The Ultimate Thread Dedicated to Refurbishing VS as a Faction

The Ultimate Thread Dedicated to Refurbishing VS as a Faction

Introduction

About six months ago, famed player Elite Eskimo made a detailed thread designed as a guideline to help the developer team improve and expand upon the Terran Republic in-game. Because no one else has composed a similar thread to the benefit of the Vanu Sovereignty since then (to my knowledge), I have taken the task unto myself.

It is evident that an overhaul is necessary for VS specific weapons, vehicles, and abilities. Because these items are often poorly done and lack originality, balance is hard to achieve and everyone becomes dissatisfied. The developers, who are hard at work and find it difficult to find time to look at the details forming the bigger picture, often appear confused. However, they have been increasingly responsive to community feedback and organized, systemized threads have been aiding them in their quest.

Disclaimer: this thread is not a "buff the Vanu Sovereignty" thread. I desire all three factions to be equally capable. Nevertheless, the VS needs to be more unique and interesting.

What Lore-Based Traits is the Vanu Sovereignty Supposed to Have?

According to the official Planetside 2 wiki:

"The VS weapons rely on quickly energizing a splash of plasma-like ammunition that destroys the very bonding attributes of the elements that make up the armor and the flesh of enemy combatants. Although it does not have the impact of the NC weapon systems, nor is it able to equal the rate of fire of the TR weaponry, it is incredibly deadly over a wider area due to the viscosity of the energy. All VS weapons benefit from the lack of a concussive round. The drawback to having this high accuracy is the degradation of potency over distance. While conventional weapons have bullet drop, VS weapons suffer from a reduction in power over the distance traveled (if the weapon is the first sniper) and other weapons may keep the same power over distances and gain a low amount of bullet drop."

"The Scythe, the Vanu Sovereignty manned flight vehicle, rules the sky with maneuverability and agility. It uses the magnetic field of the planet Auraxis to move in ways other conventional aircraft cannot. The Ancients' technology will be pitted against the human’s inventions on the battlefield and it is yet to be seen which side will emerge victorious."

"The Magrider medium battle tank demonstrates perfectly the Vanu Sovereignty's phrase “Technology equals Might”. The Magrider can levitate over all terrain types with ease and be equipped with a wide variety of powerful energy weapons. Even the basic Magrider weaponry starts with the Supernova PC, which can focus a blast of pure energy that penetrates even the heaviest of armor. Due to their ability to hover, they can strafe right and left, easily dodging rockets and the like at medium to long range, while still keeping their target in their sights."

This clearly demonstrates the nature of VS weapons and vehicles. In addition, from the lore it can be inferred that the VS values quality over quantity, meaning that the Vanu Sovereignty is supposed to have fewer, though highly capable, forces.

Aesthetics

Weaponry

Although weapons were granted an appearance pass some time ago, VS weapons are still too identical. For primary weapons there are only two basic shapes, with each individual weapon featuring only slightly different deviations. Considering how the Sovereignty is controlled by scientists, each weaponry should be greatly different in appearance, reflecting experimentation in the particular field.

Uniforms

The appearance of VS soldiers needs to be tweaked, to finally end the jokes on the forums. With a recent update the purple was changed to a more greyscale tone (a good change), but the darkness led to complaints of a VS advantage at night. It would be better if the uniforms for the non-stealthy classes were adjusted to be more shiny and with more presence of white. The infiltrator and light assault should remain with near-black colors (the other factions should receive adjustment as well for balance) to aid in stealth.

Also, although tights were common in the Medieval Era (which the VS seems to emulate), fashion has changed and tights simply look silly now. Give us something more appropriate.

The MAX also needs a redesign. Ditch the high heels and replace them with platform shoes, similar to the TR MAX. The overall appearance should be more crystalline and insectoid, with more armor.

ZOE needs to lose the pink sparkles, as those look silly and make the ZOE ability look "cheesy." Instead, have a bright "holy" glow, similar to the Archons from Starcraft. They will be just as easy to spot (probably moreso) but will look ten times more awesome.

When dress uniforms are finally added, this is what I expect the Vanu Sovereignty's to look like. It also includes the conceptual ceremonial hat VS might obtain (the TR received a peaked cap and the NC are planned to have a beret).

