History Videogame / PlanetSide

** In the second game, the Engineer is one of the classes. They can repair friendly vehicles, base defenses, and MAX units, deploy manned turrets to defend key areas, and drop ammo packs to resupply infantry. With a bit of certification, they can even deploy powerful anti-tank mines capable of making short work of even the Sunderer. [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome These are invariably stuck to right infront of an enemy vehicle spawner]].

* EnergyWeapon: The Vanu Sovereignty's arsenal. Expect lots of "PEW PEW PEW" when they're around. [[LostTechnology Ancient Tech]] weapons take it [[PureEnergy a little too far]].

* FrickinLaserBeams: The Vanu Sovereignty's Lancer, a shoulder-mounted laser cannon, is probably the most feared anti-tank weapon in the game, due to its pinpoint accuracy and zero travel time (as compared to projectile weapons). Can only be topped by their BFR-mounted Continuous Laser that slices through infantry with ease.

* WeaponOfChoice: GatlingGood and MoreDakka for the Terran Republic, just classic gunpowder-based firearms. For the Vanu Sovereignty, it's all about FrickinLaserBeams and {{Plasma Cannon}}s, and other energy weapons. For the New Conglomerate, it's {{Magnetic Weapon}}s and a focus on ShotgunsAreJustBetter that is more than strictly sane - shotgun pistols for the rank-and-file, triple-barrelled shotguns for their assault troops, ''nose-mounted shotgun cannons for their aircraft''...

* The '''Vanu Sovereignty (VS)''' are a [[MachineWorship cult]] of scientists and other intellectuals who embrace [[{{Precursor}} Vanu]] technology to a much greater extent than the other factions, hoping to eventually AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence as they believe the Vanu themselves did. [[EnergyWeapon Energy Weapons]] are their specialty, often with the unique ability to fire in standard or armor-piercing modes using the same ammo. Their vehicles are relatively fragile, but have hover drives that allow them to strafe and scoot across bodies of water to attack from unexpected angles. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20060105170210/http://www.vanusovereignty.com/ Website]]
* The '''Nanite Systems Operatives (NSO)''' are an army of remote-controlled MechaMooks introduced exclusively for ''Planetside 2'' in April 25, 2019, only playable by players with All-Access Memberships. Created by the [[MegaCorp Nanite Systems corporation]], Nanite Systems Operatives don't have territory of their own. Instead, when an NSO player joins a continent, they are automatically assigned to the faction with the lowest population, [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience changing coloration to match]]. They can only use Nanite Systems weapons and vehicles (including a few exclusive to the [=NSOs=]), although they can take up gunner positions on empire-specific vehicles. They can join outfits, but they aren't tied to that outfit's faction, meaning they can end up fighting their ostensible comrades.


At its core, ''[=PlanetSide=]'' is a skill-oriented FPS with a "territory capture" style of gameplay, featuring a large variety of weapons, vehicles, and special abilities. However, it involves much more strategy and teamwork than a typical shooter, and is noticeably slower-paced. One reason for this is the scale: There are ten contested continents, each of which is a single zone (no instancing!) about 200 square miles (321 Km) in size and capable of hosting up to 133 players ''per faction'', making for a maximum of 500. To stay organized, players can form impromptu "squads" of up to 10 or "platoons" of up to 30, and the more permanent "outfits" (equivalent to guilds or clans) can be indefinitely large and have their own ranks and command hierarchy.

In 2005, as player numbers continued to decline, [[ExecutiveMeddling SOE added in-game advertising]] to ''[=PlanetSide=]'', without reducing or removing the existing $15-per-month subscription fee. Despite ostensibly doing this because the game could no longer survive on subscription income alone, the move caused many a head-scratch: As a Sci-Fi game set thousands of years in the future on a just-discovered planet completely cut off from society, [=PlanetSide=] was probably the worst possible candidate for in-game advertising to begin with. However, the ads (which have since been removed) apparently did provide enough revenue to allow the dev team to continue fixing balance issues and adding the occasional new weapon or vehicle to the game.

In 2011, ''[[http://www.planetside2.com/ PlanetSide 2]]'' was announced. It's more of a ContinuityReboot than a sequel, and effectively {{Retcon}}s away everything from ''Core Combat'' onward: Auraxis remains in one piece, with no confusing caverns or HumongousMecha whatsoever. Additionally, [[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/08/planetside-2-free-to-play-beta-this-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29 is free-to-play]]. ''[=PS2=]'' significantly Retcons the previous game - the Terran Republic no longer kick puppies, the New Conglomerate isn't so nice any more, and the Vanu Sovereignty are [[MachineWorship fanatical zealots]].

''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' was launched for the PC on Nov 20, 2012. It was also ported onto the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. It features much faster-paced combat than the original, typically compared to ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield3}} Battlefield 3]]''. There are less continents and they are overall smaller, but are much more "dense", with more areas to contest compared to the original game. The do-it-yourself loadouts of yore (which lead to [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome everyone carrying the exact same loadout]]) are replaced by a CharacterClassSystem - [[CombatMedic Medics]], [[SupportPartyMember Engineers]], [[AirborneMook Light Assault]], [[HeavilyArmoredMook Heavy Assault]], [[StealthExpert Infiltrators]] and the [[PoweredArmor MAX]].

** ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'''s skybox has an enormous gas giant with an Earth-like moon. Night time has red and blue nebula in the sky and, on Esamir, beautiful aurorae.

** All of the infantry and vehicle directives give auraxium armor or lumi fiber, respectively. They are completely cosmetic with no gameplay benefit.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The NS-[=AM7=] Archer anti-materiel rifle, specifically designed to kill MAX units and damage light vehicles at long range. Unlike most weapons, its damage type is unique, meaning that defenses against bullets and explosive are equally ineffective, and it can drop a MAX in a few hits, lightly damage light vehicles and aircraft, and chip away at heavy vehicles. Its main disadvantage? Very poor performance against relatively-lightly-armored infantry.

** Tanks in ''[=PS2=]'' are immune to small arms fire and take reduced damage from larger weapons depending on whether the front, top or side is hit. Attacks to the rear and underside of the vehicle do additional damage instead.

** The sequel's Sunderer has more hit points than a tank, and doesn't have the cripplingly weak rear armor. Even when fighting front to front, a Sunderer with only one gunner on the default heavy machinegun has a good chance of winning a one on one fight with the Lightning light tank--both gunners, and it'll win against a Main Battle Tank that doesn't have a secondary gunner.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Scorpion Special Assault [[BuffySpeak missile/grenade/flak launcher]] ''[[BuffySpeak thing]]'', which fires a missile which explodes in midair and showers the area below it in deadly shrapnel. The weapon requires players to press right mouse to lock a range for missile detonation, but the missile will explode at ''that'' range you set, not at the point you set - meaning if you lock the range at a hill below you, then aim towards the horizon (so the shrapnel has enough dispersion), the missile will gracefully sail towards the enemy, and then blow up in midair before it reaches the enemy because the hypotenuse of your range-lock aim is longer than the horizontal aim. You need trigonometry to use this weapon at long range.

--->[[AC:Tonight's operation will drive us deep into enemy territory. There may be times when we have to stand alone against the [[WeHaveReserves entire strength of an empire pushing us back]]. We may be outnumbered, outgunned and [[{{Determinator}} operating under nothing but our will to succeed]]. Make no mistake, I have every confidence in our ability to stand as a [[EliteArmy fighting force to be reckoned with]], [[ILikeThoseOdds odds be damned]]! We demonstated that enough - to ourselves and not the [[CannonFodder hapless fodder]] we gunned down in our path. [..] There are many who consider the New Conglomerate to be nothing but a rag-tag group of rebels, traitors, ''[[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorists]]''. Well, I say tonight we give them a ''good'' reason to be [[MookHorrorShow terrified of us]].]]

