MAX revamp

[CutterJohn]

MAXs, for reasons left unstated, were never all that popular in PS. Likely because they were a supersoldier in one tiny cert, capable of killing lots of infantry indoors without much hastle. The downside, lack of any tools, was not much of a downside considering the rest of the zerg had them.

I think we can improve on the idea of MAXs without making them giant death robots indoors that are spammed by everyone looking for an advantage, and also by making the MAX gameplay rather more interesting and varied, instead of one of the more boring things in the game, a big part of which is shifting their focus to outside use more than inside use.

Firstly, a change to MAX armor. There is just a single one, and the weapons are separate certs, which you can get at an equipment terminal.

Now, to bolster the use of MAXs outdoors, they have a 2nd running gear, a jog or trot. This moves you at a pretty good clip, the speed of agile or greater. Like run mode, turn speed is pretty crap, but you can use your weapons, and get some good jumps going. You have lots of armor now, some mobility. You use this to keep pace with vehicles and fight in the field.

Totally OP you say. They will dominate indoors. Yes. Except.. MAX armor no longer protects against white ammo. They are as easy to kill for infantry as REXOs are, except..

Brace yourselves... They have a shield(it doesn't recharge!). When this shield is active, the MAX takes 50% reduced damage from all sources.

The MAX has 3 systems. Weapons. Movement. Shield. The trick is, it can only power 2 at once. A MAX thusly has 5 distinct modes of operation for various circumstances.

1. Runmode. This is both travel and to act as a linebreaker. Charge past with fast speed and lots of damage soaking potential, cause chaos, break the stalemate. Or get to the next base.
2. Jog mode. This is for outdoors combat(indoors you'll be hitting walls too much) moving along a line or with vehicles, albeit slower paced vehicles.
3. Walk mode. Indoors combat. The slow, ungainly MAX we all remember, but significantly easier to kill.
4. Standing mode. Defensive posture. 25% damage absorb, since the legs have to be kept ready for action, though it takes a second or two to activate.
5. Anchored or crouched mode. Heavy defensive posture. 50% damage reduction. Limited forward firing arc.

But CJ, won't number 5 make those things reeeaaaaallly tough to kill indoors? Not if you don't forget your friendly Jammer grenade, which temporarily disrupts the kung fu action shield! Not for long, but perhaps long enough. Jammer grenades also disrupt run mode and jog mode, in case you need to.


What happens with this? The max has several roles now.

-An open field infantry, charging the enemy position or mixing it up with the vehicles, with quite good speed.
-A defensive stronghold, a mobile turret. Once it roots itself in place, its a tough nut to crack. Quite tough for vehicles, and a challenge for infantry. But they are immobile, and vulnerable to jammer grenades.
-MAX crash, of course.

What they aren't so good at? Walking through bases pounding infantry. They'll die to other infantry like other infantry does in that situation. You would use MAX units to establish defensive lines, pushing forward with infantry and holding the line with the MAX units until the infantry break through so they can move forward again. You can also use them to charge past and cause chaos behind the lines in max crash fashion of old, but without infantry support, they will quickly fold to the vulnerability they now share with the rest of the infantry units.. the dreaded white ammo which everyone possesses.


Some other thoughts regarding MAXs..

Self repair. Again, please don't rage. MAXs were often expected to be used outdoors, indeed one was solely useful outdoors, and as you can see I would like to expand on this attribute. And out there, they certainly weren't OP, or even that special. One might say that most often, they were just fodder unless held back in tightly protected areas. Part of the problem was there complete lack of self reliance. They were, in fact, the only vehicle or armor where this was a problem. Getting repaired meant one of three things. A long haul to the base to use the repair terminal. A trek to a base or tower console to burn a cooldown for a replacement, or begging. Not one other armor or vehicle had this problem.

So what I'd like to see is MAXs able to fit a medgun and gluegun for self repair only, and activating these things shuts you down for a length of time equivalent to what a vehicle driver exiting and entering his vehicle takes. Call it a 5 second shutdown, however long it takes to repair(which you could cancel), and a 5-10 second startup to bring the MAX systems back online. You are motionless the entire time, with no weapons.


I would also like to see an improvement in the variety of weapons MAX units can field. Short and long range AI and AV weaponry, and a choice between direct fire/flak and guided rounds for AA or something.