Terrain Improvements

[DviddLeff]

Below you can see a piece I wrote a few years ago, before they made the battle islands (I have since added them). This would perfectly fit PS2 if the game was based on Auraxis. The whole point of these changes is to make the bases more unique and interesting, and make outdoors more interesting also.

Map Improvements
General Terrain Improvements

Roads: Roads would be split into two types, the bumpy dirt tracks we have currently, and major roads, with bridge like surfaces and railings. The new major roads would give vehicles a speed and acceleration boost, to make them worth using, countering the risk of enemy mines on the surface, or ambushes.

Checkpoints: The above major roads would have checkpoints on them near bases or in natural passes in the terrain and bridgeheads, that are basically towers that span the entire road with a large gate to stop enemy vehicles from moving through (the vehicles would have to backtrack to a turnoff point of the road to exit, or take the checkpoint). The checkpoints would have Phalanx turrets on them, as well as bunkers facing in each direction.

Bridges: Bridges would be added that only allow troop access, stopping vehicles from using them. The standard bridges we have currently would have troop catwalks alongside the main road, to give vehicles easier, grief free passage. Bridges would also be destroyable, going through a damaged state before being totally destroyed, where vehicles that pass along it are shaken by the bumpy ground, and troops have to avoid the cracks in the surface. Bridges could be repaired by sending an engineer into a new control bunker on either side of the bridge, then fixing it using their vehicle repair tool.

Tunnels: Instead of going around mountains, some roads would be able to tunnel through them, making for some very atmospheric fights deep inside the tunnels, as enemy forces meet each other in the middle. These tunnels would have roads for two vehicles to pass side by side, as well as catwalks to the side of and sometimes above the road itself. These tunnels could in some cases be very long, giving the possibility of the equivalent of towers being dug into the rock and earth, so that troops could equip and respawn as they travel through. They could also link up bases underground. There could also be smaller tunnels, infantry sized.

Improved Bunkers: When situated near a base or tower, make bunkers only accessible from inside the courtyard of the base, or bottom room of the tower, via tunnels (access from new doors in the walls). This stops them from being a death trap as enemies run up behind you, and also gives you a good place to try and hold when you are besieged. Also put AMS style equipment terminals (no MAXs) in all bunkers so base/tower defenders don’t have to trek back into the depths of the base/tower to rearm when they run low on ammo. Bunkers vision slits should also be made thinner, and the roof of the bunkers extend further out, so that it becomes harder for tanks to shell out every occupant with a single round, as the shells arc would make it difficult to pass through, instead detonating on the surface. Bunkers which are far away from a base or tower would benefit from the new designs, but would be accessed as they currently are via doors in the back.

Light Bases: These are bases without the large defensive walls surrounding them, just the main “keep” of present bases. However these bases would have defensive Phalanx turrets on them, however in much fewer numbers. These bases would either be swapped for existing ones at the far flung corners of the continents, many base links from the capital facility, or added as new links in the lattice. They would have either an aircraft or ground vehicle spawn point in them, never both, and would be staging posts for attacks by small forces, or the first bases to fall on a continent as it comes under attack, much like towers.

Towers: Towers would have more variety, depending on the continent (details below), including versions that repaired ground vehicles. New ground towers would have vehicle repair silos on them.

Human Buildings and Ancient Artefacts: Around the landscape of the world, signs of the past peace and occupation would still be visible. First created would be the Ancient Artefacts, remnants of the Ancient Vanu who lived on/built Auxaris. These would be strange objects, some much like the rock formations we see on Solsar, others more obvious things, like vast skeletons such as that found on Old Oshur, bits of excavated Ancient technology and buildings or giant holes, of unknown purpose, descending into the core of the planet. Also, human buildings would be around the landscape, all showing the damage of the civil war that broke out on the planet. Research centres, homes, factories, etc would be scattered around, some in large towns, others like the research stations near the Ancient artefacts or warpgates.

