Why do that when you can bonus the gallente ones to increase rep rates?

Repair tools < Rep modules.

My body is ready.

You're right, skills do exist that modify that, but as stated before, the vehicle provides the baseline defenses, the suit provides the racial flair and heavily modifies the utility. For example you could take a Gunnlogi and put a Caldari Pilot in, the HAV now has better turret reload speed and better acceleration. You put a Minmatar Pilot in that same HAV and now it has faster Turret tracking and higher top speed. This is very similar to how Strategic Cruisers work in EVE, the hull of the ship is the same, but depending on what subsystems you put on it, it modifies the role of the ship. In this case the pilot and its Link modules play the role of the subsystem, modifying the base hull + skill bonuses. It's simply a means to further customize the vehicle, particularly since vehicle fitting is well....boring as ****.



AV vs Vehicle Player hatred is annoying, particularly people who think the other wants to be overpowered. People who are true AV/Vehicle players genuinely understand that there needs to be proper balance on both sides so it is fun for each other. So when I suggest a pilot suit and explicitly state that it is important that we avoid direct buffs to defense because it overly upsets that AV / Vehicle balance, I actually mean it. The point here is to make vehicle piloting more interesting, not be a "ERMERGERD IM LOSING TO AV SO BUFF MEEEE".

In fact much of what I've proposed is more directed to utility, and I've reluctantly added defensive links and stated that I'm a little uncomfortable with them. I think it would be fair to say that defensive Link Modules would provide both a benefit and a downside, as to customized and push the specialization of the vehicle in a certain direction. For example a Shield Hardener link may increase the duration of your shield hardeners, but also increase your shield delay proportionally. A buff and a nerf at the same time, but you have control over it.

Utility on the other hand, I don't see much of a need for downsides but that's up for debate.



The average maxed out infantry with an AV and AP weapon, maxed defenses, utility, ect. comes out to around 33 million SP.

A maxed out specialty vehicle with a Large and Small turret, maxed defenses, utility, ect comes out to around 30 million SP.

Now to me, it makes sense that link modules that affect the vehicle modules, would be tied to the skills that also affect those vehicle modules. For example a vehicle Scan Link for your pilot suit would be the same skill that you need to fit and use vehicle scanners. That being said, you essentially train your pilot suit modules at the same time you train your vehicle modules. In turn, the only additional SP investment would be the Pilot Suit frame itself, which does not exceed 3 million additional SP. This means that both roles max out around the 32-33 million SP mark, this seems reasonable to me. Saying "It's more skill trees!" is meaningless, the only thing that matters is SP investment.

Pretty much True, fit the Pilot suit with Link modules which boost specific attributes of the vehicle. Then the racial bonus on the suits can offer bonuses to specific link modules, to encourage their use.

So like, you have your Minmatar Pilot suit, and its racial bonus is that it gets a bonus to Overdrive Links and Tracking Computer Links. You Fit Overdrives and Tracking computer links to your pilot suit, racial bonus buffs them further, and now you have a pilot suit that makes a vehicle very zippy with fast acceleration and turret turn speed for easy tracking, perfect for a hit and run Minmatar style of gameplay.

Take a Gallente suit with bonuses Injector/Afterburner Links and Active Scanner links, fit the suit with those modules, now you have a pilot perfect for flying around in an LAV or Dropship doing scans of an area.

Or perhaps you take an Amarr Pilot which gets bonuses to mCRU Links, fit those links to the suit and make it the ideal suit for a Logistics dropship, providing fast spawns into the vehicle.



Dissenting opinions are great as long as people can constructively have a conversation about while being logical and unbiased. As long as people can do that I enjoy different opinions, so the end result of the discussion is as well rounded as possible.

Honestly they only need a sidearm, 0-1 equipment, no grenades. The suit should more or less be useless outside of a vehicle.

As for the bonuses, the suit should only give bonuses to link modules, and nothing directly to the vehicle itself; you have to equip those link modules to gain any benefit from the bonus. That way you don't need to break existing mechanics by saying "Oh you have to be in a proto suit to get the full bonus." Prototype suit just allows you to stack more Link Modules, and thus get a larger benefit from your suit bonuses.

Okay, let's talk about the Mindlink Modules. If we are going to give the pilot suit bonuses to these things, we need to figure out what they are and what they effect. Do we want to give her a deduction to the CPU/PG per level and how much? 2%, 5%?

If we are going to use the link mods, i think we should focus on that very idea first.

AoE infantry buff Warlink Modules that you can only fit on vehicles and that you can only activate if you are in a pilot suit?

Vehicles should never be restricted to people in pilot suits. That's like saying "oh you can't use a Minmatar gun unless you're in a Minmatar suit."

Well you need to have some form of racial aligned bonus assigned to the suit otherwise all pilot suits would just be the same bonus yeah?

Well you can't do fitting reduction for a suit, otherwise you could make vehicles fits otherwise invalid without a pilot in it and....meh.

Feedback on what I have here so far?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10K_k28JspVlnLNMACn2vRGj9iOezfpH_0wRwRhCzqzI/edit?usp=sharing

Oh lawd. Don't get hung up on the placeholder numbers. Really dude?

I figured it would actually make sense to give bonuses to assets that actually exist in the game?

EDIT: Nevermind. Seems to edited out what I was referring to.

Alright so lay out what the exact bonuses you would have for each race.

O___O

Too many slots but very good bonuses.

Do you really want to add more isk to your vehicle just to fill the slots on the suit that is driving? I guess you don't have to fill the slots if you don't want to but still...

Edit: Oh and I'm on the fence on adding "mindlinks". Are these going to be additional bonuses tied to modules?