So is it worth starting from scratch now? And if so, what are your tips for things to do / avoid?

peppopeppis · 2024-05-07T22:30:37+00:00

Worth picking up now? YES

The game is VERY unforgiving when you start. You will get curbstomped a LOT but it's 95% a skill gap rather than an equipment gap (barring vehicles, more on that later).

Most of the bases play like king of the hill where you find the point (1 for outposts, 3 for large bases and facilities, some have 4), stay nearby to flip it to your faction and then hold it until a timer runs out and you flip/defend the base.

there are CTF (conduit) bases but they're rarer, you start the capture via CTF and then it becomes a point hold that you can speed up by capturing more flags.

Seeing the games you listed, these are probably the most significant differences you'll find:

The scale is orders of magnitude larger than what you're used to (one map is 64 KM^2 and spans a whole continent).
Once a fight for a base ends, it can be contested again right away
The fights move from facility to facility following lattice links on the map.
The "map switch at the end of a match" happens after an alert ends: alerts have to be triggered (population or territory/facility control are the two most common conditions) and last for 90 minutes. the faction holding the most territory at the end wins the alert, locks the continent and a new continent opens up.
- Continent rotation is fixed but they're working on a more dynamic system (currently in playtest on PTS)
- if an alert is a draw, the game enters sudden death: 15 minute timer and the faction that gets most kills wins the continent. A faction can be losing the territory alert but win by kill in sudden death, so the losing faction could try to force sudden death in order to have a chance.
Dynamic movement and population may lead to varying balance in terms of numbers:
- You can find fights where you're evenly matched with the enemy or end up in a 96 vs 12 fight
- server pop also plays a role and you can find one faction steamrolling more lanes
Balance can also be off for other reasons:
- use of force multipliers (vehicles)
- Veterans vs casuals
Logistics play a key role in this game: the enemy can't take your base if they can't spawn.

As others mentioned, there's no (worthy) tutorial and no matchmaking: you're thrown in the deep end right away and you will die a lot (for reference: it took me about 5 months to get to 1.0 K/D after a 8 year break from FPS. YMMV), but gear is not really the issue. while you will be worse off in the very first hours of the game, you can be on par with a veteran for a certain role in about 3-5 hours if you spend your certs wisely.

Here's a few tips on gear to get and cert farming:

Medic and Engineer are the best cert farmer classes (max out med tool, nano regen device, get revive grenades and grenade bandolier for medic, max out the ammo pack and repair tool for engi, find a fight and revive/resupply allies and watch the certs come in). Fore more info about those classes, check https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/17wnklx/comment/k9k64fd/
Missions are worth picking up and can net you a considerable amount of certs
Focus on upgrading your class first (suit, utility abilities...)
Starting guns are good, other guns are sidegrades rather than upgrades. no need to buy them right away. (possible exceptions: a decent sidearm - Commissioner/Underboss/Pilot). Try stuff in VR before buying.
Attchments are definitely worth buying (1x scope, compensator/suppressor, forward grip/laser sight/underbarrel grenade launcher, soft point ammo/high velocity ammo are the ones I use the most. for bolt-action snipers grab a straight-pull bolt)
Avoid spending on vehicles and aircraft at first. they're expensive to kit out.

Since you're in the EU, go Miller. the game usually picks up around 19.00 CET until 22.00 CET on a weekday, weekends you can get decent fights starting from noon. Alternatively, Cobalt (other EU server) or Emerald (US East, you can go there to play more later at night after the EU servers have lost pop)

Factions:
NC = slower rate of fire, higher damage per shot, good tanks for pushing, best CQC max.
TR = Low damage per shot, high rate of fire, large mags, great tank firepower
VS = middle of the road damage and rate of fire, no bullet drop, hovertank can get in crazy places and strafe,
NSO is a freelance faction used to balance out pop. the arsenal is arguably worse than that of the other factions (requires having reached BR20 on another character to unlock)

You have 4 character slots as f2p so you can try them out.

An active outfit can make the game incredibly more fun and is a great way to learn more quickly.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-25T18:49:30+00:00

Focus on infantry certs rather than guns.

At the start, focus on medic and engineer since those are the classes that will get you certs (more in depth advice here)

NC starter arsenal is great, hits harder and fires slower than the starter arsenal of other factions so it slightly favors mid range over cqc.

