An Unorthodox Solution To Buff AA.

[NewSith]

Skylance Turret.
http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/02/skylance.jpg
Make it a weapon instead of furniture.

Skylance Turret Timelapse (http://youtu.be/Ils3ZZSQAwA?t=3m50s) I skipped it to the final overview for you, oh lazy arses.


Characteristics:

Degree of Fire:
180° horizontal, 70° vertical.
HP:
Indestructable.
Countermeasures:
Destroying a generator.
TTK:
Galaxy: 3 Shots.
Liberator: 2 Shots.
ESF: 1 Shot. 2 Shots if composite Armor is installed.
(Damage to ground vehicles equal to that of a default g2g Missile Launcher)
Projectile Speed:
Nearly Hit-Scan
Range:
1500 meters
Distinction:
Fires wide rays of Red/Yellow/Cyan awesome.
Sound of shots:
That of a taking off spacecraft.
Placement:
All Bases, Some Towers, Few Outposts.

Now that with redesign of all the facilities to be defensible, and God save any Lib that comes its way.


EDIT: I forgot sound

PS:
Everyone is trying to solve air the completely wrong way.

The answer is not powerful AA.

The answer is modest but much more common AA.

This weapon is not actually a weapon of destroying Air Units. This one forces aircraft to get in range of enemy flak. Reasonable?

[Sledgecrushr]

I love it. To see this op bad boy in action would be a wonder.

[Vashyo]

Woudl love seeing a base build around this turret, maybe make it so that u have to use infantry to disable it. So it would be a very meaningful base to have under control.

[bpostal]

Awesome! I'll need one to put on the back of my Harasser though

[NewSith]

Woudl love seeing a base build around this turret, maybe make it so that u have to use infantry to disable it. So it would be a very meaningful base to have under control.

Why so complicated? You place this anti-son-of-a-bitch machine (in words of great Sergeant Johnson) on a Tech Plant Airpad, 3 of these on Biolab Satellite Bases, one inside AMP Station Courtyard, plus, The Stronghold(s), The Crown, The Pit, and some other bases and there you have it. Any aircraft wishing to farm will have to get in range of Flak. There's only the pilot's skill there.

[Ghoest9]

Everyone is trying to solve air the completely wrong way.

The answer is not powerful AA.

The answer is modest but much more common AA.

[NewSith]

Everyone is trying to solve air the completely wrong way.

The answer is not powerful AA.

The answer is modest but much more common AA.

This weapon is not actually a weapon of destroying Air Units. This one forces aircraft to get in range of enemy flak. Reasonable?

[Mooseay]

won't this just give the defending team complete air dominance and make it hell for attacking infantry subjecting them to swarms of Liberators and ESF rocket-pods.

[NewSith]

won't this just give the defending team complete air dominance and make it hell for attacking infantry subjecting them to swarms of Liberators and ESF rocket-pods.

2 words:
Defensible Design.

Of course it is a feature of rather Last Resort, but I, personally, don't rule it out as a solution to some current gameplay problems. I guess the man who said, that there's no better problem solution, than a .45, wasn't that wrong after all.

[Whiteagle]

All of my YES!
...Unless we are going to need Orbital Defenses for whatever reason...

[HereticusXZ]

Well if it has a slow turret rotation, Slow enough fire rate, but reasonably high velocity and damage, then yes, This base-defense turret would play to the Rock-Paper-Scissors theme of PS2. ESF's could dance around this thing all day long easily where Galaxies and Liberators would have to be cautious.


So no, this is not OP or a unreasonable request of AA at all. It's rock-paper-scissors and still bound by line-of-sight that pilots take advantage of already. It breaks up the blanketed opinion of Air is the only hardcounter to air.


Skyguard, Burster, Lock-Ons only serve as a deterrent. ESF Hard-Counter ESF and lightly deter Libs, varrying on the skill-level of pilots.

