Indy Strizer
Osmon Surveillance
Caldari State
310
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Posted - 2015.03.26 22:38:00 -
[1] - Quote
Putting three people in an LAV feels like putting your eggs in one basket, it's too much of a risk, it's inefficient, and unreliable. There is no such thing as dedicated LAV crews anymore and even the ones who existed before struggled to survive... You get much better results with those same three players fighting on their feet with rifles.
When a solo player charges into battle, dies, and complains about it, we express our contempt for him... But, when a squad of players sincerely want to operate a vehicular unit as a team, die, and complain about it... Well, we express our contempt for them too. However, if that squad of players group up on foot and win far more easily than they ever could have than they would have in a vehicle, it's perfectly acceptable.
I realize that many people really dislike the thought of invincible vehicles... Myself included. I think we've already come to the consensus that we simply can not have one man vehicles that are more powerful than one player simply because they are vehicles...
Looking back on that debate, I remember some people advocated the notion that tanks should have many players inside before they could be as powerful as they were...
And on the other hand, some players want to retain their ability to pilot solo, they want to control their own turrets and such, even if it is not as effective...
What if we were to redirect the same discussion and it's implications to transport vehicles? If tanks should be more powerful if they have more players inside them, then what should transport vehicles as well?
I wonder if this could address other questions I've had in my mind...
How can a transport pilot's vehicle be used for more than getting from point A to B?
How can we finally get players to think of a drop ship full of people as something more than an invitation to explode in the sky together?
What if we could find ways to make small turret operation interesting with it's own deep set of skills?
How can we let players use an LAV as the ubiquitous and versatile unit originally described?
With these ideas and questions in mind, I would like show you my overview of concepts that I've devised... This is an extreme suggestion, it deviates from the current conventions of Dust514 and it is poorly conceived, there are no numbers, but I do believe it is worth a look over considering how unhappy we have been with vehicle vs infantry balance... How unsatisfied we feel with the transportation role... and I also believe there are others who will take it in and refine it so here goes...
DESIGN GOALS
- Allow transportation vehicles a bit more power, but without letting one player become unreasonably invincible.
- Give players a way to participate in helping their team mates as they ride in the vehicle instead of doing nothing.
- Give transport vehicle specialists a way to specialize as a group of players similiar to how infantry players.
- Create a reason for pilot suits to exist...
THE CHANGES: NEW CONCEPTS AND MECHANICS, AND NECESSARY CONDITIONS
Turret Module Slots
Each turret will have it's own module slot for mods, it can include scanners, flares, cloaks, heat mods, lock-on mods...
- Primary PG/CPU Circuit
This is the fitting that we have now... This is what basic fitting comprises.
- Secondary PG/CPU Circuit
This is what powers turret module slots and maybe... just maybe... passenger modules... This circuit would work in total opposite of normal fitting conventions. You can fit the modules on despite the base CPU and PG will always be at 0 on the fitting screen... How do you increase it? Well... You have to do...
- Dropsuit to Vehicle Interfacing
When players ride vehicles, the dropsuit contributes CPU/PG to the secondary circuit. They become living extra PG and CPU for the extra vehicle mods on the secondary circuit... Without those players, the modules can not be activated by the single pilot. This is also an effective way of incentivizing using a medium suit as a gunner instead of simply letting players continue to say that a heavy suit is best... The heavy suit should not offer as much CPU+PG when it interfaces with vehicle as other suits do... That also brings me to my next idea...
- Pilot Suits
These sacrifice outside-of-vehicle survivability and offensive capabilities (Light Weapon slot weapon only) for the ability to offer even more PG/CPU for whichever vehicle they interface. These suits even have the power to remotely interface with vehicles remotely after they get out! However if their vehicle is destroyed, they instantly die...
- CPU/PG CHARGING
When a player leaves a vehicle or a turret, the PG and CPU is instantly drained to 0. When a player gets into a vehicle, it can't be operated until it fully charges. This is to prevent hopping in and out with vehicles or switching between turrets to exploit it's new power and extra modules.
DIMINISHING RETURNS
Put bluntly, these vehicles already survive well without getting so much extra power from players... Simply stacking 6 players in a pilot suits into one single unit should not be nearly as effective as 6 individual units working together
NOTE: By the way, I hope you guys port the game over to PS4, I do miss it because I sold my PS3.
Please ignore the text above, I half-heartedly wrote it to curb my boredom.
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