PlanetSide

Big changes to Phantasm, Galaxy Gunship and Engineers!

2007-08-17T22:29:29Z

The PlanetSide team is hard at work and paying close attention to feedback on the recently introduced Phantasm and Galaxy Gunship. They've noticed certain aspects of both vehicles that need changing and they're doing everything in their power to make using them an engaging and enjoyable experience for everyone - not just the pilot and crew inside.

With that in mind, there will be some changes made to both vehicles in an upcoming update.

People have been using the Phantasm for things it wasn't originally designed for - like picking off softies on the ground - and this is being fixed. The machine gun will be removed so that it fits the intended role: a stealthed dropship.

Luckily not everything can be construed as a nerf in this update; the Galaxy Gunship is getting two buffs: it's getting more armor and the damage degredation is being increased to about 75% for certain munitions. Additionally, some of the guns on the vehicle are being buffed up to do more damage.

The update doesn't just include vehicles, though; Engineers are going to finally see progression to the rate they can repair vehicles and MAX units if they choose to go deeper into the Engineering tree than just the standard spec. Combat Engineers will see a slight bonus to their speed and efficiency when repairing armor; Assault, Fortification and Advanced Engineers will repair at roughly 100% faster than standard Engineers. This should be a very welcome change to players that like to fill the support roles in the game.

Head over to the Development Uplink to read more details about the update.

Update 3.12.28 - Phantasm and Galaxy Gunship Storyline!

2007-08-01T03:21:02Z

There was a PlanetSide patch today, but the patch notes didn't contain your typical list of notes you'd expect. Instead they included small story excerpts that talk about the Phantasm and Galaxy Gunship - two new vehicles being added to the game.

Game Update 3.12.28 - July 31, 2007

An excerpt from a New Conglomerate intelligence report:

"...our infiltrators have returned from Forseral. They managed to steal blueprints from the Terran Republic. We don't know how the TR were able to design it, but it looks as if they are developing a method to cloak a flying transport vehicle. With the amount of energy required to keep a craft airborne, we thought it physically impossible to bend light enough to cloak it as well, but with these designs...it might work. The TR are calling it the "Phantasm".

Also among these blueprints is another design...it looks similar to the Galaxy, and yet somehow different. It's more like a giant battleship than a transport craft. In the hands of the TR, this kind of firepower could be devastating. I do not doubt that the VS spies have also taken advantage of the recent leak in TR security; they probably have the designs as well. We must begin training our soldiers to use this equipment as soon as possible. Our engineers have already started production...we must finish before the opposing factions are able to use them against us.

The strangest thing about all of this is the fact that these blueprints were in TR possession. I would expect something like this from the Vanu Sovereignty, but the Terran Republic are narrow-minded fools that only think of suppression using our current technology. Also strange are these symbols found all over the blueprints; they are like nothing I've ever seen before. Shaped like 3 curved blades around a central hub with cyan coloring...what could it mean..."

Taken from a Vanu Sovereignty science report, only one day later:

"...don't understand. The entire lattice has shifted. Our home worlds, Esamir and Amerish, are gone, lost to the heathens that call themselves the New Conglomerate. And we find our own sanctuary linked to the homelands of our Terran repressors, Forseral and Ceryshen. We can only logically assume they have taken control of the former NC territories Solsar and Hossin.

This change in the lattice can sometimes be observed as a natural phenomenon of Auraxis. The Auraxian system clearly has a mind of its own and has been known to shift before, but somehow...it is different this time. The readings are not the same. Information from our stellar cartography department shows that this time there has been some form of external tampering with the lattice!

We believed ourselves to be the most technologically advanced of the three factions, but after we were given the documents for these new flying aircraft...we must concede that there may be a faction with an even greater understanding than ours...but the Terran Republic? It is hard to believe. We have ruled out that they are capable of such a change, so it must be something else. Could this be related to the symbols on the blueprints? More research needs to be done.

Regardless, the fact remains that we now stand on unfamiliar ground. We can be reasonably sure that this is not the end of these strange occurrences. Something is coming. I can feel it..."

The Terran Republic technical reports are stating that the Phantasm and Gunship certifications can be purchased at local certification terminals however both vehicles are currently being manufactured and there it's been found that some of the supply has gone unaccounted for. As of this report the supply will not meet demands but we have word that the vehicles will available for acquisition within the next week.

The notes make mention of there being a lack of supply for the aircrafts right now, so it's safe to assume that there will be some kind of event.

Development Uplink - What things may come...

