Thoughts on the homogenezation of vehicles

[Ragefighter]

Like it,
Instead of spending weeks certing into one very narrow unit you can spend weeks certing into a unit that can be used for more than one thing.

I am sure you can choose to narrow your focus into a specific damage type but the basic upgrades/certs like armor and speed should carry over if you decide to throw on an AI instead of an AA gun, for example. (of course this is if I understand the cert system they talked a bit about over the last few months).

also

Shouldn't players be able to discern by the type of gun on top of the tank, or on the wings of the aircraft, what it will do? Plus the type of ammo it is firing could be a dead give away but it might be too late at that point lol.

Think of it as another thing to separate the new players vs the PS2 vets, a skilled(basically someone who has played often enough to gain the knowledge..) PS2 player might be able to notice, at a quick glance, that the tanks approaching his squad are fitted with AA guns and frontal armor plating and tell his squad to try and flank it with ground forces or something along those lines.

Recognizing what each unit is in an approaching army's squad/platoon is great info for command (and can make scouting more helpful since you will probably need either some kind of long range viewer (a Binocular type device or a scope from a gun like sniper rifles) or scouts/infiltrators leading the way in to see what you got to fight against.

Anyway, I don't think this will ruin the game by any means. Plus they can always add more stuff after they get going. If they said they got a 5 year plan for the game I assume that includes regular new content (new guns, tanks, aircraft, maybe naval warfare, new certs probably, maybe even a new "class" down the line a bit).

IDK just my .02

PS

[EVILPIG]

Didn't read the thread, but you basically get all the old vehicles, plus some new ones, out of the basic models. It's all good. Choose your role and fight for what you believe in.

[EVILPIG]

Not sure if the Poll is a good one. Too many ignorants would vote against any "homo" without ever knowing what it means.

[Atheosim]

Makes balancing easier.

[SgtMAD]

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

Didn't read the thread, but you basically get all the old vehicles, plus some new ones, out of the basic models. It's all good. Choose your role and fight for what you believe in.

how can you say we are getting all the old vehs?

and it isn't all good,all we have for ground vehs is a damn atv,a bus and a tank, that doesn't even come close to all the old vehs.

and there is only one new veh and it's aircraft(VS)

I am pretty sure SOE screwed the pooch with this veh policy,I don't give a shit what ppl think, less is not more nor does it qualify as the same,save the "feel good" platitudes for greeting cards

[raidyr]

For the most part I'm liking how vehicles work. I need to play the game to see how the Galaxy-AMS model interacts but everything else sounds nice.

The one thing on the vehicle front that I'm currently worried about is the lack of buggies or similar light transport. There doesn't appear to be a Harasser or something of the like that's lighter than a Sunderer and holds 2-4 people.

[Dir]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

how can you say we are getting all the old vehs?

and it isn't all good,all we have for ground vehs is a damn atv,a bus and a tank, that doesn't even come close to all the old vehs.

and there is only one new veh and it's aircraft(VS)

I am pretty sure SOE screwed the pooch with this veh policy,I don't give a shit what ppl think, less is not more nor does it qualify as the same,save the "feel good" platitudes for greeting cards

It's a pain many of us feel and won't ever admit to but don't worry the Sunderer will come with the option of weaker armour and floaty airbag thingies and a propeller that pops out of its ass so it can become the Planetside Navy. Also couldn't they remove the armour panels from the sides and top and then call it a buggy? Why not put floaty airbag thingies on all the vehicles? One less thing for the Devs to develop and it will make it so much easier on the server load and give them time to develop other areas of the game like figuring out a way to merge all the facilities. I know...if we put tank treads or wheels on the Galaxy we could merge the tank, sunderer, ams and galaxy! It will make it so much easier on the poor nanites and their identity crisis...plus save on hard drive space by replacing vehicle variety with little flak cannons, chain guns, stubby wings, extended barrels and paint jobs. I mean which would you rather tackle from a developer's point of view? the barrel of a gun that can be placed on just about anything or the entire chassis under it that requires 100x the number of man hours to complete?

