1. Nice armoured cabin for the driver, so no getting sniped because your soldier is unable to move or take cover (looking at you torpedo boat).

2. Solid armament. 2 protected MGs with the amazing boat/ zeppelin MG damage model. They can defend the vehicle and support the infantry they transport without making the vehicle too powerful (it is a support vehicle after all). But it seems they must have fired the normal dev who for the last 3 games at least has insisted on weak weapons and exposed positions on all transports.

3. Decent enough armour not to be immediately one or two shotted by infantry.

4. If gunners or crew come under fire from unprotected directions they can unmount from their position and take cover inside the vehicle without the physics sperging out and throwing them out of the vehicle into the water.

Why can't all support vehicles in Battlefield games be this well designed?

Quoted from "tankmayvin"

Quoted from "Hau_ruck"

1. Nice armoured cabin for the driver, so no getting sniped because your soldier is unable to move or take cover (looking at you torpedo boat).

2. Solid armament. 2 protected MGs with the amazing boat/ zeppelin MG damage model. They can defend the vehicle and support the infantry they transport without making the vehicle too powerful (it is a support vehicle after all). But it seems they must have fired the normal dev who for the last 3 games at least has insisted on weak weapons and exposed positions on all transports.

3. Decent enough armour not to be immediately one or two shotted by infantry.

4. If gunners or crew come under fire from unprotected directions they can unmount from their position and take cover inside the vehicle without the physics sperging out and throwing them out of the vehicle into the water.

Why can't all support vehicles in Battlefield games be this well designed?

The armored car has protected seating for all it's gunners. The issue is that there is a shitload of AT weaponry all over the battlefield and it's got a 2 hit damage model against a lot of weapons. The armored car is NOT weak in the game though, its barely less durable than the FT light tank and the gun trucks.

Battlefield has always employed the move-fast-die-fast model for it's transports, and generally its a good model. The map design in BF1 just doesn't permit the open flanking that prior titles did.

The Y-lighter is NOT well designed, or useful. It's comparatively quite slow for the amount of ground it has to cover, the seats are not protected versus splash damaging infantry, it goes down to two hits from the AT plane. Basically it is a sitting duck compared to the armored cars because you're on a wide open body of water with no cover. If something goes after you, bet it a plane, or a boat you're absolutely dead and there is nothing you can do. The only thing it does compared to the torpedo boat is act as a spawn point when it beaches successfully.

Quoted from "tankmayvin"

Quoted from "Hau_ruck"

1. Nice armoured cabin for the driver, so no getting sniped because your soldier is unable to move or take cover (looking at you torpedo boat).

2. Solid armament. 2 protected MGs with the amazing boat/ zeppelin MG damage model. They can defend the vehicle and support the infantry they transport without making the vehicle too powerful (it is a support vehicle after all). But it seems they must have fired the normal dev who for the last 3 games at least has insisted on weak weapons and exposed positions on all transports.

3. Decent enough armour not to be immediately one or two shotted by infantry.

4. If gunners or crew come under fire from unprotected directions they can unmount from their position and take cover inside the vehicle without the physics sperging out and throwing them out of the vehicle into the water.

Why can't all support vehicles in Battlefield games be this well designed?

The armored car has protected seating for all it's gunners. The issue is that there is a shitload of AT weaponry all over the battlefield and it's got a 2 hit damage model against a lot of weapons. The armored car is NOT weak in the game though, its barely less durable than the FT light tank and the gun trucks.

Battlefield has always employed the move-fast-die-fast model for it's transports, and generally its a good model. The map design in BF1 just doesn't permit the open flanking that prior titles did.

The Y-lighter is NOT well designed, or useful. It's comparatively quite slow for the amount of ground it has to cover, the seats are not protected versus splash damaging infantry, it goes down to two hits from the AT plane. Basically it is a sitting duck compared to the armored cars because you're on a wide open body of water with no cover. If something goes after you, bet it a plane, or a boat you're absolutely dead and there is nothing you can do. The only thing it does compared to the torpedo boat is act as a spawn point when it beaches successfully.