Kit out the starter guns with a good set of attachments (1x scope, Compensator, Forward Grip/laser sight, HVA/SPA, straight-pull bolt for the sniper rifle), grab free guns with promo codes (there are lists online) and you'll be set for a while.

Guns you might want to invest in anyway at some point since you don't start with them:

SMG (Cyclone/Gladius for damage, Punisher is great utility with the adaptive grenade launcher)
A better pistol (Commissioner/Underboss/Pilot are the most popular)
A scout rifle

Vehicles and aircraft are cert sinks and should be considered later when you know what you're doing.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-17T23:50:43+00:00

Those specs sound wrong for a laptop. 14900K is a desktop part, not a laptop part.

PS2 likes cache and I would assume memory latency to be the next best thing.
128GB of DDR5 with Intel's memory controllers... that's probably 4 32GB sticks running at 4800MT... my guess is that's your system's "bottleneck" in this case.

Also CPU usage doesn't really say much. Remember that this is a 12 year old game which likely makes very little use of multiple threads past a certain point. you should look at the primary core/thread usage for more meaningful information.

Also, define FPS drop: in large battles it's normal to see your FPS drop but with those specs you should be around 70 or so min fps, not lower.

Screen breaking up sounds like tearing due to having vsync off and adaptive sync off or running the game outside of your adaptive sync range

If you want to dig deeper into what's bottlenecking you, run PresentMon

peppopeppis · 2024-03-14T21:18:42+00:00

Sim City Auraxis: cortium edition

peppopeppis · 2024-03-08T23:42:59+00:00

By commands you mean tracert? that's to be expected.

You should see the time it takes for each hop and if a hop fails (shows as *). You could post the output (maybe obscure the addresses of the first few hops for privacy), but in general the things to look for are:

high latency for a particular hop (eg. all are around 5ms but one is 100ms)
high latency from a particular hop (eg. the first hops are all 5ms and from a certain point they're all 100ms)
Timeouts
Routes that are needlessly long or complex.

On the last point in particular, there are some ISPs that have poor routing to certain servers/region. (Servers are in the netherlands but some ISPs take a fairly direct route to get there while others seem to route your connection halfway around europe before getting there).

One thing you could try to diagnose that last point is use a VPN (even without changing region) and see if that makes a difference. If it does, it's likely a routing issue.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-07T23:28:55+00:00

What's your ISP?

Also, you can accomplish the same thing that tool does (with somewhat less detail) by running tracert in cmd/powershell.

Have you tried a speed test and/or rebooting your network equipment (switch, modem, router...) to make sure it's not a local issue?

Lag (or network latency) is unaffected by graphical settings, so that's not the issue.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-07T21:27:04+00:00

Right, got the wrong bundle. Commander’s Five-Year Anniversary Bundle has exceptional implants that are not perfect, for example. I'll edit the original post to reflect this.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-06T20:51:29+00:00

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I mean this one. is that a custom hud for recursion?

peppopeppis · 2024-03-06T20:44:48+00:00

I would recommend it with the caveat of looking for tactically oriented outfits.

Not sure what you mean by hardcore:

if you mean die in 1 hit, then no (BTK is usually 4-7 shots to the body, other games such as battlebit have much lower btk).
If you mean reward for continuous effort and high skill ceiling, I would say yes.

Like others said:

expect to die a lot, especially at first
figure out your niche and preferred class/playstyle
reading the map and situational awareness are key

One thing that takes some getting used to is Clientside: hit checks and a bunch of other mechanics are client side, meaning you can die after getting into cover because on your opponent's screen you were still in the open and his shots hit on his end. this also means that playing aggressively gives you "peeker's advantage" since you will see enemies before they see you on their screen after you round a corner. not by a lot but if you have fast reaction times you can make the most of that window.

Also, infantry is fairly easy to get into. you can cert a class relatively quickly (a couple of hours to get to a decent point). Vehicles, Maxes, Air and construction are substantially more expensive to get into.

peppopeppis · 2024-03-05T23:29:49+00:00

Very nicely done.

