Anvil Centurion AA - Fun but Flawed (Star Citizen)

Star Citizen's newest ground vehicle, the Centurion, offers a really fun loadout to pew pew with, but has a major flaw. I'll take you through the new vehicle both inside and out.
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[@Winter-CIG]

The good news is that the emissions were actually supposed to be much lower than they were when we put it out to PTU. We'll be looking at getting that sorted (although it needs a bug fixing up for emissions first). Thanks for the feedback as always!

[@Morphologis]

Wow that’s great!! Thanks for letting us know!

[@Winter-CIG]

@@Morphologis No worries, thanks for the awesome feedback (as always).

[@tasigin3815]

I know it's kinda off topic, but are there any plans to fix the prowler? It has a list of problems and is really being held back

[@jaykay5838]

Suspect unprofessional relationship here.

[@fnunez]

@@Morphologis How do you know this K Winter person knows anything the rest of us don't?

[@stepstv4466]

But all the flaws aside I think this vehicle pushes greatly into the direction of viable ground vehicle gameplay. One or Two of these at JT and the airspace is denied for everything smaller than a Redeemer

[@zeroxception]

Decent small fighter pilots will take out two of these much easier than 2 ballistas....currently ballistas and this new AA only work against noob-average pilots who dont know they are there....Once a group comes along in small ships and they know they are facing ground AA.....they will clean up easily.

[@Akkbar21]

Hopefully costs $500, but only if you already spent $1000 right? Citizenship must be earned. 🤨

[@joelellis7035]

@@Akkbar21 Probably $100, but punches above its weight class. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 For every major sale CIG has to have an "LTI Token" (low cost vehicle with Long Term Insurance that can be upgraded to a larger ship). 🤫

[@theDarkside798]

Pretty sure its a snack for a 600i

[@anoyingnomad]

Until an A2 comes to say hi

[@robertschumacher2707]

There's another reason to have a Centurion around along with Ballistas: Layered defense. Missiles have a minimum range inside which they can't be used effectively. The Centurion provides effective AA cover inside that, and at some ranges both systems can bring a hostile under fire. Plus there's the deterrent factor, Missile locks are somewhat concerning, seeing quad guns firing at you is scary.

[@StoneCoolds]

The centurion is a body guard and a force multiplayer in onion SAM systems, its literally the shilka of DCS, ambushing those flying low and close

[@GBI-Bear]

No doubt the centurion will be lethal except that the ballista can manage close range targets as it's minimum missile range is 50m. In fact it performs better the closer range it is. It's much harder to flare off and evade a missile when it's fired from a few hundred metres away from you as you have much less time to react. Ballista missiles are sticky as the closer you fire them to the target.

[@hypertion]

The stock ballista missiles have a minimum range of 50m.

[@timebrain3188]

@@GBI-Bear There is also ammo to think about. Those big missiles cost a lot more than lasers, and eventually you need to resupply.

[@TheSiriusEnigma]

The need to create a ship that will carry the anvil platform externally. A little like the Raft with containers. You also brought a good point. Protection. Ground vehicles are sitting targets. Stealth is not the solution. Shields are. The Tonk, and anvils should have multiple S1 or S2 shields. I say 4 x S1 shields. They have the room. They are the same size as hurricanes with no engines. And yes, they should have more shields than space crafts since they can’t dodge. They have to tank the hits.

[@kirrimkerman8784]

introducing the Anvil Pelican.

[@Paladin1034]

Honestly wouldn't be too hard to do. Take the Valk, move the lower turret to remote, remove the dropship and hangar area, seal off the bulkhead of the upper deck, move the side doors up, and add a tractor or maglev system under the tail. I'd make it unable to take the Nova due to weight, but it could handle all the way up to an Atlas platform. It's already got VTOL, is decently well armed and armored, and is fast and maneuverable in atmo.

[@Meuduso1]

Imo that's one of the ways to buff/fix the RAFT a bit because it is a bit of an odd ship. Make it able to bascially slingload big vehicles like the Atlas platform. I'd refrain from the Nova but still. Entirely agree on the components, take the ground vics out of the equation entirely. They don't need to save weight and space to fly and have enough disadvantages as is, so give them the armor, shielding and guns to back it up. If there's a full AAA system up with Centurions and Ballistas, it should pose a really huge threat, a lock down of an area.

[@MrTrethurane]

External shield generators would be a perfect idea for something like this. It would bring usage to the utility vehicles as well. It would mean that the vehicle has to remain stationary and could be used to provide cover in other situations too.

[@ronabitz5156]

As far as vehicle detection range goes, I think if and when they add ground clutter effects to scanning, I think that would help and encourage the use of terrain to hide vehicles in. It would add the immersive element of having watch out for certain terrain types when flying over them because they could more easily hide vehicles in them.

