But that addition implies that the laser does supply a benefit by helping to optimize damage, which it doesn't. Still, if this was to be done, then every direct fire weapon should have a system that does the exact same thing for the target and all weapons should be adjusted to have a max range travel time to match the forge.

Sure. Give them the same rate of fire and ammo capacity with no ability to carry equipment, a giant hit box and slow movement. Easier yet. Make the game vehicles and forges only. If the forge got nerfed this hard with this suggestion, then it should be applied to all direct fire weapons with the addition of matching max range travel times. After all, what's good for one direct fire weapon should be good for them all.

And I just realized, that with this kind of an early warning system, our hardeners will be equivalent to flares or smoke screens. Instead of popping out flares, you kick in the hardener to absorb the damage. Also, the lore for swarms states that they can't be defeated by simple countermeasures, so the only other way would be to enhance your resistance against them.

But see, that's the point. There's less risk of a direct hit while the vehicle is moving, and the ability to charge without pointing at the vehicle is a way for skilled AV players to try and minimize the warning to the vehicle they're attacking.

In addition, there's a pretty good chance that you'll get at least a passing swipe of those beams across the vehicle while the shot is being set up, even while the target is moving. I have used Forges fairly extensively myself.

My thoughts are this - its a clever idea and works to some degree, and I really don't mind giving infantry a disclaimer (which is what this would be, a "you don't get to complain now cuz laser") so that I could resume blapping them in one hit anyways. But I think that's just it: the ones that stand in the open stationary are dumb and going to die anyways, and the ones sprinting across the open from danger are not going to stop mid sprint and reverse because they see a faint blue laser a few meters in front of them, while sprinting several meters per second.

For vehicles though - the role that the Forge Gun was designed for first and foremost, I fear this could be a disaster in 1.7 depending on how it plays when we get our hands on it. The whole "windows of opportunity" design and the fact that it'll be fairly easy to create a hardened state that cannot be soloed - means that even weapons as strong as Forge Guns will ONLY be getting their kills stacked while shooting at unhardened targets.

To me, all the cards on the table point to the element of surprise being absolutely crucial to the A/V game. Remote explosives. Proximity explosives. Grenade gangbang ambushes. Breach Forge guns in pairs. Swarm users in triplets. Or, just plain shooting a tank in the back while its driving down the map looking somewhere else. However you look at it - giving vehicles a chance to go into ubermode and than sail away on their new juiced up engines seems like a pretty bad idea on paper, given what we know about how this is going to change.


TL,DR: Warning lasers would be great for allowing FG users to have our cake and eat it too where blapping infantry are concerned, but could be downright broken in 1.7. Consider my opinion highly neutral/skeptical until we have more information about what we're actually dealing with.

Didnt there use to be a lock warning with dropships? I could have sworn their used to be.

But yes if rendering is fixed to the proper ranges, I can see my railfuns being feasable again. I mean, its supposed to be emulating a 120 mm cannon shell hitting based on energy...how the **** am I supposed to hit something thats not even on the screen with that pathetic excuse for splash radius from more than 40 feet away.

So far, in this thread, vehicle players want...
* A 30% reduction in range.
* 5% to 20% reduction to forge damage.
* A proximity forge charging alert of unspecified range.
* A visible laser that does nothing for the forger, can point the heavy out (to those who see the beam) for easy elimination, and triggers and alert on beam contact.

If this were to happen, the forge would likely become nearly extinct. Most, if not all, vehicle pilots would then do a joyful jig as forgers redirect into another role, so that they can once again be effective at something, or quit because their enjoyment of the Dust was killed.

Where did I say that that anyone stated that they wanted all of these changes at once? Just saying that these are the "suggestions" so far and the consequences should the suggestions be heeded.

But be honest. Most of the pilot players don't want any effective infantry based AV.