* BeamSpam: The Vanu Sovereignty infantry are basically walking laser raves. Though any large battle will look like this from a distance due to EveryBulletIsATracer, nothing is quite as disorienting for the first time as approaching a VS base under cover of dark, suddenly to find thousands of strobing purple and cyan neon-like rays blasting at you from every doorway, window, and catwalk, leading to a rain of brightly glowing multicolored sparks as bits of the scenery vaporize around you.

** The [=150mm=] cannon on the New Conglomerate's Vanguard tank can one-shot many lightly-armored vehicles. Hitting the ground anywhere near infantry will often instagib them, or at least leave them badly hurting.
** The Ancient Tech [[DeathFromAbove Flail]] artillery platform can fling devastating energy projectiles at targets half a kilometer away, which will ''definitely'' instagib any infantry in their considerable blast radius.

** Anti-air guns. Even when they are fully upgraded, it is difficult to shoot down a decently experienced enemy pilot, so don't expect to have many kills. However, air superiority is crucial, and even distracting and deterioriating enemy aircraft helps your faction a lot, so someone has to do it.
** Sunderer and Galaxy support is hardly exciting, but crucial in capturing enemy bases.

** Because the Magrider can move in any direction horizontally (unlike Lightnings and TR and NC heavy tanks), they've become infamous for their tendency to accidentally squish friendly Vanu Engineers who are hugging close to the Magrider to repair it and can't get out of the way when the pilot starts trying to evade incoming fire. This has led to jokes about the Magrider being powered by the souls of the Vanu Engineers it murders.
** The Flash combines low price, small size, high speed and maneuverability, and for a somewhat pricy cert investment it can add a cloaking device. Put together, and you have a stealthy, cheap, near-invisible roadkilling machine that's small enough to get up the stairs of bases and run over entire squads of soldiers on narrow walkways. The cloak and speed also mean that the startled survivors of a stealth-Flash roadkill spree are unlikely to be able to track it and retaliate before it gets too far away to see.
* CargoCult: In ''[=PS2=]'', the Vanu Sovereignty regard the aliens they named themselves after with [[{{Precursors}} Precursor-like]] reverence, and actually worship the [[LostTechnology technology they left behind]]. There's a few implications that the artifacts might be [[ArtifactOfDoom brainwashing them and driving them]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens to spread their creed to the other humans on Auraxis]].
* ChainsawGood: The Terran Republic in both games has the Chain Blade, a knife with a built-in chainsaw blade. In the second game, the Terran have the Ripper Power Knife, which is a mini chainsaw with [[HellIsThatNoise buzzing sounds]] meant for cutting men to shred.

* DilatingDoor: Ancient Vanu facilities in the caverns feature large, round doors which vanish when approached, then re-materialize a few seconds later. Human facilities feature the standard Sci-Fi doors which split along their center and slide to the sides. Tech Plant vehicle bay doors slide into the ground. ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' lacks any doors (except in the tutorial), instead using force fields.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] A soldier can only use things he's certified in. Certifications are purchased with points earned by [[CharacterLevel leveling up]] on the battlefield (though unlike many [=MMOGs=], points can be redistributed with relative ease, with only a six-hour timer between decertifications). Maximum-leveled soldiers are granted all certifications, but still can't fulfill any role in one moment because of the inventory restrictions on the various armor types.
** ''[=PS2=]'' allows all soldiers the use of any vehicle or class, but different infantry/vehicle weapons, character improvements (such as improved repair speed), and alternate abilities requires you to spent certification points. You can specialize in your preferred vehicle role, but you're not completely barred from anything else.
* DoNotRunWithAGun: Holding a weapon significantly reduces the player's mobility, so you have to holster it when traveling long distances. Also, forfeiting mobility by taking a [[CrouchAndProne crouching]] stance will ''greatly'' increase weapon accuracy, so don't even think about using some weapons while moving or standing! In ''[=PS2=]'', one cannot holster their weapon, but the "Sprint" button will cause you to run and lower their weapon. Once the player stops running, it takes a couple moments for accuracy to recover to normal.

** The Terran Republic's Prowler main battle tank in ''[=PS2=]'' is moderately armored, fast, and kitted out with a pair of [=120mm=] cannons. Its primarily "Utility" ability is Anchored Mode, which causes its wheels to deploy pistons into the ground, locking it in place, and [[MoreDakka ramping up its dakka potential to a whole new level]]--when maxed out, Anchored Mode increases the Prowler's rate of fire by 48%, reduces reload time by 48% and its projectile velocity is increased to 30%, allowing it to blast vehicles from a kilometer out with its rapid fire Armor-Piercing cannon or [[AntiAir swat aircraft out of the sky when parked on a hill]], or [[InstantDeathRadius murder all infantry within half a mile]] when kitted out with the High Explosive cannons. The TR's [[PoweredArmor MAX armor]] in both games has Lockdown, which like the tank, anchors the MAX into the ground with thigh-mounted pitons, while [[MoreDakka increasing its rate of fire and reload speed]]. In the original game, the MAX was designed around Lockdown--it had terrible DPS unless it was locked down, but became pin-point accurate and could out-DPS every other MAX when it was locked down. ''[=PS2=]'''s Lockdown is less powerful in exchange for the MAX being more useful when not locked down.
** The Sunderer also has to deploy in a similar fashion to become a spawn point, as well as proving a infantry terminal. Since switching takes a few seconds, this makes it much more vulnerable, especially against enemy infantry dropping C4 on it.

* EarlyGameHell: ''Planetside 2'' has this in spades, largely because the tutorials are useless and new players are thrown into the fray [[GuideDangIt with no idea on what to do]]. The Koltyr [[NoobCave newbie continent]] was a ''massively'' misguided attempt to rectify this, by keeping the sub-Battle Rank 15 players on a separate miniature continent to learn the game together. In practice, the newbies were stuck on Koltyr with no idea what to do because veteran players weren't around to provide guidance, and the continent was full of hackers and statpadders that made new alts to farm free newbie kills.

** Detonate minefields and incapacitate sentry guns. In the second game, they can also disable other deployable objects like motion sensors, shield regenerator fields and the like.

* EliteArmy: The Black Ops in the original. There were only a few of them, the faction was invite only, their soldiers had 1000 hp (10x more than regular players) and could use any weapon or vehicle in the game.

* TheEngineer: Engineering is a common certification, especially among higher-leveled players with cert points to spare. Engineers can repair soldiers' armor and vehicles with the basic certification. Further certifications (Combat Engineer) allow the engineer to place high explosive mines, automated turrets, sensors, and manually detonated explosives. ''Further'' certifications past Combat Engineering allow the engineers to place tank traps, large manually operated turrets, stealth field generators, upgrade base Phalanx turrets with anti-tank [=100mm=] high explosive cannons or anti-air flak cannons, and upgrade stealth field generators to restore ammo.

** In the sequel, the Prowler tank can mount a rapid-firing belt-fed grenade launcher as a secondary weapon, and the Galaxy dropship, the Liberator's tailgun, and the Sunderer can be fitted with slower versions for taking out infantry. The Flash ATV and Harasser buggy can mount a forward-facing one, and a handful of ''[=PS2=]'''s guns have the option to mount an underbarrel grenade launcher loaded with explosives or smoke.

* GreyAndGrayMorality:
** None of the sides are particularly good or evil. The Terran Republic maintained peace for a thousand years and colonized the stars at the cost of personal freedom, the New Conglomerate are idealistic but are essentially unorganized, and the Vanu Sovereignty want to further mankind's technological understanding, possibly at the cost of your humanity.
** ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'': The Terran Republic saved humanity from a generation of total warfare, climatic and environmental destruction, and likely extinction to create a mixed-economy socialist utopia on Earth--on the fleet to Auraxis, however, the Republican government becomes increasingly authoritarian and martial in hopes of curbing insurrectionary violence among the strandees (which is either sensible or reactionary, depending on your perspective). The New Conglomerate was a MegaCorp founded by industry leaders to lobby against increasingly draconian regulations, and was later joined by libertarians and others who see the Terran Republic and its culture of planetary/species one-party-statehood as the irrelevant premodern legacy of a world that no longer needs to be saved (a view which might either be described as modern and radical or a naïve rehash of mistaken old ideologies). The Vanu Sovereignty in [=PlanetSide=] 2 really step up the MachineWorship act; not only do they obsess over the alien technology and what humanity could seek to become through reverse engineering it (a prospect either horrifying or visionary, depending on perspective), but some of them even claim to have experienced quasi-mystical, transcendental, or else merely life-altering states of consciousness associated with physically touching certain artefacts, with Vanu being the name they give to these altered states of consciousness (which is either plain craziness, or possible evidence of some poorly understood interaction between the technology and the human nervous system).

