Module based variant aircraft

[lofty geyser]

In the aircraft spawn menu, I'd like to suggest an option for certain aircraft for an alternative cockpit.

For example, in the Tarantula and Chicane, lower body panels in the cockpit could be replaced with glass, allowing for better visibility at the cost of armor and survivability.

For more advanced aircraft like the Ifrit and Medusa, the option could be for a hardened shell without windows, requiring the pilot to fly on instruments and cameras but providing superior protection from nuclear shockwaves and EW attacks, or outright replacing the pilot with a drone pilot which doesn't suffer from G forces, but costs more and lowers capacitor size

[lofty geyser]

Module based variant aircraft

Additionally to this, to help players identify what aircraft they're up again, certain upgrades could be displayed with a name amendment.

For example, a Medusa with EMP shielding could be displayed as Medusa-H, indicating it's hardened. Or an Ifrit with a drone pilot could be an Ifrit-A, for Autonomous.

[ebon estuary]

Not gonna lie, role-playing as an AI Medusa and going full terminator style on the enemy would be LIT.

And I'd only ever fly the Drone Ifrit with the Goose 🪿 camo :))

[lofty geyser]

It would give a ton of worldbuilding variation to aircraft without needing new assets

[sleek vault]

Regarding an autonomous aircraft, it should have some other debuff such as not being able to disable aoa limiter since it rly is just flying by wire

Because if otherwise, there was no limit to how many Gs an unmanned aircraft could pull there would be no reason to take a pilot aircraft into dog fights

[lofty geyser]

That's a good point, and a good solution

[mint siren]

Even without the pitch limiter, a Revoker without G limits would be terrifying in a dogfight.

[arctic bridge]

metal dome instead of a canopy with a bunch of super high resolution screens inside would also be pretty cool

[ebon estuary]

Alternatively, drone planes don't have G limits.

But the further they get from friendly radars and medusas the grainier the image gets, and they can also be jammed by enemy medusas to lose control completely.

When a drone plane gets jammed, it autopilots back to the nearest AWACS to have a stronger signal than the jamming.

[lofty geyser]

That's very good. Drones can do all the supermanuevering they want but they're super vulnerable to EW, although I don't like taking control away

[shell storm]

I think it would be better to keep the AoA limiter on, and keep the ability to jam the drones, but I feel this would only really be a good addition (at least for the drones) if there was more of a reason to keep pilots alive, because how many Gs you pull doesn’t really do much as very few people gunfight in escalation.

[lofty geyser]

A drone pilot would be really expensive. Human pilots are cheaper

[lofty geyser]

Adding more to this, with some aircraft variant ideas. Variants should be selectable as a module, the same way that changing certain modules on the Tarantula and Medusa will unlock or lock other options. I feel like variants would be a great way to add a lot of variety to the game without requiring a lot of work. We are lots of different configurations for aircraft in the real world all operating together. So here's a few ideas.

Cricket variants

Cricket-J is a jet powered bomber Cricket. It's top speed is only moderately increased, but the jet gives it much more power for acceleration and climbing, allowing this variant to carry more/heavier bomb loads.

The jet engine runs hotter, and makes the Cricket-J more vulnerable to IR missiles, and carries only enough fuel to loiter in the air for short sorties.

This would give people their bootleg A-10 platform in a format that I think fits the world with enough benefits and downsides to be balanced and fun. I envision the Cricket-J as something kept with reserve forces designed to respond to ground breakthroughs.

Cricket-X1 is an experimental weapons platform based on the Cricket that was used in development of the Chicane's weapon systems. It would be essentially an upgraded, more expensive Cricket with some extra toys to keep it useful late game.

Primarily an upgraded engine delivering moderately more power. This lets it forgo it's nose mounted sensor package for the chicane's rotary cannon gimbal. The cannon has a noticable effect on the stability of the plane when firing, and the whole platform is significantly heavier and more sluggish

It also has access to the Chicane's big Lynchpin pods and 4x AGMs. It has no air to air capability. This makes it a fun alternate A-10 inspired option that's purely for fighting ground forces while others go after air targets, although you could probably ruin a few people's day with the gimballed cannon if you were brave enough to try it

Cricket-C is a variant originally designed for SAR usage and as a civilian bush plane. These never panned out as projects, but the platform was picked up by the navy as a weapon training platform. The Cricket-C has lift fans in the wings. These aren't sufficient enough for VTOL flight, but it allows the Cricket to pull off very short takeoffs and landings.

From the SAR design, the Cricket-C inherits a widened fuselage with very cramped seating for a couple passengers, and from the bush plane design it inherits increased mechanical survivability as well as heavy duty landing gear and water floats.

The navy's additions allow it to carry nearly any weapon present in the game short of nuclear weapons, but only a single slot for a single weapon underneath each wing, and no nose cannon. This makes it a fun, weird option, and potentially useful for mission makers to do all sorts of neat things with

[lofty geyser]

Chicane-SL is less of a variant and more of a module. Its very heavy but gives the Chicane a single light vehicle sling loaded underneath at the cost of weapon load.

Chicane-II 'Locust' is a failed redesign of the Chicane as a push rotor fast scout aircraft. The tail is replaced with a prop and the weapon mounts are replaced with short, stubby wings. This one is just for fun.

Chicane-III Tempest would be the late game direct upgrade package. At the cost of more weight and more sluggish controls you get a Chicane hardened with armor, EMP/EW shielding, a stealth coating to slightly disrupt radar, and engine heat shielding for a little IR protection

Remote Ordinance Delivery Drone, (RODD) is a remotely operated weapon designed on the Chicane platform. It's essentially a nuclear bomb strapped into the pilot seat of a Chicane. You fly to your target and blow up. It's goal would be to maneuver nuclear weapons through enemy defenses through stealth and staying below terrain. The bomb, for balance, should take 20 seconds or so from activation to detonation, during which time a moving nuclear warning circle should be drawn over it. This means the self destruct isn't something that can just instantly be done, and pilots who spot the drone will have at least 20 seconds to target it.

