Ideas for vehicle modifications

[Xyntech]

It was originally stated that PS2 wasn't planned to launch with any stealth vehicles, however Higby later said he would bring up the idea of a stealth modification. The game is still relatively early in development, so I figured we could spitball some ideas that we think could be good for the game.

If they are really good and somewhat easy to implement, maybe we'll get them before launch. If not, maybe they will get included in the to do list for the 3 year plan.

So to kick things off, an idea for tanks:

There has been a lot of debate about the old school 2 man tanks vs the new concept. Now I personally believe that the new system can be balanced, but what it can't do is give old school PS1 tankers that classic experience they want. The solution would consist of two modifications.

Mod 1) A heavy anti vehicle turret for the gunner position.

This would essentially give an ordinary tank double the AV damage (possibly more depending on if the extra gun was equal to or stronger than the drivers gun). This would become one of the deadliest variants against tanks, but would still be vulnerable to aircraft and probably even infantry in the right environments. It would still require team work and a driver who could drive and gun to achieve maximum devastation, but it's average armor and lack of AA or dedicated AI weaponry would still leave it open to many forms of attack.

Mod 2) Replace the drivers main cannon with a smaller AI gun and double the armor of a regular tank.

Suddenly you have a tank that is far less powerful or useful solo, but has even more armor to keep the tank alive for your gunner position. If you just want to drive and don't want to gun, just ignore the little AI gun and focus on driving.

If you mount an AI gun, the two AI weapons + running people over + double the armor would allow you to mow the lawn with infantry, while still being exposed (albeit with better armor) to vehicle and air attack.

Mount an AA system for the gunner and now you have what amounts to a beefed up skyguard, hard to hurt from the air but quite exposed to everything else.

And finally, most importantly, combine the heavy AV gunner of the first mod with the beefed up armor of the second mod and you would suddenly have a tank that is very close to what we are used to from PS1.

I don't think it would be too hard to balance either. A tank with two AV guns vs a tank with one AV gun and double armor would probably end up pretty even with each other, perhaps even favoring the latter due to having a driver who can pay all of their attention to maneuvering. Both of these variants, variants that require team work, would beat a solo tank, maybe even two solo tanks if the secondary AV gun did some extra damage.

Best of all, since for the moment it seems like we are stuck with a fixed gun Magrider, this solution would allow a more classic, turreted Magrider to exist without changing the new Magrider design at all. Just slap a smaller AI gun up front, double the armor and make the gunners turret be a big ol' tank busting gun. Quite possible, without needing to overhaul the entire current design of the Magrider.

I'm sure there are flaws with these ideas that I'm not thinking of, but I think they would bridge the gap and make an excellent and balanceable compromise between PS1 and the current PS2.

So let's hear some feedback and some other ideas for vehicle variants. Let's just try not to turn this into another outright tank debate thread, we have enough threads covering that at the moment.

[Xyntech]

And because I can't help myself (I was trying to get to sleep last night but couldn't stop thinking about planetside, how many years has it been since that has happened to me? Seven?), another brilliant/stupid idea:

So time is currently a bit limited for the development team, which means that combining some vehicles together is helping get the game done ASAP.

How about a couple more modifications for the Galaxy?

I already suspect that if the Galaxy does end up being able to land/deploy/generate a cloak bubble like the old AMS, that it will be a variant you have to choose. Maybe that doesn't have to be the only cloaking option at the Galaxy's disposal.

1) Turn the Galaxy into a makeshift Phantasm by allowing it to cloak while in flight. The downsides would include a smaller troop carrying capacity as well as the inability to act as a spawn point and no guns mounted on the Galaxy.

As long as the cloaking mechanic is already in place for Infiltrators, it shouldn't be much harder to add a cloak module for the galaxy than it would be for the ATV. All you would have to do then is block the gun mounts from being used, disable the spawn mechanism and reduce the available passenger slots. The passenger slots are the only change that would likely even remotely need much of a cosmetic variation.