Music

Although it is adequate (compared to the other factions), the current Vanu music is rather underwhelming; it is not as inspirational as it should be. The Vanu Sovereignty, being an enlightened, religious, and technocratic faction would have classical / romantic music, Latin chanting, and of course techno.

(End of Part One)

I agree with everything you just said. Especially with adding more armor to the soldiers. Seriously, isailly everyday I see 5 people saying we fight for spandex or something.

Moar armor!
New weapon models!

つ◕_◕ ༽つ Want moar! つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Issues with VS Faction Specific Traits

Weapons

Currently VS firearms feel like regular guns with teal, no-drop bullets. This cannot remain the case. If TR receive the fastest-firing weapons (as Elite Eskimo has so eloquently campaigned for) and NC have the hardest-hitting weaponry (as they quite rightly deserve), then VS needs to be more than just in the middle. This can be fixed by having the Sovereignty use three types of futuristic weapons: plasma, beam lasers, and pulse lasers. Take a look at the following chart:

Plasma weapons would be basically what the majority of the current VS arsenal is. Plasma projectiles have no drop, are the slowest in the game, but have a miniscule amount of splash damage. By this I mean that if a plasma projectile hits something, players who are very close (within a meter) will receive a small amount of damage. This would make suppression a useful tactic when fighting against greater numbers.

Beam lasers should be in the game not just because they are awesome, but because they make sense. Beam lasers would have a very high DPS at close and medium range; however, great damage falloff (or some other realistic mechanic) prevents them from use at long range. For balance, there would be penalties for non-headshots and even more drawbacks for not hitting the torso either. A beam laser pistol would be actually useful.

Pulse laser weapons would have instantaneous projectile speed and the best accuracy in the game, but suffer from poor DPS. Automatic pulse laser weapons would find use at any range, mainly up to one hundred meters. Semi-automatic weapons would be longer-ranged weapons, designed for past one hundred meters. Pulse-laser rifles are practically the only instance where I would find a charge-up mechanic useful. The charge time would be short (only one second or less), sacrificing DPS for two or three times the damage per shot.

The reasons for having these three weapon types is to give the VS a more futuristic feel, and to give the faction more perks rather than just middle-of-the-road damage vs. firing rate, or bullets that are not affected by the force of gravity. In addition, more variety is always good.

In addition, I would like to see more fancy effects when using VS weapons. For instance, if shotguns ever become more unique among the different factions, then the Vanu shotguns might knock back the enemy when they are hit (this would work best with ragdoll physics). Sniper rifles should replace the re-chambering animation with a more sensible charging animation. Grenades should have the same plasma effect from PS1, at the cost of explosive potential. Plasma would linger in an area and would cling to enemies for a short time, inflicting constant damage. Naturally, the other factions would have advantages of their own.

If melee weapons are ever expanded upon by SOE, then VS should get plasma blades, similar to lightsabers. Their main advantage would be superior control and finesse.

Also, attachments to VS weapons should have unique names and descriptions. For instance, instead of a "suppressor" have a "dissipator." If faction-specific ammunition modifications are ever added, then plasma weapons could have ricochet projectiles as a sidegrade, bouncing off surfaces for a set amount of times.

Balance

The Sovereignty's superior technology goes by the simple maxim "quality over quantity." This is because since closed beta the VS has traditionally had the least numbers, but if outnumbered in combat is still equally capable as the other factions (nevertheless, in recent months this balance has been upset). Since many of the battles in-game are decided mainly by numbers, the tools available to VS players should allow them to deal with enemy hordes. However, because even the VS sometimes has a population advantage, these weapons should not remain as strong with a numerical advantage. This can be achieved in several ways: improved skill balancing, direct drawback (for instance, the Magrider cannot dodge missiles if it is surrounded by friendly units), and prevention of spamming. If possible, SOE should attempt balance in this manner. If this proves impossible, then it might be wiser to simply balance according to equal populations.

The Vanu Sovereignty's primary counterbalance is the damage degradation over distance, preventing the lack of drop and high accuracy from simply dominating the open field. The degradation amount should depend on the ammunition type and the power it holds. For instance, laser pulses would decay slower than plasma shots, and sniper rifles would retain more damage at range than carbines. The reason damage degradation was made to match the other factions was because the VS held little disadvantage when TR and NC weapons also (unrealistically) lost damage at range. If only the VS had significant degradation, then it would become a faction balancer.