Skylance Battery hard-counters Galaxy and Liberators. It also creates a priority target for Daltons, MBT's and even promotes the relevance of Infiltrators to keep the Skylance disabled. The importance of the Skylance is to deny the enemy the Galaxy spawn-drops.

As long as this weapon is only lightly dotted around the continent and NOT at every single facility, maybe restricted to only Satellites or main-facilities then it sounds like a perfectly reasonable addition to the game.


Alternatively they could make Continent captures significantly more relevant and say that all main facilities of the controlling faction would only gain the Skylance if your Empire controls X continent.


My only issue is the proposed stats and mechanics New-Sith proposes are.... No... If it's indestructible and generator required then yeah it would need it's own facility designed around it, especially given it's size.

Make it destructible just like any other turret, given it's size just buff it's health/armor. Give it a very slow fire-rate and slow turret rotation but with a high-damage and high-velocity then you have a decent Hard-Counter to Galaxies added to the game.

[Baneblade]

If it is easier to aim than my Vanguard main gun, it needs to do less damage.

[KesTro]

I think I'd love it a lot more if the projectile speed was 'very' slow and there was more of them around the world. That way you'd see these giant arcs of light getting lobbed at you and attempting to get air into a base would feel like you're doing evasive maneuvers and what not.

[HereticusXZ]

Ohh, I like Kestros suggestion!

[Obstruction]

troll better you guys.

my suggestion would be just to make flying spawn rooms so the Burster MAX and Lock-On Heavies can get better angles from inside the shields. but then you'd have to have someone fly it, and they'd just slam it into the nearest tree.

[KesTro]

Oh waah, it's not as if ESF's and Lib's aren't already the most effective/versatile vehicles in the game.

But that's a conversation for another inevitable Air Balance thread.

[Shamrock]

Skylance cannon makes me think of this :-

Adywans Empire Strikes Back Revisited - Hoth Ion Cannon Shot - YouTube

[Obstruction]

Oh waah, it's not as if ESF's and Lib's aren't already the most effective/versatile vehicles in the game.

But that's a conversation for another inevitable Air Balance thread.

but that's what this is lol. its a G2A troll thread. all the usual suspects are gathered around an obvious troll OP.

1500m hitscan? lol.

like i said, we could give you guys the best weapons in the game and enough mobility to pose a threat.

but then you'd be flying and you'd lose.

[HereticusXZ]

but that's what this is lol. its a G2A troll thread. all the usual suspects are gathered around an obvious troll OP.



We have quite the genius here... Stats are subjective. Talking about a option we would like to see in the game to add to the awesome of PS2, and we're trolls?

Way to attempt to derail, troll.

[Dougnifico]

Another option... Specialized AA Vehicle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/ZSU-23-4_%22SHILKA%22_Self-propelled_AA_Gun_(3788754835).jpg

[Azzzz]

Another option... Specialized AA Vehicle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/ZSU-23-4_%22SHILKA%22_Self-propelled_AA_Gun_(3788754835).jpg

Looks awfully similar to the skyguard except...bigger (Screams, hey libs shoot at me!)

AA seems fine to me as it is considering how well I do G2A defense. It's not like I don't have options as it is:

Skyguard - Fast, mobile AA platform that uses mech resources.

Dual Bursters - Slow, tiny (compared to a pilot flying over), mobile/immobile unit that uses infantry resources.

Mossy - A2A missiles and nose gun that uses aero resources.

Tower AA Guns - I'll argue that they overheat way too fast but do decent damage.

Infantry AA weapons (NS/ES) - Lookin' at you lock-ons, and cost nothing based on an ammo supply nearby.

What more do we need? By myself I do a damn good job against air targets and the odds at deterring enemy air increase when other guys join in on the AA. We have plenty of weapons to annoy enemy pilots as it is so do we really need another one to piss them off? (Or vice versa)

Yea I admit, giant cannon that deals enormous amounts of damage to air units is cool but I think the real answer is simply having more people pull AA when enemy air comes a calling.

[HereticusXZ]

AA seems fine to me as it is considering how well I do G2A defense. It's not like I don't have options as it is.



