Creative/Odd Mods for Vehicles

Zekeen · 2012-04-20, 04:36 PM

Hello all, just thought I'd bring up a discussion on the more bizarre (or rarely done) modifications with vehicles and some on vehicle mods entirely.

Considering the current aspect of how Planetside 2 is being developed, one big thing is they are, of course, going for balance. Making every vehicle mod and sidegrade useful in keeping the power struggle alive and everything working with 80-120% power of another. We know that there will be a gigantic amount of mods for weapons and vehicles, and this will definately make PS2 come alive, but one of my concerns is this - Are we going to get the ability to use underpowered modifications for our own choice to use in certain situations.

My dream vehicle - apart from every possible galaxy mod in the world - is this. I want a Reaver that has 5 gun pods instead of one gun pod and 4 rocket or missile pods. Gun pods would probably make it weaker, below the average they would go for, but it would have more versatility, but would not have have any dominating power. You wouldn't be locking on in mid air, or blasting tanks below, but you could be dividing infantry with strafing runs with the widened bullet pattern and still be able to dogfight aircraft (some of us prefer guns over missiles). Point is, it's an uncommon mod to think of, and I think more strange options would add some life to the game. Give a mod for a BTR type gun to tanks, less power but semi rapid fire to hit lighter vehicles and heavy infantry. Keep the imagination alive.

Another aspect of attention is how vehicles will be able to over diversify their abilities too much. It's one thing for a Reaver to have anti air and anti ground capacities, it's another to be able to turn a Vanguard into an anti air vehicle. I think it would be better if instead of making that main gun an anti air battery, give more use to the secondary gunner. Add a mod for the secondary gun to be a flak gun instead of making the Vanguard just pure anti air power. If too many vehicles specialize too much, you can't spot anti-air, anti-armor, ect. It's nice to give some more defense oriented specializations and more meaning to secondary positions, but to give it to the primary is borish. Vehicles need to have a primary specializations that sticks, if you go too far, it changes entirely and should be more easily noticed. Make a separate AA, give a secondary gunner spot mod to have a light cannon for vehicles, just keep these role mods to defensive style.

My point of this post is we should redirect a few questions and attention to getting more imaginative mods for vehicles without changing their roles entirely. If I say a Vanguard is here, we know it can hurt anything, but vehicles are fodder for it and we know it won't be tearing a squadron of air vehicles to shred. If I say Reaver, it's death from above, it can gun down infantry even when decked for anti air and can hurt tanks if decked for anti armor. Keep it easy to know primary role and allow secondary. But even when saying that, remember to be imaginative. This is, of course, putting a gigantic pressure on the dev team - how can you be imaginative AND adhere to role types? It's difficult, but not impossible. I want my Reaver with full on machine guns to do strafing runs and gunfire dogfights, I want an auto-cannon on my tank to take out light vehicles and unwary low altitude VTOLs hovering about. I want a Sunderer to lock down, become a fortress, and allow infantry inside to fire out of gunner slots. Or give the Liberator bomber a guided missile over a hoard of bombs - less damage but precise hits. Strange, useful, and not too farfetched, this is what can keep the game more interesting. Also I want a big armored truck with a redneck lighting array that can be used to blind a squad of enemy infantry. The sky is the limit. Weird mods would just make the game more fun, so long as they don't go "too" far.

I'm hoping the devs have some wild and crazy ideas of their own in the works. With the awesome lighting system in the game, even MORE mods could make vehicles even more unique. Spotlights on top of tanks, instead of a secondary gun, would be interesting for nighttime fights, for instance.

What type of weird, outside the box, or for that matter, outside the traditional box, would you guys like to see make it into PS2?

Soothsayer · 2012-04-20, 04:55 PM

Here's a few that are kinda out there...

Mine reprogrammer -- get into an enemy minefield and set off this device and it reprograms the mines to your control (or if that's OP then just disable/despawn them)

Snorkel system -- mods a veh so that it can spend a longer period of time in deep water before deactivation to allow for river fording (If we don't get deliverers, this would be a stopgap solution until they can add an amphibious common pool veh).

Flare launcher -- Lights up a large area during the night for a while, flare could be destructible if shot. (hell I'd like this for infantry as well hah)

Driver exit point bubble -- deploys a temporary defensive bubble/barrier on the exit point for the driver so that he/she can repair for a short amount of time without getting sniped.

Gonefshn · 2012-04-20, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Soothsayer

Driver exit point bubble -- deploys a temporary defensive bubble/barrier on the exit point for the driver so that he/she can repair for a short amount of time without getting sniped.

OP. do not want

Does anyone know if any of the vehicles have a boost option standard or as a modification/sidegrade???

