SealDude
2004-02-22, 01:46 AM
Having played this game in beta since nearly the end of closed beta and just recently coming back on a 7 day trial I really feel that PS is fun and has good potential but that its just a bit too arcady. Over the past few days I have been in some fantastic battles that have changed my original opinion of the game but not too much. It still feels like a giant UT2k4 map. I have some basic outlines of things that I think need fixing and I may even come up with real thought ideas in due time. OT: If you use the prepaid cards you dont need a credit card to "activate" the game right?
Use of Vehicles: When I first heard about this game I invisioned massive tank platoons rolling up to bases, guns quaking, crushing everything in their path. APCs rushing to the front of battle dropping off troops close to the action, galaxies flying overhead droping soliders on the top of buildings. Sadly it seems that the one person vehicles are most popular so that people can drive up their "ubar l337 kill rank" and the few people who do cert in the big tanks and such only use it when its clear we really need help. Also the fact that the deliverer and sunderer are two of the most under used certs prove that people would much rather zerg from an AMS than use other ways of transport (more on this later) During beta the sanc was teaming with gals flying overhead and vehicles and people standing around ready for battle. Now everyone just uses the HART. I have only been in one good vehicle convoy but when that happened we did some serious dammage. Now everyone with a tank just grabs it when its clear that there is no other choice, they dont use them to start out. Case in point today at Itar we (TR) we holding the base while NC was trying to push in. We were holding them off but not gaining any ground due to their mass ammounts of vanguards. I saw three prowlers that had no gunners in them yet the drivers refused to unlock the veh and just sat there when we could have pushed them back. Even whe they were used it was only one or two at a time. Vehicles need to be more important in this game. APCs should be very usefull for getting troops into bases. You should also have to think a bit before you use them to get the best out of them. Since the deliverer can float why not make some bases with backdoors that can only be accesed by water? Why not have some artillery (cant speak for the flail because I have not seen it in use enough but I think all AT stuff looks like shit) that can prove a real deturrent (sic) to infantry if the crew coordinates properly.
AMS/HART- I know I am going to get flamed for this but I feel that Harts but mainly AMSes are two of the most detremental things to this game. HARTs used to be used for catching up with your squad or for a quick raid but now it is the standard form of battlefield transport. The fact that the timer is half as short as it used to be makes it worse. It should be for reenforcement or quick catch ups only, not the main way onto the field. Because of the AMS it is a standard battle tactic just to get it in place and swarm until the base is yours, rinse and repeat. Also because of it bases are even used, they are just walls to protect the AMS. The point of a base is a place where you respawn and defend, not a parking lot for your AMS! If it were taken out squads would have to regroup and, gasp!, work togehter to take a base.
Bonuses for holding bases- The things you get for taking a base now are shit. The veh shield is nice but is gone in the blink of an eye if you come under any real attack. A few second off a respawn time is no big whoop and being able to see stealthers on your radar is nice but darklight or good ole fashion looking around works too. Bases need to have REAL effects on the global war so that when a base comes under hack you will say "We have to defend that we where XXX minutes away from getting YYY weapon and if they get it we are done for" In a perfect world the bases would be like structures in an RTS, certain ones would help upgrade infantry, others would pump out tanks, or mine rescources, etc...
Diversity in Maps- Currently all the maps feel like the same thing painted in a different color. The only one that dosent completely go that way is Cery because the steep cliffs do have a small effect in making it hard to traverse. The worlds should be different and unique and made so that it is easier/harder for certain empires or so that you can choose a terrain you are good at fighting on. For instance one should be a marshy area that VS excels at because of their hover tanks while NC/TR have to stick to a few main roads leading to intense battles. One should be a very closely packed and dense jungle with little to no visability that favors TR because they can sneak up and unleash their chainguns at close range and is perfect for ambushes of any sort. One should be a desolate desert with little or no cover that favors snipers and NC because of their accurate weapons. One should be a cold frozen wasteland that has high mountains and other such obsticals (sic) that make it hard to get around. It feels like Sony was leaning towards this but they could do it on a much grander scale. Also bases need to be a lot further away from each other. This ties into the greater use of vehicles and i know no one likes to run long distances but where the base builders of auraxis (sic) like "Lets build a base here and then they might be lonely so lets build one ten feet from it so they can yell over the walls at each other!" The lattice connections also need to be analyzed because they are pretty screwy. If you look at a map it has a base connected to one other which is connected to 4 then back to 1 then it goes across islands or some such to another one and it dosent make for very smooth battle lines.