* GunAccessories: Like ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield3}} Battlefield 3]]'', ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' has a large amount of customization for your weapons. Laser sights, alternate foregrips, silencers, compensators, flash supressors, bigger magazines, and alternate sights are available on many weapons. Some weapons can take alternate ammo types, such as shotguns being able to use slug or buckshot ammo, and a few weapons can mount other weapons on them, such as the assault rifles being able to carry a single-shot shotgun, high explosive grenade or smoke launcher.

** The Bastion Fleet Carrier's automated "Mauler Cannons". The captain of the vessel can place a contextual map waypoint to mark a nearby area for sustained air-to-ground bombardment.

''[=PlanetSide=]'' is an MMOFPS ([[{{MMORPG}} Massively Multiplayer Online]] FirstPersonShooter) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Game Company) and released in 2003. It is likely the second true MMOFPS ever to be released, after ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline'' (2001). The original ''Planetside'' shut down its final server on July 1st, 2016 after 13 years, ending in a final party around 'Stonehedge' on Ishundar as meteors rained from the sky.

Shortly after ''[=PlanetSide=]'''s release and surprisingly good reception, SOE angled for a cash-in with the game's first and only expansion pack, ''Core Combat''. It introduced several subterranean battle zones, filled with strange crystalline structures and hopelessly confusing networks of ziplines. Capturing cavern facilities would reward your faction with "modules" that could be installed into bases on the surface, providing access to new Ancient Tech weapons and vehicles as well as some other useful benefits. While the new toys were nice, the caverns themselves were universally derided as horribly-designed combat spaces, with the end result that they were (and still are) eerily deserted most of the time.

* EarlyGameHell: ''Planetside 2'' has this in spades, largely because the tutorials are useless and new players are thrown into the fray [[GuideDangIt with no idea on what to do]]. The Koltyr [[NoobCave newbie continent]] was a ''massively'' misguided attempt to rectify this, by keeping the sub-Battle Rank 15 players on a separate miniature continent to learn the game together. In practice, the newbies are stuck on Koltyr with no idea what to do because veteran players aren't around to provide guidance, and the continent is full of hackers, and statpadders that make new alts to farm free newbie kills. Luckily, new players can skip Koltyr entirely, and are often recommended to do so immediately on many Planetside forums.
** Eventually, Koltyr will be reworked into an instanced continent to either contain population overflow during excessively busy periods or provide a focused space during excessively slow periods.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Tanks in ''[=PS2=]'' are immune to small arms fire and take reduced damage from larger weapons depending on whether the front, top or side is hit. Attacks to the rear and underside of the vehicle do additional damage instead.

* BlackBox: Ancient Vanu technology.

* BubblegloopSwamp: Hossin is full of waterlogged swamps with ''massive'' trees. The Extinction battle island iss basically the same, but is smaller and [[ScrappyLevel a bitch]] to navigate.

* CanonWelding: SOE has claimed/joked that their upcoming ZombieApocalypse game ''H1Z1'', takes place in the same universe as ''[=PS2=]'', albeit in its distant past. [[MegaCorp Nanite Systems]] exists in both games.

* DrunkWithPower: The Terran Republic on Auraxis goes from a Utopian democracy to an autocratic junta as a result of the Leadership getting used to the authority they had on the transport ships.

* DropPod: One of several ways for players to enter the battlefield.

* EarlyGameHell: ''Planetside 2'' has this in spades, largely because the tutorials are useless and new players are thrown into the fray [[GuideDangIt with no idea on what to do]]. The Koltyr newbie continent was a ''massively'' misguided attempt to rectify this, by keeping the sub-Battle Rank 15 players on a separate miniature continent to learn the game together. In practice, the newbies are stuck on Koltyr with no idea what to do because veteran players aren't around to provide guidance, the continent is full of hackers, and statpadders make new alts to farm free newbie kills. Luckily, new players can skip Koltyr entirely, and are often recommended to do so immediately on many Planetside forums.

At its core, ''[=PlanetSide=]'' is a skill-oriented FPS with a "territory capture" style of gameplay, featuring a large variety of weapons, vehicles, and special abilities. However, it involves much more strategy and teamwork than a typical shooter, and is noticeably slower-paced. One reason for this is the scale: There are ten contested continents, each of which is a single zone (no instancing!) about 200 square miles in size and capable of hosting up to 133 players ''per faction'', making for a maximum of 500. To stay organized, players can form impromptu "squads" of up to 10 or "platoons" of up to 30, and the more permanent "outfits" (equivalent to guilds or clans) can be indefinitely large and have their own ranks and command hierarchy.

* The '''Nanite Systems Operatives (NSO)''' are an army of remote-controlled MechaMooks introduced exclusively for ''Planetside 2'' in April 25, 2019, only playable by players with All-Access Memberships. Created by the [[MegaCorp Nanite Systems corporation]], Nanite Systems Operatives don't have territory of their own. Instead, when an NSO player joins a continent, they are automatically assigned to the faction with the lowest population, [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience changing coloration to match]]. They can only use Nanite Systems weapons and vehicles (including a couple exclusive to the NSOs), although they can take up gunner positions on empire-specific vehicles. They can join outfits, but they aren't tied to that outfit's faction, meaning they can end up fighting their ostensible comrades.

* The '''Nanite Systems Operatives (NSO)''' are an army of remote-controlled MechaMooks introduced exclusively for ''Planetside 2'' in April 25, 2019, only playable by players with All-Access Memberships. Created by the [[MegaCorp Nanite Systems corporation]], Nanite Systems Operatives don't have territory of their own. Instead, when an NSO player joins a continent, they are automatically assigned to the faction with the lowest population, [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience changing coloration to match]]. They can only use Nanite Systems (common pool) weapons and vehicles, although they can take up gunner positions on empire-specific vehicles. They can join outfits, but they aren't tied to that outfit's faction, meaning they can end up fighting their ostensible comrades.

** Their signature heavy infantry weapon is the Jackhammer ([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant no, not the]] [[RareGuns Pancor Jackhammer]]), a [[GatlingGood triple-barreled]] shotgun with a high semi-auto fire rate and even a rapid 3-round burst mode that can almost instantly kill infantry at point-blank. It is available in the second game as well, as the Empire Specific Weapon for the Heavy Assault class, with all the features of the first game's Jackhammer, although sadly, only mounting a single barrel.

* SocializationBonus: ''Planet Side 2'' has support actions (healing, repairing, etc) providing bonus XP when done on players in your squad, and players in squads can respawn at the base closest to the leader and respawn in squad [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Sunderers]], Galaxy transport aircraft, and [[GunshipRescue Valkryies]]. Squad Leaders get XP rewards for XP earned by their squad/platoon, and can eventually earn a free NiceHat through leadership. In ''Videogame/PlanetSide 1'', the only way to gain Command Rank was to lead squads; rewards included visual customization (shin guards and a radio backpack) and special abilities like the [[OrbitalBombardment Orbital Strike]]

* TranshumanTreachery: The Vanu Sovereignty has been "touched" by Ancient Vanu artifacts. They then [[JoinOrDie decide that disbelievers should die]] in a storm of plasma fire.

* UnorthodoxReload: In the sequel, the ''Commisioner'' and ''Underboss'' revolvers have a strange sort of twin half-cylinder drum that fans out to either side, to be loaded with three-round speed-loaders, then clicks back together.