[@kommissarK2501]

This seems like a good argument for ground vehicles to be able to equip modules greater than S0. It feels like that original design for them to be S0 was when the only "real" ground vehicles we likely were going to get were small rovers, buggies, and bikes (and frankly it was always odd on the ballista). Now that we're getting more of a fleshed out range of combat oriented ground vehicles, its clear there are some issues here.

[@Meuduso1]

In my view the way to go is doing more of what the Nova did with its cannon and making weapons and especially components bespoke, as in "This thing doesn't need to fly so it's got a shield generator as beefy as a large one in there but you can't just change it for a different one" , so less weapons because switching those out for others is still fine For upgrading purposes they could play around with ground vic only blades that look at performance of said components. Ground vics don't need to fit into the ship classification system because they are fundamentally differently used

[@AzzaRudd]

Tbh it goes into the same issues with stealth gameplay generally, I really hope engineering gameplay will include being able to specifically set power levels for every system on board to control EM and IR emissions, and I hope future scanning separates active and passive radar alot more so that crafty people can hide until the right moment. To a small extent it should be different to the ballista depending on its loadout as a powered laser capacitor for the huge cannons is still an energy source? but yeah I wouldn't make it hugely different until the cannons actually fire and create a bright EM signature (unless obviously u use a ballistic build and risk running out of ammo) I'd love it if I had a friend in the Centurion, all powered down apart from the absolute minimum, radar off, watching the skies with old school scanners (his...eyes) and powering up when something enters the killzone or if I give him a shout from my position/patrol to catch someone off guard in a nice ambush.

[@VosperCDN]

Definitely need to have passive or powered down "ambush" modes for better gameplay.

[@fwg1994]

@@VosperCDN I mean, that already works. I know you can drastically cut the detection radius of the Ballista by shutting down everything except the missile turret. Shields off, engine off makes you a sitting duck, but it doesn't matter if they need to get in kill range to detect you. There's also some other tricks like using a bigger nearby vehicle to mask your signal. The org I'm in did this event with another org where one team was in a hammerhead, and the rest were in ground vehicles trying to survive as long as possible, and one of the ground team members actually managed to mask her signal with one of the C2s we used to bring all the ground vehicles in, and then killed the hammerhead with a nova tank before they found her.

[@Lennek]

I also think we need to keep in mind that how ships currently fly in atmo may change and become a lot more difficult to just hover. If that happens then that will help ground vehicles out a lot more.

[@Smap_SC]

Never even tought about that! You're totally right.

[@StoneCoolds]

It was like that, EVERY SINGLE SC player cried uncontrollable about requiring skill to hover, so they deleted that system and added auto hovering not dependent on trusters imputs

[@Zack_Wester]

@@StoneCoolds that said a ship in 2950 should probebly have the hardware and compouter power to handle hovering for the pilot. heck we have modern Fighter jet planes today (why some one thought this was a good ide) that need a computer just to fly straight or correction help the pilot to fly straight.

[@StoneCoolds]

@@Zack_Wester well then what are we doing fighting with WWII weapons? ... 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Zack_Wester]

@@StoneCoolds that was a 2005-2008 fighter jet.

[@Lintary]

This reminds me of the AA halftracks from WW2, designed to shoot down aircraft, but freightingly effective at dealing with infantry and thin-skin vehicles. Not sure the detection is an issue, it makes sense, what they do need is more things like chaff and IR blocking smoke to deal with missile attacks and anything that gets close enough for guns, will find guns shoot back and a lot of them. That it cannot handle something akin to a redeemer on its own makes sense, the redeemer is build to deal with stuff like this, then again 1 v1 is not a scenario one needs to look at. in a propper armour unit you will likely have a mix of vehicles to deal with different treats and multiples of said vehicles. O and AA mains job is generally not to shoot down things, but to make sure that those pesky air thingies stay away from you.

[@CynicalOldDwarf]

In the Soviet-Afghan war they modified ZU-23-4 Shilkas by removing the radar so that they could elevate the guns more, this allowed to them to be pretty damned effective against the Taliban fighters who would attack the soviet vehicles columns from the relative safely of high steep cliffs.

[@The_Opinion_of_Matt]

AA is about area denial. Same as mine fields. If it can't shoot things down then it can't deny an area to the enemy. And usually there are multiple. Get 3 or 4 together and they can totally deny access. Having just one would be ineffective. The biggest problem I have with the Centurion is as soon as it lights up a ship everyone is going to know where it is by following the tracer fire back to the source.

[@sidhu704]

It's so weird seeing a normal steering wheel in a vehicle in SC, but I love it!

[@BCIronThunder]

I absolutely love that your videos are in 21:9! I wish more content creators did this.