Individual Continental Base and Tower Designs: Id like to see some bases and towers replaced with continent specific versions, all of them fitting in with the landscape, looking as if they have been designed to be in that specific location, not just copy and pasted onto the map. Id like to see bases dug into mountains, underground or suspended over lakes, as well as the normal ones.

Amerish
The bases and towers on Amerish would be more or less the standard bases we have now, except a few of them would be dug into the rolling hills of the continent, as well as replacing the island base in the East with a base suspended over the sea, connected to the mainland via bridges. This base would have previously been an underwater research facility, and have various underwater passageways, allowing the troops underwater views as they work to defend the CC and respawn there.
Capital: The Amerish capital would be a very much larger version of the standard base; this would be the basic and raw capital design, from which all others are based.

Cyssor
A new base could be placed at the peak of Mt Cyssor, with only aircraft able to reach it (the flight ceiling could be raised). Also some separate bases could be dug into the sides of Mt Cyssor, making it into one vast base, perhaps connected via tunnels and mechanical lifts inside the actual mountain. Other bases on this continent could be based on hover technology, floating above the landscape, akin to some of the bases in Tribes.
Capital: The capital Gunuku would be changed to be encompassing the entire island, with vast tunnel networks and trenches cut into its sides and bedrock. Between this and the Mt Cyssor defence network the centre of Cyssor would be an impressive stronghold that could take most aof a day to fight through.
Towers: Towers on this continent would be a mix of existing base design, and hovering towers.

Foreseral
These bases would be unlike anything we have seen before, as this island was previously the base of the Ancient Vanu’s operations on Auxaris. The bases and towers of this island would be similar to the alpha screenshots we saw, depicting purple, organic structures. These base Artefacts would also have small human research outposts (light bases) near them, but no extensive human facilities on the continent at all. The troops would be able to spawn vehicles and equipment, as well as respawn in these bases only via human tech, that has been built into the Ancient Vanu’s buildings. The weather on this continent would be prone to causing mists and fogs, making the whole continent seem eerie and other worldly.
Capital: The capital of this continent would be the Ancient Vanu’s main “Temple” a huge construct reaching far into the sky and far underground, spreading over a wide distance on the surface. The sub capitals of this capital would be part of the actual Temple itself, gateways through which the Ancient Vanu passed to reach the Temple.
Towers: Towers on this continent would be small Ancient Vanu buildings, with human tech integrated in them.

[DviddLeff]

Oshur:
Nexus: This would be one giant base, with rings of defensive walls surrounding it. There would be capturable towers and gateways as you fight through the rings, so attackers and defenders have a strong place to spawn from. The streets through the walls would be very tight, big enough for one Medium Battle Tank or BFR to walk through. Side streets and passages would riddle the structure, allowing for intense short range combat, as well as ways to work your way behind the enemy and assault them from behind.

Ascension: The bases and towers on this island would be much like the standard bases we have now.

Desolation: These bases and towers would be much like Ishundars, dug underground to avoid the islands fierce sandstorms.

Extinction: The bases on Extinction would be built into the sides of some of the volcanoes and hills, some with only bridges connecting the base courtyard to the surrounding landscape, as bridge battles seem to be the aim of this island. The towers on Extinction could be positioned at the end of some of the bridges, with firing slits facing the bridge so that defenders can fire down on enemies who are trying to cross it. Remember that bridges would be much improved as noted above.

