More Interesting Goals/Objectives

[oddfish]

I've been toying with the concept of more Interesting Goals/Objectives for a while now. The idea in PS right now is to try to take as many facilities and towers as you can to try and take over an entire continent. This is all well and good but I think maybe it will start to get old after a while if that's all there ever is to do. Perhaps a good way to keep things interesting would be to introduce the concept of temporary dug-in positions. Like machine gun nests, or artillery emplacements.

Bear with me here:
Okay, for instance, say a new cert could be Gun Emplacements or Artillyer or Anti-infantry emplacements or Anti-Air emplacements. These emplacements would be temporary in the sense that they would, in fact, be immobile, but could be packed up and put in the back of a Galaxy or Lodestar. For instance you cert in Artillery Emplacements: now you have the ability to get an artillery piece that hitches up to the back of any combat capable ground vehicle you acquire. When you approach the ass end of a Galaxy it will ask you if you want to load the Artillery piece. You say yes, and it loads up for you. NOW, to unpack it from the Gal you can either hot drop it on a location or you can have a vehicle that's at the place you want to drop it pull the gun wherever you want to pull it and then set it up. Any infantry can USE the gun, but only certain people can acquire them. You aim it like you aim anything else but it has a small firing arc and must be turned in order to shoot in another location.

Now, Machine Gun emplacements would be much easier to transport. A guy would just have to fill a considerable chunk of his Inventory with a MG emplacement and then set it up (which would take a while) wherever he wanted to in the battlefield.

Now, i think this would make things a bit more interesting because then not EVERY battle would center around Bases and capping. Sometimes you'd have to send forces to take care of an artillery emplacement that was pounding the shit out of your forces.

THE CATCH is that you can't build this stuff inside a base's SOI. That way a base wouldn't become impervious to attack. Besides, bases have manable turrets already, so it's redundent.

I just think it'd be cool as all hell to have to scout an enemy Artillery position, or to have to send a platoon of tanks to take care of a Large Gunnery Emplacement. Seeing hotspots out AWAY from facilities every once in a blue moon is more interesting in my opinion. I also feel that this would reduce zerging by just a little. It would force people to strategize and plan around the possibility of Gun emplacements.

Also, this would reduce Tower zerging, i think. If you could set up a couple MG positions outside a tower so that a guy could haul ass out to it and open up on approaching infantry, i think that'd be great. The way to counteract this would be SIMPLE though, so a guy firing an MG wouldn't dominate. A sniper would have a field day with stuff like this. And, to counteract snipers, you'd have spotters! Artillery or MG spotters that could grab a pair of binoculars or something from approaching the MG nest or AT position and look out over the battlefield or enemies. He'd use the binoculars much in the way one uses the laser pointer now for the Flail.

Okay, now i know i'm going to hear: we already have the flail, why do we need more artillery? It's not that we need more artillery, we just need to have the ability to set up positions that don't need constant maintenance and attention. A flail has to have a driver. The AT pieces and MG nests don't have to have ANYONE nearby. They'll exist like CE exists. Static until someone comes by to use, provoke, or trigger them.

The flail is a mobile artillery piece. The AT i'm speaking of would be static until packed up and pulled along again. The MG's would have to be carried from position to postion.
Also, Ammunition demand would be great. So guys would make ammunition runs. This would give further use to the trunks on many vehicles. On occasion you'd have to send a guy to a base with a Deliverer to fill the trunk with Ammo for the Cannons or the MG. And how would you go about reloading these weapons. Well, you'd simply Stroll up to it, and one of those cute little yellow circly things would appear at your feet and you'd stand there and the option to reload would appear and you'd do just that. The dialogue box would be as follows. You approach a machine gun and press G to use it, but if you want to do something OTHER than fix it you press whatever other key you designate as the key for that and you get a box that asks Would you like to: [Pack Up] [Reload] [Deconstruct]. You click on one of these responses and you'll do just that.

Also, these weapons would not be common pool! Here's the deal. The different weapon styles are as follows:

Artillery:
NC - Thunder Artillery Piece - Fires a large high explosive shell that does a shitload of splash damage. Good for heavy bombardment.
TR - RainMaker AT Piece - Fires a large cluster shell that explodes over the ground and rains down a dozen smaller shells that damage a greater area but do less damage per hit. Good for saturation.
VS - Starfire AT Piece - Fires a large cannister that detonates about 5 feet above the ground in a kind of huge Lasher orb. The blast radius of the orb itself is rather small but does a LOT of damage, meanwhile the orb itself lashes out just like the HA weapon to do damage to nearby targets as well. The difference is that most of the damage is focused in the orb itself. Good for precision strikes. When packed up it hovers much like the thresher.

