New single person mechs designed from scratch for PS2

[Helwyr]

Originally Posted by Mastachief

You are just digging your own grave right there. That's more powerful than a tank, perfect for people that are wanting a solo machine it would make this game mech warrior as everyone would have one.

This is planetside it is squad/group based combat not solo look at me i want to be leet. [...]

I'm mostly indifferent to whether Mechs get in the game or not, but some of the comments regarding what's balanced, what's not, and what Planetside is about do interest me.

Are you saying here that a walking Reaver is an overpowered solo vehicle that shouldn't exist, but a flying Reaver is perfectly ok?

[DviddLeff]

I like mechs and I would like to see them in PS at some point... however the stigma attached to BFRs is much too strong, at least for most of the veterans.

Here are my thoughts on how BFRs could have been balanced in PS1:

Nothing has caused more people to quit PS at the same time than these as when they first entered the game they completely changed the dynamic of the outdoor battles as they were way, way overpowered. They then got a year long beating with the nerf bat until they were usable but not overpowered, but by then the damage was done to the games population.

Now they sit uncomfortably in the scheme of vehicles, being still overpowered when it comes to a single crew vehicle (to compare look at the Reaver and Lightning, the other single crewed offensive vehicles on the battlefield).

I suggest that BFRs get extra crewmen for control of each weapon arm. This turns them into heavy tanks, slotting them into the game in a balanced way.

They should also choose one of the following:

• extra gunner turret
• cloaking field (requires infiltrator pilot)
• regenerating shield
• flight pack (VS only)
• weapon feeds (increase fire rate, TR only)
• extra armour (NC only)

This extra crew requirement and removal of the shield for all types would warrant a slight armour value and model size increase. The different names would also become redundant and the game would finally have the heavy tanks it deserves. This coupled with the hard point system would make the game very appealing to mechwarrior fans while keeping the game balanced.

Now regarding single man mechs they would be the equivalent of the Lightning, but slower but with similar options to the "heavy tank" versions:

• cloaking field (requires infiltrator pilot)
• regenerating shield
• flight pack (VS only)
• weapon feeds (increase fire rate, TR only)
• extra armour (NC only)

This gives the solo player three choices when it comes to combat vehicles; Mossie/Reaver/Dyson for fast hit and run strikes, Lightning for middling speed assaults and the Light BFR for slower but more agile assaults as the mechs could stalk through dense terrain that the Lightning couldn't access.

[Malorn]

Flight on any mech is no bueno, vs or no it is a tremendous advantage. Also these have too much similarity to MAX units. Theyre the same thing. If you want to make this about how to make MAX .ore interesting, great. This idea of the thread is just dumb as the poll clearly shows.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Flight on any mech is no bueno, vs or no it is a tremendous advantage.

Even if AA can lock onto the target? With the new terrain and large cliff walls that would be my primary reason to have some system for flight available as an option.

See my preference originally was that upgrades like that would cost resources that can't be purchased so players would earn such features over time instead of getting other things in the game the same way a player might upgrade the secondary weapons on their tank.

Originally Posted by Malorn

Also these have too much similarity to MAX units. Theyre the same thing.

Read the previous pages. I covered the differences in detail. Among the most obvious are the smaller target size and the ability to go inside and the single role methodology. That alsong with the new PS2 features that allow them to choose among a set of abilities. This while always being able to get at infantry.

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

ideas

Stop trying to balance them as an alternative to a tank. Trying to get rid of those kinds of Power Ranger ideas.

[Traak]

As a side note, the Mechwarrior game franchise was bought, a new game about to be released, then a lawsuit over the striking resemblance some or one of the 'Mechs had to prior art by someone else in another game or something.

Too bad. Mechwarrior would make a great MMOFPS, I think. Being able to play an Elemental would have been grand fun, I think.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

I like mechs and I would like to see them in PS at some point... however the stigma attached to BFRs is much too strong, at least for most of the veterans.

This is the bottom line, and why mechs won't be welcome for PS2 at launch. It's like you could be the nicest, smartest, most fun person in the world, but if your name is Hitler Bin Laden, then nobody is gonna be inviting you to a party.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Raymac

This is the bottom line, and why mechs won't be welcome for PS2 at launch.

It would be easy if it was the bottom line. There are people that hate bipedal mechs in games. This came up during the BF2142 game.

If it was just a problem of some veterans that can't get over BFRs and aren't capable of comprehending a balanced mech then it wouldn't be a problem. Most of the people that don't want mechs are using the BFR balance issues as an excuse because they don't like the chasis design for one reason or another, but don't want to say it. That's the simple explanation.

I fear one of the reasons though is because they'd prefer the game was more realistic and dropped the science fiction genre.

[BorisBlade]

Originally Posted by Snow

Because the argument being made was that mechs attract people to the game and I agree mechs attract someone who likes mechs but not necessarily someone who likes team based shooters.

Well PS2 is steering away from team based action sadly if you havent noticed the redo of vehicle design into a more rambo/solo style rather than teamwork based.

[Vancha]

This entire thread is a demonstration in human irrationality.

[SgtMAD]

why are you feeding this BFR troll,if everyone ignored this, it would fade away and we could go back to arguing about something else we know nothing about.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Vancha

This entire thread is a demonstration in human irrationality.

Its pretty funny, tbh. I could totally accept 'I don't like mechs, I think they are highly overrated and would have some severe handicaps in an actual battlefield'. Fair enough. Granted its sci fi, but sci fi is always better when it feels like a more likely extrapolation, and everyone will have differing opinions on what that means. 'I really just don't like the style of them'. Again, fair enough. Taste is subjective. I think a monster truck style of vehicle would be absurd, some would probably disagree.

'I don't like them because a different implementation of them in a different game went badly' is just an absurd argument. If they'd been heavy tanks on treads people wouldn't have any issue with a tank like vehicle that has treads.

[Traak]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

'I don't like them because a different implementation of them in a different game went badly' is just an absurd argument. If they'd been heavy tanks on treads people wouldn't have any issue with a tank like vehicle that has treads.

Tanks don't generally have the capability to climb 60 degree hills, and fly 600 yards backwards and 500 yards upwards suddenly to escape enemy fire. The issue wasn't what BFR's were, it was what they could do.

If we had infantry that could do that, after taking massive damage and surviving, while only having to crouch to renew a shield that was impenetrable to 150mm tank rounds, but vulnerable to pistols only, we wouldn't like them either.

[morf]

We already have single person bipedal mechs. They're called MAX UNITS.

It sounds like you want something similar only with like 5x as much ownsauce. It's not needed. It's not going to happen. MAX is a good single player mech implementation. Tougher than a soldier, but lacks versatility and can't be deployed from just anywhere. That's about as good as a mech should be.

[Hamma]

I don't care about them because Smed already said they wouldn't be in, no point arguing about them in a 900 page thread.

[PrISM]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Please let us enjoy our solace of no mech crap in PS2 .

This.