Resupply, trunkspace etc.

[NapalmEnima]

Okay, we know the grid inventory is gone. We know infiltrators love the wraith because they can get more ACEs out of the trunk.

The "gen hold" scenario where the MAXes stock up on extra repair and healing reloads seems out the window (though IIRC Higby said he'd bring it up in the next design meeting a while back). I see no reason to believe trunk space will exist either.


Solution: Limited equipment terminals in vehicles (by default or as an upgrade). Load them with NTU (from an ANT directly, or from a base, draining it slightly), and let folks pull whatever it is they need to pull from it.

You could have several different "grades". "Ammo only", "ammo & weapons", "change class, 'cept MAX", and a full on equipment terminal.

Now a large column of vehicles might want/need an ANT or three with them to refill their terminals in the field.

You have a SUPPLY TRAIN. One that can get blowed up... fairly easily at that.

Some of the larger vehicles could have an add-on that acted as a (slower) ANT, pulling NTU directly from a warp gate (gal, sunderer).


And speaking of supply trains: How about a CE-constructed NTU rebroadcaster? Another supply train that would be easy to blow up (and hard to defend... might not get much use, unless they have a cloaking field).

All bases could come with a rebroadcaster, so all friendly vehicles are automagically resupplied at a given (slow) rate. Let the base command switch this function off in low NTU situations.


MAXes and lighter vehicles could have "ammo only" terminals, with a reservoir dictated by their size (max & ATV: not much, buggies would have more). A Sunderer could probably manage a class(w/MAX) terminal if fully upgraded/unlocked, and be able to use it for quite some time.

[Redshift]

i doubt infils will be allowed boomers tbh.

But on the actual topic i'd be happy with each vehicle having a trunk that refilled your ammo when you clicked on it, and just give each trunk 2-3 "charges"

[Draep]

Or they could do the insanely easier task of giving one of the classes an ammo resupply pack like they do in Battlefield. I do think that some of the vehicles should include mini equipment terms.

[NapalmEnima]

i doubt infils will be allowed boomers tbh.

I see them being given some sort of explosives. The whole "sneak in and blow stuff up" mechanic is just too much of a mainstay of the class to not make it into PS2 in some form or fashion.

But on the actual topic i'd be happy with each vehicle having a trunk that refilled your ammo when you clicked on it, and just give each trunk 2-3 "charges"

I'd want to see it scale with the vehicle's size, but yeah, that'd be fine too. But I'd rather see some granularity so the guy who pulled a clip worth of bullets and a medkit doesn't drain as much as the guy who replaced just about everything because he's been kicking ass for that long.

And that level of granularity naturally leads to calling units of that supply capacity "NTUs", which leads to all that Other Stuff.

OTOH: your version is much more likely to make it into release, while mine is a Major System that will Influence Gameplay.

[ThGlump]

Worst case scenario? I bet they copy another stuff from BF and that is some class with unlimited ammo crate that resupply your loadout.
If thats the case i would like that you have to put some effort in it (cert it, have some applicator + limited amount of nanites from which you create desired supplies), than just running around throwing ammo crates everywhere (same i expect from medics).

No idea what they do for vehicles. I fear unlimited ammo.

[Draep]

No idea what they do for vehicles. I fear unlimited ammo.

Or they bring back the lodestar. As for the rest of your post, it looks pretty similar to what I said.

[Talek Krell]

I see them being given some sort of explosives. The whole "sneak in and blow stuff up" mechanic is just too much of a mainstay of the class to not make it into PS2 in some form or fashion.I concur. It seems just too fundamental to use. Even BF's recons got C4.

On the topic, this seems like a decent idea. I'd probably replace the MAX functionality with some sort of engineering deployable or an ammo crate from light assault troopers. Then have a utility slot module that would allow limited resupply from any vehicle (as compared to the full on equipment terminals included with larger troop centric vehicles).

[ThGlump]

Yea im slow typer so you posted it while i was thinking what to write.

As for lodestar. Looks like they dont plan to have one purpose vehicles (that you can left behind and do something else - same with ams), so lodestar just for repair/resupply wont be there. If they add lodestar it will be probably as a mobile vehicle pad with repair/resupply terminal. But i think there wont be any lode.