Anti Aircraft:
NC - FlakScatter - Fires shells not unlike those of the Skyguard, only difference is that the FlakScatter doesn't fire them in rapid succession, it fires the shots one at a time and you actually can control when they burst. The flak will do a lot of damage per shell but you've got to be able to burst 'em close and be a little accurate to do damage.
TR - Heavy Gattler - Four 3 barrel 20mm AA Guns fill the air with bullets. The guns themselves have relatively high rates of fire but the four of them together LOAD the air with bullets. The problem is, of course, accuracy. The weapon is stationary and essentially anchored to the ground but the vibration caused by the barrels reduces accuracy by a slight degree. The idea is to just put as much lead in the air as possible. The individual rounds will do very little damage, but getting caught in a wave of them would be a bad thing.
VS - Electrasor - The idea behind the VS AA weapon is to keep a bead on your target. You use the AA piece's targetting sight to place a kind of laser dot on the target air vehicle, you then wait for acquisition and the gun fires a nasty bolt of energy at the Aircraft in question. The laser dot is actually a kind of electron beam that places a concentration of electrons on the target which attract the Electrasor's energy projectile. The lock on should almost always guarantee a hit, and a hit from one of these things should be close to devastating. When packed up, it hovers much like the thresher.

Machine Gun Nest:
NC - Just a simple high capacity long range and a bit less accurate per shot Gauss Machine gun. It doesn't fire as fast as the TR Machine Gun but does more damage per shot and is a bit more accurate at longer ranges. Can't carry as much ammo though. Uses new Machine Gun rounds, in both Anti-armor and Standard.
TR - The firing rate of the MCG, but with much better accuracy. This three long-barrled machine gun is meant to saturate a medium range area with lead. It will run out of ammunition a little more quickly than the other weapons, but the ammount of damage it can do before then is amazing. Also uses new Machine Gun rounds in both Anti-armor and standard.
VS - Like a pulsar only better. More accurate at longer ranges than both the TR MG and the NC MG. The main thing here is that the VS MG is much slower firing that the NC and TR versions. It sacrifices speed for acuracy. Uses energy ammo just like the rest of the VS stuff. It can switch between Anti-personnel and Anti-armor mode just like all the other VS weaponry.

plz read next submission before replying, thank you

[oddfish]

Okay, that's what i came up with. This may not be to everyone or ANYone's liking for that matter, but, i thought maybe it would add to the interest of some of the battles. PLUS, some of the open ground on certain continents would finally be used for something besides getting your tank or deliverer stuck. I just think that there's an awful lot of ground in PS that never gets more than a passing glance when someone's flying over or zooming by. There's just way too much Planetside that's not being used. I think adding these new Temporary Emplacements makes for the possibility of stretching out the playing field. The emplacements won't need any attention when they're not being used, so you can just leave them where they are and deconstruct them when you want, just like a vehicle, only you'd have to go up to them to decon them. Also, you could only personnaly set an Artillery piece up ever half hour or something like that. MG nests would be something like 10-15 minutes. This way there wouldn't be a thousand of those damned things sitting out everywhere.

The cert for these emplacements would require Engineering. Then you'd be able to set up MG's. For the AA and Artillery sites, you'd have to have both Engineering and Ground Transport, or Light Recon, or Harasser, or Assault Buggy.

Okay. Now, also, the person using these emplacements would have the protection ONLY provided by behing behind the weapon they're using. No additional armor is given to infantry who control these devices. ANYone can reload an MG or AT or AA emplacment. ANYone with Engineering can repair an MG, AT, or AA emplacement. BUT, not just ANYone can USE these emplacments. To prevent NOOBS from hosing down positions with the Artillery pieces, only BR7 and higher can use Artillery. AA and MG positions are free for all, but AA has a prerequisite of BR7 or higher.