Ishundar
The bases on Ishundar would have to be built to endure the continents harsh sandstorms (made much more regular and widespread, with possible damaging effects to light units such as cloakers and standard armours caught outside during the stronger storms), and would therefore be built further underground than regular bases, with ground vehicles exiting out of caves, akin to current tech plant vehicle pads, with air vehicles exiting out of canyon cliffs or caves as well. They could also be built into the continents many fractures, protecting them from the sandstorms, troops and vehicles being able to enter via paths cut down the sides of the canyons or mechanical lifts.
Capital: The Ishundar capital would be built far underground, only accessible via long tunnel networks for troops and vehicles would exit this base via shafts leading up to openings into caverns and canyons on the surface. This would be a very claustrophobic environment, with no fighting over 50m or so available, battles for this base would be brutal.
Towers: On this continent towers would be mostly underground; having phalanx turrets and repair terminals above ground, in a depression, covered with a concrete shield to keep the sandstorms off or small excavated holes in the sides of canyons, with protective walls covering the entrances with spawn tubes and equipment terminals would be underground.

Solsar
The arid landscape of Solsar would be very much like Ishundars, except on this continent there is a strong presence of Ancient Vanu buildings, akin to Foreseral, to tie in with all the strange rock formations on this continent. To complement these Ancient buildings, a large amount of human research buildings would be on this continent, around the Artefacts.

Searhus
The bases and towers around the exterior of the island would be again similar to Amerish, standard bases with standard towers. All the bases on Searhus would have been subjected to years of lava bombs from the volcano, damaging some bases, leaving large rocks over parts of them, coating others in a hard rock coating, especially in the crater.
Capital: The capital would be suspended 50m above the boiling magma (all of the crater would now be magma), only reachable from large bridges connecting directly from the four sub capitals and from the air. “Towers” would be built along the bridges, wrapping around the bridge above and below, providing the factions with a strong point to take and hold. The four sub capitals and the capital would have originally been research stations, built by the humans to discover the workings of the planet. Two of the sub capitals would be down in the base of caldera, slightly built into the walls with many pipes and tubes descending into the heart of the volcano. These would be reachable via the existing roads into the crater. The other two sub capitals would be built into the cone of the volcano (original purpose perhaps to take samples of the vapour for analysis), reachable via roads as usual.

Hossin
The humans on Hossin have to deal with the onslaught of the weather, storms lashing at the bases on this continent, often causing flooding, damaging the first bases the humans established here. Because of this some of the bases would be partially flooded, whole tunnel networks underwater (none of the vital base equipment would be underwater, however alternative routes to them could be via the flooded tunnel). Newer bases would have been built on this continent, on stilts above the water to avoid the flooding. All the new bases would have covered walkways, to keep the heavy rain off defenders. These tree top bases would be accessible via ramps, stairwells and mechanical lifts.
Capital: The capital would be built on the only bit of well drained and high ground on the continent, the central island where it resides now. This too would have covered walkways.
Towers: The towers on Hossin would be suspended above the ground on stilts, among the tree tops, with exposed stairs leading to the entrances.

Esamir
Bases on this cold and wintry continent would be snow covered, all walkways and level surfaces covered with snow, with large snow drifts up the sides of base walls, sometimes giving attackers access to them from the outside. Towers and bases here would be similar to Amerish as well, except blanketed in snow.
Capital: The capital would have a large snow shield built over it, at a height of about 30m. This would keep the base below snow free, as well as defending occupiers from orbital strikes. There would also be a stairwell leading up to the snow shield, for use by both attackers and defenders.

Ceryshen
Much like Ishundar, bases here would be built deep underground, except here to avoid the cold and snowstorms rather than heat and sandstorms. Here also snow would be built up in drifts around bases, and would cover exposed surfaces.
Capital: The capital of Ceryshen would be built much like Helms Deep in The Lord of the Rings, built into one of the giant cliffs, attackers having to breach a large defensive wall network to get to the main doors of the facility. Other features of this building could be a small backdoor that is difficult to defend at the top of the cliff, leading to tunnels inside the base that work their way down to the main facility itself. The air pads could be hangers dug into the side of the cliff away from the main entrance, with a large landing platform extending out from the cliff (an entry point for airborne attackers, think of Galaxy's landing in the hanger, disgorging troops as they do).
Towers: Towers on this cold continent could also be built a small way into the cliffs and glaciers, a bolt hole during the storms. Air towers could be built in the middle of the cliff faces, a landing pad jutting out, only accessible from aircraft.


