Gameplay: Annihilator Heavy Airship

[Ohanka]

"Annihilator Heavy Airship"

Crew:

Commander
Navigation Officer
Engineering Officer (controls power: explained below)
Fire Direction Officer Ground (Designates Targets: explained below)
Fire Direction Officer Air (see above)
Gun Crewmen x 16

Armament:

2x Faction Specific Fighters
Air Defence Turrets x8 (2 front mounted, 2 on the left, 2 on the right, 2 at the back)
Pounder Artillery Cannons x2 (dual Liberator Cannons, one at left, one at right)
Ground Attack Mortars x4 (left, right, front, back)
SAM Turret Control x1 (top-mounted launcher)
AT Missile Turret Control x1 (bottom mounted launcher)

The Annihilator is a “flying battleship”. About 60-80 meters in length. Only one can be called in on a map. In order to for an empire to call one in it must control a “Heavy Landing Pad” which is a facility in of itself, where this massive vehicle can collect crew and launch. It would ofcourse have to cost resources numbering in the thousands. Once an Annihilator Is destroyed there is an hour long cooldown for that faction to call it in again. The idea behind these massive behemoths is to provide extreme fire support to a faction which rewards teamwork. After all, it'd need a heavily organised group of players to man this ship. Let me explain the mechanics of it.

Essentially it has a full interior. (Corridors! I love corridors ) 3 floors. The bottom floor is for loading of troops and vehicles (you can fit a tank in this things cargo hold) and accessing ground attack weaponry. The middle floor holds the Bridge and some AA turrets, as well as the engineering core, rear launch bay and Escape pod access (see later). The top floor contains the open galaxy landing pad (to give a sense of how HUGE this thing is) and Anti-aircraft weapon access. This vehicle would need a sizeable chunk of a team to properly Man. 21 for the actual ship control. As well as two for the fighters on the back. Not to mention Marine Compliment for the ship and an engineering crew to repair it, all in all it'd need about 50 men to man it.

Crew Positions:

Commander: The Commander directs the ship. Basically like a squad or platoon commander. Requires a certain command rank to use it. Only the Commander can receive messages from Ground Forces to request assistance from the Heavy Airship

Navigation Officer: The Navigation Officer flies the airship. Nothing really spectacular.

Engineering Officer: here is where things get interesting. The ship will essentially have some engineering powers which can be operated by the Engineering Officer, assuming he has certed it. These include “Shields up” this raises a shield around the Airship. Making it extremely difficult to kill and impossible to land on, but it cannot fire. “All power to the weapons” which increases the rate of fire of all guns on the ship.

Fire Direction Officers: these guys direct the fire of the ship. To co-ordinate ground attack and anti-air operations. Basically just a team-work thing. They have a 360 camera either at the top of the ship or the bottom depending if they occupy the ground fire control position or air fire control position and designate targets for the Fire crews.

Gunners: shoot the guns. Obviously.

What purpose does it serve?

A number of purposes. Mainly Ultra-heavy fire support. The armament on this thing can level an entire city, especially when directed by the Fire Officers. However it can also be used as a staging post for ground operations. Thanks to the 2 fighters on the back and the Galaxy landing pad up top, this thing can be used to staging point. One of the engineering options is “activate respawners” which completely immobilises the ship, but makes it a spawn location for troops. Which enables troops to use the galaxy to land on the ground below, while receiving fire support from the ship itself.

Now. Lets explain the rest of it. One of your questions probably is, how do resupply it? Surely it must have fixed ammunition. That is true. Like everything else in Planetside its ammunition is numbered. It cannot easily land. A couple of light assaults with ammo packs won't fill up 4 liberator cannons!. No, for the rearming and fueling (this thing has a fuel meter, explain later) I propose a customisation option for the Galaxy, A refueling aircraft, with a refueling pipe. Attaching one of these pipes to the Airship would fill it up until the Galaxy is out of “supplies” at which point it must land and fill up. There are four ports for these Galaxy refuelers to rearm the Airship.

