HARTs, Should it stay or should it go?

Canaris · 2011-05-11, 09:16 AM

Well with the supposed removal of the Sanc's to speed up getting into combat I wonder if they are scrapping the HART system or do you think they are going to redevelope it.

If they were going to keep the system and no longer have Sanc's which to access it from, the simple solution could be deconstruct yourself in a spawn tube and reconstruct yourself on the "orbital base", instant use of the HART.

What do you think, has the HART had it's time and should it go the way of the original Vanu or some other idea?

Logit · 2011-05-11, 09:33 AM

I think the Hart was a good idea and should stay in some shape or form, if not exactly the way it is now.

Especially when people are new and lack the ability to get to battles easily. Not to mention it provides some tactical benefits as well.

I don't think they should remove sanc...where else are we gonna form huge raids now? I understand the need to be in battle faster, but it makes sense that these huge armies have a safe haven to call their own no matter how bad the faction is doing in the "world."

opticalshadow · 2011-05-11, 11:11 AM

removing sanc is a bad call IMO, maybe now a days it becomes more of a lag to battles, but before SOE killed PS with bfr's sanc was filled with 100+ person raid teams, removing sanc removes a core function of PS, and it gives me worries that SOE is building PS:n around current PS, instead of when PS was actually built for its scale.

that said i think harts should stay in, they added a valid tactic to the battle field.

Bags · 2011-05-11, 11:21 AM

I like the HART and sanctuary. The only reason it would ever feel like it takes to long to get to the fight is because there was only one small fight at the time.

Redshift · 2011-05-11, 12:25 PM

removing sanc will just mean that we form up in warp gates, and warp gate fights were pathetic

Raymac · 2011-05-11, 02:16 PM

I wouldn't get too worked up about the hints we've been given that Sancs will not be in PS:N. We have no idea what the lanscape layout will be. Will it be similar to Planetside now? Will it be one large seamless world? We have no clue. I'm pretty sure they will give us areas to form up raids though. It's always been a key to Planetside strategy.

As for the HART, they made a great move by lowering the timer. What was it when PS launched? Like 20 mins? If their goal is to get people to the fight faster, they will have something similar to the HART where you can jump into the fight right away at a place of your choosing.

opticalshadow · 2011-05-11, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by Raymac

I wouldn't get too worked up about the hints we've been given that Sancs will not be in PS:N. We have no idea what the lanscape layout will be. Will it be similar to Planetside now? Will it be one large seamless world? We have no clue. I'm pretty sure they will give us areas to form up raids though. It's always been a key to Planetside strategy.

As for the HART, they made a great move by lowering the timer. What was it when PS launched? Like 20 mins? If their goal is to get people to the fight faster, they will have something similar to the HART where you can jump into the fight right away at a place of your choosing.

well the hart was there more for the loners then anything else,really they wanted galaxies to bring troops, the hart was just a back up to that.

as far as setting up for a raid,its doable even with the current landscape, theres enough room and when we invaded conts back in the day, we would use remote areas on other conts from time to time (sanc use to be very crowded) but i worry how it will all work in general, where do we deploy from? without a sanc hwo do we handle safe zones? if they were hinting at removing such an importent part of the game, they should drop atleast ideas on what they were thinking.

Miir · 2011-05-11, 11:23 PM

If I can't cert to be a HART pilot this time... I don't want it in game.

But seriously... If you take a look at what the HART was in the original game. You will realize it was nothing more than eye candy. It was basically and animated model, in essence a movie to waste time while you waited to get back into combat or to let you know that you have another X minutes wait because you just missed it running to the HART building.

In that sense I could probably do without it as I generally just skipped the sequence by hitting ALT G as soon as the animation started to get to my map screen. Not to mention I never liked being shown I just missed the bus to get back to the fight.

However... this is a totally new game. So here's a quick idea of what I thought would be cool to do to make the HART more of a part of the gameplay.

Picture this:

You zone in to "X" world (or continent)

What do you see in way up in the sky? Yes HART's in low orbit moving around, dropping pods in the distance, firing orbital strike animations. I know still just eye candy. But wait... did that one over there just explode??... Yes it is on fire now...looks like it's headed in for a crash landing 10km north of your current location? Wow! Lets go check it out!

<Insert awesome animation sequence of HART crash landing here>
<After a giant explosion and the dust settles a random spawn of a destroyed HART shell is now on the map>

Suddenly you have something new to go explore. Maybe you have to go reclaim the reactor core for use in your base? Maybe it just turns into a temporary supply depot to help whoever gets to it and holds it first? Maybe it just turns into a cool environmental background. I can think of a bunch of reasons why that would add more depth and ambiance on the battlefield then it's current form.

