With the discussion about roles finally getting wound up, I believe it is about time to make a discussion thread about the current state of Pilots. And I decided to take the initiative for it.
Summary and DetailsIntermission:
Close Area Support has always been in a tight location. Relying on marines to make calls is beyond wrong; not a single role in the game should be dependant on others. The PO is (respectfully) the only role in which you are at risk of doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING during the entire round, especially on CAS duty.
The problem lies in how the role works - you are tied to your dropship, and leaving it would risk missing out a call. When you miss out on a call, you feel frustrated, hence you should always stay in your dropship and be ready. But when you don't receive a call, you go completely batshit insane, realizing you wasted your entire time on the role doing absolutely nothing (above all else - on LOWPOP).
Saying that you are not tied to the dropship, and that you can instead help transport, is in essence saying that 'CAS shouldn't be used'. But the thing is; CAS can be a gamechanger. It can turn the tide with a well-placed firemission, or save multiple marines with MEDEvacs. The reason it is having such negative backlash is that it's cluttered with flaws, the role "CAS PILOT" in itself became a meme.
Causality and Effect:
One more argument for the sake of the role.
1. Because of every round running differently, we always have the chance of people not utilizing CAS.
2. If a round moves this way, pilots receive a negative experience from the role.
3. This leads to less people acknowledging CAS PO, avoiding the position altogether to not feel frustrated, leaving the pool of people to take the job.
4.1. With less seasoned CAS Pilots in the pool, newer players take the role. These tend to do alot worse CAS runs due to them being greenhorns.
4.2. With overall less CAS Pilots in the pool, people utilize CAS less frequently.
5.1. With worse CAS Pilots, people do not trust CAS, and utilize them less frequently.
1. Because of 4.2/5.1, rounds of people not utilizing CAS increase.
And the worst part? This loops. The role has died off for most of us because of exactly that.
It's not fun - it has died off since its prime.
Benefits and ImplementationMarines - Changes to the FLY-BY System:
With the issue of the fly-by being far too reliant on proper marines to work, a change must be made to have a system which is both *fair*, and *enjoyable* for all parties involved. There are a handful of aspects to go through, and since this is a 'general suggestion' thread, these ideas will be open for discussion. These are things which came up from the top of my head:
Change Details Remove Dependance Allow the CAS Pilot to be able to freely choose Firemission and Support Location. Not only would this remove the need of having to rely on marines, but allow the role to flesh out into something as important as the Tank, and as similarly reliable in the right hands.
- Note: Additions must be made for it to avoid A) Metagaming (Carpet Bombing T-Fort/Hive, pre-encounter), and allow B) Counterplay. These problems are 'adressed' in the following suggestions.
Change Details Add a Signal Tower In essence, by canon, all Dropships function on basis of 'signals'. There is a good reason why you can't land anywhere else but the designated Landing Zones (Aliens VS Predator shows how detrimental a proper signal is to landing the birds safely). Hence, it is safe to assume that signal flares and binocular lazes serve that safety function - however, as stated before, this doesn't work as intended. As such, adding a deployable Signal Tower, covering a set distance from the center of deployment designated for the Pilot's "AREA of OPERATION" would serve it's duty both logically and in gameplay.
- Note: This is to be taken similar to the newly added Telecommunications Array. Since the Signal Tower covers an entire area, the Pilot should be able to have full, limited camera functionality on fly-by mode. How far the Signal Tower should extend is a question of testing. One problem this would pose are sudden attacks by the CAS - both inducing Friendly Fire or unfair Xeno Gibs. In essence, this could be solved by increasing wind-up, or having a different visual effect upon locking an area for a Firemission.
Change Details Mapping Allow the Pilot a map similar to the one in CiC to overlook. This is strictly speaking not connected to the points mentioned above. The map in itself would point out signal flares and lazes, or the "AREA of OPERATION". This would allow the pilot to have a better idea of the general location of what he is looking at.
- Note: This suggestion is a minor addition, and only serves it's purpose if added with either Signal Tower or FREE CAS. It is not a prime aspect of the thread itself, and merely adds to it.
In essence, there are only two ways to solve this. And, judging by least problems posed, and most problems solved, I tend towards the second solution of a Signal Tower - of a limited area to use. If anything, this could also be connected with the current system - allowing both versions to co-exist with one-another. However, a more open-area CAS will require at least some form of counterplay, as this is strictly speaking an incredible marine buff. As such...
Xenomorph - Retaliate the Sky:
With additions made to the CAS-System, Xenomorph MUST have a way to retaliate or counter-act the more open versatility of Pilots. With these changes, they are severely limited in both their pushes and their frontline battles. Changes in favor of the Aliens MUST be made to allow the flow of the game to be considered fair. As such, I have compiled several suggestions below to act as the "Yang" in the "Ying".
Change Details Anti-Air As several of the readers may be aware, there are already plans made on adding an Anti-Air Function to the Xenomorph, which is fantastic. In functionality, I imagine the system to work as a deployable structure (similar to the ones seen in the DEV-TEST) which covers an area to be completely void of any CAS-Attempts until the Anti-Air Array is destroyed. If a CAS is called in the area despite the imminent threat, the CAS will be A) Denied, showing no effect, and B) Postponed, adding a cooldown until the ship is ready to fly again. As such, whilst allowing more freedom to the CAS Pilots as a whole, they will be limited in where they can actually be able to make firemissions / MEDEvac.
- Note: This would work incredibly well with the next Suggestion, "Damage".
Change Details Damage Allow the Dropships to take critical damage from failed fly-by attempts. In essence, the dropships will consist of parts similar to the tank, which have to be autonomously repaired during their docking to Almayer. This does `not` involve damaging dropship parts on transport; Xenomorph should not be able to simply melt engines on the ground.
- Note: Additionally, I would severely vote for two options of implementation. A) A quick, manual repair, and a longer cooldown until next fly-by upon repair. B) A long, automatic repair, with the cooldown until next fly-by staying unaffected. Which is better remains a matter of discussion.
Change Details Statistics Changes to Cooldown, FLYBY stay-up time, CAS damage and similar to accommodate the previous changes. None of this would work if proper recalibrations to the numbers aren't made. Of course, this is a subject of testing, but it is as important to everything stated above.
- Note: This suggestion is a minor addition, and only serves it's purpose if added with the previous points. It is not a prime aspect of the thread itself, and merely adds to it.
There is no conclusion to be drawn. It is merely a suggestion.
Conclusion:
This discussion thread serves to voice opinions / remarks / criticism. This thread is open to all.
All of these points have been posted to GITLAB, feel free to vote your personal decision there.
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Originally Posted by Pigeon