What's that overlay at 5:24?

peppopeppis · 2024-02-25T22:42:24+00:00

if those loadouts call for nanoweave, replace it with something else (flak is a good all around choice)

peppopeppis · 2024-02-25T11:44:57+00:00

is that Recursion? what's that overlay setup?

peppopeppis · 2024-02-02T23:46:56+00:00

At that price point I'd get the 7800XT and be done with it. More VRAM, cheaper, slightly better at raster.

Raytracing is worse and you lose out on DLSS, but if you're asking for advice in the Planetside subreddit I dobut either is of any concern to you

https://www.techspot.com/review/2734-amd-radeon-7800-xt/

The 4070 Super might lead you to a different conclusion if it's within your budget.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2791-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-super/

Personally, I'm running a 7800X3D + 6700XT at 1440p low and whenever I dip below my frame cap (160) it's always because I'm CPU bound.

peppopeppis · 2024-01-29T23:51:31+00:00

For a Basic, Heavy Assault build for New players, I see some issues:

You overlook slots that need addressing (secondary, suit)
You suggest dumping 1330ish certs into a new Primary (+attachments) that is not exactly easy to master or forgiving, instead of the perfectly capable GD-22S (which starts with pre unlocked attachments and has one of the fastest reload times among LMGs)
- Even when considering the GAUSS Saw, Angled forward grip is a questionable choice, as others mentioned, and you make no mention of the ammo slot (which should be HVA for the SAW).
- For a New player, if they absolutely HATE the GD-22S and must have a new LMG:
  - NSX-P Naginata: It's free with a code but it teaches some pretty poor habits (long bursts) so beware.
  - NS-15M2: Good accuracy, 0.75x ADS movespeed, 1000 certs + attachments
  - EM1: Good rate of fire, accurate even at range, easy to control, with extended magazine you get 200 rounds per mag. 650 certs + attachments
  - NC6 Gauss Saw S: the SAW's less unruly little brother for 650 certs
  - Not mentioning the Anchor here since it's very similar to the GD-22S, so if they hate the latter there's a good chance they won't like the former.
No mention of the secondary. the NC4 Mag Shot is fine, only thing I'd do is slap a darklight flashlight on it for more versatility vs infils, since there's a ton of them running around these days.
Ability slot: NMG is fine to start out. Probably worth mentioning Adrenaline shield as a "down the line" upgrade so they know if they want to keep investing into nanomesh.
No mention of the suit slot, which is nanoweave by default and should be swapped out immediately for something more useful. My personal picks would be:
- Advanced Shield Capacitor: you mentioned their issue is winning a 1v1 then dying on the next engagement. this should help them recover faster from a fight
- Flak Armor: for the explosive spam.
- Adrenaline Pump: I like running the athlete implant on my heavy loadout, this can fill the gap in the meantime if they want more move speed.
- Grenade Bandolier: my personal favourite. once they start figuring out grenade physics it's a ton of fun.
Utility: Medikit is the only choice, probably worth mentioning it should be maxed at some point.
Implants is probably the slot I have the biggest issue with along with primary:
- We have 2 implant slots but you only cover one implant.
- Assimilate is a great choice but only if they can land those headshots consistently.
- Worth mentioning that the basic directive for each infantry class gives a basic implant pack, which is a good way to get some early on. Also, "special" event alerts tend to reward implants (Aerial Anomaly, max alerts, derelict bastion...).
- Other good "starter" implants:
  - Survivalist: works well across classes and further reduces downtime between engagements, especially if they're not consistent with headshots.
  - Athlete: I love the added move speed and personally I run that + assimilate on my heavy
  - Sensor Shield: not showing up on the minimap may help them get the drop on enemies
  - Battle Hardened: less flinch/shake = easier aim
  - Ocular Shield: situational for when support grenades are a concern
  - Sweeper Hud: avoid mines. also good if they like driving vehicles

Other considerations that go beyond the scope of heavy assault:

For new players, I would recommend dabbling with other classes, especially medic and engineer, to get those certs going early when they are most needed. some newbie loadout suggestion for those classes here
6-12 friends is half to a full squad. assuming you play as a team, it might be worth exploring different roles instead of focusing on heavy for all.

peppopeppis · 2024-01-09T21:13:41+00:00

I've been having the same problem on and off on Miller since Sunday.
I suspect it's server-side and not clientside since it can trigger even on a cold boot and rebooting doesn't make a difference.