Guys open up a copy of Jane's Pocket Book of Modern Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles....just for ground units alone it makes you salivate at the very thought of seeing these vehicle types developed into the Planetside game. It scares me to think that the game engine mechanics or net-code are possibly being developed around an equal or even lesser pool of vehicle types than the original game to solve some sort of technical limitation of the game's engine, net-code or bottom line. Don't tell me that wasn't the first thing that went through your mind when you first heard they were merging the Gal and AMS?

The fact that just about everyone polled is totally pissed off with the lack of animations because it's too expensive should at least clue you in that many of these "improvements" are not improvements at all and are a way to cut costs convincing us that it's better to simplify and ask for less...so that they can give you more? For free? And sooner? If animations come back and they probably won't ...but if they did...it would be so much easier to do the animations on only half the vehicle types and not the plethora of vehicle animations we saw in PS1. Those animations were the shit! Too bad that after the fact the animations if stuck in later would totally piss off the new generation who have never even seen animations like these in a FPS and simply wouldn't see the point. So why would a game developer voluntarily hire an animation company to do something that they know they can get away with leaving out?

In my mind the only job of an SOE developer is to remove doubt and that just hasn't happened outside of the fan-boy community. I mean there are people that actually want PS1 to remain live with a different business model as some sort of life boat in case PS2 fails. This is not the way to develop a game and win trust in a community. I dream of a day when a dev will prove me wrong and tell me that vehicle types will double in the coming years. Better yet give us the tools to develop our own vehicles for submission...I can't believe the number of questions being asked of the developers on how to get into the game development community at SOE. These people would do your laundry, clean your toilets and spend every free minute of their expensive education for absolutely nothing in return...just to take part. Build something to tap into them. Some have been modding vehicles for well known games for years and I'm willing to bet there are some that could run circles around you. Personally I never found any one vehicle disruptive in PS1 and there isn't a night I don't see every single vehicle being used in some very inventive ways...it makes it a truly enjoyable dynamic experience.

Dir

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

and it isn't all good,all we have for ground vehs is a damn atv,a bus and a tank, that doesn't even come close to all the old vehs.

There's a lightning also. What vehicle did you want that's missing? They said they'll be adding buggies. Unless you imagine they aren't going to add any more vehicles post-launch I don't understand your complaint.

[Azren]

Arent you people mistaking something here? Vehicle customisation and the low number of base vehicles are separate topics. We could have the great customisation with more role specific vehicles as well. For example you could chose from ten AV turrets for your tank, each with it's pros and cons and if you want something other than AV, you just roll that specific vehicle.

This vehicle molding in PS2 is nothing more than the result of time constraint and as such I dislike it.

[Graywolves]

I'd prefer more vehicle diversity on the battlefield and I think over time we will have this.

[SgtMAD]

Originally Posted by Sirisian

There's a lightning also. What vehicle did you want that's missing? They said they'll be adding buggies. Unless you imagine they aren't going to add any more vehicles post-launch I don't understand your complaint.

we are dealing with SOE here, their "5 year plan" could disappear tomorrow,I don't have to imagine SOE's track record and their promises of new content and real update plan,I have 10 years of experience to base my complaints on.

I am not one of the Kool Aid drinkers all over these forums,I was there at the beginning and remember how SOE abandoned PS once they figured out they weren't going to get the desired results that their projections promised.

[Dir]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

we are dealing with SOE here, their "5 year plan" could disappear tomorrow,I don't have to imagine SOE's track record and their promises of new content and real update plan,I have 10 years of experience to base my complaints on.

I am not one of the Kool Aid drinkers all over these forums,I was there at the beginning and remember how SOE abandoned PS once they figured out they weren't going to get the desired results that their projections promised.

