Certs & Customization - how it might look

[Malorn]

There could very well be cosmetic changes to the vehicle as a result of these upgrades.

A more maneuverable vanguard might have a little bigger engine in the back, or a few less armor plates (or both) to indicate that it's been modified for additional speed and reduced armor.

the 200mm howitzer option would obviously have a much bigger cannon.

In the case of aircraft, they could have additional wing bits or tail-fins and stuff like that apart from the obvious aditional weaponry like rocket pods and what not.

They might plan on doing that, which could explain why they are cutting things like vehicle jacking. If there's cosmetic effects then the work load for Tramell's team goes through the roof. However with no vehicle jacking they can use resources that would be spent on the different versions of vehicles and instead work on cosmetic changes to accompany upgrades. From a balance perspective, Vehicle jacking would really screw with empire-specific upgrades and the cert system due to all the extra customization and possible empire-specific certs that may not exist on the other empires (or not have a direct counterpart).

Nothing prohibits cosmetic changes...in fact I owuld expect it for some of them, especially weapon changes. If my tank has a scattercannon secondary gun instead of a 20mm, that should be obvious, and any infantry spying the tank should see that and know that their best option is keeping distance.