[@Veptis]

They need to have cameras like a rear parking aid in that vehicle. And use the displays in the front

[@jamesgale9722]

All ships have a rear view camera. It just isn't mapped. It's a bit rudimentary but works. The display would be too small to be of any use. Played ArmA 3 and they do the same and displays are far too small

[@kirrimkerman8784]

@@jamesgale9722 perhaps CIG could implement a lockable zoom factor when you F+mousewheel onto something, that way you will still be in your seat (seeing everything and getting mission updates and such) while having a camera to see where you can shoot.

[@Wywern291]

I like the centurion overall, but I'm disappointed they didn't mount the weapon system on a tank hull instead.

[@joelellis7035]

Tumbril is the manufacturer of the Tonk. So, maybe Tumbril will respond with the Pulsar vehicle (another turret mounted quad-gun AA vehicle on the Nova chassis). Can't let Anvil have all the fun.

[@ArgelTal_]

@@joelellis7035 That would genuinly be way cooler than the nova tank. Sure a big ass railgun is propably be the better gun, but a tank with 4x size 4 or bigger gatlings is just .... dakka. :D

[@piperdude82]

A smaller detection range for ground vehicles would make stealth and recon/intel of dropzones a valuable skill, which sounds like a really fun gameplay mechanic.

[@squigglychris8396]

For a well defended base, I'd imagine having some of these with guns, but also with distortion weapons. Then you throw in some Ballistas. A Hammerhead can't just sit and float over your base when their engines keep overheating. And then when they try and slowly strafe run your base, you have distortion messing with the engines + the impact of torpedos throwing them off balance and sending them into the ground.

[@GBI-Bear]

Sounds good in theory and would be cool to see that play out. Except a single ballista can fire it's 2 size 7 torpedoes and instantly kill a hammerhead. Best take out it as quick as possible

[@davidd406]

the vibes of these videos are so good i wish i could see it for all the ships in the game

[@2MeterLP]

I actually like the limited weapons range in the game. That way you actually get to see your opponent instead of just shooting at dots on the HUD.

[@tallperson117]

Give vehicles super small detection ranges, but also add in a handheld "targetting laser" where someone on the ground can paint a ground vehicle for a ship further out to detect, maybe with a notification to the vehicle that they're being targeted. So much cool gameplay could be added around this. You want to get to Jumptown, but you see a Ballista and Centurion guarding it. No way you're bringing your Cutlass in to get the goods. Your buddy lands the Cutlass a few clicks out and you get dropped off with a Nox. You sneak up to 150 meters out to paint the Ballista for your other buddy in an Eclipse. Your buddy dusts the Ballista, but not before the Ballista notifies the Centurion that a ground unit is using a handheld targetting laser. Centurion tries to hightail it out of there while simultaneously looking for both the Eclipse and ground personnel. This would also incentivise keeping a Cyclone nearby to pick off anyone getting close enough to target the AA guns for a ship further out.

[@WrangleMcDangle]

it blows my mind that they are releasing new ships and vehicles in a near-gold standard state when the starter package ships aren't gold standard yet

[@neonweaver8624]

"gold standard" doesn't mean "finished", means "updated to the actual tech", so... is quite obvious that every new vehicle is automatically, by definition, released with all the actual tech :)

[@baggingfritz2181]

I mean, the concpet may just work if you fit four S5 pew pews instead of S4s. 1.5KM range is terrible by AAA standards. Even 1960s relics have greater ranges.

[@baggingfritz2181]

​@@Avarus-Lux Yeah, and I think the range of S4 weapons before 3.14 was great at around 3.5 KMs. Not awfully long but can outrange smaller caliber weapons.

[@Power5]

They nerfed all weapon ranges. S5s on vanguards used to be 3+km range. Now S7 do not even go that far. They wanted "close combat" for ships.

[@suckmysilencer747]

gun range range will be fixed in the future, vast majority of ships won't be able to hit it first as they also have smaller guns.

[@baggingfritz2181]

@@Power5 Yeah, so gladius can tear everything apart. I still think this change is dumb af.

[@Power5]

@@baggingfritz2181 yup same as FPS weapons. Sniper rifle that can barely reach out any longer than an SMG.

[@gian.4388]

The fact that ground vehicles can be destroyed easily by ships right now is due to the fact that ships can hover perfectly still without any effort, the direction they want to take is that the only ships able to do that will be ships with VTOL engines, which, in SC it seem most of them are usually only dropships or industrial/not warfare focused ships Fighters and other ships will have to approach ground vehicles with some speed, kinda like our current close air support aircrafts like the Warthog do (unless they want to end up without fuel/overheat their MAV thrusters that is) And also I think ground vehicles will get countermeasures like our own current tanks/IFVs etc. have too, afterall, if ships have them, why shouldn't the ground vehicles, especially the military ones, get them too?

