Some Thoughts on MBT's from a Veteran Tanker

[ExquisitExamplE]

UPDATE: I threw together a brief video showing the movement and combat capabilities of ETQW's Strogg Desecrator Tank, A tank that I believe shows what the magrider could and should be capable of. I've been thinking about it quite a bit, and it comes down to the fact that I really don't want to have to steer the vehicle by using the mouse. Hopefully they've implemented some other type of system in Planetside 2.


The main suggestions I've gleaned from reading your comments:

- ADD ROTATING TURRET TO MAGRIDER
- INCREASE TURRET HEIGHT TO NOMINAL COMBAT LEVEL.
- ENSURE MAGRIDER HAS ADEQUATE ACCELERATION/ROTATION SPEED

Now of course we'll have to wait a bit longer to see how everything shakes out, how the different MBT's handle and how they stack up. I'll reserve judgment of course, but I think the potential issues people have been bringing up are valid ones and hopefully someone from SOE will see this thread and get some ideas.

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In this frenzy of anticipation surrounding the days prior to beta, I finally decided to stop lurking the forums, make an account, and attempt to bring something pertinent and worthwhile to the forums.

A bit of background on myself, I've been PC gaming for 10+ years, my first forays into competitive FPS were with Counterstrike 1.5 (Before they introduced riot shields and the FAMAS/Galil), followed by Quake 3. My first memories of "tanking" were with Westwood studios's superlative first-person shooter, C&C: Renegade. The game had really great vehicle mechanics, complete with artillery, aircraft and faction-specific tanks, it had elements of tower-defense games at a time when they were still in their infancy.


I later moved on to Planetside, and then later to Battlefield 2, a game which really fomented my love for vehicle combat. For the last few years I've been really enjoying Id's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, another extremely well-made objective-based multiplayer fps.

ETQW is interesting in that it has a tank that is very similar to the Magrider, namely the "Desecrator". The main difference is the "dessie" as we like to call it, is about 100 times the combat vehicle the magrider is, thanks in large part to it's fully rotatable turret and different system of movement.

With the desecrator, the mouse controls the turret, W and S move forward and backward, A and D rotate the body of the dessie counter clockwise or clockwise, and Q and E cause the vehicle to strafe. Also, the crouch button would cause you to enter a lockdown mode which operates in the same way as the TR Max, sacrificing all mobility for increased rate-of-fire. The cannon is a direct-fire (travels in a straight line) plasma cannon with a relatively slow travel speed and limited (but still long) range.

The nemesis of the Strogg Desecrator is the GDF Titan Tank, A much more standard tank and somewhat similar to the Vanguard in it's build. It has decent forward speed, but poor maneuverability which it compensates for with heavier armor and a stronger, shell-based cannon which has a trajectory drop, but unlimited range and a fast shell travel speed.

Although these two vehicles are asymmetrical and quite dissimilar, they are well-balanced in terms of power, in the same way that I imagine SOE intends to balance the PS2 MBT's, with the VS gleaning their advantage from superior agility and precision.

Kill times for ETQW Vehicles:

Titan: Takes 4 direct plasma cannon to destroy.
Desecrator: Takes 2 direct tank shells to destroy.

Although the Desecrator dies much more quickly than the Titan, it's ability to strafe combined with it's slimmer profile give it more than a fighting chance in the hands of a skilled driver.

Some brief clips of me playing:


Which brings me (Finally!) to my main point, which is I have this feeling that in order for the Magrider to be able to fill its role and act effectively as a single-man MBT (Something which all MBT's in PS2 are supposed to be capable of), it absolutely needs a fully rotatable turret. As I understand it now, Both NC and TR have tanks that have at least 2 fully 360 degree rotatable turrets, one for the the driver and one for the gunner, while the Magrider still has it's old setup of one fixed gun for the driver, and a rotatable turret for the gunner.

As the pilot of a single-man MBT, I want to be able to keep a high-rate of speed while at the same time being able to keep my sights locked on an enemy vehicle at all times. This means I could potentially be retreating from an area, going full speed and being pursued by enemy tanks, but still have my turret aimed at them and engaging. I would, of course, be at a disadvantage because my weaker rear armor would be facing the pursuing tanks, but at least I would be able to track and/or engage them.

I know this issue has been brought up before, but I thought I'd share my perspective. Any other tank drivers feel similarly?

In short, I'd be more than willing to sacrifice a bit of armor to gain a functionality that tanks have had since 1917. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_FT-17