Brainstorming: VS MAX Special Abilities

[DaSwede]

VS Max = Burst out in uncontrolled dance and throw skittles all around

[Kran De Loy]

Originally Posted by ArmedZealot

I don't think we know what forgelight is capable of in the physics department...

I have to admit that with the new engine all kinds of things are still possible, but also it is a new engine and bugs are inevitable and all hell will break loose when they finally let in a few thousand people and tell them to find as many ways as they can to break the game.

but..

Originally Posted by ArmedZealot

The bolded part is the problem. Why should one empire alone have those "All kinds of unique possibilities" instead of what the other empire MAX's have?

Don't be dense, you know that TR has the footspikes to anchor in a spot that lets them shoot faster and with greater recoil control (read as accuracy) and NC have their shield bubbles (can they use them and move? Been a long time since I played and I forgot).

Both of these also have their own unique styles suited to their Faction. NC shielding letting them taking a heavier punishment allowing them to move into positions to support other infantry on the move or just act as comparatively squishy walking walls that they're buddies can use to shoot around. Since NC is also the the Burst Damage faction, VS and TR won't have as many options of dropping in one or two shots and dropping out of sight again rinse and repeat that would best dissuade a MAX from keeping a location.

TR once hunkered down in a spot tend to make things a tad more difficult to kick them out again since they don't have to worry about if they miss the first shot or five. NC and VS wouldn't be nearly as good at that as TR.

VS would be able to get into more places than the other two factions, but they do not have the NC's "I'm a wall. Your argument is invalid" mode or TR's "Make it bleed lead" mode.

Each one uniquely in their own way doing the same thing. Taking a specialized position and denying it to the enemy. Each one having different uses and different tactics needed to remove them.

[ArmedZealot]

Originally Posted by Kran De Loy

I have to admit that with the new engine all kinds of things are still possible, but also it is a new engine and bugs are inevitable and all hell will break loose when they finally let in a few thousand people and tell them to find as many ways as they can to break the game.

I think having jumpjets people would be more likely to find exploits, like the gen room stuff from PS1

Originally Posted by Kran De Loy

Don't be dense, you know that TR has the footspikes to anchor in a spot that lets them shoot faster and with greater recoil control (read as accuracy) and NC have their shield bubbles (can they use them and move? Been a long time since I played and I forgot).

I'd agree with you if this were PS1 because the base designs made the jets pretty situational. But from the GDC videos rooftop fighting is going to be a big part of taking a base now. Much more so then it was in PS1. So much so that the gave an entire class of troop jumpjets. The other empires max perks aren't nearly as useful as jumpjets would be for max's.

[Ragnafrak]

Since MAX's all kinda serve a support role and work to deny area to enemy infantry, rather than focusin' on givin' it back some sort of maneuverability advantage, why not give it a unique way of denying area?

Like shooting a gravity well or something that'd do an equal job of discouraging infantry to walk into it while being aesthetically unique.

Edit: Could go further- possibly some sort of point-singularity effect that could improve movement speed of friendlies, or slow down enemies in the vicinity of the well.

edit 2: If the ability is supposed to be helpful against not only infantry but vehicles as well, then maybe it's vicinity could be some sort of speed dampening field - sort of putting projectile weapons into "bullet time". It wouldn't absorb more damage like the NC shield, but it would make things easier to dodge. At the same time, it wouldn't affect VS weapons because 90% of the speed of light is still pretty flippin' fast.

Sci-fi prescident: The dueling shields in Dune. Fast things get slowed down. Slow things can go through (like running infantry). Light isn't affected.

[Kran De Loy]

Originally Posted by ArmedZealot

I think having jumpjets people would be more likely to find exploits, like the gen room stuff from PS1



I'd agree with you if this were PS1 because the base designs made the jets pretty situational. But from the GDC videos rooftop fighting is going to be a big part of taking a base now. Much more so then it was in PS1. So much so that the gave an entire class of troop jumpjets. The other empires max perks aren't nearly as useful as jumpjets would be for max's.

Hmm true. And redoing the maps is not an option in any way at all. Damn. Damn dam ndam.

[Kran De Loy]

Originally Posted by Ragnafrak

Since MAX's all kinda serve a support role and work to deny area to enemy infantry, rather than focusin' on givin' it back some sort of maneuverability advantage, why not give it a unique way of denying area?

Like shooting a gravity well or something that'd do an equal job of discouraging infantry to walk into it while being aesthetically unique.

Edit: Could go further- possibly some sort of point-singularity effect that could improve movement speed of friendlies, or slow down enemies in the vicinity of the well.

OOooo I like this.

[Atuday]

Was thinking about this last night. I came up with 2 ideas I thought would be worth posting.

1: Laser based anti missile system. This allows the max to take out those old tech missiles with superior vanu technology. This would drain the capacitor a little slower than the NC shield but would only work on missiles rather than on bullets and other forms of damage that the nc shield might stop.