Capital Enhancements
Vehicle Pads: Give all capitals a drop ship construction pad, that can only be used however when linked to a drop ship centre. Galaxies and Loadstars are too rare in current play, giving us an extra base on most continents where we can get them would be a godsend to some people and outfits, allowing them to form up in the battle zone, rather than having to recall to sanctuary. Also make sure that aircraft and ground vehicles have separate pads, like Tech plants, so that waiting lines are reduced.
Multiple walls: Give them various rings of walls, with small, easily defensible walkways between the two rings, as well as moving the gates into the next courtyard around in the walls, forcing attacking vehicles to drive around the walls, in the defenders gun sights.

Improved base walls: Give them two levels, the current level, but then have another walkway on top of that one. This makes the walls slightly more defensive, stopping more flail and tank shells from arcing over the base and pounding it. It also gives the defenders on the middle level protection from Reaver spam and Liberator bombs to some degree. Those on the top level would be more exposed, but would have a better angle of fire on attacking troops.

Dual IFF locks on certain functions: Have dual IFF locks on external doors of the base and the CC, making it harder for lone hackers to change the tide of battles. You'll have some of the biggest fights around these facilities; we may as well work together to take them.

[Firefly]

I vote for Hayoo and you, for PS2 development team.

[kit630]

I wouldn't mind seeing an entirely new set of planets/islands, to be honest, rather than the same old same old. And I wouldn't mind if terrain and certain buildings were destructable. It'd be great to be driving through the trees escaping a tank in a harrasser and the trees are getting knocked down all around you, hectic so that it makes your palms sweat :D

[DviddLeff]

I spent a bunch of time over at the Idealab with Hayoo, wish he was involved in PS2!

I would like new areas to fight in, say return to Earth, but if it stays on Auraxis I want these changes :)

[Dorest0rm]

I love this.

[Kyonye]

I love this.

I love you.

[JackEarthrider]

This is probably an old thread, but after reading it I'd have to say that nearly all of these ideas are fantastic, I think anyone would be hard pressed to improve upon them.

[Tikuto]

While they all appear good, I'd really like for PlanetSide NEXT to be a whole start from the beginning with obviously keeping some features like 3 Empires and cloaking, etc.


Hopefully the continents can be so much more bigger now. Merge Cyssor and old Oshur with a vast desert n the horizon of a greenland, impressions of desertization that swings back and forth with distinct powerful storms from the mixtures of weather. Bigger continents with plentiful variety of content on them or some.

Human civilization: Urban landscapes completely wasted by war. Ancient alien habitats, environments and atmospheres, and continents even, and having said that the Human habitats could be somewhat very open0minded futuristic alien to our modern Earth-like style too. Religion no longer exists and is replaced with the value of returning home to Earth, following the traditions of Earth and so-on in the alien world.

[Kumoblade]

While they all appear good, I'd really like for PlanetSide NEXT to be a whole start from the beginning with obviously keeping some features like 3 Empires and cloaking, etc.

This.

I want something new. Planetside is 6 years old. Trying to simply do a rehash of it will not serve it justice in the slightest.

[JackEarthrider]

Still a new game with some of these terrain ideas (old or not) would be pretty cool.

I thought his ideas with the bunkers having underground entrances was exactly what those need.

Being able to fight in a tunnel would be pretty intense.

And fighting in a massive subterranean base big enough for vehicles would definitely be interesting.

Basically to make the next game interesting they have to think outside the box, the future is a place of unparalleled potential: make the scenery more interesting, the terrain more dynamic, and the bases more expansive.

[JackEarthrider]

On the note of the terrain improvements I just thought of something that would be pretty cool.

In a different game they were dealing with a dwindling area of land with an expanding population. So in response all the cities had an incredible degree of site work with many of them built upon artificial hills with terranced farmland running over the sides.

