Like adding mopeds and dirtbikes and Broangen Dirt Track has turned GZ into âGZ MX 2023ââŠ?
No, adding the bikes did not suddenly make it a bike simulator. Just adding a tank would not suddenly make it a tank simulator.
Just adding something to the game doesnât necessarily transform it into anything else. Not if the implementation is handled right. The motorbikes, for instance.
When the devs added the motorbikes, they seemed to have nerfed the ability of the machines to notice players riding the bicycles. It has become super easy, on XB at least, to ride a bicycle right through or past a huge crowd of machines, without drawing their attention at all. Without any stealth perks. Used to be that the rapid movement and high stance would get their attention. Then came the motorbikes, and suddenly bicycling around was somehow super stealthy, far too stealthy. Meanwhile, the sound the bikes make doesnât seem to generate enough interest, either. The noise should almost be a death sentence⊠This is an instance, in my opinion, of somewhat flawed implementation. The bicycles should have had some cargo capability, saddlebags. Same for the mopeds, and dirtbikes, and all the trikesânot just the âplundra-crafting-recycling-linkedâ trikeâŠand stealthy should not be the case, with any of them.
Sure, youâre right to caution against it to some extent, but itâs just that the implementation would have to be handled correctly. Not that it shouldnât be done at all, wholesale.
Like with the bikes, the sound of a tankâs engines running should also pretty much be a death sentence, if the tank is unsupported. Like I mentioned before about crew-served weapons, the inconvenience of them versus the payoff, and the same for any possible tank. Again, as Saunders pointed out as well. A tank would be the sort of thing best used only in co-op. A serious risk. A liability, despite the strength.
To reference Maverick, whether the S-Tank would be just an armored coffin or a superweaponâŠwould come down to the playerS using it. âThe pilotâ and/or those around them. Is the tank well used, and/or well supported? Or was it an idiot at the controls, and/or folks who know nothing of teamwork, combined arms tactics, who were doing whatever it was they were doing around it? And the situationâwas it the right time/place/circumstance to employ such a weapon, or was it not?
Anyway, just because a player has or gets access to something, does not necessarily mean they MUST use it, or even WILL use it. The lowest common denominator, the great unwashed masses, MIGHT see it that way, but thatâs them. Not everybody. A good game does not JUST cater to OR limit itself because of the lowest common denominator, the great unwashed masses. They branch out a little more, with a little something for everyone. Within reason, sure.
Sure, any implementation would have to be carefully handledâŠbut it shouldnât be immediately written off, in my opinion.
As for using an S-Tank only for one missionâŠI hate seeing that in games. Itâs a waste of time, for a developer to come up with some great trick or featureâŠto only use it ONCE. Or even TWICE. A game should always make a bit more use of whatever feature than that. I seriously hope Iâm not alone in that. Just weigh the costs versus the benefit. To go through all the time and effort to do something, to then only do it once, or twiceâŠ
Speaking of which, as much as I initially hated the truck escort missions for FNIX Rising, we really ought to end up escorting another vehicle at some point. At least once more. Lot of work, to make that truck workâŠeven as badly as it did. Improvements to be made, better implementation, but the idea wasnât a bad one. Likewise, the mission-oriented area defense missions for the ringfort and Bjorntunet⊠We should see more of thoseâboth those mission types. If not in this game, then in the next.
Now, if they implemented the tank as aee proposes, that might be fine. Either randomly spawned, pre-positioned, or mission/side-mission specific trap uses⊠Limited or zero mobility. If Iâm not mistaken, that was a possibility I also mentioned before, when I spoke of crew-served weapons at some point.
I think one crew served weapon example I provided was about like so: The player stumbles across a guided missile launcher emplacement, or just a heavy MG, or an automatic grenade launcher, in amongst some military strongpointâŠthe weapon is in working condition, there is some ammo scattered around the area, they can gather the ammo up and move it to the weapon, but they maybe cannot move the weaponâŠthere are enemies out in the field to the front, which the player can then engage with the emplaced weapon. Doing so is going to alert every machine in the area, so it is going to be risky. They can lure the machines out into the open and get them to gather up, first, by using any lures they may possess, if theyâre smart, to make the use of the emplaced weapon less riskyâŠor they may have to deal with the risk, with getting flanked and having the weapon destroyed before they can exhaust the ammunition.
Likewise, with the immobilized S-Tank⊠Speaking of immobilized, there is more than one way to render a tank immobile. It isnât necessary to destroy the engine(s). The tracks, alone, can be damaged or destroyed. Likewise, the suspension can be damaged or destroyed. Believe it or not, the vehicle can even just be hung up on somethingâwell strung concertina wire, barbed wire, as we see around the numerous trenches, the trenches themselves, earthworks, fallen trees, large tree stumps, boulders⊠A tankâs mobility can be seriously limited in so many ways. Many of these means could be used to create different unique situations, where an S-Tank can be turned in place, but cannot be taken out of the area.
It could be a whole new âprocedural/dynamicâ mission archetype. That might be the best way to implement the tank, while also preventing over-use. At least, it could be a good start. Mission could go a bit like so: âRumors of an S-Tank that might still be functional have started going aroundâŠbut the area is dangerous, crowded with enemies. Go there, investigate the location, and see if weâve found something to even the odds!â Player gets there, tank is hung up in barbed wire and badly damagedâŠor partially buried in rubble (debris of a house/other building/landslide/rockslide/etc)âŠor completely immobilizedâŠwhatever other possibilities.
In any case, it is not going to be something the Resistance can bring back from the brink of death so readily, just yet. Player then has the option to quietly leave, or wreak havoc on the nearby enemies and exhaust that specific tankâs usefulness. Major rewards on one of the machines out in front of the tank, possibly a mission-specific Rival spawns with the mission and the player MUST destroy it to complete the mission, regardless of whether they use the tank to do that or not.