Vehicle - Aircraft: the Hammerhead

[Xenostalker]

Hammerhead

Vehicle type: Aircraft
Seats: 1 (Pilot)
Role: Air-to-ground support
Common Pool Vehicle



Alternative vehicle feats:

Vehicle type: Aircraft
Seats: 4 (Pilot, Gunner, Passenger, Passenger)
Role: Air-to-ground support, Light transport
Weapons: Nose Cannon (20mm)

Possible alias: "HH" "Hamma"

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Concept Art: http://s10.postimage.org/5z8eq63d5/Hammerheadjpg.jpg
(The side view is pretty sloppy but it gives the general idea)

Faction Themes: http://s8.postimage.org/wyam89ch1/Co...d_Concepts.jpg


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Overview:


The Hammerhead is an air support aircraft designed to carry supply caches into the primary battle zone.

Supply caches offer a variety of effects and benefits to ground forces.

Inspiration for this idea comes directly from Battlefield 2142's supply drop feature for commanders.


Supply Caches/Modules:

Default suggestion:
•Role-specific

A variety of supply caches and modules are available. These may be unlocked through certifications or other means.

Vehicle Repair Cache: Repairs nearby vehicles over time (not as effective as direct repairs via engineers).

Infantry Repair Cache: Heals/Repairs nearby infantry over time (not as effective as direct heals/repairs via medics).

Infantry Resupply Cache (Default variant): Resupplies ammunition for ground forces.

Alternative #1:
•Combines the effects into more standardized purposes.

Vehicle Resupply Cache: Repairs and rearms nearby vehicles over time.

Infantry Resupply Cache: Repairs/heals and rearms nearby infantry units over time.

Alternative #2:
•A single all-purpose resupply cache that is improved by certifications (e.g +10% duration or +10% faster recovery etc.)

Resupply Cache: Repairs and rearms nearby infantry and vehicles over time.

Alternative #3:
•Deployable defenses, some are activated and fully deployed by ground troops.


Vehicle Resupply Cache: Repairs and rearms nearby vehicles over time.

Infantry Resupply Cache: Repairs/heals and rearms nearby infantry units over time.

Shield Generator: Protective dome; vulnerable to enemy fire and EMPs. Requires activation/deployment from ground troops.

Stealth Field Generator: Protective dome; imperfect illusion but can be seen by thermal optics. Requires activation/deployment from ground troops.

Compact Fortifications: Small caches that can be deployed by ground forces to accomodate other deployables such as turrets, etc.


Details:

A resupply cache does not act as an equipment terminal for obvious reasons: overlapping roles, possibly overpowered, etc.

A single Hammerhead aircraft is equipped with one supply cache and a light nose gun. The pilot may drop the supply cache at any designated area. A supply cache arrives to the ground gently via deployable parachute that auto-deploys at a certain altitude as it approaches the ground. If a cache is destroyed, visit [if they still have these] a vehicle resupply depot to receive a new cache.

A supply cache may be destroyed by enemy or friendly fire. The supply cache is also vulnerable to falling damage if it slides off of a tower, etc.

Supply caches deployed near doorways or terminals will despawn after X seconds to prevent blockage or aggrivating pathing.

Supply caches will kill infantry units should it land on them. No damage is done to vehicles.

Possible Features & Brainstorming:

Squadmate or platoon member uses tactical squad emote "Requesting Supply/Infantry Repair/Vehicle Repair cache!" - marker is placed at their location (marker has a cooldown to prevent annoying spam/trolls) if player is piloting Hammerhead.

Supply caches can be picked up and relocated. A lock/unlock feature can allow/disallow other hammerheads from interfering with the cache.

Can steal enemy hammerhead supply caches using the "load cache" feature (or whatever it would be called).

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Suggested changes + comments:

Originally Posted by Gonzo

Maybe the Infantry heal and resupply should be combined into a single module, with a vehicle-focused counterpart for repairs and rearming

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Aside from the supply caches and repair stations, specialized drops might include:
-Shield generator (Dome, falls under heavy fire, vulnerable to EMPs)
-Stealth field generator (Dome, imperfect illusion, more noticible or ineffective to Thermal sights)
-Compact fortifications (Barricades and small bunkers, providing good spots for Engineers to set-up turrets in cover)

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More advanced or powerful modules would require activation by a friendly player once they landed before they fully construct(Yay Nanites), and players could maybe even choose to deconstruct/remove a module instead of activating it. This could justify the passenger capability-carry a couple buddies to jump out and flip the switch on your drops.

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Another item that could have real use is a droppable radar/sensor station. Give a boost to everyone's minimap detection in a local area. Upgrade it for jamming capabilities to block enemy radar. An expensive/high-level cert could give it some sort of OS jamming.

Originally Posted by Littleman

Sure, it will overlap with other roles, but the deployables would be temporary, yet superior to what an engineer can drop down. Having an engineer handy would just be immediate and regenerative(?,) as opposed to calling in a supply craft that might get shot down if the airspace is too hot and if not, it would have to return to a depot to grab another drop.

One final suggestion: 5 man cargo hold option for a light and quick aerial transport?

Originally Posted by Phisionary

I thought it would be interesting to have some sort of courier missions, or pickup missions or something. Having a general purpose transport aircraft, you could implement a lot of various new game mechanics, maybe in conjunction with the mission system.