I've been hearing of the hesitation on things larger then a Predator on part of the dev team. Its understandable, the sheer firepower such machines bring to the table is overwhelming. But heres an idea. machines such as Land Raiders, Battlewagons (they are larger then predators and have more gunz and armor), and the like being a step up from the standard "tank" could work much like Hero units. Requiring a large amount of Req-points and have a long timer for cool down. Perhaps they could have more req-points then a single person could actually have and require a squad/guild to have X number of people pool their Req-points together to earn the "Heavy" or potentially even a Super Heavy unit. Lets say 1 space marine at maxed out Req-points is 750, normally you could buy a Rhino (METAL BAWKS), Razor back or Predator, but in order to get yourself a Land Raider you would need several thousand Req-points requiring your squad/guild to come to the same terminal or whatever the place you acquire vehicles from to click the "Land Raider" button. When Space Marine 1 tries to get the Land Raider a small message could appear. "your squad/guild mate is trying to requisition a Land Raider! Proceed to the Terminal to help him!" or something along those lines. Of course there would be a long timer attached to the Land Raider (everyone who pulled it would have the timer, not the one who started the requisition process). Making "Heavy Vehicles" a rare-ish sight, the timer for them could be much longer then even a Hero due to the firepower they convey. Perhaps about 12 hours or a bit more. The true monsters, the Super heavies would need to be limited to tanks (not titans). Skullhamma's for the Orks, Fellblades for space marines, Scorpion type 2 for Eldar, Chaosy Fellblade or something for Chaos. The timers and Req-points required would be exponential compared to even the "Heavy" ones like the Land Raider where say it would take 5 space marines at max Req-points to gain a Land Raider, it would take 10 or more all with maxed Req-points to afford the destructive firepower the Super Heavies bring forth, no less to crew the behemoth machine. The timer attached to Super heavies would be on the order of multiple Days. Perhaps a Week. This would mean such war machines would be rare, hopefully pulled in a last ditch effort to defend a vital location or as a spearhead into the most fortified locations. At most the average player would see maybe 1 Super Heavy in a large enemy army if at all every few weeks. The obvious weaknesses of the big guns would be their enormous size and slow speed. Alongside the sheer cost and manpower needed to operate just one. Their death explosion would be utterly devastating as well, killing even allies tanks in their death. Also their main weapons could turn very slowly lagging behind the players mouse cursor as the turrets turn to acquire a target (If you have played a Tank game like, World of Tanks or War Thunder you can see what I mean). This would mean they would require support from infantry/allies to prevent them from being hit by fast moving foes like assault troops with krak grenades or faster, lighter tanks trying to get at thinner rear or side armor for increased damage. So a Heavy or Super Heavy unit would be a massive investment of Req-points and manpower with a long timer (like a hero) that could be just as easily blown away if carelessly used.
A proposed list. SM: Transport/utility: Rhino Light: Razorback Medium: Predator Heavy: Landraider Super Heavy: Felblade Orks: Transport/utility: Trukk Light: Wartrakk Medium: Bonecruncha/breaka (medium tanks) or a looted tank Heavy: Battlewagon (of course) Super Heavy: Battlefortress or Skullhamma Eldar Transport/utility: Wave Serpent (dear emprah don't give them that shield inversion from the table top.) Light: Hornet Medium: Falcon Heavy: Fire Prism Super Heavy: Scorpion or Cobra type 1 (turreted) Chaos: Transport/utility: Chaos Rhino (METAL BAWKES!) Light: Not sure, they don't have something like the Razorback. Perhaps captured ones? Medium: Chaos Predator (duh) Heavy: Chaos Land Raider Super Heavy: Chaos Felblade (as the others are all god affiliated, and as far as I know, its undivided in-game) Aircraft list will come should they announce the possibility of them. last I heard they were unsure of adding them due to their fluff giving them insane speeds. yes, a giant flying brick can go faster then the speed of sound!
The devs already said they won't be supporting aerial vehicles upon release, they are considering however to add it as an update package if the game is a huge success (which it will be). You forgot a Support Package Vehicle (ie) Artillery Support or SPGs.
