i agree, there needs to be a way to temporarily boost speed rather then just having a LWF...

Say no more.

The maneuverability gain from having jump jets would make them compulsory even for a heavy group. Being able to cross impassable terrain would be worth every sacrifice. Terrain feature is one of the things that make PO stand out, Jump jets would void this asset.

or drilling jets?

oh wow, that idea is so new...

no actually, i was told by the devs that it would be possible in theory, to have a speed-boost aura between those highway-poles.
I wouldn't make them completely playerbuilt. More along player maintainence of existing roads, and making them damage-able, or like in Freelancer, interrupt the speedboost for a segment.

last but not least - no % speed boost for every bot. we dont need faster ewars. the boost should scale to bring all bots to  ~the same speed.

but thats a completely other topic.

actually i think jump jets as in "Mechwarrior" are quite fun and usefull. No doubt it would change the way we travel now, but you dont need to forget it gives more options in tactics, you need to fit jump jets and hence sacrifice sth else and they could also be heavy which means you loose speed for flexibility.

I think this has evolved into two points, the first being travel and the second being tactical advantage.

I would propose two types of module. The first being a travel mod, it reduces combat effectiveness and defence but increases speed. This is the Indy speed mod.

The second is the combat speed/jump mod. This reduces parameters such as cargo space, increases your hit size and maybe affects armour/shield in some way. This creates a traveller/interceptor dynamic. Interceptors are hit and run, they are there to catch things and maybe take out the Indy travellers or small stuff, they are however paper thin, rely on the surprise, speed and the ability to 'jump' in and out of cover or to move onto terrain impassable by a following enemy.

So we don't have mechs fit with the first mod as it makes you pointless in combat. We do however provide a pseudo class for all current bots (except ewar, they are fast enough and have a defined pseudo role). You won't see this in larger gangs as you are made paper thin, you aren't there to hold the line.

On a side note, this also opens up something I have been toying with in the current mechanics which is based on a fast, hard hitter role to disrupt gangs but in effect is a suicide class. For anyone into Warhammer 40k think of assault marines. They jump over a hill and it's all or nothing, you either picked the right fight or you get a whooping.

All good stuff and if balanced correctly, you could end up with a whole suite of new tactics, strategy and possibilities without having to introduce spews of new mechs, it could be done with two mods

I have no personal gripe against ewar roaming gangs but I take your point.

Maybe the module needs some additional negative effects over and above what LWF gives currently (the first one would be that you either have LWF or the Booster, not both)?

If I were to pick on light ewar at the moment its that the only counter is more light ewar..... Maybe some would disagree but this module would provide at least another option other than just blobbing up or bringing out a counter light ewar gang.

I personally think the game 'needs' fast attack, it just needs an effective counter. Consider EVE (and yes I know people will gripe but its an example ffs). I was a long range sniper specialist, all my skills made me excellent at 220-250km range. However I couldn't hit small stuff that far out reliably. Now when the enemy is at a suitable range and an MWD activated I could pop stuff in a volley, they certainly didn't like that!  (Yes I know the EVE transversal calculations played a part but here in Perp we have the hit size for calculations)

There's your counter without naffing about with all the other bot classes. If the bot activates this thing and suddenly mech weapons are effective, you provide a balance against the speed (PS this is just one example). Everyone moans now because ewar + speed APPEARS to trump everything else, here's a new mechanic with a balancing aspect which makes more bot classes effective in a fight, makes using the module need SKILL to use and doesn't require mega content development.

I just got done reading the second half... it'd be neat to have an mwd type device with similar drawbacks... would definitely make things a bit more complex and changing the 'bot size' when active would certainly create a signficant drawback...

But what's to stop heavies from rolling with these and going relatively fast and already having the biggest 'bot size' so going bigger wont really matter unless someone has seismics/precision below 4... I think they'd be too powerful on larger bots because adding speed in this game is different then adding speed in eve...Speed doesn't matter as much there.. here it's the difference between living and dying and getting kills and getting kited.

Missles have a VERY far effective range when properly fit.... being able to fly up on a hill and rain down pain while not being able to be targeted is silly.

And this will change combat... everyone will have to use them or else you'll have some mechs flying into impassible terrain to avoid a gank.

This will require significant balancing and will probably see Missle bots being hit pretty hard in another department.

I am doubtful this will be implemented in the near term.

Why not just go back to the idea stated about highways, an area that has a channel of energy that assists travel while in that channel. like from the terminals to the stations.

So with the new rework, are these coming?