my loadstar idea

[Shogun]

i would like to see the loadstar making a return.

but since it´s special ability is now with the sunderer, i´d like to have it a little changed...

make it possible for infantry to walk into the loadingbay and fill it up to until all physical space is occupied.

for unloading there could be several possibilitys.

loaded soldiers are not technically in the vehicle so they cannot bail.

the pilot can open the baydoor and all soldiers will fall out, giving the pilot perfect control for hotdrops.

the pilot could come in at low alt and could turn the loadie around and land. this will turn the loadstar into a d-day landing boat.

maybe make the bay a little bigger than for a tank, so you can load 2 small vehicles or a tank and some soldiers or only a huge invasion army of soldiers or maxes.

[DayOne]

I like this. Would be great for large assaults as Gals can only hold 12 people.

I think make it big enough for the largest land vehicle, not sure about which is widest/longest vehicle, and then room for a few soldiers. You could probably fit a platoon in the back of one.

Just being able to hear the engines in the silence. No one speaks as the platoon is transported into battle, escorted by a fighter wing. Tensions high. Then you land, the door is lowered and you rush out into the battle.

[Insanekanifer]

Didn't they say in one of the interviews that the loadstar wasn't going to exist? That most of the properties were going to be in other vehicles; Specifically the galaxy?

Edit: Oh my bad, just read that this was an idea to bring it back. The problem with the lodestar is the devs don't seem to want to have someone that specifically only flys or drives, support vehicles, they seem to want to push people into the action, galaxies deploying and then you're either gunning a turret to defend it etc.

[EZShot]

Would rip the Gal's guts out and nobody would ever use it past it's AMS capabilities. No point in the idea of giving 2 vehicles essentially the same special ability, just, one has more ability.

I like the idea. But why not just give the Gal the features you mentioned? Just without the sheer amount of troops you're talking about? I like the idea of 500 team members not being able to fit into 3 transports...but 300? That's the stuff legends are made of when you see them all rolling over a cliff face toward an enemy base :D

12 in a gal isn't enough though I fear.

[Shogun]

The problem with the lodestar is the devs don't seem to want to have someone that specifically only flys or drives, support vehicles, they seem to want to push people into the action, galaxies deploying and then you're either gunning a turret to defend it etc.

that might be a problem. but i know there were a lot of people who loved to be only flying or driving. and i even enjoyed it before they gave support xp for every soldier who kills something after he used your service.

[Garem]

Not a bad idea [rebel slimeball].

Since Galaxies are changing roles, Lodestars might as well have a reinvention. The only problem I see is this- why would soldiers want to get in a Lodestar instead of a Galaxy?

A quickie solution to this would be to give Lodestar dropoffs an extra boost, like a 2-3 second impenetrable shield bubble that gives the landing soldiers a moment to get acclimated to whatever situation they land on top of.

[DayOne]

Would rip the Gal's guts out and nobody would ever use it past it's AMS capabilities. No point in the idea of giving 2 vehicles essentially the same special ability, just, one has more ability.

I like the idea. But why not just give the Gal the features you mentioned? Just without the sheer amount of troops you're talking about? I like the idea of 500 team members not being able to fit into 3 transports...but 300? That's the stuff legends are made of when you see them all rolling over a cliff face toward an enemy base :D

12 in a gal isn't enough though I fear.

I want to see either Gals being customised to fit a LOT more people in them or bring the loadstar back. Even if it's infantry only, you have to strap into a seat or something.

being able to customise something to the extent that it is defenceless but can carry an entire platoon of troops can only add to the feeling of Planetside being a huge war game.

[Shogun]

in everyday battle soldiers might go with the galaxy , but for coordinated outfit event action, a loadstar would make the difference to get everybody into a supprise attack. remember, we are aiming for more players per battle than we had in ps1.

[EZShot]

in everyday battle soldiers might go with the galaxy , but for coordinated outfit event action, a loadstar would make the difference to get everybody into a supprise attack. remember, we are aiming for more players per battle than we had in ps1.

So why not just give the gal more seats?

[Alduron]

I really like what the Lodestar did, but it was awful to look at (kinda like the new Liberator is an eye-sore). I think we'd be better off having two separate vehicles performing different functions. I know they are trying to minimize the number of vehicles, but there are definitely certain situations that you need to deliver specific assets in a hurry.

I'd propose splitting it into two separate vehicles all together.

The first would be a heavy lift vehicle. Off the top of my head, it would have a similar load/unload mechanism as the Pelican from Halo.
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080618215049/halo/images/2/21/Pelican-Scorpion.jpg
It would instead hold only vehicles, and you would only be able to hold a set amount of weight. It could deliver two full-size tanks, three lightnings, or 4 buggies (imaginary numbers pulled from oblivion). Dropping two tanks or three lightnings in a flanking position could be wildly effective. It would allow you to turn some bridge battles in your favor, and it would be a pretty high priority to the enemy because the tanks would be more vulnerable in transit.

