[Suggestion] Should Repair tools/medic tools require ammo?

I dunno, even as a tanker I've come to think that both the Engi repair tool, and the Medic revive tool should both have some kind of Ammo. You would need to get it from an equipment terminal however to prevent engies from just refilling their repair tools all the time. Sure you could upgrade the tool to let it hold more ammo in reserve and give it a clip size.

Remove heat mechanic on Engi too give it clip and pool of reserve ammo. I get annoyed seeing a medic being able to res ten people with out stopping. Or two Engies repairing things non stop with out ever running out of juice. Perhaps I'm alone on this? I dunno if it would even be good or bad for the game. But I'm curious if anyone else is for the idea. Or if it is just something that wouldn't really have an effect on the game and isn't worth implementing.

Anyone else have thoughts on it?

*throws down Ammunition Package*

*repairs like it's going out of style*

I already said it would require returning to equipment terminals to get more to avoid that. ;-)


That is why you read the pages between the cover of the book Mr. Fate ;-) Or did you just thing game of thrones was a medieval game of musical chairs and never watched it?

Pretty much this.
It could be an interesting dynamic, but I think that it would detract even more people from playing underutilized classes.

Yes. Buff all land vehicle durability by 1000% and it's a deal.

In other words, no.

What about upping the repair speed to compensate for limited usage?
Or even make it so that the engi has both versions. The slower, unlimited one, and the signifigantly faster limited one.

I've actually never watched a single episode of Game of Thrones but that's neither here nor there.

My comment is to point out how the arbitrary condition is silly. I can drop the same (two) Ammunition Packages endlessly. If the ability to repair or revive someone endlessly is silly, why not the Ammunition Pack? Why are bullets and rockets allowed to be so copious when the things we shoot them at restricted? As for other classes, is it justifiable that Heavy Shields and Infiltrator Cloaks and Jetpacks keep recharging? what about auto-repairing utilities and re-supplying utilities in Vehicles? should they also run out of "juice?"

Planetside 2 would be a much more interesting game if everything had ammunition; including abilities.

A fair point indeed.....I'm inclined to agree with what you are saying. I can see the problem that would pose.

Perhaps engi's should get a limited amount of ammo packs? It would certainly make upgrading them more worth while. Do you think this might also solve the issue?

What about the medic gun? That has an unlimited amount of ammo and never overheats. I like the idea of at least having it overheat from reviving a MAX or over heating if you revive two people or heal to long if it doesn't have some sort of ammo like I'm wondering about.

My main question is, why should it use ammunition? To slow down gameplay?

I'm not entirely sure to be quite honest. I feel there is something inherently flawed with infinite ammo on both items. The engi tool at least has a heat mechanic. The Medic tool does not. But I feel like tanks wouldn't be overly aggressive if they had a finite amount of repair juice. Which I just get the feeling it might offers a better game experience all around. You may beable to repair your vehicles faster with out having to pause for over heating. But if you are taking to much damage you are going to have to fall back to a base/sundie to refill your repair tools.

As for medics well tell me it isn't a bit infuriating when you slip into a room kill six guys only only to have a medic have them all on their feet again in five seconds? Eh I dunno just not a big fan of that. But I'm not against the status quo I just feel there may be a better way and i'm brainstorming.

I don't mind adding complexity so long as it enforces the dependence units have on each other... I just see this as a nerf to support on items that leave them vulnerable meanwhile class abilities can infinitely recharge because reasons.

I believe this shifts the balance of infantry power unnecessarily even further toward Heavies.
So one vote against.

It's about as absurd to unnecessarily punish a class mechanic as if you were to add an "ammo" or "energy" pool to the Heavy Shield, Infil Cloak, and LA's Jetpack. Of course only allowing them to be refilled at Infantry terminals.

That would get so incredibly frustrating so quickly; that it wouldn't even be worth playing anymore.
There's a saying for that, Complexity without reward; I think it is. A game like planetside especially doesn't need complexity without there being a substantial reward behind mastering that complexity.

