PlanetSide 2 (Part Two)

The Factions
Like I mentioned previously, the game features three different factions fighting amongst themselves on the planet Auraxis.

New Conglomerate (NC)
Rebels, freedom fighters or terrorists? The New Conglomerate operates as a loosely organized band of dissidents, vehemently opposed to the stranglehold that the Terran Republic has on Auraxis. Led by an unusual quorum of outcasts, industry titans, pirates and former military leaders, the New Conglomerate is unwavering and prepared to achieve their goals by any means necessary.

Terran Republic (TR)
An authoritarian government that leverages military might to maintain strict control over the colonial citizens. The Terran Republic is obsessed with the preservation of law and order and are thus seen by some to be an oppressive and dictatorial force, but many still view them as the only hope for lasting security on Auraxis.

Vanu Sovereignty (VS)
Vanu has taught that only through technology can humanity evolve into its next state of existence. The Vanu Sovereignty is extremely advanced, employing powerful alien technology on the battlefield. Their singular purpose is to uncover the secrets hidden away in ancient artifacts scattered over the surface of Auraxis and they will annihilate anyone who interferes.

And although each of the factions claim to have their own grand agenda for waging the war, the primary conflict between the players (within the game) is fueled only by a measly desire to secure resources via the conquering of territories, earning of certifications to upgrade themselves and/or just pure bloodlust.

So the next logical question is...just what are these so-called resources that is worth fighting and dying for?

Resources
Basically, there are two forms of resources that a player would need when fighting in PlanetSide 2. The first is some sort of building resource that is needed for the acquisition of certain munitions (med-kits, grenades, C4s, etc), all armored vehicles as well as aircraft. The second form of resource would be certifications which are needed for upgrading and unlocking better equipments, weapons and add-ons (rather than the stock ones that you start with).

Building Resources
The building resources that I've mentioned is divided into three types, Infantry, Mechanized and Aerospace. And as their naming suggests, each of them are only needed when you perform its related purchases.

For example, when you wish to spawn as a "Max" (some sort of infantry power suit), you would need to pay 100 infantry resource. When you wish to pilot a "Reaver" (an aircraft), you would have to spend 200 aerospace resource (its 180 on the screenshot due to a 10% aerospace resource discount).

And did I mention that these costs are pay per use? So you will have to fork out that much resource every time you get killed, it gets destroyed or you wish to change to some other units. However, do note that these resources you are spending are actually yours and not from a faction-wide common resource pool so feel free to use it in any way you deem fit without having to feel guilty for wasting them.

Anyway, as far as I know, these said building resources can be obtained in two ways. The first way is from periodic gains every five minutes due to territorial control. But in order for the territory to produce such a gain for the faction, it must have valid territorial links all the way back to the faction's warpgate. In other words, if a territory is in some way cut off and isolated (like the single VS territory in the screenshot above), then resources produced by that territory will not be counted into the periodic gains.

The other way to gain building resources is via fighting for control of a territory. As a player spends time fighting and trying to capture a territory and its facilities, he or she will slowly gain building resources from the activities performed there such as killing enemies, healing friendlies, etc. And naturally of course, the building resources gained in this way would be dependent upon the territory your fighting in.

Certifications

Certifications or otherwise known as Cert Points (or Certs) is another form of "resource" that you will need when fighting in PlanetSide 2. It can be easily acquired by just partaking in battles and being useful. So long as you earn XP from the activities that you do, you will gain certs (if I'm not wrong, the ratio is 250 XP : 1 Cert).

And as mentioned earlier, these are primarily used for unlocking access to better equips and mods for your infantry unit classes, various ground armored vehicles as well as aircraft.

To access the cert upgrading menu, you will first have to press "Esc" and go to the respective "Classes" or "Vehicles" tab depending on what your upgrading. From there, just click on "Go To My Certs >" and you will see the various sorts of upgrades, weapons as well as mods that you can unlock for the class.

As far as I know, each of these unlocks are most often class/vehicle specific and can only be used for that specific class/vehicle. But there are some of them which may be universal and can thus be used regardless once unlocked (like med-kits).

And perhaps as consolation, be glad to know that these are one-time unlocks and not pay-per-use so you can use them to your hearts content. However, I guess it would still be a wise decision to at least visit the VR Training Center and try out the would-be weapon or mod that your gonna purchase before you regret having bought something useless to you since they ain't cheap to acquire.

Anyway, if you were to ask me, you can simply think of these certs as something like skill points which allows you to skill up and specialize in a certain particular infantry unit class, ground or air vehicle that you like and will constantly use.

Previous: PlanetSide 2 (Part One)

Next: PlanetSide 2 (Part Three)

Posted in: PlanetSide 2