Non-Combat Activities for the FPS Averse

[maradine]

I like showing off PS2 videos at every opportunity. In the last week or two, that's become a blissfully daily occurrence. I think I've personally suckered in recruited an outfit's worth of players at this point, but a frequent response I get is "man, that looks amazing, but I suck at FPS."

What's my play here?

"Drive/fly this bus around for us!"

"Go fetch nanites in a tractor!"

"Hang out behind this rock and fix our crap!"

I'm not feeling it.

[Stardouser]

Well, there's galaxy piloting for transport duty, engineer repairing, and engineers MIGHT be able to build stuff, we don't know.

Not sure what else at the moment, but I'm sure there will be more.

[KTNApollo]

Medics and engineers both provide non-FPS gameplay but at the same time helping the war effort, while piloting vehicles doesn't necessarily require FPS skill.

[SKYeXile]

well there is no collecting nanites anymore but they could:

lay minefields.
use C4
play as a MAX.
play medics or engineers.
fly/drive sunderers and gals.

that's probably about it.

[Xyntech]

It is a FPS first and foremost, so while there are several supportive roles, it's not going to be the part of the game with the most variety.

Being a medic would probably be the best bet though. Or maybe have them gun for one of your vehicles, since that ends up being more of a rail shooter than an FPS.

Engi isn't a bad choice either, presumable. More info is needed on what they can build.

[Serpent]

I don't think the situation will be as dire as you think.

Galaxy piloting is going to be very big, that's for sure. And- SCOUTING! Seems stupid, but in an organized outfit scouting will definitely be important.

[Stardouser]

I'm not sure about medic, at least for reviving, by definition you're right in the middle of being shot at. I could be wrong but when people are asking about non-combat activities, they don't just mean activities where they don't need twitch aim skills, but where they might not get shot at every 5 seconds either.

[maradine]

Base gunner is probably a solid option if the majority of the static emplacements are turreted. I guess playing an infiltrator also reduces a lot of the classic FPS performance pressure.

[Xyntech]

I'm not sure about medic, at least for reviving, by definition you're right in the middle of being shot at. I could be wrong but when people are asking about non-combat activities, they don't just mean activities where they don't need twitch aim skills, but where they might not get shot at every 5 seconds either.

If they suck at FPS, they may just not want to be forced to rely on their sub par aiming skills. Things like AOE healing grenades and reviving stationary corpses may be right up their ally.

Hell, maybe they'll even be willing to fire off a few pot shots at the enemy now and then when there is nobody currently needing a heal.

Depends on the player I guess.

[Rbstr]

Honestly, if someone doesn't want to play an FPS or drive a tank or fly a plane...this game really isn't for them.

Why try to force it?

[JPalmer]

Man, I can't wait to fly a Galaxy.

But, one thing I didn't see mentioned here is that just could be a cloaker and go into enemy bases and hack things for annoyance purposes.

[sylphaen]

well, it's a FPS so expect to have to aim, fire or receive fire.

The good news for non-FPS players is that they may still enjoy the game a lot even if they're not good at FPS. I think that's what counts.

But if they are averse to first-person and shooting, I mean... There is only so much that can be done.
(fyi, I'm a support oriented player but not FPS averse)

[ArbitraryDemise]

So wait, people want things that do not involve shoving a mouse across a mouse pad... in a shooter?

huh?

I can understand people enjoying playing support roles, I was one of those guys who loved piloting black-hawks in BF2. Yet this is still a shooter. The focus is warfare on a massive scale.

I do not mean to be demeaning or anything, but this seems like asking why there are no shooting sequences in a racing game.

[ZeroOneZero]

Bait? XD (Go next to that tower and look pretty).

[Graywolves]

It would be cool if some logistics made it in to the game again. Maybe not as necessary as the ANT filling up bases with NTU but perhaps something similar like using a truck to extract resources or distribute them to certain bases.

Not something I've thought hard about but allowing more support roles and involvement of a greater variety of players would help the game in being successful. Diversity is always good.


So far we have medics, engineers, gal pilots, and sunderer drivers.

[ArbitraryDemise]

It would be cool if some logistics made it in to the game again. Maybe not as necessary as the ANT filling up bases with NTU but perhaps something similar like using a truck to extract resources or distribute them to certain bases.

