Let's discuss: The tactical value of the Harasser

[Rolfski]

Having played a bit with it on the test server, I was wondering what the unique role of this vehicle could be on the battlefield.

Harassing:

Anti Infantry: Flanking to quickly deliver a couple of AI Maxes behind enemy infantry lines, while doing some road killing sounds good in theory but cloaked Flashes seem to be more effective for that. Two fully manned Harassers or six cloaked Flashes with Furies, I'm not sure what plays out better but I probably would go for the Flashes.
Anti Vehicle: The ability to mount AV guns like the Vulcan as well as AV Maxes/Heavies could be interesting but only if you can easily outmaneuver armor and use that fire power effectively. Not sure how this one will play out on the battlefield.
Anti Air: The combo of a Walker AA gun and Burster Max combined with the speed/agility of the Harasser sounds interesting on paper but I'm not sure how much more effective it is against three Skyguards you can pull as well.


Base attack:

Quickly driving through the shields into the vehicle bay of an Amp station with a diffuser Harasser to take out the enemy defensive Sundy, hack the terminals and spawn an AMS Sundy of your own looks like a viable tactic. However, a diffuser Sundy with two manned AI guns can deliver more troops and fire power to do the same at a slight cost of speed. I would probably use a Sundy for this, even with small teams.
As for harassing around and in bases, Flashes might be a better alternative. Cloaking/agility vs Firepower/bulletproof, we'll have to see what's more effective. For Amp stations a diffuser Harasser seems the way to go.


Transport:

For long distance travel in open space, the speed of this vehicle combined with an AA configuration seems a solid choice as long as you can spawn it at every outpost. Otherwise you're probably better of recalling to Warp gate and go in a Galaxy.
For shorter distances and more covered terrain cloak Flashes or Sundies seems the more survivable choice to me.


Assuming this vehicle can spawn at every outpost it has to compete mostly with the Flash and the Sundy as a vehicle. Only if it can easily out-maneuver tanks and can bring its mobile firepower to good use, the Harasser seems a good choice. Otherwise I have hard time figuring out a role for this vehicle others can't do better. Especially the fact that it needs a dedicated driver and has a small transport capability might hamper its utility.

Let's discuss, how do you see the tactical value of this vehicle?

[Bags]

As of right now it flies like 3000000 m per every foot of hill it jumps over.

[Dodgy Commando]

Perhaps more to do with playstyles. You make a good point of its roles, and how other vehicles can perform them too.

So what if the choice relies on what the player wants to do. If he wants a bit more surivivability compared to a Flash for the same role for example, or if he has 2 more teamates instead of one. Of course you could pull more Flashes and carry on, but its just to illustrate my point.

[maradine]

Saron on top. Dual Bursters in the trunk. An engie with mines, and an infil with a rifle. It's the ultimate three man backfield Fuck You platform. For as long as there such a thing as a backfield, anyway.

[Assist]

I'm picturing a Vulcan Harasser coming directly towards my Magrider. I get one shot off, it gets one volley off, we're both in trouble. It flies by me, the AV dual rocketlauncher MAX in the back drills my Magrider in the back, I go boom.

[Assist]

Saron on top. Dual Bursters in the trunk. An engie with mines, and an infil with a rifle. It's the ultimate three man backfield Fuck You platform. For as long as there such a thing as a backfield, anyway.

Yeah, I'm thinking Engie with mines driving, Heavy with Lancer secondary OR Medic maybe on the Saron, and then I'd put the dual Starfire MAX in the back(assuming it's nearly as accurate as the HA Lancer)

[Ghoest9]

Given what we know about the current Flash and the Current Heavy tanks I have a hard time seeing a use for the Harasser other than looking cool.

The Flash isnt really fast enough to use its sped and small size to avoid ESF fire(which is really an issue of how easy it is aim an ESF rather than a problem with the Flash.)

And MBTs are alsready pretty easy to kill with an ESF.

The new bugys will be easier to hit than a flash and weaker than a MBT - they are going to die quickly.

[bpostal]

Fill it full of LA and use it to flank just about anything you can think of.

[Sledgecrushr]

Have four or more of these bad boys as an assault group. Av secondaries and dual bursters in the back will make these a teamplay necessity.

