Heavy Lift Vehicle

[Rabb]

I wonder if we will be getting a new HLV like the loadstar. I never much liked the design of the Loadstar always felt it should have been designed to carry the vehicle under rather then in.

They could may be allow a Galaxy customization to remove the troop carrying body to allow for HLV capabilities.

[Traak]

Dang, a skeletal Galaxy with underslung cargo like the Erickson Aircrane would rock!

"Goliath" - Erickson Air-Crane - YouTube

[FastAndFree]

If we have that, please let it be able to pick up enemy vehicles and ditch them into the ocean :D

[Elude]

I agree with the OP, this is a must! With the terrain being more difficult on vehicles there definitely will have to be some sort of air transport for vehicles like tanks.

[Canaris]

Dang, a skeletal Galaxy with underslung cargo like the Erickson Aircrane would rock!

"Goliath" - Erickson Air-Crane - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-zboXv_dzw&feature=related)

I got dizzy and fell off my chair just looking at those guys that high up on something so small..... I'm afraid of grounds :doh:

[Elude]

I got dizzy and fell off my chair just looking at those guys that high up on something so small..... I'm afraid of grounds :doh:

Sitting On The Worlds Tallest Building: Burj Khalifa in Dubai - YouTube

[Captain1nsaneo]

Lib might be able to do this with a mod if it's a cable based pick up system.

[Rabb]

Lib might be able to do this with a mod if it's a cable based pick up system.

May be the lib does look comparable in size to the galaxy. After seeing the mountains image form T-ray I just thought how much a HLV would bring to the vertical game play.

[Captain1nsaneo]

As long as the vehicles now do damage when you drop them on people I'm good with whatever.

[RedKnights]

I'd love to see a bit of depth for armour transports. I always imagines an elongated galaxy with 4 Engines that could carry something like two tanks. I think that kind of thing would be pretty bad-ass.

One of my worries for Planetside 2 is there is not a lot of vehicle selection, which to me was really fun in PS1, adding flexibility to current vehicles can only do so much.

What I think is probably going to happen is that, if you noticed the Galaxy is QUITE a bit bigger, I think you know what that means, in fact I think it might be large enough for a tank to fit :D

Perhaps when they add BFR's or larger vehicles to the game they'll add something like the skycrane as a transport for say one BFR OR two Tanks.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Why can't the VS just attach teleport beacons to their tanks and then laze them into position. I can see it now, a gen hold with magriders. Actually that sounds like a bad idea. People will start teleporting AA tanks into trees.

[RedKnights]

Why can't the VS just attach teleport beacons to their tanks and then laze them into position. I can see it now, a gen hold with magriders. Actually that sounds like a bad idea. People will start teleporting AA tanks into trees.

Haha, I used to do Liberator Tail gun gen holds all the time <.<

[Captain1nsaneo]

Haha, I used to do Liberator Tail gun gen holds all the time <.<

We used galaxies.
Then they changed the way bullets spawned when you fired. E.g. ever been hit by a tank shell while getting out of its driver's seat? Reason is that the bullet actually spawns now in the center of the vehicle before moving to where the gun actually is.
So if half the galaxy is outside the gen room but the tail is inside it the bullets just impact the wall of the room rather than go were the tail gunner is pointing.

[Sentrosi]

Low Altitude Assault Transport (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Low_Altitude_Assault_Transport/carrier) or something similar would be awesome for Planetside2.

[Xyntech]

With Forgelight being much more robust than PS1, I figured on them making large vehicle transport be a modification to the galaxy, as others have suggested in this thread.

I think that having tanks hanging off the bottom would be a lot cooler than having them sitting inside a giant box, unless the transport vehicle was 5 times as large as a Galaxy, but that wouldn't really fit in with Planetsides style or scale.

Just strap on some extra large looking engines, hollow out the bottom of the body, remove all passenger carrying/troop spawning abilities and call it a day.

[Tikuto]

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/elephantliftBAR_450x580.jpg

[NewSith]

With Forgelight being much more robust than PS1, I figured on them making large vehicle transport be a modification to the galaxy, as others have suggested in this thread.

I think that having tanks hanging off the bottom would be a lot cooler than having them sitting inside a giant box.

I also propose no defense for a hanging vehicle. Imagine a tank that gets destroyed and its wreckage falling down fron the sky! Debris bombing FTW!

[Xyntech]

I also propose no defense for a hanging vehicle. Imagine a tank that gets destroyed and its wreckage falling down fron the sky! Debris bombing FTW!