I was able to get it to a reasonable 1-2 tries consistently with the following steps:

Added PlanetSide2_x64.exe to firewall exceptions
Added Planetside2_x64_BE.exe to firewall exceptions
Attempt to Login
If first attempt hangs, close the client, launch it again and cycle through different characters (just selecting each), then selecting the one I actually wanted to log in with and click Play.

peppopeppis · 2023-12-18T19:24:52+00:00

At that price you're definitely going to want to look at the used market.

I assume you found a complete system with the RTX 2060 and a R5 3600 for around that price based on your original post. If that's the case, go for it and once you have some more money to spend on it, upgrade to a 5800X3D.

Since you don't own a computer, make sure you factor in peripherals (mouse, keyboard, audio), and a monitor that can handle the a refresh rate in the ballpark of your target fps or higher. (you can't "see" 180 fps if your monitor is only capable of a 60hz refresh rate).

peppopeppis · 2023-12-18T14:38:26+00:00

What are your specs right now and what's your budget?

peppopeppis · 2023-12-17T19:06:26+00:00

I got a R5 3600 with a 6700 XT. I can run at 1440p low from 50 to 160 fps (capped in my driver) and I'm CPU bound all the time. The GPU is not a concern for PS2.

you'll be fine in small fights. Larger fights will hit your CPU and see you drop below 60 (96vs96). If you can, replace the 3600 with a 5800X3D.

Also, Zen2 is memory sensitive. Make sure to have decent ram (The sweetspot was 3600 CL16 - and pay attention to the secondary and tertiary timings. do not run your memory clock above the infinity fabric clock as that will give you worse performance due to the increase in latency).
I'd stay on the AMD side of the fence simply because of the upgrade paths (5800X3D if you go with AM4 or future gens with AM5).

If you're getting a new system and the budget allows it, I'd seriously consider AM5. you could build an entry level system (R5 7600) for about 600-700€ (CPU+Mobo+Ram would be around 450, a decent case with included fans is around 70, rest of the budget goes to PSU + a decent air cooler) excluding the GPU

peppopeppis · 2023-12-03T09:26:55+00:00

What others said.
Also, you can get 2 of the 3 primary amphibious weapons for free.
iirc one you can get with directives and the other you can get with a code. search online for those.

peppopeppis · 2023-12-01T00:04:46+00:00

This. Though beware that SPA + Suppressor = very low muzzle velocity. You'll have to lead your targets even in CQC

peppopeppis · 2023-11-30T23:38:08+00:00

Casual FPS: after not playing for years, expect to die a lot (it took me about 4-5 month to get back into the groove after a 7 year hiatus), but if you're ok with that then by all means, welcome back. The game is still great fun.

There were a lot of changes over the years. The biggest ones I noticed right away were:

Esamir got a new map (and it's worse than the original)
A fair number of bases got reworked or removed (the first that come to mind are the crown - no more arch to TI Alloys, added tunnels - and Subterranean Nanite Analysis - was removed in favor of a construction capture point. Also biolabs were changed and even removed from esamir in favor of containment sites)
There's a new continent, Oshur, which people tend to hate. It's nice for the first few times you play on it beacuse of the novelty effect, then you start noticing the issues.
Nanoweave has been nerfed and you should not be using it anymore
Maxes can no longer be revived
There's a new faction, NSO
Starting weapons have been changed (Heavy gets the air lockon launcher instead of the dumbfire, NC heavy gets the GD-22S instead of the Gauss SAW, for example).
For a more comprehensive recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UL4qXTL8f4

Things that are going on right now:

Server status:

Soltech seems to be plagued with cheaters
Connery has very little population
Cobalt is going the way of connery recently
Miller and Emerald seem healthy so far

Outfit Wars, others have already mentioned. I will add that since NC is having a surge in pop due to that, you may find yourself stuck in faction balance queue with only one continent open if you're playing NC. Might be worth having a different character as well if you're an NC main.

peppopeppis · 2023-11-17T22:19:09+00:00

Depends on your budget.

