Capturing Outposts gives Access to Modules

[Methonius]

I think that if they wanted to spice up the game to add some more work for smaller squads they should implement modules that you can capture from outposts.

The modules should only be able to be grabbed from their spawn point within the outpost somewhere once you have captured the outpost. Then you would be able to take it and hold on to it until you get it to one of your main bases like amp station, bio lab, etc... or until you are killed and an enemy retrieves it from you.

This gives the game a capture the flag like mechanic but also makes it beneficial to do it because once you get it to a major base and install it at the designated module upgrade area that facility gains whatever benefit that module gives.

Once the modules are out in play they will be designated on the map as a marker and everyone within a certain radius should be able to see were the module is located.

I think they could do these same mechanics for bonus resources as well once they revamp the resource system and make it harder to obtain them.

Do you guys think this would be a good idea to add in the game?

[MrMak]

Hemm interesting. It would of course have to reward the entire squad/platoon not just the carrier in addition to whatever benefit it brings. Als owould depend on how far peaway people are ble to ee the module. If it were visible from too far away it might end up causing people to abbandon fights and behaving like the seagulls from finding Nemo. Hell i could see some greedy bastards TKing todeliver it themselves.

This could be implemented into a mission system. Where a Squad or platoon gets a "Quest" from the warpgate to steal a module or anything important realy form a specific base and so only the members of the squad/platoon could pick it up. There culd also be counter "quests" avaliable for the other 2 factions.

Example:

A TR outpost will recieve a shipment of unrefined Auraxium at a specified time. Should the base be captured before that a new one is chosen randomly form other nearby bases.

Say a hour before that time a "Mission" related to it becomes avaliable in each warpgate on the continent.

Vanu and NC are ordered to steal it. TR are ordered to prevent them from doing that for a certian period of time. Only one platoon from each factio ncan take the job.

5 minutes before the package "arrives" the TR squad is informed of the pickup location so they have some time to prepare. (if the base is under attack at this moment this time the game choses a diferent base. the VS and NC squads are informed when it arrives. This is to prevent them fom securing the area prior.

In order to not make things too easy, the TR would be unable to pick the package up (they defend it where it drops) and the VS and NC wouldnt be able to enter aircraft or use jump packs while carrying it.

If the NC or Vanu deliver the package to a facility or Warpgate they get an XP reward and perhaps progress to a special medal while their empire gets a temporery benefit. If The timer runs out the TR get those benefits.

[Chewy]

Doesn't sound like a bad idea OP. Might be a way to fix the overabundance of resources.

Say instead of an outpost auto giving res to its owners, have a capsule like you said with around an hours worth of ticks and players need to take it to a main base (tech plant, bio-lad, amp station) where it then gets sent to everyone. Maybe even make the 3 resources limited to the 3 main base types and need to feed every so often or res flow from them stops all together. Something around

Each main base gives X res per tick (5 minutes) and holds up to 50 ticks max (just over 4 hours of res flow). And each capsule fills 5 ticks (25 minutes) but takes 10 minutes to respawn once taken from its outpost. Once taken the capsule is either its own vehicle or requires a Sunderer with a capsule transport loadout (takes the place of AMS and shows storage tanks on the front sides ONLY after the capsule is placed, so not to clip with the ammo/repair boxes on the back sides and to have a way to see what sunderer is the main target for ambush). After the capsule is taken to what main base needs it just drive into a docking bay to drop it of. Could give 150XP to all in an area around the docking bay.
Needless to say WGs never need to resupply, but if a capsule is taken to a WG the ticks is split to each main base linked to that WG after a cost of half or so of ticks and XP. That way one can refill a bases res banks even if they are under attack.

Also once a main base is flipped its entire res bank is dumped do to some bullshit lore reason of different tech being useless/locked to other factions or the last man standing pressing a purge button (the purge button also could be a new thing for sneaky fucks to hack into and be a REAL pain in the ass. But that would have to take a long time to hack and/or make the purge itself take 10 minutes with warnings on the map and hazard buzzers going off)

[Methonius]

Doesn't sound like a bad idea OP. Might be a way to fix the overabundance of resources.

Say instead of an outpost auto giving res to its owners, have a capsule like you said with around an hours worth of ticks and players need to take it to a main base (tech plant, bio-lad, amp station) where it then gets sent to everyone. Maybe even make the 3 resources limited to the 3 main base types and need to feed every so often or res flow from them stops all together. Something around

Each main base gives X res per tick (5 minutes) and holds up to 50 ticks max (just over 4 hours of res flow). And each capsule fills 5 ticks (25 minutes) but takes 10 minutes to respawn once taken from its outpost. Once taken the capsule is either its own vehicle or requires a Sunderer with a capsule transport loadout (takes the place of AMS and shows storage tanks on the front sides ONLY after the capsule is placed, so not to clip with the ammo/repair boxes on the back sides and to have a way to see what sunderer is the main target for ambush). After the capsule is taken to what main base needs it just drive into a docking bay to drop it of. Could give 150XP to all in an area around the docking bay.
Needless to say WGs never need to resupply, but if a capsule is taken to a WG the ticks is split to each main base linked to that WG after a cost of half or so of ticks and XP. That way one can refill a bases res banks even if they are under attack.

