Assault Buggies

[Jeffey]

I've been thinking alot about assault buggies lately and their role in PS. Frankly I've noticed that no one ever seems to pull them, for one obvious reason

Assault Buggy - 3 points
Armored Assault 1+2 - 3 points

Why drive buggies when you can get badass MBT tanks? Theres pretty much no scenario where a buggy is favored over a tank, well, when you are forced to get them when tech plant is down. But even then very few people carry the cert.

I very frequently drive a fully crewed marauder with my outfit, the thing is a total beast, we've been able to topple magriders on a good day. Lightning - well, what doesn't own the lightning =P Even a BFR when I was able to circle him long enough. Sorry if I sound like I'm bragging, I'm not trying to.

I've seen Enforces and Threshers in action, Threshers totally plow infantry, and enforces make short work of most armour if they can stay out of harms way themselves. All the empire specific buggies are very powerful weapons, but no one drives the things.

A change is definetly needed in the certification of them, I can think of two decent solutions,

1: Stop clustering them with the Skyguard and Harasser, or offer it alone for a lower cost.

2: Simply lower the cost of Assault Buggy cert to 2 points. Ground Transport is 2 points, and for those two points you get the amphibious Deliverer and everyones favorite deliverer variant, total monsters on wheels, plus the bangbus. Thats 3 vehicles for 1 cert, same deal as assault buggy yes?

[Hamorad]

Definately... Threshers pwn everything, tank and infantry, so do enforcers and marauders. It's a shame you rarely see them on the field

[Jeffey]

You should hear me screaming on vent for our adv hacker whenever I see an abandoned Thresher or Enforcer =P

[FatalLight]

Back when I had rexo assault buggy was my best friend <3 it's an all purpose cert, you got AA, forward assault, and recon.

[Electrofreak]

One good reason. Buggies don't require a Tech plant. They actually used to, a long time ago, but myself and a group of other buggy fanatics harassed the Devs until they gave the buggies this advantage. So, while you're stuck with a Lightning when your Tech plant goes down, buggy drivers are still able to pull their vehicles. Also, remember that Assault Buggy includes the Skyguard, which is an absolutely mean little vehicle. I tend to switch back and forth between buggies. Take an Empire buggy out, and kill infantry until hostile aircraft get ballsy enough to enter my airspace. Then grab a Skyguard, wipe the sky clear, head back and grab the Empire buggy, rinse and repeat.

[Jeffey]

I personally find the whole techplant excuse is a little shortcoming. It really seems like an empire will be rendered techless for no more than an hour or so when breaking into a cont, as theres a good threeish+(?) plants on each cont, and it's rare that the invading empire will not have one after two hacks or more. now if techplants were like dropship centres, then it might be a decent reason to make the cost equal to that of MBT tanks.

[Warborn]

Lowering the cert cost of assault buggies isn't the way to fix them, assuming they need to be fixed. Every vehicle should have a place on the battlefield. This is a concept only recently introduced to the game, but it's here to stay.

Anyway, about the buggies themselves, I seem to recall reading that assault buggies were changed to do extra damage to BFRs. I know that from my experience they do, in fact, do a lot of damage to my BFR. They also have a lot better survivability against a BFR than a tank (except for Magriders). Even if I'm remembering incorrectly and they aren't in fact better against BFRs than normal vehicles, they're still very decent vehicles. Now if only a few mines wouldn't spell their death like every other fast, light vehicle...

[Jeffey]

I haven't driven a Thresher but once, could a VS give me some details about using the thing? All I know is when I hear one and I'm footing it I usually look for someplace to hide.

[jsloan31]

The Thresher is fun as hell to drive. Hover is nice when you're on a bridge, and there's a Vanguard coming at you the other way; just hop over the railing and duck under the bridge.

Flux Cannon is basically a "point in direction of infantry and pull trigger" gun, and it works exceedingly well at that ;).

[DeepStrikeck]

But it sucks rocks vs. aircraft. But it's really fun to mow stuff with it, especially MAX units. Got a few of those under my belt when I used to drive the Thresher religiously.

[Electrofreak]

God help you if you go over a minefield though. :lol: Its a fast little sucker, which means that by the time you see the mines its already too late.

