Level Design with Clegg

[Hamma]

https://twitter.com/Arclegger/status/301513174555967489

https://twitter.com/Arclegger/status/301515776492457984

Good stuff! Looks like some stuff is getting yanked from Indar

[wasdie]

Now if they can find the way to devalue the crown. I just love watching one of the 3 empires control only 2 territories, their warpgate and the crown.

[Roy Awesome]

One of my crusades is over. Arc Bioengineering is a bullshit base.

[maradine]

To be 100% honest, I didn't know they existed for the longest time.

[DirtyBird]

Looks like they had a big day in level design :P

[Consumer]

They need to devalue Indar altogether. It is not acceptable that Esamir often degrades into literally 10-20 people on the entire continent (Connery). Limit the population, merge servers, do something--but dear god, how can anybody stand for this?

[Wargrim]

NO! Goddamned, if you kill one of my favorite bases in the game as a sideeffect of this ( Hidden Ridge Mining ) i would be really, really pissed.

Also, the idea of a defensible fallback base was GOOD, it just wasnt executed properly.

On Indar, the now VS possessed Southeastern Warpgate has no defensible fallback option at all. The now NC possessed North has NS salvage, but because of the flat terrain it is quite easy to just roll in with mass tanks, it is MUCH easyer to defend Crater Firing range because you have very good line of sight for lockon rockets and burster maxes from the roof of the bigger building.

And ARC Bio is just way over the top, because the approach is almost impossible to cross when properly defended.

So instead of reworking that stuff, they want to chicken out and remove the bases? Booh! That sucks.

All they need to do to fix Arc Bio is add a road from highlands that non - Magriders can use without risking to slide down the cliffs, remove the tower covering the entire approach and move the out of bounds area closer to the warpgate.

NS Salvage Yard - this would actually need a defensibility buff. Like extending the big Indar trench/canyon all the way north and adding a short bridge over it where its north end is at the moment.

Put one of the bases on the Southeastern warpgate ON one of the mountains instead of in the canyon, like Old Auraxium mines for example. Now that would be one hell of a fallback option.

As much as i hate the Crown for attracting so many players that we need elsewhere, such bases create awesome fights, if you do not go too overboard with the design. For example, today on Waterson the VS were holding Amerish by defending The Ascend in a very coordinated and good way, made for a fun battle. Instead of one place where you can do it, we need multiples. Esamir lacks any really defendable base, you can have Hacksaws in a Biolab, and Eisa has a good view on the surrounding area, but apart from that, even the Towers are difficult to hold, because everything is so open to tank fire.

The best fights in this game are always at bases where infantry can dig in and is hard to remove. We need more, not less, and we need them spread out so you do not always defend at the same places.

[Hamma]

I wonder if Arc was named after Arclegger.. perhaps we should have a moment of silence.

[Ghodere]

I don't think this is a good idea without a significant redesign of Indar as a whole. The only saving grace of the SW WG is ARC, the SE has no advantage at all, and the Northern gate's advantage doesn't rely on NS Salvage in the slightest. All this would do is place the Northern WG even further ahead of the others.

[seanman]

hope the crown can be deleted too.
there's always fight crown, ti alloys, crossroads everyday and it's ridiculous

[maradine]

Once you need to roll from one end of Indar to the other, because you're staged out of one warpgate and need to get to the continent through the next, you'll appreciate the Crown. Don't evaluate it solely on it's effect on a non-meta'd continent.

[capiqu]

Open Up the out of bounds lands of Indar. Let my feet touch the ocean.

[yozzer]

I only play on one server on one continent, please don't f**k it up.

[Thunderhawk]

Whilst they're at it, how about looking at the Air vs Mechanised vs Infrantry resources being spread out along the continent?

I'd like to hear as to the rationale behind the choices made currently on all 3 continents.

Why are the resources spread as they are and is there any reason you cannot make it equal for all three Warpgates?

[Rolfski]

There's no use for these bases anymore. Indar has become so defensible since the latest patch that's impossible to lock it. Nobody has achieved that on prime-time for months now (on Miller that is).

What Indar could use is some expansion around the edges imo, especially around Rashnu. The current no-zones seem rather artificial atm and adding a few more flanking possibilities could help improving the map flow, especially for aircraft.

[Rago]

hope the crown can be deleted too.
there's always fight crown, ti alloys, crossroads everyday and it's ridiculous

They Crown is a Masterpiece in Design !
And i hope for this to Stay !

[Dougnifico]

I'm going to be totally honest, I had no idea these two bases existed until now...

