Indirect Artillery Vehicle

[Timealude]

Originally Posted by ringring

I think artillery that would only fire on the battles between bases would not be viable because the movement is so fluid. All battles are in or adjacent to bases anyway.

So on this basis artillery could go in, but I think only because it wouldn't or couldn't be used with any effect.

The only way artillery (in my opinion) could be effective if it was able to fire from one outpost/base to another. But in that case because of base designs it would be too effective.


ps Sometimes I think I must be that one in a million player. All the things that PS vets say 'everybody hated' such as caves, third-person, flails or bfr's I either positively loved (caves) or didn't particularly mind (the rest).

Ya I didnt mind third person or Flails because they were effective at what they did. I will agree with the others day BFRs when they were first introduced were horrible. They were extremely overpowered in everyway. The only reason I didnt like the caves were because of how exposed the ziplines were.

I think we just need to give it a try first on the test server, if it doesnt work and proves to be too powerful they can always remove it.

[HiroshiChugi]

Originally Posted by Timealude

\I think we just need to give it a try first on the test server, if it doesnt work and proves to be too powerful they can always remove it.

THANK YOU! Finally someone said this other than myself!

[Chaff]

Originally Posted by Selerox

I'd also add:

6. Each piece must be team operated.
7. Each person in the team has to do their part in turn before the piece can fire.
8. Each operation must take a certain amount of time and must be interruptible (like overloading a generator). If a step is interrupted, it only affects that step, not the whole process.
9. Add a skill tree to allow for certing into a "Gunnery" skill to allow for these operations to be faster.

Something like:

Spotter > Gunner (aim) > Loader 1 > Loader 2 > Gunner (fire)

Artillery should be something that requires a team effort and a logistical consideration to use.

It must not by a vehicle that can be operated by a lone gunner (even with the addition of a spotter).

I'm feeling wobbly. ALL THIS TROUBLE, and yet earlier, I could swear OP said he was agreeable to watering down the artillery until it was roughly comparable to a MBT. If this is accurate summation, it seems a waste of manpower vs the simplicity of a MBT.

Teamwork is GREAT, but this many guys for what one person can do with a MBT ? I don't see it being used much - if at all.

Now, I realize, true indirect artillery could land (lob) shells into pockets a MBT may not be able to get to or shoot into ......

Then later, I heard .... keep the indirect fire artillery piece on the buff side, but update bases to mitigate the possible spammage/damage, ...... why build it if we're going to automatically build a counter to it ?

Actually, if this tended to limit its use more towards the open battlefield vs spamming bases, that's more favorable (IMHO).

Maybe Mobile Mortar Battery or Missle Pod (on a Lightning ?) piece is a way to get this guy his indirect artillery ? Tie this Lightning Mortar Battery to a "spotter" with a laze pointer (of sorts) ...... Artillery Lightning (requires Lockdown Mode ?) would be sitting duck to Air - unless ample AA support ..... then the Teamwork angle kicks in ..... which is great.

Perhaps up to 3 Laze Pointers could be pulled from each Lightning mounted Mortar/artillery Battery. Laze pointers would send a very visible beam while "painting" it's target for the Lightning Pilots Mortar Battery. Each Laze pointer has a 5 minute cool down. If all three laze pointers got taken out at the same time, the Mortar Battery would have no targeting assistance to help it know where to aim, or what to lock on to ..... actually, make it require at least 20 seconds of constant target painting from a Laze before the Artillery Battery can acquire a target. Without Laze-assisted target lockon, it can not be fired.

.

[Ghoest9]

Anything that makes the game less fun for the majority of players is a bad thing.

The devs know this.

Let this stupid thread die.

[Chaff]

Ghoest9, you only want artillery if it's mounted to a BFR. C'mon. Admit it.

[Canaris]

Originally Posted by Timealude

I think we just need to give it a try first on the test server, if it doesnt work and proves to be too powerful they can always remove it.

doubt it, if a design team spent the time required to model and code an artillery piece, do you honestly think it would make it all the way to test server just for someone to go, "nah" not a hope they'd either release it or nerf it and still release it.

[Staticelf]

Isnt that the point of the "test" server canaris? See if its viable and works in game? A lot of stuff looks good on paper (or in forums?) but when you place it into the battle it might not work at all...or work to well!

Otherwise it becomes the "we made it so now we are putting it here till we get time to put it in live..deal with it" server

And exhibit A: Max Flamethrowers being pulled out of test for more work would say it is a "test" server

[ringring]

Originally Posted by Staticelf

Isnt that the point of the test server canaris? See if its viable and works in game? A lot of stuff looks good on paper (or in forums?) but when you place it into the battle it might not work at all...or work to well!

No. The test server is the last place changes go before live.

By the time changes are on the test server the devs have to have a pretty good idea that whatever it is is going to work, or near enough. But I doubt there's any scope for pure speculation, if it goes onto test it will go into the game in some form (before being nerfed).

[Figment]

Originally Posted by Staticelf

So we shouldn't do it because it would be an annoyance to armor setting still?

Read it again.

It's a source of frustration.

Players do not want to play games that give them frustration.


See Flails in PS1, they were so omnipresent and powerful, there was a significant drop in population of around 10%, that recuperated after they were significantly nerfed, the newness wore off and players pretty much decided for themselves to not use it because it caused frustration, felt cheap since you were getting kills on things you didn't even see (and often was used to spam a single sight, so no skill was required and it was pretty boring to use to due to that).

See BFRs in PS1, they caused a drop of 80% due to having an even greater impact.




What I'm saying is, the need in game for it is pretty low, it likely doesn't contribute to the game in any siginficant positive way, probably quite the contrary, will very, very, very likely cause significant amounts of frustration to players that - make no mistake - to some degree will remove themselves from the game in protest and is probably pretty boring to use.

All of that makes for very little reason to implement it.



Imagine that someone set up an AMS after a drive of many minutes. Next thing he knows, it's being shelled by mortar fire and you can't really stop it. Those players will give up if that happens too often and frustrates their already hard task of staying alive.

In general, many FPS players have a hatred for area of effect weapons, particularly if this is indirect fire and even more if it can be spammed regularly. You may recall Thumper plasma spam. This came strongly out of the PS1->PS Next survey and the devs stated they wanted to avoid indirect fire as much as possible.



So can you imagine I just don't see the benefit of it? You think it sounds cool or nifty etc, but that doesn't mean it is actually good for the game or will be a feature loved by all players. There have been tons of people that have suggested things like huge epic size flying outfit cruiser to rain vehicles and infantry and death from above. One even suggested it "had to have enough hitpoints to sustain hours of continuous fire"... And he saw no problem with that and thought we were just nay-sayers for the sake of nay-saying.

In the end, some ideas just won't work in this game context. That goes especially for powerful stuff.