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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
377
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Posted - 2014.06.23 04:27:00 -
[1] - Quote
So a while back I wrote up a sort of thesis paper on Assault suits, and how they might be changed to more solidly fit a definite role. Unfortunately, I received no blue tag. But, with Rattati around now, and with him specifically suggesting improving the Assault suit, maybe he'd be willing to give this a look.
It feels like the Assault suit hasn't really had a defined role to fill for a while. So I got to thinking: what should the designated role of Assault suits be?
For a good starting place, let's check the in-game description:
Quote:The Assault dropsuit is a versatile front-line combat suit that combines excellent protection, good mobility and sufficient equipment hard points for mission-specific customizations.
Assault dropsuits are intended for standard combat operations or those in which objectives are likely to change at a moment's notice. Its ability to carry anything from small arms and explosives to heavy anti-vehicle munitions and deployable support gear makes it the most adaptable suit on the battlefield.
So, as has been said time and time again, it seems the basic idea of the Assault suit is to truly be the "jack of all trades, master of none". So it should be the least niche suit; able to perform many different roles effectively, but not really excelling at any one. But I'd like to take this a step farther, specifically analyzing this line:
Quote:Assault dropsuits are intended for standard combat operations or those in which objectives are likely to change at a moment's notice.
This seems to imply that the Assault suit is also good at switching locations quickly, as well as being prepared for many different scenarios. From this, we could extrapolate that Assault suits are meant to be very good at dictating when and where their engagements happen, and always being able to switch to a more advantageous position during engagements. Given all this, I've come up with this as a more solid designated role: The Adaptable Shock Trooper. Able to move swiftly both between locations and their role on the battlefield. The suit with unmatched flexibility, also able to get in quick and hit the enemy hard and fast when need-be.
So, now that we've got an idea, how do we change the current Assault suit to fill this role?
Step 1: Modules- In order to truly be the most flexible and adaptable suit, I believe that the Assault suit needs to have the most module slots of any suit. If this weren't true before, I'd say it definitely is with 1.8 on the rise, and all the other suits finding specific niches to fill. In order to avoid raising the overall power scale of the game, I'd recommend lowering all Logi suits' total slot count by 1, and then raising the Assault suits to have 1 more than Logis overall. Having the most modules available means you can customize your suit for whatever specific scenario you want, or make some hodgepodge in between specific specializations. This reinforces the flexibility aspect of the suit's role.
Suggested Medium Suit Slot Layouts-
Assault:
Amarr: 1LW/2S/1G/1EQ/3H/5L
Caldari: 1LW/1S/1G/1EQ/5H/4L
Gallente: 1LW/1S/1G/2EQ/3H/5L
Minmatar: 1LW/1S/2G/1EQ/4H/4L
Logi:
Amarr: 1LW/1S/1G/3EQ/3H/4L
Caldari: 1LW/1G/3EQ/5H/3L
Gallente: 1LW/1G/4EQ/2H/5L
Minmatar: 1LW/1G/4EQ/4H/3L
So this leaves all medium suits with 13 total slots at PRO. All of the Logis get 7 module slots, except for the Caldari which gets 8, due to not having a bonus Sidearm or Equipment slot. All of the Assaults get 8 module slots, again except for the Caldari, which has 9. The Amarr Assault gets an extra Sidearm; this is in line with the Amarr Logi, and allows the suit to constantly have a weapon ready to switch to. The Gallente Assault gets a bonus Equipment slot, in keeping with Gallente's philosophy of preserving life. The Minmatar Assault gets an extra Grenade slot, as the Minmatar love explosions, and it's arguably the best with grenades due to it's speed.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
377
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Posted - 2014.06.23 04:27:00 -
[2] - Quote
Step 2: Bonuses- So let's take a quick look at the current 1.8 Assault suit bonuses:
Quote:Assault [5% reduction to PG/CPU cost of light/sidearm weapons]
- Caldari Assault: +5% to reload speed of hybrid railgun light/sidearm weapons per level.
- Gallente Assault: 5% reduction to hybrid - blaster light/sidearm hip-fire dispersion and kick per level.
- Minmatar Assault: +5% to projectile light/sidearm clip size per level.
- Amarr Assault: 5% reduction to laser weaponry heat build-up per level.
The overall idea of these bonuses seems to be allowing the Assault suit to spend more time shooting, and less time having to worry about ammo conservation/heat build-up/reloading/etc. This would seem to fit in nicely with the shock trooper aspect of the suit, allowing you to keep on the move and keep hitting targets from different sides without having to stop to worry about your ammo situation. However, while I feel that the Minmatar and Amarr bonuses achieve this quite well, I have some discrepancies with the other two.
