Defending against the pod

R

REDM0SQUIT0

Veteran X
If I am in heavy which I normally like to play, how can I effectively keep the damn pods off of me? I try chaining em but unless they are already seriously damaged that never works. The burner is good on occasion but the range is too short most of the time. The rocket pod while very effective against a still target is almost useless against a decent pod pilot. Discs are ok but hitting multiple ma's is hard and will usually use up most of my discs, and thats if the thing hasnt killed me by then. I hate to whine but the goddamn pod is ruining this game for me. I think alot of people will use it sparingly knowing that its an unbalanced mess, but more often than not its just constant spam on maps with pods.
 
How the pod ever made it past playtesting is beyond me. You'd think that at some point they might have noticed what an annoying pos it is. That being said, disc is good up close, but at longer ranges I haven't found a good way to deal with them. I rarely play in heavy so I just keep moving around and hope for the best. AA turrets work pretty well, but those aren't usually handy.
 
lol sometimes peeps in pods get real pissed when they start chasing me and i Headshot them with the rifle and the only thing u see is the pod drop to the ground. Pod whores are easy to beat with rocket pods,disc guns and rifle.
 
from all the scripting/modding and mapping discussions i've seen, there is a momentum of removal against the pod, expect it to disappear as new maps and mods come out...

that being said, the best thing you can do as a heavy is use your burner. the rocket launcher pod weapon is useless against the pod fighter when he's good. i've been able to kill a fighter pod in two shots of a full rocket launcher attack, but they have to be pretty much oblivious to me so i can make them mostly straight shots. if they start ducking and dodging, the laucher pod is quickly made useless.

so basically, as a heavy defender, make sure you have some light defenders with you :\
 
Yeah, one of the major problems in the fragile ecosystem that is T:V is that the Pod has no natural predator.

I find the best offensive tactic to use against the Pod is pure avoidance. If you're a HO, discover some good routes to get over to enemy territory and safetly indoors away from enemy vehicles and turrets quickly. Don't expect to be able to sit back at a distance and lob mortars at the enemy base if there's a talented Pod pilot on their team.

When on defense, keep doing what you've been doing. Chain the Pod at a distance, huck a disc at it when it's close enough. With you and two or three of your teammates doing the same thing, the Pod won't stand a chance.
 
This is what you do...

If you get caught moving slowly in Heavy against the pod, you are going to die.

Accept it and move on.

Hit b to see the respawn map before he kills you and kill yourself by selecting a respawn point.

Now you have some options... You can man your own pod. Probably the best way to deal with enemy pods. What you should also do if you choose this path is to spam the respawn points of the enemy pods so that they cannot man their pods again after you have taken theirs down.

If you can't take the pod out by manning your own, you should try the following... Suit up with the sniper rifle and snipe either the pod itself or it's driver. Or, you could attempt suiting up with a speedpack and a chain gun and taking him 1 on 1.

Just keep at it until the annoying podder is out of the air, and then keep him out of the air by keeping the pod respawn area out of commission.
 
sniper rifle is perhaps the best chance you'll have at taking down the pilot or even slowly removing pod health, but this doesn't help a heavy

the main problem with a pod is it never has to refuel from a weapons cache of sorts which makes it a most annoying pos and a good pilot can pretty much avoid anything you try to throw at it, hover around the flag or enemy base and kill one after another with sometimes uncanny acuracy (to my experience) and with unlimited ammunition and great agility, the pod has no major offensive or tactical weakspot

however, if by chance someone just bought the game and has little idea how to manouver in a pod then the tide can be on your favour otherwise avoidance is your best option

also, if you know a pod is about, take a minute to go light and snipe it out of the air, then go heavy inbetween pod respawns
 
i just toy with the pods just to bug them. grapple, real myself in, and start knifing him to death. most of the time you see the pilot flying around looking like a chicken with his head cut off looking for what is killing him. also makes it very easy to jump in his pod when he dies. otherwise though, the more effective way is usualy speed pack with chaingun or sniping.
 
TheMute said:
i just toy with the pods just to bug them. grapple, real myself in, and start knifing him to death. most of the time you see the pilot flying around looking like a chicken with his head cut off looking for what is killing him. also makes it very easy to jump in his pod when he dies. otherwise though, the more effective way is usualy speed pack with chaingun or sniping.
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A podder can stop grapplers easily. Either by slamming into the ground from very high when the grappler is attached, or slamming the grappler into any wall that might be nearby. It might not kill the grappler, but it will disengage the grappler from the pod.

I don't suggest attempting this since grappling a good pod pilot can be VERY difficult. And you probably won't kill the pod or the pilot.

Don't forget that really good pod pilots always carry a repair pack and run away from the fight to repair their pod. If you are quick and chase him down, you might be able to kill him or better yet steal his pod away from him as he's repairing it. It's great fun!

Forgot to mention that manning AA turrets pretty much promise that the pods will stay away from that zone or they will be down in no time.
 
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Zio said:
A podder can stop grapplers easily. Either by slamming into the ground from very high when the grappler is attached, or slamming the grappler into any wall that might be nearby. It might not kill the grappler, but it will disengage the grappler from the pod.

I don't suggest attempting this since grappling a good pod pilot can be VERY difficult. And you probably won't kill the pod or the pilot.