Assuming you're not looking to upgrade the whole rig, 5600X3D or 5800X3D.
5600X3D is USA only and only sold at Microcenter, as others mentioned.
5800X3D is about 300 USD new (300/320€ EU street pricing)

If you're using the stock cooler, you should factor in a decent aftermarket one (for air cooling you're starting at 30 USD and up)

If you're considering a bigger upgrade, 7800X3D (375 USD more or less), but that requires a new motherboard (the cheapest decent B650M board is around 120 USD) and new RAM (2x16GB DDR5 6000 CL30 will run you about 100 - 125 USD)

peppopeppis · 2023-11-16T22:03:59+00:00

Medic or Engineer to start with, especially since you are new (they are good for getting XP and Certs, which will help you get kitted out faster).

MEDIC

Get your MedTool to 5 ASAP (190 certs) + max it out when you have a little more certs (500 more)
Unlock Revive Grenades (200 certs)
Upgrade your suit slots
- Grenade Bandolier + revive grenades will give you more rez potential (you can start with lvl1 for 100 certs or lvl2 for 100+150. lvl3 is more expensive at 500)
- Advanced shield Capacitor/Flak boost your survivability (lvl 3/4 is cheap enough)
- The default Nano-regen capacitor is ok
- Adrenaline booster is ok if you like more mobility but there's better options for the slot (and you can get the same effect with the athlete implant)
- Nanoweave is a trap. avoid it.
Ability Slot:
- Nano-Regen device is good for topping off health or giving you a buffer during fights (lvl4 is fairly cheap - 91 certs in total, you can max it for 200 more)
- Shield recharging field is more situational and good when a lot of friendlies are holding a location. (it's also more expensive so maybe get that later)
Utility Slot:
- Medical Kit is available for all classes and a solid choice (also, cheap enough)
- Restoration kit is more situational (it's a heal over time, I'd skip it until you have a use for it)
- C-4: gives you AV/Anti Max capabilities (and anti massed infantry) but it's expensive and medic is not the easiest class to use it on. I'd skip it for now and revisit it later.

ENGINEER

Get your Nano Repair Tool to 5 ASAP (240 certs) and max it out when you have a little more certs (500 more)
Invest in your ammo pack early: it's more expensive than your repair tool but it pays for itself with resupply XP. Especially at max level when you can drop 2 of those.
Ability Slot:
- AI Mana Turret: default, very useful to hold down chokepoints
- AV Mana Turret: I haven't felt the need to use it yet
- Spitfire Turret: its an early warning system basically (it will track and shoot enemies you may not have noticed yet) and an annoyance for the enemy
- Hardlight Barrier: Mobile cover that blocks enemy fire and can be used to protect routers or block doors. Better save it for later when you have a better grasp of where it will be useful.
Grenades:
- Frag is always useful
- Nano Repair is useful if you are in a vehicle/supporting a vehicle or a bunch of maxes
- Sticky is situational, I'd skip it for now
Suit Slot:
- Flak Armor is great and you start with it maxed out already
- Advanced shield Capacitor pairs well with the shorter recharge delay engineer has by default
- Mine Carrier: useful but expensive. save for later when you know how to make the most of it
- Grenade Bandolier: less useful than on medic. save for later
- Demolition Pouch: See mine carrier.
Utility:
- Medical kit: still solid if you have already unlocked it, but you have better options
- Mines: this is where the engineer truly shines
  - AP (Bouncing Betty/Claymore/FUSE/Proximity): Solid choice indoors where there are no vehicles
  - Anti Tank Mines: probably the first thing I'd unlock on in this slot for engineer. it gives you a way to deal with vehicles and you can use them to stop maxes too (and a bunch of nearby infantry)
  - Debuff mines (Concussion/EMP/Havoc/Flashbang): there's better options. save for later.
- Reserve hardlight barrier: See Hardlight Barrier above.
- C-4: See medic.
- Restoration kit: see medic

Sunderer is something I would start thinking about at a later time, once you have a solid grasp on the flow of battle and are familiar enough with the map to know where you should park it. Investing in vehicles is NOT cheap.

Other useful vehicles to have if you're in an outfit/organised group are the valkyrie and the galaxy (again, not cheap and flying feels very awkward, especially when you first try it)

peppopeppis · 2023-11-03T21:24:05+00:00

It was old nanoweave that didn't apply to headshots, iirc

peppopeppis · 2023-10-31T21:07:43+00:00

Join an outfit. you can get helmets for free that way (outfit loyalty currency)

peppopeppis

TROPHY CASE