Warborn
2003-11-12, 05:51 PM
1) Make CC vehicles and weapons broadly available to any who own the CC expansion. Currently the expansion offers so little that I find it incredible that they'd make these weapons and vehicles so hard to acquire. No modules or going down into the caverns should be involved. Make these a part of our arsenal for real.
2) Re-skin the CC vehicles to be Empire-specific. The silvery look is alright, but at a distance it's difficult to tell which Empire they belong to unless you put your crosshairs over them. Plus, I think they'd look a lot better wearing the individual Empires' colors. Well, at least the TR ones would.
3) I'd really like to see a deployable infantry weapon (or two) that occupies two rifle slots and belongs to the Heavy Assault cert. Maybe a mortar and a fairly large chaingun (25mm?). Oh, and when deployed these weapons would generate a self-charging shield around the user, similar to the shield you can get as a vehicle. Being a stationary target, some extra defense would be absolutely essential. As a trade off, a limited degree of fire would also be useful. In the end, though, deployable infantry weapons would be garbage without some kind of extra sniper defense. Either way, some more ways to explore tactical avenues in the game as infantry would go a long way. These types of weapons would enhance defensive measures, and make ambush-style attacks a bit more viable.
4) I think a new type of infantry armor, between the MAX and Reinforced armor (closer to Reinforced though; MAX's would still dominate them), would be neat. The best example of their size/bulk would probably be this (yes, that's a Space Marine from WH40k) (http://www.cafenapali.com.br/UTournament/UTSkinsPics/spacemarine.jpg). Ideally it'd be like the core infantryman's armor, giving a bit more protection than reinforced at the cost of vehicle driving capabilities, save the Harasser and ATV vehicles. Would cost 2 points and have Reinforced as a pre-requisite. The idea is to give infantry who grunt it out almost exclusively, not driving many/any vehicles or gunning or what have you, a type of armor that makes them a bit more durable, more imposing (I really think the core "heavy" infantry in Planetside are too weak looking), and while not making them comparable to a MAX in terms of defensive ability, allows them to still use tools to be a much more versitile member of a squad.
5) I thought it might be an interesting suppliment, but having add-ons to each type of heavy infantry armor (Heavy Exosuit, aka. HEX?) that were Empire specific would be interesting. If these add-ons took up a rifle slot, yet provided a unique capability to the armor, I think it would further solidify the niche role I'm envisioning for the HEX. Specifically, NC might have a barrier shield that reduces incoming damage by 15 or 20%, obviously subejct to balance testing; VS, I was thinking a mini-jet pack would be fun, but I didn't want the "OMG THIS ISN'T TRIBES FAGORT!1one11" people to kill me, so let's go with the ability to create items -- like ammo or weapons or tools, but not armor -- in the field by tapping the latent energy of the planet; and the TR having an ammo canister which belt-feeds ammo into whatever weapon you have equipped, negating the need to reload. Just bear in mind that these are rough ideas, and you have to give a rifle slot up in order to get these benefits.
6) I'm expecting a LOT of people to disagree with me here, but I think instant death by being hit by a vehicle is one of the cheesiest things about this game. I would be very happy if vehicles did a bit of damage when they hit you, but if they wanted to kill you, they'd have to actually use their weapons. All the changes to vehicles rolling over infantry, like them slowing down when they do so, doesn't really negate the fact that the primary offensive capability of every land based vehicle is the fact that it can run you over and kill you instantly, rather than its actual weapon loadout. I dunno though, maybe I've just been tainted by seeing an ANT run over a MAX and four infantry from behind, wiping out half a squad with a vehicle that isn't even meant for combat. Seriously, being run over is absolutely no fun at all, and running someone over is about the lest skill-intensive way of dealing death I can think of. Instant death from vehicles going 40kph adds nothing to the game I would miss, and hopefully I'm not alone on this.
7) I've always thought that Planetside has lacked long-term goals. I think it would be cool if you gained Outfit Enhancement Points as your Outfit gains Outfit Points, in an exponentially increasing curve. These points could be used to acquire passive benefits for all people in your Outfit, similar to how the base features function (like the health regeneration). Although this by no means would be all I'd suggest for long term goals, if the curve is made steep enough, it'll give people something to shoot for. Having more than a few benefits would be a rarity for all but the best Outfits. Benefits might include an extra 10 or 20 maximum hitpoints, extra armor, increased inventory capacity (one extra row of clip-high space), +10kmph for air or ground vehicles, slightly increased foot speed for infantry, +25 stamina, 30% faster use of tools, and so on and so forth.