I think that would be pretty interesting, a base sitting on top of an artificial hill with people having to fight their way up.
Or fighting on the slopes of a farm terrance moving up from level to level clearing out enemies.

Anyway, just an additional thought.

[Furret]

after looking at most of the things you guys want to change, It looks like the main thing that PlanetSide Next needs is new types of combat.

Tunnel Combat
Naval Combat
Terrace Combat
City Combat

All these different ways to fight a war, that make the game not only more realistic, but more interesting.

[JackEarthrider]

I would say that for the next planetside we want to see:

Underground fighting.
More interesting base design archeteture.
Terrian manipulation. (underground, terrance, trenches, artifical hills, etc)
Urban combat.
More routes around the map than just the dirt roads.

However, the guy who started this post has really good ideas so I think anything at the start of this thread is a good plan/addition (i was just trying to think of good stuff to add...)

[Sifer2]

I like these ideas. They sort of mirror my own feelings about how they should get a lot more creative with the terrain. Making it feel more like a normal FPS game where maps are interesting to look at an play differently.

[Tikuto]

Terrian manipulation. (underground, terrance, trenches, artifical hills, etc)


This is a great, great suggestion. What I want to be possible in PlanetSide 2 is this but not just this. I'd like to know for fact that everything in-game can change: facility design, trees, landscape, vegetation, and so-on for the game-developers. Like in Fallen Earth a player can make a crater in the ground with a single hand-weapon.
PlanetSide NEXT could do this too? Game-developers could use this feature to change the game world?

[JackEarthrider]

Well I actually meant pre-existing terrain manipulation (because what else do futuristic societies do?) but if real time terrain effects are doable then why not?

(although I have a feeling no server could handle that much strain, I'm not sure)

[ANaKeR]

Destructible environment would be the ultimate, I am completely for it.

Imagine a forest where a battle is taking place and shells are hitting trees and knocking them down. Logs are lying everywhere and tanks have to navigate around or over them instead of mowing over all the soldiers unimpeded like the current game. Trees slowly regrow over time and logs disappear into the ground. Potholes are created from explosions and slowly fill in when not being used by a soldier for cover.

To program this would be a challenge, but there's no reason it can't be done. If you have enough processing power and bandwidth, the possibilities are endless.

[JackEarthrider]

Kind of reminds me of what they had in the "Red Faction" series. The only possible problem is that sometimes people get more focused on destroying the environment then on actually fighting each other (I used to do that on Red Faction) then when your out of things to blow up you get bored and do something else.

Anyway, just having interesting artifical terrain types would be good enough for me; it presents unique tactical oppurtunites and sets apart different areas of the map.

If real time terrian manipulation is possible, then ya more power to it. But i'd be happy with just artifical terrian in pre-existing locations (terrances, tunnels, bases built on arficial hills, trench networks, etc).

[DviddLeff]

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-2/terrain-overhaul

Updated this on the PUP with a few ideas I have seen around the place, also added a whole bunch of models I put together in sketchup and images from trusty old Paint.

[CutterJohn]

Nifty ideas, I quite like the lot of them.

My personal dream would be using a procedural terrain generation engine(or planet generation engine), and each week.. we all fight over a new planet. Never the same layout.

More likely is I'd like to see battles fought on continents/planets that have very unique traits and thus require very different selections of gear and tactics. A venusian hell hole, where going outside in anything less than a MAX or a vehicle with an enclosed cab is a Bad Idea. A gas giant where all fights are with aircav, with nasty cloud formation 'terrain', fighting over floating installations. A water zone with the only land being some small islands. An airless moon with low gravity. Etc, etc, etc.

I think the variety in available equipment would help differentiate the maps more, and keep fights from being the same old, same old.

[DviddLeff]

Yeah exactly, the more differences between both facilities and continents the better.

[Tremadog]

Nifty ideas, I quite like the lot of them.

