[Chainfall Original] Air Cruisers: Next

[Baneblade]

PlanetSide lacks a naval aspect, but the idea that the future armies will be using water based navies when they have the technology to hover indefinitely is slightly absurd. The obvious solution to that is to bring the naval aspect to the game in an air ship capacity. This also adds some major gameplay concerns. So my solution:

Outfit Air Cruisers as Outfit Bases and Outfit Dependent Assets intended to support the Empire on the Outfit level.

Air Cruisers are owned and operated by outfits using outfit points as the currency interface with the empire. Outfit points could be renamed to Prestige.

Air Cruisers must be the following:

Significant Assets
Strategic Assets
Vulnerable Assets
Permanent Assets (the cruiser never despawns unless destroyed or sold back to the empire at a loss)
Outfit Level Assets (no single player can get one in any reasonable amount of time)

Air Cruisers must not be the following:

Ground Farming Mechanism
Empire Spawn Point
One Man Killing Machine
Easily Replaced
Spammable (outfits can only own one at a time)

So how do we do this? First of all separate the ground game from the air game from the air cruiser game. Ground fights should not have a significant impact on what an air cruiser is doing and the air cruiser should not dominate the ground fights. The only interaction between the two is collateral (an air cruiser being destroyed can have negative impacts on anything below it) and having the air cruiser acting as an outfit spawn point. Similarly nothing based on the ground can really affect the air cruiser. The air game is a little different, other than a few small short range AA weapons the cruiser has no defenses against things like Reavers, but the Reavers don't have any significant ways of damaging the cruiser either.

The only real threat to a cruiser is enemy cruisers (friendlies too I spose). And the only thing the cruiser is a significant threat to is other cruisers. All of the weapons are designed and intended for cruiser on cruiser engagements.

Cruisers acting as outfit spawns will have an effect on the ground game, but no more than an AMS outside of an SOI. And the cruiser will be a giant target for enemy air cruisers wanting to cash in on the million(s) xp kill.

There is a lot of stuff and potential stats that need to be covered, but the basic idea is ready for discussion.

Addendum I: Air Cruisers would be altitude and attitude locked. They would have the aspects of water based naval ships except their 'sea level' would be a specific altitude range even if zero.

The idea here is to both force geography into play as well as disallow the air cruiser from 'landing' to bring its equatorial focused weaponry to bear on targets they weren't ever intended to engage. Gunships that wander into the air cruiser engagement plane are toast, but there is nothing wrong with that.

Addendum II: Crews would have a minimum compliment of 3 to 5 bridge crew other than gunners and support personnel.

Possible crew positions:

Commander (The Captain)
Helm (The Driver)
Tactical (The Gunner Coordinator and The 'Torpedo' Launcher)
Engineer (The Systems Manager, probably lies to The Captain about how long repairs will take)
Navigator (Assists the Driver) (Defunct)
Point Defense Gunner (The AA)
Secondary Weapons Gunner (The 'Phasers')
Damage Controller (Gluegun repairing systems)
Shock Trooper (Spawn, Rearm, Deploy, Die, Rinse, and Repeat Guy)
Infiltrator (Enemy Trying To Disable And/Or Hinder Target Cruiser Guy)

EDIT NOTE : Navigator is now a Command function.

Addendum III: Shield Management is critical to air cruiser survival. The ship's designated Chief Engineer can cert for Air Cruiser Abilities such as Shield Manipulation, Shield Reinforcement, and Shield Fortification.

Addendum IV: Crew Abilities can be certed by anyone, but can only be used by outfit members assigned to the appropriate crew position by the outfit leader or the ship's assigned Captain.