8) Back before Planetside went into Beta and I got to actually see what it's like in the game, I always thought Hacking would be something I'd find a rewarding experience. While I knew it'd be a support skill, and not something you base a character around, I figured there'd be more applications for Hacking than this. Anyway, in an effort to give hackers more to do, I think having certain consoles scattered throughout the base that control certain base functions would be nice. Although some of these may seem like a nerf, I think they'd promote teamwork. Consoles/panels, found throughout the base, but always several in the main control area of the base, which can be hacked by Hackers/Advanced Hackers that control stuff like:
- Turrets: Temporarily remove auto-fire capabilities of base turrets. Maybe a second turret panel which can completely disable turret use, but only after the first panel has been hacked.
- Door Locks: Temporarily disable locks on all base doors, except the back door.
- Vehicle Facilities: Temporarily disable vehicle production.
- Generator Casing: Would have to add a protective casing to the generator, making it harder or equal to how hard it is to kill now, and add in a panel that let's you open the casing to expose the generator, making it slightly easier to kill than it is now.
- Blast Door: The developers mentioned the possibility of adding an un-hackable blast door to seal off the back door, and I thought it was a good idea. Would have to hack a panel inside the base to withdraw the blast door and make it possible to enter through the back door.
- Jamming: If the base provides radar functionality (Interlink Facilities still do that right?) it could be disabled by hacking a specific console.
Now, in addition to being able to hack these panels/consoles and disable to functions in enemy bases, you can un-hack them in your own base to undo the changes. Otherwise, the changes persist for a few minutes and then return to default mode. While some of these changes may initially appear to make base defending a lot easier, bear in mind that there are more ways to weaken a base now too, and more objectives to give yourself when attacking a base.
9) There are a lot of threads running around regarding Combat Engineers being able to built more stuff, and I'd agree with many of them. I think there are a lot of additions that could be made to enhance Combat Engineering. While I won't repeat what's been said, I think being able to set down force barriers, similar to what the Covenant use in Halo, would be cool. Being able to create destroyable yet self-replicating (unless you get close and destroy the base) cover would add to outdoor battles.
10) I have no idea how this would work or what the point would be, but I'd love to see variations for Agile armor which reflect the various climates of Auraxis. Like, a jungle, arctic, desert, and the standard variety. Hm... maybe new armor types which give benefits if used in the proper environment? I don't know, this is a half-baked idea anyway.
2) Re-skin the CC vehicles to be Empire-specific. The silvery look is alright, but at a distance it's difficult to tell which Empire they belong to unless you put your crosshairs over them. Plus, I think they'd look a lot better wearing the individual Empires' colors. Well, at least the TR ones would.
3) I'd really like to see a deployable infantry weapon (or two) that occupies two rifle slots and belongs to the Heavy Assault cert. Maybe a mortar and a fairly large chaingun (25mm?). Oh, and when deployed these weapons would generate a self-charging shield around the user, similar to the shield you can get as a vehicle. Being a stationary target, some extra defense would be absolutely essential. As a trade off, a limited degree of fire would also be useful. In the end, though, deployable infantry weapons would be garbage without some kind of extra sniper defense. Either way, some more ways to explore tactical avenues in the game as infantry would go a long way. These types of weapons would enhance defensive measures, and make ambush-style attacks a bit more viable.
4) I think a new type of infantry armor, between the MAX and Reinforced armor (closer to Reinforced though; MAX's would still dominate them), would be neat. The best example of their size/bulk would probably be this (yes, that's a Space Marine from WH40k) (http://www.cafenapali.com.br/UTournament/UTSkinsPics/spacemarine.jpg). Ideally it'd be like the core infantryman's armor, giving a bit more protection than reinforced at the cost of vehicle driving capabilities, save the Harasser and ATV vehicles. Would cost 2 points and have Reinforced as a pre-requisite. The idea is to give infantry who grunt it out almost exclusively, not driving many/any vehicles or gunning or what have you, a type of armor that makes them a bit more durable, more imposing (I really think the core "heavy" infantry in Planetside are too weak looking), and while not making them comparable to a MAX in terms of defensive ability, allows them to still use tools to be a much more versitile member of a squad.