Also once a main base is flipped its entire res bank is dumped do to some bullshit lore reason of different tech being useless/locked to other factions or the last man standing pressing a purge button (the purge button also could be a new thing for sneaky fucks to hack into and be a REAL pain in the ass. But that would have to take a long time to hack and/or make the purge itself take 10 minutes with warnings on the map and hazard buzzers going off)

I like the purge idea as well. Would give infiltrators something else they could do behind enemy lines to mess stuff up.

[Methonius]

Hemm interesting. It would of course have to reward the entire squad/platoon not just the carrier in addition to whatever benefit it brings. Als owould depend on how far peaway people are ble to ee the module. If it were visible from too far away it might end up causing people to abbandon fights and behaving like the seagulls from finding Nemo. Hell i could see some greedy bastards TKing todeliver it themselves.

This could be implemented into a mission system. Where a Squad or platoon gets a "Quest" from the warpgate to steal a module or anything important realy form a specific base and so only the members of the squad/platoon could pick it up. There culd also be counter "quests" avaliable for the other 2 factions.

Example:

A TR outpost will recieve a shipment of unrefined Auraxium at a specified time. Should the base be captured before that a new one is chosen randomly form other nearby bases.

Say a hour before that time a "Mission" related to it becomes avaliable in each warpgate on the continent.

Vanu and NC are ordered to steal it. TR are ordered to prevent them from doing that for a certian period of time. Only one platoon from each factio ncan take the job.

5 minutes before the package "arrives" the TR squad is informed of the pickup location so they have some time to prepare. (if the base is under attack at this moment this time the game choses a diferent base. the VS and NC squads are informed when it arrives. This is to prevent them fom securing the area prior.

In order to not make things too easy, the TR would be unable to pick the package up (they defend it where it drops) and the VS and NC wouldnt be able to enter aircraft or use jump packs while carrying it.

If the NC or Vanu deliver the package to a facility or Warpgate they get an XP reward and perhaps progress to a special medal while their empire gets a temporery benefit. If The timer runs out the TR get those benefits.

I definitely think it should reward all ppl that are nearby when its installed into a new base. Just to reward the ppl that were escorting as well.

[ChipMHazard]

Some interesting ideas to be sure. I would love to see some more dynamic mechanics tied to base capturing than just standing around a campfire shaped nade-magnet.
Regarding the capsule suggestion, perhaps when the vehicle, or what not, that is transporting it gets destroyed and the capsule itself taken by the enemy it respawns back at where you picked it up, as long as it's still under your control, either being replaced by the capsule that has already spawned or simply resetting the timer (forcing players to drive back for the capsule).
If that makes any sense at all:D

[Chewy]

Some interesting ideas to be sure. I would love to see some more dynamic mechanics tied to base capturing than just standing around a campfire shaped nade-magnet.
Regarding the capsule suggestion, perhaps when the vehicle, or what not, that is transporting it gets destroyed and the capsule itself taken by the enemy it respawns back at where you picked it up, as long as it's still under your control, either being replaced by the capsule that has already spawned or simply resetting the timer (forcing players to drive back for the capsule).
If that makes any sense at all:D

Not that much to me at the moment :confused: . Im I right think you're saying one or more of these?

The respawn timer doesn't start until the cap is either used or destroyed.
If destroyed, the capsule spawns back at its original point without delay.


If that was what you where saying then I can't agree with either. My bias tells me that my idea of a flat respawn timer starting the moment a capsule is taken off its stand (or whatever) would be an easy way to do it. Spawn how ever many the devs would want (2 for a sundy, a massive tanker tuck, ect) and if it's lost that's it. You failed to deliver the goods and must wait the timer or move to the next outpost to try again

Though I was thinking of how an enemy could steal the cargo. We can't shoot out a diver so a tanker truck is limited to just killing it and loosing the goods. So that may just leave a capsule or 2 slapped on the side of a sunderer. If the sunderer is blown up then maybe a % of a capsule drop? Or a certain drop and then the capsules need to be destroyed if denying is the objective.

Either way there would also have to be time limit on the capsules themselves or the world can be flooded with them making all kinds of lag. Thinking of either a time limit before the raw res "spoils" or just a limit on the max number of capsules per outpost. Say have up to 2 sets of capsules exist for each outpost, if another is pulled over the limit then one despawns like mines and C4 do now.

[ChipMHazard]

Not that much to me at the moment :confused: . Im I right think you're saying one or more of these?

