Orbital Strikes

[LordReaver]

If orbital strikes return, a simple way they could be limited is that the os is tied to a server timer. So, if you fire off your OS, even if you change characters, you still have a timer. This limits everybody to 1 os per X amount of time.

[Logit]

Orbital Strikes are awesome, and if they don't return, I'll do a ton of extremely annoying whining on every Planetside forum at my disposal.

[Infektion]

Orbital Strikes are awesome, and if they don't return, I'll do a ton of extremely annoying whining on every Planetside forum at my disposal.

and i'll be loling every post you make.

[Bags]

Or just limit the number of CR5s.

[Firefly]

Or just limit the number of CR5s.
Another fucking retarded idea.

Don't punish the player for earning CR5. Devs need to implement a better system.

[Effective]

Give the CR a similar system to battle rank, they get command points to spend on certain abilities, such as EMP, OS's, reveals, command chat/globaling, etc.

This will help limit the amount of people in c-chat and the amount of OS's since people won't be able to pick everything. The exact mechanics behind this I'm far to lazy to elaborate on right now, but that's the gist of it.

[Raymac]

Give the CR a similar system to battle rank, they get command points to spend on certain abilities, such as EMP, OS's, reveals, command chat/globaling, etc.

This will help limit the amount of people in c-chat and the amount of OS's since people won't be able to pick everything. The exact mechanics behind this I'm far to lazy to elaborate on right now, but that's the gist of it.

The only problem I can see with this idea is...who would not pick OS? Sure, you might get a handful of players that choose something over an OS, but thats going to be a smaller minority than african american hockey players.

[Effective]

The only problem I can see with this idea is...who would not pick OS? Sure, you might get a handful of players that choose something over an OS, but thats going to be a smaller minority than african american hockey players.

There are ways, increase OS timer, decrease OS effectiveness (the size of it for example).

Maybe not both together, but things can be done to entice players to choose other possible benefits.

[Firefly]

There are ways, increase OS timer, decrease OS effectiveness (the size of it for example).

Maybe not both together, but things can be done to entice players to choose other possible benefits.

I like the idea. Purchase a generic OS, like the CR4-scale OS. More points required for a larger-scale OS.

[PsychoXR-20]

I'm going to throw this idea in here, rather than start a new thread about it.

Orbital Uplink Array

These are small structures located on every continent, one or two per continent, that give the controlling empire access to the orbital strike satellites. These structures are small, being just slightly bigger than a TRAP and are specifically located in the most remote areas of a continent. There purposes are two fold. First they limit how many players can call down an orbital strike (by limiting it to one empire at a time), secondly because of their remoteness, they encourage open world combat. Some of the most fun fights I have been in are bridge battle and fights BETWEEN two facilities. Fights that are seemingly over nothing.

Two pictures as examples:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1267/ouacont.th.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/ouacont.jpg/)
This is the rough area that an array would cover. Notice that it is located in an area as far away from any facilities as possible (I would also go ahead and remove those two towers near it), and also that it does not cover the entire continent. It covers most of it, but there are a couple facilities that would be permanently immune to orbital strikes. This gives those few facilities a slightly different approach from both an attacker and defender position.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5674/ouasize.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/600/ouasize.jpg/)
This is the size and shape of the array in comparison to a soldier. Notice that there is no cover, however the CC of the array goes around the entire device, so you can use the array itself as a means of cover.

[Rbstr]

I think OSes were A-OK for most of my PS play time.
Personally I'd rather it be more effective but with much longer cooldown.

Adding variety to strategic and tactical satellite based weaponry could be cool. Have the AMS buster OS, that has a small area but pinpoint accuracy with surprise factor that can take out a single vehicle and then a courtyard clearer which is powerful enough to smash some infantry and buggies, not enough to get a healthy tank, but it hits a full courtyard quarter.
You could have an area denial thing that sets a trap OS up on intrusion, but make it detectable so you invite people to go around it, the way you want them too.