That one's not particularly crazy but it makes sense to me. temporary boost.

Cosmical · 2012-04-20, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Gonefshn

OP. do not want

Does anyone know if any of the vehicles have a boost option standard or as a modification/sidegrade???

That one's not particularly crazy but it makes sense to me. temporary boost.

Im pretty sure the sunderer does. And maybe even the ATV (Flash).

Gonefshn · 2012-04-20, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Cosmical

Im pretty sure the sunderer does. And maybe even the ATV (Flash).

I sort of thought that was the case, thanks for speaking up though.

I could see this being a cool/useful mod for MBTs too though.
I know that the idea of a boost for MBTs sounds a little ridiculous but thats assuming it comes standard.

If adding a boost to an MBT meant sacrificing armor or mine guard, or weapons or something else I think it would be a nice addition.
Hundreds of tanks with boosters = lame.

Boosters for MBTs being available as a specialized alternative I think can be cool.

**Malorn** · 2012-04-20, 07:25 PM

Here's a few ideas...

Drop Pod Launcher (utility slot)
Allows driver and gunners to "eject" from a ground vehicle by firing off a drop-pod. It's like the APC ability in BF2142 if you played that. This could be especially cool on the Sunderer, but could also be used by other vehicles as a driver safety mechanism. User can guide the drop pod down to allow scaling of walls and other forms of ground-based deployment.

Pneumatic Booster (performance slot)
Grants the vehicle a "jump" ability that allows it to hurdle obstacles and small gaps depending on speed. This would be cool on an ATV or lightning, might have some comedy use on a Sundy or tank (or it might be ATV/Lightning only).

Stealth Plating (defensive slot)
Prevents the vehicle from showing up on minimaps and reduces the range at which it can be spotted. Also slows down lock acquisition by 50%. Your basic radar-inhibiting stealth of the Planetside Era. Makes lock-on weaponry take longer to acquire target (giving the vehicle more time to escape the lock). Reduces spotting potential and helps remove it from radar tracking. This is for the vehicle that wants to limit attention or combat heavy lock-on weaponry use. Aircraft might find this particularly useful. This upgrade comes at the cost of lowering armor by a fair amount for balance purposes.

Adaptive Camo (defensive slot)
Grants a slow-timed cloaking effect on the vehicle but only when it is not moving or firing. Moving or firing quickly cancels the effect. Idea is that the vehicle stops and it starts cloaking over a period of 5-10 seconds like a chameleon adapting to the surroundings. The idea is that this could be useful for ATVs if used by an infiltrator so he can park his ATV and it will hide itself, or if the infiltrator is being tracked/chased he can stop behind a tree and the vehicle will start cloaking (driver included). It could also be used by tanks if the tank is used as artillery. This form of camo gives off a stronger thermal signature and decreases armor slightly.

Target Painter (weapon slot)
Keeps target spotted while painted and makes all guided weapon systems 100% more effective. This would make lock-on weaponry acquire the lock twice as fast. It also makes the target have a mild glow effect that draws attention. Seems like a lot but you are giving up an active weapon for this ability and it's purely support. The target painter emits a faint light (colored by empire for easy IFF detection) towards the target. (Cyan, Red, and Yellow are the light colors for colorblind-friendly faction distinction - cyan seems to be a new prominent VS color)

Darklight Pulse (utility slot)
Grants "darklight pulse" ability that sends out a wave of darklight that will short out all cloaking devices in the pulse radius for a short time. The Darklight pulse is is more effective and has a longer range the less natural light exists. So at night it has a larger radius and disables for longer. On the darkest of nights it is at its peak effectiveness. Least-effective during mid-day. Idea is that it is a way to counter heavy cloaker use or nighttime cloaker use. But of course you give up other utility options like EMP, smoke, ec.

Motion Sensor (utility slot)
Projects a motion sensor around the vehicle that auto-spots all nearby enemies that move in range, including cloaked enemies (it doesn't reveal them, it just shows them up on the minimap). The spotting effect persists as long as there is movement. It also emits an audible sound when triggered (like the motion sensors of PS1).

Thermal Spotlight (utility slot)
Adds a bright floodlight spotlight that emits a bright thermal signature to the vehicle's weapon systems. This light can be toggled by the gunners individually and it both illuminates an area while simultaneously causing temporary blindness to anyone using thermal imaging directly in the beam and for a few seconds after the beam ceases. The thermal spotlight is intended to be part of night balance and is a tradeoff and possible counter to thermal imaging. The downside to it is that quite obviously it draws attention to the vehicle, and it shows up clearly to long-range thermal sights. The upside is that it illuminates the area for all nearby friendlies and can serve as a counter to thermal vision.