Potential Crew Abilities and Certifications:

6 Basic Cruiser Command : Allows the player to command a Frigate or Destroyer class Air Cruiser
3 -Intermediate Cruiser Command : Allows the player to command a Cruiser class Air Cruiser
3 --Advanced Cruiser Command : Allows the player to command a Battlecruiser class Air Cruiser

3 Basic Cruiser Engineer : Allows the player to act as an Air Cruiser's Engineer : Shield Manipulation Ability Unlocked
2 -Intermediate Cruiser Engineer : Shield Reinforcement Ability Unlocked
2 --Advanced Cruiser Engineer : Shield Fortification Ability Unlocked

3 Basic Cruiser Helmsman : Allows the player to act as an Air Cruiser's Helmsman : SuperCruise Ability Unlocked
2 -Intermediate Cruiser Helmsman : Overload Engines Ability Unlocked
2 --Advanced Cruiser Helmsman : Evasive Maneuvering Ability Unlocked

3 Basic Cruiser Tactical Officer : Allows the player to act as an Air Cruiser's Tactical Officer : Target Control Ability Unlocked
2 -Intermediate Cruiser Tactical Officer : Focus Fire Ability Unlocked
2 --Advanced Cruiser Tactical Officer : Overcharge Ability Unlocked

Addendum V: Crew Abilities are integral to a solid Air Cruiser's functionality, but they require commitment on the part of the crew members.

Engineer Abilities

Shield Manipulation : Engineer can direct normal shield recharge to one shield facing or spread it out equally among all six (Dorsal, Ventral, Port, Starboard, Bow, and Aft shield facings)
Shield Reinforcement : Engineer can burn reserve NTU to bring one shield facing to full strength (continually drains NTU and the other five shield facings while active)
Shield Fortification : Engineer can drop (as in no protection) three shield facings to bolster the other three to full strength. This also directs the recharge normally sent to the dropped facings to the bolstered facings.

Helmsman Abilities

SuperCruise : This ability allows the Helmsman to burn NTU fuel to bring the Air Cruiser to double its normal speed. 120 second charge up, shield recharge disabled, and no maneuvering while active.
Overload Engines : Essentially an Afterburner. It uses NTU to give the Air Cruiser a short burst of speed roughly 200% faster than normal. 20 seconds only, Engines must be repaired to do this again.
Evasive Maneuvering : This ability allows the Helmsman to increase the acceleration rate of the Air Cruiser by 100%. NTU cost when ship changes vector, can only be used for 60 seconds, and Engines need repair before being able to be reused.

Tactical Officer Abilities

Target Control : Allows the Tactical Officer to fire the Air Cruisers Primary Weapon Systems at another Air Cruiser. This ability does require NTU.
Focus Fire : Allows the TO to designate a specific target for the gunners to fire on. This ability is always on and has no cost or drawback.
Overcharge : Allows the TO to Overcharge the PWS for 3 cycles (each activation of Tactical Control is a cycle), increasing the cost of Target Control 1000% and increasing PWS damage by 250%. Weapon systems must be repaired to use this ability again.

Command Abilities

Frigate/Destroyer, Cruiser, and Battlecruiser hulls are all different classes of Air Cruiser. All Command abilities are native to each, which each hull having it's own special ability:

Frigate : Cloaking : Commander can cloak the Frigate. NTU consumed constantly while cloaked, shields are down when cloaked, and no abilities work while cloaked. Shields reactivate 20 seconds after decloaking, but weapons and abilities are available immediately. Spawn timer increased 50% while cloaked.

Destroyer : Pulse : Commander can emit an anti cloak pulse wave which consumes NTU and decloaks any cloaked Frigate (even friendly) within 2000 meters of the Destroyer. 300 second reuse timer.

Cruiser : Logistics : Commander can direct the Cruiser's native shield recharge at another Air Cruiser. Possible to help an enemy AC with this ability. Costs NTU and doubles cost of Engineer Abilities while active.

Battlecruiser : Collector : Passive ability that slowly regenerates NTU by using special collector cells. Can not keep up with demand of constantly used abilities, but can help during prolonged encounters.

Addendum VI: BEP and CEP are integral to PlanetSide character advancement. Air Cruiser Crews should be no exception. There are two new EP pools for Cruiser Crews: CBEP and CCEP.

CBEP is Cruiser Battle Experience Points, which advance the character in Cruiser Battle Ranks. CCEP is Cruiser Command Experience Points, which advance the character in Cruiser Command Ranks. CBR and CCR offer only aesthetic upgrades. They are a mark of experience only.