The three factions are:

At its core ''[=PlanetSide=]'' is a skill-oriented FPS with a "territory capture" style of gameplay, featuring a large variety of weapons, vehicles, and special abilities. However, it involves much more strategy and teamwork than a typical shooter, and is noticeably slower-paced. One reason for this is the scale: There are ten contested continents, each of which is a single zone (no instancing!) about 200 square miles in size and capable of hosting up to 133 players ''per faction'', making for a maximum of 500. To stay organized, players can form impromptu "squads" of up to 10 or "platoons" of up to 30, and the more permanent "outfits" (equivalent to guilds or clans) can be indefinitely large and have their own ranks and command hierarchy.

* AlternativeCalendar: The Vanu Sovereignty measure time in "After Wormhole"

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The NS-[=AM7=] Archer antimateriel rifle, specifically designed to kill MAX units and damage light vehicles at long range. Unlike most weapons, its damage type is unique, meaning that defenses against bullets and explosive are equally ineffective, and it can drop a MAX in a few hits, lightly damage light vehicles and aircraft, and chip away at heavy vehicles. Its main disadvantage? Very poor performance against relatively-lightly-armored infantry.

* BubblegloopSwamp: Hossin is full of waterlogged swamps with ''massive'' trees. The Extinction battle island is basically the same, but is smaller and [[ScrappyLevel a bitch]] to navigate.

** Inexplicably, jacking a vehicle from an opposing faction will instantly flip its paint job to reflect the new owner. Though since the game features Friendly Fire, the consequences of ''not'' doing so could be disastrous[[note]][[JustifiedTrope This is most likely due]] to the nanites that make up the vehicle changing its color scheme to reflect its new owners[[/note]].

* {{Dystopia}}: The Terran Republic in ''[=PS1=]'' was an authoritarian, USSR-esque dystopia, where everyone's movements and constantly tracked and rebellion or unrest dealt with via weaponry. In ''[=PS2=]'', the Terran Republic is mostly benevolent, but on the fleet heading to Auraxis and on Auraxis itself, the Terran authorities went full Dystopia, first enacting Martial Law, Curfews, and then banning non-family groups of 3 people or more, and arresting New Conglomerate leadership arbitrarily without trial.

* {{EMP}}: Generated by jammer grenades and certain vehicles:

* TheEmpire: The Terran Republic in ''[=PS1=]'' is an oppressive, totalitarian oligarchy that has kept peace on Earth for a thousand years with an iron fist.

* EnemyExchangeProgram: In ''[=PS1=]'', capturing both of an empire's home continents allows your empire to build their vehicles.

** Since the default rocket launchers don't lock on in [=PS2=], you're either going to rely on projectile motion mathematics, or guess when that enemy tank will be at the spot where your rocket hits. Later on rectified by making the Annihilator a baseline alternative, which only does lock on.

* TheFederation: The Terran Republic in ''[=PS2=]'' is much LighterAndSofter than the original game, instead being more of a socialistic, fairly free society. However, the isolated [[TheRemnant Auraxis remnant]] goes DrunkWithPower after instigating Martial Law en-route to Auraxis under the command of [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Lt. Commander]] [[TheStarscream Brent]] [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill Waterson]].

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Heavy Assault
** TheLancer: Light Assault
** TheSmartGuy: Engineer
** TheBigGuy: MAX
** TheHeart: Combat Medic
** TheSixthRanger: Infiltrator

** Infiltrators and infantry variant. Their sniper rifles do massive damage, especially on a headshot, and their submachineguns are lethal in close quarters. Just... don't expect to be able to take the return fire, as they have the lowest health of any of the infantry classes.
** Engineer AP turrets. They fire powerful, guidable rockets but without the shield of the regular turret the operator is wide open for snipers.

** The New Conglomerate is a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Band of Mercenaries and Revolutionaries]] under the leadership of a council of {{Honest Corporate Executive}}s who banded together after Terran Republic soldiers [[MoralEventHorizon massacred the Liberty's Call protesters]] calling them out on their increasing authoritarianism. That being said, their leadership's precise degree of honesty is questionable at best, their army eagerly accepts criminals so long as they deliver results, and their ideal of freedom may or may not extend beyond that of a "free" market (with the NC as the largest MegaCorp around).
** The Terran Republic started out good, but [[TyrantTakesTheHelm it all went to hell after Lt Commander Waterson took over]]. The majority of their forces are [[MyCountryRightOrWrong simply soldiers who don't question orders]], and fell for [[FalseFlagOperation Waterson framing the NC for Connery's assassination]], although much of the leadership has gone DrunkWithPower and simply doesn't want to relinquish it anymore. With this in mind, the Republic back on ''Earth'' is unambigously good.
** And then there's the Vanu Sovereignty, ScaryDogmaticAliens minus the actually-being-Aliens part who elected to wage war on ''both'' sides in order to further humanity's "evolution" based on partial knowledge of what happened to the Vanu. They ''are'', however, a force of technological and scientific progress - especially when compared to the initially purely profit-oriented founders of the New Conglomerate and the ''painfully'' BoringButPractical Terran Republic - and the main reason for the other factions' opposition is based on their perception of the Sovereignty as a prime case of CyberneticsEatYourSoul.

* HollywoodDarkness: "Night" time in ''Planetside 1'' was basically day time but with slightly darker lighting, and deep purple fog. Semi-averted for ''Planetside 2''- it featured extremely dark nights during its public beta playtesting, but they were later lightened up significantly, but its still a significant difference.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: The Leadership of the New Conglomerate, which [[WhatYouAreInTheDark clearly espouses pro-freedom beliefs even when conversing amongst themselves]]. Vanu and TR players will argue that this is a Subverted Trope, and claim that while the Executives may believe their speeches, the fact that they directly profit from a war that CANNOT end proves that it's a shallow act to let themselves sleep at night.

** The Engineers. Be it anti-infantry, anti-armor, attack, defense or support, they can fill them all. Anti-air is the only aspect they don't have good answer to.
* JetPack: The Vanu Sovereignty MAX suits have a built in jet pack in ''[=PlanetSide=] 1''. In ''[=PS2=]'', the Light Assault player class has access to a jetpack that can be upgraded for better fuel consumption and regeneration time, or switched out for a more situational jetpack that has greatly decreased vertical gain but lets players 'drift' great distances.

* MachineWorship: The Vanu Sovereignty is composed of scientists and zealots that both study and effectively worship Ancient Vanu technology. The second game cranks said worship UpToEleven.

* MegaCorp: The New Conglomerate in ''[=PS2=]'' is backed by large corporations that want to be free of the socialistic Terran Republic. Nanite Systems is a neutral megacorp which produces weapons (such as the [=NS11=]), equipment, and vehicles (such as the Lightning), which are sold to all three empires.
* MeleeATrois: Fights on hot continents often have three factions fighting over the same base; usually with one empire defending, and two other empires attacking from either direction. Bonus points when one empire is attacking from the front door... and the other empire from the back door.

** The core idea behind all AA weapons which aren't guided missiles is to throw as many bullets as possible at the target and hope something hits. Skyguard equipped Lightnings feature a quad-barreled 40mm flak cannon, and AA MAX units typically carry two 20mm flak cannons on each arm. [[UpToEleven When coupled with the Terran MAX's fire rate increasing Lockdown ability...]]

** Fully Averted in Planetside 2, where the Combat Medic and Engineer gain Experience for Healing/Repairing/Reviving/Resupplying players. Additionally, players who fly a dropship or drive a Sunderer respawn point will gain experience when people they recently dropped off/respawned kill enemies.

