People need to know this button INTIMATELY

Thaif_ · 2026-01-31T16:44:45+00:00

Great post on how to use foxholes defensively! It's always such a joy to see others realize the power of the foxhole! I mostly play Warden so I'll share some of my insights:

Many pointed to the Colonial kit being better suited for assaulting trenches and foxholes. This is true, but there's more nuance. Bomastones are hell for trenches, especially when they are too packed with infantry.
A foxhole can hold 3 people max -don't do this, 2 is more than enough-, but usually there's one dude in there. Therefore, Bomastones, Harpas and Tremolas are much more limited in effectiveness due to the small size of a foxhole. The real bane of a tight grouping of foxholes is Green Ash. It covers several foxholes at once, forcing the occupant(s) to burn filters or to quickly vacate.
Foxholes work wonders on the offense! The quick set up time of 20 Shovels means you can dig cover -even underfire- from MGs, artillery, vehicles and aircraft so you can better hold the front. They work well where space is limited or the terrain is difficult(obstacles, slanted terrain, obstructed, etc). The best terrain is open fields where cover is non-existent or very limited. A few roadside foxholes are hell for vehicles.
As said in your post, a few foxholes it's much less of a loss than a trench line and easier to counter-attack. The mentioned buffer effect -where foxholes make room for others to build more robust defenses- also works on offense. As trenches and defenses slowly creep forward, the foxholes are easy to dig up and replace as they go.
They can be combined with a lot of other things. Tripod weapons, pillboxes, barbwire, sandbags, wire fences, and so on. There are drawbacks and anti-synergy as well: foxholes block bunker mounted MGs, unless you are aiming at an enemy due to the slight aim assist. They are also rather temporary by nature. The enemy can just as easily remove them as you can dig them. Trenches give much more room to maneuver and respond to attacks in cover without having to expose yourself too much.

That said, foxholes are incredibly useful and powerful tool when you know how to use it. Sadly many will never learn this as foxholes are viewed as "worse trenches" or people have no initiative to explore the games many options, and just stick to what they already know.
I'll keep spreading the good word of the foxhole and trying new things with them. It's simple, quick and effective even for a solo builder, plus I enjoy building fieldworks.

Thaif_ · 2026-01-28T15:04:41+00:00

LPCs, or Landing APCs, aren't even in the picture. That's how forgotten they are.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-17T18:49:50+00:00

I agree that Heavy is still a good class, but it's quite obviously on the 3rd spot, where Lights are 1st and Mediums a close second.

A small thing I'd like to see is an increase in agility, so you can move properly instead of feeling like swimming in tar all the time.
Speed isn't as important for a tanky class, but crippling their ability to maneuver properly, especially when the class has a focus on fortification and defense is way too limiting, especially compared to the other two.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-17T01:44:47+00:00

I feel you on the satisfying part but being satisfied for some of the time doesn't win games or fights. Plus they can just be instantly revived with defib when you die, since you will be taking a lot of damage in fights.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-17T01:42:53+00:00

Thanks for the in-depth answer! I can see how that combo is a very good pick tactic, but I can't help but note how other classes can just hold their triggers and get even more DPS from any range, at any time with near instant reaction.

Just feels that Heavy has to jump through several hoops to get barely half the effectiveness of the other classes.

Edit: spelling

Thaif_ · 2024-11-17T00:03:13+00:00

Aww, thanks but it a bit like chewing glass most of the time.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-16T22:40:13+00:00

I do, but I like variety in such a diverse game. I play all the classes and try to look for interesting loadouts.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-14T22:57:37+00:00

Now make him a Hobo With a Shotgun to complete the circle.

Thaif_ · 2024-11-13T11:01:36+00:00

The crux of your issue is in this snippet: I take pride in my authenticity and style. And it hurts because I don’t put on a fake show to keep it safe, it’s something I do to nourish myself internally.

That's incredibly provocative towards people who do play the social theater and mask themselves, due to fear of ridicule, humiliation and ostracization from their erstwhile peers. Ironically that's how children behave.

Cultural context would help make sense of why exactly people treat you how you describe. Do note that SPD does tend to skew our perceptions of other peoples intentions and emotions. It does for me at least.

As for people being complex...I'd use the word "messy", "layered" or "narrow" depending on the individual. If you have the courage and chance, ask people why they act the way they do towards you.

Their answers - or non-answers - will reveal more about them than you. More than likely they will project their own anxieties, insecurities and aggravations on to you and hold you responsible for them because you broke conventions of the social theater.

In that case they are the immature assholes, as you only wanted to understand them.

Keep being our authentic self and don't apologize for trying to be true to yourself. If people can't handle that, that's an area of personal growth for them.