[@Rap-o33]

So my Tali with VTOL and seekers will remain perfectly suitable for hovering and dumbfiring seekers at poor little ground vehicles. Sounds like you are living on hopes and dreams of ever being effective against skilled pilots.

[@ref2491]

Good point about detection ranges! Emjoy your videos Morph keep em coming.

[@WabbitCrouton]

I like it because it is guns. And more specifically energy-based, so no worries about ammo. As with its other Atlas platform counterparts, it has its purposefully built in flaw, like the main turret in the back instead of top, yet makes it fit into the transport ships that were meant to carry these. Apart from the limitations because of unfinished game mechanics, very interesting ground vehicle.

[@Wanted_Tiger]

i love the effort put into these Cinematics !!

[@Conranos]

Assuming they get the existing issues fixed, I can see both the ballista and centurion used together. They both cover each others weaknesses fairly well and when used in concert, could provide a substantial defense against ships.

[@JudgeRightly]

The stabilization is useful for parking on the sides of hills, something which SC has a lot of, without rolling down the hill

[@jonathonspears7736]

The answer to the question of why this exists is in military doctrine. AA defense is in layers. Long range, medium range, and short range. currently in SC we are missing the long range AA but the Ballista fills the role of medium range where the Centurion fills the role of short range. Long and Medium range weapon systems are good at dealing with small numbers of enemies at BVR ranges but are restricted by low missile counts, as to where short range lacks the range to effectively counter Air to Surface standoff weapons but is more effective at dealing with low and/or slow aircraft such as helicopters or unguided ground strikes.

[@MrTree421]

I think it is a good addition. Your criticism is valid. it should be not as easily detected. I just imagine. if they bring out the next variant That is able to set up a I don't know level half dome shield. you park a centurion a ballista and one of those shield ones at jumptown and just keep everyone from going to town. That would be great.

[@Ravenclaw-ql6kk]

Putting the C-788s on the Centurion looks gorgeous.

[@NZDivine]

It's great that it's based on lasers, so you don't have to gamble that your missiles actually do anything, then have to rearm. 1000m should be the detection range for ships, as it's as big as an Aurora

[@Scr33d]

Don't you mean 10000 meters?

[@TheTurbanatore]

Your videos are top quality. How did you learn how to edit and what software do you use?

[@Morphologis]

Thanks for your kind words! I taught myself, I use Adobe Premiere.

[@stormycatmink]

I bet the stabilizers on the side will help with aiming accuracy, just like flying under SCM speed does. Also, I really wish they'd fix ground detection range to affect any vehicle, ground or space, close to the ground. They need to just increase the background cross-section, EM, and thermal 'noise' for all vehicles when you're close to the ground. They could also use this to vary range so it's easier to pick things out in a wide open desert, vs say in a heavily cluttered forest or rock field. This also gives them some cool levers to pull so different terrains mask different sensors more or less, and thus, you could tune your ship to look for things in specific terrains. For example, say in that desert, your thermal clutter would be high, but cross-section low. Hopefully this is all in the works already, but hard to tell sometimes. Regardless, cool vehicle. I already love the Atlas chassis. Love seeing more variants!

[@fredashay]

It's not in the pledge store yet. I also checked the Subscriber's Exclusive section and the Concierge Exclusive section just in case it's only available there right now, but it's nowhere to be found. Despite it's flaws, I definitely want one if I can get it with LTI!!!

[@KorosuKivy]

It's beautiful... I really like the ground vehicles in the game this might be worth swapping out for

[@Dumb-Comment]

Flawed? Maybe but I absolutely loved it

[@MrEquilibrium]

I LOVE this vehicle!! your reasons behind the ballista are exactly why I melted mine and this is a perfect substitution for the time being :)

[@astralnut6313]

The Software Engineer arms race is always fun to watch in these multiplayer games.😀

[@ac5452]

Maybe in the future we will get an anvil platform that acts as a mobile radar array, sort of like the terrapin. Maybe add targeting networks so that scanning ships can share data and allow for target acquisition at extended ranges. The centurion looks like it would be a cool vehicle to give to a hired NPC though.

[@BigEd2006]

An org member brought up a good point. The Atlas platform would've been the perfect development tool for getting modularity done. I get it like the titan or cutty variants, one day they'll be a platform you can customize... But this seems like it should've been akin to a Ball Turret swap on a Hornet, not an entire variant... And hey still can't swap paints among this family of vehicles.

[@D3VILG3N3]

The reason for the deploy hydrolics is probably the ground vehicle refactor they are working on, which Will take into account the guns creating force, moving the vehicle Every shot.

[@Power5]

Biggest flaw of the atlas platform is that they are all different vehicles instead of being a front command section with engine and then a back trailer where you can hook up the missile trailer, gun trailer, or personnel trailer.