[Talek Krell]

I have had a suspicion that the Lody has been re-imagined as a set of module options for the Gal, giving it a larger vehicle bay and repair/rearm functionality in exchange for passenger seats.

[ThGlump]

Any ammo crate from soldiers should be limited, otherwise there is no reason to even have ammo count in squads.

Another possibility is that ammo will drop from dead soldiers/vehicles as a pickup. They plan to have rare weapons as a drop, so when weapons are rare, ammo will be common drop.

[Redshift]

Or they could do the insanely easier task of giving one of the classes an ammo resupply pack like they do in Battlefield. I do think that some of the vehicles should include mini equipment terms.

yes but it's not really feasible for a rexo supply bot to follow some infiltrators into a base is it.....

[Talek Krell]

yes but it's not really feasible for a rexo supply bot to follow some infiltrators into a base is it.....
Well infils have never had resupply inside enemy bases (not including term hacking). As long as the ATVs can fit both cloak and resupply modules they'll have roughly what they have now.

Any ammo crate from soldiers should be limited, otherwise there is no reason to even have ammo count in squads.Agreed. Maybe it comes with a certain number of boxes that you can set up like CE, or functions sort of like med juice?

[Draep]

yes but it's not really feasible for a rexo supply bot to follow some infiltrators into a base is it.....

Honestly this is why they just need to let us pick up kits, or at least the ammo from them.

[ThGlump]

Before inventory was ruled out i always thought about this a a juice, where you decide what ammo or other items (even such big as decimators when heavily certed) you create draining nanite juice from your inventory.
Now that there is no inventory i see it more like terminal, not a box. Ideally some version of MAX with limited weaponry, with a simple equipment terminal on his back, and majority of his inventory filled with ntu draining proportionally to how many items are resupplied (similar to OP vehicle idea just for soldiers)

[nomotog]

I actually don't think I understand the OPs supply idea. It would probably make more sense if I played ps1.

For PS2 things get a lot easier to think of. You will probably have an attachment that lets you have unlimited/regenerating ammo for hand weapons and that lets us pass out ammo to allies. (maybe some weapons have unlimited ammo) I think we have actually seen it in screen shots That backpack some characters had on. Tanks and other vehicles could have a attachment that refills the ammo of the people around it. It might also be cool if you have planes dropping ammo and med kits from the sky.

Vehicles? Do we need to limit there ammo? It would kind of raise the question of how we refill it's ammo. Are we going to have engineers running around with giant fuel cans?

[ThGlump]

Regenerating ammo? No. Next step would be regenerating health and vehicles. I hope PS2 dont sink that low.

And yes we need limit vehicles ammo. It should be part of modifications. You could get stronger weapon, or stronger armor that would cut your trunk space leaving you with less ammo as a tradeoff, so you will have be more cautious not to waste ammo. And as there will be primary and secondary weapon you should pick how much ammo you take for each.

[NapalmEnima]

I actually don't think I understand the OPs supply idea. It would probably make more sense if I played ps1.


Yeah, it would.

In PS1, every vehicle had a trunk of varying size. You could put anything in it you wanted. This was especially handy if you were going to be in the field a long time with frequent repairs. You could put extra "repair juice" canisters in your trunk, along with all the ammo (enough to run each weapon dry and reload several times usually, though some (reaver rockets in particular) were more limited).

And later on you could save inventories at vehicle resupply terminals so you could easily restock rather than having to run to and from an equipment terminal to put everything you wanted into the trunk every time. That was a hassle, and trunks were rarely used for such things early on.

Ditto for MAXes. They had a great big inventory with a big pile of ammo, but room for Other Stuff too. This other stuff was often healing and repair reloads along with med kits. This was much more common as maxes could have predefined loadouts right from the start. So long as you had the certs for it, you could pull whatever gear/ammo you wanted and stuff it into your inventory. MAXes could only USE the ammo specific to that particular MAX (AV, AA, AI), and couldn't use normal infantry gear at all.


The infiltrator suits had teeny tiny inventories. Infiltrators often certed with combat engineering so they could do stuff like sneak into a base and plant explosives in various places. But their inventory was so small they could carry very little.

