life of a tank

[Mold]

poor things will be shot at by other tanks, reavers, MAX's, infantry w/ anti-tank weapons, and turrets. Oh and they better watch out for the mines, invisible hackers, and bodies of water. Oh and dont go to far or they'll shut off.
Looks like vehicles are gonna have a hard time staying alive, unless they are reeeeealy hard to kill. Gotta make a tank captain nerveos, .:scared:
The thing that sparked this post is from the dev interview part 3 about the reinforced armor cert alowing infantry to have 2 rifles...almost everyone will have one assult rifle and one anti vehicle weapon. That would double the threat to tanks and dropships from what i thought before when infantry could only cary one rifle.
what do u think about that?

[Warborn]

Ant-vehicular weapons are likely not as strong as you think. I doubt that an infantryman with a rocket launcher or something of equal effect would be able to take out a tank very easily. It might take a half-dozen rockets to even destroy the tank, and in that timespan the tank will likely have been able to blow the infantryman up several times over. Now, yes, there are a lot of problems tanks face, but the same was with World War 2. And the key was to make sure your tanks have infantry support and air support to discourage bombers and anti-tank infantry. If you make sure your tank has some soldiers along with it, maybe even an Engineer also, and has a Reaver or couple Mosquitos above, it'll have much greater survivability.

[Jinxmasta]

Yea but tanks can easily take out someone with a anti-vehicular weapon unless there are more than one. However, a tank isn't supposed to be so powerful that it can just lay waste to anything in it's path. This has happened in many other games and everyone goes for the tank because it is nearly invincible unless THERE ARE NUMEROUS INFANTRY and/or another tank. The point is, a tank isn't supposed to be uber and therefore should be accompanied by people that can take out anti-tank infantry before they can do everything. It's your fault if you drive around solo in a tank because Planetside is not meant for people to run around solo... so you'll die if you do.

[BLuE_ZeRO]

Originally posted by Jinxmasta
Yea but tanks can easily take out someone with a anti-vehicular weapon unless there are more than one. However, a tank isn't supposed to be so powerful that it can just lay waste to anything in it's path. This has happened in many other games and everyone goes for the tank because it is nearly invincible unless THERE ARE NUMEROUS INFANTRY and/or another tank.

You mean like BF1942? lol

[Jinxmasta]

Yea... what Warborn said basically.

[Jinxmasta]

Yes just like BF1942. I could rack up dozens and dozens of kills in a tank in that game. The only thing that worried me was aircraft so I always had to be alert about that.

[Mold]

heh ok, i suppose your right, i feel better about it now

[Airlift]

don't forget the reason you really choose to drive a tank: Mighty Big Guns :D

[Warborn]

Mighty Big Target, too.

[Doobz]

i say, make em something to fear.

tanks are often watered down in games, but i say make em something to fear, if used properly.

u know if u catch a tank alone from behind without inf support, and u have a nicd AT weapon, by all means... its his fault hes in the predicament.

[Jinxmasta]

Exactly! The reason the tanks can be so strong in other games is because there are so little of them that can and do spawn. In Planetside, everyone can spawn a tank whenever they want as long as they have a cert for it! This means one side could have all tanks and that would be scary.

[Zatrais]

Tanks will last a long time, aslong as you don't drive around alone trying to take out a base by yourself... get some air cover and maybee an APC whit a squad to tag along.

Loners will most likely get mauled bad hehe.

I know for sure that i won't run around alone in my MAX... can we say Reaver bait hehe

[KoldFusion]

I want to be a tank captain and i'm not scared in the least. The focus on this game is tatics..... so a tank with escorts is very reasonable... if nothing else a tank should be traveling with other tanks. As far one infantry taking one out... I certainly hope not.... Tanks are tough and durable and should involve strategy to destroy... how in depth that strategy needs to be is of course up to the devs and our inmaginations when playing..... I personally can't wait to see massive tank battles like the WW2 days or even in the Gulf War! The Vanu tanks will be like the Iraqi T-72 and the NC tank will be like the M1 Abrahms in other words... in other words NC tanks pwnz joo VS :)

[Unregistered]

3 thinkgs I want to focus on are the MAX, and both the TR tanks.