I could support something that would add logistics to this game. Anything that allows people to apply more tactics and different approaches to winning.

That and for some reason I love running escort for vulnerable convoys.

[TrenchcoatNinja]

There is something about logistics that adds a layer that really gets me in a total war mindset, which I love, so I too would like to see some implementation of it. Doing it the way Graywolves suggested sounds sweet (a.k.a. terribly boring to some).

[Hamma]

We need a drug dealer metagame!

[Serpent]

Oh dear. That is sincerely a bad idea :P

[Toppopia]

I could imagine that convoy idea, but i wonder if it could be made so that players can start a convoy and drive the vehicles themselves? If they want it to be completed faster or something. Or even a train, with open carriages for infantry to stand and shoot and they travel fast enough so only air vehicles and atv's can keep up, could see a "robbers robbing trains" happening and imagine the fighting between carriages and stuff.

[UKSwiFT]

If I were you, I'd suggest one of the supportive roles that many have mentioned above. However, I would say to them that during their time in supportive roles to practice and try and grow as players in the battlefield. It's all well and good if they're brilliant gal pilots, but what if they're shot down and fall behind enemy lines? They'll need to know how to handle themselves in order to help the team.

It isn't required of course, but I think it will come natural after a while. The temptation to take down a few easy targets gets addictive and everything from there is improving on your man-shoot abilities.

That said though, if they're looking for an entirely different game. Or you know that PS2 simply wouldn't be their cup of tea, there's no need to force it. I hate grand strategy games, I don't play grand strategy games.

[nteger]

Maybe they could add a chaplain class? You go around the battlefield blessing people and praying for quick respawns!:D

[Wanderer]

I am one of those people who has there moments of glory in FPS (when I concentrate) but generally isn't good anymore compared to the young blokes (partly because I care a lot less these days about keeping skills up).
But I am extremely good at recon, I have years of experience behind me being a sneaky bastard. Spotting, seeing opportunity to cap unopposed and generally getting those cheap kills where I stab people in the back or CAMP a bottleneck or a spawn. I am willing to sit in a spot for 20 minutes and only get one kill if it means I can make sure my teammates know when things are coming at them and when its clear. I am also patient enough to give up an easy kill if it means I can maintain cover.

I'll also mostly train up with flight, so I can transport people or at least fly escort. If I find I am sucking at that too, I'll happily be the support guy.

[Zekeen]

There has always been a LOT in there for players who aren't that good at "twitchy" shooting. Not to mention that they will include designated driver mods for tanks later.

Back in PS1, my computer SUCKED, until I eventually upgraded my ram. During the time of my suckiness, I would lag randomly, so I sucked at FPS as a result. I took up Galaxy piloting, immediately becoming valued like gold to outfits. Squads picked me up immediately. All I would do is fly over a base, job done. So simple.

With PS2, anyone not that great at shooting can do a LOT of stuff.

You can drive a Sunderer or Galaxy, let your crew do all the shooting, and drop off troops.

You can be a medic and support the troops on the front.

You can be an engineer and lay down defenses.

You can grab a rocket launcher and use the lock on to attack vehicles, no skilled aims required!

You can be the designated driver of a tank!

You can man the secondary gun on a tank and provide support instead of being the one who makes it live or die!

Drive or Gun a Liberator! The explosions are so big, even gunning takes less skill of aim!

[Graywolves]

Maybe they could add a chaplain class? You go around the battlefield blessing people and praying for quick respawns!:D

They should do this for next April fools.


I'd feel better about my gaming if someone could do the priest dialogue from AoE on me and make me respawn faster.

[Logri]

See, that's what I love about this game (and PS1) everyone gets to have fun. There is more then enough to do and all roles benefit the whole.
As stated several times before, i'm an average FPS player, but I love support roles, used to play a self proclaimed dedicated combat medic in PS and have on many occasions received laurels from my peers for being pretty good at it.

A little bit of dedication in your role can make all the difference and will 100% guarantee benefit the entire empire.

