basti
2011-08-24, 03:36 PM
Recent information and a very special threat about Outfit space stations got me thinking: What would be the stuff I really want for space combat in Planetside 2? Its obviously coming at some point post release if the game launches good and has a high enough subscriber number, so theres no harm in just throwing out ideas.
So, space. We alll played a few Space combat games in our time. Wing Commander 1-5, Freelancer, Freespace, Jumpgate (the old one guy, not evolution :P ), The entire X series, SWGs Jump to Lightspeed, Elite, you name it.
Theres a bunch of them out there, and we more or less enjoyed them. But is something like this what we really want, just flying around in spaceships, small to big, and shoot each other? I think not, there is much more potential there, potential not yet seen in ANY game EVER before.
And i call it SpaceSide!
Imagine you cant just fly your little wee fighters, bombers and interceptors in the game, imagine you could fly everything, from the very tiny modified Space flight capable reaver, to the big ass Carrier. Imagine you could stand in your Rexo on the HULL of such a Carrier. Imagine you could Jump from the Carrier into space, using small thrusters to steer, landing on the Hull of the enemy Capital ship next to your capital ship.
Imagine Driving a Tank on a asteroid. Imagine Flying a Cruiser full with your outfit buddys gunning the turrets and flying fighter escort into a hot intergalactic battle. Imagine a combination of the space battles seen in BSG, SW, ST and whatsoever. The real deal, the full package, something that blows you away the moment you see it.
Keep in mind that this is just me babbeling. We lack information on the current gameplay, and putting space combat on top of gameplay we dont know yet is pretty hard. ;)
And: the Numbers here have a reason. Each number is a idea itself, means if you have input, make sure you include the number.
So, ideas:
1. General Gameplay and territory capturing
The Space between the Planets would be divided into sectors. Sectors are pretty much the continents of space. They are big, and let 1000 players into them to fight each other. Unlike continents on the planet, there is no uncapturable base, means you can actually capture a sector and hold it. Its yours, until the enemy attacks it and takes it back. Each sector would be connected to other sectors by a Warp Gate (the space version). They function pretty much like current Warpgates: They take you from one fixed position to another, but you could broadcast through sectors if you own them. There is no untakeable sector that serves as a sanctuary, instead, there are the motherships.
Motherships: They are pretty much mobile sancs. Destroying them is impossible, because these ships are the only ones that have a own Jump Drive equipped. If they get into danger, they simply jump away, into another friendly sector, or if none are there, into a random enemy sector, to start the crusade again.
Besides that, there are Carriers. Those ships are NPC controlled, just like the mothership. They are stationary, they dont just go and join the fight. They serve as last line of defense, the ship where you reform and assault the enemy, your sanctuary pretty much. But those ships can be destroyed. In terms of Planetside, those ships are pretty much your last base. They could also be captured, but thats much harder than destroying them, but even more rewarding (you have a enemy super capital now, your faction doesnt need to build one now, means its a MASSIVE ressource gain for everyone involved)
In each sector, there are multiple capture points. These go from Small asteroid based to really really big asteroid bases (those you would attack with tanks on the outside and the inside, before you get into the actual building to footzerg), Mining stations, space stations, old destroyed capital ships, asteroid fields, nebulas, tiny moons, etc. I go into detail here if i actually get some more specific ideas ;)
In order to capture the sector, you need to hold most, if not all, of those capture points, AND send the enemy fleet away. Means you need to send their Mothership (if in sector) into retreat mode, or destroy their Carrier. Once they have no more bases left, you got the sector.
In order to open up a enemy sector, to get your Carrier or Mothership into it, you need to hold one of the capture points for several minutes.
2. Vehicle and Infantary Combat
Lets start with Infantary here: The Classes would be pretty much exactly the same as in ground play, mean sniper, Heavy grunt, medic, etc. But instead of ending in just agile or rexo, you wear a space ready armor. With todays technology, and thanks to the nanites, the only real difference to the ground suits would be that nothing of your body is exposed (not even the faces of TR maxes ;) ).
