2 replies to this topic

[Seanamal]

I like to give stuff some time to play with before I either trash it or praise it. Now that we've had airstrikes and artillery for about a month or so I've decided I would weigh in with my opinion. Frankly I'm rather underwhelmed by their impact. The nightmare scenario is that they would be used to decimate enemy teams. The reality is they basically do nothing and are nothing more than a waste of module slots and c-bills / mc. I would like to see them have an actual impact on games. The main problem is that their Areas of Effect are so small as to make it difficult to catch one unit much less multiple units in the impact zone. The flight times for these effects exacerbate the problem. Finally the damage is so low that many pilots simply ignore the attack.

I have a proposal that might fix these issues:
I think we can best start by ditching the airstike as is. It is very difficult to use it effectively. If it were deployed from the battlemap then you might be able to make it viable, but I think a better alternative would be to simply redesign how it works. An airstrike would instead drop a single large bomb that does high damage to the impact site, and falloff damage out to say a 90 meter radius. IE if you take a direct hit you are in a world of hurt (say 2 ac/20 hits) out at the edge you take only minor damage. I also propose a variation on this: the laser guided bomb or Arrow IV where you launch it at a TAGged target. It takes 10 seconds to arrive, during which time if TAG lock is broken the weapon does not impact and is expended. If TAG lock is maintained it takes the equivalent of 3 ac/20 hits but no falloff damage. This makes it an effective counter sniper weapon and makes being tagged a much bigger worry.

Arty as is works ok but I think it needs a damage buff, a somewhat shorter impact time, and/ or a larger AoE.

Finally I have an idea on how to use the current airstike template: FASCAM. Field Artillery SCAtterable Mines. Essentially they would be useful as an area denial weapon Drop them on a valley pass and fast lights won't run through that area and cap your base because they'll get their legs blown off faster than Tom Cruise in Born on the 4th of July.

[SweetWarmIce]

I feel both should be enough of a threat that they change battle lines and force people to react. But not enough that they become mandatory or everything revolves around deploying them.

Artilley: Longer duration and larger area. Area denial or hammering defensive positions. Leave damage as is so that it becomes unpredictable whether or not someone will risk walking through.

Airstrike: Big damage buff, someone has to take the time and effort to face it in the right direction. It should have a decent effect.

[jeffsw6]

I think one of these should cause hugely more damage than they do today. 10 rounds of 10 dmg each is not scaring any opponents into moving out of the way. If it did 100 rounds of 10 dmg each over a far longer period of time then it would force players out of the area being struck, but still give them plenty of time to move out of the way before being killed (which is really what it's supposed to do, make opponents move.)