[@austin.t5557]

So I think this is the perfect anti air alt to the Ballista. The issue with missiles even when functional, a ship has to be in range, specifically at a distance where you can get a lock-on. But if your dealing with something thats leaving a landing pad, or already in atmo and it gets close enough those 2 size the Ballista has wont be enough. This doesn't have ammo or range issues, also the Ballista has to make sure the missiles can clear its pod. You could stick the Centurion in a cave, or in a pocket of tree's. Yea this is a great alt to a ship.

[@KingFate20]

For the time being, the 2 Size 2s have the same range and 1.6x damage compared to 1 Size 3. so it's a nerf.

[@GBI-Bear]

That's true except the centurion will come with the laser repeater as stock instead of the twin ballistic gatlings on the ballista. So you don't have to go to the trouble of swapping the turret guns like you do with the ballista so it's a small win there!

[@n00bster83]

For gameplay balancing reasons and in order to provide an incentive to use ground vehicles as an area denial platform, their mounted weapon sizes should be upsized by at least 2 in order to make them a serious threat or create a ground-based weapon size scale exclusive to ground vehicles (e.g. a size 4 ground-based repeater being equal in power to a size 6 ship-based one).

[@brentgath4447]

Nice! Finally a ground vehicle that has caught my attention!!

[@omittedflunky2963]

Vehicles like this that can lock down airspace are going to be amazing for gameplay. Now to assault places like JT you will need to either have a more sustained bombing campaign to clear the LZ or you will need to land out of range of AA guns and attack via land before you can clear the airspace for reinforcement. Trying to quickly fly in and land is going to be all but impossible for all but the heavy dropships. One of these might not pose too much threat to a HH or Starlifter but when you start getting 3-4 of them locking down airspace you're going to need to get rid of them before you move in unless you risk losing your most expensive hardware. I dont really do combat but god damn its starting to get really interesting from a sheer logistical standpoint

[@Power5]

One A2 dropping a single MOAB can level all of jumptown. They have very rudimentary splash physics for bombs. Hiding behind a hill for a ground detonation weapon like our bombs, should save you even if you are relatively close to the POI. I did not think it worked like that in game yet. Anything within like 1km is just poofed out of existence.

[@suckmysilencer747]

@@Power5 You can't drop an A2 bomb on this thing. 1 shot from it's 4 guns destroys the bomb instantly, already been tested.

[@bennetla10]

I can see this acting similar to a German 88. Designed to take down planes (and was quite good at it), but actually was better used against ground targets. I can see this being very useful in a hostile base assault.

[@thedoctrinetv]

The hydraulics on the Ballista make sense. IMO, the chassis should probably take damage when the missiles/torps are fired without the hydraulics being deployed. But it's weird that those hydraulics are on the Centurion. Maybe they (will) have some kind of auto-level feature when deployed to help deal with slightly uneven terrain?

[@peterpayne2720]

For the people into mobile Artillery/anti-aircraft, this looks like a great vehicle. Here's to hoping those vehicle upgrades you suggested go through, but I enjoy seeing these additions for people who plan to be into combined arms operations.

[@Meuduso1]

What I will say about this is that I think it's pretty cool of CIG to let so many content creators take a spin on the newest ship. It's awesome advertisement for them, instantly makes the community talk about the new thing and generates some buzz around it, so that it doesn't instantly slip into obscurity like some ships have in the past

[@jokersandrogues9821]

Fantastic work as ever. Here's hoping they get the ground combat up to snuff soon enough with the proper detection and armor level balances.

[@maxvonkrieger5043]

I hope the weapon range increases by double or maybe tripple when deployed, that would certainly make it a no fly zone vehicle.

[@MaltisSongs]

The Energy is shared because of only 1 active capacitor. Other Ships became a capacitor for each turret so the pilots energy management doesn't effect the turrets which is also good and important, not just for changed! I mean in this vehicle, okay, but you don't want the HH Turrets for example to have all limited capacity because of a shared capacitor.

[@loteknomad5032]

This video renewed my interest in how logistics will eventually work in the game. Specifically, what will it look like to reload/rearm assets like these in the field? People running back and forth between crates of ammo and vehicles, ammo containers in their arms like quest boxes? What about things way too big to carry like missiles and torpedoes? Drake Mule running back and forth between pallets and vehicles? Whatever the answer, as long as its not magically teleporting ammo from nearby crates, players will have to put more and more thought into how they take and hold fixed positions. Really looking forward to those sorts of tactical and strategic elements as they come online. :)

[@Soulvalkyrie1]

merge all 3 types together the spartan gets cut in half with the front portion at ( well ) the front, the Centurion and Ballista get put in the middle with the rear of the Spartan acting as mostly an ammo storage with a couple of defensive weapons and a scanner ( this of coarse would turn it into a giant moving target but at least the ammo and ability to defend / find ships before they get found would be easier lol

[@LMMSDeadDuck]

Nice that the stabilizer jacks deploy, but honestly I wish that they would deploy a little farther out from the vehicle because they really don't stabilize the vehicle's roll axis. This would especially be a concern when you launch missiles (on a Ballista) to the side.

