. I ask my squad to help me take out that Flail and salt the earth it stood on.

So this is the issue though, specifically with Oshur, it takes FOREVER to initiate a lock because of how the map is laid out. Every other map you can usually get a lock to happen within eeehhhh an hour or so. But Oshur, oshur is another story, I have seen emerald sand bag that map for 4+ hours BEFORE a lock even starts, because everyone basically gets stuck in the exact same 3 zones every time, and its just a 4 hours slug fest of more or less influtrators and tanks trading shots because Oshur is an entire map of cliff faces and long barren valleys/beaches.

It sucks it horribly sucks, Any more Oshur is just a check point that tells me to go take a break when i see it come into the rotation.

Roll Connery to Emerald!

I mean, not relevant to the issue, but yeah why not.

My gripe with A2G when the ground target is underwater is that it forces the latter to essentially give-up the vehicle. On ground, at least, there is often a bump or rock onto which I can angle my MBT and get (on ocassion) a clutch snipe on ESFs. The A2G fiasco goes from a "bad joke" to "insulting" when the ground target is underwater. It sucks for both air and ground. Air can't reliably get a kill, and ground cannot repair and must spend several minutes getting back to shore. As far as hitting the underwater target, it's not that difficult when the A2G consists of a hovering Dalton Lib.

The alternative is that aircraft get clapped underwater. The moment they touch the water they sink or crash.

The anti-feature of A2G asymmetry has been a problem since the game's release. The problem is very simple: Aircraft can equip A2G weapons without compromising their A2A capability. Meanwhile, ground vehicles cannot do the same. Either they gear exclusively for G2G, or compromise G2G for the privilege of having some G2A. A Hornet ESF can still dogfight other ESF (and even use the Hornets in the A2A engagement). A Dalton lib does the exact same thing. Meanwhile, a skyguard gives up most of its G2G to be able to have competent G2A. Aircraft get to have competent A2A and competent A2G. Solution? MBTs, Lightnings, Harassers, Sunders ALL get an additional secondary weapon that is specifically one of the G2A guns (Ranger or Walker).

Amerish and Hossin ring a bell? They have rough terrain, Oshur has unforgiving terrain (unless you're a Magrider main).
F*&^ *having* to get aircraft. That attitude preserves the whole A2G problem. In the maps where ground vehicles are an option, aircraft are most certainly also an option. I don't like the c4 option because it incentivizes perpetuating the broken state of Construction (namely the "free" pulls). Anyhow, I don't like spending several minutes driving underwater in Oshur, I might as well play another game.

I agree 100% with the sentiment.
I'll do you one better. I propose that people who go on killstreaks of, say... 30,... get a free OS a la CoD style.

Nerf Flail health so that smaller squads or even individuals can take it out.
Your beginner players are not likely capable of putting a squad together like that.
Also, bear in mind that Flails are typically surround by other construction and enemy players.
Saying "let's kill this Flail" is not always straightforward.

In that case, you should suggest hiding the 'spotted' state of vehicles underwater from those above water. Then even if you can't fight back, all you would have to do to reliably stop getting shot is drive around a bit.

I asked for an alternative, not "death to all aircraft!".

Are you serious? Have you ever flown aircraft? Have you tried hitting other aircraft with the Dalton? How about Hornets? You would get eaten alive! Using Hornets or Dalton to fight air is like using your MBT cannon to shoot down air, except your MBT is being driven by someone else, on uneven terrain, at twice the speed and in the wrong direction. The people that manage it have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours perfecting their craft. What skill does Skyguard or Ranger require? None – just point and click. And maybe lead a little, if you're a big boy.

They're not free. They're simply something someone else pays for. For even if Cortium grows on trees, it takes someone's labor to pick up the fruits. Say thanks, to the builder that puts tanks in your hands, and help protect their base.

That's a terrible idea. Expected K/D for infantry players is 0.5, because they constantly get farmed by vehicles. If you give superweapons to people with killstreaks, then you won't reward good players, you'll reward MAXes, Infiltrators, grenade/Scorpion spammers, A2G farmers and tanks. Support classes and other players that sacrifice their stats for the objective (e.g. those that breach rooms or guard Sundies) will get hit the hardest and they keep the ball rolling!

This is a very different game, compared to CoD, and if they would implement this, it would encourage a passive playstyle, where everyone who wants a killstreak avoids any risk at all. Even now we have problems with people camping inside spawn rooms!

