Systems: What came first the Gal or the Drop Pod?

[JimSolo]

I dont know if I'm liking the whole idea of drop pods from the GAL...
Makes me think of a big Chicken flying by dropping eggs.

I think it would look cooler if we made GALS by default have to get low enough to the ground that everyone jumps out like in a Helo. Then as an upgrade you could have high altitude, single use jump packs that have just enough juice to get you down.
These would look more bad ass in my opinion. Course I may be a tad bit biased as I love to fly and I'm part of an Outfit that specializes in Air Assault.

Maybe just save the Drop Pods for the Spawn on SL feature???

[Zekeen]

First off, Galaxies have ALWAYS dropped out troops that way. It's always been there cause a landing gal was a dead gal.

Secondly, if you did that with certs and such, yeah, that'd be fun, having to go low. But think of it like this - most players SUCK at flying. PS2 is gonna be even harder to fly in than PS1.

And finally, there are no "drop pods" in galaxies. It's an energy barrier. You fall out with a blue shield light thing at your feet. It's the PS version of a parachute. Drop pods are just with the SL function, which used to be from the HART ship.

[Traak]

Put five large-field-of-fire AA guns on the Galaxy with 100,000 rounds of ammo.

Then players might have to find something else to pick on other than a spawn point. Might cause some to quit the game, though.

[VioletZero]

Makes me think of a goose more than a chicken

Mostly because chickens don't fly.

[JimSolo]

First off, Galaxies have ALWAYS dropped out troops that way. It's always been there cause a landing gal was a dead gal.

Secondly, if you did that with certs and such, yeah, that'd be fun, having to go low. But think of it like this - most players SUCK at flying. PS2 is gonna be even harder to fly in than PS1.

And finally, there are no "drop pods" in galaxies. It's an energy barrier. You fall out with a blue shield light thing at your feet. It's the PS version of a parachute. Drop pods are just with the SL function, which used to be from the HART ship.

An "energy barrier" and a "drop pod" are NOT the same thing. So NO what I am talking about is NOT how its always been.

Second, I agree that a landing Gal is vunerable and in the wrong hands its better to take the "Bus" but the risk is what makes it fun. If the idea of taking a few rounds when your inbound worries you then you might want to find a good Travel Agent to book all your flights around Auraxis or something.

And Finally, if it does turn out to be some form of energy barrier then it wouldnt really be different from the original and thats fine but I still like my idea better. kthxbye

[BNuts]

Heres a little info from a IRL Blackhawk CE.

With the RL helos, we can, and do perform;
HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) drops
PARADROP - reg parachute static line drops, chute opens as soon as they leave the aircraft
FRIES - Fast Rope InsErtion System, this is what you saw in Blackhawk down, and whenever people "rappel" from the aircraft
SPIES - Special Patrol Insertion & Extraction System (big rope with hook-up lines, kinda dodgy)

http://www.youtube.com/embed/R7INR0gpAbI

So getting these things to happen in PS2, a-la some future-tech upgrading, may be a good idea. As RL speed is almost never fast enough for FPS speed

Or, maybe there could be a jump "window" for altitude, where "Green" would be under 100 feet, and land you with no paralyzing penalty, "yellow" 100-200 would land you, and paralyze you for 5-10 seconds, and then 200 + "Red" would paralyze you for 5-10 seconds, and take 10-20& HP away (sub-dual damage?) And have this displayed to the jumpers and pilots?

[Talek Krell]

So that we're all on the same page:

Higby mentioned during the GDC demo that Gals had a module that gave hotdroppers an actual drop pod instead of just the usual bailing....thing. He said they were the same ones used during squad spawning, and that the player inside had limited control over the impact point and did damage upon landing.

I kind of like the idea myself, although I'm not sure about the balance implications.

As to the height restrictions/different insertion methods, it's actually been suggested before. It was generally approved of but never got much attention in the ideas forum, sadly.
Relevant thread:http://www.planetside-universe.com/f...ad.php?t=36983

[BNuts]

So we will have an a-la ODST drop-pod experience, cool beans. Better than invisible parachuteing, and I think it will have some cool animations once the team has finished with all of the big things 1st.

I wonder if you will haveto "decelerate" or actually press something to slow the pod down to land and deploy properly.

The pod should give some armor to buff your character as well, protecting you from AA / Flack / ground fire.