You've gotta admit though...their last big content updates were totally amazing...they turned the Sundy into a bad ass with teeth, a cloaked drop ship that handles like a dream, amazing CE upgrades (cloaked shield generators, tank traps, EMP mines, anti air turrets and even cloaked turrets, wall turret upgrades) perfect hacking upgrades and then there's the Spectre type Galaxy Gunships...problem is that was back in 2007 and mostly everyone had already left due to Battle Frame Robotics shock. Seems everyday we get closer to PS2 more people pop in that haven't been back in years and don't even know what any of this stuff even is or how to use it so they really could care less about it existing in PS2.

I don't know what the internal politics were like at the time of the updates and why they seemed to get dragged out for years and I don't really care. Everything was in place to make changes on a monthly basis even a test server for new content. Chances are the same shot callers are still in their old jobs calling the same shots. All those things up there? Pretty much been eliminated probably never to return. The complexity and depth they added to the game over the years is quickly being replaced to accommodate the new ADD crowd. No more in the rear with the gear logistics roles, no more cat and mouse games with the AMS, no more trucking around nanite resources or transporting mods. If it doesn't include instant, “Bang bang your dead next victim”, it probably won't come back.

I secretly sip the kool aid but it's unlikely I'll ever draw my weapon in PS2. Still prefer deception and tom foolery to trying to compete with this blood thirsty shooter crowd...just hope there is still something for me to do when it finally comes out. It is pretty good Kool Aid....but SOE aren't going to be the only vendors on the street for long.

Dir

[Whalenator]

Originally Posted by Dir

You've gotta admit though...their last big content updates were totally amazing...they turned the Sundy into a bad ass with teeth, a cloaked drop ship that handles like a dream, amazing CE upgrades (cloaked shield generators, tank traps, EMP mines, anti air turrets and even cloaked turrets, wall turret upgrades) perfect hacking upgrades and then there's the Spectre type Galaxy Gunships...problem is that was back in 2007 and mostly everyone had already left due to Battle Frame Robotics shock. Seems everyday we get closer to PS2 more people pop in that haven't been back in years and don't even know what any of this stuff even is or how to use it so they really could care less about it existing in PS2.

I don't know what the internal politics were like at the time of the updates and why they seemed to get dragged out for years and I don't really care. Everything was in place to make changes on a monthly basis even a test server for new content. Chances are the same shot callers are still in their old jobs calling the same shots. All those things up there? Pretty much been eliminated probably never to return. The complexity and depth they added to the game over the years is quickly being replaced to accommodate the new ADD crowd. No more in the rear with the gear logistics roles, no more cat and mouse games with the AMS, no more trucking around nanite resources or transporting mods. If it doesn't include instant, “Bang bang your dead next victim”, it probably won't come back.

I secretly sip the kool aid but it's unlikely I'll ever draw my weapon in PS2. Still prefer deception and tom foolery to trying to compete with this blood thirsty shooter crowd...just hope there is still something for me to do when it finally comes out. It is pretty good Kool Aid....but SOE aren't going to be the only vendors on the street for long.

Dir

This sums up my opinion pretty nicely.
Too bad I saw this post like 30 minutes into my own drawl and realized I was writing a carbon-copy of this.

[Hoodlum]

I love being able to change out weapon systems on the new vechs and customize them but I can't wait for them to add buggies and hopefully even vans( deli's and ES for 3-5 man groups) Back into the game at a later date, part of that is because yes a lightning might do the same as a Skyguard ... it's just not as fun without my friends same for my Thundy.

[Aurmanite]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

how can you say we are getting all the old vehs?

and it isn't all good,all we have for ground vehs is a damn atv,a bus and a tank, that doesn't even come close to all the old vehs.

and there is only one new veh and it's aircraft(VS)

I am pretty sure SOE screwed the pooch with this veh policy,I don't give a shit what ppl think, less is not more nor does it qualify as the same,save the "feel good" platitudes for greeting cards

What an amazing open minded post.

Since buggies are confirmed for post launch, would you mind explaining to me what vehicles we will be missing in Planetside 2? Aside from the deliverer variants which have already been pointed out.

The only vehicle that does not have an equivalent in #2 is the harasser. Is it this omission that really draws your ire?