* ObviousBeta: ''[=PS2=]'' launched with a plethora of bugs. The game launched very poorly optimized unless you were on a very specific type of computer (Intel [=I5=] processor with a Geforce graphics card) - players who had even more powerful systems but had AMD processors often suffered from terrible performance. Other major bugs appeared throughout beta and early release, such as players falling through the world, or the game not rendering enemies mere meters from you. While many gamebreaking bugs have since been fixed, the game remains questionably stable for many players, and optimization issues have been mostly ignored. At least until recently when the devs announced Operation: Make Faster Game which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. They have released a handful of videos on their Website/YouTube channel discussing some of the issues and hiccups they're hoping to address.

* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The Terran Republic.
* PlanetTerra: The Terran Republic.

In 2011, ''[[http://www.planetside2.com/ PlanetSide 2]]'' was announced. It's more of a modern remake of ''[=PlanetSide=]'' than a sequel, and effectively {{Retcon}}s away everything from Core Combat onward: Auraxis remains in one piece, with no confusing caverns or HumongousMecha whatsoever. Additionally, [[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/08/planetside-2-free-to-play-beta-this-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29 it's going to be free-to-play]]. ''[=PS2=]'' significantly Retcons the previous game - the Terran Republic no longer kick puppies, the New Conglomerate isn't so nice any more, and the Vanu Sovereignty are [[MachineWorship fanatical zealots]].

''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' was launched for the PC on Nov 20, 2012. It was also ported onto the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. It features much faster-paced combat than the original, typically compared to ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield3}} Battlefield 3]]''. There are less continents and they are overall smaller, but are much more "dense", with more areas to contest compared to the original game. The do-it-yourself loadouts of yore (which lead to [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome everyone carrying the exact same loadout]]) have been replaced by a distinct class system--Medics, Engineers, Light (and Heavy) Assault, et cetera.

** There's also the TR's Cycler assault rifle from [=PS1=]. It lacked both the stopping power of the NC Gauss Rifle and the accuracy of the VS Pulsar. While it did have the highest rate of fire and largest magazine, its cone of fire bloomed out too quickly to take advantage of either at the ranges where assault rifles shine, forcing its user to either fire in very short bursts at range (resulting in laughable damage output) or limit its use to close quarters (where it was outclassed by ''actual'' CQB weapons like shotguns and heavy weapons.) Most TR players only certed the Cycler because it was necessary to gain access to the Mini-Chaingun heavy weapon.

** The Sunderer (a.k.a. "[[FanNickname Sundie, Battle Bus, or Bangbus]]") vehicles, massive trucks bristling with guns, equipped with a rechargeable {{EMP}} blast, and capable of transporting heavy armor. They're also the only vehicles with a horn, making them sound a lot like an eighteen-wheeler as they crash straight through your base's shielding.

''[=PlanetSide=]'' is an MMOFPS ([[{{MMORPG}} Massively Multiplayer Online]] FirstPersonShooter) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Game Company) and released in 2003. It is likely the second true MMOFPS ever to be released, after ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline'' (2001). The original ''Planetside'' shut down its final server on July 1st, 2016 after 13 years, ending in a final party around 'Stonehedge' on Ishundar as meteors rained from the sky. The sequel ''Planetside 2'' remains online to this day, despite its vanishingly small market share relative to the overall MMO space.

''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' was launched for the PC on Nov 20, 2012. It will also be ported onto the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. It features much faster-paced combat than the original, typically compared to ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield3}} Battlefield 3]]''. There are less continents and they are overall smaller, but are much more "dense", with more areas to contest compared to the original game. The do-it-yourself loadouts of yore (which lead to [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome everyone carrying the exact same loadout]]) have been replaced by a distinct class system--Medics, Engineers, Light (and Heavy) Assault, et cetera.

''[=PlanetSide=]'' is an MMOFPS ([[{{MMORPG}} Massively Multiplayer Online]] FirstPersonShooter) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Game Company) and released in 2003. It is likely the second true MMOFPS ever to be released, after ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline'' (2001), and is remarkably still online to this day, despite its vanishingly small market share relative to the overall MMO space.

In 2005, as player numbers continued to decline, [[ExecutiveMeddling SOE added in-game advertising]] to ''[=PlanetSide=]'', without reducing or removing the existing $15-per-month subscription fee. Despite ostensibly doing this because the game could no longer survive on subscription income alone, the move caused many a head-scratch: As a Sci-Fi game set thousands of years in the future on a just-discovered planet completely cut off from society, [=PlanetSide=] was probably the worst possible candidate for in-game advertising to begin with. However, the ads (which have since been removed) apparently did provide enough revenue to allow the dev team to continue fixing balance issues and adding the occasional new weapon or vehicle to the game. ''Planetside 1'' shut down its final server on July 1st, 2016 after 13 years, ending in a final party around 'Stonehedge' on Ishundar as meteors raid from the sky.

* AscendedMeme: One of the developers, David "Malorn" Bennett, somehow developed a personal meme amongst the community in the form of "buff the CARV", an oft-repeated suggestion referring to the T9 CARV light machine gun that TR heavies start with. He left SOE in October 2014, but not before slipping a small change into the September update: A reduction in the T9 CARV's horizontal recoil.
* AlienGeometries: The cavern facilities and the Ancient Tech weapons/vehicles.

* AlienSky: All of the continents have different suns and most of them have this odd, jet-stream nebula looking thing floating in the sky. Some continents (Amerish?) have ''massive'' gas giants or stars next to them, and the flavor text describes their eventual fall into the sun, or the atmosphere being burned away.

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: The New Conglomerate in the first game are definitely the "good" faction, with their bad traits being [[MildlyMilitary poor leadership]], which stands in contrast to the [[MachineWorship fanatical Vanu Sovereignty]] and the [[TheEmpire totalitarian Terran Republic]]. Averted in the second game, where the NC is backed by not-so-nice [[MegaCorp monolithic corporations]] and a variety of discontents, while simultaneously the Terran Republic was made "good", but the [[LostColony Auraxis remnants]] [[DrunkWithPower are clearly too used to martial law for their own good]], and the Vanu Sovereignty have [[SerialEscalation ramped up]] their [[MachineWorship crazy technology religion]] to the [[UpToEleven next level]].

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Ranking up to Battle Rank 7, 14, and 25 in ''[=PS1=]'' gives you an alternate color scheme for your armor. BR 25 grants you the ability... to wear a different hat. In ''[=PS2=]'', completing 5 Auraxium ranks in the "Exceptional" weapon directives (composed of [[FakeLongevity flareguns and guns that cannot be acquired anymore]]) grants you the use of the pure black camouflage. Battle Rank rewards are mostly just new titles and rank decals for your player model.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Sunderer (a.k.a. "[[FanNickname Sundie, Battle Bus, or Bangbus]]") vehicles, massive trucks bristling with guns, equipped with a rechargeable {{EMP}} blast, and capable of transporting heavy armor. They're also the only vehicles with a horn, making them sound a lot like an eighteen-wheeler as they crash straight through your base's shielding.

* BadassBoast: The unofficial "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMceVpV9N4 Terran speech]]" trailer is a ''glorious'' 3 minute boast.
--> [[AC:We came here in peace, with a dream of exploration. Through the strength and unity of the Republic, we reached and grasped the stars themselves... For the betterment of humanity, we have achieved mighty deeds. [[BlasphemousBoast We have become like unto gods in our power and reach]]. Never before has humanity attained such glory, and it is all due to the loyalty of the Terran people. But there are [[MachineCult those]] who think [[MegaCorp they]] have a better way... I stand before you and I say '''NO MORE'''. Today we stand! Today we fight! Today we show these blights upon humanity what they have [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant feared in their dark hearts all along]]. The Terran Republic will never stop, the Terran Republic will never surrender! We will fight and ''die'' until '''every single one of them is wiped from the face of Auraxis forever!'''... '''LOYALTY UNTIL DEATH!''']]