Last Question: “But Ohanka, how do you destroy this monstrosity?” There are several ways. Despite how it may seem, the Annihilator is not invincible. It can be destroyed through sustained air attack or AA fire. However this Is a time consuming process and most likely the Airship will have destroyed you before you it. Therefore there are quicker ways to do it. Firstly, if it runs out of fuel it will plummit to the ground and explode, killing everyone onbaord. This will encourage the defending team using this Airship to setup good logistics with properly escorted refueling craft so it doesn't randomly fall out the sky. The other way is direct assault. A galaxy can drop troops onto the galaxy pad or the airpad of this ship, wherein the attacking team can land on the ship and eliminate the crew. The bridge and gun crew can be killed, but the ship cannot be manned by the attacking team, only the defending empire can control it. Instead it is often better to destroy the Core. The Core is what keeps the ship from exploding. If the core sustains heavy small arms fire it will explode. When the core explodes it gives everyone on the ship 30 seconds to evacuate. This is where the escape pods come in. There will be escape pods for 30 men on this ship (so some crewmen will never make it off alive > ) which you can use in order to escape the explosion. When the ship explodes everyone onboard will be killed, and they will count towards the kills of the attacking team who destroyed the core.

So. What do you think? A welcomed addition to planetside? Suggestions on improving this idea?

[Zekeen]

Well, good work getting so many details in, but this is actually one of the most highly talked about things around. The concept of a large flying warship is everyone where. The biggest want in an outfit air cruiser, so, it's definitely already being talked about.

[Ohanka]

Originally Posted by Zekeen

Well, good work getting so many details in, but this is actually one of the most highly talked about things around. The concept of a large flying warship is everyone where. The biggest want in an outfit air cruiser, so, it's definitely already being talked about.

Yeah Its what i based my idea on. This is just my take on the idea. I feel Planetside 2 is just the game where this sort of thing will fit in. with 600 + players per faction on each continent i see the most organised teams being willing to invest about 70 or 80 troops to keep this kind of asset on the field.

[Synapse]

This could be just the thing to move the front lines around.

One of them could push the advantage way one way or another but then you lose it...its gone for a while.

[Figment]

And then it hovers over an area with 10 people defending and they log off for the day.


Seriously, no. No. NO.

Will you people learn from BFRs already? FFS.


The equivalent armour for 21 people on ONE unit?

You honestly think... No wait, that's enough said. Or should be, if you think.

[Ohanka]

Originally Posted by Figment

And then it hovers over an area with 10 people defending and they log off for the day.


Seriously, no. No. NO.

Will you people learn from BFRs already? FFS.


The equivalent armour for 21 people on ONE unit?

You honestly think... No wait, that's enough said. Or should be, if you think.

I think you have either misunderstood the concept or completely ignored 90% of the post. This is not just "one unit". In essence it is an extremely costly, slow moving. flying firebase with the speed of a severely handicapped tortoise that only the most organised of outfits will be able to operate correctly. There is not armour for 21 people in this unit. It has 16 weapon systems. 8 of which are anti-air defence. Yes, you can fly it with 21 people. But then you won't have crew for the fighters on the back, or the galaxy dropship, no marine compliment to defend it from boarders, no repair crews in case of damaged parts and no logistics (did you forget where i mentioned if its not refueled regularly it will fall out the sky?). I estimate it will take the combined efforts of about 70-80 people to keep this running. It is not designed for defence. It is an offensive unit. Really a base of itself for use on the frontline. Not camping random towers. That would be a waste of resources. No one would use the manpower of 70 people to defend a random tower. If it is used to defend a random tower thats 70 men wasted who could be on the frontline.

If anything it is here to encourage teamwork, it will require supply lines to keep running. Those Galaxies that resupply it need escorts. If the resupply galaxies are shot down, it dies. If it hasn't got a defensive crew to fight off boarders, it dies. It would encourage numerous people with different play styles to co-operate together heavily in order to get this level of firepower. Its not a light investment either. It will cost thousands, if not tens of thousands (depending on the rate at which resources are earned and balancing) to call in. Its not indestructable by any means. The loss of this massive airship will cause a significant reduction in the power of the owning Empire. It would be in everyones best interest to keep it up and running.

If you don't like it the idea, fine by me. But so far people have said that similar concepts to the Airship are frequently discussed, which implies that people are keen on the idea. Im simply offering a teamwork-heavy varient of the outfit air cruiser idea floating around.

