One problen I see with the pilot suit is motivation to use different tiers of the suit.

Basically I can just get the Pilot suit to level 5 for the bonuses it will have with vehicles and only run STD.

I need a reason to run the Proto pilot suit.

Other than that, Rattati needs to read this!

Pretty good, but I don't think EVERYTHING should feel clunky. The delay should only happen with modules, and the movement controls a slightly lower acceleration speed. For example, a Heavy and Pilot suit could achieve the same speed while inside a Methana, but the Pilot gets to the top speed faster, brakes work better with Pilots, etc.

Any suit should be able to HANDLE vehicles with similar ease, but the Pilot suit should get results much faster and at a greater level (Methana top speed for a non-Pilot would be 80mph, and a Pilot would be at 100mph, for example).

No one likes control delays. Since modules don't necessarily impact the way you get a certain vehicle to move, a delay on them would be acceptable.

My two cents.

One problen I see with the pilot suit is motivation to use different tiers of the suit.

Basically I can just get the Pilot suit to level 5 for the bonuses it will have with vehicles and only run STD.

I need a reason to run the Proto pilot suit.

Other than that, Rattati needs to read this!

1. Preparing
First thing first, you need to prep vehicles for the suits. Vehicles in their current state are not ready for the introduction of pilot suits.

A Compelling Reason
There needs to be a compelling reasons to use these suits over HMG Heavies when piloting, without the suits making vehicles OP...

Add a small input delay to all vehicle controls.
A 0.075s delay to everything. Module activation. Acceleration. Turret manipulation. Turning. Brakes. Everything.
The purpose of this is to make vehicles feel clumsy and a little unwieldy without a pilot suit. Pilot Dropsuit will completely negate this input delay. This is the compelling reason to use a fragile pilot suit instead of just another HMG Heavy.

Vehicle Parity
We need the full lineup of HAVs, LAVs, DSs, and Turrets if we want pilot suits to make any sense. This means adding a lot of Minmatar and Amarr stuff.

2. Numbers
The itty gritty.
Spreadsheeeeeeeeet!

Base Stats
I actually took a lot of inspiration from the Capsules in EVE when making my spreadsheet. For people that don't know, Capsules in EVE are essentially pilot to ship interfaces, that also double as ships/escape pods.
They are the lore behind why one person can control a whole Battleship and all of its subsystems practically by themself.
Very cool and high tech little things.

They are also completely defenseless, cannot be modded, and have no armamants to speak of. But they are fast. They are meant to escape from combat. Escape pods.

So, the Pilot suits in my spreadsheet are extremely squishy, only carry a single sidearm, have no module slots, and are really really fast. An Amarr Pilot would make a Minsout go green with envy.
By having the fastest base movement speed in the game, less than 100 HP, and only a sidearm, retreat will be their only option in suitVsuit combat.
They also have equipment slots in the higher tiers. These are intended for things like repair tools and potentially even uplinks if a LAV specialist wants to deploy some uplinks really far away.

Something's I didn't include were regen rates, shield delays, melee, and stamina stats. All of those things but stamina should be subpar. Its just for running away.

Bonuses
These suits need to be worthwhile to use and spec into for any vehicle user. Not just HAVs. Not just LAVs. Not Just Dropships. Their bonuses need to be pretty unspecialized and really just follow a general racial theme because of this. Real generalist bonuses that anyone can work with at least a little bit.
I took a little inspiration from both Assault and Sentinel suits when tailoring the bonuses to each race, since they both have racially appropriate and fairly unspecialized bonuses.

3. Colors!
The most important part. Period.

Personally, I'd like to see them be colored blaze orange and white, like these guys.
Just imagine a Minscout with a color scheme like that. That would look cool.
But I'd also like to see what suggestions other people have. Remember that they can't be colored like another role. So they are pretty restricted as far as choices go.

A 0.075s delay to everything.

worst idea ever imho, I dont think I need to go further in detail why, this should be pretty obvious.

there should be no delays in input . the only delay required (which isnt even an input delay) is when exitting a vehicle to stop the infamous drive by heavy.

and there are far better and simplier ideas to make pilot suits worth, e.g. mods with huge CPU/PG requirements that affect vehicles performance. pilot suit would then have reduction in CPU/PG need for them. higher tier pilot suits with more slots could then milk out bigger bonus with more pilot mods. non pilot suits could also use them BUT you would have waste alot of slots for PG and CPU upgrades to fit just one or could use only basic modules.

that way there is incentive to use pilot suits. and you could select which stats you actually want to increase by selecting the proper mods.

suits get a bonus to racial pilot suit modules.

this results in immense amounts of depth and customization.

non pilot suits are not left out, you could e.g. increase your LAV performance if you would wish but with big tradeoffs.

and we have synergy for teamplay, e.g. pilot suit fitted to support his drophship stats and heavies with a mod affecting the turrets while sitting in gunner seat.

Pilot suits should allow you to spawn inside of a vehicle, you would still be dropped down by a RDV but you wouldn't have to spawn somewere, call in a vehcle and then wait for it, instead you choose the pilot suit, than a vehicle and can spawn neer the MCC and the spawnpoints that cant be moved, so no Uplinks or CRU's.