[opal skiff]

I dont like the idea of the AI pilot, but the rest sounds great

[junior shadow]

Like in Titanfall 2

[lost surge]

At that point just add an OV-10 knockoff

I like idea of adding modules such as screens and enclosed cockpits and the such but not really variants, as I feel that someday-upcoming new airframes could fill the roles of them.

[lofty geyser]

The Cricket is an OV-10 knockoff. Variants is a way to increase the variety of planes to use without having to go through the long, complicated process of building one from scratch.

[lost surge]

I mean a twin engine with a cargo hold for passengers or other equipment

[lofty geyser]

I didn't say twin engine. Just something to let people do SAR with it, which the Bronco that it's based on can do with stretchers in the weapons hold

I'd rather have 4 planes that can fill 8 roles than 6 planes that can each only fill one.

The Tarantula currently already has this. Selecting the 76mm locks off the cargo hold, effectively separating the Tarantula into a ground attack variant and a transport variant.

I'm proposing the same thing for other aircraft to add more varied features to existing airframes without the need to develop a whole new plane to fill a role adjacent to one already filled by something we've got

[lofty geyser]

Honestly I want it purely to use as a terrifying target in missions

[errant hornet]

T/A-30 except its now a F/A-30 when?

[fringe hawk]

I would play that so much just for funzies

[lofty geyser]

Replying so anyone reading this can go back through all my suggestions for variant aircraft.

Compass Block B is a minor facelift for the Compass designed specifically for naval use. It features a moderately more powerful but less responsive engine, improved optical guidance and surface radar capabilities, loadout options more tailored for naval operations, and no gun. It's designed to carry anti-ship ordinance in after Ifrits and Revokers have cleared the airspace

Compass-EW, affectionately known by pilots as Mini-Meduda, is a very expensive aircraft that takes the reliable and tested Compass and forgoes all of its air to ground capability and most of its air to air capability in order to strap EW systems off the Medusa to itself. It's designed to fill gaps in air coverage and act as escorts for Medusa flights that can range out and extend its force projection. It can forgo all other countermeasures in order to equip the Medusa's anti-missile laser system at reduced power and capacity.

This one is mostly for fun. I doubt it would be especially effective, but these would be a very fun challenge peppered among AI aircraft for missions

Compass-A 'Kestrel' is a base model Compass with several custom upgrades designed by and for the Boscali Kestrels; a famous air show acrobatics crew. They fly Revokers and these modified compasses (which are significantly cheaper to operate than their revokers). The Kestrel Compass has larger aero surfaces including small canards on the nose, a moderately more powerful engine with significantly more throttle control (at the cost of fuel load), and a heavily reinforced airframe to enable 'controlled' stalls from any speed. As it's not designed for combat, the only weapons available to the Kestrel Compass are it's gun, lynchpins, and 2 IR missiles. It's countermeasures are also significantly downgraded

Revoker-HAIS (High Atmosphere Interception System) is a modified Revoker for near-space operations. It trades some maneuverability for outright power. No gun, no bombs, no optical missiles. Only radar guided and IR air to air ordinance. It's designed for launching long range missiles targeting low earth orbit satellites, the interdiction of high altitude surveillance craft, and interception of other similar aircraft doing the same thing it does. It's also got that classic Space Shuttle heat shielding tiles on it and a more enclosed cockpit

Tarantula Wanderer is a version of the Tarantula designed for transportation and security of high value targets. The Primevan president famously rides around in Condor Prime, a Wanderer pattern Tarantula. The only obvious change noticeable is cockpit is more open for better visibility, but it has extra fuel load, extra turrets, and an optional bay of lynchpins, as its designed to deliver VIPs and help protect them.

[errant hornet]

i require my F/A-30 Navigator

[arctic bridge]

the HAIS revoker should get some bigger wings too

[latent oracle]

Imagine putting on a president's aircraft a bay for missiles requiring to get within 5 kilometers to the target, but not a radar jammer and capacitor

Though maybe Primeva president is just a fan of personally annihilating invasive wild boars by piloting and firing Linchpins while his cronies and family members fire extra useless turrets

[lofty geyser]

The Presidential gunship is vital to our modern political systems

[ebon estuary]

Presidents of PALA and BDF are most likely the "Ace Combat final bosses" type.

PALA president has destroyed entire airforces with the 76mm on the tarantula

BDF president only flies a 12.7mm gunpod cricket, and has singlehandedly defeated entire armies.

imo the 2 nations would be different in government structure.

PALA would have a warlord/monarch/dictator with a strong passion and love for his people (but horrible management)

BDF's leader would just be Senator Armstrong

.
And the CEOs of our two main military contractors (Kramenka and whatever Lockheed equivalent we get) would also be responsible for personally wiping out entire nations off the map.

Complete with cheesy but arguably true monologues of why Corporate-Feudalism is unavoidable because of how humanity tends towards mediocrity.

[late jetty]

The tara actually has windows in the bottom of the cockpit, look down :^)

[lofty geyser]

Tarantula SAR is an unarmed search and rescue variant of the Tarantula with a very fun feature. You can drop Fulton devices to downed pilots who will deploy them and allow you to scoop them up for a rescue. This could let a tarantula pick up numerous downed pilots in a very short period of time while also introducing a fun new game mechanic.

For those that don't know, a Fulton system is basically a climbing harness attacked to a big balloon. The downed pilot wears the harness and deploys the balloon, then the Tarantula flies by and catches the balloon with a big hook, which whips the pilots up into the air where they can be reeled into the cargo bay.