Later on, SOE releases the "Wraith" ATV. A cloaking vehicle (provided the driver was an infiltrator) with a little TRUNK SPACE. This space could be stocked with more combat engineering stuff so an infiltrator had much more endurance in the field.


That's the history. PS2 isn't going to have "free form" inventories holding whatever you want... neither infantry nor vehicles. That means this aspect of PS1 is potentially GONE.

And that would kinda suck.

So I propose vehicle(and MAX)-based generic resupply, as in the OP.

[nomotog]

Regenerating ammo? No. Next step would be regenerating health and vehicles. I hope PS2 dont sink that low.

And yes we need limit vehicles ammo. It should be part of modifications. You could get stronger weapon, or stronger armor that would cut your trunk space leaving you with less ammo as a tradeoff, so you will have be more cautious not to waste ammo. And as there will be primary and secondary weapon you should pick how much ammo you take for each.

We do have regenerating health kind of. Well we have the old health shield combo. After I posted, I thought about it and having all vehicle weapons with unlimited ammo would kind of be bad. Just how to reload them kind of stumps me.

Really so long as they don't make respawning the primary way to rearm. I think I'll be fine.

[Sifer2]

It saddens me that's it going more the way of Battlefield with everything being simplified an made more arcade. I don't see anything wrong with inventory/trunks honestly. I always enjoyed the idea of planning out what you would need to take into battle before hand. Though its at least partially incompatible with the simplified class system I guess.

It's almost certainly just going to end up being some generic ammo source that powers all weapons. Deus Ex Invisible War style fail incoming. It can't really be dependent on vehicles though cause then you just run out of ammo indoors. Which is probably what they are discussing. Which class do they give magic ammo dispensers to since they forgot that.

[Talek Krell]

I don't think they forgot so much as they haven't divulged the detailed mechanics of the game yet. :p

[dsi]

Ugh, hopefully they just bring back proper inventories, Planetside is not Battlefield and it never should be.

[Raka Maru]

Being unique by fixing your OWN layout in pack, trunk or wherever made this game very versatile and I hate to see it go. I'm not saying it should turn into a big cumbersome deal like LOTRO or WOW but don't turn it into predetermined layouts. Let us play and carry around whatever we are allowed to cert.

[Captain B]

I wouldn't mind supply kits, like "charges" or whatever. Assault kit with 3x primary magazines, 2x secondary magazines, 3x grenades, etc. that you can throw in and let people use (with more or less charges depending on what's stowing it - an ATV or a bus). Simple but still effective without all the micromanagement of putting your gear in the trunk from a terminal.

It would keep the pace faster, too. I personally never used the trunks because it was sort of a pain in the ass to me. I'd either end up abandoning it and use an AMS when I needed restocking or get blown up, rendering it useless and time ill spent stocking it. 'Course that's just my perspective and I know lots of others did use it to great effect, still, I would rather it streamlined to fit with the faster pace so it'd be quicker to use and restock.

[Talek Krell]

I'm willing to lose the inventory if it allows them to do more interesting things with the classes.

[Raka Maru]

I wouldn't mind supply kits, like "charges" or whatever. Assault kit with 3x primary magazines, 2x secondary magazines, 3x grenades, etc. that you can throw in and let people use (with more or less charges depending on what's stowing it - an ATV or a bus). Simple but still effective without all the micromanagement of putting your gear in the trunk from a terminal.

It would keep the pace faster, too. I personally never used the trunks because it was sort of a pain in the ass to me. I'd either end up abandoning it and use an AMS when I needed restocking or get blown up, rendering it useless and time ill spent stocking it. 'Course that's just my perspective and I know lots of others did use it to great effect, still, I would rather it streamlined to fit with the faster pace so it'd be quicker to use and restock.

Restocking time? Just fill up the trunk then save the layout at the terminal.

[Captain B]

A lot of lay-outs to build up and save for specific scenarios, when all I wanted to do was get out and shoot someone in the face. As I already mentioned, it became pointless to me: I either restocked at an AMS or blew up and lost the trunk anyway, hehe.