Diversity in Factions- Like the maps the factions seem like different varriations on the same base, except for VS because every freaking weapon is an energy weapon. Still each empire should have a great "feel" for them. Do you prefer killing enemies with a withering hail of fire, pick TR! Do you prefer long range and precise shots, pick NC! Do like to be high tech and have a lot of power and your disposal, pick VS! Each faction should have unique advantages and disadvantages for picking them. Their weapons, vehicles and implants should reflect that greatly. TR should have an implant that speeds up their trigger finger allowing them to fire at faster speeds yet have less accuracy. NC should have a stabilizer that lets them fire more accurately. VS should have energy capacitors that are slow to charge up and a big drain to the body but give a bigger power boost to the weapons. When I first found out that each empire had only two unique vehicles I nearly shit myself. Two vehicles! Like I said their vehicles should reflect them and there should be a lot to chose from. TR should have a chaingun tank for ripping through infantry, NC an accurate artillery piece, VS an more advanced energy weapon tank. TR should have the slow but powerful gun ship to lay down withering 20 mm fire. NC should have a fast fighter with a few slow but accurate missles. VS a alien craft with some sort of plasma bombs or energy weapons.
Diversity in Bases- After being away since the begining of retail I instantly found my way out of the bases and felt as if I knew them forever. This isent a bad thing but I goes to show how everybase is exactly alike. So some have a CC at the top or what not, they still feel like carbon copies. I dont expect each base to be a completely different base model (even though I would love it) But some bases should be small little outposts and some should be giant multibuilding complexes with varying importance depending on the size. I also thing bases need to be harder to take so that attackers have to use their heads and dont mindlessly zerg. Things like advanced ground turrets, better placed bunkers, better CE deployables, gun ports for buildings,etc...
Greater Use for Special Ops- One thing I am nuts about is special operations (check my name) Nothing quite like the feeling of sneaking into a base, planting a charge at a key locations, sneaking out and hitting the button. In Tribes 1 and 2 my favorite thing way to sneak around and place sensors and cameras for my teams intel people. Unfourtunately there is little to no room for this is PS. If you go anywhere near a gen you get pked and blowing spawn tubes is hardly crack team material. I want to see night time raids on facilities from galaxies with small teams sneaking up, taking out a key structure, and fading into the night. Like I said in a perfect world PS would be an RTS type game and you could take out their backline power plants to slow production. Other people have suggested nodes on the ground, not in bases that need to be taken so i suggest you find those threads.
In conclusion I dont want PS to be WWII online where you have to walk miles to get anywhere only to have some sniper hiding in a bush kill you and send you all the way back. I just want PS to be a bit slower paced, more empahsis on squad tactics so that it dosent feel so much like UT2k4. I suck at those one shot one kill games anyway :)
Use of Vehicles: When I first heard about this game I invisioned massive tank platoons rolling up to bases, guns quaking, crushing everything in their path. APCs rushing to the front of battle dropping off troops close to the action, galaxies flying overhead droping soliders on the top of buildings. Sadly it seems that the one person vehicles are most popular so that people can drive up their "ubar l337 kill rank" and the few people who do cert in the big tanks and such only use it when its clear we really need help. Also the fact that the deliverer and sunderer are two of the most under used certs prove that people would much rather zerg from an AMS than use other ways of transport (more on this later) During beta the sanc was teaming with gals flying overhead and vehicles and people standing around ready for battle. Now everyone just uses the HART. I have only been in one good vehicle convoy but when that happened we did some serious dammage. Now everyone with a tank just grabs it when its clear that there is no other choice, they dont use them to start out. Case in point today at Itar we (TR) we holding the base while NC was trying to push in. We were holding them off but not gaining any ground due to their mass ammounts of vanguards. I saw three prowlers that had no gunners in them yet the drivers refused to unlock the veh and just sat there when we could have pushed them back. Even whe they were used it was only one or two at a time. Vehicles need to be more important in this game. APCs should be very usefull for getting troops into bases. You should also have to think a bit before you use them to get the best out of them. Since the deliverer can float why not make some bases with backdoors that can only be accesed by water? Why not have some artillery (cant speak for the flail because I have not seen it in use enough but I think all AT stuff looks like shit) that can prove a real deturrent (sic) to infantry if the crew coordinates properly.
AMS/HART- I know I am going to get flamed for this but I feel that Harts but mainly AMSes are two of the most detremental things to this game. HARTs used to be used for catching up with your squad or for a quick raid but now it is the standard form of battlefield transport. The fact that the timer is half as short as it used to be makes it worse. It should be for reenforcement or quick catch ups only, not the main way onto the field. Because of the AMS it is a standard battle tactic just to get it in place and swarm until the base is yours, rinse and repeat. Also because of it bases are even used, they are just walls to protect the AMS. The point of a base is a place where you respawn and defend, not a parking lot for your AMS! If it were taken out squads would have to regroup and, gasp!, work togehter to take a base.