Crew members will get 50% bep for kills made by outfit members that have spawned at the cruiser and are on the same continent regardless of squad status. Kills made aboard the cruiser give 100% BEP regardless of squad status. The EP is split 40/60 between BEP and CBEP.

Crew members aboard the cruiser DO NOT gain BEP or CEP from base status changes regardless of squad status.

Crew members gain 50% of Air Cruiser kill BEP if aboard the Cruiser at the time of the kill and at least fifteen minutes prior to the kill. Crew members gain 100% only if they are actively manning a Crew Station (Command, Engineer, Helmsman, and TO) and are doing so for at least fifteen minutes before the kill.

The Commander of the Cruiser gets 50% of their BEP share converted into 10% CEP. This means a kill worth 1,000,000 BEP will result in 500,000 BEP and 100,000 CEP for the Commander. Commander CEP is split 20/80 between CEP and CCEP (20,000/80,000).

Addendum VII: Air Cruiser Hull Classifications

Frigate: In General a Frigate in the context of PSN:AC will be simply a generally affordable and cost effective, yet versatile AC for smaller outfits who may never actually have more than 8-10 people online at any time of the day.

Special: Cloak Field (works like AMS cloak)
Decks: Two
Spawn Tubes: One
Equipment Terminals: One
Lockers: None
Drop Tubes: One (DTs have a cooldown of 15 seconds and look like a Spawn Tube, you run in and drop once the cd is ready)
Hangar: None
Aircraft Service Pads: Two (one on port and one on starboard side of the AC)
Command Crew: Two (Command/Helm ; Engineer/Tactical)
Heavy (AS*) Weapons: Two
Medium (AV) Weapon Turrets: Two
Light (AA) Weapon Turrets: Two
NTU Silo: One
Minimum Crew: Six
Optimal Crew: Eight

*AntiShip - Not Gunner controlled; Tactical controls them

Destroyer: These formidable airships are primarily intended for cooperative operations with other ACs, but they are more than capable of solo operations as well.

Special: Anti Cloak Pulse Wave
Decks: Three
Spawn Tubes: Two
Equipment Terminals: Two
Lockers: Yes
Drop Tubes: Two
Hangar: None
Aircraft Service Pads: Four
Command Crew: Three (Command/Helm, Engineer, Tactical)
Heavy (AS) Weapons: Two
Medium (AV) Weapon Turrets: Three
Light (AA) Weapon Turrets: Three
NTU Silo: Two
Minimum Crew: Nine
Optimal Crew: Twelve

Cruiser: The veritable standard fare of the AC world, the Cruiser is easily the most versatile AC for the cost with respectable firepower, utility, and defensive capabilities.

Special: Logistics Shield Boost
Decks: Four
Spawn Tubes: Three
Equipment Terminals: Three
Lockers: Yes
Drop Tubes: Three
Hangar: Small (Star Destroyer Style, hangar door is underneath and the Deck is large enough for a Galaxy to comfortably land and load)
Aircraft Service Pads: None (Hangar replaces them for repair/rearm)
Command Crew: Four (Command, Helm, Engineer, Tactical)
Heavy (AS) Weapons: Three
Medium (AV) Weapon Turrets: Four
Light (AA) Weapon Turrets: Four
NTU Silo: Four
Minimum Crew: Twelve
Optimal Crew: Sixteen

Battlecruiser: The penultimate Air Cruiser, dwarfing all of the rest in every way possible except speed and maneuverability. This monster is not at all cost effective, any outfit investing in one will eventually run out of points to maintain it if it does not score any kills on other ACs.