I'd like the whole command benefits thing to allow a more tactical, rather than strategic, path. You have command of a squad, you can take out a tank with a pinpoint OS in a quick pinch situation, request a longer barrage over an area that takes time to arrive, get a temporary terminal or a light vehicle dropped to you.

Make people choose, with CR points, between the tactical, squad-scale, track - which would contain things like squad proximity bonuses, tactical hotdrops, EMP, battlefield-level command chats, local radar, enhanced survivability and the pinpoint OS - and the strategic, army-level, track that contains the traditional command chats, base pounder OSes, radar jamming, semi-permanent strategic hotdrops, designating EXP bonus zones to entice people's participation at certain targets.
Levels of upgrades ext.

Then make the timers/usage squad/platoon based. Squad Leaders (who have X people in their squads) are the only ones that can use them...but the squad's timer is based on the longest personal timer of one of it's members. (So you can't just reform or swap squads to reset it)

[Tikuto]

*disregards whole thread*

Check link in my signature! :D

[basti]

The only problem I can see with this idea is...who would not pick OS? Sure, you might get a handful of players that choose something over an OS, but thats going to be a smaller minority than african american hockey players.

If i would have to choose between /c / /comxy and OS, then i would always choose /c and /comxy. I want o lead, not nuke. If you want to nuke, then nuke, but stfu on /c!



OSes themself are fine and good the way they are. They became a problem after we got half and more of the online guys having CR5. Back in the old days, you rarley saw a OS. And if you saw one, you could be sure that it was fired because there was an AMS there, or a spastic amount of enemys.

[Furret]

Exactly how fast do these quicker, more pinpoint OS's hit?

I can already taste the tears of people who spawn at an AMS, click on the terminal, and hear *WHOOOSH-BOOM* and they're dead before they can even exit the terminal menu. Regardless of the cooldown, people will complain if they can be killed from a distance without the possibility of surviving, while the killer needs only to set a waypoint, and click on it.

As was previously posted by rbstr, OS's should be purely tactical, the kills are just a bonus. I would prefer an OS designed to neutralize an AMS to be a beam that hits instantly, but does damage like a pain field (though much faster), to a radius of 3 times the AMS shield bubble, to vehicles and players alike. This OS lasts for 10 seconds, enough time for the vehicle damage per second to kill the most armored vehicle in the game if it is in the pain field for the full duration of the strike. If an ATV or harasser type vehicle were to drive through the pain field, they wouldn't sustain much damage.

There are two ways I can think of doing the damage mathematically. Either have the damage compound if the vehicle is still in the pain field after the first 1, 3, 5, and 10 seconds. That way, an ATV driving through the pain field would only feel pain for a second as it drives through the radius.

Secondly, the damage could be related to the speed of the vehicle. The faster a vehicle is moving, the less damage it takes. I don't know how much they care about making this realistic, because theoretically a higher velocity collision would result in more damage, but it would be an easy out for allowing high speed vehicles to pass through the field without sustaining major damage.


Also, if they're going to have multiple types of OS's, they might as well have an anti infantry one (to please the killwhores).

This OS acts the same as the OS's in the current PlanetSide function, except they don't do nearly as much damage; just enough to kill any infantry unit (MAXs included). They could either do no damage to vehicles or reduced damage, but an AI OS shouldn't be able to kill any vehicle, unless it's been previously weakened.

And despite firefly's brilliantly proposed and defended point, I think limiting the number of players with the ability to fire an OS is a good idea. People don't like being killed from the heavens by some guy standing on a hill a half a kilometer away, and if there's enough OS's, bad things will occur.

[Rbstr]

I think the OS-fire-control-post thing is a neat idea. But it needs to be a something you have an opportunity to defend after you've captured it and left. So, while it doesn't have facilities, make it a part of the lattice somehow.
As far as the pinpoint os, I'm thinking that it should start doing damage almost instantly but do it over some time.
Basically a deployed AMS is done for, a tank that starts moving right away narrowly escapes.