[maradine]

Read my mind. Perfect since our op night is usually exactly 12 people.

[Mustakrakish]

The name is pretty indicative of its capabilities.
Approach from a flanking position, emerging from cover at the last possible second. The gunner unloads the Bulldog/Fury/Marauder/Halberd/Whatever into the cluster of infantry or the rear of the MBT you've just surprised, and then you Turbo the hell outta there before they can retaliate.
Put some distance between yourself and the fight while your gunner reloads, and trust whoever's in the jump seat (I'd go with an AV MAX or HA with lockons) to cover you while you make your getaway.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Stop and hide for repairs as necessary.

The Gate Shield Diffuser gives rise to some interesting possibilities. I'm really hoping it sees more use on the Harasser than it does on the Sunderer, since the driver no longer has to resist the temptation to equip AMS instead.

The one thing that seems strange is that they only seem capable of being spawned from Vehicle Terminals where Lightnings and MBTs are available, and not from Vehicle Terminals that offer only Flashes and Sunderers.

Also, put a Ranger or Walker on that thing and a Burster MAX in the jump seat and you've got one MEAN AA unit. It just might make the Skyguard obsolete.

[Sardus]

The harasser's job has always been to get you from point A to point B and have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

Now you can stick a vulcan minigun on it (if TR for example) and truly harass others LOL

[Malorn]

I remember referring to them as coffins in PS1.

[Eggy]

Im working under the assumption that the harraser only has acess to all those utilties and weapon systems because its on test. It doesnt make sense to allow all those weapons systems on a common pool vehicle and then release ES Buggys later on.

Ive tried out the buggy a fair amount on test and at max speed and max bounce your going to have difficulity hitting with anything other than a grenade/rocket launcher turret.
If you stop/slow down for your turret to stabilize then you will die pretty fast.

Its strenght its a speed and firepower. Get in super fast, unload your volleys and then get out and repair. Its strong enough to get hit by a tank volley and 1-2 dumbfires before it needs to retreat.

The chances of HA hitting it with a lockon launcher or ESRL will be pretty slim due to its speed.

I think the most potent flavours will be AA turret with dual burster and AV turret with AV max. The turret has 360 view and the buggy turns so quickly that getting the angles for the MAX will be easy.

[Lonehunter]

Until turret stabilization is added I doubt any lock on, flak, or lazer guided missiles will be very much use.

I do think the harasser should only have access to Sunderer weapons, and the ESBuggies should get the MBT secondary turrets.

[maradine]

I remember referring to them as coffins in PS1.

At their current damage absorption rate, more like tungsten coffins with blastproof windshields.

[KesTro]

being able to put the ES Vehicle secondaries on these is going to be rediculous. Saron snipes, Vulcan insta-gibs Enforcer to a lesser degree lol. Should be some good fun.

[camycamera]

i tested and found out it is immune to small arms fire, a definite plus over the flash; that means no more getting shot off if you were trying to ram someone. and having someone in the gunner seat+ a max in the rumble seat would make you one heck of an anti infantry/anti air/anti-vehicle (to light vehicles, i guess though, or ones that don't have large barrels poking you in the ass) killing machine. although, the terrain would be the judge regarding accuracy.

however, with the diffuser, and its ability to not be damaged by small arms that would usually hang around, say, a tech plant, it would be much more effective than a flash, just due to its invulnerability.

[AThreatToYou]

I foresee Harasser being... good.

[Punker]

Dual flame thrower max in the back for aesthetics

[Fenrys]

The PS1 Harasser (aka the Rolling Coffin) was mostly used for LLU runs.

Maybe PS2 is getting LLU's someday too?

[Micro]

LLU?

[ChipMHazard]

LLU?

http://wiki.planetsidesyndicate.com/index.php?title=LLU

[Goldymires]

Well my defence for the Harraser is that it is.

More faster than a tank and more manuverable.

Smaller hitbox.

Can't say on the Hitpoints, but the composite armor covers every area. Including the back. Even defence from C4.