Thermal Imaging (utility slot)
Grants the driver and gunners a toggle for thermal imaging for the purpose of nightvision. Vehicles and infantry give off thermal signatures (unless they have reduced/eliminated that signature through other upgrades) allowing them to be easily spotted at night. Thermal imaging has a downside - during the daytime it cannot be used and will cause temporary blindness if used. Additionally it has a vulnerability to thermal spotlights which overwhelm the sensor and have the same effect as daytime use.

Thermal Camo (defensive slot)
Grants the vehicle protection against thermal imaging. It will not be illuminated by a Thermal Image. It has a downside of weakening the vehicle armor slightly as the reflective coating compromises structural plating.

Thermal Flare (utility slot)
Launches a bright flare that illuminates the area for a moderate time and causes minor reduction (not full blindness) to thermal imaging. The flare has a short recharge time. This is meant to illuminate the area like flares are used in war.

Combat Bulldozer (performance slot)
This is a structural change in the vehicle that makes it better at plowing into things which has a number of effects. First, it increases front armor moderately with a front plow. Second, it it reduces acceleration of the vehicle noticably, the turning slightly, but does not reduce top speed. And third it increases the mass of the vehicle for the purpose of collisions by 50%. This is an upgrade that can help turn a vehicle into a battering ram. It makes it slower to get going but gives it a little bit more sturdiness in terms of armor and makes it much better at plowing through barriers or other vehicles. This is an upgrade a sunderer might want to get for maximum crashing potential. It's an upgrade a tank may want to get for the purpose of clearing fortifications or other barriers (I assume a vehicle can crash into them to destroy them). In conjunction with a mine-guard this upgrade could turn a vehicle into a fortification-clearing beast.

I'm sure I'll come up with more later.

Gonefshn · 2012-04-20, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Malorn

Adaptive Camo (defensive slot)
Grants a slow-timed cloaking effect on the vehicle but only when it is not moving or firing. Moving or firing quickly cancels the effect. Idea is that the vehicle stops and it starts cloaking over a period of 5-10 seconds like a chameleon adapting to the surroundings. The idea is that this could be useful for ATVs if used by an infiltrator so he can park his ATV and it will hide itself, or if the infiltrator is being tracked/chased he can stop behind a tree and the vehicle will start cloaking (driver included). It could also be used by tanks if the tank is used as artillery.

This is cool, reminds me of this guy! VvV

a cookie to anyone who knows what that is!

Zekeen · 2012-04-21, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Malorn

Here's a few ideas...

Quit a few good ideas Malorn, I like how they're all plausible for both being put in game and keeping balance. Not to mention fun and interesting. I woulda figured more people woulda jumped on the chance to talk about their greatest mod desires for PS2 that were just a little "out there". Let's keep the imagine rolling people.

Galaxy Lodestar Mod - I never liked the lodestar, I will forever love the Galaxy. Since vehicles seem less cumbersome and the Galaxy more so, let's do it like old WW2 plane style and let the vehicle actually fit INSIDE the Galaxy. This would also be tactical as you wouldn't know what or who is inside. There would only be room for the Galaxy gun crew and the vehicle.

Galaxy Flying Fortress - Significantly less cargo room for passengers, but more gunner spots. Includes some gun pods on the top and bottom for 260 rotation and bigger guns. B-27 Flying Fortress basically, man I love those planes.

Biohazard · 2012-04-20, 06:44 PM

Magrider : A kill switch that shut's off the levitating device, causing the mag to drop to the ground and grind to a halt; useful for emergency stops.

ES fighter : lighter less-powerful engines that can be rotated faster, allowing for better low-speed maneuverability.

RNFB · 2012-04-20, 07:07 PM

Scythe swarm buddies - launch a bunch of miniature Scythes that seek out and attack enemies automatically, replaces main gun

Gonefshn · 2012-04-20, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by RNFB

Scythe swarm buddies - launch a bunch of miniature Scythes that seek out and attack enemies automatically, replaces main gun

I can't tell if you are serious about that idea lol but that reminds me of the Scrin from Command and Conquer 3. The Scythe already looks like a Scrin vehicle.

Mr DeCastellac · 2012-04-21, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Gonefshn

Originally Posted by RNFB

Scythe swarm buddies - launch a bunch of miniature Scythes that seek out and attack enemies automatically, replaces main gun

I can't tell if you are serious about that idea lol but that reminds me of the Scrin from Command and Conquer 3. The Scythe already looks like a Scrin vehicle.

That, or the Protoss Carrier from Starcraft, shooting out interceptors.