Also, the emplacements themselves are pretty well armored and protected. In order to keep them from being like paper, they have considereable armor. That way one asshat with a phoenix or flying a reaver or cruisng by in a lightning can't hammer the shit out of an Artillery position by himself. And, if properly defended, that should never happen. Abandoned sites will be easy to take out, though. Hooray for a new reason to use spitfires and mines. :D

I think this concept is good because it creates all kinds of new objectives and situations without diminishing the quality of the game. All vehicles and infantry and MAXes are still necessary. MAXes would be very effective against these posistions because of how mobile they are. Vehicles would be especially effective. Aircraft would have to worry about the AA emplacements but that's necessary. Infantry would take on the roll of both attacking the new emplacements or defending and resupplying the emplacements. I think this idea is a good one because it opens up the playing field. It gives players even more options than they already have.

New strategies would arise from this, and perhaps some better leadeship would come of this new implementation. Now you have to think ahead. Now you have to deploy defenses or immobile assault support. Preparing for an the coming onslaught or getting ready for the big invasion will never be the same. I think that this idea is a good one. I'm sure it has it's flaws, and i'm sure that there may be some reasons why it won't work. BUT, i've gone over it in my head a dozen times now and i think that the concept should work. There's no reason it shouldn't.

If you have any ideas on how to improve this idea, please post.

[easypickings]

really well written there, sounds like an amazing idea.
one question can they be hacked ?? maybe just by an advance hacker or something ?

you should send it to the devs as you've come up with a great idea there mate

[oddfish]

really well written there, sounds like an amazing idea.
one question can they be hacked ?? maybe just by an advance hacker or something ?

you should send it to the devs as you've come up with a great idea there mate

you wouldn't need to hack the MG's but the Artillery and AA yeah, i think they'd need hacked.

[Onizuka-GTO]

Oh yes! I love this idea!!!!! I love Artillery!!!!

Only one minor question. how do you solve acurrate targetting for Artillery? Will there be some sort of remote viewing for the gunner?

Like in Battlefield 1942 with the scout providing a view of the target?
Simply a marker showing up on the map where the shell has fallen?
Or a radio report stating the cordinate of the place the shell fell, and the correction adjustment needed to hit the highlighted target?

[oddfish]

Oh yes! I love this idea!!!!! I love Artillery!!!!

Only one minor question. how do you solve acurrate targetting for Artillery? Will there be some sort of remote viewing for the gunner?

Like in Battlefield 1942 with the scout providing a view of the target?
Simply a marker showing up on the map where the shell has fallen?
Or a radio report stating the cordinate of the place the shell fell, and the correction adjustment needed to hit the highlighted target?

like how someone can pull a laser pointer from the Flail. you can grab Optics and a radio from the artillery. Then, you press somthing like /a to open a chat to the guy whom you've just AT'd up with. or maybe it'd work just like the laser for the flail, i dunno. i'll have to figure that one out.

[Onizuka-GTO]

But how does the current flail and laser designator work?

I don't have CC so im not so sure.

Does the gunner of the flail "see" the target when it has been laser designated, so that he/she can see where the energy-rounds are hitting? Or do the laser designator just highlight something that needs to be hit, and the gunner has to guess where the shell will fall, and try with "trial & Error"?

I think the renote viewing is the best, everyone would love to see if they are hitting the target right, and likes to see the destruction they are doing.
But that might cause some lag,
perhaps indication of where the shell has fallen shows up on your map, plus perhaps you will see some markers on your HUD that you will have to alight with to get the correct angle and direction when a target is lasered?
And if you on about artillery, can't we have some self-propelled artillery and maybe perhaps some Mobile multi-Launch Rocket systems?


http://www.army-technology.com/projects/as90/images/as90_1_a.jpg
British as90 Braveheart

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/rascal/images/rascal1.jpg
Israel RASCAL

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/mlrs/images/mlrs7.jpg
American MLR

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/mlrs/images/mlrs3.jpg
American MLR with ATACMS Block I missile

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/smerch/images/smerch3.jpg
Smerch 9K58

We need some Steel Rain Grid-Square Denier!! :D

[oddfish]

that's all mobile artillery..

ugh. this is not due to an artillery obsession, this is due to the fact that i think I, and many others, am getting tired of ALWAYS fighting over the same shit every night.

[Onizuka-GTO]

that's all mobile artillery..

ugh. this is not due to an artillery obsession, this is due to the fact that i think I, and many others, am getting tired of ALWAYS fighting over the same shit every night.