-->[[AC:Tonight's operation will drive us deep into enemy territory. There may be times when we have to stand alone against the [[WeHaveReserves entire strength of an empire pushing us back]]. We may be outnumbered, outgunned and [[{{Determinator}} operating under nothing but our will to succeed]]. Make no mistake, I have every confidence in our ability to stand as a [[EliteArmy fighting force to be reckoned with]], [[ILikeThoseOdds odds be damned]]! We demonstated that enough - to ourselves and not the [[CannonFodder hapless fodder]] we gunned down in our path. [..] There are many who consider the New Conglomerate to be nothing but a rag-tag group of rebels, traitors, ''[[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorists]]''. Well, I say tonight we give them a ''good'' reason to be [[MookHorrorShow terrified of us]].]]

* {{BFG}}: Anything mounted on a [[HumongousMecha BFR]] would probably qualify, but if you're talking about man-portable weaponry, the Biggest and Frackingest of them all is the New Conglomerate's heavy assault weapon, the Jackhammer. It's an enormous ''triple-barreled'' shotgun with a secondary mode that fires all three barrels at once; catch one of those in close quarters, and they'll be scraping you off the wall with a spatula.

* BoringButPractical: The Suppressor SMG. While it lacks the high-capacity magazines, stopping power, and flair of the empire-specific assault rifles, it's absurdly accurate, very compact, very effective at killing [=MAXes=], can be used by anyone regardless of certifications, and it uses the most common ammo in the game.

* CarFu: In the early days of ''[=PS1=]'', heavy vehicles were frighteningly effective at mowing down entire squads of infantry; this was especially popular in the Vanu Sovereignty's strafe-capable hover-tank, the Magrider, which earned it the FanNickname "Magmower". In ''[=PS2=]'', vehicles are not slowed down by running over infantry, so it's easy to plow through dozens of troopers and kill them all without even firing the main guns. In fact, this is even rewarded with a "Roadkill Bonus". The Sunderer is horrifyingly effective at running over ''vehicles''; a Sunderer moving at full throttle has enough inertia to send tanks flying in a head-on collision, and splatter Harassers across the terrain.

* CombatMedic: One of the most common certifications. The basic Medic certification allows you to heal yourself and teammates, while the Advanced Medic certification allows you to revive dead soldiers on the spot and speeds up your healing rate.

* ColorCodedArmies: Yellow/blue for the NC, red/black for the TR, purple/teal for the VS, and black/green for the Black Ops. All armor and vehicles are color-coded, and the first color of each of these pairs is also used for that faction's [[EveryBulletIsATracer tracers]].

* CrewOfOne: Some vehicles are like this, but most require both a driver and one or more gunners to operate effectively. Changing positions can only be done while a vehicle is stopped/landed and requires you to exit the vehicle and enter it through another door or hatch, so you can't pull this trope with a vehicle that wasn't designed for it.

*** In ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'':
** The Liberator makes a comeback as a gunship, armed with four Gatling guns or powerful artillery.
** Fighters can unlock rocket pods, which fire a [[MacrossMissileMassacre rapid-fire salvo of twelve missiles to ruin the day of anything on the ground.]]
** "[=C4=] Fairies" - the Fan Nickname for Light Assaults who have [=C4=] bricks and float above the battlefield, dropping them on unwary tanks and infantry concentrations.
** "Booping" Galaxies, or in other words, [[CarFu Galaxy Transports deciding to use their own bulk as a weapon]] by outright landing on their unlucky victims.

* DoAnythingSoldier: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] A soldier can only use things he's certified in. Certifications are purchased with points earned by [[CharacterLevel leveling up]] on the battlefield (though unlike many [=MMOGs=], points can be redistributed with relative ease, with only a six-hour timer between decertifications). Maximum-leveled soldiers are granted all certifications, but still can't fulfill any role in one moment because of the inventory restrictions on the various armor types.

* DualModeUnit: The Terran Republic's Prowler main battle tank in ''[=PS2=]'' is moderately armored, fast, and kitted out with a pair of [=120mm=] cannons. Its primarily "Utility" ability is Anchored Mode, which causes its wheels to deploy pistons into the ground, locking it in place, and [[MoreDakka ramping up its dakka potential to a whole new level]]--when maxed out, Anchored Mode increases the Prowler's rate of fire by 48%, reduces reload time by 48% and its projectile velocity is increased to 30%, allowing it to blast vehicles from a kilometer out with its rapid fire Armor-Piercing cannon or [[AntiAir swat aircraft out of the sky when parked on a hill]], or [[InstantDeathRadius murder all infantry within half a mile]] when kitted out with the High Explosive cannons. The TR's [[PoweredArmor MAX armor]] in both games has Lockdown, which like the tank, anchors the MAX into the ground with thigh-mounted pitons, while [[MoreDakka increasing its rate of fire and reload speed]]. In the original game, the MAX was designed around Lockdown--it had terrible DPS unless it was locked down, but became pin-point accurate and could out-DPS every other MAX when it was locked down. ''[=PS2=]'''s Lockdown is less powerful in exchange for the MAX being more useful when not locked down.

* [[EnergyWeapon Energy Weapons]]: The Vanu Sovereignty's arsenal. Expect lots of "PEW PEW PEW" when they're around. [[LostTechnology Ancient Tech]] weapons take it [[PureEnergy a little too far]].

* EverybodyHatesMathematics: In-game. The Scorpion weapon system in ''[=PlanetSide=] 1'' requires trigonometry to even deal damage (aside from blind luck), and as such, it's almost totally ignored. Flail artillery is similar, since its target painter doesn't account for elevation and simply aiming at the marker won't do.

** Since the default rocket launchers don't lock on in [=PS2=], you're either going to rely on projectile motion mathematics, or guess when that enemy tank will be at the spot where your rocket hits.
*** Later on retified by making the Annihilator a baseline alternative, which *only* does lock on.

* FragileSpeedster: The Vanu Sovereignty hover vehicles, which sacrifice armor for amphibious and strafing capabilities. The Agile armor for infantry also follows this: It allows faster running than the Reinforced armor, but has less inventory space and fewer armor points.

* {{Freemium}}: The "Reserves" program in ''[=PS1=]'' ran for a year. Anyone could register for an account and play the game, but they were restricted to Battle Rank 6 and Command Rank 1, which severely limited what they could do on each character--forcing them into CripplingOverspecialization or making them a MasterOfNone. [[HumongousMecha Battle Frame Robotics]] was totally out of reach for Reserve players.

* FunWithAcronyms: Besides the BFR and the MAX, there's the worker ANT, the all-in-one engineer tool ACE, BANK, TRAP and probably a few more.

* GatlingGood: The Terran Republic's Mini-Chaingun lives off this; it's a handheld [[{{MoreDakka}} bullet spammer]]. In ''[=PS2=]'', several of the Terran Republic's unique vehicle weapons are Gatling guns, with the Mini-Chaingun returning as an empire-specific heavy weapon. The Mosquito light aircraft can use two different types of rotary cannons for a primary nosegun, and players can also mount a large Vulcan minigun as a secondary weapon on ''Prowler heavy tanks''.

* GlassCannon: The empire-specific fighters ([=ESFs=]) in ''2''. They have the [[FragileSpeedster highest speed of any vehicles in the game]] and enough potential firepower to pose a serious threat to ground and air targets alike. They also have less health than any other vehicle save the Flash ATV, and unlike most are vulnerable to small arms fire. A well-aimed tank shell or unguided rocket can swat a fighter instantly.

* GoombaStomp: Drop pods in ''[=PS2=]'' can one-hit-kill infantry and MAX suits by landing on them. They're also capable of crushing smaller airborne aircraft - fighters are instagibbed, while Liberators can generally survive (although they'll probably tip over and crash aftwards). Galaxies can shrug off the damage.

* GrenadeLauncher: The Thumper grenade launcher, which uses a rotating cylinder drum, and can be loaded with a variety of grenade types (fragmentation, [[{{KillItWithFire}} plasma]], or [[{{EMP}} jammer]]).

* GreyAndGrayMorality: None of the sides are particularly good or evil. The Terran Republic maintained peace for a thousand years and colonized the stars at the cost of personal freedom, the New Conglomerate are idealistic but are essentially unorganized, and the Vanu Sovereignty want to further mankind's technological understanding, possibly at the cost of your humanity.