2) Make the Galaxy be able to act as a mobile repair/rearming station for fighters. I haven't thought of downsides for this one yet, but there are a fare number of things to choose from.

Give this modified galaxy the ability to have fighters dock with it to fix themselves up. Make it a little slower than air pad repairs if it needs to be for balance. I'm picturing needing to get up somewhat close to where you attach and then hitting a button and it automatically joins you to the Galaxy, but maybe it should just be a proximity thing like air pads currently are. If you had to attach to it, you could further limit it's effectiveness by only allowing one fighter to dock to each wing, or even have only a single slot underneath the galaxy.

Now, if the devs were as evil as me, they would allow both modifications to be used at once and make the attached aircraft also be invisible as long as they were docked. Sneak up on some enemy base or fortified position and SURPRISE! Air cav out of nowhere, hitting you where you back is turned. That's probably just wishful thinking on my part though

[nomotog]

For tanks:

Replacing the main gun with a high powered shield that can be directed by the driver.

Adding a command seat that gives the person sitting in it a far out zoomed view around the tank and lets them mark targets.

For the gal I think it should have a fortress mode where it lands and gets improved shields and guns.

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by nomotog

For the gal I think it should have a fortress mode where it lands and gets improved shields and guns.

I like this idea. Maybe have it as an alternate option to a deployed AMS cloak bubble style Galaxy.

The cloaking one would lend itself more to the squad locked spawn option where you can be more careful not to give away your concealed spawn point, while the fortified one could act almost like a mini tower, easy to spot and attack it, but with sufficient shields and weapons it could provide a nice temporary fortification.

Originally Posted by Traak

Cloaking flying Galaxies would be a trifle too uber, I think, to be adopted.

That's why i mentioned having a lot of downsides to the stealth galaxy. If it is unable to spawn anyone, it would be limited to picking up troops from the ground and dropping them off elsewhere. If you combine that with a lower number of passenger slots than a standard galaxy and prevent it from being armed, how would it be so different than the current Phantasm?

I would have the stealth Galaxy be a separate and distinct variant from the AMS style cloak bubble, with the additional limitation of only being able to use one of the two at a time. The AMS cloak bubble style would require landing and deployment, so spawning from it would be no more unbalanced than an AMS.

What you would hopefully end up with is a modern PS1 style AMS, Phantasm and Galaxy all rolled into one vehicle model, with some potentially interesting additional variants and combinations on top of that.

[Traak]

Galaxies cloak bubble when on ground.

Cloaking flying Galaxies would be a trifle too uber, I think, to be adopted.

The AMS will return, I hope. Or the Galaxy will be an awesome support tool. Either way, I'm happy.

Hm. We fly into the grid hex low and fast, slide to a halt, and pop the galaxy bubble after following a trail of carefully laid Sensor Disruptors. Stealth engies lead the way, laying a traiil of Sensor Disruptors all the way to the main gate, HAs and maxes following.

I can see it being fun. I am a huge fan of Sensor Disruptors. OS's on AMSes PLUMMETED soon after I started using them to mask the trail from AMS to base from radar.

Yes, some say the trail leads TO the AMS, that trail requires direct line-of-sight. The trail of spawnies running to the fight from the AMS was usually FAR more visible, as it was on radar, and anyone, even someone cowering in the basement could see that.

As I said, OS's on AMS's dropped dramatically when I started using the (then-) new Sensor Disruptors.

I hope we can deploy stealth tunnels this time, on the surface, in enemy SOI's instead of just ONE Aegis outside the SOI.

[Chaff]

.
I keep hearing how DEEP the CUSS TIM EYE ZAY SHUN will be in PS2.

Not sure what vehicles stay and which won't carry over from PS1. Will there be new variants or skins that make old vehicles look new or at least a little "fresh" ? dunno.
I'm off subject already.....MODIFICATIONS....


TANKS:

Crew;
change number of crew members (roles) and give them less "things" to do, but MORE choices within those duties/specializations.