Yes, it does get boring. But i've been having too much fun with mobile artillery in BF42 Desert Combat mod. oh well. You must admit that is awe inspiring.

It does have a phychological effect on enemies, seeing these sheets of rockets tumbling down..... :love:

Anyway, your basic idea of Artillery is good, even if it is semi-mobile none self propelled type. :(

[Real Mulambo]

Jolly Good

Sounds a bit good all of those suggestions.

Bet we don't see them though :clap:

[oddfish]

Jolly Good

Sounds a bit good all of those suggestions.

Bet we don't see them though :clap:

well, it would be nice. it'd add some much needed variety to the current slate of objectives.

[Hayoo]

Perhaps a good way to keep things interesting would be to introduce the concept of temporary dug-in positions. Like machine gun nests, or artillery emplacements.

:D

Something like in this thread? (http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/planetside/Forum10/HTML/008428.html)

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacements.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/clusters2.jpg

[oddfish]

no, because that includes things like hardened bunkers

i'm referring to TEMPORARY stuff. things that can exist or not in an area and it would be just the same to say have vehicles there or something to that respect. I don't think having concrete bunkers and things like that strewn about the landscape is a good idea. I think that having AT and MG nests that are distributed by the players makes the game more interesting.

For the love of god no more permanent stationary emplacements to zerg over. Temporary. That way that can change with the game.

[drsomewhere]

Love it :D

[oddfish]

Love it :D


love what? the pic, or my idea?

[Onizuka-GTO]

love what? the pic, or my idea?

Its definately the pictures. Don't you just :love: big guns? mmmm.... :lol:

[Hezzy]

Sounds pretty good :D

[oddfish]

DOUBLE POST!! BAN PLZ!!!111

Um, posting becuase i want to reemphasize the fact that this Artillery and MG emplacement stuff is in NO WAY supposed to become permanent additions to the continents in any way. They're just as moveable and removeable as vehicles and what not. Only difference is you have to deploy them like a flail or switchblade. The further difference is their versatility which makes them very much UNlike a flail or switchblade. These sites are immobile when deployed: READ ABOVE TO LEARN MORE.

[Onizuka-GTO]

Erm....stationary artillery or bunkers is a no no no.

Like Oddfishy said, they would be over run and become useless like trurrets.
anyhow how can you put a 75mm as an artillery piece? That not artillery! You need at leased 100mm to 155mm. Artillery is known for its large blast-radius, its so heavy to be used in front-on-attacks that large calibre howitzers sit behind the lines...

He's talking about semi-mobile field artillery and AA, that has to be towed away but essentially mobile. Thus during battle the line of artillery and AA emplacement can be strategically moved to adapt to the battle situation.



DOUBLE POST!! BAN PLZ!!!111


as for that...where? Who? I don't see anyone double posting...
:huh:

Oh hang on. that's you. :p

[Hayoo]

no, because that includes things like hardened bunkers

i'm referring to TEMPORARY stuff. things that can exist or not in an area and it would be just the same to say have vehicles there or something to that respect. I don't think having concrete bunkers and things like that strewn about the landscape is a good idea. I think that having AT and MG nests that are distributed by the players makes the game more interesting.

For the love of god no more permanent stationary emplacements to zerg over. Temporary. That way that can change with the game.

Um.....they are temporary. No where in any part of the thread or images did I suggest they were permanent...that's the whole idea around 'deployable' emplacements. We're talking about the same thing, mate. :)

edit: unless of course you're talking specifically about towable weapons or something deployable and undeployable from your inventory, then I would agree with you there too, since I have wanted those as well.

[Onizuka-GTO]

edit: unless of course you're talking specifically about towable weapons or something deployable and undeployable from your inventory, then I would agree with you there too, since I have wanted those as well.

You don't want self-propelled Artillery either?

:tear:

[Hayoo]

You don't want self-propelled Artillery either?

:tear:

Of course I do. *hands handkerchief* I'd like all of these elements to have their place in the game.

[Onizuka-GTO]

How about multi-launch Rocket systems? :groovy:

Personally i think they would be far too over-powering and think they should be limited to empire specifics, but besides al lthese artillery thre are alot of possible military vehicles that could be place in Planetside to make oh so much enjoyable....

[scarpas]

not bad.