Don't forget that really good pod pilots always carry a repair pack and run away from the fight to repair their pod. If you are quick and chase him down, you might be able to kill him or better yet steal his pod away from him as he's repairing it. It's great fun!

Forgot to mention that manning AA turrets pretty much promise that the pods will stay away from that zone or they will be down in no time.
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You know the pod is such a POS that you can outrun it if you know how to ski at all (which you don't).
 
whenever i see a pod coming, i always try to buckler it, as it hits the pilot no matter what angle you hit the pod at, so usually you can steal it once you kill the guy inside
 
I dont usually suit up in sniper gear but thats not a bad suggestion. I also do attempt to run from them when I am HO'ing but these maps are so small that if the guy feels like being annoying and chasing (which they usually do) its almost impossible to get away from them. As for manning an AA turret its not possible in heavy which is a change I would like to see in the future. I guess I will just start ctrl k'ing, not something I endorse in a pub but what the hell. On the plus side though after giving the game a good breaking in period I am actually beginning to like it. I think a nerfed pod and some carving would make the game pretty decent.
 
Why has noone mentioned the burner yet? It does simultaneous damage to the pod and it's pilot. 1 burner shot takes the pod and the player below 50% health. Give it a try :D
 
REDM0SQUIT0 said:
I dont usually suit up in sniper gear but thats not a bad suggestion. I also do attempt to run from them when I am HO'ing but these maps are so small that if the guy feels like being annoying and chasing (which they usually do) its almost impossible to get away from them. As for manning an AA turret its not possible in heavy which is a change I would like to see in the future. I guess I will just start ctrl k'ing, not something I endorse in a pub but what the hell. On the plus side though after giving the game a good breaking in period I am actually beginning to like it. I think a nerfed pod and some carving would make the game pretty decent.
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Bullshazbot.

The pod is amazingly slow, and whenever one shoots at me, I just DJ or try to go as fast as possible, and he maybe gets 2 hits on me before I'm out of range.
 
^Esoteric said:
Why has noone mentioned the burner yet? It does simultaneous damage to the pod and it's pilot. 1 burner shot takes the pod and the player below 50% health. Give it a try :D
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Heavy + Speed Pack + Burner

=

Dead pod
 
Buckler is pretty good, but you might want to couple it with an energy pack and a CG. Throw a burninator into the mix and you got yourself a real pod hunter. :bigthumb:
 
keep upt he good discussion. We willb e testing some Pod Mutators this month and alot of ideas will help us know what to test and where we want it to go.

Currently the Pod isnt Horribly Unbalanced. its just not fun. I rock almost everyone i come across in a pod.. but unless its my position in a Match.Scrim - its not even fun to use in Pubs. Most of the time its useles... in someone like Sluts hands it can feel overpowering (shouldnt any vehicle weapon in 1 of the best players int he games hand feel overpowering?)

My main Focus would be to Make it Fun.

Current Ideas to Test:

POD is Overpowered on Defense.. Infinite Ammo- Resistence to Chain.. Not many Cappers/LO carry Sniper rifle to HeadSHot the Pod D so the capper cang rab as has been suggested. Your team doesnt have Mannable turrets on the other side of the map where Pod D is overbalanced. The burner has way to short a range to be good agaisnt a Top POD Pilot..

My #1 Question was... How do we make the Pod (1) More Useful on offense , (2) A Little Less Useful on Defense , and (3) More Fun in general.. without Imbalancing things even More...

Current Ideas are:

Increase Pod Speed- either Normal Flying Top Speed or Replace the "Diving Boost" with a Straight forward boost. Could also Utilize an Energy System Like T2s Shrike that could tie into other parts of the modded Pod (BUt not sure what can be done by mutator vs Mod right now since we are only using Mutators). Definetly Pod needs an Increase in Speed to (1) Make it useful for Offense Again and (2) To make it more fun.

Increase Damage of Missiles(Pod SHOULD be able to spam down the Sensor) - While Reducing RoF to make it less annoying.

Decrease Range from ~450 (i think) to ~250-350 (based on testing) To equalize out the Increased Speed (Make the Pod less Spam Friendly and More SKill Friendly (Can actually utilize for Objectives[Sensor Kill/Bomber Chase & Kill/ Flag Capper Chase instead of Just Spam HO/Cappers)

The last Idea we are toying with is Increasing the CG Damage to Pods to make it possible for 2 Good CGers or 1 Great CGer + Speed Pack could take out a good Pod player.. Return the T2 Shrikes Fight or Flight Instincts.. Current Pod usually can't "Run Away" from Engagements because its too slow to alter plans once you take more damage. if this makes the pod extremly easy to kill then maybe we need a Weak Shield on it (a la the sensor) to prevent the 1st 2-3 CG Bullets or 1/3 of a Disc Hit...

THe ideas are all stillb eing tossed around so feel free to add your opinions... but Remember the Main Goals.. Make the More Skill Requiring - More Fun - and Useful for both O & D -- without Overpowering it even further on the D side (its only a tad too powerful now but it is annoying and not fun to use/fight agaisnt and thats our primary goal--- make the game fun)
 
Calder said:
You know the pod is such a POS that you can outrun it if you know how to ski at all (which you don't).
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You moron, I was attempting to help the weak. Not speaking for myself and my own skillz.
 
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