[Illtempered]

I'm sure it's partially our fault, "our" meaning those of us on Waterson. VS used ARC Bio as a last-stand against TR and Total Biscuit's 50% global pop hoard for months. TR held it for about 3 weeks, until the entire VS faction on Indar went to ARC Bio and held it while NC neutralized Indar. NC have owned Indar since, and most of us are ok with that, since TR don't have it. Everybody on Waterson, after extensive discussions in command chat, now knows that ARC Bio is key. Does nobody use it on the other servers as a last-stand?

I would really hate for them to over-correct again and delete one of our favorite bases. Just move the warpgate pain-field back so that the tower covering ARC can be assaulted, and move the out-of-bounds borders out a bit. The base is not unassailable. It just needs some tweaks.

[Bocheezu]

Does nobody use it on the other servers as a last-stand?

On Mattherson, VS rarely got warpgated before the patch; we (TR) never really got to ARC bio too often. I've never fought there. Attacking TR had trouble holding Ceres Biotech because that base is severely biased to the people in the warpgate; the towers can pretty much shoot at the cap point and there is no direct indoor path to the cap point from a Sundy parked behind the L-shaped building (the only safe place to park). Either way you go, you have to go around the outside of the L-shaped building and around a fence to get to the cap point. Meanwhile, people from the warpgate just have to park behind the building west of the cap point and walk right in there. It's a stupid base layout.

NC have already packed their entire population into NS Salvage a few times since the patch, with major lagfests similar to the UES battles. I never fought there when TR had that warpgate. We did last stand at Saurva once, though. And the Crown, of course.

The SE warpgate is pretty much screwed and they have no chance to last stand anywhere at the warpgate.

[arclegger]

UPDATE!

Outposts aren't getting deleted but rather moved and or adjusted.

ARC Bioengineering is getting a bridge and a road leading to it, that indestructible turret tower that sits right there is being removed.(stop freaking out you still have 2 more right in front of the warpgate, remember those are to prevent warpgate camping not help you kill people at outposts you are trying to defend)

NS Solar is being moved 2 hexes West.

Hidden Ridge Mining is being moved to the front of the warpgate.

*thanks for the feedback clegg ur da bessst* Aw you're too kind psu, no you're the best.

[EVILPIG]

The out of bounds proxi8mity warning or the ability to fire any weaponry from inside the protection of a warpgate should not play into any territory. Move the warpgates further towards the edge of the map and give them a wide expanse of land between them and their border with anything capturable.

[Graywolves]

I think if a mountain wall or something was just between the warpgate and RC it would be a little easier. Simply everyone can see where they can't go, defenders aren't firing from inaccessible territory. Just put a whole in it with a road so it isn't completely inaccessible from warpgate.

[Roy Awesome]

ARC Bioengineering is getting a bridge and a road leading to it, that indestructible turret tower that sits right there is being removed.(stop freaking out you still have 2 more right in front of the warpgate, remember those are to prevent warpgate camping not help you kill people at outposts you are trying to defend)

Can you give Arc Bio the hex at the 'mouth' of the entrance. Right now it belongs to the Warpgate and really constricts flow from Ceres Farms. You MUST go through Highlands Substation to get to Arc-Bio because there is that WG Hex that disallows you to get up that hill that the now gone turret is sitting on.

I think the approach Arc-Bio would be easier to get into if the WG isn't so limiting.

[Sifer2]

The out of bounds proxi8mity warning or the ability to fire any weaponry from inside the protection of a warpgate should not play into any territory. Move the warpgates further towards the edge of the map and give them a wide expanse of land between them and their border with anything capturable.


Well one day I would hope to see those Warpgate shields come down when the Empire has lost all its territory. And then one final last stand at the gate itself before your pushed off the continent. I hope they design their positioning with that day in mind.

[Blynd]

tbh they need to thin out the number of bases on tyhe continents as it stands there are far too many and they are all far to close there is no real armour battles in the open plains etc its all around a base it needs to be made more of a strategic move from one base to the next with fewer small ones its like the stronghold is fine but the 3 bases around it are stupid they need to be removed so it forces empires to have to bring sundies and mbt's from further away giving infantry more time to set up a defence rather then litterally firing from point A at one base to some smurf on point A on the next base its rediculous

[Pella]

There's no use for these bases anymore. Indar has become so defensible since the latest patch that's impossible to lock it. Nobody has achieved that on prime-time for months now (on Miller that is).

What Indar could use is some expansion around the edges imo, especially around Rashnu. The current no-zones seem rather artificial atm and adding a few more flanking possibilities could help improving the map flow, especially for aircraft.

On Miller we have somewhat a fair Empire Pop Balance.

[Thunderhawk]

On Miller we have somewhat a fair Empire Pop Balance.

One thing I do like is the fact that it's the busiest server with a fair balance of pop across the board.

