Gameplay: NS Vulture Dive Bomber

[Sirisian]

I wrote about this 7 months ago, but since the idea forum is getting more attention I'd thought I'd bring up a concept for the Vulture bomber. Basically a design for a fun bomber where everyone has something to do at all times promoting effective teamwork from one vehicle.

Main concepts:

• Two person crew. Driver and Tailgunner.
• Driver drops bombs
• Tailgunner can switch between tailgun and player guided AV/AA rockets
• Tailgunner uses flak by default. Can sidegrade to chaingun.
• Lands on its wing engines
• 100% velocity inherited bombs can be ejected from any angle allowing the aircraft to throw the bombers if the driver wants to
• driver or tailgunner controls flares if equipped

I've shown a similar image before when I edited the Liberator to look like a dive bomber. So this is one with a neutral color pattern:

Definitely not what the final one would look like, but it captures some of the key features I'd like which are low arching wings to land on and a 2 person system with one in the cockpit and one in the tailgun capsule slimming down from the Liberator's design.

Also I'm a huge fan of bombing, so having a specialized vehicle for it rather than just throwing bombs in as a side-grade to the one person aircraft would be preferred. The extra armor and slower velocity would justify having two people and making it a unique aircraft that's easily identifiable as a bomber. That is if someone saw it they would know "oh man start moving it's looking for slow targets!" That is if it isn't just dropping out of the sky from ceiling height dropping a barrage on a stationary target.

[Malorn]

I think a dive bomber could just as easily be created by using a smaller and faster ES vehicle equipped with special weaponry.

Tailgunner is unnecessary. Speed & maneuverability are the important parts of a dive bomber, and the ES aircraft have those.

Rather see this as a weapon upgrade option for the ES aircraft.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Rather see this as a weapon upgrade option for the ES aircraft.

Yeah that's an option the developers mentioned before. Not totally against the idea, but I'm worried if they went that direction we'd see stuff like ES bombs. Would rather have a distinct vehicle where you know it's a bomber. It does mean less assets though if they can turn the ES fighters into every possible aircraft through customization. It's been brought up before that this could cause confusion (as it might with tanks) when you can't tell what a vehicle is capable of by looking at it.

One of the bigger things though is I liked the teamwork in Planetside 1 when having a tailgunner and losing that would be a deal-breaker for me as a bomber. I don't think you'd need that much speed. I used the original vulture for a long time and what it lacked in speed it made up for in punch. That is its lower speed and maneuverability meant you needed to plan and line up a kill prior. Killing things like an AMS you marked on the map or parked tank for instance.

[Warborn]

Between the liberator and fighters I really don't feel as though there is a place for something like this in the game. If they simply added dive bombs to the liberator gunner spot you'd get all the functionality without needing an entirely new vehicle to be designed. But even then, the question of whether dive bombing in a world of big liberator cannons and fighters with their rockets even has a place.

[PlaceboCyanide]

This does seem more like a side-grade vehicle than a stand-alone -- and I love the idea of side-grade vehicle unlocks, however, I think its more beneficial to focus on that stuff post-release. This game will be free to play, meaning that their money from this game will be made through the updates they give- just the same as League of Legends. I imagine we'll see Weapon/Unit/Vehicle side-grades and skins coming out on a monthly basis just like League of Legends releases a new champion every other week.

[KhanWight]

BUMP

!

[Kriegson]

Bumping an old thread is known as necroing, which is frowned upon =/

That being said though, I haven't seen this concept, and I do like the idea somewhat. It fills a niche between fighters and bombers/gunships as a figher/bomber.

I do think a tailgunner is necessary, it should be a bit sturdier than the reaver with less maneuverability (save for the upwards climb after a dive. Maybe retro-rockets to help with ascent, but not turning?) and generally speaking should be used to dive from high altitude on priority targets.

[berzerkerking]

Originally Posted by Kriegson

Bumping an old thread is known as necroing, which is frowned upon =/

That being said though, I haven't seen this concept, and I do like the idea somewhat. It fills a niche between fighters and bombers/gunships as a figher/bomber.

I do think a tailgunner is necessary, it should be a bit sturdier than the reaver with less maneuverability (save for the upwards climb after a dive. Maybe retro-rockets to help with ascent, but not turning?) and generally speaking should be used to dive from high altitude on priority targets.

See the outfit cruiser thread at the top. That was me. I've bumped it over 20 times in the past two months. Keeping a thread alive to garner the developers attention is not a crime. I'm proud to be a necromancer.

[Sirisian]

If someone is going to bump this let me at least update it with a more workable solution:

The Vulture would be a variant of the Liberator. It removes the mortar cannon and seat and the front gun of the Liberator. This was discussed in previous threads as a much saner solution without having to implement a new vehicle. It keeps the pilot and tail gunner and everything in the original thread still holds true for the most part.

[Baneblade]

I want to see a bomber that drops the PS2 equivalnet of 2000 pounders (the bombs not the TR MAX). Maybe can only carry two per run. Instant death on whatever it hits.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I want to see a bomber that drops the PS2 equivalnet of 2000 pounders (the bombs not the TR MAX). Maybe can only carry two per run. Instant death on whatever it hits.

I'd rather steer away from one-hit things in the game honestly. Especially since this design is more of a dive bomber. That is it could still "one-hit" by just diving on a target and releasing a burst of bombs, but would require precision aiming. Not something that could be attributed to luck.

(One of the reasons I'm not a fan of large AOE for the bombs).

[Warborn]

Getting shot by a liberator will probably be instant death. Getting headshot will be instant death. Tanks will be instant-death I'm sure. The game will have plenty of instant death in it. I think two bombs that are instant death would be pretty pointless and not fun compared to actually spending your time fighting rather than flying between rearm points, but I don't think instant death should be seen as at all problematic for Planetside 2.

[Sirisian]

If we can get bombs to act like physical objects which can be destroyed by AA and such I'd be less hesitant for the idea of large damage.

If I'm walking and get hit by a bomb without realizing it as an infantry it's going suck. If I hear an audible whine of a bomb as it's coming down and can react to it I'm less inclined to think it's a cheap tactic. (This has been covered in the artillery threads to death).

This is one of the big reasons I want velocity inheriting bombs such that dropping them causes a natural acceleration. At that point (with a sane minimum drop height) you can allow players to lock onto them or shoot at them if they want. If you dive bomb the velocity inheritance will essentially throw the bombs into the targets making a huge difference between high altitude bombing and dive bombing.

Not sure if you guys saw the recent Battleship movie? That kind of tactical teamwork of player countermeasures against vehicles is something I really want in the game.