Once in your space suit, there is nothing stopping you from just going out onto the hull of the ship/base you spawned in, and jumping into open space. Well, if the object your on is large enough, gravity may drag you back, but that would be only for tiny moons and big roids. The rest would allow you to float in peace, in space. You may get a customization for every armor, little thruster packs that allow you to steer for a limited period of time, to get you from one object to another. Just be careful using your guns while not standing, recoil may boost you somewhere else, or just lets you spin completly uncontrolled.
The entire infantary combat part would come very handy for several parts: Assaulting one of the capture points, assaulting and trying to capture one of the enemys smaller Capital ships (cruisers, frigates etc), assaulting and capturing a enemys outfit base (yeees, they are here, see waaayy below).
Now, to blow your mind a little: Imagine these 3 scenarios:
1. A base where gravity is lighter than normal, means you have something you could call the ground, but you could jump quite far
2. a Base where there is no gravity at all, means you could walk on all surfaces, or just float through the corridors on your way to kill the enemy
3. a Base where artificial gravity is on all surfaces, means you would walk like spiderman.
Ground Vehicle Combat:
Some of those capture points may be big asteroids, Tiny moons, or even reeeeaaalllyy big structures where vehicles would come in handy. Imagine you driving a tank on the outside of an asteroid, think thats enough to let you see what im talking about. No more text needed here. ;)
3. Vehicles:
There would need to be a lot of new and different vehicles, lets go from small to big:
Most of the ground vehicles, like tanks, Atvs, AMS. They would only be useful for attacking a big structure where they can actually be used. In open space, they are pretty pointless. They could also be useful for attacking the Hangar of an enemy ship.
The Space Reaver: a slightly modified version of the usual reaver, ment to support ground vehicle assaults. Pretty weak against the usual space fighter, so dont try dogfighting with it.
Space Ships, from small to big:
Interceptors/light fighters (The mossy of space): Ment to intercept enemy Heavy Fighters and Bombers, but very weak against bigger ships. Very good handeling, to allow you fight inside structures like a hollow roid.
Heavy fighters: Ment to fight against bombers, heavy fighters and small Capital class ships. Quite some firepower and good armor, but lacking speed and manuverability.
Bombers: Ment to attack Enemy Capital Ships. They have ALOT of firepower, and carry straight fire torpedos, but have almost no chance against wee little interceptors. They have 1 or 2 gunner slots for turrets, for additional protection, but they need fighter escort to succeed.
Troop Transporters, the Galaxy/Lodestar of space: 1 Pilot, no guns, 3 gunners for light cover, can carry up to 20 Passangers, and 3 Tanks. They fit in a Hangar, means you use them to land on capture points or enemy ships in order to assault them.
Those 4 are optainable by every player. Go to term, pull it, get a gunner, fight.
Gunboats: Tiny Capitals. Ment as escort ships to support bigger capitals. Several Turrets (5) Need all 6 players to go to a term and agree to get one, and designate a pilot. Squad spaceships pretty much.
Frigates: Med Size Capitals: They come with a Anti Capital main weapon and about 12 Gunner slots, as well as a small hangar to pull Reavers and Ground vehicles. Ship is ment to be the base of operation when attacking a capture point. They lack a way to transport the ground vehicles safley onto the surface, means they need a Troop Transporter to Land in their Hangar, or have the tank drivers just drive into space, hoping that they hit their target, and dont end up floating into the black abyss.
Need all 13 guys to go to term and pull it, just like the gunboat. Ment as Platoon Ships, so only a few out there.
Battleships: The Big ones: They come with a pilot, a BIG anti Capital Gun, Torpedo Launchers, up to 30 Gunners, and a lot of other cool extras (like Stereo TV!). Those beasts are very very rare, only optainable at the Mothership, and ONLY for outfits! Yes, THESE BEASTS are actually outfit bases for the big outfits. Getting them is quite costy, loosing them will make everyone of said outfit cry for a week or two, but having them is just extreeemmmllyy awesome. They can be captured by enemy outfits, or just get destroyed.
