I just noticed something about the debriefs...

otomotopia · 2011-11-22, 05:46 PM

The developers will only call the tanks we know Medium battle tanks.
http://www.planetside2.com/news/nov22empirebriefVS.html

The phrase “Technology equals Might” can be seen in action and demonstrated in the Vanu Sovereignty’s medium battle tank, The Magrider.

http://www.planetside2.com/news/nov08empirebriefNC.html

The empire specific vehicles, the Reaver attack fighter and Vanguard medium battle tank pack on more armaments and armor as well as abilities that allow them to stay in battle longer than the other empires equivalents.

http://www.planetside2.com/news/oct2...debriefTR.html

The Prowler is a medium tank that is not only the fastest empire specific tank on the field but it can be armed to the teeth with extra weapon systems beyond the other empires medium tanks, making it one of the deadliest vehicles in the game.

Does anyone else think this gives us reason to believe we'll have empire specific tanks? It seems to me that this opens up the possibility that we'll see Main/Heavy Battle Tanks, along with Light Tanks.

PS: I apologize if this has been brought up before. I did a quick search and didn't find anything.

Rbstr · 2011-11-22, 05:53 PM

IIRC the originals were called medium tanks as well.

If you look at the history of tanks you'll find that heavy tanks are usually not the most widely deployed tank as they lacked mobility or were terribly expensive.

Technological advances allowed medium tanks to catch up to the heavy tanks in terms of firepower, which is how we've ended up with the "main battle tank" that is a kind of hybrid heavy/medium but also not really either.

So, basically, you might see a heavy tank...but the classifications don't really exist as such these days.

Lonehunter · 2011-11-22, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Rbstr

the originals were called medium tanks as well.

Exactly. But I'll never know why they give them the Medium label. It only makes us want something called a "Heavy Tank" they ignored it in PS1, maybe it's future content in PS2.

Hamma · 2011-11-22, 08:39 PM

Weren't they asked about "heavy" tanks on Twitter or something? Seem to remember that.. I thought they kind of shrugged it off indicating that maybe it will happen?

Rbstr · 2011-11-22, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Lonehunter187

But I'll never know why they give them the Medium label.

I just gave the reason.

Captain1nsaneo · 2011-11-22, 09:04 PM

BFRs were meant to be the heavy tank equivalent. Lightnings are light tanks. MBT has always been the general name for the 3 ES tanks.

BorisBlade · 2011-11-22, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

Weren't they asked about "heavy" tanks on Twitter or something? Seem to remember that.. I thought they kind of shrugged it off indicating that maybe it will happen?

Yeah i think it was a twitter thing where they said they might put heavy tanks in down the road. My guess is mechs, aka bfr 2.0. BFR's filled the heavy tank role in ps1. Although badly implemented, they could get mechs to work, preferably not the awful solo player buffs that MBTs are. Higher manpower reqs, focused drivers and separate gunners etc.

I think the problem tho is giving them a role thats not already taken. Just more armor/firepower in a slower vehicle really doesnt differentiate it enough. Having it in mech form may help visually, but functionally its boring and nothing new. So they would need to come up with somethin to keep it unique. Just one of the probs with so much customization, its hard to come up with new stuff. But i hope they learn how to do it, already gonna be a bland battlefield with much fewer vehicles, the customization issue really limits the battlefield to a small variety, and combined with the removal of other staple ground vehicles, its a very small batch of vehicles we will see in the fight.

Captain1nsaneo · 2011-11-22, 09:32 PM

The point of a HBT would be to push the line of battle and draw fire from MBTs. BFRs could have done this if they fixed 2 things: First, limited access. They tried to use the caves to do this but at the end of the day everyone could get one, a better idea would have had them cost Outfit points. Second, higher numbers required to fully man. A big threat needs to have a decent crew to offset its power. This will reward better group coordination and effort when these things square off against each other and it spreads out the rage their victims feel.

It's OK to keep things out of the general reach of people as long as the things out of reach are powerful enough to warrant it and they are very very few compared to the rest of the available equipment. (e.g. Orbital Strikes)

At the end it's about having fun and fun is increased when there's more people on board for it.

CutterJohn · 2011-11-22, 11:18 PM

They are just leaving the option open for the future.

HELLFISH88 · 2011-11-23, 12:25 AM

Originally Posted by Captain1nsaneo

The point of a HBT would be to push the line of battle and draw fire from MBTs. BFRs could have done this if they fixed 2 things: First, limited access. They tried to use the caves to do this but at the end of the day everyone could get one, a better idea would have had them cost Outfit points. Second, higher numbers required to fully man. A big threat needs to have a decent crew to offset its power. This will reward better group coordination and effort when these things square off against each other and it spreads out the rage their victims feel.

It's OK to keep things out of the general reach of people as long as the things out of reach are powerful enough to warrant it and they are very very few compared to the rest of the available equipment. (e.g. Orbital Strikes)

At the end it's about having fun and fun is increased when there's more people on board for it.

I for one would like to see something akin to the Goliath from 2142. I guess we have the Sunderer but I have a raging hard on for Treads.

I suppose a more Tank like option would be a Land raider. This class vehicle could either be equipped as a giant Gun platform with Armor and heavy weapons OR a super Beefy Assault APC that could carry many Soldiers or even MAX units. The Trade off of this would be no heavy or anti vehicle weapons which would limit it's effectiveness against other armored units.

Captain1nsaneo · 2011-11-23, 01:28 AM

I prefer the superheavies. The Baneblade is just too cool.

Talek Krell · 2011-11-23, 06:06 PM

We need to know what roles are currently being filled before we can really speculate about what to do with a heavy tank. I'd love to see something like a Baneblade roll over a hill at night though, throwing tracer rounds in every direction and wrecking MBTs with the main gun.

Skepsiis · 2011-11-23, 08:35 PM

Something like a supreme commander fatboy would be cool. Has a shield for some combined arms, lots of hardpoints and gunners, airpads, can spawn light vehicles. It would need to be very limited in terms of speed, terrain kt can traverse and avaliability, like only one per continent per faction.

It would pretty much be like a mobile base with a giant battle following it around.

Could also do something very similar with an aircraft, like the battlefield 2142 titan.