The devs have mentioned several times supply lines and bases needing to remain in supply. This may have something to do with spawns, or just be a RP mechanic. I think remaining in supply would be a great spawn limiting mechanic, as it would allow an attacking force to break supply lines on softer targets before assaulting a larger compound. The devs also keep mentioning real world military strategy, with this line of thought these things seem most likely to me.
I'm ok not being able to spawn in a base cut off your main base on the continent, in fact I believe this is necessary, no respawn or even be able to spawn vehicles or heros/elites.
That made me think of a spawning mechanic for a game I used to play a lot and still one of my favorites to this day, Command & Conquer: Renegade. (which is getting remade by fans as Command & Conquer Renegade X. yay!) The multiplayer had Base vs. Base. Teams had an Infantry Spawner, Vehicle Spawner, Refinery (resource gathering) and Power Plant. If any of these were destroyed their function was removed for the rest of the match. Inf Spawner destroyed resulted in that team not able to spawn elites/heroes. Vehicle spawner destroyed stopped vehicle spawning. Refinery had an AI harvester associated with it which would collect tiberium (the $ resource) then return it to base if enemies didn't destroy it and give a nice boost to the passive gradual player resource gain. Power Plant when destroyed would shut down automated base defenses and make the Infantry & Vehicle spawns cost more. Adding 1 (or more for bigger bases, biggest being Fortress I think) of these would be neat and tie into what Berserk-Fury said before. I actually forgot about Supply Lines being a thing Devs want in EC so thanks Relative for bringing it up. I'm now very curious with how the Supply Lines mechanic will work.
I think planetside 2 has bonus-giving structures like this (amp stations). It would be great to have territories give bonuses for any special structures built there. So, indtead of a territoy having an outpost in it, there is a massive refinery to capture instead. Controlling the territory gives the faction a bonus (cheaper vehicle spawns due to fuel abundance) and perhaps even a carry over bonus for the next campaign if they control it at the end of the previous campaign (next campaign the faction WC gets access to "x" number of incendiary air-strikes). If the base is cut off, the bonus is lost. Adds to the importance of a territory, increases stratergy and gives the devs a chance to create a more diverse set of large, centre-piece structures. I can see it now; the Eldar do a lightning assault on three Space Marine bases, cutting the heavily defended inter-continental link zone from the supply line, and cutting off spawning across all the territory in a frontline continent. This allows the Ork horde to advance with little resistance, building into an unstoppable Waaagh! (This should be the new word for a "zerg"). By the time the Marines have re-established supply with the link, the Orks have begun to pour into the second continent. THIS is the kind of thing I want this game to allow, because it is so epic, tactically deep and just fits right into the lore; this is exactly the kind of things Orks and Eldar would do, and really sets the scene for not just a cool series of fights, but a game changing campaign.
This seems fair enough. So the garrison system will now have have tickets recharge whilst under attack, but at a a reduced rate (so instead of 1 every 30 seconds, the rare is reduced to 1 every sixty seconds). Then, capping surrounding points increases the re-gen time (doubling, tripling, etc). When each point is captured, the spawns stop generating. This, as @Jericho suggests, adds tactical play and an incentive for the defenders to counter-attack. As an afterthought, the capture points could instead be generators. These could auto re-gen after destruction (annoying for attacker, no risk for defender, so best not) or have the defender have to repair them manually. Seeing as there is no repair units currently (techmarines, mekboyz, etc.) this would have to be done with repair kits. SUPPLY LINES: I will make this part of the system now. If a territory loses all supply (by cutting off territories that are connected by a line (the supply line) shown on the map) to the home faction base: Garrison re-gen rate is disrupted; the rate is reduced to 1/60 seconds. In addition, it takes one less capture point to disable spawning in the base completely Vehicle spawning is disabled (unless there is an allocated pool, or the territory has a manufactorum ____________________________________________________________________ Right, I'm going to make a more streamlined summary of this system. Feel free to add ideas/changes/criticism.
Need to bump this thread back up. Seems that their are shields already in place for the Alpha. I'm hoping thats just for the alpha.
Yeah I really hope that the shields are just placeholder for the time being. I would much rather see blast doors that open/close or something to that effect. Its not that shields do not fulfill their purpose, its that they are immersion breaking & the way they played out in Planetside 2 still remains a very sour topic of discussion amongst the PS2 community to this day. In Planetside 1, all bases had functional doors. The general argument against having function doors was that it "bogged down servers" etc. While that may have been true in 2003, I have a hard time believing that in 2015..near 2016 that this is still the case. Especially with the new Pikko technology that EC keeps boasting. I do not want to see shields used as a means of protecting spawns (not to be mistaken with void shields protecting bases).