Because many weapons would become too powerful if they could be spammed en-masse, I propose a revolutionary new balance mechanic: overheating. Just like with emplaced weapons (Phalanx turrets and MANA turrets), VS weapons ought to overheat after firing continuously. How long it takes to overheat depends on the weapon type, as well as damage and firing rate (for instance, it would be difficult to overheat a pistol, whereas some LMGs would overheat within one magazine). This would make heat-management necessary, raising the skill ceiling. Optionally, if overheated the player could be unable to reload as long as he cannot fire (this could be justified lore-wise that damage to the weapon would result if one attempted to replace the battery while hot).

Finally, vehicles in general would be generally light-weight, sacrificing armor and firepower for mobility (not to be confused with pure speed, which is the TR's trait). They could also have specific weaknesses (for instance, some models of tanks might not be able to turn the turret all the way back). Relying on strafing to avoid hits also mitigates spamming, as explained above.

Lasher Ideas

The Lasher should be exaggerated in its performance. Each sphere of plasma should have a greater radius of effect than other VS weapons, as well as more splash damage, making it the ideal suppression weapon. Although the high-capacity battery is a boon, the overheat mechanic would balance it.

Also, it needs to look more original.

Lancer Ideas

For a long time many soldiers of the Vanu Sovereignty were displeased with the Lancer. This was because the charge-up left the user vulnerable and the damage was not worthwhile. After numerous buffs and much time most players seem to accept it more, and it is now feared for its range and accuracy. Nevertheless, a long-range rocket launcher is the only practical application for such a lengthy charge-up, as vehicles cannot move into cover as easily or quickly (this, by the way, also makes the lancer weak against small, fast-moving vehicles). I daresay that the current lancer is quite well balanced.

Damage Over Time Rocket

Perhaps the S1 and some VS lock-on rocket launchers could have a special new mechanic. Instead of inflicting all the damage up-front like conventional anti-vehicle weaponry, the plasma warhead would wash over the armor, inflicting damage slowly over a duration. Greater total damage would make up for slow action, and it would force enemy forces to withdraw for repair.

Ideas for Vehicle Secondary Weapons

The current vehicle secondary weapons are highly specialized and effective at their current role. However, the fact that these are so specialized means they are underpowered in other roles. Having new secondary weapons would solve this.

Bringing back the Saron

A long time ago, the Saron was "adjusted" (I dare say neither nerfed nor buffed), transforming it from a super-accurate single-shot laser cannon to a 6-pulse autocannon.

I do not mind keeping the current Saron, but instead of having an unrealistic cone-of-fire increase, use the overheating mechanic for balance. Also, give it a different, compact model, reflecting its different performance.

In addition, re-introduce the single-shot, high-powered Sauron. Many players liked it for long-range vehicle combat.

Making the HRB Useful

The HRB is basically a more powerful version of the Lasher, mounted on a vehicle. Because of this, it needs to have a large splash radius, making it an effective suppression and infantry support weapon. Magazine size might need to be modified for balance purposes.

An Effective Anti-Infantry Weapon

Moreover, we should have a new weapon in between the Kobalt and Basilisk, representing the VS's balance between damage and firing rate. This would be the laser equivalent of a medium machine gun, somewhat like the default weapon of the Scythe but with less damage and unable to damage heavy armor.

The Magrider's Design and Ability Ideas

Providing a Useful Design for the Vanu Sovereignty

I applaud the new model for the Magrider. Before, it resembled an amorphous blob, but now it is an actual, armored tank. My only complaint is the lack of camouflage coverage; real tanks have camouflage everywhere except for the tracks (which the Magrider lacks). Also, it could look a bit more high-tech, with more points.

Currently, the Magrider is at a disadvantage compared to the other tanks. The cannon, besides being the weakest among the three empires, is fixed to the front, forcing the entire tank to turn itself to fight the enemy. The Vanu Sovereignty needs a turreted hovertank. In addition, the two-man design of the Magrider has long posed an obstacle for crewed tanks. There are multiple ways of fixing this. Some in the community have suggested a slight modification of the tank, but I personally feel a brand new MBT model would be best.

