A MAX costs as much as a main battle tank. Should it? Let's break down a list of advantages and disadvantages MAX have. - A MAX is both slower than any vehicle and slower than other infantry. - A MAX is more visible than other infantry. - A MAX is louder than other infantry. - A MAX cannot capture or defend points alone. - A MAX cannot overload or stabilize generators. - Unlike a vehicle that has similar limitations, you can't get in and out of a MAX at will. + A clear advantage is MAX have a large pool of HP compared to other infantry + and with dual AI weapons they deal slightly more damage output per second than a Heavy Assault with a comparable weapon. - but only at shorter ranges because of reduced accuracy and no ADS - without optics - and at a loss of all versatility (if a MAX takes two AI weapons, they have no way to deal with vehicles) -and a loss of utility (a MAX does not get Restoration kits, C4, AI mines, etc ). - MAXs do not currently have access to a one hit kill melee attack (their melee attacks should probably be OHK because they cannot sneak or cloak). MAXs have a lot of drawbacks compared to both true vehicles and infantry but only a few clear advantages. Why should they cost as much as a Main Battle tank and more than FOUR TIMES that of a Sunderer (a vehicle which the entire success of base assaults rests on)? They shouldn't. Their price should be cut the to something reasonable; either free but definitely no more than 150, the cost of a Harasser. Like the Harasser, when supported a MAX can be dangerous, but take one into battle solo and it's not that effective.
I think they are good at 450 I don't always wreck with a MAX but it can be very very deadly at times. I've gone on 20+ kill streaks with them not even fully certed. They definitely don't need to come down. Anything less really and they will become spammable I'd be against seeing them pulled back to back to back ala' Sunderer style. We already see how Sundy spam can be detrimental to gameplay.
Free? No. Hell no. Maybe reduced to 300 nanites, meaning it would cost 150 if your empire has Hossin on lock down. Honestly, there's only been a couple times that I hadn't almost immediately earned back my nanites by the time I get killed as a max. Even C4 and frags cost nanites, and you have the audacity to say a MAX should be free? I do agree with getting a one hit melee though.
The price is intended to limit supply rather than be an expression of overall value. If you want to see what the game is like with cheaper MAXes, go fight the faction who has Hossin locked. It's pretty annoying. Also, MAXes only cost 2.25 times as much as a sunderer. Best to double check the facts you write in all caps. And while we're on the subject, sunderers are deliberately bargain-priced to make sure no attack can fail because the attackers can't afford sundereers. It's part of a dev initiative to keep fights going longer. Before the resource revamp, sunderers cost about as much as an MBT.
It is somewhat high for the power of a max compared to something like a prowler, main battle tank who can ignore any small arms fire. and a tank can have top gun secondary that can be anti air so they can take on any enemy. But that would mean using a max would be useless because a tank would beat one in a strait up fight all the time. So why pull a max if they cost that amount? 1. Can be used to take a base, objective, anywhere where infantry are, no roadblocks for maxes in biodomes like tanks. It can attack tanks from positions no tank can get to and with a profile a tank can never have. 2. the 450 resources is for initially spawning it, you can die and if you get medic revive no bigie, your back in the fight with the resources (unlike a tank, if it gets poped your going to need to spend resources). If you are good/smart you can spawn infinite max suits with the cases if you die and can't get resed, your not just buying one, your buying one that can be reused over and over again as long as a medic is around and your body is not camped. 3. can switch weapons at any terminal, a tank can't do that, picked ap weapons and want high explosive or vice versia, tough. So its got all the advantages of a infantry for deploying and being useful, but is considerably tougher, not tank tough but in-between Its not realy one or the other, if you are on the go, in a open field moving a vehicle is a must, if its a heated, or any kind of legthy battle with a static location, or especialy inside inside a base and you locked out, you can't use a vehicle its time to max it.
I've been playing LA a little bit more. I believe the Max just needs more, WAY MORE, protection against explosives. I mean, I enjoy the fact that a single brick of C4 will kill all but the most lucky MAXes, but at the same time, looking form their perspective, it must be infuriating, because essentially every class with someone smart enough to run with C4 behind it, except Infiltrators, are a hard counter to them. And I mean, all you need to do is generally toss it through the doorway and click the detonator, you can take out an entire max crash and their whole medic crew with just a couple sticks, and there's 0 exposure to you... I'm actually surprised maxed survive for long at all, I have to assume they need to use everyone else as meat shields just to keep anywhere near an impressive SPM or K/D ratio, and on the fact that most players simply aren't smart enough to run with C4.
350-400 would be more reasonable. 450 is a bit high, but 150 is insanely low...not realistic at all. It would be 80% MAX units in every long fight. And while MOST people running around in MAX suits aren't that great - the experienced players can get easy 10+ kill streaks and play MAXes for hours straight even at the 450 cert cost in the right situations. I routinely go for half hour or more with each MAX pull. So making them TOO cheap would make YOUR life a pain in the butt. It would ALSO be nice to start at a lower BASE cost (say, 350)...and then add a few more UPGRADE OPTIONS to the MAX. After a certain level of UPGRADES, then the COST increases (400, 450...) maybe maxing out at 500 depending on what options/upgrades are available.
300 sounds more appropriate, but MAX suits are in a tricky spot. Too cheap and they'll practically be oozing out of the walls. Too expensive and players won't want to risk wasting certs because of a single rocket or stick of C4. I wish MAX suits were more squad-reliant, and not the zergsuits you throw into a biolab enmasse to win.
