No sketch this time, sorry.
EDIT: Captain Yahtzee Will return tonight!

Imo having a primary cap unit for each faction is a good idea. If this unit is the "everything average" Tac, even better. This allows the specialists to shine. Imagine the following scenarios where range specialization favors the attacker:

Capture point is in the open: Tac gets on point and is quite able to defend against other midrange/average.
=> Long Range Sniper/Heavy will have the advantage.

Capture point is inside a builing: Tac gets on point and is quite able to defend against other midrange/average.
=> Melee/Stealth will have the advantage.


My thoughts on the captacs:
Assuming the capture points work similarly to those in PS2: Let all players be able to neutralize points, but only captacs to actually capture. This way, non-captac squads may still disable bases, but not actually capture them.

//Speculation on how this would work with the resource system and bases: A base only generates req for respawns and stuff if it has capture points under control of the team. (X points under defenders = Y req points gerenated. Needs balancing. Maybe half points when attackers controls all?)(Siege warfare by limiting resources.)) A base only changes faction owner if all (/majority?) points are taken. Attacking players does not gain req from the captured points of the base under siege.

If the base has a req storage (clarification: which is replenished by the owned capture points of the defending faction, as above) to still allow defenders to respawn, this could allow non-captacs to still be useful without giving them ghost-capping potential. Also it may prevent the PS2 situations like those seen on The Crown ... Spawncamping at its finest.

Reusing another mentioned idea to add to the above:
Let the different classes have different capture speed. Numbers to be balanced and so on, but as an example:
CapTac 100%, Support 40%, Heavy 20%, Assault 10%. This would further emphazise the CapTacs role, as well as limit ghostcapping. Important in large battles with plenty of players.

On Ghost-cap:
From some earlier threads, (links goes here after finding it / edit) there will be some small automated defences in forms of npc or turrets to also counter ghostcap. (Think example Eldar npc's Guardians patroling some base.) The level of this defence would hinder solo, slow down ~3 and only provide alarm and minor nuisance if more players show up. (Proper battle!)

No Picasso level artwork i no read da wall of text!!!

get the art back and maybe i might ^^

My biggest concern is with the eldar having more classes, you have a lower ratio of "tacticals". Given the distinct look eldar have it is also easier i imagine to go DA popping as a defender.

Yeah you'll have Eldar who play a single class per character and dedicate to one Aspect but most of the population will multi-class to whatever the meta and team demands. Pretty much like any shooter or MMORPG.

I would like if other classes could cap but slower than tacticals. I thinking of stuff like doing a coordinated jump troop assault and eliminating some of the elevated defenders all at once while tacticals and devastators are on the ground, or whatever faction equivalent.

Or do that then when the counter attack happens, you jump out and hit somewhere else. Make them choose between objectives and fighting the other attackers. Jump troops are great for jumping back and forth between objectives just to set off an alarm saying a point is being captured. Tacticals can be the fire support picking people off in the confusion while capturing the currently undefended points.

This is what I meant by reduced capping ability.

If Assaults have to take longer capping, than a Tactical, then defenders for that point have a chance to counter them. It was a small pain in the posterior, within THQ's Space Marine, that Assaults and Raptors could cap points with little to no time for the other teams players to react.

By having Tacticals as the go to guys for capping it makes them the most playable class and prevents problems like the above.
But is it too far?
I think that the other classes should at least be able to gain the ability to cap points, but at a slower rate of capture than Tacs.

Maybe as a perk you earn. That way people who only want to be offensive can put all their stuff into offense. Then we can have more tactical jump troops, or assault marines. The thunder hammer/storm shield sounds great for slower capping anyway. That's when a point must be taken in a huge battle. A mix of tacticals and TH/SS assault marines would be best for that.

I'd like to see Dire Avengers sit in cover until some Swooping Hawks show up and rain down fire on the enemies. Avengers push forward while the Hawks finish capping a point.

Here's my completely earnest question: Why would the other class archetypes hurt for capping ability in a game dynamic where the emphasis is on team overlap and reliance ? What exactly is the benefit of making classes more homogeneous in EC ?

The only downside I see is that it may force one or two people to switch to the Tactical class in the later stages of a Fortress raid because of their prominence in the endgame, something like how chess pieces change value as the match progresses. As a tactical team game fan that's not a down side at all. If you want to stick to a single class that's fine but you do run the risk of limiting your worth by being unable to perform different roles.

It certainly doesn't devalue the other classes by itself because there is no way a single Tactical of any race will be able to cap anything without support from mixed Squads with Heavies bringing the hurt and Suppression, Assaults providing the distraction and punishing sloppy players and Supports shifting the balance through buffs, debuffs and healing.

I'll keep throwing Q:ET and MMORPG raiding out there because yes, sometimes people may have to swap class/build to facilitate the team and if they didn't then it would gut a lot of the enjoyment of coordinated grouping (as awesome as tankhealercrowdcontroldps or medicreconassaultengineers are )