[@eddiemac3726]

Fighting the urge to buy!! Could use it like a technical over hills and such?

[@aiur1645]

i think about it as a close range defense platform for something like a balista, those 2 paired up probably should be a really deadly combination

[@hurtfixer_]

Now you can carry missiles in the A2 to rearm the Ballista. (using the Utility Tractor tool) update.

[@Bullhead_JW]

It's cool to see CIG adding everything you need for a proper IADS system in Star Citizen. SAMs for dealing with long range threats, and AA to absolutely slaughter anything that gets in close

[@Libertas_P77]

I came across CIG folks taking a couple of Centurions out at NB in the PTU yesterday, and they described it as being like a “Hammerhead on land”. I’m far from convinced, and while it may have its place in the future, it doesn’t especially interest or excite me personally as a concept. I’m far more stoked for the arrival of the Vulture for salvage, and tractor beams and physicalised cargo to enrich those areas of the game finally.

[@mattiber2558]

Morph, I am going to try to be a guide for a relative visiting me in the Verse during this Free Fly. What would be the easiest comms to use? How exactly does one load a gun/rifle, and place a Sight, Underbarrel, and/or Suppressor?(I'm not expecting gunplay, but to just demonstrate it) I intend showing the starter type ships, and telling her about the different categories of career-oriented living. Anything you might add?

[@johnboyd9713]

I want a connie variant that is laid out like the centurion. Take off the big pilot guns and up the turrets to support 4xs4s like this, where you just circle a target like you were doing with the centurion here. I think that would be a nifty ship... but I guess the redeemer is kinda that already?

[@vi683a]

I know SC has a lot on its plate but i would like to see some smaller mobile AA platforms that can be remotely disbursed upon landing. Even drop shipped for a wider dispersal of LZ dominance.

[@kimmis15]

Damn that was fast

[@webentwinkler]

The Centurion might actually be very useful to bring along in the cargo hold of a Merchantman. As soon as that ship lands to literally set up shop, it becomes a sitting duck, so when trading in hostile environments it might be very worthwhile to sacrifice some cargo capacity for the ability to bring extra protection. Plus, the big signature of the BMM would most likely mask any ground vehicles in its vicinity, giving would-be attackers a nasty little surprise once they are getting too close for comfort.

[@xdeepxfreezex2621]

Hammerhead: Already useless in a fight Anvil Centurion AA: Also useless but on the ground

[@SomeDumbSpider]

I may not play the game much, but I am nonetheless always excited to see the updates and the work put into the game. Just the idea of having vehicles like this, in a multiplayer setting where you can travel between planets and whatnot, is very exciting. Just the whole aspect of multiplayer combat that isn't limited to some arena and place, solely for scores, but rather flexible battles that happen for resources, grudges or whatever through all manner of weapons, ships and vehicles. Or in short, I think the vehicle itself is cool as hell, but even cooler is the potential and what this all will lead to in the future.

[@SwedishYouthHumanist]

In addition to shortening detection range, just like it should be with ships flying close to the ground, I think air shouldn't be able to lock/target ground vehicles at all (that or lock should brake if the vehicle moves along the ground). That way ships will have to "shoot from the hip" since they don't have pips to help, leveling out the playingfield.

[@HunterSteel29]

Problem is that since this game likes to pretend its a simulator. Ships absolutely should be able to lock onto ground targets even if they're moving. Imagine being like 2000 years into the future and you can't lock onto ground targets when 2000 years prior you had things like the Warthog that could lock onto ground targets that were moving and fire missiles at them from over 5km away. That's what it means to be a ground force without air superiority or air support.

[@SwedishYouthHumanist]

@@HunterSteel29 1000 years in the future AI should be fighting AI but that wouldn't make for a very fun game, now would it?

[@fnunez]

It's a ground vehicle, so the standard rule applies: only buy them with real cash if you want an LTI token, or to support the project. Ground vehicles are a much better deal when bought with aUEC than real money.

[@DelandyMan]

I am curious where you got the information that Jumptown would be taking place again this weekend. Originally, CIG only stated Jumptown 2.0 would be running from July 2nd to July 4th. Unless I'm missing some obscure article somewhere (which is quite possible), Jumptown is already done an over with (as of last weekend).

[@OmegaZyion]

They should make it so that when it's deployed its emissions are much smaller and harder to detect. That way you have to choose between being mobile and being harder to spot.