** Amerish in the second game.

* HumongousMecha: [=BFRs=], introduced in the ''Aftershock'' update. Ostensibly an acronym for "[=BattleFrame=] Robotics", but everyone knows it really stands for "Big F**king Robots".

* HolidayMode: Christmas in ''1'' has snowmen and gingerbread men placed around the levels; finding them granted you use of a special item to regenerate your stamina for the duration of the event. Other holidays had different events each year.

* HollywoodHacking: Hacking is performed with a special device, which you point at the console and hold down the button until everything's done. A more advanced version of the device allows players to be TheCracker and inject viruses into enemy systems.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: The Leadership of the New Conglomerate, which [[WhatYouAreInTheDark clearly espouses pro-freedom beliefs even when conversing amongst themselves]].
** Of course, Vanu and TR players will argue that this is a Subverted Trope, and claim that while the Executives may believe their speeches, the fact that they directly profit from a war that CANNOT end proves that it's a shallow act to let themselves sleep at night.

* InvisibilityCloak: The Infiltrator suit, which renders the wearer invisible with the push of a button (perfectly, as long as you hold still - moving makes it less effective). It never runs out of juice, but provides zero armor points and almost no inventory space.
** Invisibility is a trait of the Infiltrator class in ''[=PS2=]'', with a limited cloak duration and a 'shimmer' effect rather than total invisibility. Conversely, it has considerably more armor than the cloaker suit of ''[=PlanetSide=]'', and a primary weapon and sidearm just like every other class.
*** Variants of the cloak include a model that can remain cloaked forever while stationary, but can't be used with a primary weapon, and a shorter duration cloak that also reduces damage taken.

* JackOfAllStats: The Basilisk 20mm machine gun for vehicles in ''[=PS2=]''. Good rate of fire, decent damage against everything and respectable accuracy at range when burst fired. It particularly shines of the ANT and Sunderer, whose armor and relatively low speed and stable ride allow gunners to keep on target. But on tanks and the jittery Harasser, [[MasterOfNone not so much]].

* [[JokeCharacter Joke Weapon]]: The Beamer was infamous for doing next to no damage; players would describe it as purple flashlight. [[CherryTapping Because of that, being killed by one is just]] ''[[CherryTapping embarrassing]]''.
** While the Beamer received an upgrade for ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'', it remains the second weakest in damage per shot out of all the pistols, and the only weaker pistol, the Terran Repeater, has a considerably higher damage output anyway due to its three-round burst shooting and much higher rate of fire.
*** VS pistols in general suffer from this in the second game, with their first new pistol being a slightly modified version of the original and their second one being a toned down, more expensive version of the NC's first alternate pistol. Most VS using a pistol will put down the certification points to unlock the Nanite Systems revolver available to all factions.

* LastStand: A [[GoodBadBugs one-time glitch]] caused [[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/09/05/planetside-the-1/ one of the most epic all-player last stands in MMO history]].

* LightningBruiser: The Prowler in ''[=PS2=]'' is the fastest main battle tank tank, can climb like a mountain goat, and packs a pair of powerful cannons that eats infantry alive. The Lightning single-person tank also applies--while not quite as durable as a heavy tank, it can still do heavy damage to unwary larger tanks that are too slow to react to the Lightning flanking around to their weak rear armor.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The Terran Republic rocket launcher fires a 5 missile salvo which are individually weak but do more damage overall than both the NC and VS rocket launchers. Because of its versatility (it can target both aircraft and vehicles), pretty much ''every'' Terran heavy assault carries either the Striker or a dumbfire missile. Woe betide any Reaver or Scythe pilot trying to strafe TR advances without having flares equipped, because in about three seconds [[OhCrap they'll have a hundred angry missiles chasing them]]. It was "[[{{Nerf}} buffed]]" to use dumbfired rockets with proximity lockons against aircraft and fires faster with a slightly larger magazine, but is a shadow of its former self as the rockets are both weak and inaccurate.

** The Heavy Assault class; machine guns with huge magazines, AntiArmor or AntiAir rocket launchers, and an extremely durable overshield makes them the go-to class for the vast majority of fights.
*** However, the Heavy Assault lacks any support abilities so it is only good at fighting.

* MoreDakka: The Terran Republic's weapon designs emphasize putting as much lead as possible into the air with the highest accuracy possible with as many bullets crammed into the magazine as possible. If you use a Terran weapon, expect a huge magazine and laser-beam accuracy.

* {{Nanomachines}}: "Nanites" fuel the war effort: They build the weapons, tanks, buildings, and the soldiers themselves. When objects are damaged beyond repair, they're deconstructed by the nanites.

* NoExperiencePointsForMedic: Averted. While support players (medics, engineers, Galaxy pilots) do not directly gain any experience for healing/repairing/reviving/delivering players and their equipment, they ''do'' get Combat Experience Points for any kills made by the players they assisted.

* NonCombatEXP: Recharging a base's generator with an ANT vehicle will grant you Battle Experience Points for every half second the generator is being charged, until the generator is fully charged or your ANT runs out of energy. Players commanding squads get Command Experience Points when their squad takes over a base, regardless of what the commander was doing - either in combat, or simply giving orders.

* ObviousBeta: ''[=PS2=]'' launched with a plethora of bugs. The game launched very poorly optimized unless you were on a very specific type of computer (Intel [=I5=] processor with a Geforce graphics card) - players who had even more powerful systems but had AMD processors often suffered from terrible performance. Other major bugs appeared throughout beta and early release, such as players falling through the world, or the game not rendering enemies mere meters from you. While many gamebreaking bugs have since been fixed, the game remains questionably stable for many players, and optimization issues have been mostly ignored.
** At least until recently when the devs announced Operation: Make Faster Game which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. They have released a handful of videos on their Website/YouTube channel discussing some of the issues and hiccups they're hoping to address.

* PaletteSwap: In ''[=PS1=]'', your armor is "upgraded" at certain ranks. What this does is change the color of your armor, to make you more distinct. Conglomerate players fear their battle rank 14 upgrade, where they get neon yellow armor that stands out even more than their ''regular'' armor.

* PurelyAestheticGender: In both games, selecting male or female at character creation has zero effect on gameplay, and only really determines what you sound like when using voice callouts. Planetside 2 does also give females a slightly different pose on the character select and "killed by" screen, but it's never seen in gameplay.

* QuickMelee: Present in ''[=PS2=]''. Pressing the middle mouse button or T will make you whip out an empire-specific knife inhumanly fast and slash it at the enemy--two slashes is a kill against everything but MAX and Heavy Assault (with their shields on). [=MAXes=] bludgeon targets in front of them with their arms to the same effect. Averted in ''[=PS1=]'', where melee requires you to switch to the knife, and the knife's powered mode (chainsaw, magnetic cutting, plasma cutting) made it *incredibly* loud, making it more or less a [[CherryTapping humiliation weapon]]. Slash attacks without the powered mode were very weak.

* RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth: ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'' has all the foot soldiers equipped with a regenerating, ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''-style shield. Health is damaged directly when the shield is down, and does not regenerate unless your faction has control of a bio-lab or using a regeneration implant. MAX suits do not have any shields, and only have armor - meaning that they can only be "healed" by an engineer.

* RespawnPoint: The AMS is a mobile respawn point with a powerful cloaking device.
** In ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'', the Advanced Mobile Station can be equipped on the Sunderer transport vehicle- while lacking a cloaking device, it makes up for it by being one of the most durable vehicles in the game, second only to the Galaxy air transport craft.

* ShiftingSandLand: Desolation, Ishundar, and Solsar. Ishundar is more of the "rocky and full of dead trees" variety, complete with gulleys scattered around the continent which are vehicle death traps.