My personal dream would be using a procedural terrain generation engine(or planet generation engine), and each week.. we all fight over a new planet. Never the same layout.


I think this is a very exciting proposal, but I imagine having to load up brand new continents could cause downtime, either from SoE's end uploading them, or at the client end to download them, I'm not sure if that would be an issue, but regular downtime to maintain the servers would be useful I guess, and if we can fight somewhere different next time the servers goes up it would probably be worth it. If they kept the "classic" continents in some form in addition, it would keep more stubborn players happy, too.

[CutterJohn]

I think this is a very exciting proposal, but I imagine having to load up brand new continents could cause downtime, either from SoE's end uploading them, or at the client end to download them, I'm not sure if that would be an issue, but regular downtime to maintain the servers would be useful I guess, and if we can fight somewhere different next time the servers goes up it would probably be worth it. If they kept the "classic" continents in some form in addition, it would keep more stubborn players happy, too.

YouTube - Infinity Pre-Alpha Tech Demo April 2010 - Part 1

Thats a forthcoming game that will generate an entire galaxies worth of planets on the fly. Skip to about 5 minutes in.

In a perfect world, you'd have it all procedural.. The base layouts, roadways, flora and fauna. This is doable, but would require a lot of work to setup. Then just have a galaxy map showing who owns what. Perhaps with a popularity vote that leads to maps people consider fun being tossed back in regularly, while maps that people hated would never be heard from again.

The extra benefit is this gives a periodic win condition. One of the sides gains control of the planet, has bragging rights. Then a new planet opens up. You wouldn't even have to distribute anything because the nature of procedural programming means everything is already on the computer. You can even generate the weather and local conditions, meaning you can stipulate what equipment can be used in which environments.

I don't expect this, since it would be a hell of a lot of work to set up properly, and likely delay the game for a good period of time while the engine was setup(unless they just bought Infinitys').

A more likely scenario is just new custom maps released every so often, and old unpopular ones retired. Regular PS maps are not that visually complex. You could easily just snatch up some DEMs to make a map, paint textures, roads, flora on, and plop down the premade bases. I could make something the quality of a PS continent in a day in the Cryengine Sandbox tools.

[Grimster]

Destructible environment would be the ultimate, I am completely for it.

Imagine a forest where a battle is taking place and shells are hitting trees and knocking them down. Logs are lying everywhere and tanks have to navigate around or over them instead of mowing over all the soldiers unimpeded like the current game. Trees slowly regrow over time and logs disappear into the ground. Potholes are created from explosions and slowly fill in when not being used by a soldier for cover.

To program this would be a challenge, but there's no reason it can't be done. If you have enough processing power and bandwidth, the possibilities are endless.

I am all for destructible environments. I only wonder if it possible in a MMO without the risk of causing lag.

But if it is doable then why not. :)

[Gogita]

I am all for destructible environments. I only wonder if it possible in a MMO without the risk of causing lag.

But if it is doable then why not. :)

I think it is IMPOSSIBLE to make Planetside work without lag if the terrain was destructible. Keep in mind, more than 500 people firing their weapons and canons... all destroying pieces of terrain = LAG LAG LAG

Also, I think the whole landscape will be constantly destroyed untill nothing is left. I think Planetside is too large scaled for destroyable terrain.

[CutterJohn]

I think it is IMPOSSIBLE to make Planetside work without lag if the terrain was destructible. Keep in mind, more than 500 people firing their weapons and canons... all destroying pieces of terrain = LAG LAG LAG

Also, I think the whole landscape will be constantly destroyed untill nothing is left. I think Planetside is too large scaled for destroyable terrain.

Destructible environments are not that hard unless you are trying to match up the rubble as well. If its specific objects that are destructible, and there are just two states, destroyed and not destroyed, and you don't care if the rubble position matches, then its easy. You control how many destructible points are in any given area, and there wouldn't be that many. I could definitely see base walls being destructible, as breach points into a base courtyard/interior, along with bridges, and smaller trees. There were never all that many of these things on screen at any given time.