Meh, done for now, brain went empty. Discuss! :D
So, space. We alll played a few Space combat games in our time. Wing Commander 1-5, Freelancer, Freespace, Jumpgate (the old one guy, not evolution :P ), The entire X series, SWGs Jump to Lightspeed, Elite, you name it.
Theres a bunch of them out there, and we more or less enjoyed them. But is something like this what we really want, just flying around in spaceships, small to big, and shoot each other? I think not, there is much more potential there, potential not yet seen in ANY game EVER before.
And i call it SpaceSide!
Imagine you cant just fly your little wee fighters, bombers and interceptors in the game, imagine you could fly everything, from the very tiny modified Space flight capable reaver, to the big ass Carrier. Imagine you could stand in your Rexo on the HULL of such a Carrier. Imagine you could Jump from the Carrier into space, using small thrusters to steer, landing on the Hull of the enemy Capital ship next to your capital ship.
Imagine Driving a Tank on a asteroid. Imagine Flying a Cruiser full with your outfit buddys gunning the turrets and flying fighter escort into a hot intergalactic battle. Imagine a combination of the space battles seen in BSG, SW, ST and whatsoever. The real deal, the full package, something that blows you away the moment you see it.
Keep in mind that this is just me babbeling. We lack information on the current gameplay, and putting space combat on top of gameplay we dont know yet is pretty hard. ;)
And: the Numbers here have a reason. Each number is a idea itself, means if you have input, make sure you include the number.
So, ideas:
1. General Gameplay and territory capturing
The Space between the Planets would be divided into sectors. Sectors are pretty much the continents of space. They are big, and let 1000 players into them to fight each other. Unlike continents on the planet, there is no uncapturable base, means you can actually capture a sector and hold it. Its yours, until the enemy attacks it and takes it back. Each sector would be connected to other sectors by a Warp Gate (the space version). They function pretty much like current Warpgates: They take you from one fixed position to another, but you could broadcast through sectors if you own them. There is no untakeable sector that serves as a sanctuary, instead, there are the motherships.
Motherships: They are pretty much mobile sancs. Destroying them is impossible, because these ships are the only ones that have a own Jump Drive equipped. If they get into danger, they simply jump away, into another friendly sector, or if none are there, into a random enemy sector, to start the crusade again.
Besides that, there are Carriers. Those ships are NPC controlled, just like the mothership. They are stationary, they dont just go and join the fight. They serve as last line of defense, the ship where you reform and assault the enemy, your sanctuary pretty much. But those ships can be destroyed. In terms of Planetside, those ships are pretty much your last base. They could also be captured, but thats much harder than destroying them, but even more rewarding (you have a enemy super capital now, your faction doesnt need to build one now, means its a MASSIVE ressource gain for everyone involved)
In each sector, there are multiple capture points. These go from Small asteroid based to really really big asteroid bases (those you would attack with tanks on the outside and the inside, before you get into the actual building to footzerg), Mining stations, space stations, old destroyed capital ships, asteroid fields, nebulas, tiny moons, etc. I go into detail here if i actually get some more specific ideas ;)
In order to capture the sector, you need to hold most, if not all, of those capture points, AND send the enemy fleet away. Means you need to send their Mothership (if in sector) into retreat mode, or destroy their Carrier. Once they have no more bases left, you got the sector.
In order to open up a enemy sector, to get your Carrier or Mothership into it, you need to hold one of the capture points for several minutes.
2. Vehicle and Infantary Combat
Lets start with Infantary here: The Classes would be pretty much exactly the same as in ground play, mean sniper, Heavy grunt, medic, etc. But instead of ending in just agile or rexo, you wear a space ready armor. With todays technology, and thanks to the nanites, the only real difference to the ground suits would be that nothing of your body is exposed (not even the faces of TR maxes ;) ).