I agree it is quite slow, and yes I'd say the AC is about the only other decent light vehicle in the game. The ACs main problems have more to do with it's buggy spawning on many maps, having team mates spawn in and drive into a wall, and the fact that the car gets easily stuck and flounders on even slightly uneven terrain. Don't get me wrong, I use it all the time, but between those problems and the main turret not having enough zoom, the vehicle is far from well designed for the gameplay role it needs to fill. Still better than the atrocious (unarmed) motorbike and open topped cars. It also can't be repaired by the driver like the Y-lighter can (unless this was patched in without me realizing it)

As for the Y-Lighter, the fact that infantry would need to use explosives at all just demonstrates that it is decent, unlike the torpedo boat/ jeep/ motorbike/ stationary MG where the user is largely unprotected against small arms from any angle and can be easily dealt with by some distant sniper. If infantry are having to try and hit you with rocket guns then that's exactly what you want as a support vehicle. It was the same with MRAPs forcing engineers to use their rpgs in BF4. It leaves them totally exposed both to your weapons and to the infantry you are transporting. You get your squad into position and then try to kill/ distract as many enemies as possible. The shields prevent snipers/ medics picking you off from a distance and forces the enemy to focus heavier weapons on you.

I suppose I have been lucky that no planes have gone after me too hard yet, as unfortunately most weapons are still laughably useless at bringing down planes

Having just gone 49-2 on Cape Heles with the Y-Lighter against a fairly bad team, I can definitely say that this is the damage model the stationary and open topped jeep MG needs to have. The boat/ zeppelin MG takes longer to reach min spread but keeps its damage out to much longer range (75-150m dropoff IIRC).

21 min damage at 50m for an emplacement or vehicle MG is not good enough.

I also noticed that (presumably for the naval expansion) they made it so you can see through your own shield on the y-lighter and the torpedo boat positions, thus making them far more useful. If only they did this for the stationary one.

I see what TM means though with the Y-lighter being vulnerable, having used it on helligoland bight, where there are many more powerful vehicles. But on Cape Heles and Albion it is much more useful, as there are no large vehicles and only planes and a couple of torpedo boats to worry about. In my experience the long sight lines of these two maps combined with the lack of tanks also seems to result in fewer assaults running around, and therefore very few rocket guns.

I also love its spawning mechanic and kinda wish this was applied to transport helicopters in the next modern BF title. ie if you land somewhere then it acts as a team spawn point, but obviously leaves you vulnerable. I think that would be a fun way to make them distinctive.

Quoted from "botafogo4life"

Quoted from "Hau_ruck"

Having just gone 49-2 on Cape Heles with the Y-Lighter against a fairly bad team, I can definitely say that this is the damage model the stationary and open topped jeep MG needs to have.

I know those guys you played against pretty well, more often than not they're my teammates... One time they let the Brits get a whole flotilla of boats (cruiser included) in the back of our spawn... Clowns trying to snipe their way out of trouble, friendly pilots ignoring enemy planes and dropping nades everywhere except on enemy infantry/boats, what a nightmare.

That's why I no longer mess around with Cape Helles unless I'm on the British side...

They were pretty bad. Then again my team was bad too. Any time I tried to flank around the side of the map to go to flags further inland, my team immediately lost C, A and usually B. So I'd just have to float back around again. I just sat at the bottom of the beach with my vehicle angled in such a way that it was very difficult for anyone to hit me, then I calmly sat there machinegunning every enemy I could see at C, A and trying to enter B.

I think I must have had good air cover though as I was only strafed a couple of times. The gun really is a beast though. It 3 shots out to crazy distances even without any headshots.

I need to double check but I think they have the same health as the torpedo boat, as they also take 3 rocket gun hits but go down from 2 torpedoes.

I had an absolutely bizarre bug last night on Legoland Bight. Just as I and my Y-Lighter were about to enjoy another fiery death at the hands of a destroyer, I tried to dismount the vehicle. For some reason just as the vehicle exploded I was mysteriously teleported back to the Y-Lighter's spawning area, and a new one spawned underneath me. It didn't record a death or anything. This happened 3 times in one life. Each time I hit dismount just before the killing blow. If it happens again I'll make sure I get it recorded. It was hilarious.

Some footage of me screwing around with the Y-Lighter. While my shooting and positioning could have been better and my enemies weren't too bright, I think this helps reiterate just how good the boat MG is. Even at some pretty decent ranges the enemies are still dying in 3 hits before they get a chance to even react.

Y-Lighter fun times - YouTube

My favorite was at 2:20 where it seems everyone in the world is shooting at me. I was just going "aaaahhhh" the whole time.