2007-06-29T02:42:42Z

There's a new Development Uplink available on PlanetSidePlayers today. The article discusses some upcoming additions to the game that they're working on finishing up, and will hopefully have finished and out the door this summer. There's also a special item being created for folks who attend the SoE Fan Faire.

We got caught up on everything going on with the state of development, new goodies are coming along nicely and we're getting close to wrapping up these projects. I hope to be able to help produce some trailer/teasers for the new content which hopefully can make it out this summer!

As far as the projects go, we're working on a cool item to give out for those who attend fan faire (no-it's not something uber game breaking, but it is cool none the less). We'll talk more about that with images and such at another time since it's not announced just yet. Let's say it's a cut above…

Head over to the Development Uplink to read more.

Development Uplink - The Galaxy Gunship and Phantasm

2007-06-16T04:35:51Z

There's a new Development Uplink on PlanetSidePlayers that talks about two upcoming vehicles: the Galaxy Gunship - a very deadly assault version of the Galaxy troop carrier - and the Phantasm. There weren't many details given on the Phantasm, except that it will be able to cloak, so this may be a great air vehicle for stealthers!

Head over to the Development Uplink page to read more.

Development Uplink - Anniversary Weapon Renders!

2007-05-19T06:25:39Z

The PlanetSide team posted a new Development Uplink today, showing off all of the renders for the new Anniversary Weapons coming out soon.

1 Dragon
2 Scorpion
3 Eraser
4 Spear
5 Stinger

Dragon

Scorpion

Eraser

Spear

Stinger

Head over to the Development Uplink page to find out more!

Development Uplink - The Scorpion

2007-05-12T04:11:00Z

There's a new Development Uplink over on the PlanetSidePlayers website - this time covering the Scorpion - a new Anniversary weapon.

The Scorpion is a missile firing weapon with a twist; it's nothing like has been in the game to this point. You essentially "lock on" to an area around your target, and then fire. There's a minimum of 50 meters and maximum of 300 meters for ranges that you can lock on to.

Once you've selected the area to lock on to(this is done manually, from the description, not automatic like the Striker), you fire the missile. When the missile reaches its target, it explodes into little bomblets that fly in a 45 degree V direction.

The Scorpion is sure to be an interesting addition to a grunt's arsenal, so head over to the Development Uplink page to check it out.

Development Uplink - Names for All!

2007-05-04T20:23:18Z

In a new Development Uplink, posted yesterday over on PlanetSidePlayers, there's news of the names of the upcoming Anniversary Weapons Update.

From the Empire-specific pistols to the new Flamethrower weapon, each has a name assigned to it.

The Pistols:
Spear - NC
Stinger - TR
Eraser - VS

The OICW type Weapon:
Scorpion

Flame Thrower:
Dragon

Head over to the Development Uplink page to read more.

Make way for the new Sunderer!

2007-04-20T16:20:34Z

The PlanetSidePlayers site has a new preview of the Sunderer, explaining the new version of the vehicle in full detail. From the sounds of it, this once useless vehicle will soon be the premiere troop carrier on land.

Introducing the Juggernaut, Leviathan and Vindicator!

The Sunderer was examined very closely and it became immediately clear that it didn't have enough fire power. Two guns to protect eleven soldiers through battle lines??? That's just not going to get the job done. So we've added four more guns! Two of the four new guns will be mounted on the top of our newly created Base Crasher and were designed to be empire-specific. This will now provide adequate support incase anyone gets any funny ideas of following too close behind. To solve the issue of grunts running along side, escaping the fire arc of the top guns, we've added small caliber machine guns on the sides. Anyone manning these guns will be given an increased range to their Darklight Implant (if owned). To round out this new party bus, the driver will now be allowed to hop behind the wheel wearing reinforced armor, jam mines and jump on the horn if someone gets in the way. This is one heck of an overhaul!

Head over to the New Sunderer Introduction page to find out more.

New Sunderer Playtest - April 18th

2007-04-18T17:07:22Z

The PlanetSide team is holding a Playtest for the new Sunderer today, April 18th, at 6PM New York time, 3PM Los Angeles time. The new Sunderer is an empire-specific vehicle, each with its own attributes and characteristics, so each side will have a uniquely designed vehicle to take into battle.

Head over to the April 18th Playtest thread to find out more.

Development Uplink - March 29, 2007

2007-03-30T17:55:13Z

There's a new Planetside Development Uplink available on the Planetside Players website, discussing upcoming changes to the Sunderer, as well as the working names they have so far for each faction's variant.