Damn, that would be sick. Deliberately go after the suspended tank instead of the Galaxy.

Hit it from behind where it's weakest. Or below, if that's even weaker.

Muahahaha :evil:

[Baron]

I support this idea although I would like to add no hot-dropping of vehicles. The HLV must either land, or get very low (say 2 meters) for the vehicle to be released.

[Traak]

I support this idea although I would like to add no hot-dropping of vehicles. The HLV must either land, or get very low (say 2 meters) for the vehicle to be released.

Yeah, we already had this:
Weather Girls - Its Raining Men - YouTube

Imagine having this:
4 x M551 Sheridan Light Tanks LVAD C-5B Paradrop - YouTube
.

[Smoose]

Yes these vehicles would add so much to the tactics and the fun.

Look at this from Dust for example. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Gw0gOjOWDuI#t=43s

[Talek Krell]

I've been advocating having a repair/transport mod for the Gal ever since we found out there wasn't a lody. It just makes so much sense! And yeah, I think the vehicles should definately be underslung this time.

Figuring out the mechanics of how you load a vehicle onto the lifter is a bit of a puzzler though. The logical way to do it is to have the Galstar initiate the pickup, but that would be very griefable.

[Xyntech]

Figuring out the mechanics of how you load a vehicle onto the lifter is a bit of a puzzler though. The logical way to do it is to have the Galstar initiate the pickup, but that would be very griefable.

I was considering this and had both the same thoughts. It makes the most sense for the Galaxy to fly over and initiate, but that would be easy to abuse.

I've considered all sorts of solutions, such as the passenger vehicle having to accept a pickup request before they were lifted, although this would lead to delays and potentially crashes if Galaxies are harder to fly and hover with. I also thought of having a vehicle mod for land vehicles that gives you an ability that you turn on and off when you do or don't want to be able to be picked up. This would drastically reduce the effectiveness of airlifting Galaxy variants though, since they would only be able to pick up vehicles that had it equipped, which would probably be rare.

Considering that PS2 is on the PC and that we have an entire keyboard full of controls to work with, I guess that the best solution would be to just have a command on all vehicles that allows or disallows a Galaxy to come in and pick you up.

If you are concerned about getting griefed, just wait until the Galaxy you want is almost on top of you. It would still cause less delays since the Galaxy would be able to pick you up the moment it got over you.

I can't wait to see how the mission system gets used for things like Gal drops. You could potentially have a Gal pilot working solo, but lifting in specific squads and vehicles and getting XP bonuses for it.

[NewSith]

Figuring out the mechanics of how you load a vehicle onto the lifter is a bit of a puzzler though. The logical way to do it is to have the Galstar initiate the pickup, but that would be very griefable.

It's easy. Vehicles should be empty to be picked up. Just add 2-3 passanger slots for the Galstar itself to let the crew travel with its vehicle.

[NewSith]

[/COLOR]Sorry for the second post, but i think this deserves a separate one.

Meet the TURTOISE

VEHICLE NAME: Tortoise
VEHICLE TYPE: VTOL HLV
PRIMARY USAGE: Aerial Vehicle Transportation
SECONDARY USAGE: Aerial Troop Transportation
WEAPONRY: Tail Gun Emplacement (Co-Pilot)
OWNER: Nanite Systems Co.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o287/NewSith/Galstar.png


1. Tortoise transport resembles Galaxy very much. Top view is almost identical to the well-known troop air transport. The tailgun is also present, meaning that the crew consists at least of 2 pilots. But this is where all similarities end. Unlike Galaxy, Tortoise is a helicopter-type VTOL vehicle with no XYZ axis movement restrictions. However on contra to its mate, Turtoise lacks speed and is hard to control due to heavy weight of its engines aswell as cargo.

2. Let's cut our HLV in a half. There we can see a magnet mechanism (cyan) that fixates vehicles. Due to magnetic distortions vehicle electronic systems are malfunctioning, hence the vehicle is in undrivable (and even dangerous) state and it is strongly recommended for crew to remain outside. That is why we see extra sits in the Tortoise's front. They are designed for vehicle's crew (lightblue), one of which as we can see is now waiting for a successful pickup.

3. Picking a vehicle up requires good reaction time and hovering skill from the pilot, but once successful, Tortoise can deliver the vehicle to the frontline. Unloading procedure is similar to the one mentioned above. However, if vehicle drop is required (due to circumstances that endanger vehicle and/or crew) crew can ask their pilot to release the magnetic field, dropping the cargo inside a kinetic bubble. To follow their vehicle, crew is allowed to eject and, when on the ground, mount the vehicle.