[Sirisian]

*disregards whole thread*

Check link in my signature! :D
It's called Planetside 2. lol :lol:

[BorisBlade]

The over abundance of cr5's issue is not related. its due to the quadrupling of cep, which ended up making 10x more cr5's than you would have otherwise. If it took forever, not only would people just not get it, but they would also be discouraged and not even try. That rank in ps2 would be small even in the long run if they dont do anymore of the retarded xp multipliers and keep it where it used to be.

As far as limiting OS's you just need to charge CEP for em. However to keep you from just hoggin all the xp once you get cr5, you could also spend BEP but at a much higher cost. Both would continue toi be earned even once you got the xp cap. But you would be limited to a cap on the usuable pool. Somethin along the lines of 2 or 3x the cost of the OS. You could save up for 3 of em (still have the timer between them tho), but you would have to continue to earn cep/bep to keep using them once the xp is gone. So this requires you to keep leading to use OS'es, or you could use bep but at such a high cost it takes much much longer to get the points required (possibly uses a full bar of stored bep instead of 1/3 when cep is used). The OS is a leader's weapon, so lead if you want to use it.

[Effective]

The over abundance of cr5's issue is not related. its due to the quadrupling of cep, which ended up making 10x more cr5's than you would have otherwise. If it took forever, not only would people just not get it, but they would also be discouraged and not even try. That rank in ps2 would be small even in the long run if they dont do anymore of the retarded xp multipliers and keep it where it used to be.

As far as limiting OS's you just need to charge CEP for em. However to keep you from just hoggin all the xp once you get cr5, you could also spend BEP but at a much higher cost. Both would continue toi be earned even once you got the xp cap. But you would be limited to a cap on the usuable pool. Somethin along the lines of 2 or 3x the cost of the OS. You could save up for 3 of em (still have the timer between them tho), but you would have to continue to earn cep/bep to keep using them once the xp is gone. So this requires you to keep leading to use OS'es, or you could use bep but at such a high cost it takes much much longer to get the points required (possibly uses a full bar of stored bep instead of 1/3 when cep is used). The OS is a leader's weapon, so lead if you want to use it.

I don't like this idea. It's an idea that punishes small outfits with few players.

[Firefly]

I always liked the idea of spending outfit experience for certain things if Planetside ever expanded... like outfit base ownership, outfit HART or outfit cruisers, etc. Maybe in keeping with purchasing an OS, burn some outfit XP too.

[Rbstr]

I don't like the idea of having to purchase things that are disposable or using currency. The game, by nature, has a high turnover rate on equipment, and it's no fun to have to grind up points to purchase things you lose in this kind of game. (Contrast to EVE where I've got equipment that's somehow managed to stay alive for years)

I'd much rather have skill-point like systems like cert points. Outfit can level up (somehow normalized to the number of players in the outfit) and gain outfit upgrade points and spend them on permanent upgrades, and they can switch them up occasionally.

[Bags]

Another fucking retarded idea.

Don't punish the player for earning CR5. Devs need to implement a better system.

How does limiting the number of CR5s punish people for getting CR5?

Another fucking retarded post from Firefly. Seriously, I recommend looking over your posts before hitting submit. Then you won't look like the massive tool that you are.

[Firefly]

How does limiting the number of CR5s punish people for getting CR5?
Awww isn't that cute? Little Ballbag got pissy. Oh well. I'm going to ignore your butt-hurt weak attempt at a comeback because you simply don't rate. So I selectively quoted the piece which is relevant.

The Good Lord tells me that I should suffer the weak-of-mind, so I'm going to attempt to take it easy on you. Let me explain this since you're too busy fapping to gay anime to have learned a bit of reading comprehension before you graduated from whatever facility of higher learning from which you claim to have gestated. This is basically what I intuit from your original post: "Oh, boo-hoo, there's too many CR5s spamming global and/or command chat. Oh, boo-hoo, there's too many CR5s because the game's been out for eight years. Oh, boo-hoo there's too many CR5s because I can't walk outside and get my Mossie Bailure without getting OS'd. Waa waa waa, me me me, I I I, he stole my cookie, I hate this game, that guy's a ****** for OS'ing me, boo hoo hoo. So here's my contribution to the shallow end of the gene pool guyz! In PS2 let's limit the number of CR5s because people don't know how to play the way I want them to play! okai?!?!" So why is this a fucking retarded idea? Not just because it's Bags who's a known forum crybaby, no. There are a number of ideas in this thread, some good, some bad, some a little farfetched, plus your stupid post, all of them at least attempt to address the issue in a non-flippant manner except yours.

