The PlanetSide 2 Thread

[rtil]

What is PlanetSide 2?
Planetside 2 Basic Training: Your First Hour in PlanetSide 2
PlanetSide 2 is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first person sci-fi shooter (MMOFPS). As in the first PlanetSide, PlanetSide 2 chronicles the efforts of three factions as they fight for territorial control of the planet Auraxis. Featuring territory control in an open-world, large battles featuring up to 2000 players per continent on foot or in land/air vehicles. The territory system differs greatly from that of the original, being more free-form and based on a hexagonal territory control system. An important aspect is that player skill and teamwork are major determiners when it comes to being able to kill other players and overcome opposing teams. The game also features a day and night cycle, meaning that battles happen in different times of day, affecting the general methods for warfare.

Combat takes place on the continents of Auraxis which are broken up into the 3 continents Indar, Amerish and Esamir. The continents are then split into sectors which can be captured by the various empires. Influence from captured sectors can provide bonuses to a faction in adjacent sectors. The mission system is partly automated and partly controlled by commanders and outfits. It provides focal points for players to attack and defend and helps players get into the action quickly.

Playing the game earns you experience, which in turn grants you higher Battle Rank and earning of Certification Points, or Certs, which will allow the player to unlock more abilities, utitiles and weapons. These will allow the player to specialize in certain roles by allowing them to improve the weapons, vehicles or tools they use. Many certifications require the player to invest in multiple upgrade tiers of the certification, which will increase how effective the certification is. For example, players can purchase five ranks of Nanoweave Armor, which when equipped will increase the amount of damage they can sustain.

Overall, the scale of PlanetSide 2 requires players to participate in a squad of a platoon in order to be effective and successful in combat. Joining a squad when you open the game is easy, and most are public. Joining a squad provides you an easy way to quickly enter combat, and allows you access to platoon waypoints and communication channels.

Alongside soldier combat, PlanetSide 2 also has a number of faction-specific vehicles, armor and aircraft to control the battles on the ground and in the sky.

Factions
Terran Republic
An authoritarian government that leverages military might to maintain strict control over the colonial citizens. The Terran Republic is obsessed with the preservation of law and order and are thus seen by some to be an oppressive and dictatorial force, but many view the TR as the only hope for lasting security on Auraxis. Their colors are red and black. TR forces are distinguished by their use of rapid fire weapons and miniguns, large magazines, and high speed ground and air vehicles.

New Conglomerate
The New Conglomerate operates as a loosely organized band of freedom fighters, vehemently opposed to the stranglehold that the Terran Republic has on Auraxis. Led by an unusual quorum of outcasts, industry titans, and pirates, the New Conglomerate is unwavering and prepared to achieve freedom from oppression by any means necessary. Their colors are blue and gold. NC forces use hard hitting gauss weaponry that is devastating at short and medium ranges with a slow reload time, supported by heavily armored shock troops and durable vehicles and aircraft that also have the highest damage per shot in the game, but lower magazine sizes. They are fighting for freedom, rather than duty or technology.

Vanu Sovereignty
The Vanu Sovereignty believes that only through the mysterious power of ancient technology can humanity truly evolve its next state of existence. They are an advanced and cunning faction, employing powerful alien technology on the battlefield. Their singular purpose is to uncover the secrets hidden away in ancient artifacts scattered over the surface of Auraxis, and they annihilate anyone who interferes with their progress. Their colors are purple and green. Vanu employ advanced plasma and laser technology on the battlefield, distinguished by lack of bullet drop, high accuracy, and low recoil, as well as highly maneuverable hovering tanks and Empire Specific Fighters.

