Pod launcher vehicle to replace drop pods

[Sirisian]

Posted on the official forums also, but I don't really check those other than to make sure the devs might see something. (This has been suggested before by others).

Problems with Squad Beacon and Drop Pods
I've been partly exploiting how easy it is to use drop pods to continuously land into the enemy base and throw down proximity mines and grenades for easy kills. It hit me though that this has no real counter. Sure AA can shoot the pods out of the air, but that's never happened to me. Also with drop pods there's no cost to doing it even though it gives one a huge advantage by surprising the enemy.

Also the most important part that has been mentioned in dozens of threads is that the way they are used is in a wave fashion. Very often after a base is captured everyone opens the map and deploys to the next battle swarming the air with drop pods and infantry making bases indefensible for the most part because there's no counter as mentioned.

Infantry Launcher APC
What I'm suggesting is to redesign the squad beacon and the drop pod to an APC launcher fairly identical to the BF2142 APC seen in this video. You wouldn't be able to spawn at it like a Sunderer; however it would have a number of launchers that automatically reconstruct new launchers when they're fired. Users would simply run up to the vehicle and press their interact key on a console which would immediately place them in a capsule and launch them to the flight ceiling. During this time they would be given a first person view to control the capsule as it launches up in an arc. (They're upside down when it launches I guess). The range would need to be balanced. (Probably a cert among different sidegrades discussed later).

The capsules would be very light, not like the current drop pods, and would be destroyed by a decent amount of AA or lock-on rocket launcher. They would also do little or no damage to vehicles or aircraft unless they hit while going upwards. The idea is the capsule breaks open and deconstructs right as it gets near a hard object giving the player a galaxy like drop the last 10 meters.

What this allows
The biggest thing is it means bases must be assaulted from the outside first. This isn't really a buff to attackers or defenders. With this you could easily take some mines as an engineer within an Amp Station, run out to the courtyard where one of these is setup, and arc right into an armor column along with HA units landing up on a hill.

For attackers this means they'd be fighting the crown in a totally different way. Instead of charging up the mountain you might have a Launcher APC on the bridge from the VS side and a Sunderer set up next to it.

This interaction with two vehicles allows interesting teamwork among squads. I still think the Galaxy should be used for dropping squads of people. This idea of using a squad beacon everytime is really killing the PS1 moments we had with hot drops of galaxies.

Imagine instead of using jump pads to get into a biolab you instead set up a Launcher APC to help your faction get up to the pad. This would totally change how factions fight in certain bases.

What this takes away
You can't instantly drop face first into the enemy from space. There has to be a logistical vehicle placed by your faction to allow you to do that.

Sidegrades
Tons of sidegrades would be available for fighting. One might be further range while giving vertical height. Imagine setting up at TA alloys and arcing pods into the side. The other one might be stronger pods while getting a slower reconstruction time per used pod.

Lot of variables here with the design:
Range of the pod
Altitude of the pod
Reconstruction time
Pod strength

Not to mention possible defensive weapons similar to a Sunderer.

The last thing would be experience like 3 xp per pod or something depending on how fast they reconstruct to give people an incentive to set them up.

Any thoughts or concerns? I tried to be my own devil's advocate, so I realize this might cause the developers to remove jump pads or redesign bases causing development issues, but I think they're worth it to have another useful team oriented vehicle in the game.

[Twasta]

I have taken the liberty of illustrating how the trajectory of the pods should go:

Click

The entire idea is a good one. The APC should move just about as fast as a sunderer and be able to take slightly less fire. What I am worried about is the infinite pods thing. Imho it should require rearming. That way players would have to consider when and how many people to launch. It would also make an ammo sundy necessary as support (which would also grant the launcher APC AA and AT cover) and would require teamplay to get working properly.
Also: Would it have a coaxial or free moving launcher?

[Rothnang]

I think there are plenty of options for troop transport.

I do agree that drop pods are too ubiquitous though, since they can bypass any kind of defensive measure and take you places that even a galaxy drop would be hard pressed to pull off, like on the very top of an Amp Station, they tend to kind of smudge the front lines a lot.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Twasta

Also: Would it have a coaxial or free moving launcher?

Odd, I thought I put the video link in when I edited the posted a while back. I guess I forgot to hit submit.

Here's a picture:

[VR Draco]

Hmmm, I know this idea from somewhere....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Xz47SzDS4
(0:45)

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by VR Draco

Hmmm, I know this idea from somewhere.

Yeah I linked that video already and mentioned BF 2142. There's a lot of threads on the official forum with wishlists of ideas from BF 2142, but the APC they had really stood out to me as something that would add a lot to this game.

[HiroshiChugi]

I flipping love this idea!

[VoidStar]

BF2142 has this.


They also had Walkers (AKA BFRs) and Titans (Flying Carriers)

[camycamera]

bf2142 <3

[Brogan]

These are some pro drawings.