[Suggestion] The Ultimate Thread Dedicated to Refurbishing TR as a Faction

Introduction

So basically just as the thread title suggests I think the Terran Republic need a major overhaul on their faction specific weapons, vehicles traits, and abilities. I also think the fact that the TR gets very few fun weapons causes a lot of TR players to get somewhat upset that they don't get fun weapons that force them to implement a new skill or that allows player to implement their own skill into the weapon. This also partially contributes to the misplaced feelings which causes a lot of TR on the forums to create misplaced “NC/VS” are OP threads. This seriously needs to stop because I’m tired of everyone complaining and making garbage threads on forums, and I think the TR should be the first to stop this trend. Lastly, I feel the game needs to accurately represent who the Terran Republic are supposed to be in the Lore and as to what Higby stated they should be before the TR faction traits were nerfed indirectly or directly.

How could this happen?

Through numerous decisions by the developers, ranging from in game design choices, to specific adjustments made to their weapons and vehicles in game. The Terrain Republic just don't feel as cool and unique as the other 2 factions. A lot of the Terran's weapons and vehicles only partially live up to their stated reputation, and I’m going to give the community and developers some very thought out ideas of mine and a lot of other people who play TR.

(What traits are supposed to represent the Terran Republic)

According to the Official Planetside2 Website and Matthew Higby https://www.planetside2.com/news/oct25empiredebriefTR.html

“More so than any other empire, the TR is a professional military. The TR are a professional military whose weapons and vehicles are top of the line, shining and new, but conventional. The TR prefers to stick with what has worked for hundreds of years – accurate, high velocity bullets, and lots of them. Terran Republic weapons have the fastest firing rates, largest ammo capacities, and are generally designed to allow for maximum sustainable damage.”

“The Prowler is a medium tank that is not only the fastest empire specific tank on the field but it can be armed to the teeth with extra weapon systems beyond the other empires medium tanks, making it one of the deadliest vehicles in the game.”

Now lets keep these quotes firmly in our minds as point out some flaws with the current TR and what needs to be changed.

TR Infantry Weapons

I will quickly show you through gun stats that the TR are not in line with their faction traits. These stats were obtained through the following spread sheet which was updated right after GU8.

Spread Sheet I Used

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...IU1NKenEzNzZOSWNaanFqSUVxLWc&type=view&gid=12

But before we get into the numbers remember “The Terran Republic weapons have the fastest firing rates, largest ammo capacities, and are generally designed to allow for maximum sustainable damage.” In addition Higby stated “The TR prefers accurate, high velocity bullets, and lots of them."

Based on these statements we should assume TR should have the highest fire rates, and very accurate top of line guns (meaning little to no horizontal recoil which is recoil that cannot be compensated for by the skill or techniques of the user during firing) . However I was shocked to find that this was not the case the majority of the time.

(ROF and accurate firing are no longer a unique trait for the TR)

Popular TR LMG’s
·

• T9 Carv (In ROF was tied by Orion in ROF and near tie by Pulsar LSW and SVA-88) (In horizontal recoil it unbelievably had more than all NC weapons and all VS weapons)
• MSW-R (Tied by Orion in ROF and near tie by Pulsar LSW and SVA-88) (In horizontal recoil it unbelievably had more than all NC weapons and all VS weapons)
• T-32 Bull (Tied with VX29 Polaris and EM1. Beaten by Orion, Pulsar LSW and SVA-88 in ROF) (In horizontal recoil it tied with all VS alternatives. (Incredibly it had more Horizontal Recoil than all NC alternatives but the EM1 with which it tied with.)
• TMG-50 (Tied with Flare, Gauss Saw S, and GD-22S. Beaten by all Vanu LMG’s excluding the URSA and all NC LMG’s excluding the Gauss Saw) (In Horizontal recoil it had more than the Orion, and tied with all NC weapons excluding the EM1). The TMG 50 seems to be the best TR LMG even though it’s outclassed in ROF by almost all Vanu LMG’s and multiple NC LMG’s

SMG’s

• SMG-46 Armistice ( Best ROF in its class) (However It had more horizontal recoil than all NC alternatives, and tied with VS alternatives)
• PDW-16 Hailstorm ( In ROF it was beaten by its VS alternatives the Sirius SX12, and NC alternative the Blitz GD-10 ) (It had more horizontal recoil than both NC alternatives)