The second vehicle would be a strict troop transport. I know we have the Galaxy, but sometimes you just need a bit more manpower somewhere fast. It would be something similar to the drop ship from Rough Necks, Starship Troopers:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pZFWOpdhogw/S-u_1GsaoSI/AAAAAAAAAFw/iWBjLPBsTfM/s1024/DropShip_1024.jpg
It would hold somewhere around two squads (including 4 MAX units) and would have some form of unified drop. It wouldn't have the armoring or the guns that the Galaxy does, but it could get in and deploy faster. I'm not sure how useful it would be in PS2, but it could even have a "hook and ladder" recovery system for fast extraction.

I know the devs want to consolidate, and keep people from just using vehicles for small tasks, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense to run 8 Galaxies to drop your forces somewhere. Even with that number of people you're still missing heavy machinery, which would be silly not to bring along.

[DayOne]

So why not just give the gal more seats?

Galaxy is the new AMS. With AMS capability, guns ans heavy armour it would become too overpowered if allowed to carry 40+ people.

So, enter the loadstar, a pure transport ship that holds a lot of soldiers OR some vehicles.

P.S. @Alduron, great ideas. What I wouldn't mind seeing is huge variations on the Galaxy so the game would include what you mentioned but in the form of customised Galaxies.

[EZShot]

Galaxy is the new AMS. With AMS capability, guns ans heavy armour it would become too overpowered if allowed to carry 40+ people.

So, enter the loadstar, a pure transport ship that holds a lot of soldiers OR some vehicles.

I get where you're coming from but why not just cert tree it out of AMS mode and into troop transport roles?

[Shogun]

I get where you're coming from but why not just cert tree it out of AMS mode and into troop transport roles?

that´s another possibility. my point was just to have the functionalitys i brought up. if we get this in form of a loadstar or a heavy gal modification doesn´t really matter. just wanted to throw this idea into the room ;-)

[SteinB]

Transport vehicles being able to carry larger numbers of troops just makes for fewer happy transport pilots. It's also an all your eggs in one basket issue, do you really want to lose an entire drop force because one aircraft gets shot down? Better to have several aircraft.

p.s it's Lodestar not Loadstar

[NivexQ]

The first would be a heavy lift vehicle. Off the top of my head, it would have a similar load/unload mechanism as the Pelican from Halo.
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080618215049/halo/images/2/21/Pelican-Scorpion.jpg
It would instead hold only vehicles, and you would only be able to hold a set amount of weight. It could deliver two full-size tanks, three lightnings, or 4 buggies (imaginary numbers pulled from oblivion). Dropping two tanks or three lightnings in a flanking position could be wildly effective. It would allow you to turn some bridge battles in your favor, and it would be a pretty high priority to the enemy because the tanks would be more vulnerable in transit.


The way the Pelican lifts vehicles is similar to heavy lift helicopters like the CH-54
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg196/scaled.php?server=196&filename=800pxheavyliftuh54an440.jpg&res=medium

But I don't think they can lift multiple vehicles, can they?

Hovercrafts that the military use can do what you described, but they can't fly. Also, the body is pretty similar to what a lodestar is in planetside, except that they're front loading.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/LCAC_of_ACU-5_at_Camp_Pendleton.jpg/300px-LCAC_of_ACU-5_at_Camp_Pendleton.jpg

[DayOne]

Transport vehicles being able to carry larger numbers of troops just makes for fewer happy transport pilots. It's also an all your eggs in one basket issue, do you really want to lose an entire drop force because one aircraft gets shot down? Better to have several aircraft.

p.s it's Lodestar not Loadstar

Fighter escorts? Fly low? Higher armour?

It's better than having to have four big Galaxies. Especially if you want a quick and stealthy (ish) drop. It opens up more possibilities. Really it could be a Galaxy customisation, no need for a whole new vehicle model.

[Alduron]

The way the Pelican lifts vehicles is similar to heavy lift helicopters like the CH-54
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg196/scaled.php?server=196&filename=800pxheavyliftuh54an440.jpg&res=medium

But I don't think they can lift multiple vehicles, can they?

Hovercrafts that the military use can do what you described, but they can't fly. Also, the body is pretty similar to what a lodestar is in planetside, except that they're front loading.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/LCAC_of_ACU-5_at_Camp_Pendleton.jpg/300px-LCAC_of_ACU-5_at_Camp_Pendleton.jpg

That's the real-world equal to what I'm talking about. I know they can carry multiple humv's and aircraft (i've only seen 2 at a time), but I don't believe they can lift a modern Abrams or anything. It would obviously be beefier than that thing, though. I believe one of the command and conquer games had a vehicle that delivered multiple tanks. I can't seem to find it, though.