I dont think maxes should be cheaper because noone wants a fight with 50%+ maxes in it. But what i think is that the AA weapons should get stronger because a 350nanite ESF can take out a max within a blink of an eye while the 450nanite max has to use a double buster with two times extended mags to have a chance to get the esf with the last few shots (but untill then the esf will have used afterburner to run like a chicken). Or: Make ESF a lot more expensive (500-550nanites) because they have such a high killing potential (especially with the lol-pod/AI-nosegun-"im a profarmer"-combo
Yea, you should be able to pull 2 of them back to back with Maximum nanites WITHOUT Hossin Captured (Is it Hossin that is MAX unit cost reduction?) They are not too OP, but also they are not quite balanced... They are in a very precarious position between balanced, and OP.
The problem with making ESFs more expensive is that it's already really, really hard to learn to fly them, and the main reason for that, IMO, is that you have to keep throwing nanites down the drain for a minute or two's worth of practice. You can't just keep dying and throwing yourself back into the fight, having learned a tiny bit more, like you do as an infantryman. Having been on both sides of the AA MAX/ESF match-up, I'd say the burster MAX has the clear advantage. Yeah, if you catch the MAX offguard, you can swoop in and practically instagib it with your AH/Banshee (it's a lot of fun), but realistically, a decent burster MAX shouldn't let you get that close in the first place, and if they do, they should charge away the instant they realize what you're trying to do to them.
Maxes are serious force multipliers and I don't think you should be able to spam them. I play quite a bit of MAX and with the current price it can only be pulled a couple of times before you have to wait for some time. It's not really fair to compare them to tanks, you can't bring tanks to an infantry fight (well you can but not as easily and everywhere) and a MAX' when upgraded is very powerful. I have taken out three sunderers in a row placed at three very diferent locations in under 5 minutes with my AT max basically singlehandedly turning the tide of that fight. I would most likely have been killed off in a tank. They are pricy to pull but I think they should be. Keep in mind that max'es kan "kit-switch" in combat. I often deal with sunderes first, then change to AI and go for the cleanup, or if we get camped by air, dual burstermax with ext mags is very good as a deterent. EDIT: Only ESF that can instagib a burster-MAX is the AirHammer Reaver. That thing is insane, even if you have MAX flak (maybe you should have kinetic - I haven't tested) you will get killed so fast you can't deal with him face to face.
That is what flak armour is for. ONE level of flak armour and you survive one C4, At max level you have almost 50% health left after one c4 brick have hit you. Yes that is a trade of; you give up kinetic or autorepair, but that is a choice. I always run with flak when in close quarters, and with level one EOD-Hud you will see all C4/Proxy/Tankmine setups. The MAX does not need a buff against C-4. And one level of Flak armour is cheap. The entire flak-armour cert-line is cheap for the Max. Most people think they are invulnerable when playing a max, gets owned and run to the forums asking for a MAX-buff. The max abilities needs a balancing run. SOE/Shield/Lockdown, but the base MAX is good enough - you are not supposed to eat two Decimator shots and just walk away.
Ok, how about making the ESF prices loadout specific. ESF with Nosegun only (no afterburner): 250Nanites ESF with Nosegun and afterburner: 300Nanites ESF with Nosegun and secondary (no afterburner): 500-550 Nanites --> and when i say no afterburner i mean ABSOLUTELY NO AFTERBURNER, because having it is a big advantage and should not be for free even while beeing a little restricted. while using such a pricemodel it would not be to expensive to learn how to fly and the lol-pod-infantry-farmers would get a restriction by the extra price of the secondary weapons.
There are plenty of fights where a well positioned AV MAX is a MUCH larger threat to enemy tanks than a tank of your own is. If you're TR you might not quite agree but on VS and especially NC(Ravens), the AV MAX is definitely worth the cost of an MBT. It's hard to even talk resource balance though since the resource revamp is incomplete and we're in a pretty weird situation with resources right now. While I don't chain pull MAXes or consider myself a dedicated MAX user, I haven't found the resource cost of MAXes overly restrictive as the sort who uses them as just one tool in my toolbox.
MAXes used to cost 350 nanites and before that, 350 infantry resources. Back in the old system there was a natural timer that limited how often you pulled one, but with the new system you can pull 2 MAXes in a row if you have 750 nanites. They changed it to 450 so that there is a practical 2-9 minute timer between two consecutive MAX pulls, limiting abuse of force multipliers.
450 is fine, but even I would be ok with an increase to say 550 so that chain pulling is a lot less viable, the Hossin benefit doesn't help. Id class myself as a heavy MAX user but even i recognize that MAX spam can get really out of hand and needs to be curbed, so no I wouldn't advocate a decrease that would aggravate the situation and give the HA primaries even more to cry about.
Boy am I glad I run flak armor on my max. I don't understand why most people don't. I don't need to run from C-4. I laugh at C-4.
-Make MAXes cost cheaper (300 / 350). -Add a 50 / 100 nanite cost for each time they accept a revive. -Refund haf the MAX cost (150/175) to the user if he switch from MAX to an other class. It may help a lot when you play as AA MAX Done.
I run my MAX the same way I run my tanks - don't be ignorant of where I set up. ALL C4 that lands at my feet is squarely done so because I made a horrible positioning mistake and neglected to pay attention. No matter what, the guy chucking that C4 has to get well within range of my AI, or find a situational perch I chose to walk up to to drop bricks down on top of me. Yes, it's annoying to get bricked. Generally speaking, it's one of the few deaths in game where I can chalk it up to me being an idiot. But honestly, they're well worth the cert price if you actually pay attention to your minimap and where you're standing. Getting bricked isn't this super evil that's spammed with no way to counter it. Hell, being in a tank or MAX makes predicting LA behavior very, very easy...