[berzerkerking]

Originally Posted by Ohanka

"Annihilator Heavy Airship"

Crew:

Commander
Navigation Officer
Engineering Officer (controls power: explained below)
Fire Direction Officer Ground (Designates Targets: explained below)
Fire Direction Officer Air (see above)
Gun Crewmen x 16

Armament:

2x Faction Specific Fighters
Air Defence Turrets x8 (2 front mounted, 2 on the left, 2 on the right, 2 at the back)
Pounder Artillery Cannons x2 (dual Liberator Cannons, one at left, one at right)
Ground Attack Mortars x4 (left, right, front, back)
SAM Turret Control x1 (top-mounted launcher)
AT Missile Turret Control x1 (bottom mounted launcher)

The Annihilator is a “flying battleship”. About 60-80 meters in length. Only one can be called in on a map. In order to for an empire to call one in it must control a “Heavy Landing Pad” which is a facility in of itself, where this massive vehicle can collect crew and launch. It would ofcourse have to cost resources numbering in the thousands. Once an Annihilator Is destroyed there is an hour long cooldown for that faction to call it in again. The idea behind these massive behemoths is to provide extreme fire support to a faction which rewards teamwork. After all, it'd need a heavily organised group of players to man this ship. Let me explain the mechanics of it.

Essentially it has a full interior. (Corridors! I love corridors ) 3 floors. The bottom floor is for loading of troops and vehicles (you can fit a tank in this things cargo hold) and accessing ground attack weaponry. The middle floor holds the Bridge and some AA turrets, as well as the engineering core, rear launch bay and Escape pod access (see later). The top floor contains the open galaxy landing pad (to give a sense of how HUGE this thing is) and Anti-aircraft weapon access. This vehicle would need a sizeable chunk of a team to properly Man. 21 for the actual ship control. As well as two for the fighters on the back. Not to mention Marine Compliment for the ship and an engineering crew to repair it, all in all it'd need about 50 men to man it.

Crew Positions:

Commander: The Commander directs the ship. Basically like a squad or platoon commander. Requires a certain command rank to use it. Only the Commander can receive messages from Ground Forces to request assistance from the Heavy Airship

Navigation Officer: The Navigation Officer flies the airship. Nothing really spectacular.

Engineering Officer: here is where things get interesting. The ship will essentially have some engineering powers which can be operated by the Engineering Officer, assuming he has certed it. These include “Shields up” this raises a shield around the Airship. Making it extremely difficult to kill and impossible to land on, but it cannot fire. “All power to the weapons” which increases the rate of fire of all guns on the ship.

Fire Direction Officers: these guys direct the fire of the ship. To co-ordinate ground attack and anti-air operations. Basically just a team-work thing. They have a 360 camera either at the top of the ship or the bottom depending if they occupy the ground fire control position or air fire control position and designate targets for the Fire crews.

Gunners: shoot the guns. Obviously.

What purpose does it serve?

A number of purposes. Mainly Ultra-heavy fire support. The armament on this thing can level an entire city, especially when directed by the Fire Officers. However it can also be used as a staging post for ground operations. Thanks to the 2 fighters on the back and the Galaxy landing pad up top, this thing can be used to staging point. One of the engineering options is “activate respawners” which completely immobilises the ship, but makes it a spawn location for troops. Which enables troops to use the galaxy to land on the ground below, while receiving fire support from the ship itself.

Now. Lets explain the rest of it. One of your questions probably is, how do resupply it? Surely it must have fixed ammunition. That is true. Like everything else in Planetside its ammunition is numbered. It cannot easily land. A couple of light assaults with ammo packs won't fill up 4 liberator cannons!. No, for the rearming and fueling (this thing has a fuel meter, explain later) I propose a customisation option for the Galaxy, A refueling aircraft, with a refueling pipe. Attaching one of these pipes to the Airship would fill it up until the Galaxy is out of “supplies” at which point it must land and fill up. There are four ports for these Galaxy refuelers to rearm the Airship.