I would go in the complete opposite direction – rather than granting CoD-type killstreaks, I would remove passive Nanite regeneration and reward them for capturing/defending points, killing/guarding deployed Sunderers and resupplying (or fighting at) construction bases. You want a vehicle? You want explosives? Go contribute.

That'll get rid of all the Liberator and MBT "mains", because – as was pointed out by my outfit leader back in beta – vehicles do not capture points. As a consequence, this will make constructed bases far more useful and bring back one of the original Planetside's favorite features – player-fueled bases feeding fights.

It's been a long time ago, but if I recall correctly, that's similar to how they did it in the past (in Planetside 2, that is) – you went into a hex that had the type of resource you wanted and killed players to get it. The only problems with which were that it only rewarded kills and gave you a passive trickle based on your faction's holdings.

They already can? It has about the same health as a base turret. Anyone can take it out very easily. If it isn't being repaired. If it is, then the problem is no longer the Flail's health, but that you're being contested by other players. You need one Lightning with HEAT for every engineer repairing it and you'll kill it no problem, because a tank can out-damage a single repair tool.

For the "zig-zagging" to be reliable, the water needs to be deep enough. There are many parts of Oshur where the water is shallow, namely, the coastlines.

Aircraft flying underwater is just silly, they really should get clapped by the water.
How about, it takes afterburner(AB) to be able to overcome sinking?
No AB, you just sink.

Yes, I am serious and have flown aircraft.
Hitting aircraft with the Dalton is tricky, not gonna lie. However, hitting ESFs with it is feasible if you (as gunner) have a pilot who understands "Liberatordynamics." Once the pilot grasps the concept, gunning becomes rather rewarding. If the gunner is not a good shot, well, get some Hyenas. I don't fly Liberators as often as I drive tanks, but, when I do fly, the question of loadout is:
Am I gonna put Hyenas or Bulldog in the back? Make no mistake, the meta for Liberator is this: For anti-anything, Dalton+TankBuster+(Tail gun of choice). For infantry A2G Griefing, the loadout is Bulldog+(Duster or Zephyr)+Spur. For vehicle A2G Griefing, (Tail gun of choice)+(Shredder)+(Nose gun of choice)

Hornets can be used in dogfights when an ESF gets within point-blank range. This happens more often during hover duels than what people think. If I'm ambushing a hovering ESF, during my approach, I can let off Hornets and guide them into the hovering ESF. Sorry if I gave the impression that one would offload the dogfighting solely to the Hornets, NO! You still rely mostly on your nose gun, Hornets will sporadically augment your A2A (on top of granting you great A2G).

Anyhow, regarding the "skill" comment.
Say you're right.
I'm just fighting fighting fire with fire here.
Hovering over a defenseless target (because it can't aim up, and for it to aim up it must pay a price that you don't) also takes no skill.

Cortium grows on the ground.
The "labor" argument, unfortunately, doesn't extend to MBTs or Liberators.
In one minute, I get 50 nanites. However, in one minute, one can harvest a lot more Cortium than whatever the nanite equivalent is. Picking-up Cortium is too easy for how many freaking Lightnings/ESF one can pump out with it.

I agree with the overall sentiment.

I am one of those MBT mains. While it is true that I'm not capping points, I am certainly destroying the enemy Sunderers. If anything, the MBT mains help during defense. During offense, not so much because like you said, they are not capping points. During offense, the only way for an MBT main to contribute is by farming the defenders (which helps prevent them from flipping the point). It would be nice to have more points that can be capped whilst in a vehicle (to allow vehicle mains to contribute). This would require flatter terrain and points in the open, which will also give Construction players nicer places to build at.

Sure, but, this neglects the totality of the circumstances that may arise when poking a base.

• There could be a vehicle turret firing back (now vehicle turret needs to be taken care of first).
• Not an AV turret? AI and AA turrets can kill a Lightning faster than the Lightning can kill a Flail, so the lightning might have to first take care of the other turrets.
• The base's owner might decide not to repair, and instead pull a *hard-worked for, earned, definitely not free* Hornet ESF and kill the Lightning. Lightning got a lucky snipe on ESF? No problem, let's pull again, and again, there's no way they gets THAT lucky every time.
• Enemy is using AA for whatever reason? Repeatedly pull your *hard-worked for, earned, definitely not free* Viper Lightnings, and light em up.
• And, what about other players roaming around? Why might this be the case? Oshur's middle donut, that's why.

/reported