All the suits should have the same slot layout, but different bonuses IMO

At STD 1 high 1 low 1 equipment 1 sidearm 4 bw

At ADV 2 high 2 low 1 equipment 1 sidearm and 8 BW

at PRO 3 high 3 low 2 equipment 1 sidearm and 12 BW

BW could be used for say a dropship pilot to put uplinks somewere they take 4 BW so 1 more at each tier of the suit.

PG and CPU would be substantially lower than say a basic light or scout suit.

Bonuses could be something like this; each have a role bonus something like 2 - 3% increased CPU and PG for vehicles per level

Minmitar bonus - 2% bonus to turret damage per level 2 % bonus to vehicle velocity and turning per level

Caldari bonus - 2% bonus to shield capacity or resist per level and 2% bonus to vehicle turret effective range per level

Amarr bonus - 2% bonus to armor hp or resist per level 2% to turret heat buildup per level ( maybe? )

Gallente bonus - 2% bonus to repair modules effectiveness per level 2 % bonus to vehicle turret rotation speed per level

Until Minmitar and Amarr get vehicles ( if ever ) the bonuses would just be placeholders

Maybe each vehicle gives a ceartain different bonus if used with a Pilot suit, an ADS with more turret speed isnt very useful so maybe DS's HAV's and LAV's could each have their own bonus that is activated if it is being used with a pilot suit.

Numbers could probably all be changed and these are just ideas off the top of my head, excuse any grammar errors please.

1. So im going to spend 2.7mil SP to get a PROTO pilot suit for my basic vehicle which enabled me to use my vehicle without input delay? - Absolutely worthless and such a stupid idea

2. The role bonus has to be worth it and gimping a vehicle because you choose to use a heavy and hmg because its more accurate than a blaster turret is not the way to go about it

3. Why doesnt infantry weapons and equipment have a delay on them and to removed the delay you have to skill into an assault/logi suit etc - Im sure infantry wouldnt want that

If you're going to keep the resistance, repair, and speed bonuses, let me say this.

A resistance bonus is most valuable per percentage point, so repair bonuses should have higher percentage values. In EVE, resistance bonuses used to be at 5% per level and armor rep bonuses were at 7.5% per level (1.5x). There weren't any direct speed bonuses so I'm unsure where they'd fall in relation to a resistance bonus, but I'll definitely feel cheated if my speed bonus was at 1% and the resistance bonus was at 2% per level.

Pilot suits are the worst idea possible...

Pilot suits are where I think the normal dropsuit rules should be thoroughly violated.

sidearm only, no survival fittings, the pilot bonuses should be stepped.

STD 1% bonus per level to vehicle stat

ADV 3% bonus per level to vehicle stat

PRO 5% bonus per level to vehicle stat.

making another expensive-ass dropsuit required on top of normal vehicle costs seems a bit much to me

Care to elaborate? Why are you particularly apposed to pilot suits?
Other than that you don't want to pay ISK for a suit, apparently.
Which is weird, because the price of these suits would be trivial, considering they only have 1-3 total slots.

One of three things happen:

1.)No pilot suit? Vehicles become absolute garbage as theyre now balanced around pilot suit abilities.

2.)Vehicles remain untouched, pilot bonus makes vehicles OP, and they both get nerfed.

3.!Pilot suit bonus is so trivial that its not worth the ISK or SP

We already have one of the highest barriers for entry in the game in terms of ISK and SP needed to perform efficiently, and people want to increase that? There is no good reason to add pilot suits.

Pilot suits are the worst idea possible, and I pray that they NEVER see the light of day.

Input delay? Hahaha, yea, no.

DEATH TO PILOT SUITS AND MEANINGLESS SP AND ISK SINKS

they shouldn't have to break the vehciles with that delay just to force ppl into that stupid suit.. terrible idea just to annoy the F out of every pilot and that does not make the pilot suit interesting at all just an annoyance.. this has been the reason no pilot even cares about the suit because we know they will already pull this kinda backhanded approach.

it really just sounds like an sp sink to me

They have to.
If they don't, what reason would there be to use a Pilot suit and not a different suit?
The pilot suit needs to be a superior choice to HMGs, but not everpowering, and this is the only way to achieve these results.

You need to lead with both a carrot and stick in this case. Or HMG tank drivers will still be the best choice.

yea exactly this.. there's nothing interesting at all to someone already skilled into vehicles to have there vehicle broken for the sake of feeling like they're progressing with the pilot suit.. to a noob maybe but no one wants to have his vehicle backtracked for the sake of some stupid ass noobs to feel like they're progressing. what about those who've already been thru a 16mil SP vehicle grind ? **** all these stupid noobs and whats fun for them already at the sake of ppl who've already been here.

You don't understand.
This is the only way to avaoid both extremes of Pilots being OP or worthless.

To avoid either end of the extremes spectrum, we need to work all little bit in both directions.

Actually, the most efficient way to avoid this problem is to admit that Pilot suits are an aweful idea, and should be scrapped.

Something still needs to be done about HMG Heavies in HAVs and LAVs then.
So a entering/exiting animation?

Bigger suit = Longer animation?