Corsair/History

Dev Letter - Surf and Storm (News, 2022-06-22)

 * Officially announced

The flagship of our Surf and Storm update starts with the Corsair assault craft, the first proper naval vessel added to PlanetSide 2. This squad-spawnable patrol boat is the faster, sleeker, waterborne counterpart to the Sunderer, with a heavy focus on the necessary logistics to move players around Oshur's island chain quickly.

A seasoned navigator can cruise around with two gunners, and up to 5 additional passengers. Weapons on the Corsair are similar to other Nanite Systems common-pool vehicles, and includes the M20 Basilisk, M60 Bulldog, and Dingo ML-6, and Empire-Specific Basilisk alternatives, to start. That said, passengers aren't just there to ferry back and forth – Each of the five passenger seats has access to the all-new Catapult System, which allows passengers to launch themselves like a cannonball in the direction of their choosing. With a little aim (and a built-in safe landing feature,) you'll be able to land right where the action is taking place, ready to do some damage.

Development Insight: Instead of using an amphibious or hovercraft design, we've developed the Corsair to work exclusively as a water-bound vessel for a few reasons. The first is that we've never had a naval vehicle in the game, and branching into this subset of warfare has a unique appeal to certain players -- similar to how air, armor, and construction all have their own very distinct followings. The second is that we have a goal of building on our engine and technology with each update, and wanting to improve our water tech was good impetus to create this unique vehicle. Third is that the catapult system was a feature meant to allow for more freedom of movement on Oshur, and if we were to attach it to a vehicle that could free-roam other continents, it could easily break many of the bases in the game. Water is limited, and placed with intent, so it's a useful design constraint that allows us to determine how much influence we want this feature to have over a map