[Grimster]

I think it is IMPOSSIBLE to make Planetside work without lag if the terrain was destructible. Keep in mind, more than 500 people firing their weapons and canons... all destroying pieces of terrain = LAG LAG LAG

Also, I think the whole landscape will be constantly destroyed untill nothing is left. I think Planetside is too large scaled for destroyable terrain.

Yeah I tend to agree with you. It would be a awesome feature but like you said I doubt it is doable not with today's technology at least. :)

[DviddLeff]

Its alright when the map gets reset every 30 minutes, but I just don't think it would work in a persistent world.

Destroyable assets like bridges, bunkers or base walls for example might.

[Gogita]

Its alright when the map gets reset every 30 minutes, but I just don't think it would work in a persistent world.

Destroyable assets like bridges, bunkers or base walls for example might.

Destroyable walls will make it too easy for the attacker to get in a base. Have a couple of tanks stand far away and let them spam the wall for a couple of minutes, hole in the wall.

Destroyable terrain, bases, bridges etc sound nice and such... but keep in mind what kind of effects it will have in the game. And is it really THAT BAD if this was not implemented in the game?

[Hamma]

While I love the thought of destroyable terrain we have to be realistic here. In a persistent online world like PlanetSide it would be far to hard to manage and it wouldn't add much to the game but headache.

[DviddLeff]

Destroyable terrain, bases, bridges etc sound nice and such... but keep in mind what kind of effects it will have in the game. And is it really THAT BAD if this was not implemented in the game?

Not saying that its a game breaking oversight, just that it may work.

[CutterJohn]

While I love the thought of destroyable terrain we have to be realistic here. In a persistent online world like PlanetSide it would be far to hard to manage and it wouldn't add much to the game but headache.

Depends on how easy things would be to destroy, and how fast they repaired back to normal(Because, you know.. nanites. :) )

Walls, for instance, could only be destroyed from inside, so you can't just have a few tanks stand off and lob shells. You need some cloaker stealth action. It would be like the advantage gained from a gen drop, only lesser. An additional breach point instead of crashing the entire base.

[Hamma]

Well I'm sure it's not impossible. But I really don't believe it would add much to the game other than annoyance for players.

On the flip side - terrain does need to be more varied with more places to hide.

[DviddLeff]

Yeah, more cover for infantry is a must.

[Tiberius]

Tunnels would be awesome. I loved the skirmishes we had in the tunnels leading to the caves.

OMG! water map, with bases connected by underground tunnels with towers along the way for spawnpoints so you could have mass air fights above and tunnel fights below.

EDIT: Pretty much every one of LEFF's suggestions is a must, the bunkers esp. I love anything that protects me from tanks and aircraft lol, tunnel from the tower to the base anyone? :-)

[DviddLeff]

I am not the LEFF, DviddLeff from Emerald is my character.

[TRex]

I like many of the ideas in the OP post.

Just to add, just wishful thinking , is that I wonder if it would be possible to have ,for instance , 21 continents but only 7 activated at any one time?

As a continent becomes locked , it becomes unavailable but another continent opens up. This may counter the constant fighting on certain continents , and bring a continually changing map structure to the game.

As a extra , when , eventually that initial continent is available again , the bases and other structures could have much more of a flavour related to the current ruling empire. Maybe the NC building take on a more angular look etc , and the defences have a more empire specific feel about them and so on.

Not only would you have such greater variety to the game , but the persistant world idea would feel more real , and give more incetive to keep playing with your empire / outfit and feel like all the time you put in to capture a continent was worth it.

[DviddLeff]

One thing I didn't like about the caverns was that most of the time you couldn't fight on most of them. There should be able to be a fight on as many continents as possible at any one time; the servers are there just not being utilised.