Putting a cap on the number of CR5s IN PS2/PSN whatever the fuck they're going to call it, simply because you're a crybaby who wants everything HIS way and because you're butt-hurt about the CR5s and their antics/their spam/their OSes, is a stupid fucking idea. Let's just get that out of the way. Your personal motivation for having it done is retarded. How does it punish everyone else? It punishes people by virtue of the fact that your maladjusted idea LIMITS THE NUMBER OF CR5s just because you don't like the way people "abuse" the CR5 abilities SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT AS MUCH. Why should there be an elite class that only a few can get into and once its filled nobody else is allowed in? That smacks of elitist bullshit or very piss poor implementation and for those that don't get in, it punishes those people. "Sorry fellas, you can't have a spot because we said only 100 CR5s [random made-up number]." Your idea, which is still fucking idiotic by the way, puts a set number on CR5s - which, given the time and population and fight, anyone could theoretically earn. CR5 is not a god rank - it's a fucking level in a fucking video game. There's no way to control the intelligence factor among CR5s, there's no way to stop the spam without heavy moderation (which sucks for all parties involved, ever been an MMO CSR?). You'll see those limited spots fill up quickly by people who are racing to be one of The Chosen. Which means no-life basement-dwelling grinders, squad invite-spammers, unemployed fatties, AFK-in-warpgate Squad Leaders, and people who aren't leading at all but rather are whoring CEP, will be the first to claim those spots. So you just filled the gene pool with piss. Good job, Einstein.

But let's presume that everyone's equal and smart and we're all neck-in-neck in the race to be one of the limited number of CR5s. Who's to decide who gets CR5 and how to fill those limited spots? Should it be first-come/first-serve or will there be elitist cocksuckers like you judging the merit of the up-and-coming CR4s? Do we vote on it? YAY a popularity contest! Do you reserve spots for tried-and-true CR5s? Ooh, I know! How about saving space for people who join the game well after release? What about people who get CR5 and then fuck it up? Do you kick them out of the CR5 Boys Club, O Holier Than Thou? Narrowing the field simply because YOU are a fucking prick who hates anyone who doesn't do things exactly the way you want IS PUNISHMENT for the misdeeds of others (misdeeds being subjective, based on your whiny bitching). Don't penalize players because of poor game mechanics or for being trolls like you. Poor game mechanics do not get fixed by limiting the people who have access to it. If your opinion is that it's crappy (surprise surprise), it's still going to be crappy, just with less amounts of crap. Fix the problem and fix the game mechanics, not band-aid it by limiting the number of players who can annoy you. I mean, seriously? "I hate all of you, so let me limit the number of people I have to hate". Really?

Did that explanation make it any clearer, or are you still a fucking dumb sack of knuckles?

[Lonehunter]

Another fucking retarded idea.

Don't punish the player for earning CR5. Devs need to implement a better system.
First off, I'm not bothering with your recent wall of text post lol.

But this is a retarted retort.

I can't believe you, of all people, don't think there where too many CR5s in planetside. The rank doesn't have anything to do with leading people anymore, they just had SL during a hack. Everyone wants to global and have a big OS.

CR5 should actually mean something. I always thought a character's CEP should reset after a certain amount of time. Basically, only the people actively leading, get the bonuses of being a commander.

[Lonehunter]

There are ways to limit the total number of CR5s without punishing the player. If so many people are grinding CEP just to get an OS isn't there a problem?