The respawn timer doesn't start until the cap is either used or destroyed.
If destroyed, the capsule spawns back at its original point without delay.


If that was what you where saying then I can't agree with either. My bias tells me that my idea of a flat respawn timer starting the moment a capsule is taken off its stand (or whatever) would be an easy way to do it. Spawn how ever many the devs would want (2 for a sundy, a massive tanker tuck, ect) and if it's lost that's it. You failed to deliver the goods and must wait the timer or move to the next outpost to try again

Though I was thinking of how an enemy could steal the cargo. We can't shoot out a diver so a tanker truck is limited to just killing it and loosing the goods. So that may just leave a capsule or 2 slapped on the side of a sunderer. If the sunderer is blown up then maybe a % of a capsule drop? Or a certain drop and then the capsules need to be destroyed if denying is the objective.

Either way there would also have to be time limit on the capsules themselves or the world can be flooded with them making all kinds of lag. Thinking of either a time limit before the raw res "spoils" or just a limit on the max number of capsules per outpost. Say have up to 2 sets of capsules exist for each outpost, if another is pulled over the limit then one despawns like mines and C4 do now.

Heh, yeah I didn't think I made myself particularly clear.


The respawn timer would start as soon as someone takes it. If it gets destroyed then it's returned to where it's spawn area which results in either it going "poof" because there is already another capsule there, that spawned in the mean time, or it just spawns back and resets the timer for the next one.
And yes my initial thought was that it would spawn back instantly, but I can go either way on that one.
I think that's a more clear version of what I was trying to get across, no idea if it would be a good idea or not:D

Yeah that could definently work too and I agree that there should be a limit to how many can be in play at any given time.

[Chewy]

Heh, yeah I didn't think I made myself particularly clear.


The respawn timer would start as soon as someone takes it. If it gets destroyed then it's returned to where it's spawn area which results in either it going "poof" because there is already another capsule there, that spawned in the mean time, or it just spawns back and resets the timer for the next one.
And yes my initial thought was that it would spawn back instantly, but I can go either way on that one.
I think that's a more clear version of what I was trying to get across, no idea if it would be a good idea or not:D

Yeah that could definently work too and I agree that there should be a limit to how many can be in play at any given time.

Still not agreeing with that. If destroying the capsule only put it back at the outpost then what if the ambush happened at the outpost just as it was pulled? Wouldn't that undo the ambush due to the capsule not being destroyed and just ported back to it's holder? An example would be

Defender grabs capsule then instantly gets sniped or a mass of rockets takes out the transport. Once the attackers are repelled or if they bug out ASAP for being only a few then the defenders would still have that capsule back in its holder and be down a mere vehicle or a few deaths.

If it was just a flat timer then, if the capsule is lost for what ever reason then it's lost. Like dropping an egg. It's gone, now you can't eat and have to clean the mess (wait the timer) for letting it go. A bit harsh but ambushes are "fuck up what you can and move out", not very nice things in short. A lone squad can get into position and take out what could be vital supplies their enemy need. I say let them be the vicious little bastards they want to be, just make destroying a capsule a good XP gain of about 1.5 times the amount of delivering one.

[ChipMHazard]

Heh, good point. My idea probably does involve too much hand holding.
You're right my idea would completely negate any attempt at ambushing ot just making a quick strike against the carrier. Shouldn't aware players for not having situational awareness, also they could just have some guy at the spawn ready to take the capsule when it respawns right after. Yeah, the more I think about.... :(

[Chewy]

Heh, good point. My idea probably does involve too much hand holding.
You're right my idea would completely negate any attempt at ambushing ot just making a quick strike against the carrier. Shouldn't aware players for not having situational awareness, also they could just have some guy at the spawn ready to take the capsule when it respawns right after. Yeah, the more I think about.... :(

Not really. That's about how CTF modes work in every game. When you mostly only got games to use as a reference then ideas tend to be geared as such. I was using war movies, old west shows, and good old cartoons for thinking of convoy raids and holding supply lines. More or less take all ideas and play them out with these 2 objectives

1- Do as much damage as possible and loot all you can, then get the hell out!
2- This cargo is more vital than your life. Deliver it or we all die.


This is a time where my ADHD come is handy. I may have many things wrong with me but my brain moves MUCH faster than most. I can think over a situation from many angles, points or view, and from completely different mindsets so fast that it lets me see things that most wouldn't think about. Down sides are that it can give me an all day killer headache fast, it's VERY hard for me to put words on paper (not so much with typing with spelling help, having all the time needed to reread/retype many times over, and being able to read a damned word of what I wrote) so others can even see my thoughts, and makes replaying old games rather hard to do when you can play them out in head before putting the disk in.