[Zarparchior]

I want to be a Squad Commander. Maybe eventually an Outfit Commander. :D

[SandTrout]

Um, both TR tanks?

Last time I checked each empire had 1 tank and there was the Common pool Lightning tank.

[�io]

What would be very sweet is if tanks had a soft spot somwhere like right under the turret or something and if you managed to stick a nade there BOOM. Kinda like those sock bombs in Saving Private Ryan. I would so love pulling that off. :)

[Hamma]

Yea TR has a heavy tank, sits 2

[Unregistered]

/excuse

Everything common pool would technecly be TR wouldn't it? Since they are the origonal empire, I would suspect that they devolped the Common Pool weapons, and that the Empire Specific weapons were developed individualy by each empires after the split.

/end excuse

:D

[Hamma]

:ugh:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/images/terranwhite_sm.jpg

TR FOR LYFE@!

:p

[Jinxmasta]

Vanu are uber |337!

[Qanamil_Rafiki]

sniping, the mosquito, and hacking are my main focuses at the moment.

Tanks are interesting and I wouldn't mind being the turrent controller at some point either.

TR Powah!

[�io]

Yeah agreed, i'll hope in the magrider once in a while but mainly my focuses are sniping(if it's done right, if i need 5 headshots on a med armor screw it.), medic/repair/engineer, fighter pilot and stealth. I'll most likely try the MAX a few times but i very much doubt it will be my cup o' tea.

[Jinxmasta]

Hacking and stealth and/or combined is my main focus at the moment :)

[�io]

Oops forgot hacking! :lol:

As you can see i have no clue what i want to do. :p
But i'll be playing a support role for sure, either Hacking,Reparing, Piloting or Sniping. :)

[Archonxvi]

I have to disagree with the majority of the posts here, I think. The tanks should not be all that difficult to destroy, with an anti-tank weapon, because (if what I read is true) you can purchace them more or less on demand. Although you can not get yet another if it is destroyed for some period of time after, (the 24 hour wait is subject to change, yes?) if it was as powerful as you seem to want it to be, I would see virtually no reason not to rush in with nearly all tanks with very little fighter cover and perhaps a small stealth team. Of course, I could be completly wrong.......

[Warborn]

The fact that you can purchase them more or less on demand (I had heard that you can only get so many of each type of vehicle over a period of time) doesn't negate the fact that tanks are a very large target, and that anti-tank weapons likely have a really long range. If tanks get destroyed in two or three hits from a rocket, nobody would ever use one, because you'd have virtually no survivability.

Personally though, I like the way Battlefield 1942 handled tanks and anti-tank weapons. The armor was thinner at the back (as is with real tanks), and a couple shots to the rear would destroy a light tank. However, the anti-tank weapons were difficult to aim well due to the relatively slow shot of the projectile, and the fact that they shot in a rather shallow arc, but an arc none the less.

[xuur]

Galaxy pilots!

a well versed drop pilot will be in great demand I think.
no matter how badass the tank is, you gotta get it there in one piece in a place where it will do some good.

[Archonxvi]

Warborn, I would think that is why you would have infantry move in first, so that the heavy weapon squads are killed, via snipers or strafing runs, allowing the tanks to move in and destroy the rest, as well as provide staying power. The vast majority of troops do not carry AT weaponry, so they would still be quite useful.

[Warborn]

You know Archonxvi, I really wish those kinds of tactics happened more in games. Not saying it won't happen in PS (I imagine it will given the more serious nature of the game -- everyone will likely be in an Outfit) but just, in general, it'd be nice to see real-world battlefield tactics used in games.

That aside, the tanks shouldn't be extremely strong when faced with a heavy weapon, but should be fairly tough none the less. It all depends though. If Combat Engineers can repair the tank fairly quickly then the tank can be made a little less durable. If the heavy weapons are a bit difficult to aim, like the Panzerfaust weapons in BF1942, then that again leaves more room to make the tank weaker. Truthfully... I don't think we can really comment unless you actually see the big picture. There are too many variables.

