enemy density triggered base defenses

[DeadTeddy]

I'll say it clearly, a zerg is really hard to stop, XP incentives aren't working well enough cause some people like to win. I think the only real way to get people to defend is giving them some sort of advantage. what I suggest is changing the proximity system symbol on the map from "large/huge/massive enemy force" to green/yellow/orange/red alert and tying some sort of base defense mechanisms to it. make the entire base show it's under attack.

here's a bunch of ideas just off the top of my head, right now I have no idea what will be in the next few lines but I'm gonna know soon.

green alert - not enough enemy forces to trigger anything.

Yellow alert - what we currently know as "Large Enemy Force"
-turrets are repaired faster by the gen
-Shields charge faster and repair pads work faster

Orange Alert - "Huge Enemy Force"
-Turrets take and give twice the damage.
-repair pads and veichle terms force fields similar to the ones veichles have but not facility dependent (to allow fighters to be well equiped when going to battle)

Red Alert - "Massive Enemy Force"
-nifty sirens that make you want to kill the devs.
-the gate shields get turned on regardless of modules, but take NTU's from the base's silo (unless a module is present of course)
-Veichle pad works faster
-emergency ammo terminals on the base walls, in the CY, and maybe even one in the CC become active. these are not hackable and can only give you ammo, support items, grenades, and maybe decis (no way to get ammo). that way running back to get ammo won't be such a long task.
-if an interlink facility is linked then when the base reaches 10% NTU's the next step will be to take NTU's from other bases until they reach 20%-30% themselves and only then go neutral.
-tech plant veichles can be aquired
-timer on some veichles drops to 3 mins

now that I know what I wrote, I have to say many people here won't like half of them, it's ok, neither do I. they're just ideas. the basic idea in is to allow defenders to concentrate more on fighting and less on logistics. instead of spending time running to get more ammo and medpacks, you shoot. instead of spending most of the time repairing, you blow stuff up. instead of getting blown to pieces when repairing, then getting a new one, you get protected while you repair, you're harmless anyway. instead of going to the tech plant with no gen to kill the TR cloacker (it's always a TR) you fight the army infront of you.

what do you all think?

[Rayder]

Let's just give us a reason to defend before we start making it easier, thus less xp, because you don't get any CEP for defending, which you should, you don't get any BEP for successfully defending a base that doesn't get hacked (it always quirked me as to why we get xp for re-securing a hacked base, but not for defending one so it doesn't get hacked in the first place).

[Phaden]

Exactly what Rayder said, need CEP for defending a base, and granted that will be very tough to accomplish as there is no set start or end time. That needs to happen before anything else base related.

On another note, base turrets did getr a buff recently (well i think balance patch?) but i find them very usable now. Especially if you have one or 2 squadmates repairing them. You can really tke down tanks as well as infantry.

[Professor Frink]

Interesting ideas but it would be a huge patch. The devs have bigger fish to fry... *cough amstreespawnbug Cough*

[TheN00b]

Hmm, lets see...: A minor bug that can be fixed by grabbing a medkit at the AMS you spawned at, or a fundamental flaw in the game that makes zerging unstoppable... Which one should they fix?

[Rbstr]

not a bad idea, it would be cool

[xmodum]

kool, i love the sirens :twisted: muhuhahaha

[DeadTeddy]

the specifics are just cause I hate saying something without giving an example and I know they suck. I didn't give them too much thought. I do like the ammo terminals and sirens though :D

p.s: aren't there red flashing lights in hacked bases?

[Liquidtide]

I like this idea. I think the Red Alert seems uber powerful. I think each level should drain NTUs to a degree and finally anouther use for the amp stations. The NTUs should be transferable from them (the amp station) when the base under attack reaches 10%. I really like this because it makes sense. A base under normal status isn't in "hurry" mode. Normal mode is safe, but under hurry mode NTUs are used quicker because there is more wear and tear on the 'stuff'. Refine your idea some more and I think it's viable. As for exp... I don't know what to say to those whores.

[iiTropicRaiNii]

Seems like a good idea to me, CEP has always been an aggravation "defense wise" because you don't get any. Perhaps one thing they could do is: Lets say the EDW is at Massive Enemy Force and it lowers to Large and then the warning is gone. You then get the respective CEP for defending the base. Just an idea but its something.

[DeadTeddy]

for CEP they can simply give treat any 15 minutes a base stays unhacked like they treat a cap. if no enemies are around you won't get any but if there is a massive battle around you get allot.

[Liquidtide]

I like tropicrain's Idea. If you reach massive forces and you manage to push them down to huge you get some cexp (not a ton) couple hundred, and likewise when huge becomes large, and then large to nothing. There would have to be a minimum time that the enemy is at each level so minor spikes in population don't dole out cexp to everyone.

[Rayder]

p.s: aren't there red flashing lights in hacked bases?
They're yellow.