[FastAndFree]

Meet the TORTOISE

ALL OF MY MONEY!!!

Take note, devs

Though wouldn't it be more funny/appropriate to call it the Stork? :)

[NewSith]

ALL OF MY MONEY!!!

Take note, devs

Though wouldn't it be more funny/appropriate to call it the Stork? :)

Well, the idea came from the concept of HLV basically covering the vehicle as some sort of a shell. But naming it Shell sounds a little bit... stupid.

[SgtMAD]

I support this idea although I would like to add no hot-dropping of vehicles. The HLV must either land, or get very low (say 2 meters) for the vehicle to be released.

this is total BS, the idea that we couldn't drop an ant (if even needed) in a hot CY like PS is something that should be left in-game,hotdropping in a full Sunderer with the horn blasting is goddamn fun,put it right on the top deck of a bio lab and emp LOL

thats good clean fun

[Captain1nsaneo]

hotdropping in a full Sunderer with the horn blasting is goddamn fun

Yep. air dropping vehicles is right good clean fun. How else are we going to get that AMS on top of an air tower?

[Raka Maru]

I support this idea although I would like to add no hot-dropping of vehicles. The HLV must either land, or get very low (say 2 meters) for the vehicle to be released.

No way, Hot dropping from any height FTW!

[Atuday]

If we have that, please let it be able to pick up enemy vehicles and ditch them into the ocean :D

Yes but you can only do that if they don't manage to shoot the shit out of you while you are flying.

[Graywolves]

One of the earliest concept ideas I ever had was this large aircraft that had a platform lower from the hull and people or vehicles could climb on and jump off.


I think it would be hilarious to fly around with something that has a giant magnet hanging under it. Pick up unsuspecting tanks and vehicles.

[Sentrosi]

I think that we should keep this simple. The vehicle is crewed before takeoff and driven to an open area for "Uplift" into the HLV's gravity well. Similar to the Turtle, the vehicle cannot be driven or operated until release. The HLV must be no more than 10m off the ground for the vehicle to be released. If it is released before 10m relevant damage will be taken. Vehicle will be released by the driver, not the pilot.

[Xyntech]

I think it would be hilarious to fly around with something that has a giant magnet hanging under it. Pick up unsuspecting tanks and vehicles.

Anyone ever use the transport aircraft in Total Annihilation to do this to enemy commanders?

Good times.

[Talek Krell]

It's easy. Vehicles should be empty to be picked up. Just add 2-3 passanger slots for the Galstar itself to let the crew travel with its vehicle.That would help, but I predict that you'll still get people picking up tanks while crew are out repairing or resupplying and then dumping them in the ocean. I think maybe we should just set it up much like the lody and gal are now, except rather than a ramp that comes down you just drive underneath and hit the button engage magnetic clamps or whatnot. I recall that with PS1 vehicles you could actually board a vehicle without it being completely on the ground, as long as it wasn't moving too quickly.

I do like how your method works for dropping vehicles though. It can be done but there's a moment of major vulnerability there, so it discourages tanks raining from the sky a little bit.

[Traak]

I think we should be able to transport unmanned vehicles and drop them where needed, to be manned on site.

[Talek Krell]

I think we should be able to transport unmanned vehicles and drop them where needed, to be manned on site.Don't get me wrong, I like the sound of that aspect of it. The problem is that "unmanned" is not the same as "unowned", presuming a similar ownership system to PS1.

Being able to airlift in heavy equipment like that would be cool, I just want to make sure that there's not going to be some guy that walks out the front door with a new load of glue to find that somebody has "retasked" his kitted out custom ride.

Maybe a hybrid system would work. There could be a toggle in the vehicle permissions screen to auto-accept pickup when unmanned.

[Raka Maru]

Simple. Pilot toggles pickup mode, driver toggles pickup mode. When transport gets near, then "click".

[NewSith]

Don't get me wrong, I like the sound of that aspect of it. The problem is that "unmanned" is not the same as "unowned", presuming a similar ownership system to PS1.

Being able to airlift in heavy equipment like that would be cool, I just want to make sure that there's not going to be some guy that walks out the front door with a new load of glue to find that somebody has "retasked" his kitted out custom ride.

Maybe a hybrid system would work. There could be a toggle in the vehicle permissions screen to auto-accept pickup when unmanned.

Well, you can grief with anything. But how often did you get thrown into the ocean from a public galaxy?