[Jinxmasta]

I too liked the system that they had in BF1942 but the thing is, this is the future and most of our anti-tank weapons won't have archs. The Lancer will be a straight beam and the Phoenix is steerable. The Striker can lock on and the Decimator fires straight forward. The only ones that do arch are the Punisher secondary mode and possibly a Rocklet. However, these two are not the main anti-tank weapons and won't be as powerful anyways.

[Zatrais]

I for one hope the tanks will be tough to kill because well i'd like the tank to be the main battlefield unit, the center of the assault force or the defenders. Send the tanks in first then the infantry to mop up and capture the base...

*shrug* just my 2c hehe

[Archonxvi]

I might be over-estimating the average gamer, but if they make the tanks only take 2-3 shots from heavy weapons, then people will have to adopt such strategies. Hell, they should do it anyway, because then the outfits that /do/ use strategy will be far more powerful than the others, which will make the command structure more useful, etc.

[Sputty]

Yeah, what type of AA weapons exist? Will there be anything like a good AA gun on the tank to put up a fight against a reaver or will it be up to other people to defend against AA attacks?

[Dragoon412]

I think the durability of the tank is almost exclusively dependant on the devs' ability to maintain a realistic balance of infantry to tanks on the battlefield.

So if we wind up with 1 infantry for every 1 tank, expect tanks to be gimpy. If we have 20 infantry for every tank, expect tanks to be more like they <I>really</I> are - bloody powerful.

Now, how the devs are going to control such a balance is beyond me. Hell, they may not even try to control it, although I'd hope they would, because personally, I'd like to have tanks be comparitively uncommon, but very much respected.

I think the tough part is going to be figuring out the balance from infantry -> MAX -> tank. You have to get them just right, otherwise one of them is going to dominate in numbers, and no one will use the other two.

[Navaron]

I think there's a gunners position on the tr, but if it were me I'd have an AA MAX with me, those two would be a tough combonation to stop.

[Zatrais]

Tanks are not invincible... 1 rocket detonating over the hatch or a rocket aimed at the motor is generally enough to knock a tank out.. and then theres the shrapnell problem.. Tanks are well tight inside so if anny of the metal that covers the walls should get knocked off it will tear up the bodies of the peoples inside...

now i'm not saying tanks are fragile but they're not invincible either... whit the right Anti armor weaponry they will get blown up

[Sputty]

I don't think shrapnel in a tnak will exist. that would be a great new engine but I think it would require a little too much to do on a MMO. And I've heard that the rockets are different powered but mostly the only way Infantry could be effective against a tnak if about 5-15 guys had something with a rocket and they all shot at once.

[Zatrais]

you missed my point...

tanks will fall to anti tank weaponry, else they're pointless... having to need 15 guys to take out 1 tank isn't wery effective now is it.

But tanks will still be able to take a beating.. they just won't be unstopable for a infantry squad whit some anti tank weps =)

[Sputty]

I said 5-15 meaning there will either be a small group of anti-tank or a bunch of guys who have something that's jsut adequate to do damage. 1 or 2 could take out an undefended tank easily if he had a cover point or hiding place where fire would miss him butt that would be hard to find in fields. I think MAXes will be good against tanks and against a lightning it could be an equal fight. Tanks are hard to destroy and the heavy ones will probably need a good amout of prereqs. to get. Also, unless it's urban combat or something relative infantry would be mowed down by tanks in an attack and tanks can't help get into base and truly take it over, just support the infantry as they run there.

[Bighoss]

I think each unit has a counter unit. The anti tank Max will probauly be able to rip a tank in too like a tank will do to infantry.