Once in your space suit, there is nothing stopping you from just going out onto the hull of the ship/base you spawned in, and jumping into open space. Well, if the object your on is large enough, gravity may drag you back, but that would be only for tiny moons and big roids. The rest would allow you to float in peace, in space. You may get a customization for every armor, little thruster packs that allow you to steer for a limited period of time, to get you from one object to another. Just be careful using your guns while not standing, recoil may boost you somewhere else, or just lets you spin completly uncontrolled.
The entire infantary combat part would come very handy for several parts: Assaulting one of the capture points, assaulting and trying to capture one of the enemys smaller Capital ships (cruisers, frigates etc), assaulting and capturing a enemys outfit base (yeees, they are here, see waaayy below).
Now, to blow your mind a little: Imagine these 3 scenarios:
1. A base where gravity is lighter than normal, means you have something you could call the ground, but you could jump quite far
2. a Base where there is no gravity at all, means you could walk on all surfaces, or just float through the corridors on your way to kill the enemy
3. a Base where artificial gravity is on all surfaces, means you would walk like spiderman.
Ground Vehicle Combat:
Some of those capture points may be big asteroids, Tiny moons, or even reeeeaaalllyy big structures where vehicles would come in handy. Imagine you driving a tank on the outside of an asteroid, think thats enough to let you see what im talking about. No more text needed here. ;)
3. Vehicles:
There would need to be a lot of new and different vehicles, lets go from small to big:
Most of the ground vehicles, like tanks, Atvs, AMS. They would only be useful for attacking a big structure where they can actually be used. In open space, they are pretty pointless. They could also be useful for attacking the Hangar of an enemy ship.
The Space Reaver: a slightly modified version of the usual reaver, ment to support ground vehicle assaults. Pretty weak against the usual space fighter, so dont try dogfighting with it.
Space Ships, from small to big:
Interceptors/light fighters (The mossy of space): Ment to intercept enemy Heavy Fighters and Bombers, but very weak against bigger ships. Very good handeling, to allow you fight inside structures like a hollow roid.
Heavy fighters: Ment to fight against bombers, heavy fighters and small Capital class ships. Quite some firepower and good armor, but lacking speed and manuverability.
Bombers: Ment to attack Enemy Capital Ships. They have ALOT of firepower, and carry straight fire torpedos, but have almost no chance against wee little interceptors. They have 1 or 2 gunner slots for turrets, for additional protection, but they need fighter escort to succeed.
Troop Transporters, the Galaxy/Lodestar of space: 1 Pilot, no guns, 3 gunners for light cover, can carry up to 20 Passangers, and 3 Tanks. They fit in a Hangar, means you use them to land on capture points or enemy ships in order to assault them.
Those 4 are optainable by every player. Go to term, pull it, get a gunner, fight.
Gunboats: Tiny Capitals. Ment as escort ships to support bigger capitals. Several Turrets (5) Need all 6 players to go to a term and agree to get one, and designate a pilot. Squad spaceships pretty much.
Frigates: Med Size Capitals: They come with a Anti Capital main weapon and about 12 Gunner slots, as well as a small hangar to pull Reavers and Ground vehicles. Ship is ment to be the base of operation when attacking a capture point. They lack a way to transport the ground vehicles safley onto the surface, means they need a Troop Transporter to Land in their Hangar, or have the tank drivers just drive into space, hoping that they hit their target, and dont end up floating into the black abyss.
Need all 13 guys to go to term and pull it, just like the gunboat. Ment as Platoon Ships, so only a few out there.
Battleships: The Big ones: They come with a pilot, a BIG anti Capital Gun, Torpedo Launchers, up to 30 Gunners, and a lot of other cool extras (like Stereo TV!). Those beasts are very very rare, only optainable at the Mothership, and ONLY for outfits! Yes, THESE BEASTS are actually outfit bases for the big outfits. Getting them is quite costy, loosing them will make everyone of said outfit cry for a week or two, but having them is just extreeemmmllyy awesome. They can be captured by enemy outfits, or just get destroyed.
Meh, done for now, brain went empty. Discuss! :D