More Solutions for the Hard-to-Kill

Did someone just bring a knife to a Tank Fight?

Recently, there has been a large outcry regarding the balance of Heavy Armor and other hard to kill unconventional assets on the battlefield, like tanks. We feel like Heavies are fine [save a tad too much damage at 40m+ or so] The real issue is that we need more assets and equipment that are designed to take down heavies, vehicles and address their weaknesses. The real beauty of Dust 514 lies in its customization and ability to attack a problem with multiple solutions.

While countless threads have correctly pointed out how most players  unfamiliar with this game's mechanics try to take on the hard to kill head on and fail miserably, we also think its important to provide more options for engaging assets or personnel that require concentrated fire or equipment dedicated to their destruction.


Anti-Infantry Proximity Mines - The real beauty of Dust 514 is in its balance and rock, paper, scissors aspect. Heavies will never have equipment access [and never should] so there is an entire group of assets they have no access to. While scanners havent been fully unlocked yet, we're certain they will provide valuable battlefield intel like the location of enemy assets. Case in point: Infantry Prox Mines. EVEs mythology virtually guarantees that these will make an appearance at some point. We'd hope that theyll be balanced by having the 'arming' animation be lengthy along with the damage considerable when enemy dropsuits get into a 5m range or so. We should also have the ability to destroy these [and get 5-10pts] and the location of these should be relayed to our teammates if we see them first. These are a great way to counter Heavies by making them more dependent on their teammates with scanning equipment.

Artillery - Mortars were a solid addition to BF3 but we can only dream at what CCP could do with assets like these with their commitment to balance. While friendly fire is essential before even thinking about adding assets like these, the passive spotting, grid system and ability to mark targets [which all mercs will hopefully have soon] will all help the implementation of equipment like this to combat tanks or targets in a fixed position. We'd hope that it would also require a long animation to place mortars in addition to targets being limited by what allies spot or reveal with scanners. Lastly, while higher tier mortars will no doubt have longer ranges, it would be nice to see ordnance that strikes the ground and detonates, in addition to area of affect shells that explode in the air over a target and affect a greater area.

AV Mines - Noobs are suffering mightily at the hand of tanks so the sooner they get access to militia and higher level AV Proximity explosives the better. Our only issue here is that the marketplace does not show the damage these assets do. This is valuable information and mercs can't be expected to throw ISK or SP at a problem without knowing what theyre getting into. While they remain in a fixed position, these explosives provide a great alternate way to defend against tanks.

Urban Maps - In areas with buildings that cater to close quarters, movement is king. Maps like these provide a plethora of areas in which to hide, get behind cover and stage guerilla style tactics. These maps are more friendly to infantry as vehicles can easily be outflanked in close areas and ambushed with AV weaponry. This would also expose the easily flanked nature of slow moving personnel and provide the cover necessary for the faster moving dropsuits to get away quickly and use the environment to their advantage.

Sticky Remote Explosives - Giving mercs the ability to plant remote explosives on the side of tanks and other vehicles would be another great way to combat HAVs effectively. While we don't expect one charge to destroy a behemoth tank, the damage of multiple charges should be considerable. Balance lies in the fact that infantry need to get close enough to touch tanks to place these.

The inevitability of friendly fire mishaps with assets like artillery and even explosives are another reason why communication has to be taken up a notch. In addition to defaulting voicechat on in squad with PTT off and adding proximity chat [so that people can atleast hear people talking to them] Its in the games best interests to allow the squad leaders and field commander to talk on a different channel, in addition to giving the field commander the ability to address everyone under his command if necessary.

Nothing prevents a mortar shelling that wipes out squads of friendlies like a warning similar to 'incoming ordnance in 30 seconds!' with a map grid location. And this is a consequence players would gladly have. Nothing is worse than 'force field' area of affect weaponry that can be used to advance forces into a location because it mysteriously only affects the enemy. Gamers are a savvy bunch, and if you think they aren't ready to take full advantage of friendly fire OFF mechanics you've got another thing coming. [Editor's note: This is no longer an issue as CCP Praetorian has confirmed FF will be coming soon, Bravo CCP]

As always, we'll continue to attempt to help push and publish ideas that help establish, enhance and grow the Dust 514 community as much as we can. Have any ideas that need sharing? Would you like to join our staff as a writer? Be sure to contact us at magww@live.com,