Bonuses for holding bases- The things you get for taking a base now are shit. The veh shield is nice but is gone in the blink of an eye if you come under any real attack. A few second off a respawn time is no big whoop and being able to see stealthers on your radar is nice but darklight or good ole fashion looking around works too. Bases need to have REAL effects on the global war so that when a base comes under hack you will say "We have to defend that we where XXX minutes away from getting YYY weapon and if they get it we are done for" In a perfect world the bases would be like structures in an RTS, certain ones would help upgrade infantry, others would pump out tanks, or mine rescources, etc...
Diversity in Maps- Currently all the maps feel like the same thing painted in a different color. The only one that dosent completely go that way is Cery because the steep cliffs do have a small effect in making it hard to traverse. The worlds should be different and unique and made so that it is easier/harder for certain empires or so that you can choose a terrain you are good at fighting on. For instance one should be a marshy area that VS excels at because of their hover tanks while NC/TR have to stick to a few main roads leading to intense battles. One should be a very closely packed and dense jungle with little to no visability that favors TR because they can sneak up and unleash their chainguns at close range and is perfect for ambushes of any sort. One should be a desolate desert with little or no cover that favors snipers and NC because of their accurate weapons. One should be a cold frozen wasteland that has high mountains and other such obsticals (sic) that make it hard to get around. It feels like Sony was leaning towards this but they could do it on a much grander scale. Also bases need to be a lot further away from each other. This ties into the greater use of vehicles and i know no one likes to run long distances but where the base builders of auraxis (sic) like "Lets build a base here and then they might be lonely so lets build one ten feet from it so they can yell over the walls at each other!" The lattice connections also need to be analyzed because they are pretty screwy. If you look at a map it has a base connected to one other which is connected to 4 then back to 1 then it goes across islands or some such to another one and it dosent make for very smooth battle lines.
Diversity in Factions- Like the maps the factions seem like different varriations on the same base, except for VS because every freaking weapon is an energy weapon. Still each empire should have a great "feel" for them. Do you prefer killing enemies with a withering hail of fire, pick TR! Do you prefer long range and precise shots, pick NC! Do like to be high tech and have a lot of power and your disposal, pick VS! Each faction should have unique advantages and disadvantages for picking them. Their weapons, vehicles and implants should reflect that greatly. TR should have an implant that speeds up their trigger finger allowing them to fire at faster speeds yet have less accuracy. NC should have a stabilizer that lets them fire more accurately. VS should have energy capacitors that are slow to charge up and a big drain to the body but give a bigger power boost to the weapons. When I first found out that each empire had only two unique vehicles I nearly shit myself. Two vehicles! Like I said their vehicles should reflect them and there should be a lot to chose from. TR should have a chaingun tank for ripping through infantry, NC an accurate artillery piece, VS an more advanced energy weapon tank. TR should have the slow but powerful gun ship to lay down withering 20 mm fire. NC should have a fast fighter with a few slow but accurate missles. VS a alien craft with some sort of plasma bombs or energy weapons.
Diversity in Bases- After being away since the begining of retail I instantly found my way out of the bases and felt as if I knew them forever. This isent a bad thing but I goes to show how everybase is exactly alike. So some have a CC at the top or what not, they still feel like carbon copies. I dont expect each base to be a completely different base model (even though I would love it) But some bases should be small little outposts and some should be giant multibuilding complexes with varying importance depending on the size. I also thing bases need to be harder to take so that attackers have to use their heads and dont mindlessly zerg. Things like advanced ground turrets, better placed bunkers, better CE deployables, gun ports for buildings,etc...
Greater Use for Special Ops- One thing I am nuts about is special operations (check my name) Nothing quite like the feeling of sneaking into a base, planting a charge at a key locations, sneaking out and hitting the button. In Tribes 1 and 2 my favorite thing way to sneak around and place sensors and cameras for my teams intel people. Unfourtunately there is little to no room for this is PS. If you go anywhere near a gen you get pked and blowing spawn tubes is hardly crack team material. I want to see night time raids on facilities from galaxies with small teams sneaking up, taking out a key structure, and fading into the night. Like I said in a perfect world PS would be an RTS type game and you could take out their backline power plants to slow production. Other people have suggested nodes on the ground, not in bases that need to be taken so i suggest you find those threads.
In conclusion I dont want PS to be WWII online where you have to walk miles to get anywhere only to have some sniper hiding in a bush kill you and send you all the way back. I just want PS to be a bit slower paced, more empahsis on squad tactics so that it dosent feel so much like UT2k4. I suck at those one shot one kill games anyway :)