I know they won't support aircraft on release. that's why I said ill make one should they say at some point something like "we are working on aircraft for the game" or something to that extent. Anyways. In terms of artillery, from the reactions of people to the possibility of artillery in say PS2 I think it would be better for artillery like Whirlwinds, Big Gunz and so on to be felt not seen. Special characters or those with a high enough command could be able to call in artillery strikes. When done so, you would hear in the distance the howl of rockets or thunder of guns and shortly after the shells/rockets would start impacting the designated area with a timer for cooldown until they can fire again. At most they could be NPC Artillery units that hang out in the back lines say at Ports or others important bases and would fire when called on. There could be missions or objectives for people to go behind enemy lines and sabotage artillery units to prevent X faction from using them for X period of time until they are replaced/repaired.
However Vindicators will most likely be in the game for CSM/SM which are effectively, medium SPGs so that fills the role for them. The Orks also have a very similar medium/light tank that is basically a reskined version of the Vindicator. The Eldar....well they just have in general massive AoE weapons so they don't need one.
Vindicators and machines like them are actually called "Assault Guns", their range is too short for artillery, but are designed to drive forward and use their heavy fixed forward gun to smash open fortifications. They could be added easily. somewhere between Medium and Heavy. CSM/SM: Vindicators Orks: "Spleenrippa" (its essentially a giant cannon mounted on a chassis) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Spleenrippa If needed it could just look like a looted tank with a insanely large cannon in its nose. The other one they have is the "Kill Bursta" but that is a Super Heavy unit, so no go there. Eldar: Warp Hunter http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warp_Hunter
Assault Guns is another name for Self Propelled Guns. SPG is the more correct acronym for them because they're armored vehicles designed to house a howitzer or large bore cannon that CAN be used for indirect long range fire but suffer greatly from several things. The main role of an SPG and again I use the Stug as a model since it is very close to the Vindicator, is to provide mobile infantry heavy fire support. There are several variants of both which show what its primary role is but it is classified still as a mobile artillery vehicle.
I thought Assault guns were to infantry and fortifications what Tank destroyers were to tanks, not self propelled artillery but rather something to travel alongside and to support infantryman helping take out bunkers and other hard defences like pillboxes and machinegun nests.
"Self-propelled artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) vehicles are a way of giving mobility to artillery. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns (or howitzers) and rocket artillery. They are high mobility vehicles, usually based on caterpillar track carrying either a large howitzer or other field gun or alternatively a mortar or some form of rocket or missile launcher. They are usually used for long-range indirect bombardment support on the battlefield. In the past, self-propelled artillery has included direct fire vehicles such as assault guns and tank destroyers. These have been heavily armoured vehicles, the former providing close fire-support for infantry and the latter acting as specialized anti-tank vehicles. Modern self-propelled artillery vehicles may superficially resemble tanks, but they are generally lightly armoured, too lightly to survive in direct-fire combat. However, they protect their crews against shrapneland small arms and are therefore usually included as armoured fighting vehicles. Many are equipped with machine guns for defense against enemy infantry. The key advantage of self-propelled over towed artillery is that it can be brought into action much faster. Before the towed artillery can be used, it has to stop, unlimber and set up the guns. To move position, the guns must be limbered up again and brought — usually towed — to the new location. By comparison self-propelled artillery can stop at a chosen location and begin firing almost immediately, then quickly move on to a new position. This ability is very useful in a mobile conflict and particularly on the advance." From an article from Princeton University.
I don't see a vehicle like a landraider being particularly all that great when all anyone has to do to deal with one is switch to a class with anti tank abilities. Its so slow and high profile it won't be able to deal with swaths of AT popping up out of nowhere up on hard to reach vantage points (and they will.) I just can't imagine one lasting more than a few seconds once it rolls into a high population zone. Especially with high mobility melee potentially equipped with stuff like powerfists and thunderhammers (and their equivalents.) Which will crack open a landraider fairly easily, yeah? On that line of thought, they've got tons of blindspots too. Thats very very bad for a tank if all you've got to scratch your back with is a storm bolter. (Though maybe in that regard, they'll at least add some different weapons for the top hatch gun.) Going through all the trouble of operating one would have to be justified with some unique damage coping mechanics or a support system the land raider would exploit fantastically with high armor.
