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View Full Version : Reaver - Nerfing it and making it work at the same time


Peacemaker
2011-03-14, 02:14 AM
I've had about a billion ideas floating in my head about the reaver. I love the reaver, its my favorite thing in all of PS. I like flying. I like busting tanks. It used to be insanely good at killing infantry with its rockets, now... Id have better luck with a knife sometimes. Heres what I think would bring it in line.

Ok first and foremost, the reaver has two flight modes, and two weapons.

Weapons -
Forward firing chin gun, light splash damage (less than a meter) good vs armor
Guided Missiles High Damage Low ROF see below

Hover mode-

While in hover mode the pilot of the reaver has NO weapons. Unless he has someone in the gunner seat not much is happening.
Gunner has a 110 degree forward arc for a 20mm chin gun. Similar to the mossy now but it does more DPS vs Infantry and has a better cof *not as good as the old mossy cof but not as bad as todays*
Gunner has a 60 degree arc to fire a guided missile system. High damage, low rate of fire. Id like to see it fly at a medium speed *phoenix speed* and low maneuverability. Gunner needs to aim in the general direction the enemy is moving before firing, cant make a 90 degree turn with the missile. If fired at a non moving target, the missile shouldnt beable to exceed 55 degrees *same as the chin gun* That means if a target is 54 degrees left or right of center the missile can hit. 56 degree and it cant. Range is same as current rockets. Damage is 1/3rd current rocket pod *5.3 rockets*. Low splash damage and area.
Hover mode is slow, lets pilot take off and land and use a bob up and down tactic. Left to right turning is slow.

Flight mode

Gunner is limited to just the missile system.
Pilot gets the chin gun, fixed forward. Good for strafing attacks.
Max speed is double or more current reaver speeds. Updated flight mechanics.

This makes the reaver a strafer/ dogfighter with one person. Not completely nerfing it. And an anti tank system second. Infantry behind cover are safe from missiles.

The way AA works would have to be adjusted.

Aractain
2011-03-14, 05:57 AM
Based on the render I would guess that rockets would be avalible to the pilot and the chin turret would be controled by the gunner. I doubt it will have any third weapons.

But yeah in PS the whole Air vs AA was horribly simple and boring on both sides. Maybe someone should start a post about that lol.

What you said though just sounds overly complicated with hover modes etc. If the pilot is effective against vehicles without a gunner and more effective against them with while also better at other targets (AI and AA) then that would be fine no? Simple is good, the depth is provided by how it ties into overall gameplay (like how AA works vs the skill of flying PLEASE NO MORE LOCKON!).

krnasaur
2011-03-14, 08:18 AM
SOE already stated that air will be completely different than in the last game. lets see how the new flight works and then we will bring out the nerf hammer

Peacemaker
2011-03-14, 12:33 PM
This idea isn't really that complicated. And I am taking the new flight model into consideration. The idea being that the pilot cant use weapons in hover mode as hes too focused flying the ship.

Rbstr
2011-03-14, 01:59 PM
I find it kind of overcomplicated as well, I don't think there's any need for various "modes" of operation, it's a scifi VTOL, as far as we can still tell. There's no reason for it to be more complicated to fly than a BF(BC)2 helicopter of BF2 F-35.

I think we're ok going with having the pilot have dumbfire rockets that are AV and the gunner having a chin turret that's AI. Variations on that basis can be a guided missile type thing the gunner could use or some kind of empire specific AV thing.

You'd need to hover to use a chin turret really effectively vs infantry, but you'd be sitting duck for AV weapons.

Personally I'm OK with the reaver being a single-occupant vehicle. As long as some form of the various pilot-suit changes are implemented and we keep it focused as a primarily anti-vehicle platform that has some anti-air self defence capability but is mostly vulnerable to a mossy/wasp or whatever.

I think my preferred solution is to have 3 main air vehicles, the single person mossy as the best AA fighter with little ground attack power, the single person reaver as fast attacking AV platform and some two person gunship as a heavier AV platform with some AI capability. That would put the mossy and reaver as more of a fighter and fighter/bomber analogue and the new craft as more of a attack helicopter.

krnasaur
2011-03-14, 05:53 PM
I think my preferred solution is to have 3 main air vehicles, the single person mossy as the best AA fighter with little ground attack power, the single person reaver as fast attacking AV platform and some two person gunship as a heavier AV platform with some AI capability. That would put the mossy and reaver as more of a fighter and fighter/bomber analogue and the new craft as more of a attack helicopter.

I agree with every other point but this. I want more than 3 air vechs. I agree with what you said about the 3 there, you are completely missing out on air support, which is what makes this game special I hope to god they bring the gal back(render :D), and i want loadstars to play more of a role than they already do. (people can spawn from them (with max armor) and you can deploy light armor vechs (everything smaller than a lightning) and maybe throw a mannable turret into the mix, but that is a whole different discussion).

There is alot more than air than just dogfighting and tankbusting. The support air roles are one of the reasons planetside is special.

Peacemaker
2011-03-14, 10:37 PM
The reaver should have decent AI ability. Its a gunship. If it didn't I could use a similar argument that tanks should suck vs infantry. Also, if you make the chin gun a gunner only option, what does that do to a one man crewed reaver vs aircraft? Or what to do vs aircraft when it has a gunner? It would be too easy to dogfight with a gunner. Point in general direction and open up. There needs to be an infantry suppression aircraft. Either make different ammo for the rockets or make the pilot use the guns.

A flight mode and a hover mode makes the pilot have to think about what hes doing. The transition between the two would take some time.

Baneblade
2011-03-14, 10:50 PM
The Reaver doesn't need to be better at AI. The AA weapon staying with the pilot is better, the AV weapons can be gunner controlled.

Raymac
2011-03-15, 01:21 PM
As much fun as it was having a mini-OS with my Reaver rocket spam before the AI was nerfed, I think the nerf was needed badly. I certainly enjoyed being Death from Above, but it was too easy. I think the Reaver is great where it is now as more of a tank buster than an AI champion. The Reaver will inherantly be good against infantry unless they do something silly like make infantry immune to them. The ideas in this thread are interesting, and it makes me that much more curious as to what Reaver 2.0 will be like.

Traak
2011-03-16, 01:51 PM
Reaver can't even fly with only one person. That's a start.

sisu
2012-09-07, 12:07 AM
Seriously the Reaver is way OP. It's speed and manuverability are the same as the Mosquito right now which means it doesn't really have a disadvantage at all, considering the fact that it can take a shit load of damage, dish it out, and fly as well as any other Empire's air. It really needs to be nerfed, otherwise NC will always dominate the sky.

musefrog
2012-09-07, 03:22 AM
Necromancy! You realise that this thread was made over a year before anyone had played PS2, right?