It would be stupid to assume that a tank will be the most feared thing on the battlefield because there can be as many tank's as people. If the tank became the most powerful weapon than all that programing on other units would go waste because everyone would just be a tank and then the game would be like tokyo wars in the arcade... which is actually fun

[Sputty]

The AT max will be able to kill a lightning but I think if it could kill a heavy tank easily thgat would make no snese. There'd be no point in using heavy tanks at all then. It takes 2 people to use a heavy tank and 1 to use a MAX and the MAX is able to outmanuever the tank so why would anyone use any tanbks ever then? I think AT MAXes will be easily kill by heavy tnaks becuase MAXes will be somewhat easy to hit and any big AP rounds will jsut tear the MAX open.

[DiosT]

<div align=center><img src=http://members.cox.net/leed/fear.jpg border=0 alt="Jion the Vanu Soveriegnty!"></div>


I think tank's will be ok.. they wont make them as 'weak' as a MAX, and MAX's are supossed to be strong stuff... but i also think if 6 people were firing anti-vehicle weapons at 1 tank, then i think the 6 psople shuodl win ;-P assuming all 7 peolpe involved are basicly equally skilled... not saying the 6 people attacking the tank shouldnt take casualties though(unless they plan a good ambush)


BF1942 was rediculous with tanks, only way to kill em was with like 6-10 grenades, and chances were you didnt get that close =/

[DiosT]

actually i think the heavy tank is much more manuverable then the max... just only in larger spaces...

the MAX's look to be slow, very slow, but the heavy tank is gonna be fast so it can actually get to the fight(it cant be air lifted).. so it has to be fast...

i think 2 AV-MAX's should be able to severely damage a heavy tank though... i dont think AA/AV MAX's are gonna be very 'useful' if it requires half a squad of max's to take out 1 tank, would require 3 squads of Anti-Tank MAX's to take out 1 'squad' of heavy tanks(5 tanks, 2 people per tank)...


I'll wait to see how the dev's do on balancing it before i complain about it though =)

[Zatrais]

That VS MAX in the Gamsespot vids sure didn't look wery slow to me..... hehe :D

[Hamma]

The VS MAX is more agile, thats its strong point :p

Any MAX is fairly quick when they use their run ability.

[Bighoss]

well if an anti tank max can't rip apart a tank then what's its job ??? The tank need's to have a unit for it to go oh crap otherwise like a said everyone will just be a tank because then their is no point to being anything else because they will be considered the best since their will be an unlimited amount. Maybe only so many tanks should be allowed on the battlefield like in Battlefield 1942 otherwise it would just be like tokyo wars

[oosik]

Looked at from a TR point of view, I see four main anti-tank weapons being used:

1) striker
2) Prowler
3) lightning
4) AV MAX

Typically in history the best anti-tank weapon around is another tank. But if the tank is unsupported by infantry, then infantry with anti-tank weapons should be able to take a tank out or at least damage it enough to where it can't move. With an AV MAX a TR can anchor and fire the heavy grenade launchers in indirect fire mode. A barrage of heavy grenades on target should be able to disable or destroy a tank.

Tanks should have vulnerabilities like they do in regular armies. For example, the top of the turret should be easier to penetrate, as should the rear where the engine is most likely located. The sides should be tougher, and the front should be the toughest of all. It will be interesting to see how this is implemented in PS.

[Jinxmasta]

I really hope tanks won't be required to have two people in them. I do not want to become a Vanguard driver and not be able to shoot the biggest gun in the game! In BF1942 I could drive and fire with the tank, why can't I do it in PS?

[Unregistered]

You can in the Lightening.

Besides, if you wqanted to do real dammage in BF1942 you needed the artilery and that takes 2.

[Sputty]

In BF1942 2 poeple in artillery didn't work. The gunner and the driver had to be in the same room for it to be effective. But in Planetside they'll have to know what they're doing.

[Unregistered]

Teamspeak my friend.

It's the only way to game.

[Vimp]

Qanamil_Rafiki -
"Tanks are interesting and I wouldn't mind being the turrent controller at some point either. "

Theres no such thing as a turrent, lol. Sorry, I just had to mention that. I see so many people from tribes say that and I can't for the life of me figure out where they get it from.