[easypickings]

HAYOO
that looks fantastic, both the isea's should be putin, they both look and sound great.

[oddfish]

Hmm.. i think perhaps it would be pretty interesting to maybe have more than just ONE pillbox outside a base like we have now. Like the one's in Hayoo's pics. The little concrete stations where you can switch out the weaponry they handle. Those are interesting in their own right.

But, what I think is more important right now is to open up the playing field so that not every battle is based around a facility or base or tower. Seeing a fight taking place in the hills or in a forest over a really good artillery postion would be awesome every now and again. The best thing about implementing semi-mobile artillery positions is that it makes the war more realistic. The battles would take place all over the map, not just in centralized locations. That way, when a continent pop locks, half it's population isn't zerging the back door at a Tech Facility. Ugh. I hate that.

I just think that it opens up more jobs for players. It gives certain players the oportunity to attack a less fortified structure than a base or tower. Plus, open field combat makes it damn near impossible to zerg. It's more fun too because it's not that eye-twitch style of combat you get in Quake, it's more long range and more strategic. Two deliverers full of infantry pulling a spec op raid on a Artillery emplacement is a sweet idea. It's fun. That's what this game is supposed to be: FUN. I just think that these TEMPORARY emplacements add a variability to the game that isn't there now. Zerg the Tower, Zerg the Wall, Kill the Turrets, Haul an AMS, Zerg the Front door, Zerg the Back door, Blow the Spawn room or Blow the Gen, Hack the CC, wait 15 minutes, Get your CE or BE and do it all over again. That just gets old i think. Now, if you had to send small parties of infantry to take out an AT emplacement ever so often then it could get interesting. Less people zerging, more people PLAYING.

Now, this lends to some more interesting communication as well. CR5's will /Cont All to ask for a squad or platoon to take out AT emplacments, not just bark random orders like: "GET AN AMS TO GUNUKU, FAST"... or "CAEN needs an ANT soon. Someone get on it." That stuff gets old. If a CR5 every once in a while said: "Hey, we need artillery set up north of <base name here>. Blah blah, get on it quick." That'd make the game much more interesting. New missions. New missions. New reasons to play.

Now, as for those who set up the MG nests and AT and AA positions, this is gonna be fun and frantic as hell! First, MG nests scattered here and there allow for players to defend themselves when running from base to base if they find themselves in that predicament. Say someone drops an MG nest on a hill really far south of the tower you're headed too and all of a sudden you're being chased by deliverer? If it doesn't mow you and you evade the machine guns, you can get in the nest and hose it down the MG fire. Now, sure, it can still shoot you, but at least you've got a better chance of survival than you did before. Maybe that's not the best example, but it's just one of many reasons why deployable weapon emplacements would be a good addition.

Ok, furthermore, AT positions. :D :D This is a measure in squad tactics and efficiency. Artillery will have it's own ammunition supply, but will run, mind you. Those shells don't last forever. SO, this will bring about something called: AMMO RUNS. We have ANT runs, and AMS runs. We need Ammo runs. ;) Now, you've got to have a vehicle with a sizeable trunk on hand to run and get ammunition for the AT stations. That ammo can be picked up at a vehicle rearm terminal or an Equip Console or AMS Equip Station. You toss it in your, or your vehicle's inventory and head back to the AT position to reload. These ammo crates will be the biggest item availible to fit in your inventory, so you'll have to make sacrafices. It makes the game more interesting. More strategic. Plus, you've got to defend these postions: CE and what not isn't always the key. Spitfires can't save everyone. So, you've got to drop a couple MG nests, have a stock of infantry, perhaps an AMS just in case. You also may want to toss in a couple AA positions. Sure, these weapons can be destroyed, but so can any other weapon in the game. They're sitting ducks? Not at all. Sure, the positions are immobile, but the solution to that is the positions wield a shitload of firepower. A couple AA guns, two or three MG nests, some spitfires, mines, an AMS, and about Six AT guns is a pretty sturdy emplacement. Throw in a platoon of infantry and a couple deliverers and you're dug in deep and anyone who attacks you is gonna have to work his ass off to oust you from your position.