5) I thought it might be an interesting suppliment, but having add-ons to each type of heavy infantry armor (Heavy Exosuit, aka. HEX?) that were Empire specific would be interesting. If these add-ons took up a rifle slot, yet provided a unique capability to the armor, I think it would further solidify the niche role I'm envisioning for the HEX. Specifically, NC might have a barrier shield that reduces incoming damage by 15 or 20%, obviously subejct to balance testing; VS, I was thinking a mini-jet pack would be fun, but I didn't want the "OMG THIS ISN'T TRIBES FAGORT!1one11" people to kill me, so let's go with the ability to create items -- like ammo or weapons or tools, but not armor -- in the field by tapping the latent energy of the planet; and the TR having an ammo canister which belt-feeds ammo into whatever weapon you have equipped, negating the need to reload. Just bear in mind that these are rough ideas, and you have to give a rifle slot up in order to get these benefits.
6) I'm expecting a LOT of people to disagree with me here, but I think instant death by being hit by a vehicle is one of the cheesiest things about this game. I would be very happy if vehicles did a bit of damage when they hit you, but if they wanted to kill you, they'd have to actually use their weapons. All the changes to vehicles rolling over infantry, like them slowing down when they do so, doesn't really negate the fact that the primary offensive capability of every land based vehicle is the fact that it can run you over and kill you instantly, rather than its actual weapon loadout. I dunno though, maybe I've just been tainted by seeing an ANT run over a MAX and four infantry from behind, wiping out half a squad with a vehicle that isn't even meant for combat. Seriously, being run over is absolutely no fun at all, and running someone over is about the lest skill-intensive way of dealing death I can think of. Instant death from vehicles going 40kph adds nothing to the game I would miss, and hopefully I'm not alone on this.
7) I've always thought that Planetside has lacked long-term goals. I think it would be cool if you gained Outfit Enhancement Points as your Outfit gains Outfit Points, in an exponentially increasing curve. These points could be used to acquire passive benefits for all people in your Outfit, similar to how the base features function (like the health regeneration). Although this by no means would be all I'd suggest for long term goals, if the curve is made steep enough, it'll give people something to shoot for. Having more than a few benefits would be a rarity for all but the best Outfits. Benefits might include an extra 10 or 20 maximum hitpoints, extra armor, increased inventory capacity (one extra row of clip-high space), +10kmph for air or ground vehicles, slightly increased foot speed for infantry, +25 stamina, 30% faster use of tools, and so on and so forth.
8) Back before Planetside went into Beta and I got to actually see what it's like in the game, I always thought Hacking would be something I'd find a rewarding experience. While I knew it'd be a support skill, and not something you base a character around, I figured there'd be more applications for Hacking than this. Anyway, in an effort to give hackers more to do, I think having certain consoles scattered throughout the base that control certain base functions would be nice. Although some of these may seem like a nerf, I think they'd promote teamwork. Consoles/panels, found throughout the base, but always several in the main control area of the base, which can be hacked by Hackers/Advanced Hackers that control stuff like:
- Turrets: Temporarily remove auto-fire capabilities of base turrets. Maybe a second turret panel which can completely disable turret use, but only after the first panel has been hacked.
- Door Locks: Temporarily disable locks on all base doors, except the back door.
- Vehicle Facilities: Temporarily disable vehicle production.
- Generator Casing: Would have to add a protective casing to the generator, making it harder or equal to how hard it is to kill now, and add in a panel that let's you open the casing to expose the generator, making it slightly easier to kill than it is now.
- Blast Door: The developers mentioned the possibility of adding an un-hackable blast door to seal off the back door, and I thought it was a good idea. Would have to hack a panel inside the base to withdraw the blast door and make it possible to enter through the back door.
- Jamming: If the base provides radar functionality (Interlink Facilities still do that right?) it could be disabled by hacking a specific console.
Now, in addition to being able to hack these panels/consoles and disable to functions in enemy bases, you can un-hack them in your own base to undo the changes. Otherwise, the changes persist for a few minutes and then return to default mode. While some of these changes may initially appear to make base defending a lot easier, bear in mind that there are more ways to weaken a base now too, and more objectives to give yourself when attacking a base.
9) There are a lot of threads running around regarding Combat Engineers being able to built more stuff, and I'd agree with many of them. I think there are a lot of additions that could be made to enhance Combat Engineering. While I won't repeat what's been said, I think being able to set down force barriers, similar to what the Covenant use in Halo, would be cool. Being able to create destroyable yet self-replicating (unless you get close and destroy the base) cover would add to outdoor battles.
10) I have no idea how this would work or what the point would be, but I'd love to see variations for Agile armor which reflect the various climates of Auraxis. Like, a jungle, arctic, desert, and the standard variety. Hm... maybe new armor types which give benefits if used in the proper environment? I don't know, this is a half-baked idea anyway.