Classes
Light Assault - A trooper with a jetpack, who can use carbines, shotguns and SMGs, along with tools like C4, a flashbang, and a smoke grenade.
Heavy Assault - A heavy trooper which uses a personal shield, allowing them to take more damage. A versatile role that has both a primary weapon and an anti-vehicle rocket launcher. Can equip LMGs, shotguns, battle rifles, and SMGs, along with a variety of rocket launchers, and the empire specific heavy weapons.
Medic - A support trooper with a healing tool, which can replenish health and revive dead players in the field. The class ability is an area-of-effect heal around the user, which also heals the user. The Medic can equip assault rifles, shotguns, and SMGs. Healing and Revive grenades are available, as well as C4.
Engineer - A support trooper that can repair vehicles, turrets, and generators as well as deploy ammo packs. For weaponry the Engineer can deploy a machine gun or rocket turret, and for personal armament can equip a carbine, shotgun, battle rifle, or SMG. Sticky grenades are available.
Infiltrator - A saboteur or sniper, the infiltrator has a cloaking suit and inferior armor. The infiltrator can hack equipment terminals and turrets to allow them to be used by their own faction. The infiltrator can equip either a sniper rifle, scout rifle, or SMG, and tools such as an IFF probe, decoy grenade, or EMP grenade.
Mechanized Assault Exo-Suit (MAX) - A robotic exosuit, the MAX can tank damage effectively, and can be specialized to be very effective against infantry, ground vehicles, or air. The MAX can only be repaired by engineers, although if it is killed it can be revived by medics, and an engineer must repair it to get back to full health. The MAX features 2 arms which can be used simultaneously and independent of each other. Each arm can equip a flak turret, anti-vehicle grenade launcher, or a faction specific anti-infantry weapon. The MAX unit currently cost 350 infantry resources to spawn as they are not like the other classes which cost no resources to change.

The classes are not tied to a character, one can switch a class at any given time, by using an equipment terminal on a base or at a mobile spawn point. Skill progression likewise is not tied to the active class.

Where To Play
PlanetSide 2 is free to play and available on Steam. A tutorial is available in the game after you create a character.

Your character's profile is on http://www.planetside2.com - you log in with your same account credentials that you do in the game. Here you can keep track of your characters' statistics, outfit members and game status.

The majority of PS2 players are on the Matherson US East server, playing as Vanu in the outfit Order Of Soltech (OOST).

Player list:

• bd648
  
• systech
  
• TestSubject06
  
• rtil
  
• Gilthwixt
  
• Lionsef
  
• Sev
  

[rtil]

to kick this thread off, here's a gallery of some screenshots of Hossin, a new continent slated for release in September. and some great screenshots of general chat shenanigans

[zwimmy]

I'd play it if my comp didn't suck.

[rtil]

the game is poorly optimized.. hopefully that will change in the future

[bd648]

THE LORD OF PLANETSIDE 2 KNOWLEDGE IS HERE!

So have you guys heard about how the home continent system is going to work? With the release of hossin each faction is going to have a home continent and then hossin will be in the middle. because of this it is entirely possible to knock someone all the way off of a continent. Now THE GLORIOUS VANU get esimeir which is pretty sweet cause we just got the octagon. So good times will roll when that comes out.

[rtil]

hossin is going to be a bloody field of death then

[bd648]

Most people would be swarming to it anyway cause its new. Now the major outfits on our server are gonna have some massive massive fighting to do.

[rtil]

well it does look beautiful. i'm still not done touring the esamir makeover.

[bd648]

there is also a new facility that will be added on hossin. i dont remember the name but i do know it has toggled light bridges.

[rtil]

lights on 24/7 for vanu rave party

[soup]

vanu keep trashing everyone on Briggs, i think ill ditch the freedom and justice of the NC soon for a cool battery powered gun and tight leggings.

[bd648]

come to us on mattherson. we will help you forget your past.

[sev]

i really like this game. happy to play anytime, i love sniping~

[rtil]

vanu keep trashing everyone on Briggs, i think ill ditch the freedom and justice of the NC soon for a cool battery powered gun and tight leggings.

one of us
one of us
ONE OF US

[Binary_2]

I suppose I should ditch whatever faction I previously played for and try Vanu.

[soup]

the blue guys fight for peace, the red guys are angry warmongers and the purple sovereignty get one over everyone by dabbling with aliens
reminds me of something.

i was about to ask how people got away with stuff like this, but then i remembered every single item on the xboxlive indie marketplace is some kind of shoestring budget minecraft clone

[rtil]

i'd like to see a chinese knockoff of ps2. i hope i can play as shrek in it

[soup]

there was that chinese knockoff of tf2 a while ago

where the soldier was a fireman, and heavy weapons guy was some kind of fishmonger

i wonder what ever happened to it

[rtil]

yeah that was called final combat
Final Combat - "Meet The Rocket" (Chinese Team Fortress 2 Rip Off)
maybe it's super popular in china, they have popular knockoffs of just about anything

[bd648]

SO YEAH! Planetside 2 has been working on something called "Operation make game faster" and honestly it has made the game run a lot more smoothly. It's still kinda hardware intensive but it should run a lot better on computers that were only having mild fps issues.