Special: NTU Collectors (takes roughly an hour to fill a silo)
Decks: Five
Spawn Tubes: Six (Two separate rooms)
Equipment Terminals: Six (^)
Lockers: Yes
Drop Tubes: Six
Hangar: Large (Throughdeck style, entrance door is aft of the hangar, launch door is fore of the hangar)
Aircraft Service Pads: None
Command Crew: Four (Command, Helm, Engineer, Tactical)
Heavy (AS*) Weapons: Four
Medium (AV) Weapon Turrets: Six
Light (AA) Weapon Turrets: Six
NTU Silos: Six
Minimum Crew: Sixteen
Optimal Crew: Twenty

Addendum VIII: Weapons

Heavy: Forward Facing AntiShip Weapons

NC: Titan Torpedo - 50000 Damage per unit/1 unit per clip/120 second reload/3000 m range/300 m/s speed
TR: Shiva AutoCannon - 1000 Damage per unit/60 units per clip at 0.25 RoF/120 second reload/1500 m range/1500 m/s speed
VS: Siege Beam - 45 Damage per unit/1000 units per clip at 0.01 RoF(continuous laser)/120 second reload/2000 m range/10000 m/s speed

Medium: Gunner Turrets with limited arcs (all have at least 180 degrees of horizontal arc), primarily for anti flanker defense.

NC: Coil Pulse Cannon - 2500 Damage per unit/10 units per clip at 2.00 RoF/10 second reload/1500 m range/1500 m/s speed
TR: Pharaoh AutoCannon - 400 Damage per unit/50 units per clip at 0.10 RoF/10 second reload/1000 m range/1500 m/s speed
VS: Ancient Defender - 15 Damage per unit/1000 units per clip at 0.01 RoF/10 second reload/1250 m range/10000 m/s speed

Light: AA weapons designed to take out enemy aircraft trying to infiltrate and or directly attack the AC.

NC/TR/VS: Flak Weapons, in the style of the Skyguard. These have excellent coverage, but relatively small down angle arcs.

[Kirotan]

It's basically a Titan that we can move around and play with from BF2142. It's a good idea if implemented properly. It definitely cannot be a farming machine like you said.

Btw what's up with "Chainfall original" in your post? Did you secure the movie rights already!? We haven't seen the script or talked to the investors yet! If this gets out before we're ready we are sunk before filming starts! EVERYBODY PANIC!

[CutterJohn]

So an indestructible AMS in the sky raining down troops and MAXs on top of a base, that the other team is powerless to destroy unless they bring their own outfit cruiser.

Its that immune bit that bugs me. I don't care if outfits have some toy, but its gotta be vulnerable to the enemy.

For example, make normal weapons damage it fine, but it has enough hitpoints to spend half an hour in the field or so before the damage becomes critical. Then it zooms back to base for several hours to repair. other cruisers could fight over these.

But I'd just prefer it to be a capturable base that can be moved around.

[Rbstr]

I fucking love airships. They just scream adventure.

But I don't care for this idea. Seems like it just creates a parallel fight with no bearing on anything else. Unless the scale of the world is much larger I don't see much point to that kind of thing.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Kirotan

It's basically a Titan that we can move around and play with from BF2142. It's a good idea if implemented properly. It definitely cannot be a farming machine like you said.

Indeed, the idea is to add naval and strategic combat without adversely affecting the ground game.

Btw what's up with "Chainfall original" in your post? Did you secure the movie rights already!? We haven't seen the script or talked to the investors yet! If this gets out before we're ready we are sunk before filming starts! EVERYBODY PANIC!

Chainfall is my name on the OF and I've had this idea in one form or another for 7 and a half years.

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

So an indestructible AMS in the sky raining down troops and MAXs on top of a base, that the other team is powerless to destroy unless they bring their own outfit cruiser.

Assuming that is even possible, it could happen. But I often add in a Deployment clause to the idea:

The airship has to enter a deployed mode for troops to deploy to the ground. This would force airships to be outside of an SOI to deploy, alleviating the concerns about invincible AMSes raining down ScatterMAXes.

Its that immune bit that bugs me. I don't care if outfits have some toy, but its gotta be vulnerable to the enemy.