The Caldari bonus, while in some sense reducing the time spent not firing, doesn't actually really allow more continuous fire though, or allow you to more effectively dictate where your fights are happening. I would prefer either a reduction to the charge-up time of railgun weaponry (Note: this option also requires an increase of the RR charge-up time to at least 0.5 seconds, which I believe needs to happen anyway) or an increase to the effective ranges of railgun weaponry (with a correspondingly less steep falloff, at least to the effective range). Either of these would allow the Caldari Assault to focus less on ammo conservation, as well as better controlling fights.
The Gallente bonus isn't terrible. It should effectively allow you to hit with more of your shots, meaning that you'll have to fire less overall. In some sense, this would mean that more continuous fire within one clip is possible. In addition, the bonus affecting your hip-fire accuracy reinforces the mobile shock trooper role, actively encouraging you to fire from the hip while staying on the move. So, yea like I said, not terrible. Although I'm also not sure it's necessarily the best. If anyone has a better suggestion, please post it below.
TL;DR: - Assault suits need a more defined role, I like the idea of them being the Adaptable Shock Trooper.
- To encourage their flexibility and adaptability, they need to have the most module slots of any suit.
GÇó Their bonuses also need to reinforce this role, allowing the Assault suit to fire continuously without worrying about ammo conservation.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
381
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Posted - 2014.06.23 19:17:00 -
[3] - Quote
Seymour KrelbornX wrote:sorry, I read up to jack of all trades master of none and felt it extreme urgency in needing to comment...
no, the assault suit is supposed to be exactly that... an assault... they are slayer masters... or should be.
they should have decent movement speed good scans, and buffs to dmg output
Admitting to not fully understanding an idea immediately before commenting on it isn't a great start, but ok.
So, it should be noted that I consider the subject of what the Assault suit's designated role is supposed to be open to debate. This idea is just something I think would work well both for balance and in making the suit more interesting. So, if you think that the suit's role should specifically be slaying, that's fine. However, saying the Assault suit is "supposed to be" anything is kind of silly. Really, it's up to CCP to decide what they want the suit to excel at, and as far as I know they've never revealed whatever that is to us.
Personally, I find a suit that's mobile, flexible, and never caught unprepared to be a little more interesting than just one that kills things. And bare in mind, with the increased module slot count I'm proposing for them, Assault suits could easily outmatch almost any other suit's damage output.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
384
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Posted - 2014.06.24 21:52:00 -
[4] - Quote
Made some quick edits to the OP.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
385
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Posted - 2014.06.25 00:44:00 -
[5] - Quote
Kallas Hallytyr wrote:Rattati has declared that no suits, besides the Commando of course, will get dual grenades/dual sidearms/dual light weapons.
Yea, I actually just saw that. Bummer. But, anyway, I suppose Assault suits could just get more slightly improved base stats instead of whatever extra module.
Skullmiser Vulcansu wrote:I think that an extra equipment slot would add to their flexibility. It would make the suit more attractive to me.
It's not exactly my favorite idea for Assault suits, but it could work. The thing about Equipment is that it helps you play a team-support role, which isn't something I'd really expect Assault suits to excel at.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
399
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Posted - 2014.07.11 19:57:00 -
[6] - Quote
Added a bit about how most suits actually seem to get two bonuses within their "one" racial role bonuses, but Assaults don't.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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Summ Dude
Direct Action Resources
409
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Posted - 2014.07.16 07:02:00 -
[7] - Quote
Cat Merc wrote:The Gallente Assault bonus IS terrible, possibly worse than the Caldari.
Why you ask?
Because it doesn't do anything.
The bonus barely makes any difference with all plasma weaponry with the exception of the Ion Pistol (Because it has ridiculous hip fire inaccuracy) and the TAC AR.
With the shotgun it makes the spread tighter, and with the plasma cannon it doesn't do anything.
Neither bonuses stack up with the Minmatar and Amarrian bonuses.
Well, I don't run Gallente Assault, so you could very well be right. I definitely don't think the bonus is perfect, anyway.
DeathwindRising wrote:increased damage? plain, simple, follows lore, follows eve online.
You've gotta be careful with direct damage bonuses, I'd be hesitant to give it to just one of the Assault suits. It has the definite possibility of being abused, as well as encroaching on the Commando's territory. I'd probably suggest something like a small RoF bonus over straight damage.
Bare in mind that what I'm suggesting here is to make Assault suits fit the role of ultimate versatility. Some say it "should" be a suit made for pure slaying. Now I'm not necessarily against that idea, but it's an entirely different story that would require different changes than the ones I'm suggesting, as well as probably requiring changes to the Commandos to avoid overlap.
Of course this discussion will probably be a lot more focused if a dev answers my question over here.
Not just a laymen, but the laymen.
Winn Summ and lose Summ.
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