2: Over Charge. This power is sort of a counter to the TR max overdrive and functions in much the same way. However rather than firing more the shots gain increased power. The logic is this. Weapons are firing energy. The capacitor is energy. Firing shots with capacitor power added would allow for more damage. Thinking a huge increase in power and a 1/8th power drain every shot.

[MonsterBone]

The VS maxs special ability should be as they die they lean over and hold their ankles for a spilit second before they do a face plant. That would be perfect.

[WiteBeam]

Originally Posted by MonsterBone

The VS maxs special ability should be as they die they lean over and hold their ankles for a spilit second before they do a face plant. That would be perfect.

I love this shit.

[BloodySoul]

Originally Posted by MonsterBone

The VS maxs special ability should be as they die they lean over and hold their ankles for a spilit second before they do a face plant. That would be perfect.

That would lead to so many troll pictures.......

[Grognard]

Originally Posted by MonsterBone

The VS maxs special ability should be as they die they lean over and hold their ankles for a spilit second before they do a face plant. That would be perfect.

Im VS, but I gotta admit this is halarious...
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I did not go through this whole thread, so I might mention something already posted... but all I can think of is...

1. Cloak while immobile... no moving, shooting, or abilities, while cloaked, but it can get the jump on you.

2. Nanite reassemble... fixes armor at a very slow pace. It needs to be very slow, but if out of action for a while, you can recover.

3. Mini-smoke canisters... other maxes cant use smoke I would assume, but this one can use it like vehicles. It kinda allows the MAX to "get where others cant" like the jets did, but just using obscurement rather than mobility.

4. Range extender... fires further, but walking speed is reduced. TR hits harder, NC can take more, VS can engage further away. Not necessarily a Sniper MAX, just further.

5. Self adjusting combat role... VS MAXes can change their combat role "in the field", by getting out of combat and going through a lengthy reassemble of the weapon functions on the arms, perhaps one at a time.

6. Double distance, or double speed... sprint on a VS MAX is faster, or longer than other MAXes.

7. Dragoon... VS MAXes can de-MAX (shed armor) and move off as a light assault, or cloaker (whatever was equipped before MAXing). Not sure if they want to allow any class, depending on lore, could just be a downsize to any though.

8. Sensors... thermal, darklight, audio amp (or whatever they decide) are built-in to suit. Or, some devices to this effect.

9. Chameleon... camoflage system built-in to suit, allowing templates based on urban, continent, terrain, for a camo suite. Possible problems with store overlap, so it needs to be an independant system, but very well done, or just not worth it.

10. TAG... Target aquisition gear, that if the beacon hits a target, can cause better targetting in some fashion. For instance missle homing, less degredation of vanu weapons at a distance, etc.

Thats it for me, sorry if I rehashed someones idea, didnt read whole thread.

[ringring]

It's a difficult one ....

I'd say jump jets (again) if they must but it could also be enhanced movement with a capacitor timer.

[Mnementh]

The idea I had for the VS max ability was something akin to the Sandvich, from TF2's Heavy class - the max becomes immobile for a bit and is able to regenerate its armor to some degree (with a cooldown). It's a proven concept, it fits with the Vanu theme of being high-tech... all it would need is some balancing, fiddling with cooldown, regen rate/amount, that sort of thing. He'll still be most effective with engineer support, but it would allow VS maxes some small amount of autonomy.

[Masahiko]

Enhanced movement or powered projectiles. Something that would basically use the tech we love so much to make them more efficient.

[Seagoon]

Well the only real answer is to give the VS a mobility based ability since tactical/strategic flexibility as well as firepower and defense abilitys are out of the question.

TR have firepower, NC have defence and flexible is the opposite of what a max is.

So, what sort of mobility is appropriate? Strategic mobility I presume is avalible to all maxes in the form of autorun, mobility that alows the max to get to places that no other max can seems to be taboo for some reason, so the last option is tactical mobility.

I think a reimagining of the jetpack would work here. Instead of a jetpack designed to gain height like in PS1, a jetpack that alows short/low but fast hops would be a good option, this would alow the VS to dodge attacks or to advance or retreat from an encounter to gain tactical advantage.

So how would this work?
simple: tap the activation button and you hop 5 meters in the direction your max was moving, the jump would be almost instantainous in its initiation and would be fast in flight, but would only get about 0.5m off the ground and when you land there would be a 0.5second delay before you can fire or move and on top of that another 0.5second delay before you can initiate another jump giving a good opponent time to react and adjust their fire.
A short hop like this would take about 1/4 of the energy bar alowing for four jumps before having to recharge.

A longer jump of 15m or so can be used by holding down the activation button, this would work in the same way as the shorter hops but would use the whole bar of energy. This is useful outside to dodge vehicle fire or to gain ground on an opponent.

These jumps would not stop you from taking falling dammage. The hops can also be combined with a standard jump (if maxes are able to) to gain another half meter of height (1m total) to alow it to use the ability to get over low cover such as the stacks of boxes in PS1.