Furthermore, Squad and Platoon leaders and Outfit leaders are going to have to determine how much of their forces they want to dedicate to taking down these postions. Should they all go, send a squad, send a few guys, send half the damn Outfit? Decisions, Decisions. Again, it makes the game more interesting. Those in command can't just have their guys zerg a base and get the CEP anymore. Now, you've got to WORK for your CEP. If you need BEP attacking one of these positions will afford quite a bit for you. NOW, if you just want to play for fun, don't care about BEP or CEP or are already BR20 then having the variety of being able to attack these positions will make the game more interesting for you. And, in the dev's interest to keep players playing and attract more, then it may be wise to include this concept, since it yields variety and excitement. I dunno. This just sounds like the plan to me.

[Hayoo]

The little concrete stations where you can switch out the weaponry they handle.

Just so everyone knows, the emplacements in those low-poly drawings aren't concrete, but made of dirt and sandbags. CE's would be allowed to create up to 3 emplacements at a time that anyone can man. Create a 4th however, and the first deconstructs. Once the weaponry or equipment inside the emplacement is destroyed, the foxhole part deconstructs after a few minutes. Emplacements are prohibited from being placed too close together or directly on roads or in base entrances...I'm tempted to say they can't be placed in an SOI, but that's debatable.

Excellent thread, oddfish, and that's exactly the kind of desire for field battles that compelled me to work on these emplacements. I would like both dug-in weaponry and towable weapons for this game since they compliment one another.

[EarlyDawn]

You ever gonna update that or make a complete listing of the emplacements, Hayoo? That gets my vote as my favorite of all the idea lab concepts.

[CorDharel]

I really like both ideas. Prospect to you oddfish for your thoughts.

Your idea would be cool, but I question if this would really split the zerg. I would suggest to do another thing than hacking, cause it's IMO too much like hacking a base. Perhaps something like an LLU what you have to take from a base and to this "bunkerstation" (or whatever you call it) to take the control about it. But also the idea of refilling the ammo is interesting.

I also like the other idea, the one from the pic. It would give the empty continents more live. Teams could study new tactics.

In both cases, the "bunkers" should have new guns or options, not just gun turrets like the towers. For example a turret that can shoot bombs every 10 seconds or so...

I would also like to see a these "bunkers" and the option that you can build up something there. This would be like in a strategic game like warcraft, you could build own walls/turrets/bunkers/whatever. I want to say that it would be a cool idea to see that the nme is coming in the next 10-20 minutes and you can send a scout to look what enemies and build the "bunkers" like they had to be. People would love to defend their own created places IMO.

"Scout what enemies are there?"

"Uhm, seems like the big things are troops and tanks"

"okay, guy1, you build up a machinegun turret for the troops. guy2, build stop-walls that they have problems to come forward. guy3, build a bomb turret for the tanks."

Scout: "Get in position, they are coming!!!"

"Alright guys, lets show them what we got MUAHAHAHAA"

RATATATATATATTATAATTATAAA.....


I hope i could show you what I mean :groovy:

[Hayoo]

You ever gonna update that or make a complete listing of the emplacements, Hayoo? That gets my vote as my favorite of all the idea lab concepts.

Yes, eventually I'll have that section up and illustrated.

[TheRegurgitator]

I love it, and for the binoculars idea, how about when you press fire while looking at a location it puts the coordinates in the chat bar in a broadcast sent to all artillery on the continent, and you have to type a little message explaining target along with the coordinates.

This would be a good time to put in the coordinate system, have some large square areas. Then inside each square area is a 10x10 block of small areas each about 1/4 the size of a base courtyard, or the size of a tower SOI. The artillery gunner types switches to secondary fire, fires which opens up a little box where the gunner puts in the coordinates, presses ok, switches to primary, places the reticle over the targeting thing, and fires, shabam a targeting system. Pretty complex but it could work. And seem kinda cool.

[EarlyDawn]

You know. Looking back, I think my top two requests for Planetside that would make my game that much more enjoyable would be better communications/command structure on every level (Globally, platoon, Task forces, ect) and emplacements.

[Onizuka-GTO]

You know, towable vehicles would be hard to impliment in the game, because they would have to modify the vehicles that could tow them.