[@Titopaivag3]

After following the events in Ucraine i can't help but to think that if they really wanna go for the whole groud warfare thing they should also do a traditional artillery version and rocket art versions, plural (I'm thinking a cruise missile variant, an unguided battery missile variant and something like a HIMARS). Cruise missile variant could also be used as orbital defense.

[@renegadeceo]

Wait... If the CF-447s on the Centurion are effective to 2.1km that means they have added a modifier to the turret somehow. CF-447 repeaters, on any other ship, have a "projectile" velocity of 1400m/s with a lifetime of 1.1s giving them a range of 1540m. If they magically have a 2.1km range on the Cent... that means they found a way to bump their lifetime up to 1.5s on ONLY that turret. This would be *great* news for Hammerhead owner/operators.

[@DracaNova]

Agreed, sitting outside the weapons range with a S3 missiles(which many ships have) is just an auto win

[@Arbyfig]

I feel that the ballista and the centurion are support vehicles that cannot operate alone and rather compliment each other

[@ckr3167]

This will do well with all the ground campaigns and missions that don’t exist

[@rallen3122]

Thanks Morph. Love your reviews.

[@mrbmo9375]

God seeing this thing with combine cannons is marvelous

[@nuarius]

i suspect deploying the legs will impact accuracy. that is, when in motion your accuracy will take a massive hit, when stationary but on wheel suspension you accuracy will still be bad, but much better than rolling. and then full deployed would give you the full expected accuracy of the gun.

[@stelardactek]

I've been hesitant to buy anything like this as a PvE player, but now that we have NPC dropships coming, I could see owning one of these.

[@StoneCoolds]

CIG is working on onion SAM deployment, i like that

[@QuantumAscension1]

I'd certainly prefer the Centurion over the Ballista. As much as I like SAM batteries, AA guns have always had a close place in my heart. Plus, being more adaptable where it can fire on ground targets is obvious advantage.

[@Ghazlawl]

Before your video I was on the fence. I like my Spartan; I don’t like the Ballista. But… the Centurion does look preeeeeetty nice!

[@digdug4123]

I like it, and the concept of it is awesome. I think there needs to be another atlas variant that jams signals and makes it difficult to get a lock on the ground vehicles

[@GBI-Bear]

Electronic warfare! That sounds like an awesome idea! Would be awesome to have a vehicle like that on the atlas platform. Could even have speciality ships that are equipped with electronic warfare equipment that can jam enemy players radar and possibly jam their missile locks?

[@digdug4123]

@@GBI-Bear The Sentinel is suppose to be an electronic warfare ship, it isn't suppose to have the EMP. I forget what it is suppose to do.

[@druid4243]

Weapon ranges are so absurdly short right now it just does not matter at all if one of these is on the field. A fighter can cross it's entire field of fire in literal seconds.

[@kaollachan]

for use the new orison event can give some idea. ( i haven t see much so i may saw stuff that was removed or not understanding as i was watching stream), the ballista and centurion can be deployed on area that don t have AA defence like those plateform. they are also a way for player to defend themself in a situation where there is a no fly zone controled by ennemy. you could aslo build a scenario as : player need to escort/ move something/ or go to a point of interest to mine/ get info etc by holding it. in a area that is under pirate surveilliance via satellite that will detect ship but not ground vehicule ( either detection range, or you are in some kind of valley), and that there is powfull and long range AA that would shoot ennemy ship if detected. so player would be forced to use ground vehicule to do the mission ( could also be inflitrate a base to deactivate said AA defence) and use ballistta and centurion to defend against IA attaking or dropping reanforcement

[@The_Opinion_of_Matt]

AA is about area denial. Having just one will be ineffective at this task. In reality, to deny the access to the airspace above a location (i.e. Jumptown) you will need multiple Centurion's, Ballistas, and ground troops with rail guns and shoulder fired missile launchers. Considering the driver controlled turret is for vehicle defense, mounting scatter guns in this turret makes the most sense to me. But mounting other guns wouldn't be wrong either. Also, in the main turret I would probably mount two 788s and two energy weapons then put them in different weapon groups. Or second thought, this is a ground vehicle, meaning four distortion weapons to disable ships and let gravity take care of the rest.

[@scribblescrabble3185]

Another problem it shares with the other vehicles based on the Atlas platform and the Nova tank is, it is too large. CIG wanted the player to comfortably stand inside and that made these vehicles double in every dimension compared to real life examples.