Turret;
change rotation speed, change profile,....

Barrel;
modify length, bore,...to accomodate forest warfare, add long range abilities & accuracy, config barel for in-close warfare advantage, acomodate different ammo types,...

Weapons;
smaller ammo that will yield faster firing rate and increase accuracy but with less damage per shell. Or, go BIGGER and gain damage per hit yet lose firing rate, accuracy,...whatever. Different ammo types.....AV, AI, plasma, jammer,.....

Targeting;
add a seat for a dedicated role such as identifying/selecting/acquiring targets .... chooses best ammo, manages shield, radar, ammo inventory.....

Armor;
AA/AI/AV,...reactive, stealth, weight saving options,.... Shields: chosen per preference of driver and/or level of specializations if TANK-DUDE is part of an uber-serious tank Outfit. ANY SERIOUS/ELITE TANK OUTFIT will most likely require/offer/recommend their guys follow certain configurations of their cert tree and how they config their tank to best optimize how well they can fill their role in the Outfit and game.

Ammunition;
varies per mission, expected targets, and ALWAYS reflects what their role is within their Outfit's MOA.
NOTE: could INCREASE ammo capacity - with tradeoff being less armour (or whatever).

Manueverability:
less armor, bigger engine, tread types, suspension options, overall tank weight,...all factors here.

Suspension;
increasing Manueverability factors in avoiding damage, increasing Stability thereby inproves TARGETING,...

Countermeasures;
radar, jamming, lower profile turrets, auto-alert (notifies friendlies in area that you are being targeted), release chaff, anti-personnel mines,....

I can't think about going into it any more because I presume the DEV's have been over piles of options/ideas for months and months. SMED's team is all PS players and fans. I doubt they haven't covered this thoroughly. This site is 90% pointless speculation - and here I am being part of it (again).

...and despite the inherent contradiction I'm still here reading this stuff. A LOT of really good ideas and angles always keep my curiosity stoked.

Sometimes it is hard to deal with the enldess collective speculation. I'd rather see some in-game video come out. No official or unofficial trailers needed. Give us some of the gameplay the DEVS see every day - while they're working the bugs out and trying out the last few ideas or polishing game mechanics.

We have no choice but to wait. I do not understand why they aren't regularly giving us some game footage. It would only help fuel the hype and buzz......but, what do I know ?
.

[nomotog]

You could balance stealth gals by only letting them carry light or stealth armor. You might even be able to let them spawn still depending on how well the stealth works.

I also want to see a vehicle hook as a general upgrade for different aircraft.

[Brusi]

dozer bladez!

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by nomotog

I also want to see a vehicle hook as a general upgrade for different aircraft.

I was thinking about that as an alternative to the Lodestar. In PS1, the Lodestar was the only real solution to the problem of air lifting larger vehicles, but in PS2, you could have them hang off the underside of a Galaxy.

Maybe the Galaxy needs stronger lifting engines to transport a tank.

That reminds me, about the Galaxy rearming fighter craft, I was thinking that another option to balance it could be requiring the fighter itself to have an unlockable attachment that allows them to dock with the Galaxy. All of that would be subject to balance tests of course.

[Baron]

Instead of shields being charged at a base/location, I really like the mechanic of the shields in BF2142. This would make a great unlock ability to mod your vehicle (say with the exception of ATVs)

[Accuser]

Originally Posted by Baron

Instead of shields being charged at a base/location, I really like the mechanic of the shields in BF2142.

One of my favorite vehicle gameplay mechanics ever.

[Talek Krell]

How did those work exactly? It was an activated thing that lasted a couple of seconds?

[Baron]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

How did those work exactly? It was an activated thing that lasted a couple of seconds?

Basically that's it. It was a full "bubble" type shield that absorbed all damage but only lasted a few seconds and had a pretty significant cool down before it could be used again.

[Vash02]

I want some hydraulics for my buggy.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Afterburners for hover vehicles in exchange for no emergency break.

A tank that takes 11 people to fully man.