It would be better and more easier to make the Artillery units like the flail, deployable self-propelled. unable to fire while moving....
As for the binocular idea, i like it. But instead of adding an extra object, we could put that same report firing coordinates by people who have the ZOOM Magnification Implant.
Which would work just as well.
I still preferr some sort of manual aiming system via hub. Typing anything does take away a degree of skill.
I was thinking that two Scales X & Y Axis appear in the retical area and you will have to move the retical up & down until you alighted the cross with two highlighted markers shown on the X & Y scales which appear at the correct values given by a spotter. This means even if the spotter is killed, an artillery gunner can remember what the values were to hit a target at that distance. A experienced artillery gunner would be able to judge roughly which height to put the gun at for a given range to target area without having a spotter giving a firing solution first.

[Hayoo]

Okeedok, I scoured the internet today for images similar to what I envision emplacements to be:

Machinegun nest from Battlefield Vietnam.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_BFV.jpg

This machinegun nest is from an Operation Flashpoint Mod.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod1.jpg

OpFlash Mod machinegun nest

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod2.jpg

OpFlash Mod camoed emplacement

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod3.jpg

OpFlash Mod AA gun emplacement

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod4.jpg

OpFlash Mod tent, similar to the type of temporary stucture I envision used for the med station, supply post, command post, and other shelter-based emplacements, but with sandbagging around it.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod5.jpg

Another OpFlash Mod tent, this one a medic post.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/emplacement_OpFlash_mod6.jpg

Typically, an engineer or two would set these up along a treeline, ridgeline, edge of a plain, along a crossroad, opposite a bridge, outside a base SOI, around a tower, arranged in a firebase pattern, any place a defensive point is needed. Fellow troops would be able to run up and man these like a base turret until the equipment is destroyed, then the sandbag cover would deconstruct.

Hope that explains it better and why I posted this in support of oddfish's ideas.

[oddfish]

Hayoo, that's essentially what i'm going for except i think the MG nests would be more compact so they'd be deployable from inside a Rexo armor inventory. And, it shouldn't take much to change coding to make it so Deliverers and Buggies could haul AA and AT guns. As far as cover is concerned, i like the idea of the deployable sandbags that you had, but i'm just not sure how you'd go about implementing it. First, i think metal boxes or something more PlanetSide then sandbags.. just a suggestion. Other than that, the whole concept is good. I just think it's necessary to use some of the extra space we've got provided for us on the continents..

by the way, Hayoo, i think you and i should network our ideas on this. we may be able to provide some good stuff for the devs..

[Hayoo]

Hayoo, that's essentially what i'm going for except i think the MG nests would be more compact so they'd be deployable from inside a Rexo armor inventory.

Do you mean like a heavy machinegun with a tripod? Is the gunner's cover included as well? Interesting idea if it does. Is it like an unfolding cover or does it materialize once the weapon is deployed? Or is it more like a mini base-turret that unfolds and you can sit in?

And, it shouldn't take much to change coding to make it so Deliverers and Buggies could haul AA and AT guns.

I hope it wouldn't take too much coding cause I'd love towable weapons. I have designs/ideas for several that can be towed by Deliverers and buggies like yours.


As far as cover is concerned, i like the idea of the deployable sandbags that you had, but i'm just not sure how you'd go about implementing it. First, i think metal boxes or something more PlanetSide then sandbags.. just a suggestion.

Yup, I've been working on ways to make these look more futuristic to match Planetside's setting, some concepts look like bags, others more like boxes, still putting the designs through their paces.


I just think it's necessary to use some of the extra space we've got provided for us on the continents..

I couldn't agree more. I think emplacements and towed weapons would be ideal incentives for more field battles. An additional way is having areas of control or defensless points of interest out beyond the bases, such as I suggested in this thread on PSU:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21866

and also my post near the bottom of page 1 on this OF thread:
http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/message?board.id=psdevdiscussion&message.id=15054

you and i should network our ideas on this.

I'm game. :)

[oddfish]

hayoo. this is bad ass. all i have to say is i hope this shit appears.

[Terrangrunt19]

i hink artinllery iz kewl butt it wud be hard 2 implment.

[Scow2]

I love the idea of mobile battlefields and trench warfare. However, I think that the artillery should be self propelled, because towed artillery went obsolete how many centuries ago? WWII? And they should be able to be deployed in SOI's, no real reason not to, the added defensive capabilies countered by the additional offensive capabilities. Make the artillary faction-specific, each with its own equivalent, balanced against its counterparts. This is the future, after all, and not 1913, which seems to be the desired tech level. The balance would . Let the heavier equipment hacked, and the MG nests just be comandeered by the other faction when unattended. Overall, I really support this idea.