Besides I even find it useful to be able to pick up owned vehicle. Because in PS garbaging a friendly AMS bubble with tanks was very famous activity.

[Talek Krell]

Well, you can grief with anything. But how often did you get thrown into the ocean from a public galaxy?That's a poor excuse for lazy design. And I didn't. Probably largely because Galaxies couldn't swoop down out of the sky and carry me off.

Besides I even find it useful to be able to pick up owned vehicle. Because in PS garbaging a friendly AMS bubble with tanks was very famous activity.I don't even know what that means.

[Galapogos]

I think it would be cool if Heavy Lift Vehicles were used primarily for delivering unmanned vehicles. It would could work through mission system, a player could send the pilot a voucher for the specific vehicle they want delivered (including upgrades) and then if the pilot accepts they could go to a vehicle terminal (maybe one specifically for these purposes) and then pickup and deliver the vehicle. Also the driving seat would be locked to the player requesting the vehicle. As for transporting manned vehicles it could also work through the mission system were a player requests transportation to a certain point, but they can only be picked up if the pilot accepts the mission.

[Talek Krell]

As for transporting manned vehicles it could also work through the mission system were a player requests transportation to a certain point, but they can only be picked up if the pilot accepts the mission.I keep forgetting we'll have the mission system to work with. Being able to create a transport mission for your tank with a destination and an xp reward would be awesome.

[NewSith]

I don't even know what that means.

In other words - some drivers like to leave their tanks in places most inappropriate.

I think it would be cool if Heavy Lift Vehicles were used primarily for delivering unmanned vehicles. It would could work through mission system, a player could send the pilot a voucher for the specific vehicle they want delivered (including upgrades) and then if the pilot accepts they could go to a vehicle terminal (maybe one specifically for these purposes) and then pickup and deliver the vehicle. Also the driving seat would be locked to the player requesting the vehicle. As for transporting manned vehicles it could also work through the mission system were a player requests transportation to a certain point, but they can only be picked up if the pilot accepts the mission.

Hell, I never actually though about it myself. Dang, this will be something I'd gladly do to lower intensity of action-per-second on my screen once in a while, same way I did with loddy.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Grabbing unowned tanks and dropping them off near the front... that sounds pretty awesome actually. Though there's nothing stopping you from having the tanks starting manned and owned which is unfortunately the only way I can think of getting the tanks customized ahead of time. Although, a request system with its own separate vehicle spawn that the aircraft lands on and is automatically loaded with the tank could work.

[Baron]

Perhaps couple this with a Squad Leader Ability to "remote" spawn vehicles at a facility that can be picked up by the transport.

Ferrying vehicles to hostile drop zones would be a great change of game play from the usual front-line-grind IMO.

[Xyntech]

Perhaps couple this with a Squad Leader Ability to "remote" spawn vehicles at a facility that can be picked up by the transport.

Ferrying vehicles to hostile drop zones would be a great change of game play from the usual front-line-grind IMO.

That would be interesting. You could even had customized vehicles that only one person in the squad is even able to drive. As long as the commander has the ability, that player could spawn it remotely and then set permissions for it to be air lifted by the drop ship, then have it flown to his location.

That could be really helpful sometimes.

[Raka Maru]

I'm trying to understand this airlift system you guys are talking about. Why carry empty vehicles? Wouldn't enemies just blow them up?

I've done plenty of AMS and ANT drops, usually it gets hot for loady and passenger.

[Galapogos]

Thats why the HLVs would need either one or more turrets like a gal, some escorts, or both. This would give friendly air cav more escort missions, and could also give enemy aircav the task of destroying the HLVs and thus cutting off the enemies vehicle supply in some areas.

[Baron]

Elaborating more on the remote spawn mechanic:

You'd always run the risk of spawning equipment and having no one pick it up, which would likely frustrate squad leaders to the point of not using it much. So you could balance it a little like:

1) Remote spawn drops a light vehicle (atv, ligtning, buggy, etc..) al-la Battlefield 2 supply crate style. (basically hot drops near the SL from orbit)
2) Remote spawn of a medium tank / ground transport would require pick-up by the HLV at the spawning facility

[Galapogos]

I think all vehicles should be spawned at facilities, but that being said I also think that an HLVs carrying capacity should be partly based on weight so that it could carry one mbt, maybe two buggies, or three or more ATVs.

[Baneblade]

I too see the need for a Starlifter. Which is the appropriate name since Galaxy is taken. But it should resemble a CH-54 and not a flying litterbox.

Also, the driver of a vehicle should have a selectable option to allow pickup, much like the door lock.