* ShortRangeShotgun: The Jackhammer in both games, and the shotguns in ''[=PS2=]'' have an effective range of about six feet. Averted by the Scattercannon and the Sweeper in ''[=PS1=]'', which could be dangerous at longer range, and most shotguns in ''[=PS2=]'' can be outfitted with slug rounds for better accuracy at range (assuming the player can aim well enough to make use of them).

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Ceryshen, Nexus, and Esamir are all covered in snow, and Ceryshen takes forever to get around due to it being mostly vertical, forcing you to loop around long paths to reach a base that's close in a straight line.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Thoroughly [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in both ''[=PS1=]'' and ''[=PS2=]'', though especially noticeably in ''[=PS2=]'' with its vastly improved graphics. In both games, male and female character models have nearly identical combat armor- and in ''[=PS1=]'', with only slight model differences limited to those necessary to accommodate the different average torso proportions of males and females--slightly more V-shaped in men, with broader chest and shoulders relative to waist and hips, and slightly more X-shaped in women, with broader hips and chest relative to waist. While females retain the same outfits as males in 2, they are considerably more curvy compared to their ''[=PS1=]'' counterparts due to the updated graphics and a mid-beta model change--especially noticeable on the Vanu Sovereignty troops and their [[LatexSpaceSuit near-skintight suits]].
** Said suits are worn by both VS females [[StupidSexyFlanders and males]]. For both of the other factions, though, it's identical combat fatigues all the way. That and, in all three factions, [[PoweredArmor Mechanized Assault eXoskeletons]] come in only one size and shape[[note]][[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/may/ps20.jpg I dare you! I double dare you, motherfucker! Ask me to make you a sandwich one more goddamn time!]][[/note]].

* TeamKiller: Shooting your allies results in warnings to watch your fire. Doing it repeatedly will result in your weapons being locked down temporarily. The NC have a reputation for being team-killers in particular, mostly because their weapons consist of a disproportionate number of guns that deal very high damage, so accidental hits on friendly troops tend to result in instant death.

* TheEmpire: The Terran Republic in ''[=PS1=]'' is an oppressive, totalitarian oligarchy that has kept peace on Earth for a thousand years with an iron fist.
* TheFederation: The Terran Republic in ''[=PS2=]'' is much LighterAndSofter than the original game, instead being more of a socialistic, fairly free society. However, the isolated [[TheRemnant Auraxis remnant]] goes DrunkWithPower after instigating Martial Law en-route to Auraxis under the command of [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Lt. Commander]] [[TheStarscream Brent]] [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill Waterson]].
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The days leading up to The Bending were increasingly filled with random earthquakes and giant meteors raining from the skies, doing Massive Damage to any player or vehicle unfortunate enough to be smashed beneath one. In the final moments, the meteors grew so frequent that one could hardly take two steps outside without being pancaked.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: The New Conglomerate, the Terran Republic, and the Vanu Sovereignty respectively, though all of those are [[{{YMMV}} up for debate]] (and debate fierce enough to make RealLife politics look tame in comparison).
** The New Conglomerate is a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Band of Mercenaries and Revolutionaries]] under the leadership of a council of {{Honest Corporate Executive}}s who banded together after Terran Republic soldiers [[MoralEventHorizon massacred the Liberty's Call protesters]] calling them out on their increasing authoritarianism. That being said, their leadership's precise degree of honesty is questionable at best, their army eagerly accepts criminals so long as they deliver results, and their ideal of freedom may or may not extend beyond that of a "free" market (with the NC as the largest MegaCorp around).
** The Terran Republic started out good, but [[TyrantTakesTheHelm it all went to hell after Lt Commander Waterson took over]]. The majority of their forces are [[MyCountryRightOrWrong simply soldiers who don't question orders]], and fell for [[FalseFlagOperation Waterson framing the NC for Connery's assassination]], although much of the leadership has gone DrunkWithPower and simply doesn't want to relinquish it anymore. With this in mind, the Republic back on ''Earth'' is unambigously good.
** And then there's the Vanu Sovereignty, ScaryDogmaticAliens minus the actually-being-Aliens part who elected to wage war on ''both'' sides in order to further humanity's "evolution" based on partial knowledge of what happened to the Vanu. They ''are'', however, a force of technological and scientific progress - especially when compared to the initially purely profit-oriented founders of the New Conglomerate and the ''painfully'' BoringButPractical Terran Republic - and the main reason for the other factions' opposition is based on their perception of the Sovereignty as a prime case of CyberneticsEatYourSoul.
** [[WallOfText In short]], which side falls where depends on one's personal stance on the Empires' core flaws: can the Terrans get their act back together, do the Conglomerate practice what they preach, and are the Vanu BrainwashedAndCrazy or {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s?
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[OneHitKill One-shotting]] a full Galaxy transport while it's taking off will yield you a ''boatload'' of experience by killing everyone onboard. And a lot of respawn timers for your enemies.
** The NC Vanguard tank can one-shot smaller vehicles and infantry with its ridiculously powerful cannon.
* TheRemnant: The [[TheEmpire Terran Republic]] we see (and play as) in ''[=PlanetSide=] 1'' is the tiny portion of the Terran military that was stranded alongside everyone else [[LostColony when the wormhole to Auraxis abruptly closed]]. In ''[=PlanetSide=] 2'', they're the military command that took over the Auraxis colony fleet after much of it was damaged or destroyed passing through the Auraxis wormhole. Despite being separated from their command, the Terran Republic is still a powerful force that equals the [[MegaCorp New Conglomerate]] and [[MachineWorship Vanu Sovereignty]] in strength.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Well, the New Conglomerate's revolution won't be, anyway.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The New Conglomerate, naturally.
** [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] in [=PS2=], as their lore mentions that, while much of the [=NC's=] ground forces are true blue freedom fighters, a not insignificant amount of them are actual terrorists or former pirates. They signed on since the megacorps were quite willing to pay for their expertise and didn't give a damn how they had acquired said skills.

* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: The New Conglomerate, the Terran Republic, and the Vanu Sovereignty respectively.
** The New Conglomerate is a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Band of Mercenaries and Revolutionaries]] under the leadership of a council of {{HonestCorporateExecutive}}s who banded together after Terran Republic soldiers [[MoralEventHorizon massacred the Liberty's Call protesters]] calling them out on their increasing Authoritarianism.
** The Terran Republic started out good, but [[TyrantTakesTheHelm it all went to hell after Lt Commander Waterson took over]]. The majority of their forces are [[MyCountryRightOrWrong simply soldiers who don't question orders]], and fell for [[FalseFlagOperation Waterson framing the NC for Connery's Assassination]], although much of the leadership has gone DrunkWithPower and simply doesn't want to relinquish it anymore.
** And then there's the Vanu Sovereignty, ScaryDogmaticAliens minus the actually being Aliens part, who elected to wage war on ''both'' sides in order to further Humanity's "evolution" based on partial knowledge of what happened to the Vanu.

* V8EngineNoises: The Skyguard anti-air buggy has what sounds like a V8 engine, which stands in stark contrast to the other buggies that sound like crappy 4-bangers

** Their signature heavy infantry weapon is the Jackhammer ([[IThoughtItMeant no, not the]] [[RareGuns Pancor Jackhammer]]), a [[GatlingGood triple-barreled]] shotgun with a high semi-auto fire rate and even a rapid 3-round burst mode that can almost instantly kill infantry at point-blank. It is available in the second game as well, as the Empire Specific Weapon for the Heavy Assault class, with all the features of the first game's Jackhammer, although sadly, only mounting a single barrel.

* EliteArmy: The Black Ops. There are only a few of them, the faction is invite only, their soldiers have 1000 hp (10x more than regular players) and can use any weapon or vehicle in the game.

* AscendedMeme: One of the developers, David "Malorn" Bennett, somehow developed a personal meme amongst the community in the form of "buff the CARV", an oft-repeated suggestion referring to the T9 CARV light machine gun that TR heavies start with. He left SOE in October 2014, but not before slipping a small change into the September update: A reduction in the T9 CARV's horizontal recoil.