www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=56156&page=2--In planetside 1 the ANT did not get any weapons; however, the trade off was that cost no resources to spawn an ANT. I am not 100% certain, I believe it might have stolen power/resources from enemy bases/positions, so you could use it to sabotage. (At least that one of their plans with the ANT.
--Now the rate of mining/resupply that they are current planning on sounds like actually time based. According Q/A right now the plan is for 60 resources a minute with a cap around 600 resources every ten minutes. In the stream they also talk about how their overall idea is to have ANTs take resources from one hostile area to another. Each base will hold alot more resources than 600. This means to resupply a based you just capped your going to need alot of ANTS especially if one goes down. So many ANTs that they form a resource supply convoy.
--In Planetside run, people also used ant's as a method of warpgating a faction. These were basically massive zerg of hundreds of ants. This is because as the
reddit mentions, "To clarify, you will be able to deploy ANT sunderers at enemy ammo towers to harvest resources from an enemy base just like a resource node. This can be used to drain bases behind enemy lines, and possibly even neutralize bases allowing them to be captured without lattice links.However, once your ANT sunderer has started draining power, it will show up on the continent map for all factions, so small squads/outfits can go and stop them."
--Yeah, I just heard from the devs that the ANT is probably going to be a initial Sundy module option instead of a vehicle. They are thinking about putting it in the AMS slot, but they have not 100% decided what slot to put it in though. Part of is probably a debate where or not your ANT should replace the guns on the Sunderer as again the original ANT had not weapons. They talk about it on the last FNO.
--Speak of which Hereticus, I got them to answer your question that you asked in the other thread. (I know it was slightly rhetorical, but they did give and interesting response. Its around 2:21:00 in the stream.
--I agree that Lightening, flashes, and skyguards would make good scouts, but I feel like prowler pack might not want to limit themselves to just those to vechiles in terms of high mobility. Harrasser, ESF, and even Lightenings might serve as a faster convoy escort for ANT Sunderers/ANT when the new resource systems comes out.
--This could be a true role for the Harrasser and other Air Vechles to act as secondary convoy while the main prowler pack acts as the primary convoy. You know something to guard the ANT while they gather resources and simply run up and down the trade route to check for enemy Spec Ops teams.
--Sunderer in a resource convoy well.. I think we have to play that one by ear. You see the devs are thinking about replacing the ammo towers with power towers, which means at least for bases ammo, resource, power for the everything at the base is tied to together. This could mean replacing the ammo cert and even the repair cert for sunders to be power dependent. Depending on how they exactly do the resource mechanic repair sunders might be actually drain the ANTs resources, thus making the whole process not cost effective.
--The prowlers would serve as the initial forward and back up convoy to and from specific resource gathering points, but would have to get their ahead of the ANT Sunders. Often time people in prowler pack have wait time between bases especially at bio labs. With this new system, that will probably no longer be the case. Auraxium mines throughout the continents will provide the lifeblood for a sustainable offense or defense. Part of the game will be about denying the enemy access to these points while defending your own Auraxium mines. Strategy will be about managing these assets and setting up supply lines to deliver Auraxium to bases that need it, not just forcing the enemy to deal with attacks from multiple fronts, or just to find "the biggest fight." While smaller outfits will probably be the ones worrying about managing these points of interest, it's going to be up to everyone to actually acquire these areas. Thus, the prowler convoy will have a new task of being a primary resource acquisition and defense squad
--When we do resource ops, the actual prowler's in prowler pack might shine as an Alamo defense of resource supply points. This is where your idea of Lightnings as Skyguards and Sundies would definitely really shine when combined with the prowlers. To quote, 404PlayerNotFound, "I would also point out that the NTU [Nanite Transport Units aka Auraxium, Nanites, or Power] runs lead to EPIC alamo situations [in planeside 1]. One of which was when on my Terran (SOL)Navy was a major component to a 14 hour long defense against both Vanu AND NC of a continental capital as out pilots kept paving the road to bring in Galaxy's burdened with precious ANT mobile batteries. That was a long night...That is the sort of thing you can look forward to if this is done right and have stories to say 'No shit, there I was... "
--There will be a new larger role for spec ops which may work in conjunction with prowler pack to do this. Apparently, back in Planetside 1 666th had "Rapid Response team / Shadow team" which sole purpose was to "Disrupt supply chains
Fast drop supplies, Bleed bases resources to force response." Planetside 2 will changes the tactics slight, because resources are now local instead of global. The attacking force now drained of resources will not be able to attack immediately because the have to refuel or refuel the base with auraxium. The defending force has a new base full of auraxium. I mean I guess the attack for ce could try to take the base and move on, but from what I heard about planetside 1, I bet your might have to refuel to extend the lattice. Overall though, the system gives the former defenders an advantage as most likely the attackers base is very depleted and the base they launched their initial fight from is probably somewhat depleted as well, whereas your new base is now fully powered and ready to launch a strong defense or offense. Thus,
--Depending on how the system works, Prowler packs with Skywatch members could create a virtual ... buffer zone.. by simply draining the enemy resources then leaving without reconnecting the base.
