(Note: I was inspired by https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/mtqkhh/the_valk_is_good_but_it_can_be_better_also_i_like/ So be sure to go check that out)

(2nd note: I use MBT to refer to main battle tanks, aka magriders, vanguards and prowlers, not to refer to lightnings)

Recently a content drop idea I had was surrounded around tanks and what not, to have them be able to have another purpose other than "shoot other tank" or "shoot air", and instead can have a secondary support role to help infantry push and what not.

(Also I was inspired by how Colossusses have the cortium mechanic, stopping them from spamming their abilities and promoting coordinated play)

First idea: Bubble shield for utility. So TR has something similar to this, with the projector shield that protects other tanks/infantry hiding behind the shield, however I would like an expanded idea on top of this. This bubble shield would basically last for X amount of time or to burn X amount of cortium. So this shield would stop the MBT from firing obviously (since an invincible shield tank fire would be blatantly broken) and would slow you down (something around 50%) while using it. I know there is a lot of hatred of the citadel shield, but this implementation would have a limit on how long it could last, and also c4ing the tank would of course destroy the tank and the shield.

2nd Idea: artillery-based main gun. This would be something like a flail or glaive, and would basically allow you to have something like a flail or glaive on wheels. In order to shoot it you must be deployed, and every volley uses X amount of cortium (stops it from making bases obsolete). When you are aiming (when you are in first person you get this artillery-esc degree system, with a camera in the lower right-hand corner showing the front view of your vehicle. On your map it will have a little hit indicator showing where your shot would hit based on how high/left or right you are. I don't want this vehicle to be strong per see, but it would be interesting to be able to have a fireteam of artillerymen (one person waypointing on the minimap where the enemy is) and be able to volley them. I worry about it becoming a spammed tool against infantry, so having faction restricted amount of them (or squad-based restrictions of 1) also they will show up on the minimap briefly every time they fire, allowing infantry/vehicles to plan an attack towards them.

(For different factions it would fire a different projectile and gun model)

3rd Idea: Shell-based anti-air gun for MBTs. So this main gun would have a decently sized clip (4 rounds), and would fire high velocity, high flak shells that fires at the same rate as a normal main gun. These rounds would do incredibly low damage against infantry, and do good damage against air vehicles. This is basically a way to have anti air that can kill air fast, if you can properly hit shots.

(Not sure how to implement this on a magrider, so a different implementation is needed)

4th Idea: Supercharger. Basically this increases your round velocity, at the cost of cortium. This would be similar to the colossus ability, however it wouldn't increase it as much, and bullet drop would still be there. Super simple, this partially overrides the 3rd idea but they are just ideas.

5th Idea: (More just a general statement) MORE UTILITY IN A COLOSSUS. This of course means that I am apart of the "let colossusses be used more" group, but also I want more utility with them. So an idea for this is to have outfit "Payloads", so basically with these payloads you can transport and deploy anvils or citadel shields via the colossus. If the colossus is destroyed then the payload is lost, but with it you can carry 2 heavy anvils, 4 medium anvils, or 20 small anvils (and all combinations in between), allowing the colossus to drop these anvils for friendlies to use. (to implement a model for this, you could make something similar to a trailer). The difference between the colossus anvils and normal anvils is that they don't show up on the mini map, with only the colossus itself showing up. This would replace the utility slot obviously and would be interesting and add another use for a colossus other than "big tank", and could basically be a vehicle transport ability.

6th Idea: Payload but for MBTs. So with this payload it will not necessarily be the same at all as the colossus, instead allowing people to pull additional hardlight barriers/caltrops/ refill their stim packs or c4. This would allow people to pull these additional items from the MBT, while saving them some nanites in the process, however, only a limited number can be pulled before the payload has to be "restocked" (aka could either be cortium, pulling another tank, or going over to a refill station and filling up. The things that are pulled from this payload however are a weaker version of the actual version, with stim packs staying the same, but hardlight barriers and caltrops being weaker and easier to destroy, in addition they also last for a set amount of time before getting auto destroyed (around 3-4 minutes). With the payload there are both pulling limits (aka how many caltrops you can pull before you have to refill) but also how many can be out at a time overall (no limit on stim packs, but on hardlight barriers you can limit it to like 5 or something idk. ) Each item has a "cost to them", basically to stop them from being infinite stim packs, instead costing cortium out of the MBT, and a 50% off cost for nanites.

(Spitfires would not be able to be pulled for obvious reasons, and you can only pull things that your class has access to)

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Not all of these ideas should be implemented how I described them, but they are decent ideas for tanks to have some utility outside of shooting at stuff. Since in real life they transport water or food sometimes. I think there should be things that benefit coordinated play, letting tanks have the alternate function of being support vehicles to troops around them. Cortium in this instance is the limiting resource, since without a limit everything I said before would most likely be absolutely busted, so balancing these good abilities with cortium maintance/usage costs would help balance them out.

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Anywho, tell me what you think! If you think an idea is dumb then tell me it is dumb, or if you have your own ideas then feel free to comment them! My intention isn't to buff tanks or nerf tanks, but to sidegrade them to have utility.