Improvement: Empire Specific Vehicles

Rexdezi · 2012-06-09, 01:55 PM

So I'm not sure but I didn't see this said anywhere else yet (It was touched upon in the Vanu hoverbike thread)

As we all know, there are some common pool vehicles that each faction has access to. And while they do suit the style of vehicles that the TR and NC use, they're not very Vanu...

Flash
Sunderer
Liberator
Galaxy

I think for each of these vehicles, there should be Empire varients. Maybe the TR gets to keep these ones (or the NC, not sure yet) and the other 2 Empires can get their own varients.

As was said in the Vanu hoverbike thread, that could be the Vanu's version of the flash, something like the ghost in Halo... and if you give the flash to the TR, then the NC could get a slower, but more armoured version.

The sunderer also could do with some faction specific varients, a hoverbus kind of thing for the Vanu and a stronger, slower sunderer for the NC

Again the same thing for the Liberator and the Galaxy, although it will be strange for the galaxy as there is a whole tactic named after it (galaxy drop) I think in the long run, it will be worth it.

Rexdezi

Zekeen · 2012-06-09, 03:51 PM

They did that with the Deliverer, so there's no telling if they will or won't. Generally it's just the paintjob and weapons that get altered though. But I would LOVE a NC Galaxy though.

Rexdezi · 2012-06-09, 05:22 PM

I think mainly its the fact that the likes of the Sunderer and Flash look so out of place with the Vanu. Even the Galaxy and Liberator look nothing at all like their other vehicles.

Dagron · 2012-06-09, 05:56 PM

How about something similar to these designs:
- Roundish TR galaxy = (stargate atlantis) jumper.
- Squarish NC galaxy = (starship troopers) drop ship.
- Trianglish VS galaxy = (star wars) star destroyer.

But seriously, i see the point... as NS vehicles currently are, they're not very fitting. Specially to the VS because they don't look alien enough.

Zekeen · 2012-06-09, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by Rexdezi

I think mainly its the fact that the likes of the Sunderer and Flash look so out of place with the Vanu. Even the Galaxy and Liberator look nothing at all like their other vehicles.

You are right, it does look out of place, and I've always thought that to, but in the end the Vanu need a few more conventional vehicles and weapons in case lasers don't cut it (like long range battles)

ArmedZealot · 2012-06-09, 06:08 PM

I think as the game ages we will see more and more improvments to vehicles.

E/E animations might make it back
Vehicle interiors might be rendered for passengers
More ES vehicles

These just haven't made it into the game yet because there has been more important work to do than add candy.

Rexdezi · 2012-06-09, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by ArmedZealot

I think as the game ages we will see more and more improvments to vehicles.

E/E animations might make it back
Vehicle interiors might be rendered for passengers
More ES vehicles

These just haven't made it into the game yet because there has been more important work to do than add candy.

I would love to see interiors on things like the galaxy... like you can see your teammate across the way and then see the launch ramp opening, and your player getting up and jumping..... ahh that would be amazing

Baneblade · 2012-06-09, 07:48 PM

I dislike the concept of common pool (NS).

Rexdezi · 2012-06-09, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I dislike the concept of common pool (NS).

I completely agree

OutlawDr · 2012-06-09, 10:08 PM

Common pool look more Terran than NC ... and definitely not VS.

They could always add model appearance customization to common pool that make them look more ES. Stats are the same. Make you pay station cash for it.

Sirisian · 2012-06-09, 10:21 PM

I think it would be easier in the long run to just redo the VS graphics so they're more aligned with the TR and NC styles. That way the NS vehicles fit more between the factions. I mentioned this months ago as a solution since it was pretty obvious people would start complaining about how the designers went overboard with the VS's style to make it so much different than the NC and TR.

If they have to make 3 of everything in the game before they release everything we're going to dilute the possible content pool since the designers will waste their time with two factions most players won't ever play as.

Dagron · 2012-06-09, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by Sirisian

I think it would be easier in the long run to just redo the VS graphics so they're more aligned with the TR and NC styles. That way the NS vehicles fit more between the factions. I mentioned this months ago as a solution since it was pretty obvious people would start complaining about how the designers went overboard with the VS's style to make it so much different than the NC and TR.

If they have to make 3 of everything in the game before they release everything we're going to dilute the possible content pool since the designers will waste their time with two factions most players won't ever play as.

Maybe, but what a pain it would be to redesign all the current VS stuff... They'll never go for it.

Rexdezi · 2012-06-10, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by Sirisian

If they have to make 3 of everything in the game before they release everything we're going to dilute the possible content pool since the designers will waste their time with two factions most players won't ever play as.

two factions most players wont ever play as? I don't understand... are you saying Vanu will be the most popular faction by far?
I don't know about that... I certainly won't be a Vanu player (nothing against people who are gonna be Vanu, but I like my guns to go bang not pew)

Wolfhound · 2012-06-10, 11:06 AM

The reason they look more TR, and why they should look more TR is because the common pool weapons and vehicles come from a time before the fracturing of the TR to form the three factions.

The NC and VS have built their own vehicles since splitting away from the TR, but when they would have split from the TR in the first place they'd have taken all the vehicles (or designs for vehicles) that they could.

I feel like the effort that would be spent creating empire specific variants to replace the NS vehicles might be better spent creating new vehicles, since there are many that aren't currently in game. (I for one want the marauder and raider back)

OutlawDr · 2012-06-10, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by Wolfhound

I feel like the effort that would be spent creating empire specific variants to replace the NS vehicles might be better spent creating new vehicles, since there are many that aren't currently in game. (I for one want the marauder and raider back)

Maybe from our perspective, but I think from the devs perspective, they couldn't spend their effort any more productively. Remember cosmetic, vanity stuff translates into direct profits for the devs.

Implementing a new skin and maybe a model tweak for current vehicle won't take nearly the same amount time and effort as adding completely new vehicles. Im not saying its a trivial process, but they can use existing code of the template vehicle to speed up the process. More importantly, since its just a visual change, its not going to soak about a huge amount of dev time in terms of gameplay balancing and making sure it fits with other game systems. Compare the number of skins that are in LoL to that of champions. Visual options can be pumped out rather easily. New gameplay assets can not. Profit:effort ratio for cosmetics kicks the crap out of gameplay assets. Of course they need to continue adding gameplay assets if they want us to continue playing in the long run.