Last Question: “But Ohanka, how do you destroy this monstrosity?” There are several ways. Despite how it may seem, the Annihilator is not invincible. It can be destroyed through sustained air attack or AA fire. However this Is a time consuming process and most likely the Airship will have destroyed you before you it. Therefore there are quicker ways to do it. Firstly, if it runs out of fuel it will plummit to the ground and explode, killing everyone onbaord. This will encourage the defending team using this Airship to setup good logistics with properly escorted refueling craft so it doesn't randomly fall out the sky. The other way is direct assault. A galaxy can drop troops onto the galaxy pad or the airpad of this ship, wherein the attacking team can land on the ship and eliminate the crew. The bridge and gun crew can be killed, but the ship cannot be manned by the attacking team, only the defending empire can control it. Instead it is often better to destroy the Core. The Core is what keeps the ship from exploding. If the core sustains heavy small arms fire it will explode. When the core explodes it gives everyone on the ship 30 seconds to evacuate. This is where the escape pods come in. There will be escape pods for 30 men on this ship (so some crewmen will never make it off alive > ) which you can use in order to escape the explosion. When the ship explodes everyone onboard will be killed, and they will count towards the kills of the attacking team who destroyed the core.

So. What do you think? A welcomed addition to planetside? Suggestions on improving this idea?

This has been suggested in greater detail before. See here:http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=41198
I would think that to prevent these form ever landing would better balance the gameplay. Only having one in the sky would overpower the winning faction. Instead These would be outfit bought and cost incredible amounts of resources and money only ten would realistically exist on a continent at a time at max faction productivity. Cool Idea though. Just remember to check the related topic before posting. Maybe you can bump a pre-existing topic

[Ohanka]

Originally Posted by berzerkerking

This has been suggested in greater detail before. See here:http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=41198
I would think that to prevent these form ever landing would better balance the gameplay. Only having one in the sky would overpower the winning faction. Instead These would be outfit bought and cost incredible amounts of resources and money only ten would realistically exist on a continent at a time at max faction productivity. Cool Idea though. Just remember to check the related topic before posting. Maybe you can bump a pre-existing topic

I love the idea in that topic you linked

anyway. This thing is designed to be in the air, and thats it. It can never land. The only time it'll be on the ground is when it is initally launched and the only way it'll go to the ground will be in a fireball. The only way on or off is through Galaxy transport or Escape Pods (a one way thing). I have the idea for this thing to be one per faction on each continent. Once it is destroyed it has an insane respawn timer before it can be called in again.

[berzerkerking]

Originally Posted by Ohanka

I love the idea in that topic you linked

anyway. This thing is designed to be in the air, and thats it. It can never land. The only time it'll be on the ground is when it is initally launched and the only way it'll go to the ground will be in a fireball. The only way on or off is through Galaxy transport or Escape Pods (a one way thing). I have the idea for this thing to be one per faction on each continent. Once it is destroyed it has an insane respawn timer before it can be called in again.

I like the idea of this heavy airship but this was touched upon in the other thread as there would be levels of power Each Module System comes in Six Levels:

Basic
Mark I
Mark II
Mark III
Mark IV
Mark V

All hulls are equipped with Basic Modules when purchased.

Module Key words:

Code:
Standard = 100%
Enhanced = 125%
Advanced = 150%
HAWT = High Altitude Warrior Transfer
Basic Module Overview: No Upgrade Point

Code:
Engineering - One Standard Power Generator, One Standard NTU Storage Tank, One Standard Engine
Defensive - One Standard Shield Generator (100,000 HP), Standard Armor Plating
Offensive - One Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoint, Two Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - One 60 Second Spawn Tube, One Non MAX Access Equipment Terminal, One HAWT Drop tube
Hangar - One Small Aircraft Hangar Bay (hangar door not large enough for Liberators or Galaxies)
Cargo - One Ventral Heavy Lift Platform (One MBT or Two Lightnings per Platform)
Mark I Module OVerview: One Upgrade Point

Code:
Engineering - One Enhanced Power Generator, One Large Capacity NTU Storage Tank, One Enhanced Engine
Defensive - One Enhanced Shield Generator (125,000 HP), Enhanced Armor Plating (increases damage mitigation of hull, adds mass)
Offensive - Two Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Four Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - Two 60 Second Spawn Tubes, Two non MAX Access Equipment Terminals, Two HAWT Drop Tubes
Hangar - One Large Aircraft Hangar Bay (large enough for one Galaxy)
Cargo - Two Ventral Heavy Lift Platforms
Mark II Module Overview: Two Upgrade Points