Popular TR Carbines
·

• Lynx- (In ROF it was tied by the VX6-7, and beaten by the Serpent and GD-F7 in ROF) (In horizontal recoil it had more than all Vanu alternatives and had only .025 less than Serpent and VX6-7. (Amazingly it had more horizontal recoil than all NC alternatives and was tied with the GD-7F)
• Jaguar- (In ROF was beaten by Serpent, VX6-7, and GD in ROF) (In horizontal recoil it had more than all Vanu alternatives and had only .025 less than Serpent and VX6-7.) (Amazingly it had more horizontal recoil than all NC alternatives and was tied with the GD-7F)
• Trac 5- (In ROF was beaten by Serpent, VX6-7, and GD in ROF) (In horizontal recoil it had more than all Vanu alternatives and had only .025 less than Serpent and VX6-7.) ( Amazingly it had more horizontal recoil than all NC alternatives and was tied with the GD-7F)

So as we can see TR do not hold the fastest firing weapons nearly at all, this is especially the case among Vanu weapons and in some cases even the NC have faster firing weapons. In a great many cases TR had more horizontal recoil, which cannot be compensated for with skill by most NC/VS alternatives. This combined with the fact that TR has the faction trait of lower damage hitting weapons means there is clearly something wrong with the TR’s weapon balance. TR’s weapons need to fire faster than their NC/VS alternatives and at the very least need to have less horizontal recoil then the NC’s. I’m actually extremely surprised TR has been left in this state since the recent GU08 was supposed to majorly change the way weapons reacted so that they were more balanced.

T7 Mini-Chaingun

(How it is now)

(What it needs to be)

(What the TR want to feel like when firing it)

The Striker

(Why don't the TR like it, and why it isn't that cool to use)

1. The VS gets a super laser cannon that has almost no travel time, and if used by a skilled user can sniper armor from 600m away with a massive results. What other faction has it? None, it's unique only to the VS. The NC gets a TV guided missile which no other faction has and no other faction comes close to having a launcher mechanic like this. One reason for its popularity even after the nerf is because people find it very fun to use.
2. TR gets a lock-on launcher. What other factions have lock-on launchers? Oh right, all of them which is why TR feel left out that they didn’t get something new and cool. Everyone else on VS/NC can pull an Annihilator and get a similar result of the Striker if they really wanted to. My suggestion would be to make the striker a rapid fire laser guided launcher which can either shoot one rocket, or if the trigger is held down, rapidly fires all rockets at once which can then be guided to the target by user. That'll be new and unique to TR, and as long as it takes a full magazine to kill a single infantry, and has zero splash damage I think it would turn out balanced and fun. Not only will it be unique to handle, but it actually allow some user skill to come into play, and it won't absolutely destroy gameplay for dog fighting ESF pilots.

The Prowler

Description- "The Prowler's top speed and maneuverability allows it to run circles around all other tanks in its class" https://www.planetside2.com/empires?empire=tr


Prowler Special Abilities and the Problems with Anchor Mode- I love the fact that with Racer 3 I get my Prowler up to 70 KPH to flank other tanks, and escape bad situations in ways which no other MBT can do. This is quite literally how the Prowler is supposed to be like according to PS1 and its current PS2 description. However Instead of getting to use our faction specific speed advantage with a speical ability, and use my Racer 3 to its fullest, the TR gets something that takes all of that away to sit in one spot. It's the only faction MBT with an ability , Anchor Mode, that completely negates its faction specific advantage trait while at the same the time multiplying with its faction specific disadvantage of having light armor. Anchor Mode is special ability that highly situational, is not a straight up buff, and I've I'm going to invest 1700 certs into this ability to even make it worthwhile.A Prowler has the same armor and health as a Magrider which is why both the Magrider and Prowler are meant to stay mobile at all times.



I'll use the Vanguard shield as an example since it's a straight up buff ability with no real downside, and it highlights the Vanguard's unique faction trait of being the heaviest most durable tank. This is how tank special abilities should be. I don't mind keeping Anchor mode, since some TR like their tank as an artilery platform, but please also give TR an ability that increases ROF on the move ability so we can make use of our faction specific speed trait. I loved the Planetside1 Prowler, for how it acted and behaved in battle. I also loved the PS1 TR Prowler because it had a centralized turret that made it more accurate lol.

Prowler Design

(What it currently is now)

(What it really needs to be)

(What desperately needs to happen at the bare minimum)

G30 Vulcan

Currently the G30 Vulcan is one of the coolest MBT secondaries for the TR, but it has a lot of limiting factors that make it really unsatisfying.