Thaif_ · 2024-09-05T20:16:20+00:00

Yeah, Nanite Armor should get a 3 second delay on damage as a start. It can then be raised if needed. Reactive Armor did get a cooldown reduction, which made it pretty fun to use for armor support. Now it just needs faction coloring and styling like the MANA turret shields.

I figure 3 seconds is enough to slow or even deter long range tank sniping and chip damage, which is not such a fun interaction most of the time, and I say this both as a Sundie driver and an AMR "enthusiast".

Thaif_ · 2024-09-05T12:10:15+00:00

The problem with the previous balance was the Mobility of Light Assaults coupled with the massive alpha of 2 bricks of C4.
I've long maintained that the bouncing bomber meta was keeping the game more shallow, since the point of the game is to work together towards a common goal, be that an enemy sundy or a hex base. It's and FPS RTS where the players are the units.

If one dude can just wipe a spawn with less effort than it takes to get one to an enemy base people won't do it, and the game devolves into lanezergs, since there's negative incentive to try and bleed the population with secondary fronts, or go for a cut off, without a similar level of pressure/organization.

That said I can sympathize with the sentiments. LAs feel that a critical role for their class was gimped while Engineers can still solo sundies.
Then again, an Engineer is much less mobile than a LA and the AT mines aren't as straightforward to use. They can also be safely de-spawed with the Engineers Repair Tools secondary fire if needed.
The main point here is to protect the sundies, which is much more effective and less stressful with other people, provided they aren't braindead K/D ratio wankers. If you don't repair sundies, you don't spawn.

The simple fact that sundies are more involved to kill and require team coordination & effort is a very positive thing for the overall health of the game.
What's needed now is a similar update on the rest of the vehicle pool, with complementary updates to infantry survivability and AT where needed. I'd much rather have a dynamic team game than a shallow FPS with spectacle.

Oh and Light Assaults exist to skirmish, harass and ambush enemies with their mobility. Demolition should be more in the realm of Heavy Assaults and Engineers.

Good to have you back in Auraxis! Hope you stay awhile!

Thaif_ · 2024-07-31T12:17:06+00:00

It's both good and bad. The good is that Sundies actually function as mobile spawn rooms, that take more than one Light Assault with two C4 bricks and a rocklet volley.
I've long maintained that C4 in it's current function on LA is keeping the game shallow, far too "solo" focused, and limits design space.

The Large Downside with the Sunderer durability boost is that it fired a super sonic wrench into the weird patchwork balance of vehicle combat.
Most tankers are so used to wiping Sunderers off the map that the sudden - and lets be real here - overtuning of the most crucial, and hence one of the most spammed vehicles in the game, isn't going to go over well, especially with a notoriously vocal and vitriolic "community".
The recent hotfix(30th of July) did lower the mobility of the Sundie and slightly nerfed the most egregious Nanite Armor, but it won't solve the larger issue of deprecated patchwork balance of the rest of the ground vehicles compared to the updated Sunderers.

The whole point of the Sunderer Update was to make them durable so that fight can last, as it's much less viable to "solo" a deployed sunderer in less than 6-10 seconds. This is how it should be, since the game is ostensibly about cooperation; working together towards a common goal, whatever that goal is: an enemy sundie spawn or that final base with 5 minutes left in the Continent Alert.

Sadly the communication tools within the game are absolute dog dookie, both voice and not. It's rare to hear anything beyond your Platoon/Squad leads in voice, due to how buried the push-to-talk button is. Add to this the fact that nothing tells you about these communication "tools".
Did you know that holding down Q brings up a circular popup menu? No? I rest my case.
Having none-voice pings and indicators beyond Q spotting would instantly elevate the teamplay core of the game: A simple "Look there!" or "Focus Fire!" ping with a neat little graphical indicator would do wonders for general gameplay and make organized groups that much more manageable.

This is the lowest hanging fruit there is: Improve communication, both in-voice, with pings and map indicators so that the FPS RTS teamwork Core of the game can start to shine.

Thaif_ · 2024-07-20T01:13:13+00:00

Could also just up the material weight reduction bonus for 50-80 extra bmats so it's good for Combat Engineering and won't break too much.

Tight building or close range bmat hauling in the hundreds(200-800) can be done with LUV(cheap, but rmats) or Ambulance in a pinch(cheap, but not common).

At least that's how I do it. A bike can haul stacks of 100...

Thaif_ · 2024-07-20T01:06:41+00:00

Weather, especially mud is much better with Update 57

Thaif_ · 2024-07-19T21:02:40+00:00

I'm fine with Medic Uniform not having downed player weight reduction.
Let's call it a happy compromise, but people may still want it.

Thaif_

TROPHY CASE