[ringring]

Well,

join an outfit,
be with the squad at all times, be a team player
in a fight, pick out on of your squad members and be him wingman; follow him around, get his back, shoot the guys he shoots at.
drive or gun a sunderer
similarly drive of gun a tank (these 2 above won't require twitch skills but will require awareness and decision making on the right time to advance and retreat)

The non-active combat roles would be:
lay minefields
deploy turrets
bring and deploy galaxies for spawn points
bring and deploy sunderers for repair points


In the end, tell your friends, it doesn't matter if you die. Everybody gets killed, it is a necessary component of the game. Take as much pleasure as you like from killing someone but never get upset when you are killed yourself.

[Toppopia]

Well,

join an outfit,
be with the squad at all times, be a team player
in a fight, pick out on of your squad members and be him wingman; follow him around, get his back, shoot the guys he shoots at.
drive or gun a sunderer
similarly drive of gun a tank (these 2 above won't require twitch skills but will require awareness and decision making on the right time to advance and retreat)

The non-active combat roles would be:
lay minefields
deploy turrets
bring and deploy galaxies for spawn points
bring and deploy sunderers for repair points


In the end, tell your friends, it doesn't matter if you die. Everybody gets killed, it is a necessary component of the game. Take as much pleasure as you like from killing someone but never get upset when you are killed yourself.

But when you die, make sure to warn your teammates and try to tell them what killed you and where it came from. That is always helpful. :D

[Shogun]

don´t forget the cloakers!

there are a lot of players who don´t like the plain shoot everything fps, but love the splinter cell like hide and sneak games.
so the cloaker can cater to those players as well.

i had a blast of a time trying to sneak my way through a base filled zp with unsuspecting enemys, putting viruses on their turrets, disabling their radars or even taking out their generators!
that are no standard fps actions and i hope a lot of stuff like this will come back.

[Toppopia]

don´t forget the cloakers!

there are a lot of players who don´t like the plain shoot everything fps, but love the splinter cell like hide and sneak games.
so the cloaker can cater to those players as well.

i had a blast of a time trying to sneak my way through a base filled zp with unsuspecting enemys, putting viruses on their turrets, disabling their radars or even taking out their generators!
that are no standard fps actions and i hope a lot of stuff like this will come back.

Imagine if cloakers could climb walls like Sam Fisher, could imagine looking up and seeing someone hanging from a wall or doing cool manoeuvres and stuff.

[Zenben]

Assuming knife play is viable with the Infiltrator class, you might entice them with the prospect of being an invisible ninja?

[Toppopia]

Assuming knife play is viable with the Infiltrator class, you might entice them with the prospect of being an invisible ninja?

That would be amazing, just hear muffled screams of pain as your team mates fall over dead, and shooting blindly into the empty room, then the base lights turning off. Thats when the real fun begins :evil:

[ringring]

And remember, if you or they ever die, you don't suck. You just excel in a different way. :D

[The noob]

That would be amazing, just hear muffled screams of pain as your team mates fall over dead, and shooting blindly into the empty room, then the base lights turning off. Thats when the real fun begins :evil:

Until someone brings out darklight, then you become the perfect example of not bringing a knife into a gunfight. :)

[Toppopia]

Until someone brings out darklight, then you become the perfect example of not bringing a knife into a gunfight. :)

Wait a minute.... Throwing knives!!! :D Wait.... thats stupid. What about Ballistic Knives? There we go, turned a horrible idea into a good idea, because if the russians use it, it must be cool ;)

[The noob]

Wait a minute.... Throwing knives!!! :D Wait.... thats stupid. What about Ballistic Knives? There we go, turned a horrible idea into a good idea, because if the russians use it, it must be cool ;)

But why stop there? Why not have Explosive Knives!? Or even better, Homing Explosive Knives!?

[Toppopia]

But why stop there? Why not have Explosive Knives!? Or even better, Homing Explosive Knives!?

Oh yes!! Awesome, and don't forget a knive that sucks the soul out of the enemy and lets you take over his body to cause some ridiculous mayhem :evil:

But seriously though, Ballistic Knife... or a boom stick. Do they exist in real life? I saw one in a russian training video, but it didn't seem real, but its the future, i want a mellee weapon that can blow up vehicles. :D

[The noob]

Oh yes!! Awesome, and don't forget a knive that sucks the soul out of the enemy and lets you take over his body to cause some ridiculous mayhem :evil:

But seriously though, Ballistic Knife... or a boom stick. Do they exist in real life? I saw one in a russian training video, but it didn't seem real, but its the future, i want a mellee weapon that can blow up vehicles. :D

Ohhhh Yessss!

