[Vehicle] Tanks vs. Anti-Vehicle and Air - My observations

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Verviedi, Sep 17, 2014.

  1. Verviedi

    This is going to be a rant, folks.

    I played for an hour, all infantry, to get my Lasher auraxium worked on.
    I logged for 2 hours because playing infantry is boring.
    Then, I joined my outfits OPS, and we did some armor shenanigans at Indar Exc against the NC.

    I can make some observations.
    As soon as I pulled mag and entered the combat zone, I was being spammed by random hits that ate tons of health. They made no sound, and the projectiles didn't render. Only when I heard a SCREEE I realized that they were Ravens, also known as the most OP thing since the Tankbuster. They were being fired by a non-rendering MAX, and killing helpless tank after helpless tank. I estimate the raven user killed at least 1500 resources worth of armor, and he never died as far as I could see.

    I managed to escape this Raven spam, and hid behind a rock. I saw a Vanguard in the distance, and did a manuever to get behind him. He was looking away, and I silently slid behind him, preparing for the kill. Suddenlt, I heard a RASSSSSROOOR and a wild reaver appeared! It sat right above the AP cannon's elevation, and spammed the living hell out of me with Hornets. I bailed, and debris killed me.

    The next life, I pulled magrider, and was immediately instagibbed by tank mines on the pad, placed by none other than Alarox, who I thought was above this. Seeing as my resources were out, I quickly and violently logged off of both TS3 and PS2.

    What issues exist with AV?
    -NOTHING should kill anything from beyond render range. If I get spammed, than I expect to engage the Raven spammer.
    -ESF noseguns should NOT damage tank armor. Being spammed by a Mustang reaver hovering beyond traverse range is annoying as hell, and often results in my death.
    -Tank mines should explode when placed within 20 meters of a vehicle pad.

    Now, I know I'll be flamed for "Lonewolfing", but here are some FACTS.
    -Reavers are 1-person vehicles, and cost less resources than a Magrider. They should not kill a Magrider without any risk.
    -Tank mines are also a 1-person thing, and cost fewer resources than a Magrider, but provide a 100% chance guaranteed kill if clipped into the ground in front of a vehicle pad, so fix the mines clipping into ground bug if you want the ground vehicle game to be fun, SONY.


    • Up x 8
  2. a-koo-chee-moya

    If your lone wolfing:
    Buy Ranger/Walker
    Switch to seat 2 if engaged by air.
    Shoot and Win.
    • Up x 2
  3. Verviedi

    Walker is still absolute garbage. If my tank is being spammed a walker won't save me. Also, due to a MGrider having higher DPS in the Saron than the FPC, it's moronic to take anything other than the Saron.
    • Up x 5
  4. Tommyp2006

    Tank mines already do do that actually. And I agree, you should never be able to be killed by something outside of your render distance.
  5. a-koo-chee-moya

    When calculating DPS, yes Saron does have a higher theoretical DPS. However:
    1. Using Saron removes Magrider's key ability, mobility, so you have just become a tank with less DPS than Prowler and less armor than Vanguard.

    2. Saron's DPS drops off rapidly at range, due to its cooldown between shots. FPC will serve you much better at the ranges that Magrider is suited to (100-250m)
  6. Yeahy

    No offense but watching Damann's stream:
    I cannot vouch for the credibility of your statements.
  7. Yeahy

    Coulda saved you so much rage to look for 5 seconds for tank mines.
    • Up x 5
  8. Lord_Avatar

    Yep - it's a rant.

    Cool off, have a drink and chill. You were soloing - what did you expect was going to happen should an ESF sniff you out?

    As for AV hitting from beyond render range - yeah, that is broken.
    • Up x 4
  9. EnsignPistol

    Well, I'm with you on the rendering thing, but noseguns not damaging armor? It's the only weapon the things start with, and the privilege of owning any secondary weapon is rather out of the cert budget even for players who make it past the BR 10 wall of death (last I heard less than 10% of all characters actually make it past that battle rank. Not counting passive gains, that's only about 200 certs). Meanwhile the big issue there was more the angle at which you were attacked: Even if you couldn't damage a tank with an ESF gun, the same pilot could just have positioned themselves the same way and hit you with rocket pods or hornets.

    Really, the bigger problem is just that the overall implementation of vehicles, especially air vehicles, is a huge mess. I don't think anything short of a total rethinking of the role of vehicles and their interactions with bases will help much.
    • Up x 3
  10. IamnotAmazing

    sigh...hitscan weapon and you're not happy with it
    • Up x 1
  11. Klypto

    Hornets suck. A lot of pilots don't enjoy them, they are too slow and force you to hover. A lot of ground vehicles don't like them, they are very hard to dodge.

    I would rather have launch-grade rocket pods than hornets in the game.

    It's more of a "this is very boring to use most of the time".

    If bursters could not be changed out you might see a lot less of them.
    • Up x 3
  12. Flashtirade

    To be fair, some vehicle pads are actually some distance away from the terminals that use them, like the ones at Howling Pass Checkpoint on Indar. This is more of a base design issue though.
    • Up x 2
  13. CorporalClegg

    Man, all this NC Max AV whining I'm seeing lately... It'll be rough when the whining gets our max nerfed and NC will just be PPA fodder. But then again, I guess I'll understand how TR players feel. You guys get the real short end of the stick on AV options.
  14. Thesweet

    Boring, and it is supposed to be a semi secure are being a base/outpost.
    • Up x 1
  15. Alarox

    Ironic twist incoming.

    I was dealing with the same exact thing you're talking about in my Vanguard, getting constantly pelted by invisible damage from non-rendering infantry. The reason I was in your base was because I gave up tanking there and, out of frustration, slammed a Valkyrie into your pad in an attempt to wipe out your MAXes.

    Non-rendering AV and aircraft are things that each faction has to deal with, and I hate it too. Both of which are extremely easy to use and have little to no counterplay. You can't hit that which doesn't render and aircraft just hover over you and spam because they can.

    Edit: Regarding the mines, just check before you pull. I do it every time I pull a vehicle in order to avoid the frustration you're feeling now.
    • Up x 6
  16. Alarox

    1.) PPA only works up to 300m so you don't need >400m range AV weapons to counter them.

    2.) If we stop AV weapons from working beyond render distance then you won't need Ravens to counter PPA Magriders since your Vanguards will actually be able to move out without being nailed by Lancers/Vortexes from 700m away.
    • Up x 5
  17. Neo3602

    I do agree that being attacked by a non rendering enemy is complete ******** and should be fixed, though making it so you can't damage tanks with a ESF noesgun would pretty unfair for newer people getting into the air game considering both of the secondary AV options cost 1000 certs.
  18. Alarox

    Your nosegun isn't going to kill a tank, but the fact that it damages armor encourages those newer pilots to spam clip after clip and allows experienced pilots to do the equivalent of trolling.
    • Up x 4
  19. Lynoocs

    sure, let's talk about getting hit from things that don't render. lancer and vortex? would be nice to limit them to 400m, like the ravens you call op?
    • Up x 2
  20. Neo3602

    It might take a while to kill a full health tank but the nose gun can be used to pick off injured vehicles and to prevent skilled ESF pilots abusing it by hovering just beyond a tanks turret traverse range why not increase a tanks turret traverse range so it can aim almots straight up?
    • Up x 2