[Ed the MAD]

they should also stop recording scalps, and reward players not only for killing, but for contributing to the group. this of course means 86ing the killboards. the outfit leaderborads can stay. you never get any XP for a successful bombing run, or for repairing a damaged friendly vehicle/turret/Gen/MAX, or for healing an ally, or for defending the AMS, or for any of the Support Roles that are downright Neccisary for the game to work! right now, it's a labor of love for many of us. we demand XP for helping our comrades in arms! just because we don't kill the enimt directly you make it seem like we aren't neccisary. that needs to change if the game is to get away from the Counter-strike feel.

that's right. i said Counter-Strike. i tried that piece of snot, and it sucked. you know why it sucked? the same reason why Planetside is starting to suck. nobody wants to help anyone else, and the few that do are usually rewarded with little more than a quick trip to the sqawn tube. no XP, no increase in rank on the Leaderboard. just an empty smile and a gunshot to the face.

[iiTropicRaiNii]

Yup. I know how hard CEP can be oviously not with my NC char right now because I haven't done so yet. But when I had my Vanu char leveling CR, it could be good some days and very bad on others.

[Acaila]

The problem with giving a couple of hundred CEP for changing an enemy force from massive to huge is that a couple of hundred CEP is precisely fuck all. I think the squad leader should just receive 66% BEP 34% CEP from kills. Problem solved. 1000000 BEP roughly is required to get br20 and 500000 CEP roughly is required to get cr5.

And i like the triggered defenses idea. The bases are rather frustrating to defend when outnumbered heavily.

[iiTropicRaiNii]

What they could do to stop people from damaging someone and healing them and then receiving exp. They could somehow detect if the damage was done by an enemy or a friendly, therefore if it was done by an enemy the healer would then recieve a certain amount of exp and if it was done by friendly they get no exp. That may help.

[Rayder]

Yet again, a balance factor comes into play. How would you rate the experience points you deserve? Would medics get more than engineers? Or would engineers get more than medics? Would repairing vehicles in a safe environment be worth more or less than repairing them in a hostile environment? How would the system tell a hostile environment from a non-hostile one? Would it be worth the time and effort to give support roles experience for what they do, when hardly anyone uses them? Woud more people use them if experience was awarded?

[iiTropicRaiNii]

Well it was just a suggestion but I really don't care I think the exp you get for kills is good enough and the extra bonus of base caps.

[Ed the MAD]

Yet again, a balance factor comes into play. How would you rate the experience points you deserve?

no idea.


Would medics get more than engineers? Or would engineers get more than medics?

no. they'd get the same.
Would repairing vehicles in a safe environment be worth more or less than repairing them in a hostile environment?

i would assume less. since in a hostile environment the medic/engineer is putting themselves in considerably more danger than if they were inside the semi-protective walls of a base.

How would the system tell a hostile environment from a non-hostile one?

perhaps if the damage was inflicted within five minnutes of the time of the Repair/heal?
the amount of XP could be proportional to how soon the perso/equipment is tended to. like, if a person is fixing a wall turret as the turret fires at a tank that is fireing at the turret, the engineer would have a lot of XP because he it putting himself at rsk in order to ensure the survival of the turret(not to mention the man inside) as well as the destruction of the enimy tank.

Would it be worth the time and effort to give support roles experience for what they do, when hardly anyone uses them?

yes.

Woud more people use them if experience was awarded?

nobody uses them because there's no reward for it. they'd much rather have to respawn than have their kill frenzy interrupted by a medic who wants to heal the fecker so he can continue his fecking spree.

[DeadTeddy]

actually many people use them, anyone who isn't an idiot and uses a veichle often will have engineering, and then he will take the BANK with him to battles for himself, and if a friendly needs it he will help.
medical is nice too if you have enough cert points to spend them on less important things. you'll notice most advance medics are BR18 or higher.

[Ed the MAD]

how about this?

for every person who survives longer than one minnute after jumping out of a dropship, the pilot of said ship recives X ammount of XP.

for every target sucessfully destroyed by bombs, the pilot of said bomber recived X% of total XP.

for every vehicle resupplied from a Loadstar, the Pilot of said ship recived X ammount of XP.

just a thought. because although i do take out in my Scatter MAX every so often, i would much rather take the yolk of my bomber, Galaxy, or Loadstar.

[Rayder]

You realise that would involve linking the pilot, gunners, and passengers the same way they do a squad, which would make the devs jobs' harder because they'd then have to balance it out. It would also put more emphasis on vehicles, so it would then become VehicleSide.

[DeadTeddy]

too much work. at least they are linking the people in a veichle so the driver won't be so willing to run people over to get XP, instead he will give his gunner a good chance to shoot.

[iiTropicRaiNii]

Who knows if it would be hard or not, we don't know how they designed the game. ;) Probally would be too much work and it really isn't needed.

[DeadTeddy]

they already have all they need. they have the enemy density system so it can be built on that. they disable terminals and change the effectiveness of turrets according to linked facilities and gen status, so that's not a problem, and they have shield already ingame. so it's actually not too hard.

[Cloaked_Thunder]

at least they are linking the people in a veichle so the driver won't be so willing to run people over to get XP,
When did they start this...... I had someone gunning my prowler who wasn't in my squad the other day and he got like 15 kills in one run... I got none of that XP........ :confused:

[Christian]

Nice ideas!

[DeadTeddy]

they didn't, but they said it's on the way. you get your own chat and you share XP.