> The PlanetSide development chat, which took place yesterday on the Stratics network, went well and we want to thank everyone who attended…Again. We had a pretty good amount of people who took a slice of time to come to the chat and ask some questions, it's always a good ol' time in them. I really think that the Stratics chats are useful for everyone to see where we are with things in development mainly pertaining to things that we don't always cover in these Development Uplinks. Oh yeah, you may want to break out your red pen and circle some dates because we've scheduled the chats 3 months in advance so you can expect the PlanetSide chat on the last Wednesday of the next three months barring any unforeseen issues like falling meteors...

To check out the full article, head over to the Development Uplink page.

Sunderer to get a complete revamp, including a new name

2007-03-14T18:14:56Z

Over on the PlanetSide Players website, the Devs recently announced that the Sunderer troop transport vehicle is getting a complete revamp, to try to re-introduce its use in the on-going battles across the worlds of PlanetSide.

Sunderer No More or Perhaps You Have a Better Name?

> The Sunderer is getting a full on revamp so it can barge through gates, blast enemies, and get troops into the action safely. From the cow catcher to mow through obstacles, to side machine guns to cut down the infantry, you're going to see a whole new animal on the battle field. > > With that said, the PlanetSide team feels that the Sunderer is a bit of a frumpy name and that could use a revamp as well so we're going to allow the players a chance to come up with some names that you all think would be suitable. Oh yeah, the names need to be empire specific too since we've added empire specific weaponry to each empire's Sunderer. Discuss it here!

Source: http://planetside.station.sony.com/news_archive.vm?id=67230&section=News&month=current

Punishers - Strategic Information

2007-01-31T20:18:49Z

>Strategies and tactics are commonly discussed in the Art of War forum. These tactics were submitted by FieldMarshall and you can read the discussion in it's entirety under Punisher Strategies. > >1. Indoors: Start off with a grenade (If you hit someone with a Plasma grenade they will loose over 50% of their health in 1-2secs) Then change to primary and try your best to finish off your enemy. If you don't want to turn off Auto Reload, you can always start in primary and finish your opponent with a grenade. Sometimes Frag can be good at this because of the instant damage. > >2. Around corners: If you have Audio-Amp it really helps (or Interlink) Check your radar, step back, then fire off a nade just as they pass around the corner. After that just finish your enemy with the 9mm. If you are in a tower try standing 1 staircase up while shooting grenades at your enemy as he passes around the corners. Shoot a nade and run up to the next corner, and repeat till you win. > >3. Jammer`s to your advantage: Don't underestimate the Jammer just cause Plasma is "the best". If you have Jammers loaded in your clip always use one before you enter an enemy door, those boomer-traps can be used on your enemy if you are lucky. And remember, Jammers take out enemy imps/radar making those pesky PS users loose their advantage. And of course it's great on deployables. > >4. Rockets on the Punisher: I haven't really used the rockets that much I must admit, they seem a bit weak. But I guess they can be good on Maxes if you don't have anything else. If you catch a max off guard shoot a couple of rockets into him, if he is chasing you. Try finding a corner (use speed to your advantage, the max can be slowed) then pop out and shoot another rocket into him. Just run around and repeat till one of you win. It also really helps if you have Surge. > >5. Rexo and Dual-Punishers: If you really enjoy the punisher you can load up a rexo with 2 Punishers (1 on each holster). Here's what I would do, 1 with Normal 9mm ammo/Plasma and the other with AP 9mm ammo/Jammers, making you equipped for most situations (unless you encounter vehicles, then you would just have to try and jammer them) > >6. Punisher & the Plasma: If you want the maximum Plasma experience you could load up your pistol holsters with plasma as well, (remember 2 plasma nades kills at least an agile) here's what you do for this little "trick". Equip a Plasma nade and hold your fire key (charging the throw) then, when you toss it quickly change to your Punisher (witch should also be loaded with Plasma nades in 2ndary fire mode) and fire away =) that's 2 Plasma nades in a very short amount of time. Of course the Thumper would do the same in 2 standard shots but we are talking Punishers here. > >- FieldMarshall Read more strategies here!

Last chance to obtain holiday Merits

2007-01-11T12:49:54Z

Hail Soldiers!

You have until 10:00 am PST, Thursday, January 11, 2007 to obtain your holiday merits. (11 am MST, 12 noon CST, 1 pm EST, -8.00 GMT)

Find your holiday spirit while you still can!