Now back on topic, I suspect that the infiltrator will be perfect for those who want to have a more active role in combat (likely depends on how you spec), but not neccesarily be "direct" about it, using mind games, sabotage and tactics instead of mainly aiming skills (with the possible exception of sniper, although you can always use it for recon I reckon). I remember somewhere that the devolpers stated how proud they were of the infiltrator and how many possible roles one could take as one. I wouldn't be surprised if long range and short range assassination, sabotage, and recon roles will be some of the main niches that infils will fill.

[xIIDeAdLyIIx]

I Like the idea of driving trucks for your team, but it would be very repetitive if all you do is drive from one zone to another with only occasional ambushes.

[sylphaen]

If they don't know how to aim and decide to try out a gunfight, just remember to make sure they are not behind you.
;)

[Gonefshn]

If they aren't good at FPS theres always a first time to try! gotta be a noob before you can be good!

[Atheosim]

Guys, you're forgetting about the command role here. There are going to be entire cert trees devoted to different forms of command. That sounds incredibly enticing to me, but I've always been more of a killwhore than a commander.

[Serpent]

That's true, the command role is a good idea, but it definitely requires experience. Commanders should have some experience running and gunning before they cert for the command role. Not saying there should be a certain level requirement, but people shouldn't rush command roles, IMO.

[Atheosim]

That's true, the command role is a good idea, but it definitely requires experience. Commanders should have some experience running and gunning before they cert for the command role. Not saying there should be a certain level requirement, but people shouldn't rush command roles, IMO.

I agree that you should have some experience as a soldier to command effectively, but I think that a very good commander doesn't need much.

[GunslingerX]

The only problem I see with non-combat activities is implementing them in a way that doesn't put the empire at a disadvantage if people aren't willing to fill the roles. The support roles would need to be worth the effort while at the same time provide a level of risk to keep them interesting. I'm new to planetside but from what I've read, seems like the ANT runs will be missed.

Give me a power washer attachment on my MAX and I'll keep the bases clean :)

-Tom

[Mechzz]

Give me a power washer attachment on my MAX and I'll keep the bases clean :)

-Tom

haha! that would go well with the janitor cert I just invented over on the "base design" thread :lol:

[p0intman]

if you are FPS combat averse... planetside is not the game for you. I might suggest EVE or SWTOR or ST:O instead, maybe Everquest 1 or 2.

[Atheosim]

if you are FPS combat averse... planetside is not the game for you. I might suggest EVE or SWTOR or ST:O instead, maybe Everquest 1 or 2.

Uh, there are tons of things you can do aside from shooting people in PS1, and there looks to be possibly more in PS2....

[Neurotoxin]

Stealth crew. Almost everyone likes to be a ninja, running around in stealth cutting people up. They may not enjoy First-Person Shooters, but how about First-Person Stabbers?

[Ale]

You can always read the map to the zerg, or philosophize over the state of the meta game, on /comcont.

If that fails, roleplay epic battles against skeletons on /comall.

[Semisel]

Commander / tactician / strategist roles, perhaps?

[DayOne]

Commander / tactician / strategist roles, perhaps?

These are things I'd like to see. Not sure how they could be implemented in general but they would be fantastic tools for outfits.

[QuantumMechanic]

Non-combatant roles will probably be expanded upon after release. It's obviously not a priority now, as shooting people generally should be the priority in an FPS game.

But in PS1 we saw the engineer's functionality expanded upon after release - I'm hoping they do the same with PS2. I love shooting people but I also love playing the support role as well. Which role I choose generally depends on how drunk I am.

[Furber]

One recent concern I've had is that the regeneration of HP and Shields (As seen in TB's Night Ops video) will make the idea of a repair engineer and healing medic obsolete. Of course, that's alpha, and we know that beta could be drastically different from what we're seeing in alpha. I only hope that they do something about this, because otherwise I cant see a good reason to have a support engineer or medic around (other than reviving) as far as sustaining your fellow troops.

Driving is another great thing people can do if they're not so good at aiming guns