NPCs can't really be told to hold for evac all that well. You're also missing that I gave the example of CASEVAC pilots that want to treat people they pull up earlier. They don't need to take over for other roles to justify getting new skills.
NPCs can't really be told to hold for evac all that well. You're also missing that I gave the example of CASEVAC pilots that want to treat people they pull up earlier. They don't need to take over for other roles to justify getting new skills.
Retired CO Councilor (Winter 2019-Spring 2020, Winter 2020-Spring 2021)
Goddard Pearsall, the Pilot that (almost) always has Souto
Unofficial source of help for new/inexperienced POs. Message me here or on Discord if you'd like advise on anything.
To improve PO's you'd need to make the role attractive enough to entice players to commit to and take the role more seriously. At the same time, you need to improve the role's capacity to feel engaged in the round while having fun. So we should think of ways that add to the role.
For one, the paratrooper concept that I have no real idea of what it will offer would be a great start. Imagine paratrooper units that transport PO's can fly over areas to drop off marines. It would be really cool if transport PO's can hover over areas on the map and drop a ladder or rope for marines to climb up. Of course these are just pipe ideas but regardless anything that adds more weight to PO's would improve it.
Other things like transport PO's being able to drop flares at ground targets or being able to put a spotlight on an area for marines to get vision of. I always like support and specialty roles so adding niche but helpful mechanics that revolve around the main shootiness is always fun.
Marine deathball meta and xeno speedruns make the pilot officer a sad boy-- all of the two fantastic CAS PO games I've ever had were when one marine picked up binocs during a FOB attack and used them to turn the xenos into a fine mist.
Yeah, that's another common trend I've seen. CAS Pilots are usually the most engaged when the FOB battle starts and either an SL willing to lase or a PFC that knows how to lase and stole some tactical binoculars survives until the assault begins. CAS is definitely in this weird place where, due to how weak the Marines' offscreen killing options are for some reason or another, only 1-2 of its weapons and ammo types are able to reliably kill targets, most can stun if lucky, and others do almost nothing. On top of this, CAS is currently set up so that the PO needs one of five players (the scout spec if someone picks it and up to four SLs) that xenos are likely to prioritize to use their irreplaceable items to mark targets for them, making the CAS PO potentially the only player in the entire game that actually requires another role to survive and do their job to even have a job to do in the first place.
Hopefully Neth's CAS rework will fix both of these issues.
Retired CO Councilor (Winter 2019-Spring 2020, Winter 2020-Spring 2021)
Goddard Pearsall, the Pilot that (almost) always has Souto
Unofficial source of help for new/inexperienced POs. Message me here or on Discord if you'd like advise on anything.
That's a good point about the lowpop, like I said it was just something I'd thought about a bit, it would be better if instead it only affected the use of flight optimization like it was some kind of booster fuel.
As for queen hijack, like I said it always maintains a minimal level of safe fuel.
A fundamental issue with CAS PO is that xenos are always going to bitch about "offscreen" attacks, and for good reason too because CAS really has no counterplay in its current state.
If it was made too powerful, what would be the point in fighting since marines, if well coordinated, will consistently beat xenos in open ground? Fights will just be left in caves where CAS is unusable until xenos kill/capture most marines, and even then there will be reluctance to fight. If CAS is not powerful enough, then there is no point is using it because you are better off being aggressive than wasting time waiting and coordinating CAS.
Transport is literally click simulator and I see no way, even if you implement more skills, to make it something other than that mechanically. A possible "minigame" system is just a clicking sim that is arbitrarily designed. Paratroopers, while cool for marines and command, will not really be that cool for the POs. If it were to be implemented, there will be some novelty to be a transport PO but then you will realize that you still aren't doing anything that special, you are still just clicking a button to launch and asking for command to give you a location. The major only satisfaction you will ever get from transport PO is if you successfully evacuate marines from the planet, which is usually a non-issue if you are up-to-date with your info and carefully lock the doors. Otherwise, you are just using your mouse/trackpad.
As it stands, I don't see how transport PO will be a fun role ever. At least MTs can fuck around and build shit on the Almayer. CAS rework might make CAS PO fun, but I personally anticipate it to be nerfed to the ground by the xeno mains who will complain about "offscreen explosions with barely any counterplay reee marines will just fix boiler'd components and push really hard after they kill a lot of the hive reeeeeeee".
To add to this, that is exactly what happened on most maps when the tank was introduced - almost all fighting took place in the caves where the tank couldn't reach.
The issue is the CAS has almost no viability as it is: most times, the best you can hope for as CAS PO is that you stun something long enough for Marines to swarm and kill it, but it requires an SL or Scout Spec to lase in the first place.
Retired CO Councilor (Winter 2019-Spring 2020, Winter 2020-Spring 2021)
Goddard Pearsall, the Pilot that (almost) always has Souto
Unofficial source of help for new/inexperienced POs. Message me here or on Discord if you'd like advise on anything.
Traditionally CAS has always relied on teamwork between the PO and SL/scout. One of the most requested items in the game is a tac bino crate from REQ since so often SLs die as early as possible, however it has always been turned down (for now at least).
If you take away the necessity of teamwork then PO will end up just like TC, what you make of that statement is up to you though.
My argument is that, for balance reasons and bitching from frequent xeno players, CAS will probably never be that great or viable. Once you got a competent CAS PO and a competent SL who, god forbid, learn how to coordinate CAS for the marine advantage consistently, xenos will have no way to counter it unless they retreat to caves and pick off most of the marines. You can say that xenos can flank, but how are they supposed to be able to handle FOB defenses?
There is a balance wall for CAS in its current state, but maybe when we have the CAS rework, boilers will provide that necessary delay to fight FOB defenses, which itself could prove to be what will make new CAS practically useless. In first contact, CAS would be the ultimate pushing tool like grenades used to be pre-explosive resistance. By the time boilers AA marines might be pushing super hard in conjunction with CAS. Then CAS will not be utilized until xenos push marines out of caves to a FOB. Personally I don't have a problem with this, but there will definitely be people complaining on the xeno side about how powerful CAS is as a pushing tool. A good thing to note is that I've been considering balance of CAS primarily on LV. With other maps, I'd be interested in what other predictions you guys have for reworked CAS to play out.
CAS is essentially an off-screen attack. If you make it too potent, good marines will figure out how to use it effectively and, inevitably, it will get nerfed to the ground. On the flipside, if it's not powerful enough, either due to delays, lack of damage/stuns, or having too good of a counter, then it will be underutilized if utilized at all. As much as I'd like there to be a middle ground, I can't easily think of one. If anything, it would be related to how the CAS weapons work.
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