I see what you're saying, the only point I was trying to get across was to relate something I've come across in another game, to something that I would like to see brought over at least in some fashion to EC. I think we both just have different idea's as to what we both mean for urban combat, I'm not talking about fighting inside building 100% of the time, I understand the limitations of trying to something along those lines. However I would love to see fighting in streets, armored columns being ambushed from alleys, or mines and other things planted to disrupt the enemies movement, firefights in large open squares with monuments and other things of that nature. With even a few building interiors, even something as simple as a parkade or construction site, could go a long way to enhance those types of engagements you might not necessarily get out in the open, at least not to the same degree. And I might be alone on that side of things, peeking around corners and fighting in the street might not be what others have in mind but it's what I thought of when I seen the topic. But again, all boils down to performance, I would rather it not be in at all then have a sluggish, unplayable city conflict just for the sake of having it.
Dont get me wrong, having all those construction sites and parks is something id like to see as well. Both can coexist as we can see from the Battlefront series examples (some very neatly designed parks in Imperial city maps). Yet at the end i dont want a city to feel like a hundred big inaccessible boxes cramped into one place. Like i said before the devs will have to see just how much of city areas they can open to not kill the immersion of actually fighting in a city rather than a box jungle.
If I recall correctly Miguel said they couldn't do cities do to rendering lag. Fortresses and the sieges of have been confirmed. I forgot who but they said a sort of rings of defense system and spawn points that only activate after the outer rings are down. Personally I love this idea. I Don't think development wise that this idea is that difficult. I would like it though if certain fortresses or facilities had different forms of this system. Tactically this system is amazing for defense and attack. It makes fortresses and facilities defendable to avoid whack-a-fort and it makes siegeing more than "just run to the cap point cause defenders can't do anything" it makes attacking fun again your more than likely to encounters one resistance and defenders can curbstomp attempted ghost caps and zergs have to think strategically to take it thus making them non-zergs and actuall fighting forces. If possible I would love different types of facilities to have different defenses and doodads inside of them. I.e orks are charging into a space marine held vehicle manufactorum the facility might have more anti-vehicle static defenses ( compared to a standard fort ) . Let's say the orks breach the facility and are in a construction line with a partially constructed vehicle ( for added coolness make the vehicle destructible ) and some consturtion arms. The space marines rush to the consturction line. Things like this are what make good games. Also something I would like to bring up is how are capture points going to look ? Hopefully something different then a glowing spot on the ground that somehow detects if a certain faction member is on it and starts turning to their faction. I'm ok with what I say in the pre-alpha footage but maybe make the capture point relavent to the facility. Sorry for the wall of text and lack of paragraphs but I just couldn't be bothered.
It's a map from the book Helsreach, It was an example certainly not anything close to how a real map would look. They aren't the only accessible buildings, it was just to show the layout. I like the idea of large urban complexes within the hive city with main access roads for armor and lots of small access tunnels and interiors for infantry to move and flank through. It is certainly possible to do without a lot of specific interior buildings, Especially if you go with the access tunnel route that goes between sections of the hive city.
Tunels, subways you name it, just as long as they are numerous to accomidate the cat and mouse game effectively with such a massive amount of players. I dont want to see people capturing a town and then going about only having to scour like 5-10 buildings/tunnels/etc in the entire city cause there are no other places to hide for the defeated party. It should take a tactical effort to scour a city of the remnants of resistance (even if that means half an hour of just scanning the entire city for stragglers). Giving the people lots of access points and places to bunker up even if they lose the hold on the city will make for one fun scenario im sure. Imagine having to purge an entire city... glorious.
The problem with this is that purging a city could take an entire days worth of gaming if the defeated party is composed of some veteran players that know how to work together, and know how to keep alive. I mean I love the idea of city fighting but to spend an entire day bogged down in one city could become really boring especially if your race isn't working together. Or either it would turn into one of those things where a strike force(50-100 men) or even just one squad would be left behind to clear an entire city and now your down those men that could be helping with taking a fortress or some other area.
I dunno, i find it an interesting change of pace from what will probably be allot of repetition in other scenarios. On open field one gets wiped and the other side is sure of its victory. In a hive city you might think you have won, but guerilla groups might make you change your mind when they start popping out and taking the city back. Think it would be a neat comeback strategy, and make the frontline itself move a bit slower at these times, when one has to make sure the position is actually in his hands.
One also has to wander what would happen with the Tyranids thrown into the mix, like will they attack cities/fortresses or will they be one of those things that just stay out in open ground just wandering in groups to attack small outposts and resource areas.... I would love the idea of defending a fortress and or city from a massive Tyranid attack.
Ravener tunnels popping up in the middle of a contested town square, millions of Hormagaunts pouring out to devour all.... *boner activated* Imagine what is a regular war for a city turning into a survival type of horror where the nids kill off most and the factions need to get back on their feet and survive inside the city long enough to wait for reinforcements and fend off both nids and the other factions trying to gain a better hiding spot from the swarm. This ofc would be an infrequent event cause the game focuses on PvP primarily, but a few rare occasions of the above mentioned would make for one hell of a fun turnover.