[Goliith]

I'm looking forward to this coming to live, played around with it on the Test server and it looks like an amazing vehicle for those who end up playing in small groups or like to do 'sneaky' opperations, at 110KPH on flat ground with Racer chassis, and doing 0-110KPH in about .5 seconds with Turbo, not a damn thing will hit you that you don't want to hit you.

I am greatly looking forward to rocking one of these with Engineer Driver, HA/Engineer gunner, with a Max in the trunk for covering retreats, as TR even with just one Burster and one Fracture, that will be more than enough to deter just about anything from chasing you. + Roof gun.

[Rolfski]

Couldn't make it it to the Focus test this weekend, anyone got good fighting experience out of it?

[Trudeus]

The thing is gonna get nerfed. Update came out yesterday, and my platoon was getting harassed by them all the time. I think this is primarily because there's no real counter against one or two of them hitting you and retreating for repairs yet. If you're specialized enough and coordinated enough the Harasser is a beast, once upgrades are given. I found that the biggest effect they had on my platoon was diverting men from our northern perimeter where TR Sundys and Prowlers were coming from to our southern perimeter. As a result we couldn't focus fire on the Sundys and Prowlers and ended up getting pushed out. They're effective in that sense, but as a front-line unit not so much. I imagine they WILL be modified in some way very soon.

[Timealude]

The thing is gonna get nerfed. Update came out yesterday, and my platoon was getting harassed by them all the time. I think this is primarily because there's no real counter against one or two of them hitting you and retreating for repairs yet. If you're specialized enough and coordinated enough the Harasser is a beast, once upgrades are given. I found that the biggest effect they had on my platoon was diverting men from our northern perimeter where TR Sundys and Prowlers were coming from to our southern perimeter. As a result we couldn't focus fire on the Sundys and Prowlers and ended up getting pushed out. They're effective in that sense, but as a front-line unit not so much. I imagine they WILL be modified in some way very soon.

I dont see how, unless its a buff because currently they take damage from every weapon in the game so they are very easy to kill..hell you can run up to one with a nova (VS shotgun) and shoot it and it will take off a goo chunk of its health.

As far as tactical advantage, its not really worth any thing....but in a sense of fun they are the best vehicles in the game. They are fun to drive, fun to gun and just having that sense of fun play is perfect.

[Eggy]

The thing is gonna get nerfed. Update came out yesterday, and my platoon was getting harassed by them all the time. I think this is primarily because there's no real counter against one or two of them hitting you and retreating for repairs yet. If you're specialized enough and coordinated enough the Harasser is a beast, once upgrades are given. I found that the biggest effect they had on my platoon was diverting men from our northern perimeter where TR Sundys and Prowlers were coming from to our southern perimeter. As a result we couldn't focus fire on the Sundys and Prowlers and ended up getting pushed out. They're effective in that sense, but as a front-line unit not so much. I imagine they WILL be modified in some way very soon.

Every single weapon, projectile, shell, rocket and explosive in the game can damage a stock harraser. (apart from mabye AP mines)
The situation above directly describes one of the main roles its supposed to fulfill.

At the moment I am finding that my fully certed harraser has a better survivability, longer lifepsan and a higher K/D than my maxed out prowler though.

Ive put that down to the dedicated driver though, it just suits my outfits playstyle much more than driver as gunner.

It also comes down to how you engage and what targets you choose to engage.

I have a much higher success rate of multi roadkills in the harraser than I do in the prowler. If i see a group of infantry in the open running them all over is easy in it. (which is as it should be, they should use cover)

I have no problems engaging a solo 1/2 or 2/2 MBT, another 2/3 harraser or a lightning.

I choose not to engage groups of tanks or 3/3 harrasers as an AV max in the back chews me a new one.

[Rolfski]

Sofar, this vehicle seems reasonably balanced and foremost a lot of fun. I've yet to run into game-changing tactics with it though. For sure, they're fun to use in open ground infantry battles and in unusual places inside bases but still as a whole, it feels a bit gimmicky.

[Timealude]

The PS1 Harasser (aka the Rolling Coffin) was mostly used for LLU runs.

Maybe PS2 is getting LLU's someday too?

on friday night ops in the dev interview thing they have, Josh said that they are bringing the LLU back in the form of an alert.