Improvements Standard/Gunner-variant BFRs

[Tiletron|Hyncharas]

The Flight-variants in Battleframe Robotics are probably the most manoeuvrable of the three chassis mainly due to their Thruster Unit, mounted on the back. With this alone, jump capability gives them far better speed and adaptability against other targets... but what about the remaining variants?

A common problem on a majority of these continents are the amount of hills and mountainsides, which can be used for cover, but can also hinder movement for BFRs who have become known as "difference makers" in combat. What I'm proposing are four things:

Center of Balance - Gunner-variant BFRs may have noticed this more, but when running the level of keeping a sustained lock in moving combat can be difficult, especially when the center of balance is constantly being disrupted while on a sharp incline of the environment. A fix for this should be that the torque applied on the turret/armanents while traversing hillsides should increase or decrease, depending on the throttle-speed at which the BFR is moving.

Deployable Inertial Sleds - When your squad/platoon is under fire and requires support from a BFR, getting there even by running can be a problem, while heading down from the top of a steep hill. To counter this effect (and because of the use of normal mapping in the game), Standard and Gunner-variant BFRs should be equipped with Inertial Sled - or Skis - that can be deployed while on a hill using the Special Function Key (usually the 'B' key), so that the inertia of the BFR itself can glide the pilot and/or gunner to the bottom at an increased rate of movement. This could also be used for defensive purposes as well, to reach an outcropping of rocks if the BFR is under fire from numerous enemies. This feature could automatically could then undeploy when the BFR is on a level surface when moving at a slow speed.

Rangefinders - Unless you spend nearly all of your waking hours in VR, you'll notice that pinpointing the right height to use to fire on a distant target isn't as easy as it sounds, particularly if you're dealing with multiple foes. Now from what I can remember, Flails possess a Rangefinder that allows them to more or less choose a good position of bearing while aiming at a long-range target. I suggest that a similar system be applied to BFRs, so that players using the Mortar/Burster/Anti-BFR weaponry can target the enemy more effectively.

Other Gunner-variant Weapons - After being in the gunnery chair last night in an Op for the CDL, I was disappointed to learn that the only weapons for the Juggernaut's turret are Mortars, or weapons used to eliminate other BFRs... but in a nutshell, artillery weapons only. Now I don't know if this is the same for other empires (since I only play other empires on the Test Server), but I suggest that a single Cycler-Chaingun, or Burster-based weapons be capable of being fitted as armanents for the gunner position. If other empires suffer a similar lack of choice in this area, I encourage you to post your own ideas here as well.

An identical thread for this will also be posted in the "Development Discussion" section of the PS Official Forums, with links to interconnect them.

[UPDATE]: The link to the Official Forums can be reached here:
http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/...essage.id=62647