Tank-mounted AA and buggies in PS2

[Lunarchild]

I am personally still hoping that they allow 1 big and 1 utility gun, and it's up to the player to set-up which is used by the driver and which is used by the gunner.

The utility gun obviously is far inferior to the big gun, whichever you put on there. That way that if someone wants to make an AA tank, fine, but you'll likely not do very well against about anything else

Anyhow, the Battlefield balancing won't do so well in PlanetSide. In Battlefield the amount of vehicles is limited to the amount in one level. In PlanetSide the amount of vehicles limited to the amount of players on a battlefield. This means that while in Battlefield the designers could carefully set the ratio on tanks vs buggies. This is partly why buggies are much used in this game: there are a heck of a lot more of them then there are tanks. This is a relatively easy way to balance things. A way that PlanetSide won't have as much.

They have already said: Tanks will always be available to people who want to use them. Now this still means they could add a requirement for them in terms of training time, or how deep they are in the vehicle tree, but that's not nearly as strong. When a vehicle is unlocked, it will always be available (though there may be a lockout timer, which becomes negligible on a larger player-base).

One other thing: In battlefield buggies can hold at least 3 people. I think it would be interesting if they could hold up to 5: 1 driver, 1 gunner, 3 passengers who can shoot out of the car. You can upgrade to this level, and perhaps start out with just 1 passenger. This could definitely give some additional incentive to pull a buggy for small groups: the group transports would then be for 5+ people.

[NewSith]

OP is severely misjudging buggies. Even if there will be an AA tank, buggies will still fill its niche. I mean cmon, why people use enforcer even though for the same amount of certs they can get a vanguard?

[FIREk]

Originally Posted by NewSith

OP is severely misjudging buggies. Even if there will be an AA tank, buggies will still fill its niche. I mean cmon, why people use enforcer even though for the same amount of certs they can get a vanguard?

When I wrote this post, I assumed many things. That tanks will be very fragile (only slightly less tan in BFBC2) and that buggy durability would have to be scaled down proportionally. Also, the way PS2 gets a lot of stuff from BFBC2, I worried that buggies would be made from cardboard, just like in Battlefield. Lastly, since the buggies' only useful niche in PS1 was AA, and AA got included into tanks, I began suspecting that SOE never intended to introduce them into PS2.

Then came the idea of making buggies "glass cannons" - a concept that I had always liked - and I'm looking forward to, hopefully, seeing buggies as fragile, but fast and hard-hitting skirmishers.

I can see three reasons why someone would pick an Enforcer (aside from the obvious one - they got the cert to get the Skyguard, anyway):
1) fun,
2) to be different,
3) it may be somewhat easier to use than a tank, since the rockets fly straight? I dunno.

Aside from the Skyguard, buggies in PS1 were never really useful - they were just an extra, nothing more. It would be nice if they were truly useful and worthwhile in PS2, and it would make sense to make people wonder whether they should get a tank or a buggy, not just go with the superior tank.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by FIREk

I can see three reasons why someone would pick an Enforcer (aside from the obvious one - they got the cert to get the Skyguard, anyway)

A hard-hitting/high maneuverability AV buggy would be a serious threat to tanks that take extra damage from hits to the rear.

I've killed a few tanks in BF2142 that way. Sail past them and let the AV guy in the back seat one-shot-em in the ass. It's hard to pull off, but very satisfying when you do.

[FIREk]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

I've killed a few tanks in BF2142 that way. Sail past them and let the AV guy in the back seat one-shot-em in the ass. It's hard to pull off, but very satisfying when you do.

Sounds like just the thing to give me hard-ons every day...

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by FIREk

Sounds like just the thing to give me hard-ons every day...

Err... TMI.

[Chaff]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Buggies should not be considered any more 'disposable' than tanks. Each vehicle should be balanced on its own merits. They should be different than tanks, but not less capable. What a tank has in armor a buggy should have in avoidance.

Make them fun to drive, more difficult to survive in, but also more rewarding for those that have the skill.

In my perfect game they would all be hover vehicles, since I'm biased towards the thresher and the battlezone tanks. Empire theme could be maintained by having the VS have magic hover and TR/NC have thrusters.

I like this thread and tend to agree with most of the input here.

I liked the Redneck rattlebucket feel that Marauders gave. I'd rather keep buggies and lose ATVs if I had to choose between the two. And keep the Deli and its variants. Two full Deli variants with skilled drivers and gunners should have decent odds (30%-40%) of killing or at least repelling a BFT.