Well if the shields are tied to a generator so that they can be taken down then it still wouldn't be the same situation. It stands to reason that you would want some form of protection for spawn points, but yes them being used to closely to PS would make them more grinding than what most would want, but still you don't want lone infiltrators to be able to spawn camp outpost spawns. The problem arises when the shields stay up and the spawn point protected until up until the fortress is taken, but if they can be taken down then the spawn point becomes compromised. Should this be the case then they can implement something to make it play out more strategically. I'd say that there should be something to deactivate the spawn point, perhaps after the generator (or whatever) is destroyed then there is a limited number of spawns available before the spawn point becomes defunct, or once the shields are down then the spawn point becomes capturable. Once captured then the spawn point is deactivated and the defenders are pushed back, or if they lose all spawn points then they are driven out completely.
Seeing that the alpha is basically Space Marine with tanks, we could assume that the shield functions the same as Space Marines' "spawn veil"... But with the amount of work that went into the shield (visually) I'm not sure it's just a temporary, throw-away asset. I think several destructible or "disableable" (is that a word? Lol) spawns in a base would be better if they are going to have the shield- either each spawn can be blown up, or, tying into the external capture points I use in my spawning system, each spawn in-base is powered by a generator at an external capture point... actually I'm having a brainwave here, I think this can be a completely alternative spawning mechanic. _____________________________________________________________________ NEW IDEA: Generator Powered Spawn System So, push the whole garrison system to one side. When a territory is invaded, it does NOT use a spawn ticket system for the defenders spawning. Instead, the attacker must try and disable the defenders spawn points, rather than wait for their spawns to be extinguished. So: The Depot/Outpost/Fortress has a number of Spawn Points for Infantry and Vehicles Each is tied to an external generator These generators are located in structures outside of the main Depot/Outpost/Fortress An attacker can destroy/hack/disable/overload (either capture-based or destruction-based mechanic) these generators For each generator destroyed, the defenders lose the spawn point tied to the generator, and thus the ability to spawn there In addition, the defenders spawn time per generator lost goes up by adding the initial spawn time to current spawn time (eg, Tactical Marine takes 12 seconds to spawn; 1 generator lost, spawn time now 12+12=24; 2 generators lost, spawn time now 24+12=36) The defender can restore these generators to regain the lost spawn; the mechanic is debatable, could be; defenders repair with repair kits/mekboyz or; re-capture point, repairs over time (like base turrets) Disabling all player spawn generators disables player spawning at the base (unless they use a mobile transport, which still use the system I made in this thread). If the attacker is drawn off, the base/players must still regenerate/repair the destroyed/disabled generators, leaving the base vulnerable to assault If the attacker conquers the base, they acquire all status effects, including destroyed/disabled generators, which they must repair/wait for to regenerate. War Council Power: the Council may quick-repair all destroyed components (turrets, generators, gates, etc) in a single territory for a decent sum of RP. Cost goes up the further the territory is from the Faction home island. Please bear in mind; this means spawning is unlimited until the spawn points are disabled. Open for debate. Implementing Supply Lines with this System; If a base is cut off, this is when the garrison becomes available. The garrison, perhaps, could be even smaller, to facilitate the fact that players should be coming to reinforce a base if it is being surrounded/cut off. Vehicle garrisons may also be available. Both of these amounts are locked out if the spawn points lose the generators. Supply lines could also affect spawn time. The further the territory you are trying to spawn in is from Faction home island, the longer it can take to spawn. This goes for vehicle you call in via air delivery (mentioned in first post of thread, I believe). Concept Map Using Generator Powered Spawn System So Power Generator 1 powers Player Spawn 1, and Power Generator 3 powers the Vehicle Spawn, etc. Also that thing connecting the two buildings is a bridge, as you have seen in several of the live streams. The base is surrounded by a wall, with two gates with gate towers next to them. This system creates even more tactical options for the attacker than the Garrison system. Now they can actively influence the defenders forces, and the way they fight, through capturing/destroying generators. This forces the defender to fight outside of the walls from the get go, as well as forcing them to open the gates to fight. Where in the garrison system, the defenders would be content to sit behind the walls, sniping/bombarding the enemy while the attackers play "shoot-the-gate." Now, the attackers may not need to even shoot the gate to get in, while the defenders have to make a decision... Open the gates and save the spawn points, allowing for constant reinforcements, with the risk of letting the attackers swarm in, or sit tight in the fortress, hoping your army is big enough to survive when the attackers eventually DO get in... Basically, this system will make this happen... Summary: I made an alternative spawn system, which utilises destructible power supplies to stop the defender from spawning. _____________________________________________________________________ Please leave feedback, ideas and criticism! And let me know what you like better; the Garrison System (my first one in the thread), the Generator Powered Spawn System (the one in this post), a hybrid of the two, your own idea, or Planetside 2 (boo! ) Thanks, FURY