Vanu Sovereignty Tank Ability Ideas

The current Magburner, though fun, is too situational in combat. Although it allows one to escape quickly, it requires the entire tank to turn around, forcing it to become vulnerable. Because of this, VS armor combat is currently considered to be at a disadvantage by many.

Since the Vanu Sovereignty is about advanced technology and mobility, special abilities should emphasize this.

The Magburner is not a bad concept, but it should be omnidirectional, allowing tanks to move quickly without having to turn. In addition, there could be an EMP blast that acts like the EMP grenade, except on a vehicular scale. Perhaps there might be a sort of "deflector shield" which does not absorb damage but rather shifts projectiles off-center (working both ways). There could even be a "jump" ability to scale small obstacles, or a stealth/cloak/camouflage ability to remain in concealment.

The Scythe

The design for the Scythe is almost perfect as it is. However, the cockpit seems a bit cramped for a person to fit inside. I would recommend making it a bit longer.

The VS MAX and MAX Abilities

Before the last patch, the Zealot Overdrive Engine was considered overpowered by myself and practically everyone else. The concept is not bad, as the increased damage and mobility is perfect for a quality over quantity faction that highly values military maneuvers, and it is definitely more balanced than jetpacks, which the VS MAX had in PS1 and which was SOE's second choice. The nerf was justified because users could turn on ZOE on or off instantly with no side effects, sprinting was a bit too fast, and the increased damage received did not justify the added damage output. Although the latest patch balanced the ability, I disagree with SOE that ZOE should last only 15 seconds. The other faction abilities can be left on indefinitely; therefore, balance would be achieved if ZOE was the same way. To compensate, make it take some time to turn on/off ZOE, during which the MAX would be vulnerable.

Weaponry on the VS MAX needs to be rethought. The current equipment is roughly equivalent to the TR chainguns, with slightly different statistics. VS MAX weaponry is lacking in variety. Although all MAXes should have more types of infantry weapons, an immediate improvement would be if the VS MAX had anti-infantry beam laser weaponry.

Conclusion

These changes would make the VS a more unique and fun faction. With actual advanced and futuristic aesthetics and equipment the entire game would benefit and gain popularity. The improved gameplay would make up for necessary time investment on the part of the developers. Every faction needs work, and I am doing my part to help the Sovereignty. Our old king Levelcap has demonstrated renewed interest in Planetside 2, and this refurbishment would certainly keep him for a long time, to the benefit of him, his subscribers, and Planetside 2.

Many thanks for viewing this thread, suggestions and ideas are highly welcome. Although do please relate balance concerns, always keep in mind that regarding these I fully intend the Vanu Sovereignty to be in equal in gameplay power compared with the other factions.

This is so awesome! Well done Zorro!

I do think that their knife should be like a lightsaber or something that's from energy/beams. But im not sure if a beam gun is a good idea, well it depends, would you want the beam to shoot until it hits a solid object or will there be a limit of how far it can shoot?

A tr is on our side. <3

The praise belongs to you, you assisted me in enhancing this thread.

I think they should add vehicle entering and vehicle exiting animations. Makes the game look a lot better, I also think they should show your arms steering the wheel when your driving vehicles.

I agree with a a lot of what you say, but for the love of vanu leave my max's heels alone!

Hopefully SOE will read this.

EE is on the side of Planetside 2.

As much as I support this, this thread is more relevant to your suggestion.

While I don't agree with all of your ideas necessarily (such as the magrider becoming a turreted tanks, since it wasn't one in PS1 either, or the overheat mechanic) this is a very well written set of posts, and I'm glad to see someone putting this much work into it.

Talking about over-heat mechanics, the Mass Effect 3 weapon Lancer M7 comes to mind. Notice the animation of the overheat state. The guy sustained fire for too long and now he's flinching and has to keep the weapon away from his face to avoid burns.
In PS2 case, it would still use batteries, but the weapon could punish sustained fire this way.

Elements sounded OP, but we're at the rough-planning-stage of the operation right now. For discussion's sake, these are namely splash and the concept of "quality over quantity". The first needs to be managed carefully in order to not break the game, and the second would be downright gamebreaking...it'll attract quantity due to being inherently better. I think a better mantra for VS would be "technology equals might".