[Furret]

Putting a cap on the number of CR5s IN PS2/PSN whatever the fuck they're going to call it, simply because you're a crybaby who wants everything HIS way and because you're butt-hurt about the CR5s and their antics/their spam/their OSes, is a stupid fucking idea. Let's just get that out of the way. Your personal motivation for having it done is retarded. How does it punish everyone else? It punishes people by virtue of the fact that your maladjusted idea LIMITS THE NUMBER OF CR5s just because you don't like the way people "abuse" the CR5 abilities SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT AS MUCH. Why should there be an elite class that only a few can get into and once its filled nobody else is allowed in? That smacks of elitist bullshit or very piss poor implementation and for those that don't get in, it punishes those people. "Sorry fellas, you can't have a spot because we said only 100 CR5s [random made-up number]." Your idea, which is still fucking idiotic by the way, puts a set number on CR5s - which, given the time and population and fight, anyone could theoretically earn. CR5 is not a god rank - it's a fucking level in a fucking video game. There's no way to control the intelligence factor among CR5s, there's no way to stop the spam without heavy moderation (which sucks for all parties involved, ever been an MMO CSR?). You'll see those limited spots fill up quickly by people who are racing to be one of The Chosen. Which means no-life basement-dwelling grinders, squad invite-spammers, unemployed fatties, AFK-in-warpgate Squad Leaders, and people who aren't leading at all but rather are whoring CEP, will be the first to claim those spots. So you just filled the gene pool with piss. Good job, Einstein.

But let's presume that everyone's equal and smart and we're all neck-in-neck in the race to be one of the limited number of CR5s. Who's to decide who gets CR5 and how to fill those limited spots? Should it be first-come/first-serve or will there be elitist cocksuckers like you judging the merit of the up-and-coming CR4s? Do we vote on it? YAY a popularity contest! Do you reserve spots for tried-and-true CR5s? Ooh, I know! How about saving space for people who join the game well after release? What about people who get CR5 and then fuck it up? Do you kick them out of the CR5 Boys Club, O Holier Than Thou? Narrowing the field simply because YOU are a fucking prick who hates anyone who doesn't do things exactly the way you want IS PUNISHMENT for the misdeeds of others (misdeeds being subjective, based on your whiny bitching). Don't penalize players because of poor game mechanics or for being trolls like you. Poor game mechanics do not get fixed by limiting the people who have access to it.

This is all very true. The only solution I can think of that forces a limited number of CR5's but still allows some change, is having the the players in the top percentile of CEP hold the CR5 position, and scale it from there.

You'll see those limited spots fill up quickly by people who are racing to be one of The Chosen. Which means grinders, squad invite-spammers, AFK-in-warpgate Squad Leaders, and people who aren't leading at all but rather are whoring CEP, will be the first to claim those spots.

This would still be an issue however.

The only way I can think of that keeps the CR5 rank from being overrun by CEP grinders who don't care about leading is to have some sort of voting system. Sure, it would be a popularity contest, but isn't that the point? You want the players to choose who leads, because they'll want someone who cares about winning instead of a CEP whore.


Alternatively, instead of nuking the city to kill the ant, we could fix the ACTUAL problem, the orbital strikes. Obviously, the number of OS's need to be limited, there's no other way around it. Nerfing them wouldn't work, because they'd lose their tactical power. I don't know if OS could cost certification points, because the killwhore CR5's would all get it anyway.

Actually, I have another idea that I'm going to write in another post to stop clutter and text walls

[Furret]

PART 2:

Fix CEP.

Main Problem: Too many OS's

Main Reason: Too many CR5's

Cause: Too easy to get to CR5, no limit on number of CR5's

Cause: CEP is easy to whore. <- Underlying problem.

My fix

A squad assists in the capture of the base. The entire squad is awarded 100 points for capturing the base for each player in the squad. Since this squad has 10 players in it, the experience pool for the squad is 1,000. Each player in the squad, upon being awarded the points, determines how he wants to use his experience. The leader will likely put most or all of his 100 points into command. The other players, depending on how generous they're feeling, can give up to 100 of their personal points to the squad leader's command experience.

This way, a CEP whore would invite 10 randoms to his squad, AFK as his empire takes the base, and most likely earn 100 CEP for it, because his 'squadmates' would feel no inclination to give away their experience.