I don't think it's so much that we -need- new AA, because your right, we do have a lot of good stuff right now, Ground-Air game is pretty comfortable...


I'm pretty sure my issue though, personally speaking so take it however you will, is that I've been playing sense Beta.... Things are kinda stale IMO.... I want significantly new mechanics/things and new methods to counter them.


A massive main facility defense cannon helps to break up that monotony because right now, and largely always... Phalanx base defense turrets are a joke that are easily destroyed and provide what to the battle? A distracting target/Free points?

It's a static position weapon with only a 180 degree rotiation that impacts the battle in a trivial way when compared to what vehicle/infantry weapons can do.

A giant cannon that is actually something to fear because of the destruction it brings to a rather large sphere-of-influence, that gives you incentive to focus it down/Keep it up and creates a relevant mini-battle around a facility is awesome to me.


When flying a Gal, I fear Vanguard Titans more then I do a Phalanx.... Slow firing but incredibly scary for aircraft.


As I've said in previous posts, right now my issue is the Galaxy Spawn, which I appreciate - I think it was long needed, but I feel the whole "Ground based AA is only a deterrent, air is the only hard-counter to Air" thing is a bit blanketed. Give us one ground-based AA that's actually a hard-counter and not just a deterrent or break up the blanketed perspective and add more rock-paper-scissors into the game.


More or less my thoughts are probably just extensions of lusting for new resource system, intercontinental lattice, and wanting just as many vehicles (if not more) as PS1 had, Balanced World Empire Populations. New guns, cosmetics, and Maps/Continents, as -beautiful- as they are, end up as just band-aid solutions to distract us from core issues.

[snafus]

Though I understand it is simply an idea why would you even begin to think AA needs a buff atm?

[NewSith]

Though I understand it is simply an idea why would you even begin to think AA needs a buff atm?

Look at the posting date of the OP... :D

But it was necroed generally thanks to our dialogue with Hereticus, where he mentioned that Galaxy spawning needs some mechanic that works as a hard-counter to Galaxies (and thus Liberators), rather than a simple deterrent like current flak. I found it suitable to mention an idea I had a while back, pasting a link.

[HereticusXZ]

Oh gawd... I didin't even look at the OP time stamp... FFFFFFFFFFF


WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

[Dougnifico]

Looks awfully similar to the skyguard except...bigger (Screams, hey libs shoot at me!)

AA seems fine to me as it is considering how well I do G2A defense. It's not like I don't have options as it is:

Skyguard - Fast, mobile AA platform that uses mech resources.

Dual Bursters - Slow, tiny (compared to a pilot flying over), mobile/immobile unit that uses infantry resources.

Mossy - A2A missiles and nose gun that uses aero resources.

Tower AA Guns - I'll argue that they overheat way too fast but do decent damage.

Infantry AA weapons (NS/ES) - Lookin' at you lock-ons, and cost nothing based on an ammo supply nearby.

What more do we need? By myself I do a damn good job against air targets and the odds at deterring enemy air increase when other guys join in on the AA. We have plenty of weapons to annoy enemy pilots as it is so do we really need another one to piss them off? (Or vice versa)

Yea I admit, giant cannon that deals enormous amounts of damage to air units is cool but I think the real answer is simply having more people pull AA when enemy air comes a calling.

Oh, I know there's really no need right now. Just thought it'd be cool as shit. lol

[snafus]

Look at the posting date of the OP... :D

But it was necroed generally thanks to our dialogue with Hereticus, where he mentioned that Galaxy spawning needs some mechanic that works as a hard-counter to Galaxies (and thus Liberators), rather than a simple deterrent like current flak. I found it suitable to mention an idea I had a while back, pasting a link.

I always forget to read the dates. :(

[mrmrmrj]

The easiest answer to a bit of an AA buff is to make some AA turrets shoot lock-ons.

[Baneblade]

These should probably be one way to combat Air Cruisers from the ground.