This is a list of things I�d love to see done to Planetside to increase the pace and fun of infantry battles in this game. With each of the suggested changes below I�ll list the change and my brief reasoning behind it. I know I�ll be flamed to oblivion here, but just keep in mind that these are just my opinions.
Infantry additions and tweaks:
1. Change the speed of all non-infiltrator suit armors to the speed of Agile. This would remove the advantageous effect you get for wearing the free lighter armors. Any good infantry combat style player knows foot speed is the power of infantry fighting. The slower speed by far negates the added armor bonus. And besides why are you required to train and earn certification points on a Rexo when an Agile is free? I assume of you can figure out how to put on an Agile suit a Rexo should be intuitive out without the same training cost and expertise it takes to pilot a Mosquito! So I�m thinking the 3 cert points are for special physical conditioning to compensate for the heaver armor. So an athlete wearing heavier armor running at the same speed as a physically unconditioned �desk jockey�, �computer nerd�, or �pilot geek� makes sense to me. Of course this logic is debatable, but so is any �game logic�. How come a .50 cal sniper rifle can�t kill you if he shoots you in the face? �Game balance� is the answer and everyone of fine with that as a one shot kill is deemed too powerful. So I say let all armors move at the same speed so that your heavier armors are actually BETTER then lighter free armors.
2. Reduce the speed bonus for Surge and change the stamina drain for all armors to that of Agile armor. Now cloakers can�t surge forever and Rexos can surge for more than 4 seconds. I�d make surge useful to catch up to an enemy, but be slow enough to avoid the warping effect caused by the inability of the game engine to handle those speeds. You�d have the ability to close in with an enemy or catch then from behind, but would not be turned into a superhero with warping powers.
3. Ditch the stamina loss from taking damage. Yeah, it seems �realistic� but it nerfs infantry too much especially when trying to escape from a vehicle that you have no chance of fighting against anyway. It also slows down infantry battles because after slugging it out with 2 or 3 opponents you are pretty much done for and need to rest. You can quickly repair your health and armor but your stamina just slows you down. IMHO the only drains to stamina should be implant and jumping costs.
4. Alter the Jackhammer�s secondary fire mode. I�d ditch the �tri-shot� mode and add the 3 mode shot focus effect like that of the NC Scatter Cannon MAX. This would remove the controversial �instagib� triple shot and give the weapon some ranged combat effectiveness at the expense of having to change fire modes manually depending on the target�s range. Even then it should be less effective then the MCG and Lasher at medium ranges as it�s still more effective than both in CQB with its standard firing mode. For the MCG and Lasher I�d add a single secondary firing mode to tighten the COF at longer ranges but reduce the weapons ROF. So at close range mode 1 would be more effective and at longer ranges mode 2 would be more effective.
5. Increase the speed of lasher orbs to make it easier to hit a dodging and strafing target.
6. I�d revamp snipers a bit. First I�d ditch the tracer round effect for sniper rifles. With HUD hit indicators the tracer effect is just over kill. Also I�d add a �Sniper Suit� packaged with the Sniper certification that would allow partial cloaking to a stationary Sniper. It would be identical to Agile armor but would have the partial cloaking effect added. The partial cloaking effect would require you to remain stationary or be completely visible. Further even if motionless you would have that ghostly appearance of an Infiltrator that is moving. You would have no where near the cloakers� effectiveness to be undetected up close, but at longer ranges you�d be harder to see. Finally I�d integrate the partial cloaking technology to require the Sniper to be both wearing the Sniper suit AND have the Bolt Driver equipped in hand. This would prevent the abuse of this suit by people playing as regular infantry equipped with other weapons. I miss the heart pounding �WHERE THE HELL IS THAT DAMN SNIPER?!?� sensation other FPS games have provided. Snipers are too easily spotted in this game. I believe the above two changes would add that element to the game as well as be cool as hell!
7. Add an �alternate ammo� to the knife to indicate switching to a throwing knife. This would allow for a longer ranged knife attack. I�d then add a special �ammo box� of knives to allow for having the throwing knives. Adding this ammo box to your inventory should add a graphic of a few extra knives to the player model for the coolness effect. Say one �box� adds 5 knives and if you have one on your inventory a knife graphic is drawn on your forearms, on your boots, and perhaps one strapped to your back with the handle protruding over one shoulder. As long as you have at least 5 knives these stay otherwise they are removed one by one as you toss your last 5 knives. Anyway, this would be cool as hell and be fun too. I�d give a damage boost for energized throw knives and knives thrown with the melee boost implant assistance, but it would be less damage then an actual knife stab.
Base defense and functionality tweaks
8. I�d make a change to base hacking times. If the spawn tubes are blown and the base is hacked that combination would cause the hack timer to count down twice as fast. This would encourage attackers to KILL the spawn tubes and not do the lame ass spawn camping to up their easy kill count.
9. I�d change the Matrix Panels to allow you to save your Matrix to as many bases as you have visited and bothered to save your Matrix. This would allow defenders to very easily get to the base that needs reinforcement. You can just deconstruct and go where needed provided you took the time to prepare. I�d also add Matrix panels to towers and remove them from AMS units. In this way defenders could be less dependant on vehicular transportation and would have an advantage in defending that could actually help form a counter Zerg. This would make bases a tougher nut to crack.
10. I�d also add a CEP award for defending a base. This would be based on how many attackers were fended of and how many enemies were killed. This reward should be less then the reward for taking over a base but be enough incentive to get SL types to actually keep their squad in a base that is being heavily attacked. I think too often defenders abandon their posts to move to more CEP friendly areas. Everyone wants to attack and no one wants to defend except solo BEP seekers.
11. I�d change all of the doors in the game to opaque force fields with coloration to match that of the empire controlling the facility or tower. If the door is hacked or if a friendly just passed through it the door would change appearance as to become 90% transparent to indicate the lower security or compromised condition. This compromised condition would allow for both people and weapon shots to pass through. Hacking the door would cause a 30 second compromised condition and a friendly passing through the doorway would cause a 5 second compromised condition. Further the door would only become compromised by a friendly IF that friendly actually passes or starts to pass through the protective barrier (i.e. moves close enough to touch the barrier). If the facility is hacked all doors become compromised just as they do now. This would eliminate the �door stuck shut� bug with the current door animations and prevent accidentally letting the enemy into a secure area because someone passed too close to the doorway and the doors opened. This is particularly bad in a tower as you have to be pretty careful to not accidentally open a door and let that MAX in. So this would aid in defense slightly in that regard but still allow for careless defenders to let the enemy in. Defenders could now see that a door has been recently been hacked so that would help give away the presence of an intruder. But, the very distinctive sound of a door opening would also be gone and replaced by a more quiet sound of someone passing through a force barrier (like at the warp gate barriers). So defenders are less likely to hear that door opening from across the base or from a few levels down or up like they currently can.
12. Add the IFF locks to every door in an installation. This means bunker doors as well as the wall stair access doors. The shelter these provide is supposed to be for defenders not attackers. At least make the attackers hack to have this cover.
2004-01-28, 08:27 AM
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