If the airship has to worry about what is happening on the ground, the airship in turn MUST be able to directly participate in the ground game. I believe that is a bad idea and can only lead to the BFR Effect. Just like a Carrier in the Gulf is not going to really impact the day to day combat of Kabul, these airships should not have significant impact on the theatre of war on the ground. Can they augment one side's front? Sure. But only for the outfit that owns it, the rest of the empire is still spawning in AMSes.

For example, make normal weapons damage it fine, but it has enough hitpoints to spend half an hour in the field or so before the damage becomes critical. Then it zooms back to base for several hours to repair. other cruisers could fight over these.

There is no 'zooming', under full steam a surging Rexo can keep pace with an airship (exaggeration, but they wont be fast). If ground effects can force an airship to leave a theatre of engagement in a mere half hour, it will be incredibly easy for them to be killed with Mags or anything else in significant numbers. But the airship MUST be able to engage them in turn. So no go on any of that.

But I'd just prefer it to be a capturable base that can be moved around.

That is possible, but it is more fun if they are important and not just a distraction.

Originally Posted by Rbstr

I fucking love airships. They just scream adventure.

Amen brosef.

But I don't care for this idea. Seems like it just creates a parallel fight with no bearing on anything else. Unless the scale of the world is much larger I don't see much point to that kind of thing.

So why be against it? It doesn't hurt you to support it and it would add a lot of fun to a significant portion of the potential playebase.

[Lonehunter]

I'm thinking the closest thing to naval warfare we need is just big vehicles. I was piloting a Gunship other night and took on another one. I tried ramming it since we had max shields and armor and hadn't see any of their shields flicker. But I ended up cutting one of their corner turns and got next to them so the ground pounders could even lay into them. I had never played any large ship to ship combat like that before.
It was pretty damn awesome.

[DviddLeff]

I'll post my concept designs for them from the upgrade project when I finish work, but does anyone have the concept art slickcoder made years ago?

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Lonehunter187

I'm thinking the closest thing to naval warfare we need is just big vehicles. I was piloting a Gunship other night and took on another one. I tried ramming it since we had max shields and armor and hadn't see any of their shields flicker. But I ended up cutting one of their corner turns and got next to them so the ground pounders could even lay into them. I had never played any large ship to ship combat like that before.
It was pretty damn awesome.

Yes, that is awesome, but Gunships added a very unbalanced aspect of the game when they were introduced forcing the ground game to adapt to them and further unbalancing the air to ground game.

These would largely be unaffected by what happens on the ground, except in a few scenarios dealing with elevation.

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

So why be against it? It doesn't hurt you to support it and it would add a lot of fun to a significant portion of the potential playebase.

I should amend that. A parallel fight that does nothing but drain valuable resources from the fights that matter on the ground and in the air.

I see one of two things happening:
It's so cheap on outfit points that everyone has one and it completely loses any cool factor.
It's so expensive you have to be part of a monster outfit. Then it just becomes an sort of invincible spawn point that does little but run away from other cruisers so they don't get lost.

I guess my primary thing is that, if the scaling of the world remains the same, there's none of the stuff that makes Airships cool. It's something that needs a ginormous world with bleh terrestrial travel and no practical long distance jet aircraft for it to function properly IMO. The skies have to be big enough that the things aren't everywhere.

[DviddLeff]

Here is my take on the concept (can be found in my New Vehicles page, at the bottom).

They would be used as respawn points, and would have many weapon systems which the users can tailor to their needs. Say for example the user wants to sit back and act as a safe base behind friendly lines then they could equip it with artillery or shields, while an air base commander might want to equip mainly AA weaponry and ensure air dominance during an offensive.

They would have rooms and corridors inside, including vital systems that the enemy can knock out such as generators, control console, etc. The enemy can also capture and commandeer super heavy vehicles, if they can kill the crew and get past the defences to capture the control console. However, they must capture it quickly, otherwise the crew can set off a self destruct timer from the vehicles main console. The control console can also be used by platoon commanders to direct troops, just like base CCs and CAMSs detailed in the Command Overhaul.





They could also simply be destroyed either by pouring enough fire into it from outside, or sending troops inside to destroy the generators and rendering the vehicle inactive (destroying the generator will cause it to crash and unless it is hovering low it will be destroyed on impact). If the vehicle survives the impact damage it could be used as a base still, but until both generators are back on line it would not be able to fly again.