1. First of all, it's a Galting gun which naturally means it has a fast fire rate and it fits the TR's faction "MORE DAKAH!" mentality perfectly. However unlike a true Gatling gun it only has a 30 round clip which is the standard size on a carbine. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE and mechanically speaking is ridiculously flawed. A Gatling gun is supposed to be belt fed and capable of firing over a thousand rounds a minute. Yet we get a barrel drum capable of only holding 42 round max after 1700 certs?!?!
2. Secondly, it needs to fire like a belt fed Gatling gun much like the ones found on current tanks. helicopters, and even SUV's. It should be able to accurately fire at a target and be able to maintain a constant stream of fire. If we need to add in an overheat function that will decrease as you cert into the weapons reload speed/ belt size so be it, but in the end the Vulcan should behave like the following video.If an SUV is capable of doing this, a futuristic MBT should be too.

TR MAX

If someone before you has gone through a mine field you should follow their path so you can hit as few mines as possible before continuing on. I feel that the Planetside 2 developers need to learn from the PS1 developers so they can spend less time worrying about issues that the PS1 developers already addressed.The biggest example where the current developers can do this is by giving the TR Max an ability that doesn’t reduce it to camping corners and hallways.

• In Planetside 1 many TR didn’t like Lock-down so eventually the developers gave it an ability that allowed it to move much faster while firing at a normal speed. Currently I see the Anchor Mode as a mechanic that is purely defensive, encourages camping which isn’t fun for the side being camped, and an ability that will likely get nerfed into the ground since it will be devastatingly effective against aircraft. If you want to keep the lock-down ability in fine, but I would also like an ability that doesn't make our Maxes into boring camping machines vulnerable to C4.

• Personally I would implement a mechanic that increases ROF for a limited amount of time, but implement an overheat mechanic like the Minigun turret so that if you overheated your guns the rest of the time on the ability would be wasted. You would also not be able to pick up additional ammo from engineers during this time.

Conclusion

So overall I feel that the Terran Republic are not living up to their name or the faction specific traits and abilities they are supposed to have. I believe implementing these changes will not only make the TR feel more fun and unique, but will make the game as a whole feel more unique having 3 very unique non-generic faction to play. In theory this should also end all TR faction complaints as their weapons will handle like they were meant to, and they will have cool equipment to use just like the NC/VS. As for why this is beneficial to SOE, well imagine all the additional people who would likely create TR alternate accounts and buy cool unique equipment for those characters. This will also likely help your MLG ventures to have 3 factions that are balanced and have the faction traits that they are supposed to have.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this thread, any constructive ideas or suggestions are highly appreciated.

You have my respect seriously.

We need more rifles that are like lower damage SMG's, with less bloom, more velocity, and red tracers...

Seriously: I restate the DMR-99, suppression rifle idea.

112-125 damage. (Reverse damage falloff.)
.2 shoulder fire (Still) .25 shoulderfire (Walk)
2.0 hipfire (still) 3.0 hipfire (Walk)
950 RPM (Compensated for in that this gun cannot hit on the dot under any circumstance.)
.02 bloom shoulder, .07 bloom hip (Suffers more bloom to damage then standard weapons, but at the shoulder, it is the most accurate in a 5 round burst scenario.)
45 round magazine.
2.4-3.2 reload speed.
600 velocity (Accelerates to 700 meters at 65 meters.)
.22 upwards recoil.
.17 Sideways recoil <=>

Yes. To everything.

The TR are in a weird place after so many balance changes and Nerfs. And the Items they have been given from the start are contradictory or boring to use.

Eskimo absolutely does not **** about.

I wouldn't be against things like the Carv having it's horizontal recoil lowered to be the same as it's like ( Ie: Gauss SAW ) .. The difference is tiny at 0.050 so it will not make a huge difference ..

As for RoF .. Hmmm . How would you suggest that is approached ?

If TR's RoF of certain guns is increased then the dmg would need to be reduced to retain the current TTK DPS
or
If NC/VS gun's RoF is lowered then the Dmg would have to be increased since as above to retain the TTK DPS.

You cannot just increase RoF and leave the gun's dmg as is , it would be broken.

But I know you are a sensible fellow and don't ask for changes without thinking of the deeper consequences .. So how would you make TR's RoF more of a faction trait without making them OP ?

MOAR BULLETS FASTER!!!!!!!!!

Oh man, that last pic. I would pay so much money to get the ARs in that.

The question then remains Eskimo, what would you suggest?

I'm open to the idea that TR weapons across the board get knocked down a damage tier but get kicked up a bit more in Accuracy, RoF and Clip size.

Great post.

Too bad the devs dont give a flying rats *** about the TR.

Hey, I appreciate that you made this post. There have been a good few that have really delved deep into this topic.