On the topic though. I think most here are neglecting to keep in mind the certification system and how it likly works. say you can get 20 certs by rank 20 out of a possible 50-100 certs for example. Not everyone would have the cert to drive a tank even if its potentially possible to do so, inless everyone chose to sacrifice other directions in order to focuse on being able to drive a tank. For instance someone that wants to focuse on being a infiltrator and hacker and other stealth/light focuses will likly not have enough possible certs to also focuse on the direction of driveing a tank inless perhaps they choose to forfiet all other focuses in between.
In addition to all this you have to remember that, assuming the games balance is simelarly done to that of RTS games like Dune and such then every weapon no matter how strong or weak has something its good against and something its weak against. An example would be in 'Empire: Battle for Dune' where almost every unit is based on this sytem in a large degree. i.e. A Kindjal infantry can easily take out a tank but is very useless against other infantry.

[Sputty]

I'm pretty sure no one needs any certs for turrets, even on the tanks.

[Sputty]

Originally posted by Sputty
In BF1942 2 poeple in artillery didn't work. The gunner and the driver had to be in the same room for it to be effective. But in Planetside they'll have to know what they're doing.
I'm quoting myself but I think that two people in the tank would add to the difficulty of being effective with it, which is good considering tanks could be way too powerful and they are in BF1942, and it adds realism to the game. I was just saying that it might be difficult especially when the person in the turret has no experience in tanks. Maybe for some turrets, like the heavy tanks, a cert would be a good idea.

[zMessiahz]

Originally posted by Vimp
In addition to all this you have to remember that, assuming the games balance is simelarly done to that of RTS games like Dune and such then every weapon no matter how strong or weak has something its good against and something its weak against.

I sure hope they don't go that far with balance issues. Thats all fine and dandy for strategy game, but not for FPS! Skill, tactics, reflexes, communication... these are things you need to be good at FPS. Not some idiotic, well I got Uber tank buster weapon so I kill any tanks, but idiotic no-skill twink-boy Nimrod A has a pea shooter so he can kill me and I can't kill him.

Down with RTS style balance!

[Flashingfish]

What really annoys me is all this complaining about doing something which involves working as team.

PS is all about Teamwork, it's not some UT clone where you can beat everyone going it alone ;x

So I'd be all for a tank taking 3 people to be effective, if it gets the word teamwork into some fps players' minds....

Sigh.. BF1942...... what happened to teamwork on public servers in that game :rolleyes:

[Jinxmasta]

Teamwork is good but so is fun! No one wants to play a game where you have to play as a team but it is no fun. I mean, how can it possibly be fun to drive a tank around without getting to shoot the gun (the best part of a tank)? Plus, the driver has to get a cert and all he gets to do is drive while the gunner doesn't need a cert and he gets the best job. Seems sort of unfair to me.

[Sputty]

You can with the lightning but if you ahd a heavy tank and could go it alone that's what people would do. I think that they're doing to right thing by making it a two person tank. If you want to shoot the gun then be the gunner and not the driver.

[Jinxmasta]

I don't mean going in alone but I mean if I am with my squad then I want the tank to be MINE. They can have fun taking out AV turrets, infantry, MAXes, and other tanks while I have fun blowing up any enemy in my path!

[Flashingfish]

TOO BAD ;)

You can't have a tank to yourself - unless you use the lightning. End of story.

[Jinxmasta]

That really sucks and now I want to know, who would actually want to drive a tank? Who would have fun doing it?

[Sputty]

People who liek to pilot big vehciles and be inportant payers whoi understand that roles are either filled or you lose. Also, some people like to drive vehciles

[Unknown]

Pilots can still ram players ;). I'm sure that will be a favorite pass-time for tank drivers.

[Jinxmasta]

I like driving a tank too but you must admit, if you're going to be paying 12.95 a month (just an estimate) you at least want to have some fun. Driving is fun but more fun with a gun to go along with it. Also, if you like to drive, wouldn't a buggie be a little more fun? Possibly a basilisk?