2021 Reconnaissance Overhaul and Scouting
Introduction
Reconnaissance tools in Planetside 2 are incredibly useful; often making the difference between success and failure in a fight.
There are a lot of recon options available to players; the Recon Detection Device, Motion Spotter, Detect Bolt for the Hunter QCX, along with Scout Radar or Proximity Radar for vehicles and simply the Q spot key. All provide players with details of where the enemy are and where they are moving to in various ways to various players.
It is my opinion that the information these tools provide is detrimental to the game. Knowing the precise location, movement and in some cases even the facing of the enemy removes the benefit of flanking and helps to turn fights into meat grinders, where everyone knows where everyone is at all times and pure numbers are the main thing that matters. Staying still and camping doorways is supported and encouraged; putting attackers at even more of a disadvantage than they are already.
Knowing the enemies location harms Infiltrators ability to infiltrate successfully, forcing them to crawl across bases if they want to be truly stealthy thereby making the role frustrating and dull. It makes it harder for new players to adapt to the game as few other FPS games have such detailed information on enemy movements right there on the HUD at almost all times. It also makes tactics bland because you cannot breach a building without the enemy knowing which door you are going through.
We don’t need ESP hacks to know where they enemy is in any fight with a friendly Infiltrator on your side; it is right there on your HUD already.
I believe a major shift is needed if we want to make the game truly better and turn it into one where positioning, surprise and even tactics matter. In the process we can also make scouting a dedicated role in the game, and potentially use the role to balance fights and generate missions tailored to individuals preferred roles.
Details: Reconnaissance Overhaul
What I suggest is the following:
Spotting enemy infantry leaves an indicator in that location (not following the enemy) on the HUD and minimap of squad members and also friendlies within 20m of the spotter and enemy for 5s.
Motion Spotters and Recon Darts/Bolts ping different colours depending on how many enemies are within their radii – yellow for 1-6 enemies, orange for 7-12 and red for 13+. They no longer show individual enemies locations. See the image below for an example.
Vehicle Scout Radar – removed and all instances replaced with Proximity Radar (the difference is that Scout Radar shows the enemy location to all nearby friendly forces, while Proximity Radar only shows it to the vehicles occupants). Cert refund given.
Vehicle Proximity Radar – scan frequency changed from every 0.5 seconds to 5 seconds. Like Motion Spotters and Recon Darts it pings different colours rather than showing exact locations. This stops it being essentially a live feed of enemy positions.
Sensor shield – at maximum rank remove the player from Vehicle Proximity Radar and prevents them from triggering Motion Spotters and Recon Darts/Bolts unless sprinting or firing.
Disruption Device added which prevents any enemy recon abilities working within a set radius. Functions as an alternative fire mode for the Recon Darts Device and Motion Spotter. Vehicle version available in the same slot as the Vehicle Proximity Radar.
Reward experience for destroying Recon Darts/Bolts as well as the new Disruption Device.
Optionally squad leaders could be given tools to direct vehicles to strike certain areas (see Appendix 1 for details), making players actively have to tell vehicle players where infantry are for them to target.
Impact
These changes would remove the ability to target enemies via the minimap instead of visually (eg spraying an area with a CAS Valk, or firing into a doorway when you see a cloaker approaching) unless they are spotted directly by another player. This would reduce area of effect weapon spam and remove some of the advantage from defenders camping doorways and choke points.
It would also add affordable counter play with Disruption Devices (instead of spamming costly EMP grenades) to mask your movements and make individual skill and group tactics more impactful.
Details: Scouting
Scouting is a new role that integrates into existing systems.
Enemy positions and numbers are "scouted" via spotting or detecting any part of the enemy force in that territory, putting their location and general numbers (eg 0-12, 13-24, 25-48, 49-96, 97+) on the map for all to see (alternatively shows "Effective Force", see Appendix 1 for details). If enemies are not detected in this way their numbers are not shown on the map. Note that in any base fight enemies will quickly get detected and then their numbers will show, but in an uncontested attack the numbers will not show until a defender arrives to check it out.
To reward scouts they would earn bonus experience for being the first to detect enemies in a territory. This could tie into the mission system, replacing the existing missions to travel to bases in a Harasser randomly with one that has a function and helps the faction.
Scouting an enemy force that outnumbers friendlies in the territory would set different territory alert levels for that territory (see Appendix 2 for an alternative balancing method):
Yellow Alert: Enemy forces with a population of 10-24 above defending forces.
Orange Alert: Enemy forces with a population of between 25-48 above defending forces.
Red Alert: Enemy forces with a population 48 above defending forces.
These alerts would generate "Reinforcements Needed" missions, awarding players and groups when they respond and fight there. Squad leaders would also get "Lead Reinforcement Squad" missions also, to reward them for responding where they are needed.
When responding to these territory alerts as well as getting bonus experience as currently, players would also get an increased amount of nanites by receiving ticks more often, allowing them to pull more explosives, MAXs and vehicles to combat the unbalance.
Impact
Removing enemy numbers from the map automatically gives attacks more of a chance of success so that they are not immediately responded to with overwhelming numbers, allowing for greater map flow which would let us experience more of the unique base designs.
Scouting provides another role for players, allowing them to use fast vehicles like aircraft or the Harasser to locate enemies and report back their numbers to the rest of their faction, giving those more independent minded players a useful role.
Providing more useful missions that tie into the core gameplay loop and balance fights would encourage mission use in general, giving them more reasons to keep playing and invest in the game.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Squad Leader Fire Support Request
Squad leaders could place 'Fire Support' markers on the map, similar to the attack and defence markers they currently have. When placed, if enemies are within a set radius, it would generate a 'Fire Support' mission to nearby vehicle players to direct them to get kills inside the radius. There would be a cool down on using the marker to prevent it being used for scouting.
Appendix 2: Effective Force
An idea floated by Mustarde several years ago, effective force is a way of balancing fights in every situation, accounting for not only numbers but also "force multipliers" such as MAXs and vehicles. I fleshed the idea out on this page. To update it I now think that player skill and experience should be factored in, potentially using what we in the Vindicators call a players' "Vindiscore".
Adapting it to this new proposal I would set different alert levels:
Yellow Alert: Enemy forces with an effective force of between 10-25 above defending forces.
Orange Alert: Enemy forces with an effective force of between 26-50 above defending forces.
Red Alert: Enemy forces with an effective force above 51 compared to defending forces.