So yeah trains during wars were pretty useful in transporting vehicles, equipment and all. My suggestion is why don't we incorporate trains in the game. With the construction system, players could build their tracks and use trains to transport cortium, or players from the player made base to the fight. This was player bases would have a bit more use in the flow of battles, even serve as some sort of forward outpost, a support spawn point for troops. Trains could also be used to mount some artillery or turrets maybe. A lot of people requested that they wanted to see some artillery, and I think train mounted artillery isn't a bad concept. Just mount watered down versions of the glaive (this glaive would shoot emps that would perhaps not immobilize vehicles, but disable their abilities for a few seconds. I'm talking auto repair, smoke screen, vanguard shield, magburner, ect..) and then a version of the flail that would do considerable damage to vehicles on direct hits, (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of a vehicle's health), and that would throw some shrapnel around to damage infantry more or less lightly, depending how far they are from the shell's impact. This would be the perfect opportunity to make hardlight barriers a little taller so that a crouched soldier is fully protected, making it the perfect counter for infantry advances against artillery trains. This would add vital importance to the role of the engineer, and also give a reason for ASP heavies to equip a hardlight barrier. To deal with the train, and explosives could be used on the tracks to derail it, or at least prevent it from moving until the enemy repairs/replaces the tracks. The train should have the overall resistance and health as a sunderer, and cost 750 nanites so only organized outfits can build and plan out such offensives, and so we don't have 100000 trains everywhere around the map. Trains could also be integrated into normal bases, more specifically the 3 that surround each warpgate, to serve as a sort of patrol, front line for players to travel from a base to another, and fire at advances using the integrated turrets/artillery provided in the train. Idea number two is that we should be able to spawn a galaxy variant at the warpgate, or potentially large bases. This galaxy would seat 3 players, (2 in cockpit, 1 gunner), and be able to transport vehicles. I'm thinking either 4 flashes 2 harassers one lightning or one MBT or a combination of 2 flashes and 1 harasser This would allow to generate some interesting armor flanks/positioning, and give players and option to more or less quickly transport their MBTs from the wg to front lines if that faction doesn't have a tech plant. The galaxy could also be deployed at a certain altitude to serve as a spawn point for the faction, vulnerable to AA, but safe from C4 and tank mines unless they kamikaze from ESFs to nuke the spawn. I believe galaxies could be deployed a long time ago, and they also had the infantry terminal at the back. Idk why it was removed, but I would like to see those functions returned since galaxies do cost a lot and should be the aerial sunderer of the game. Or at least let us deploy beacons and routers on galaxies. As for Oshur, I know the devs aren't planning on incorporating new vehicles, but I would love to see them implement boats and/or hovercraft that would allow us to have fights on water, with maybe artillery raining down from trains on bridges. Idk I just want this game to continue being epic, and I think it's time we get some opportunities for new gameplay, especially with the expected new continent that will supposedly open up sea warfare. Just in case the devs are watching, thanks for making it this far!
... standart answer to why questions: budget ... and this is some realy specific niche stuff to put resources in ...
This idea is worth the investment. Honestly think it would breath new life into the game. Transport of weapons to the 'front' has always been a major part of warfare. It would be enormous fun for pilots to strafe the trains as they trundle to their destinations. There is so much mileage in this. I also think it's a doable task from a programming point of view. If I bought DBG tomorrow this is what I'd implement immediatley.....as well a giving everyone a 1000DG to bring the love back into this game.
DBG is a business, not a welfare. They aren't gonna give ppl a large amount of dbc, and they will not implement a niche idea for a niche game that is a struggling to stay a float. It requires time and resources, and last I checked the dev was incredibly small.
You're right, but keep in mind a lot of blueprints for vehicles are there, they just haven't been implemented. I'm sure a bunch of members in the community wouldn't mind helping design new vehicles in the past. I understand the dev team is small and lacks resources, but with the implementation of DX11 into the game (no matter how disastrous that patch was) we can say that DBG hasn't given up on the planetside franchise yet, also the devs are adding new weapons and alerts "frequently" and plan on adding a new continent . I don't think it's too wild of an idea to be implemented, provided the team switches their focus a bit and I honestly think most of the community would rather wait a little longer to get some exciting new finished content then a ton of "meh" updates. I understand that this idea focuses mainly on integrating the construction system into proper gameplay, but it's important to note that filling in a niche isn't a bad thing. The construction system can't use the flail or glaive outside construction zones, which are more or less far from fights. The only offensive that construction players can use to "contribute" to a fight is the orbital strike and routers, and we all know how that goes. It's also extremely boring to fight construction bases. Either the guy is a noob and has nothing unlocked (because the system is so expensive) and is obliterated by a lightning, or the guy has everything unlocked, and the base is an impenetrable self repairing?defending fortress, and you get shredded by turrets and pain fields instantly. The idea of having trains depart from bases gives them a tactical purpose in the game, and the fact that the train and its artillery would be effective outside construction zones would mean it can actively participate in open field vehicle fights, and be used as troop carriers to direct battle flow. I think the train would be perfect for combined arms, but of course since this is all an idea, we'll never know. I doubt daybreak will ever implement anything of the sort, but I just wanted to share some cool ideas and generate some demand for new vehicle(s).
My comment wasn't geared towards you. By all means make suggestions and post ideas. My comment was more less directed towards the naivety of how we would give free things away and dump mad man hours into any and everything.
Also one small thing I forgot to mention with the concept of train mounted artillery. Since a direct shot would half health an MBT, the artillery would either 1) Have a fairly long reload or 2) Need to be deployed to shoot, redeploy to adjust aim (since the artillery wouldn't use a dart, it would be operated directly like a turret, point horizontally where the shot should go, then scroll back to direct how far the shot should land (target focus now becomes more useful) This would prevent the artillery from just shredding everything, and give vehicles a chance to escape. (Remember the purpose of this remains to push fronts, reduce choke points, directing the flow of battle). This artillery should be effective at dispersing massive invincible clumps of stationary vehicles, instead of hunting down individual tanks. Supplied by the base, artillery wouldn't have an ammo pool.