I read somewhere that they wanted to introduce naval aspect to the game. I think the hovercraft would be a great addition if/when that comes.

The more methods we have to deploy troops, the better. Other than the technical side of things (developing, battlefield data limits, bandwidth, etc) there's not a real big downside I can see for having multiple vehicles. When you're talking about battles the size that PS has, you want any and every way to deliver troops/vehicles wherever they are needed.

They are wearing biohazard suits, and the air traffic controller is not, also disregarding the huge assed sign saying "DANGER, INTAKE"..

this guy... he's got a death wish.

Lets let the game get out, then tell them how to fix it. :P

Haha. The planets they go to are toxic to breath more often than not. The controller stays safely in the carrier. :)

As for the intake - death wish indeed.

[Talek Krell]

I believe one of the command and conquer games had a vehicle that delivered multiple tanks. I can't seem to find it, though.
You're thinking of the (aptly named) carryall. Some versions of it could deploy small armies. I think the air transports from Supreme Commander are a better comparison though. External transport hooks, so you can see/attack what it's carrying, and pickup/dropoff is just a matter of hovering over the target.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100719212050/supcom/images/thumb/e/e8/UEFT3GhettoGunship.jpg/830px-UEFT3GhettoGunship.jpg (http://supcom.wikia.com/index.php?title=UEF_T3_Heavy_Air_Transport&image=UEFT3GhettoGunship-jpg)

I'd love to see it be possible to mod a gal into something like this. Make it exhangeable with the ability to deploy and spawn, put armor/speed modifiers on the modules, change the model so it's easily recognizable. . .

[Alduron]

You're thinking of the (aptly named) carryall. Some versions of it could deploy small armies. I think the air transports from Supreme Commander are a better comparison though. External transport hooks, so you can see/attack what it's carrying, and pickup/dropoff is just a matter of hovering over the target.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100719212050/supcom/images/thumb/e/e8/UEFT3GhettoGunship.jpg/830px-UEFT3GhettoGunship.jpg (http://supcom.wikia.com/index.php?title=UEF_T3_Heavy_Air_Transport&image=UEFT3GhettoGunship-jpg)

I'd love to see it be possible to mod a gal into something like this. Make it exhangeable with the ability to deploy and spawn, put armor/speed modifiers on the modules, change the model so it's easily recognizable. . .

This is the exact unit I was looking for. For some reason I thought it was in C&C...now I know why I couldn't find it.

Something very similar to this design would be invaluable. As you mentioned, it could very well just be a modification to the Gal.

[Warborn]

I think the whole idea behind the lodestar being removed was to make each vehicle distinct and unique and useful. Having a glut of vehicles with similar functions is a step in the wrong direction.

On the topic of lodestars returning, I wouldn't mind galaxies having an optional equipment choice that removes all non-gunner passenger slots but lets it carry a vehicle on its belly. Let the vehicle transport functionality remain without needing a new vehicle for it.

[Hamma]

I loved the supreme commander transports they were badass.

[Talek Krell]

I loved the supreme commander transports they were badass.Best transport system I've ever seen in an RTS. And there was something cathartic about that *k-chunk* sound as they drop a squad of assault bots. :D

[Hamma]

:lol: Indeed

I probably always had more of those than I needed flying around. I loved supcom great game.

[CutterJohn]

Best transport system I've ever seen in an RTS. And there was something cathartic about that *k-chunk* sound as they drop a squad of assault bots. :D

I just wish they would have allowed the small t1 bots to bail, so as to give them a unique use, rather than be completely replaceable by the t2 tanks and whatnot.



On the subject of lodes, I think we'll need a vehicle transport sooner or later, but I don't think we need a larger troop transport. 12 people in a gal should be quite sufficient. If you have 50 people you should be able to scratch together 4 gal pilots easily enough.

[Alduron]

I think the whole idea behind the lodestar being removed was to make each vehicle distinct and unique and useful. Having a glut of vehicles with similar functions is a step in the wrong direction.

On the topic of lodestars returning, I wouldn't mind galaxies having an optional equipment choice that removes all non-gunner passenger slots but lets it carry a vehicle on its belly. Let the vehicle transport functionality remain without needing a new vehicle for it.

The Lodestar functionality they talk about adjusting was the deploy-able capabilities. It sounds like the modifications to the Galaxy are going to help out a lot, but the transport ability wasn't moved to any other vehicle (that we know of), it was just dropped. We don't know the real reason they decided to remove it, or if they plan on bringing it back yet, but the ability to drop armor is a pretty valuable ability to any force.