The vehicle would also crash if it ran out of NTUs, and would have to be filled up periodically, either by travelling to a warp gate or by the players bringing NTUs in another manner (see NTU Overhaul).

These would be a large investment in outfit credits (say 10,000 credits), and gaining one would not be a nightly occurrence for even large outfits, it might take days of fighting to afford one (see Outfit Overhaul for details on outfit credits). However, they can be parked and locked up, acting as a stationary base for the faction to defend. These would be purchased from a factions Sanctuary, through a new, extremely large vehicle pad.

Outfit Cruiser (~11 Players)

• Air Vehicle bay (with tech plant benefit)
• Spawn Point
• 2x Generators
• Equipment Terminals
• Command Console
• 6 Medium Hard points
• 4 Large Hard points
• Landing bay
• Matrix Panel
• Hot Drop Tubes

(See the Vehicle Hard Point System for hard point options)

In the images above the cruiser has been outfitted by its VS owners with 4 Heavy Rail Beams in its Heavy Hard Points to strike ground armour and 6 20mm Recoilless Cannons for AA defence.

[brinkdadrink]

I think giant air ships would be great but so were the thought of giant robots. If implemented right could change the tides of war but still be balanced.

My thoughts to add would be
- 2 man crew just to move it. It can hover in place without anyone but needs atleast 2 guys to actually move (one pilot and one spotter i guess at specific stations)
- put a timer on it. Dont just make it a lot of outfit points but also make it so you can only get 1 per month or 2 months. If that was the case then you can have them be the beast of the sky because if you lose it you lose it for a long time.
- I like the look dvidd
- Add a giant air cannon to bases so if you want to park overtop of a base without dieing quickly, you need to take that out first (make it slow fire, long range, only shoot upwards, no splash damage so hard to hit small aircraft such as mos and reaver)
- Make mandatory for all large hard ports to be the same. So if you choose to come in against ground then all the guns are ground so there is a weakness but will still take a lot to kill.

Again think would be a great idea but needs to be perfected before throwing it in like the BFR's

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

I should amend that. A parallel fight that does nothing but drain valuable resources from the fights that matter on the ground and in the air.

I wouldn't say it does nothing to the ground fight, just not directly. It could act as an air base in a certain configuration, but have less weapons to defend itself, that sort of thing. Or it could have an adverse effect on enemies within its own SOI.

It's so cheap on outfit points that everyone has one and it completely loses any cool factor.

That would be a little annoying, sure.

It's so expensive you have to be part of a monster outfit. Then it just becomes an sort of invincible spawn point that does little but run away from other cruisers so they don't get lost.

And that is also a fair concern. One variation of the idea called for more than one class of air cruiser, such as Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, and Battlecruiser. That would allow smaller outfits to more easily obtain smaller air cruisers, but keep the biggest ones for the more heavy investors.

Larger Air Cruisers could have longer universal timers, such as 14 days per hull class:

Frigate starts a 14 day timer when it blows up
Destroyer starts a 28 day timer
Cruiser starts a 42 day timer
Battlecruiser starts a 56 day timer

And the timers being universal would be for all air cruisers. So upclassing would be a serious consideration and make you a much more interesting target.

I guess my primary thing is that, if the scaling of the world remains the same, there's none of the stuff that makes Airships cool. It's something that needs a ginormous world with bleh terrestrial travel and no practical long distance jet aircraft for it to function properly IMO. The skies have to be big enough that the things aren't everywhere.

I also think PSN's world should be bigger, and contiguous. Even without ACs being implemented.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by brinkdadrink

I think giant air ships would be great but so were the thought of giant robots. If implemented right could change the tides of war but still be balanced.

The obvious problem with giant robots was that they were in the ground game, airships wouldn't necessarily be in the ground game.

