This Public Test release marks a major update to the Sunderer. This is the most significant change to the vehicle since the release of the game over 11 years ago. The primary purpose of the update is to make the Sunderer a more interesting, dynamic, and flexible vehicle, but we hope in the process that some more general issues will be helped by the changes (even if it may not fully solve them).

More specifically, our general goals are that:

• The overall survivability of the Sunderer, particularly when deployed, is significantly increased
• The loadout choices of players are interesting and meaningful, with each cert being relevant compared to other in the same slot
• The Sunderer has a greater tactical impact (both breadth and depth) in its support role

What has changed?

The sunder's certifications have been completely revamped, including renaming the slots.  Many of the effects of the older certs which weren't impactful enough to justify taking, have been combined, some of the existing certifications (like the deploy shield) have been reworked to be more powerful, and there are also some that are completely new. The Passive S-AMS when deployed, being core the the concept, remains unchanged.

The new slots and certifications are:

More details on each below.

In addition to the certifications, a few other changes have been made to the vehicle.

• The Sunderer deployment exclusion zone has been reduced by 20%, primarily to increase the utility of the Point Defense certification, giving it the ability to cover other sunderers more easily.
• With the removal of the Performance slot, the bonuses the certifications would have otherwise given have been rolled into the vehicle's base stats, at about half of the maximum bonus each.

All Certs have had their cost lowered to 1 cert for testing purposes.

What to look out for

All constructive feedback is welcomed, but there are a few things we'd like everyone to especially pay attention to.

The first and most obvious is anything not working correctly, or not working as described in the certification. Unexpected or unclear descriptions are part of this. 

When it comes to game balance, there are primarily 2 avenues we want to evaluate;

• Is this the certification good and useful but the current stats are too good/bad making it over/underpowered?
• Is this certification a reasonable alternative to other options in this slot? Although if something else can be better, does its core functionality not serve a purpose that is worth pursuing in any likely circumstance? Is so, what are alternatives or additional functionality that would help it fulfill its intended purpose?

New Certification details

This outlines, roughly, how the new certifications work and what role we envision them having in PlanetSide 2. The role this should particularly fulfill is important when providing some forms of feedback.

Deployment

The deployment slot is for certs that are only active when the Sunderer is deployed.

The Deploy Dome replaces what was once the Deploy Shield. It behaves like a mini-citadel shield that blocks incoming fire, covering whatever is inside the shield. The shield itself has a resist profile similar to the base Sunderer, except is has no vulnerabilities and 95% resistance to small arms fire instead of immunity. The shield health regens at a constant rate, even while under fire, making it particularly resilient and requiring more sustained DPS to take down. As a consequence however, when it does go down, it takes much longer to come back online making the Sunderer particularly vulnerable during this period. We still expect the Deploy Dome to be the primary certification for this slot, defense is simply too useful, however it is our hope that the other certifications are still valuable enough to take for support roles.

Vehicle Stealth remains almost entirely as-is, with the exception being that the cloak is now available immediately. We expect this certification to fulfill the same role as before.

Point Defense increases the firepower of the Sunderer at the cost of defense and range, as well as the need to man the weapons. The hope is that it will be primarily used to actively cover other important positions (Sunderers, Cargo, choke points) from would be fly-byers and suicide attackers.

Armor

The armor slot covers the primary defensive certifications, with the goal of each certification being most useful against different threats for different situations.

Enhanced Plating is the most basic armor certification. It provides a flat mitigation bonus against damage types (listed in the description) the Sunderer is vulnerable to. This certification is most useful when the Sunderer will be actively healed, particularly from multiple sources, since it increases the effective healing from all sources.

Nanite Armor combines the Fire Suppression System and Nanite Auto Repair System into a single certification with a little boost in overall power. It provides passive, constant, healing *that does not stop* when damage is taken. In an emergency this passive effect can be traded for a burst of healing, potentially saving the Sunderer but also requiring time for the health regen to come back online. Nanite Armor should be most useful when the driver expects consistent amounts of low damage and doesn't have a ready source of healing, such as while driving.

Reactive Armor is an entirely new cert designed specifically to counter burst damage. With reactive armor the Sunderer will gain a set of energy shields, one for each face, that completely negates all damage from a single source while being consumed in the process. Each reactive plate operates independently, with its own cooldown.
 
Each reactive plate operates on a relatively long cooldown, however, this cooldown can be shortened by actively “over-healing” the Sunderer. Any healing done to the Sunderer while it is at full health will be diverted to the reactive armor, lowering the cooldown of any inactive plates. This cooldown reduction will be applied to plates one at a time in the following order; Front -> Left -> Right -> Rear -> Top. At the moment, 1 second of healing roughly correlates to 1 second of cooldown reduction.

Cargo

The cargo slot is the largest change to the Sunderer. Its goal is to give the Sunderer a significant boost in support presence at the tactical level by allowing the deployment of a secondary device with abilities that normally required the vehicle's immediate presence. Since its role as a spawn point is so crucial, the support aspects were almost always sidelined as a consequence (armored column heal bus being the notable exception). We don't want the need to have a defensible spawn point to completely negate the Sunderer's other abilities. Offloading these, sometimes extremely powerful, effects to a secondary object also provides us with many more levers to balance them with.

The Ammo Tower replaces the Vehicle Ammo Dispenser, providing ammunition in a radius around itself.

The Proximity Repair System has been replaced by the Repair Station, which heals for a similar amount in a similar area.

The Proximity Radar has been updated to be a deployable and now functions as a Scout Radar, providing increased tactical information and support to nearby infantry.

Finally the Gate Shield Diffuser will no longer be available, instead players will be able bypass the same types of shields using the Shield Disruptor, which not only allows the Sunderer to slip by them but now disrupts the shield entirely allowing other vehicles to pass.

The Cargo Deployables have their health and defensive stats. There is a trade off between frequency, toughness, and power that will have to be carefully evaluated. At the moment they lean towards frequent use over staying power, finding the right balance will be an ongoing process likely even after full release.

Known Issues

• Balance! Balance is certainly off at the moment, particularly in larger battles. We know this and are eagerly looking forward to your feedback.
• With the removal of the gate diffuser utility, the Sunderer is no longer able to sink on Oshur. We are still going over ways to grant this ability to the Sunderer by default in a way that is easier to use and flexible
• The names of the slots in the UI have not yet been changed, at the moment the mapping is:
  • Utility -> Deployment
  • Defense -> Armor
  • Performance -> Cargo
• Currently the Reactive Armor may not reliably block multiple simultaneous instances of damage that happen closely (such as multiple C4 charges)