Vanu weapons should be more complex, though not necessarily more effective. Remember, they're not soldiers or mercenaries...they're scientists who fiddled with their genome. I always envision Vanu soldiers as a cultist horde, with technological might and ideological zeal replacing training and discipline. Seeing as you can't accurately model this due to all factions drawing on the same playerbase, I think the smart thing to do is keep Vanu weapons wacky and unconventional, as opposed to outright better.

(I think, to follow through with your reduced-range-dealie, you'd need to limit them to a hard cap of 50-70m to provide any kind of balanceable disadvantage. Most firefights take place at under 30m...a 100m limitation on small arms is a pretty minor problem.)

On the subject of Vanu aesthetics, I think the problem is ignoring the whole "transhuman" aspect of the faction. Imagine if the MAXs, instead of looking like people in suits, looked like half-human cyborgs, with organic parts showing through plates. Backwards-facing knees, asymmetrical armor, no human voice. (I swear I had a picture for this, so screw you, hypothetical judgemental person.) Vanu units should draw on elements of body horror. There should be that horrible thought that the monstrosities you're fighting were once human, and they willingly did this to themselves in the name of their messed up religion.

Anyway, I might sit back and lurk for a bit. I said in EE's thread that factional refurb threads should be driven by the players of that faction, but I'll try help out where I can. Good luck, all!

Few pointers:

In the "HRB" section I believe you mean PPA

OMNI-burn, already achievable with practice. It would be preferable to just have a larger fuel gauge or faster recharge time (is a van shield only worth three burns?).

ZOE, was a poor idea to begin with. SOE will not consider a new ability just as they would not when we told them so when it was in the testing phase. (I mean come on we gave them 30 pages of ideas, nothing's going to change it now)
(of course I'd love jump jets anyway. inb4 JJ are OP, PS2 benefits from JJ or some such ********. There are zero locations in the game a max cannot already achieve that a light assault can, JJ in PS1 allowed you to bypass many defenses where in PS2 they only allow you to bypass walls which are full of holes anyway and you can get through)

I'd also like to say this:

All factions have way to many guns for there to be this little variety. Do we need 2-3 different long range guns and 2-3 different short range guns in every category with only minor differences?

We have way to much Legacy balancing going on, weapons that get hit with blanket changes like recently suffer needless extra penalties and fall into uselessness. (like for instance the Ursa LMG, low dps even for a 167 damage weapon, high horizontal recoil for a 167, no advanced forward grip, its advantage was slightly better hipfire. Hipfire gets nerfed to the point where even hipfire specialized LMGs are poor at it and now this gun has no reason to exist. If guns had more character this wouldn't be as much of a problem)

What we could have for example:
Orion: the standard issue and should be the go-to gun for whatever is the most common type of combat, relatively mundane.

Lasher: a special suppression weapon with high sustainability and good damage against even maxes, suffers from poor accuracy and dps which makes it less able to perform as a single weapon and excels in "battery" usage

Pulsar LSW: an orion modification to fill an "in-between" role as a LSW, it features larger orbs of plasma (smaller than the lasher though) and maintains decent midrange accuracy with a larger mag and lower rof.

Flare: a 2xburst/semi auto beam rifle, the 2 shot mode has high recoil but only on the second shot. Benefits from high velocity but its highly visible rounds reveal the users location and can obscure follow ups

Ursa: a Sustained beam weapon but has a maximum range of only 150m with mid high dropoff until then. This makes it handy for dispatching single targets across courtyards and such.

Polaris: a mid range plasma gun that sacrifices dps and damage for controllability, functions similar to other factions analogues (em1, rhino)

VS shotguns use a pulse wave rather than scatter shot, a round burst that deals consistent damage based on amount that contacts the enemy but is lower than regular.

Hey look, even the VS forum avatars are less black than the ones ingame.

Good write up. Thanks for the enjoyable read!

Agreed to everything except that damage over time rocket thing.

Couldnt the driver just get out and out repair it?

That would depend, if multiple rockets' effects stacked it could add up to too much to out repair. Also, you're forgetting a huge factor for some vehicles, that DoT would be keeping the timer of Auto-Repair from counting down.