[@gkenny12]

I want my X1 I mean they can base it off the Nox right lol. This is good to see I hope they go back through the line and make the updates as they did for this one. It would be great for other owners to have some of the features in the same update and not seem more like a marketing tactic

[@ForwardKinematics]

a game like Warthunder does anti-air ops well. In that it provides a radar system for actively scanning forward of the guns, providing NRT lead indications for targets, you can manipulate the radar depending on the type of radar, allowing for a stronger but more narrow FOV or wider but less ranged FOV. Additionally having proximity time fuses are important for AA to be successful in hitting air targets. I think CIG could be much more creative in developing ground vehicles in combat roles, they need to do more research into these vehicles. providing camo netting for IR shielding and radar absorbing materials would go a long way on how they should set these up.. which would be closer to the real life counter-parts, additionally electronic warfare enabled functions, such as a jamming function for communications or a LBTV (Land Based Tractor Beam) on a gimbal turret to slow space craft down or prevent their retreat from a battle... etc etc, deployable shields, anti air mines (remote launchable missiles that track the first IR signal seen)... Some of these are real items used today, others are Sci-Fi related ideas. Even using a Quantum teleporter for vehicles would be cool, so you could reposition the vehicle in small distances, it may sound tacky, but that would be something from IRL, the science is proven... I could keep going, drones and UAVs, armed with Electronic warfare capabilities or additional sensors for detecting ground forces or space forces, or weapons.. Suicide drones, those are a big thing..

[@imtimbabay6583]

I think they’re making ground operations more viable every patch. Once detection ranges and missiles are balanced nobody will be able to take JT without some kind of contingent of marines. Can’t wait

[@x_quinn_x9179]

The s7 missiles on the Ballista are not torpedoes... They are one of very few exceptions to the guidelines for missiles and torps... The suggestion of making its detection range smaller only works if it gets bigger while the vehicle is firing... Being fired at by undetectable enemies with weapons this size would be simply broken... Remember that if they were one size larger than they would be capable of damaging the Idris as it currently is in game....

[@micheljavert5923]

Looks like work on PlanetSide3 is coming along nicely.

[@neonsamurai1348]

I would really like to see a combined version that carries several size 2 missiles (8+), and 2 size 4 guns, and with the jacks being optional so it can fire on the run. Further the jacks should be self leveling. This vehicle and the prior one bug me with those jacks. If you have to deploy the jacks to use the main weapons. That should be optional for a better firing platform or when doing static defense, but it is useless for convoy defense as you need to keep moving with the convoy while firing. Plus missiles and the lasers should be more or less recoilless anyways.

[@ralexcraft990]

They're not needed? Morph was driving it around and it was shooting before

[@tacboy78ify]

Missiles work. There's just a set condition in which they are most effective. With EM missiles the ship you're targeting needs to have a high em signature. So like when the ships shields low (but not down) the EM signature goes WAY up! Making it easier for the rocket to hit. Same with IR missiles the ships heat need to be high.

[@DayLateGamerWill]

Kinda bizarre that an energy weapon requires the vehicle to be "mounted via hydraulics" to fire

[@GBI-Bear]

While it comes stock with the 4x size 4 energy weapons it can be swapped out to ballistic weapons like you see in the video with the c788 cannons and in that scenario it makes sense.

[@DayLateGamerWill]

@@GBI-Bear yes, with big-ass ballistic canons it does, thus if energy weapons are on, the hydraulics shouldn't *need* to be initiated

[@legionofknightsgaming6890]

They need a dedicated radar vehicle. One that relays information to the mobile AA around them just like real life. I say make a radar vehicle that increases radar by around 15,000 to 30,000 m out dependingon the equipment. Have a huge radar dish that don't fit on ships for aerodynamics reasons. This would explain why ships can't have the extended radar as the dedicated radar ground vehicle. Also this means fighter could scramble and intercept targets at a farther range. Obviously there would also be a dedicated radar ship almost like an AWAC. In my opinion this would bring more strategy in events such as jump town.

[@Morphologis]

There’s already a ship in game that’s equivalent to an AWAC. It’s called the terrapin and it’s the only function the ship has. Sadly that gameplay mechanic isn’t functional and requires some development to get its sensors more powerful than any other ship, and then again more time to make it able to network with select ships to extend their sensor range. I really want this kind of gameplay, who knows though when we will see it.

[@legionofknightsgaming6890]

@@Morphologis yea.. I look forward to this type of gameplay as well. Can't wait!

[@Anachroschism]

I look forward to many more variants of both this platform, but it would also be nice to see some different Ursa variations. Indeed, a ground vehicles should be very hard to detect, and even more so if they aren't moving or firing.

[@JoeFrogz]

Honestly it will be cool to have both lasers and torps. So your not hard in one way or the other and you’re never out of the fight 100%

[@EeroafHeurlin]

All the ground vehicles pledge values vs aUEC costs are totally out of whack (yeah I know the pledge value is not meant to correspond to value in-game) so definitely waiting until it's in-game buyable. That said the Atlas platform is by far the best behaving ground vehicle and taking one of these to a hostile bunker to take out the AA before bringing a ship in would be excellent.