My thoughts to add would be
- 2 man crew just to move it. It can hover in place without anyone but needs atleast 2 guys to actually move (one pilot and one spotter i guess at specific stations)

I haven't posted it up yet, but I had bridge crew assignments set up to take care of keeping it from being too easy to control. Commander to unlock the rest of the bridge, Helmsman to Steer, Engineer to manage damage control and fine tune energy output, Tactical to coordinate gunnery fire and to control the Heavy weapons (lock on torpedo style antiship weapons), and the rest of the crew would be gunning, or doing repairs, or even just hanging out in the observation lounge overlooking the ground battle.

- put a timer on it. Dont just make it a lot of outfit points but also make it so you can only get 1 per month or 2 months. If that was the case then you can have them be the beast of the sky because if you lose it you lose it for a long time.

Absolutely, the only way to avoid the timer would be to voluntarily return your current airship to the empire for an upgrade.

- Add a giant air cannon to bases so if you want to park overtop of a base without dieing quickly, you need to take that out first (make it slow fire, long range, only shoot upwards, no splash damage so hard to hit small aircraft such as mos and reaver)

I have a better idea than starting a balance war between air cruisers and the ground game. Allow infiltration, but only from actual infiltrators. Not just mossie hotdroppers. Only a cloaked Phantasm would get through the defense shield (assuming there is one). Mere hotdroppers would just be vaporized by the shield.

- Make mandatory for all large hard ports to be the same. So if you choose to come in against ground then all the guns are ground so there is a weakness but will still take a lot to kill.

None of the weapons are intended to engage a ground target.

Again think would be a great idea but needs to be perfected before throwing it in like the BFR's

Absolutely, and I will be adding more Addendums as the polish gets applied.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

Here is my take on the concept (can be found in my New Vehicles page, at the bottom).

They would be used as respawn points, and would have many weapon systems which the users can tailor to their needs. Say for example the user wants to sit back and act as a safe base behind friendly lines then they could equip it with artillery or shields, while an air base commander might want to equip mainly AA weaponry and ensure air dominance during an offensive.

They would have rooms and corridors inside, including vital systems that the enemy can knock out such as generators, control console, etc. The enemy can also capture and commandeer super heavy vehicles, if they can kill the crew and get past the defences to capture the control console. However, they must capture it quickly, otherwise the crew can set off a self destruct timer from the vehicles main console. The control console can also be used by platoon commanders to direct troops, just like base CCs and CAMSs detailed in the Command Overhaul.





They could also simply be destroyed either by pouring enough fire into it from outside, or sending troops inside to destroy the generators and rendering the vehicle inactive (destroying the generator will cause it to crash and unless it is hovering low it will be destroyed on impact). If the vehicle survives the impact damage it could be used as a base still, but until both generators are back on line it would not be able to fly again.

The vehicle would also crash if it ran out of NTUs, and would have to be filled up periodically, either by travelling to a warp gate or by the players bringing NTUs in another manner (see NTU Overhaul).

These would be a large investment in outfit credits (say 10,000 credits), and gaining one would not be a nightly occurrence for even large outfits, it might take days of fighting to afford one (see Outfit Overhaul for details on outfit credits). However, they can be parked and locked up, acting as a stationary base for the faction to defend. These would be purchased from a factions Sanctuary, through a new, extremely large vehicle pad.

Outfit Cruiser (~11 Players)

• Air Vehicle bay (with tech plant benefit)
• Spawn Point
• 2x Generators
• Equipment Terminals
• Command Console
• 6 Medium Hard points
• 4 Large Hard points
• Landing bay
• Matrix Panel
• Hot Drop Tubes

(See the Vehicle Hard Point System for hard point options)

In the images above the cruiser has been outfitted by its VS owners with 4 Heavy Rail Beams in its Heavy Hard Points to strike ground armour and 6 20mm Recoilless Cannons for AA defence.

That looks more like the Forward Command Base idea I had to replace AMSes.

This is more the Air Cruiser speed:

(Not necessarily to scale)

[Tikuto]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

(Not necessarily to scale)

http://donotargue.com/wp-content/upl...eespace2_1.jpg

Oooo. That hit the spot.