A seasoned leader with squad mates who respected him, would most likely earn his own 100 CEP, and perhaps 30 from each of his members, netting him 100 + (9 x 30) = 370 CEP for one base. This way, someone who actually commands would earn experience 3.7 times faster than someone who just whores it.


Only problem I can still see is someone and his group of 9 friends that don't care too much, and give all of their experience to the squad leader, who may or may not be doing anything. I don't think that would be TOO much of an issue, because the lazy leader would still have to get together nine people who don't care.

Questions and Comments?

[Firefly]

I can't believe you, of all people, don't think there where too many CR5s in planetside. The rank doesn't have anything to do with leading people anymore, they just had SL during a hack. Everyone wants to global and have a big OS.

CR5 should actually mean something. I always thought a character's CEP should reset after a certain amount of time. Basically, only the people actively leading, get the bonuses of being a commander.
I never bothered to give my opinion, but it should have been obvious considering I was attempting to positively contribute to the discussion until Debbie Downer came along. Are there too many CR5s? Yes. I agree. I disagree with handling it in such a juvenile, elitist manner. I think putting a cap on the number of people who can max out their levels is fucking stupid. That doesn't mean I don't think there are too many CR5s. Bags' whiny reason for wanting to handle it is pesonally-motivated, just look at his post history on the subject. Bags' idea for handling the problem is stupid and punitive in nature. I'm not very affected by the problem. I either have command chat turned off or I summarily ignore it because it's full of 4chan/SomethingAwful rejects and people like Ballbags. I've died due to Orbital Strike a sum total of three times in the last six months. It's not that big of an issue to me, and I don't let it affect my gaming or my forum crying. I see the issue and my minuscule amounts of concern for the happiness of others allows me to recognize the issue, and my game developer background allows me to see beyond the haze of red caused by being butt-hurt about the issue, to find an appropriate solution that isn't akin to "kill em all and let the Bags of the world sort em out."

The problem is that Planetside has been around for eight years. CR5, when the game came out, was an integral part of the game. As more and more people dilute that, it loses its value. Orbital strike is another weapon, that's all. EMP is another weapon, that's all. Command chat is a joke. Globals are abused. You don't resolve those problems by saying "X-amount of people can do this". That doesn't change anything except the fact that fewer people are doing it. THEY ARE STILL DOING IT. You don't cull the herd of retards by having a smaller herd. There are other solutions. Examples: more stringent requirements to use Orbital Strike, policing command chat, longer OS timers, requiring Command Cert points to purchase abilities, CEP degrading (sort of like reverse rested XP), only a CR5 SL or OL can use OS, purchased with outfit points, making it a serious fucking pain to get to CR5 like it used to be, etc.

[Raymac]

It's an interesting problem. Because now, 8 years later, yeah there are too many CR5's and too many OS's. But back in the first year or 2, there wern't too many. In fact, I think it was in a "goldilocks" stage of being just right for a good amount of time. So the question is, how do you pre-fix something that isn't broken at first, but breaks after a long period of time? (We are all hoping PS2 lasts as long if not longer than the original)

I have no answer, I just like stating the obvious.

[GTGD]

There's a very simple way to end this which has already been said: don't quadruple the amount of CEP earned. Most of the stupid CR5s are Fodderside scrubs who began in like 2008, if not more recently. Otherwise I see no problem. People leading squads frequently since the release of the game SHOULD be a CR5 right now, and they should be able to enjoy their powers. There is no problem with the amount of CR5s right now, the problem is the percentage of people playing, the time the game has been out for, and the lack of support for so long.

1) There are plenty of CR5s. But if there were more lower leveled characters by weekend warriors and casual gamers, it wouldn't be as much as a problem. The problem right now is that there are so few playing, the amount of people that can OS seem to outnumber the people who cert or are bothered to pull AMSes.

2) This game has been out for 8 years. CR5 was never an impossible task, it was just tedious especially considering how long some fights could last without any base captures. Multiplier or not, there would be a bunch of CR5s. It's just all the new players happened to stumble onto the multipliers from the get-go and easily achieved what took others a significantly longer amount of time.