However, if you're a good driver and stay away from areas that are likely to have enemy CE, it can be a damned powerful little vehicle.

[Jeffey]

How does it's armour compare to the marauder and enforcer?

[Majik]

When I carried assault buggies, the only time I pulled a skyguard was when my thresher timer wasn't up. I flat out refuse to drive a harrasser. I end up looking like a 4yo with ADD trying to steer that thing.
Just give me the ability to cert the ESB for 1-2 points, it is all I want out of the buggies anyway.

[steeldragon01]

I had the assualt buggy cert becuase 1. its fast 2. you could wear rexo 3.its fast
I sold it only to get the bfr

[Warborn]

Using Assault Buggies are possibly some of the most enjoyable times I've ever had in PS.

[Scikar]

Making the empire specific buggies immune to mines could be a start then? Immune as in not setting them off, at least. It makes sense from the Thresher point of view anyway. :p

I was thinking of the same thing for ATVs as well, but with ATVs down to 1 cert point I've seen plenty of them kicking around (though I haven't seen many people following me in running Fury raids against BFRs, and hunting down wounded tanks as they pull back for repairs. It would be nice if ATVs had to be closer to mines to set them off though.

EDIT: BTW, the Marauder makes the perfect anti-BFR tool when given a chance. You've got enough speed to get around the back of the BFR, a 12mm to knock out its shield gen, and a nice Ground Pounder to finish the job. The trouble is, any mines near that BFR and you're toast, a flight variant will just fly off if it gets into trouble, and a gunner variant with any half decent gunner can toast you even if you are behind it. :(

[jsloan31]

Well, the Mines in Planetside aren't normal mines that you'd find in <shock> real life </shock>, they're actually Proximity mines.

So, the game lore reason that everything sets them off, even hover vehicles, is that they detect an enemy object within their radius, and detonate. Hell, even aircraft can set them off (which is annoying in my Mossie).

A fun way to use this proximity feature, is that the mines are set off when you enter their sphere of detection. Yes, this sphere goes through objects. See where I'm going?

Enemy-mined bridge + enemy vehicle over it + you going under it = fun. Also a rather effective way of demining without jammers/emps/taking damage.

[Scikar]

Well, the Mines in Planetside aren't normal mines that you'd find in <shock> real life </shock>, they're actually Proximity mines.

Yes, I am aware of this. It's not hard to consider a field generator which disrupts the detonator or trigger of the mine though, which would be installed in the buggies.

[Baneblade]

My Enforcer is never abandoned. But it gets stolen or destroyed when I leave it alone for 5 minutes. The Harasser is damn good when you are alone and you need to get to a base under the radar...in Rexo.

[HorusBickle]

i actually like the harraser. i like the no radar aspect. and it is faster than h e double hockey sticks.

[Jeffey]

I'll pull a rasser for one of two scenarios, 1: transportation, 2: it's name ;)

[HorusBickle]

i like driving it, although i will concede that that is ONLY after many many (way too many really) attempts at driving it. its handling is super fast, and actually really responsive once you get used to it. i love taking it somewhere real hilly and tearing off all the jumps i can find.

[Electrofreak]

A Harasser is the ultimate vehicle for a team of snipers. I like to tag-team snipe with my brother Knightwyvern or Secondraven, and nothing beats a vehicle like the Harasser to get you to a great sniping spot without getting you lit up on radar in the process. Its trunk is also big enough to carry a few extra bolt driver rounds without cutting into the ammo supply too much, and its pretty damn good at shooting down aircraft with that 12mm gun. Also makes for a quick retreat if a Magrider decides to come give us snipers a visit.

We do similar runs with the Enforcer and Skyguard, but the Enforcer is a bit weak in the AA dept, the Skyguard can't always be pulled due to tech, and both are easily spotted on radar. Harasser wins the Snipers Choice award.

Edit- a cool little trick I've found is to use the Harasser as cover when sniping. You can easily snipe at targets right through the cockpit by sitting on Driver circle and firing through the vehicle. If the enemy pulls out AV, just hit G and get out of there. Damn its a fun little vehicle.

[Baneblade]

I call that the Jackal trick, if you ever saw the movie you know why.