Tweaks - 2016

The current state of Planetside 2’s development team leaves it hamstrung as it lacks key team members such as a User Interface (UI) programmer. This frankly is a massive problem as UI has over the years often been mentioned as a bottleneck and now the team lacks in that respect even more.

While I have rarely let the dev teams capabilities constrain my concepts I feel that it is worth limiting my immediate work to the reality we are in (although I do hope that they manage to scoop up a UI guy ASAP).

The following changes meet the following criteria:

· Limited to existing systems and mechanics

· Require no new UI work beyond cert icons and descriptions

· Primarily tweaks to existing values

Change: Sunderer interference radii reduction by 50%

Impact: More Sunderers will be able to be deployed in decent positions around a base, giving attackers more options for spawn points. If one Sunderer is destroyed others are more likely to be in reasonable positions than currently. Sunderers deployed closer to one another will be more likely to defend each other. As more Sunderers will be useful to an attack more will likely be pulled. Therefore fights will last longer and will more naturally flow out into the field around bases as Sunderers die off.

Change: Construction of HIVEs only allowed in friendly territories

Impact: This would encourage building bases where the action is, not miles from the fight which acts to disrupt the line of battle currently. This also encourages setting up bases ahead of an enemy push or to support an advance.

Change: Infiltrators able to hack construction modules to disable them for 60 seconds

Impact: This would give infiltrators a real role in construction, which benefits the rest of the team. It would also make bases easier to crack without having to muck about reducing the effectiveness of any of the modules.

Change: Reduce spawn beacon placement cool down

Impact: Spawn beacon cool down is overly long and can be circumvented simply by swapping SL which disrupts the squad and can be difficult in public groups. This change will reduce the need to swap lead.

Change: Add extra squad experience modifier if near to the squad leader

Impact: Increases the cohesion of squads further, rewarding groups that actually play together more than the current squad support XP bonuses. Could scale with how close you are to the squad lead, and it should also take into account vehicles as they will naturally be spread further apart than infantry.

Change: No resource costs at the warp gate

Impact: This would encourage groups to use the warp gate to form up in Galaxys more often, increasing the likely hood that they will sweep up random players and get them to the front in style. It will also improve the air game as no longer would resource costs get in the way of new players learning the ropes. Minor concern that it would mean that killing aircraft is less impactful on the battlefield than before, but often decent air players will have enough nanites stored up anyway to immediately buy a new aircraft, or can just swap who pulls in the case of Gals and Libs.

Change: Fire team waypoints

Impact: Increases cohesion of groups who do use this feature.

Change: Return the Galaxy deploy mode, and allow it as a squad spawn without a squad passenger

Impact: More spawn points means more fights, and this feature, limited to squad spawns only, would give squads more power on the battlefield and allow small groups to strike behind the lines more effectively.

Change: Make MAXs smoke and spark when their armour is depleted

Impact: This would make MAXs priority targets when injured, without reducing their actual toughness.

Change: Allow Reinforcements Needed spawn options to also include Sunderers in enemy territory

Impact: Rather than the agriculture focused players bouncing around defensive fights to boost their KD and SPM we would see them attack bases and shift the front lines perhaps, rather than cause them to stagnate.

Do you have any ideas for further tweaks to existing systems that you think could make an impact?