3) If this game had any real support from SOE following Aftershock, something would have been done. New CRs, changes to current CRs, whatever. They already moved continental chat to only CR5s after it was available to CR4s. Things could have been adjusted.

[MooK]

The problem is not that there are too many CR5s. The problem is that there are too many CR5s abusing the powers they've earned. How do we limit this?

First and foremost, implement limitations through creative and imaginative means. Like many have stated here, the basic dynamic to limit CR5 abilities, is to adapt the current certification system for use with command rank. This is not very difficult and actually adds positively to the game mechanic.

Let's say, besides command certification points, commanders have absolutely no benefits other than cosmetic changes to their character uniform. For each command level awarded, additional options are presented to the character and a new certification point is also awarded. Each option costs one certification point, and may or may not be affected by changes in command rank.

Here we have the basic necessities slightly adjusted:

Command Chat 1
For each CR rank awarded, the radius is increased appropriately.

Continental/Global Chat 5
Continental Cooldown 5 Minutes
Global Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Each announcement requires a large disperse of energy to accomplish the task of reaching all soldiers within the specified area. As such, to maintain energy stores aboard solar powered orbital satellites, they must be limited.

Reveal Friendlies/Reveal Enemies 2
Cooldown: 20 Minutes
Lasts: 5 Minutes
This provides a great tactical option besides seeking potential OS targets.

Electromagnetic Pulse 3
Cooldown: 20 Minutes.
Radius: Depends on command rank.
It ain't broke, don't fix it.

Orbital Strike 4
Cooldown: 24 Hours.
Limit: One every five minutes per continent
Radius: Depends on command rank.
The orbital strike as it's currently implemented makes sense. However, the allotted power dispersion per commander per day must be maintained in such a fashion to allow multiple commanders to make use of the facilities. As such, per commander, only one orbital strike may be utilized per day. To maintain operating levels, only one orbital strike may be launched per five minutes, per continent.

Now, we just have to come up with additional worthwhile expansions to the system. As mentioned before:

Rally Call 5
Cooldown: 6 Hours
Lasts: 20 Minutes
Limit: One every half hour
Radius: One base SOI.
This alerts individuals to a location, and increases their reward for fighting at that specified location.

Unmaned Aerial Surveillance 3
Cooldown: 4 Hours
Lasts: 10 Minutes (two runs if it survives)
Radius: One base SOI.
This would provide the same features as a moving interlink. Commanders would choose a flight trajectory. The vehicle would descend from space, make two runs (forward and backward) and return to it's satellite. It would be a targetable object, but being that it's so high up, only viable for air-to-air battle.

Oh well, I can't finish this post right now, but you get the idea.

[Rbstr]

Too many CR5s in the game currently is not a problem with the original system, it's a problem with being 8 years old. It wasn't a problem for the couple years I played, CR5 was annoying to get and a grind in it's own right, let alone it being capped to X number of players.

Limiting the number of CR5's is simply an elitist's solution that strong arms non-basement-dwellers out of that part of the game. It is a dumb solution.

OS and command power limitations should be based on if the qualified player is currently commanding, that is a squad/platoon/whatever leader. Timers can easily be designed to prevent most leader-swapping timer abuse by having minimum squad counts and both squad and personal timer interaction.

Another part is to make the OS less of the CR's real defining trait. Make it's timer longer and give CRs more to do in the meantime. Squad bonuses/enhancements and other things that make those you lead more effective should be the real power. Not some quasi-tactical kill whore's tool.

[Logit]

AMS' would be OP if Orbital strikes didn't exist...just sayin..

[BlazingSun]

I have never had problems with OSes in my 4 years that I played. Everyone who has a problem with it, should play BF2 or BF2142 for a bit ... THAT was some annoying artillery/orbital bombardement.

[BicOfMarkov]

You want the players to choose who leads, because they'll want someone who cares about winning instead of a CEP whore.