A modified Galaxy would be fine by me. It's always nice to carry more, but a single drop would help a lot more than the inability to drop any heavy armor.

If we have major modification options for the Gal we wouldn't need new vehicles. I'm really more worried about the functions rather than the platform.

On the subject of lodes, I think we'll need a vehicle transport sooner or later, but I don't think we need a larger troop transport. 12 people in a gal should be quite sufficient. If you have 50 people you should be able to scratch together 4 gal pilots easily enough.

Seeing as they seem to be encouraging squad/outfit customization it would be kind of silly to customize an outfit of 50 MAX units and require 25 Galaxy's and 25 pilots to hot-drop your outfit somewhere (assuming it's 2 MAX to a Galaxy still).

We don't necessarily need a whole new vehicle for it, but if we come up with some crazy tactic that works, we shouldn't have to spawn an insane number of vehicles (which now cost) in order to execute it.

If the US decides that they want to paratroop 250 soldiers somewhere they don't get a fleet of Cessna planes and fill them up two at a time, they empty out a few C-130s and load them up with troops.

Currently you could just deploy a Gal and switch your armor, but hot-dropping 50 MAX and marching 50 MAX to the gate aren't the same thing. :-/

I realize that we will have limitations, but some of them would be fairly easy to address.

[SuperMorto]

It would make a fantastic sea vehicle and would do exactly what you ask! =

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJAwCBbnuc&feature=fvst

[Alduron]

It would make a fantastic sea vehicle and would do exactly what you ask! =

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJAwCBbnuc&feature=fvst

Those are pretty awesome. If introduced, I hope they play that music upon deployment.

[DayOne]

It would make a fantastic sea vehicle and would do exactly what you ask! =

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJAwCBbnuc&feature=fvst

That's pretty much what I had in mind but a bit bigger and flying :D

[Shogun]

those were my inspiration for the OP ;-)
but since we got no naval warfare i thought the loadstar could fit in quite good.

[Cosmical]

When i first heard about Planetside 2 i thought it would be amazing to have actual bay drops from the back of Gals. As in.... were all essentially in a waiting room inside the Gal and we have to physically run and jump into a freefall, anyone who has played Battlefield knows that jumping off that cliff is ten times more exciting than pressing EXIT and falling out of a vehicles invisible escape hatch.

But i think your kindof barking up the wrong tree with this one. As stated other vehicles are doing the same job. You cant carry heavy vehicles because that would be too overpowered, and if you read the FLOW OF BATTLE inteview it suggests that Tanks and there spawn timers and movement accross the map (or inablity to do so) are integral to the pacing of a base conflict. And as far as lifting goes the Lodestar in the original was never really used to transport Tanks, it was used more as a repair station, and transporting high value targets like ANT's and AMS's the majority of the time, so ide say heavy vehicle lifting wont be missed even by the vets.

And as for higher drop loads, because we dont have vehicle animations (COUGH COUGH) the number of people in a Gal is totally up in the air (PUN intended), seeing as everyone will just teleport in anyway. We could see it go to rediculous figures like 20 as they try things out in beta, especially with the afformentioned customisations. Hands up for low armour no guns, 30 man Drop Gal.

[CutterJohn]

Seeing as they seem to be encouraging squad/outfit customization it would be kind of silly to customize an outfit of 50 MAX units and require 25 Galaxy's and 25 pilots to hot-drop your outfit somewhere (assuming it's 2 MAX to a Galaxy still).

MAXs are treated as normal infantry now, and can spawn where Infantry can, and occupy the same slots infantry do. They are a 'heavy infantry' class now, rather than a weird infantry/vehicle hybrid.

[Alduron]

MAXs are treated as normal infantry now, and can spawn where Infantry can, and occupy the same slots infantry do. They are a 'heavy infantry' class now, rather than a weird infantry/vehicle hybrid.

That's good to know. My point on that is pretty much moot now.

[CutterJohn]

Yeah. They still may be restricted somewhat.. I do not know if they will be able to occupy gunner seats, for instance. Or maybe they can for a gal/sundy, but nothing else.

But its definitely no longer 2 max units per like in PS1.

[Cosmical]

The real question is, can we jump a Sunderer on top of a Gal. And fly it into a base as a makeshift Lodestar?

Whos up for a lil stunt gaming?

[Squeegeez]

In my mind, I can see a lodestar filled to the brim with infantry, who do not have a "bail" key, but are just like cattle. Then you do a barrel roll in your lodestar and...

:lol::rofl:

[PrISM]

How about the Cheyenne dropship from Aliens?

http://alienscollection.com/dropshipbymaxhitman.jpg