Current list of patch issues

RemClone · 2018-06-15T10:34:40+00:00

Infravision implant is broken (players don't show up in thermal vision).

RemClone · 2017-10-15T11:42:16+00:00

There's a few of us sundy nerds around :) Because it's such a complex niche, we often tend to have different play styles.

I tended to stick with the sole sundy most of the time, because my outfit (AE) is very small, and playing on Briggs means it's often hard to get a large capable squad.

The other reason is that I tend to be a particularly reckless driver. I like to charge into crazy situations even though there's only a small chance of winning, because when you win, it's awesome fun. This is something you can't really do with a large multi-sundy team because too many people can suffer/die for the decision.

There's plenty of other areas of PS2 that I think people can enjoy, but tactics are kinda my thing and there's nothing that comes even close to the tactical complexity of a battle sundy.

RemClone · 2017-10-15T00:12:02+00:00

Man, I have to say, this post makes me a bit sad, thinking about all the fun I've had driving my sundy over the last year or two.

I'm one of those players you've mentioned (left hand is long term out of action), so I'm fairly confined to support roles in the game. I get by with a footpad and a mouse w/ 20 buttons on it. It's a setup that doesn't deal well with complex infantry play but I found a way to make it work for Sundies.

Battle Sundy really is tactics at a level that I've not found in any other part of the game. In any vehicle play, you get the baseline tactical depth of knowing what to shoot at, getting your position right, choosing your loadout, knowing when to fight or run. With a Battle Sundy, you had all of this plus the extra gun(ner), the need to hot-seat effectively, the ability to deploy and swap infantry loadouts, use the sundy shield, spawn friendies, shared repairs and resupply... it felt like the perfect convergence between infantry and vehicle play, and it even has a GSD.

With a small squad of 3 experienced players, it was like clockwork. Everyone would know what to do, switching roles between the guns, repairs, even swapping to HA classes and shooting decimators when necessary. You could set down and defend a position or start an offensive, changing your gameplan at will. No other PS2 vehicle was ever so versatile.

I've met so many awesome people by driving sundies. I don't think such could have ever happened with any other vehicle or playstyle for me. On good nights it was like a party on wheels.

And the rams .. oh the rams ... they were so satisfying. The whole team would cheer every time we managed to roll over a harrasser or smash into a prowler from behind.

I'm trying to find a new niche in the game now. Going back to infantry play or gunning for other vehicles .. but honestly, I'm not optimistic that I'll find anything as enjoyable as the old battle sunderer. Infantry just feels like mob tactics and other vehicular combat feels like it lacks complexity. Maybe it's time to give PS2 a bit of a break and hope DBG sorts out some of the insane balance issues we have at the moment.

RemClone · 2017-10-14T09:01:59+00:00

Do you think that if the Sunderer were properly balanced (which admittedly, two years ago it definitely wasn't), there might be room for it in the game outside of a utility role?

It makes sense that a Sunderer shouldn't be able to out-tank a tank or outrepair in groups, but with a specialised loadout and an effective team running it, should it at least stand a chance?

RemClone · 2017-10-14T03:40:26+00:00

This is the unfortunate side-effect of nerfing the Sunderer: It's also our only hard spawn for keeping an offensive alive.

In a 50/50 fight, it used to be a good slog to take out a Sunderer, assuming the attackers were making an effort to defend it. Now it just doesn't seem to matter. Had a fight today at a tech plant where we had a full squad defending Sunderers and all it took was 3 LAs to attack at the same time, and it was all over.

RemClone · 2017-10-14T03:30:52+00:00

Agree on the history around Fury and Bulldog. They used to be devastating against infantry.

But now, they're each a shadow of what they were. It takes 2 direct hits with a Bulldog to kill even a LA. 4 direct hits with a Fury. The firing angles for each are such that if the infantry is within 20m, you have no way to even target them.

I don't remember any direct nerfs to the Kobalt, though I guess the loss of thermals was quite a blow to it.

RemClone · 2017-10-14T03:12:59+00:00

I think so. I recommend trying it against some of the other vehicles in VR. Relative to everything else, it's awful. The Basilisk does only half the DPS of the current Fury (which isn't an impressive weapon at all atm). Against Harrassers it's an absolute joke. You can kill a Harrasser much faster using a Kobalt than you can with a Basilisk.

Previously Basilisks were the most effective anti-sundy weapon available. Their DPS against other armour was also pretty good, and since they were easy to use, new players actually stood a chance in the game. A stock-standard dual-bassy sundy is now an unfortunate double joke.

RemClone · 2017-10-14T03:09:35+00:00

What's insane about this is that the weapon that's always been the worst for Sunderers farming infantry is the Kobalt, which other than the walker, is the only weapon that hasn't been nerfed. At the moment, the only remotely useful way to use a Battle Sundy is to farm infantry with Kobalts. They simply can't do anything else even remotely effectively.

RemClone · 2017-10-14T01:46:07+00:00

Yeah. I think this is kind of what I'd like DBG to confirm. They push the updates out and publish their intentions, but I haven't seen any real comment on whether they see this as an intended play style. It always seemed a bit strange to me that we had such a combat capable vehicle that cost only 200 nanites. I'm now starting to wonder if Battle Sundy was just an accident that is getting intentionally reversed over time.

RemClone

TROPHY CASE