Perhaps the Spitfire is a good counter example - Almost all of the calls to buff the Spitfires doesn't ask for any more damage or health, just the ability to replace it without visiting a terminal.

My thoughts exactly!
This mechanic would add so much more value to avoiding getting hit. ATM tanks and harassers are frequently seen just sitting in front of a spawn room, driving a few meters back for repairs from time to time. Sundies camping the spawn room while being repaired by 20 engineers. People camping the doorways because they know they have a medic behind them who can safely revive them indefinetly.

Add repair/healing tool ammo and puff - suddenly it's all gone. The gameplay becomes much more tactical, as the exposure time has to be minimised. Medics may have to choose: do I keep reviving that guy who is out in the open and will die 10 more times before reaching cover or do I save my ammo for someone worth saving? Drivers may have to resign from camping the spawn room and/or standing out in the open. The spawn rooms have a large no-deploy zone around them which means you can't deploy a sundy in close proximity, which means that the attackers too close to the spawn may have to run all the way back to resupply, while the defenders have a terminal right behind their backs, making it easier to push the campers back.

Bbb-but other abilities do not require ammo!
No they don't. But the repair/healing gun is not an ability. It's a tool. All the other tools require ammo. So this is unfair compared to other classes. And while we're at it all the other tools shouldn't be able to resupply from an ammo box either(no more recon dart spam). Then allow the valkyrie and sundy to resupply tools as the only vehicles in the game and you greatly increase their importance as support vehicles.

Remember - in PS1 healing and repairing did use ammo. And as we all know PS1 had a lot better metagame than PS2.

No. while in the real world its unlikly the magic Nanites would function for eternity like they do in game. due to how vital those devices are in this game and the well known fact that this isnt even remotely a simulation of real world combat... ammo would only lead to frustration an anger. imagine newbies where the only reliable means of gaining certs is from healing ... revies... and Repairs. Because Iron sights in game on esspecially the oldest weapons are utter crap and penalties to flying and driving are greatly exacerbated.

and lets say for example you dont care about new players joining a dieing game. yeah who needs those people anyways? anyone that primaries as an engy would likely tell you that engy tools cant out tank damage. the only reason i feel you would want this Nerf is because of people using them to repair harassers and ATVs while riding in the rear passenger. That has already been nerfed. the repair rate is grealty reduced while seated in the vehicle... just keep shooting and if you have the guts get your own ride and go after them... you will likely see them on fire around a corner trying to get the smoke to go away.

Hey it's in ps1 and it encouraged more team oriented play in the fact that a MAX unit could have half of its backpack filled with med tool canisters and have a repair gun in it for when somebody needs supplies.

That would be interesting. PS1 used to have ammo for repair and medic tools. And reviving required quite big chunk of that ammo. On the other hand, you decided how much of that ammo do you carry.

No sir, I dont want you to take away my nice things.

While it sounds like an interesting prospect, you would have to analyze specifically how these things behave in the larger scope of battles, from both the perspective of the attackers and the perspective of the defenders, and with what other aspects of the battle they interact. After that, all the things in the list of related features must be made finite in some way at the same time; or, at least, they must be incrementally updated thus that they are finite, paying attention to the consequences of the previous adjustment in real time. If you don't do that, you risk favoring some part of a hypothetical battle too greatly comapred to a part of the battle that it would oppose. The wriggle-room to observe newly emergent strategies must also be taken into account, else we risk missing those things that change.

I don't believe, at this point, the combined playerbase and developer pool is responsible enough to perform such a delicate surgery, even if it sounds like it will benefit us in the long run.

What we are suffering from now is the excessive luxury that was imposed on the playerbase - that logistics were initialized as "reduced" to favor gameplay speed everywhere.

Infiltrators should get limited cloaking, and have to return to an infantry terminal once they have cloaked for 60 seconds total. Yes, this includes Stalker Infiltrators.

LA's should get limited jetpack fuel. Not like those things are solar powered. LA's should have a total of 30 seconds of flight time, before they need to refill their fuel tanks at an infantry terminal.

HA's should get limited shield power. Once they drain their battery, it's back to the infantry terminal!