Code:
Engineering - One Advanced Power Generator, One Advanced NTU Storage Tank, One Advanced Engine
Defensive - One Advanced Shield Generator (150,000 HP), Advanced Armor Plating
Offensive - Two Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, One Aft Heavy Weapon Hardpoint, Four Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - Three 60 Second Spawn Tubes, Three Non MAX Access Terminals, Three HAWT Drop Tubes
Hangar - One Large Aircraft Hangar Bay, One Small Aircraft Hangar Bay
Cargo - Four Ventral Heavy Lift Platforms
Mark III Module Overview: Four Upgrade Points (Max for Light Cruiser)

Code:
Engineering - Two Standard Power Generators, Two Standard NTU Storage Tanks, Two Standard Engines
Defensive - Two Standard Shield Generators (200,000 HP), Advanced Armor Plating, Standard Armor Plating for Weapon Hardpoints
Offensive - Two Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Two Aft Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Four Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - Three 45 Second Spawn Tubes, Three MAXable Terminals, Three HAWT Tubes
Hangar - Two Large Aircraft Hangar Bays
Cargo - Six Ventral Heavy Lift Platforms
Mark IV Module Overview: Eight Upgrade Points (Max for Heavy Cruiser)

Code:
Engineering - Two Enhanced Power Generators, Two Enhanceded NTU Storage Tanks, Two Enhanced Engines
Defensive - Two Enhanced Shield Generators (250,000 HP), Advanced Armor Plating, Enhanced Armor Plating for Hardpoints
Offensive - Three Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Two Aft Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Six Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - Three 30 Second Spawn Tubes, Three MAXable Terminals w/ 25% discount, Three HAWT Tubes
Hangar - Small Flight Deck (large enough to comfortably handle three Galaxies; Flight Decks are all through deck designs)
Cargo - Eight Ventral Heavy Lift Platforms
Mark V Module OVerview: Sixteen Upgrade Points

Code:
Engineering - Two Advanced Power Generators, Two Advanced NTU Storage Tanks, Two Advanced Engines
Defensive - Two Advanced Shield Generators (300,000 HP), Advanced Armor Plating, Advanced Armor Plating for Hardpoints
Offensive - Three Forward Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Three Aft Heavy Weapon Hardpoints, Six Lateral Point Defense Hardpoints
Spawn - Three 15 Second Spawn Tubes, Three MAXable Terminals w/ 50% discount, Three HAWT Tubes
Hangar - Large Flight Deck (five Galaxies comfortably)
Cargo - Twelve Ventral Heavy Lift Platforms
As you can see, even with a Battle Cruiser, you can't max out every module, you have to consider a balance or even a specialization for your Air Cruiser, no one setup to rule them all.,to outfit ships. Your suggestion would have to be the last level of armor and customization. There could only be one per faction per continent to prevent total domination from low altitude warships, and as usual a stealth team of liberators and galaxies could land on the cruiser to capture it, or a fleet of liberator could concentrate sustained fire of several weak points to destroy in in a prolonged attack. This really should be added to the other thread as both a suggestion and a bump(partially because I forgot to bump it yesterday) Once again great Idea but it needs to be placed under the original topic. Instead of competing with it.
Once again see here:http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=41198

[GhettoPrince]

I'm kind of OK with the idea of a superweapon, but only if it costs stupid amounts of resources, like you would have your entire outfit contributing tons of resources.

The idea fits in with the epic scale of the game, but honestly it's just giving a squad of people a way to punch way above their weight and doesn't fit with the other focus of the game, teamwork.

You can already fit 2 squads into a fully specced galaxy, why do you need the flying carrier from The Avengers?

[KILLFACE]

2 things. As a CO of a Air Cavalry Platoon that sounds pretty cool. And also, you played a fair bit of BF2142 didn't you?

[maskedskull]

I have to say that something about that idea just doesn't sit right with me.

Even with a lot of the restrictions being suggested it still sounds incredibly overpowered and has potential to be exploited.

The main problem with restricting the number of ANY kind of unit is that there is potential that an Outfit will camp it and not allow anyone else to use it which makes people not in the Outfit feel A: Unneeded and B: Cheated.

As said before, if there is anything bigger than a Galaxy it should only be 2 or 3 times bigger and even that is a stretch.