VTOL overhaul [Rebalance 0.8]

[Zarel]

And it's time for Rebalance 0.8!

First on our list is an overhaul for VTOL balance.

While VTOLs are somewhat balanced, they don't have nearly as much variety for dealing with them than other unit types. Until T3, you only have one weapon line for dedicated anti-air: The Hurricane line, which are all pretty similar right now.

But that's gonna change in Rebalance 0.8 (due in 2.3.5 if I can convince cybersphinx to include it ).

Bombarded by Collective VTOLs, the Project's Hurricane AA turrets weren't strong enough to repel the increasing numbers. Desperate for a better anti-aircraft weapon, Project engineers modified the Mini-Rocket Array to create the Sunburst AA Rocket Array, which they hoped would be enough until they researched true SAMs.

Sunburst AA Rocket Array
Prerequisites: Lancer AT Rocket
Turret name: Sunburst AA
Emplacement name: Sunburst AA Battery
Can be mounted on ground units as well as air units.

Sunburst AA
Damage: 90s kinetic anti-tank rocket (splash: 70, radius: 1)
Targets: Air
ROF: 80, 8 shots every 6 seconds
Range: 8-18
Accuracy: 40%-50%
Weight: 250

VTOL Sunburst AA
Damage: 90s kinetic anti-tank rocket (splash: 70, radius: 1)
Targets: Air
ROF: 80, 8 shots every 6 seconds
Range: 8-18
Accuracy: 50%-60%
Attack runs: 10
Weight: 250

After creating the Hyper Velocity Cannon, Project engineers noticed that their newest cannon was fast enough to be reasonably decent at hitting air units. They started experimenting with their cannon designs in hopes of creating even more powerful AA, and eventually created the Flak Cannon, a dedicated anti-air cannon.

AA Flak Cannon
Prerequisites: Hyper Velocity Cannon
Turrent name: Flak Cannon
Emplacement name: Flak Cannon Site
Can be mounted on ground units as well as air units.

Flak Cannon
Damage: 200s kinetic anti-tank cannon (splash: 180, radius: 2.5)
Targets: Air
ROF: 15, 1 shot every 4 seconds
Range: 12-16
Accuracy: 80%-65%
Weight: 4000

VTOL Flak Cannon
Damage: 200s kinetic anti-tank cannon (splash: 180, radius: 2.5)
Targets: Air
ROF: 20, 1 shot every 3 seconds
Range: 12-16
Accuracy: 80%-65%
Attack Runs: 24
Weight: 2000

[Olrox]

Sunburst AA Rockets

Early model. The pods are placed slightly higher than the turret's center to avoid clipping when they turn upwards.
Is it good? I'm mapping it already, actually

~Olrox

[Jorzi]

looks nice:)
I guess the zeus flak cannon will simply be two Hpv cannon barrels on a cyclone turret?
Does VTOL sunburst mean there will finally be air-to-air capabilities?

[Zarel]

I've decided to rename it to simply "Flak Cannon". I'm not sure what Olrox is going to make it look like, but I trust his judgment.

And yes, we will be getting air-to-air weapons. Two of them. Actually, I'm considering also adding Avenger and Hurricane to the air-to-air weapon list.

[Black Project]

Yeah, finally we're going to have dedicated Air-to-Air weapons to hunt down those pesky heavy scorpion bombers

It's great to have a more variety of anti-air weapons, i'm tired of building only Hurricane/Cyclone/Whirlwind AA Sites.

I guess myself that we gonna have real dogfights in Warzone, especially on those freakin'-loved squared/NTW maps (if the host do not disable VTOLs )

Regards BP

[KukY]

Yay! We really do need a AA rocket/missile tech earlier in the game!

[Olrox]

Textured, using Green Teamcolor (I've still got to learn how to separate the models in levels, so that specific polygons are used in certain teams, since this implies on mapping the models in a different way - any help is much appreciated )

"SARP" - Sunburst AA Rocket Pod - Front

"SARP" - Sunburst AA Rocket Pod - Back

~Olrox

[Olrox]

Perhaps the Flak could be called Albatross? I'll do some research on flak guns and see if I manage to get some ideas. What I've got in mind right now is a multi-barreled (not too much "multi", just 2 ,3 or 4 barrels) cannon with long, medium caliber barrels

~Olrox

[Zarel]

Perhaps the Flak could be called Albatross? I'll do some research on flak guns and see if I manage to get some ideas. What I've got in mind right now is a multi-barreled (not too much "multi", just 2 ,3 or 4 barrels) cannon with long, medium caliber barrels

I think that, since the other cannons don't have nicknames, they're just "Heavy Cannon" and "Hyper Velocity Cannons", the Flak Cannon doesn't really need a nickname either.

[Olrox]

Alternative version. Thoughts?

SARP-2 Front

SARP-2 Back

I think that, since the other cannons don't have nicknames, they're just "Heavy Cannon" and "Hyper Velocity Cannons", the Flak Cannon doesn't really need a nickname either.

But it targets only Air. Maybe it'd be interesting to break the naming logic to make it more obvious that it's not a regular cannon?

~Olrox

[Berg]

Textured, using Green Teamcolor (I've still got to learn how to separate the models in levels, so that specific polygons are used in certain teams, since this implies on mapping the models in a different way - any help is much appreciated )

Your need for team colours can be achieve by using the 4000 flag on the per poly you want to have team coloured
You dont need to have levels in the pie files
Poly data that has 8 frames is treated as team colours I think see the wiki on pie format for more info.

[Rman Virgil]

.

It strikes me that if the Tank Transport is introduced to MP GP this could dovetail nicely with counter tacs.

- RV

.

[Olrox]

Flak gun, early version

Okay, this is my first conception of a flak gun. Its barrels are already tilted 15 degrees upwards so that it is intuitively visible that it will shot at angles rather than straight forward. I've added the antenna to give a more characteristic look to it. Probably I'll use a different texture than the cannons for the barrels, to give more dirrence. The turret shape resembles cannons, as does the targeting sensor thingy on the side

I feel like something could be better but I can't seem to get it. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any critics!

[EDIT]: Made the barrels thinner, they were too thick before, IMO.

~Olrox

[Jorzi]

Maybe a 2x2 organizing of the rockets is more practical than 1x3, it would also correspond well to the proposed stats (8 projectiles).
Another thing, the "lighting" on the rocket batteries is more consistent if you duplicate and move the second battery instead of mirroring it

[Olrox]

Maybe a 2x2 organizing of the rockets is more practical than 1x3, it would also correspond well to the proposed stats (8 projectiles).

Probably I'll make them 1x4 each in this case. It needs to be a short turret because it will possibly be used in VTOLs as well.
But I agree that it makes much more sense to have 8 tubes since it fires 8-rocket salvos. I didn't even note the number of shots, Zarel requested me to make it 1x3 rather than 2x3 and I ade it

Another thing, the "lighting" on the rocket batteries is more consistent if you duplicate and move the second battery instead of mirroring it

Sure, I was thinking about it myself. Simple to fix