What the Level Designers need to think about is having at least 1-2 bridges going across that canyon in the North of Indar

1. Epic Bridge battles with Armour crossing.
2. Stop Manufacturing a virtual "STOP" sign for both factions in the south from moving across the top of the map.

The Faction that owns the north Warpgate (NC Currently) will always have a much easier time holding the entire northern half of the map due to the way re-inforcements from the WG can go either Left or right where as Attackers must do massive detours.

This needs to be added

[Assist]

Open Up the out of bounds lands of Indar. Let my feet touch the ocean.

Indeed. I'm not a huge fan of the world borders being in-line with the Warpgates. The world's are gorgeous, I think they could have made them much more interesting with better thought into warpgate placement. Of course that would also mean that the map themselves need to be larger, and less square shaped. Trapezoids make all the difference.

[Hamma]

That's a good point - I wonder if they plan on extending the OOB's a bit.

[Canaris]

That's a good point - I wonder if they plan on extending the OOB's a bit.

it really could do with it in places, before the warp gate switch on Indar, my outfit was holding onto the out post south (arc bioengineering ofc ;)) of the VS warpgate on the West side to try and lock the continent, late to the party I raced over in my mossie to try and provide some air cover, I ended up doing loop de loops over the outpost to stay in bounds between the warpgate OOB & the edge of the continent while staying in the protection of our AA black zone over the base. Fun indeed but very, very tricky flying.

[Babyfark McGeez]

I honestly don't understand why there is such a need for these awful "out of bounds" areas anyways, and why we can't have "proper" continents that are restricted by natural boundaries instead (i.e.: water).

Some steep cliffs into the water changing with shallow beaches inviting you to make a barbeque. It's one of these little things that can make a game look like a breathing world instead of a bland lobbyshooter cardboard setting. Which unfortunately PS2 still looks too much of.

Elevate this game over a mere shooter map by adding stuff like that.

Same goes for sanctuaries.

Or holstering weapons.

Or Voice/Animation macros.

[OCNSethy]

I honestly don't understand why there is such a need for these awful "out of bounds" areas anyways, and why we can't have "proper" continents that are restricted by natural boundaries instead (i.e.: water).

~snip~.

Or at least give you more time to get the hell outta there but, yeah, Ive never understood it either.

[capiqu]

In Planetside we used to set up AMS's on the islands off the continents. I remember once we had an outfit to outfit battle between HMX-1 and dont remember the VS outfit was such a long time ago maybe around 2003, 2004. But man it was a lot of fun.
Other times we would set ams's on the islands off of hossing and with a router would teleport onto the main land and attack bases on Hossin.

[martingee]

I honestly don't understand why there is such a need for these awful "out of bounds" areas anyways, and why we can't have "proper" continents that are restricted by natural boundaries instead (i.e.: water).


I suspect its 'neater' and more immediate way of making you turn back instead of hitting an invisible wall.

[Babyfark McGeez]

I suspect its 'neater' and more immediate way of making you turn back instead of hitting an invisible wall.

Sorry but invisible barriers are just as silly. Take a look at PS1 continents to see what i was on about. For the landmass itself you don't need either.

I understand the need for some form of barrier for aircrafts, and for that i would agree that "out of bounds" is the best way to go. But that area should start out on the sea somewhere and not at some arbitrary "map border".

What i am critizising with our current maps is that the landmass expands into the horizon (for example northern indar) and you can drive with a vehicle into "out of bounds" areas. That is completely unnecessary and ruins immersion.

Once more, "proper" mapped continents add immersion and the feel of a true continent/island. You NEVER should run into "out of bounds" areas on foot or in a vehicle, only into water.

[Cyridius]

UPDATE!

Outposts aren't getting deleted but rather moved and or adjusted.

ARC Bioengineering is getting a bridge and a road leading to it, that indestructible turret tower that sits right there is being removed.(stop freaking out you still have 2 more right in front of the warpgate, remember those are to prevent warpgate camping not help you kill people at outposts you are trying to defend)

NS Solar is being moved 2 hexes West.

Hidden Ridge Mining is being moved to the front of the warpgate.

*thanks for the feedback clegg ur da bessst* Aw you're too kind psu, no you're the best.

What the hell happened to "squashing" the bases?

Seriously? Why can't you just delete the bases, huh? The most ridiculous bases in this game and you're literally refusing to get rid of them. Why can't you jut merge the territory with another one? Adding a bridge to Arc Bio is going to make it MORE defensable because you're adding a gigantic fucking choke point.

Just, in general, why not remove these? There is no reason not to in the slightest. They give an extremely unfair advantage and moving them isn't going to change that.

[Sledgecrushr]

More defensible bases. Sounds good to me.