all i ask is that we don't see the insane designs that planetside 2 had, planetside 1 was rather good base design wise and lead to good fun fights but PS2 was stupid in lots ways, i know what they were trying to do by designing the bases like that, but it ended up with having nowhere to mount a defense in a base.
Hail Crusaders! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the base from the livestream. It was created rather quickly and with a very limited selection of assets (buildings and props.) The buildings you see in the stream have received an Art pass, which is why they look so good! We have many more designs for buildings in the works and I can't wait to see what our Art team will do with them. If there is enough interest, perhaps we can show you some in progress building layouts in a future livestream. The current base sizes we are aiming for are as follows: Outpost - 150m x 150m Depot - 200m x 200m Fortress - 350m x 350m Stronghold - 500m x 500m Fortress and stronghold sizes are still very much estimates. We haven't been able to test with the required number of players to really nail down the size yet. The footprint of the livestream base is approximately 200m x 200m. For those familiar with Planetside 2, Tech Plants and Amp Stations are approximately 300m x 300m in size. If those numbers seem peculiar to you, remember that a 3rd person camera has a large effect on world perception. Keep in mind that these sizes measure the footprint only. They don't take into account any verticality in the bases, which adds effective playable space. Which leads me to my next point. Verticality is an element that we agree brings interesting tactical options for combat, especially with jump-pack capabilities. As a 3rd person game, however, too much verticality can be quite uncomfortable and jarring while aiming. We think we've found the sweet spot though, and will definitely be looking to use verticality in interesting ways. I keep reading how excited everyone is about the possibility of fighting in Hive cities/urban environments. Let me reassure you that this is an experience we will try our hardest to simulate in Eternal Crusade. There are of course several issues we need to solve first. The main issue for us (level designers), is how to create a sprawling urban layout that delivers a good tactical experience without having to place every asset by hand. Building an entire city that is fun to fight in is extremely time-consuming. We simply don't have the time or budget to hand-craft something like this. We have considered procedural generation, and perhaps the best option is to have a mix of both procedural and hand-crafted elements. For example, level designers could create several 'city block' set-pieces. These pieces would then be procedurally arranged to fill an extensive area, potentially kilometers wide. This is just early brainstorming, but as we get further along in production we'll have a better idea of how to accomplish this. I hope this was helpful for you all! (PS. The background image of the forum is a great piece of artwork that we are using as our main inspiration for Strongholds, LINK)
Thanks for the reply Shawn! I will throw you a couple of questions now that you are around , one of the main concerns about level design is how defensible will bases be (as always, looking at PS2 for what you should not do), will we have several defense lines (maybe with each one of the defenses have his own spawn?) to fall back? will the attackers have to go through one or more "killing grounds" to capture fortresses or strongholds? In general, what do you guys want to do to make defense possible and a fun experience.
all sounds good to me. i am very much looking forward to how you handle the things bases offer you on a strategic level. with regards to hives, as cool as they would be to fight in i do hope they are use sparingly or in ways different to other bases for example. have a hive as the central capital of a continent that means all factions fight into and around it as the defenders are assaulted on all sides, very Armageddon. have the terrain of an entire continent be an urban hive with the bases within it, lots of interesting possibilitys with that one.
I would enjoy a different stage siege for the larger size bases. I do notice some quick problems with it off the bat like how to stop the attackers from just going behind the spawn and the time limit or the requirement to disable the spawn ahead. Also I was wondering with the bigger and bigger defenses or a small little outpost the type of stationary weaponry will be available for the defenders , and how will they be different for each of the different classes.
Arkhona was an Imperial world, and hence the urban areas will be Imperial in origin. Just like we can see in the mentioned outpost that made its way into the last livestream.
That is true but I mean its not impossible that another faction created a small City, i didnt mean a Hive City because the world would only have Imperial. So just like an Ork Colony area or something similar
Id doubt it, perhaps the starting zone of the Orks will be Orky and some of its surroundings. Eldar arent much for decorating so we probably wont be seeing much of them in terms of base aesthetics either.