I'm more inclined to think the CEP whores will be voted for by the Killwhores who are of like mind.

[Furret]

Sure they're both 'whores', but it depends on whether or not a killwhore and a CEP whore can achieve their goals simultaneously.

I'm revising my previous position though, voting is not good.

[Aractain]

Grinding for toys is bad.

Tools for roles is good.

[Tikuto]

The problem is not that there are too many CR5s. The problem is that there are too many CR5s abusing the powers they've earned. How do we limit this?Absolutely.


I've mentioned a singular entity system and quick-voting system before. By singular entity I mean each Empire's leaders co-operate systematically instead of every ability multiplied at each commander's disposal.
There would be Officers and Soldiers both on the field though Officers have access to imperial leadership things whereas Soldiers kick ass on the ground. The quick voting (players) is per continent's whole Officers though there could be some exceptions for 'Outfit abilities'. All Officers and ranking Soldiers vote for or against an action,
and all those successful actions of the proposer is promoted CEP.
All unsuccessful actions (e.g. team-killing) of the proposer is demoted CEP.This also filters who's the most active and renowned Officer of your Empire, ascending to become a redefined PlanetSide "Commander" (meaning the highest Command Rank is hard to earn and keep).

Officer's 'primary' experience pool is CEP. High CEP Officers become "Commanders".
Soldier's 'primary' experience pool is BEP. High CEP Soldiers become "Commodores"?

[Traak]

I say give CR5's abilities that are impossible to use for themselves. Reveal is useful, but it is also what the millions of cheaters hide behind when they claim to have found you by using it in the middle of nowhere, motionless, crouched, cloaked, on an island so far out of the action, they would have had to be 20km from the nearest continent that had any action to be able to even use reveal to find you, or you were running, cloaked, through a forest before they one-shotted you with their Beamer from their sanctuary, or dropped literally, right on top of your head, as if they had the psychic ability to anticipate your exact location etc. etc.

Give the CR5's abilities that are absolutely useless for themselves, but useful for the empire. Things that don't turn into something to hide cheats behind.

And eliminate orbital strikes altogether. They ruin the game for many (primarily anyone doing support) while rewarding a few that have nothing to do all day but sit in front of a screen.

I mean, really. People are going to unsubscribe if there are no orbital strikes? Nah. I guess, conversely, they won't if there ARE OS's, either. I just don't see where they add anything to the game for most of the players.

If you must reward the CR5 uber-nerds, give them a rocket sled with hydraulics that has gold-plated handlebars with tassles on them, that can fly around towing tin cans, and is impossible to damage, but can be a good scout vessel. Or can tow advertising banners such as "<CR5 name> is gay and looking for action" followed by his phone number, or whatever the CR5s want it to say.

Or make OS's very large radius, and affect soldiers only, not vehicles, sort of like a biological version of an EMP.

OS's just reward cowardice, and we don't NEED more rewards for that in the game. I guess if Sony feels that the game will just die if they don't have OS's, they could predicate it upon you being online for six hours straight, after which you would have a ten-minute window to use one.

As you can tell, again, I despise OS's, and see no need for them in the game.

[Traak]

AMS' would be OP if Orbital strikes didn't exist...just sayin..

Idiotic statement of the decade. Spoken by someone who has never, once, certed AMS.

Of course it takes mindless killwhore morons whose idea of teamwork is to use both hands to pick their noses to even entertain the idea of a support wagon being overpowered.

[Aractain]

Lets get to the heart of the issue here (expanding on my two lines before).

New CR5s are not commanders. They have not done any commanding, just grinding as slot 1 in a squad.

Commanders should not need ranks or prerequisits. Just let em command from day 1.

If you doing some commanding you get some tools to use.

Information and inteligence should be part of the gameplay (radar vehicles like mossies).

Anti-Mine clearing should not be done instantly (unless minefields are instant also).

OSes should not be insta kill death zones but a range of mission specific options including vehicle destroying, infantry pressure (damage over time), EMP, and Obscurant (smoke).

If they put some imagination into the gameplay the game will be fun. I don't want Planetside: Again.