Of course I have no idea on technical implications that this might cause to the game. Just throwing that out there.

Senyu · 2011-05-12, 01:44 AM

What about HARTS as an unlock-able thing from say a technology and the one that lets you get galaxies both at the same time? You would need both bases to use the HART system on that continent. Since's Sancs are leaving and im sure they will have a new system in place this is a possible way of keeping the HART around and providing tactical advantages to.

Sifer2 · 2011-05-12, 01:47 AM

If they axed the Santuaries then the HART will almost certainly be in the game or something like it. Since you have to get into the world somehow. It may just be accessed from a menu instead of going into a building. Which sounds less cool even if its faster.

GTGD · 2011-05-12, 04:25 PM

Honestly, I loved the HART. Near the beginning with its lengthly timer, it was very frustrating. For someone with a PC that could barely handle the game, it meant that I could be waiting a half hour to get into a battle, because it took about a full minute or three to load each continent regardless of warp gates, HART, or recalling.

However, the newer HART with its shorter timer is a great thing. I think there should still be a timer with a decent time, or else it would be far too easy for empires to reinforce hacked planets/continents and that would make it ridiculously tough to get a foothold. I like the quick-response teams that use vehicles and warp gates to resecure those bases.

Sifer2 · 2011-05-13, 12:29 AM

If anyone is playing the new Section 8 game that came out recently the respawn system is quite similar to HART. An respawn times are very fast. One of the ways they balanced it out was with Anti-Air turrets. You can set up them up an they will shoot down anyone that tries to drop too close.

I could see something like that working in Planetside Next allowing for a faster HART while avoiding being swarmed with never ending streams of people zerging out of the sky at you. I was already wanting something like this anyway since I think being able to deny the enemy Air travel through places you control would make terrain a lot more important an cut down on all the ninja capping.

Ailos · 2011-05-13, 11:46 AM

I actually don't think that removing the sanc is a bad idea. Well, when I say sanc, I mean a continent on the planet below. I do hope the HART stays in though. If you use it right it can be just as quick of a transport method as a galaxy or a mossy drop since you don't have to spend time flying from the warpgate once you're on continent. It's also a nice tool when you're just starting out in game - and don't have any vehicle certs - to quickly join your outfit in battle and gun for someone with more vehicle selections. (I think something like a HART will make it easier for those new, trial-account players to join people in battle and get hooked in.)

What would be nice (and what I hope the devs have in mind) is that instead of a piece of land as a sanctuary, each faction has an orbital platform as a sanctuary. From that orbital platform, we can launch galaxy ships and lodestars and other aircraft to land on a continent below. This would include the ability to HART down from the platform to the ground. It still serves the purpose of a place to assemble a raid without your enemies being able to sneak up on you, except that an armour column requires lodestar support (or maybe they'll have some new aircraft that can carry more than one heavy tank at a time). IMO, a raid should always have galaxies, lodestars and aircraft to start with, so nothing changes as far as the number of players and type of equipment needed to assemble a raid at an orbital station rather than a continent.

If we don't feel the need to assemble a raid at the station, but instead want to just plain drive somewhere and we have some real estate down below, what's wrong with assembling a raid on a continent? True, we'll just have to keep a lookout for cloakers with an itchy CUD trigger on their OS (if that's inhereted), but I think this adds an interesting strategic aspect in that cloakers can actually be the spies they were inteded to be, rather than invisible assasins.

Redshift · 2011-05-13, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Ailos

what's wrong with assembling a raid on a continent?

You used to form up in sanc with a couple of possible targets and not tell the zerg what the target was until the last possible moment so as to not let the enemy set up a defence, and that allowed you to get into a CY and defend a hack, if you formed up on a cont you'd get blown to bits before you even got to a CY and the attack generally failed since you could not pull more vehicles

Ailos · 2011-05-13, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by SRxRedshift

You used to form up in sanc with a couple of possible targets and not tell the zerg what the target was until the last possible moment so as to not let the enemy set up a defence, and that allowed you to get into a CY and defend a hack, if you formed up on a cont you'd get blown to bits before you even got to a CY and the attack generally failed since you could not pull more vehicles

Who said assembling in a CY? We'd never put the armour column together IN the CY. Maybe within sight of a base, but no shit sherlock, you put 20+ vannies in a CY, you're asking for some punishment.