I just want to clarify something about the TMG-50 though. It is my second favorite weapon (1000 kills). But it's suppose to be our version of an NC equivalent (EM6, Saw S). It's the only LMG that has the damage model 167 @ 10m. The NC have four such LMGs, the VS has 2 and we have 1. But the same is true for the 143 @ 10m weapon models. We have 5. Do you know what I mean? So it's suppose to be an option for TR players to have an NC equivalent. Although I do want more with this damage model, I can see why it is not the case overall for us. You can say the same about a TR equivalent for NC. So your comment about it isn't quite fitting.

1/4. Well I despise nerfs as do many people, however I'm not sure if boosting the rate of fire would break the balance. TR's guns fire fast, but so does the VS and in some cases even the NC. So either we we buff TR guns ROF to be ridiculously fast, or we make the other guns fire comparably slower. I think all faction guns reflected their faction traits at launch, so maybe a roll back to that could work? I don't have stats that far back.

2/3. Why don't we just buff the blue shield bar like it was back in Beta, it used to count for something back then and it felt really solid.

Feel free to brainstorm with me though, I'm pretty unbiased about this stuff and like it when other factions players can help give me additional insight. The extent of my knowledge on other faction's weapons is limited to mostly the VR room, stats tables, and friends who play Planetside 2.

I feel like the TR only use the TMG 50 because it has manageable recoil. I do understand it's our version of the NC gun, it's just funny that TR don't like their own faction specific acting guns and would rather take a downgrade of an NC Gun. I remember at launch when everyone loved the Carv because it truly behaved like a TR gun and a skilled play could compensate for the vertical recoil. The biggest thing that needs to be taken out of TR guns is the horizontal recoil. That makes the gun unreliable, a professional military with top of the line guns wouldn't use it, and it doesn't make sense the TR would use crappy guns after 100's of years of choosing what works best. For instance, why did they just add a lot of horizontal recoil to the Lynx and Jaguar? I can't use skill to adjust to that, and no one complained about the Lynx or Jaguar. They were just universally known as good TR carbines... So why did it deserve the nerf bat?

I totally agree they dropped the ball on Miniguns. The M7 Chaingun, TR MAX AI guns, and the Vulcan all need to be redone to feel more like real Miniguns. The M7 is probably the closest to what it should be in terms of ROF but the damage is garbage, and the spin up time ruins it. And of course it looks ridiculous. Though they had a reason for making it that way.

The Striker is boring yes. And is a great example of how the devs don't seem to know what they are doing with the faction so just give them boring standard gear. This is why TR pops are dropping probably more than anything. I agree it would have been awesome if it was laser guided. Less annoying to air, more viable against all targets like the other factions launchers are.

As for the weapon balance I think we were screwed by the low TTK of this game. Simply put if our weapons worked like they are supposed to our guns would be by far the best. In low TTK modern shootan games it's usually fast firing, accurate guns that dominate. So they ended up giving high ROF to all factions, and just sticking us with slightly higher capacity magazines. And bad recoil for who the hell knows why.

1. Take out the vast majority of horizontal recoil from TR guns. Make the TR guns universally have less vertical recoil than the NC, but more than the Vanu. Tr guns should be very accurate, reliable with practically no horizontal recoil, but since we fire so many bullet we need to at least have a minor-medium amount of recoil which is fine. If we are a trained professional army we should be able to adjust to a little vertical recoil.

2. Clip size seems alright in Carbines and Smg's. However some of the Vanu and NC LMG's had near identical TR clip sizes which I found to be weird.

I understand that but my point was aimed more at those that are matched by VS/NC

Ie:

LMG's

The Orion has the same RoF as the Carv @ 750rpm ..

To get TR's faction trait there, one or the other would need their RoF changing . But if you change the RoF without changing the damage it has the potential to seriously unbalance the TTK DPS.

Carbines:

Now this could be an easier fix since TR don't have the highest RoF carbine

For example:

Thats the Serpent and GD-7F @ 845rpm

While the TR's best is 800rpm

So that could be addressed by just swapping the weapon stats of those guns
The LC2 - Lynx gets the stats of the GD-7F ... and the GD / Serpent get's the Lynx's

TTK and overall weapon balance could be easily fixed if they made infantry shields strong against small arms fire like they were in Beta. Back in Beta NanoWeave Armor meant a lot, and even regular shields could take quite few hits from bullets. I'm guessing they decreased the TTK to attract the COD crowd, which was a really bad call IMO.

I'm not really sure if the Devs have any intention of getting rid of horizontal recoil. They added so much in GU8 in some apparent global nerf attempt.

Only the TTK really matters. DPS is only important fighting Harrassers, and planes.