Railjack suggestion: Archwing Warhead into Points of Interest?

[Steel_Rook]

This is a pretty simple suggestion: If I have the Archwing Warhead Intrinsic, allow me to lock onto and launch myself at Points of Interest through the Archwing Slingshot. If necessary, require line of sight with an entry point to the POI. Once I impact the POI (or its entry point), simply transition me to ground combat inside with the same "violent entry" animation we use for Crew Ships. Let me use the Slingshot as a faster, more straightforward means of boarding enemy bases, exactly like it can be used to board enemy Crew Ships.

For context - I generally find Railjack combat to be pretty clumsy and cumbersome on its own, but this goes away by degrees as one upgrades one's ship and gains more intrinsics. Just Archwing Warhead, Command Link and Recall Warp alone streamline mobility to a great extent... Except when it comes to Points of Interest. There, I have to slow-walk to the nearest airlock, jump out, manually fly to a Point of Interest and board it by the door. It's not horrible or impossible, but... We already have a better way.

I know we're not really working on Railjack right now (which is a concern), but I still feel that something like this ought to be simple enough to pull off mechanically and would be greatly appreciated.

[Kaggelos]

I really love the slingshot, if we get more uses for it, then even better! 

[TheLexiConArtist]

Wouldn't be a bad change. But to be fair and accurate, you don't have to 'slow walk' to an exit point any more than you have to 'slow walk' to the Slingshot.

You can warp to the slingshot, shoot towards the entrance (and even without this change, board normally once control returns). Or you can warp to the Foundry area, which puts you directly on the exit point down there, and jump straight out. No more walking necessary

[Steel_Rook]

10 hours ago, TheLexiConArtist said:

You can warp to the slingshot, shoot towards the entrance (and even without this change, board normally once control returns). Or you can warp to the Foundry area, which puts you directly on the exit point down there, and jump straight out. No more walking necessary

That's fair, sure. In the past, I've brainstormed ways to fast-travel directly between consoles on the Railjack, rather than travelling next to them and then fumbling with camera controls to grab them. The main thrust of my suggestion here is making actions "feel" a little more fluid and include fewer steps. As of right now, I can still jump into the Slingshot, aim at the door, slam into it then manually enter the POI. It's doable. I just feel that using the Archwing Warhead auto-tracking system and skipping the step of us mashing the Interact key would make for a smoother experience.

[(XBOX)Rez090]

On 2020-08-19 at 6:37 AM, Steel_Rook said:

This is a pretty simple suggestion: If I have the Archwing Warhead Intrinsic, allow me to lock onto and launch myself at Points of Interest through the Archwing Slingshot. If necessary, require line of sight with an entry point to the POI. Once I impact the POI (or its entry point), simply transition me to ground combat inside with the same "violent entry" animation we use for Crew Ships. Let me use the Slingshot as a faster, more straightforward means of boarding enemy bases, exactly like it can be used to board enemy Crew Ships.

For context - I generally find Railjack combat to be pretty clumsy and cumbersome on its own, but this goes away by degrees as one upgrades one's ship and gains more intrinsics. Just Archwing Warhead, Command Link and Recall Warp alone streamline mobility to a great extent... Except when it comes to Points of Interest. There, I have to slow-walk to the nearest airlock, jump out, manually fly to a Point of Interest and board it by the door. It's not horrible or impossible, but... We already have a better way.

I know we're not really working on Railjack right now (which is a concern), but I still feel that something like this ought to be simple enough to pull off mechanically and would be greatly appreciated.

What about if you're solo? You just gonna leave your rj open to enemy boarding and enemy shelling?

[Steel_Rook]

4 hours ago, (XB1)Rez090 said:

What about if you're solo? You just gonna leave your rj open to enemy boarding and enemy shelling?

In a word? Yes. If I'm solo, I typically wrap up the dogfight section of a mission before doing anything else specifically for the purposes of leaving my Railjack alone for extended periods of time while I deal with Crew Ships and Points of Interest. I don't really see an alternative there - you can't complete POIs without leaving the ship. And yes, you're right in that my primary motivation for this suggestion IS solo play, as it would make travelling to-and-from Points of Interest a little smoother. However, I feel it has applications well beyond that, as well. Easier boarding of enemy structures seems to have no real downsides, since Railjack combat doesn't really seem balanced around player inability to reach and board static structures.

[Hobie-wan]

It would be nice for quick entry within range like Crews for sure.

[DeadlySurgeon]

It would be nice, but it'd also be a meaningful push toward RJ as a solo mode, since with this change you'd remove the final clunky steps that are eased by having a crew, as you'd be able to slingshot into an asteroid, pop out the radiators, teleport back, blow them up, then rinse and repeat.

Mind you, I'd love the change, but I'm unsure DE's willing to admit most players would rather play alone than with a clumsy crew.

[Steel_Rook]

14 hours ago, DeadlySurgeon said:

Mind you, I'd love the change, but I'm unsure DE's willing to admit most players would rather play alone than with a clumsy crew.

I think they are. That's the whole point of the Command intrinsic, after all... Vapourware as that might be... DE never really claimed that Railjac was intended to be team-only content - merely that it was intended to be team-only content FOR NOW, i.e. while they worked on AI crews and Command and so on. It's pretty clear they had massive internal disagreements about the nature of Railjack and delivered the Minimum Viable Product with the initial release. It makes sense that a system like that would be hostile to solo play given that it's badly incomplete. As we move forward, however, I feel we'll move more and more toward a small-team and even solo Railjack design, if for no reason other than the "team" component in there consists of contrived busywork. One, maybe two people are having fun and the rest are along just to tick a box.

DE seem to have always dreamed of designing MMOs - the old-school "world" kind. They certainly seem to be copying a lot of the shortcomings of that genre of late. But my point is - if DE ever go back to working on Railjack (which at this point I doubt they will, Archwing 2.0 here we come), I expect the whole game mode will be further stripped down to the core experience, rather than this semi-management "thing" that we have now.

[Kefirno]

On 2020-08-20 at 5:17 PM, (XB1)Rez090 said:

What about if you're solo? You just gonna leave your rj open to enemy boarding and enemy shelling?

Even before "Railjack Revisited" you could manage to do an objective before RJ explodes. Now RJ is virtually unkillable if you have maxed Bulkhead and Hull Weave installed. I wish they reverted changes to onboard hazards.