I think that's a reason I like PS2 so much. I can't learn it. And thus can't play out battles in head when they start as there are to many variables to think of and that each variable has its own variables to account for. Unlike in other shooters where it's the same fixed map each time with each team having a side, one fixed spawn, and maybe shared fixed spawns to fight over. In PS2 I can zone out to put focus on the task at hand and let my mind crunch over data without holding it back. So many thoughts I don't have to re-think thanks to map limits or special variables I have to remember for each and every combo of game mode, map, class, and silly rule. Just open the mind and let it run based on what I hear, see, and feel.

[Mavvvy]

Good idea a more tangible incentive would certainly mix it up for the better!

[Methonius]

Still not agreeing with that. If destroying the capsule only put it back at the outpost then what if the ambush happened at the outpost just as it was pulled? Wouldn't that undo the ambush due to the capsule not being destroyed and just ported back to it's holder? An example would be

Defender grabs capsule then instantly gets sniped or a mass of rockets takes out the transport. Once the attackers are repelled or if they bug out ASAP for being only a few then the defenders would still have that capsule back in its holder and be down a mere vehicle or a few deaths.

If it was just a flat timer then, if the capsule is lost for what ever reason then it's lost. Like dropping an egg. It's gone, now you can't eat and have to clean the mess (wait the timer) for letting it go. A bit harsh but ambushes are "fuck up what you can and move out", not very nice things in short. A lone squad can get into position and take out what could be vital supplies their enemy need. I say let them be the vicious little bastards they want to be, just make destroying a capsule a good XP gain of about 1.5 times the amount of delivering one.

I think that when the vehicle that is holding the supplies if it were to be destroyed then maybe have it supplies sit in the spot for a short amount of time for any side to grab it. Unless just having a timer for a reset like you said after would make for better gameplay, not really sure on this aspect. But giving each side an equal chance of success either way.

[ringring]

Absolutely it's a good idea.

But the benefit should be something that the whole empire should receive and something that would be a dis-benefit for the opposing empires.

This would mean that the 'module' would become a target for the whole empire to gain and conversly something that the opposing empire would want to prevent you from obtaining.

In turn the benefit has to be 'worth it'.

For example and %age health boost or a %age armour boost. Or something that means that unless you had that benefit you couldn't pull liberators at all, even from warpgates.

At the present moment in time the only in-game benefit that has any impact is the tech-benefit and that is good. But more benefits are needed and they have to be worthwhile which means they have to hurt if you don't have them but the opposing empires do.

(Edit: possible this will be more viable with more continents where will be space for the metagame to operate.)

[Chewy]

I think that when the vehicle that is holding the supplies if it were to be destroyed then maybe have it supplies sit in the spot for a short amount of time for any side to grab it. Unless just having a timer for a reset like you said after would make for better gameplay, not really sure on this aspect. But giving each side an equal chance of success either way.

I like the idea of being able to take out a convoy and steal their loot, but it would be not that easy to do I think. First the module/capsule/"thingy" would have to be an item that can be picked up and placed in/on a vehicle. Then that "thingy" would have be survive not only the AOE damage from attackers, but its transports explosion and the debris from that transport. A thought would be to spawn a capsule with the destroyed transports debris and shoot off a distance out.

What Im now thinking about is forgetting the capsule parts and putting in a docking bay at every outpost (convert the ammo towers to be both a docking bay and ammo?) that you had to drive a transport vehicle into. Once inside your vehicle locks in place (with you and all passengers in it) and would drain all res from that outposts banks. Dock to early and you get little res, but are able to stop at many outposts along a supply line if needed to fill up the vehicle.

You couldn't steal anything from a setup like that though. I kinda want to see theft be an option but that would take a lot of work adding in capsules, animations for picking them up (troop or vehicle), % values for drops, HP values, having to render more objects, all kinds of things would be needed. It takes a LONG time to add a gun, think about what adding capsules would take.

If anything adding in a way to shoot out drivers and hacking empty vehicles would be MUCH faster in dev time while giving theft options to not only these things, but AMSes, MBTs, any empty vehicle you find as an infiltrator if given the time to hack (30 seconds with all certs?).






Absolutely it's a good idea.

But the benefit should be something that the whole empire should receive and something that would be a dis-benefit for the opposing empires.

This would mean that the 'module' would become a target for the whole empire to gain and conversly something that the opposing empire would want to prevent you from obtaining.

In turn the benefit has to be 'worth it'.

For example and %age health boost or a %age armour boost. Or something that means that unless you had that benefit you couldn't pull liberators at all, even from warpgates.

At the present moment in time the only in-game benefit that has any impact is the tech-benefit and that is good. But more benefits are needed and they have to be worthwhile which means they have to hurt if you don't have them but the opposing empires do.

(Edit: possible this will be more viable with more continents where will be space for the metagame to operate.)

Hell no to adding more HP/armor/or anything like that. To abusive for little work needed.

I like linking MBTs to a mass stock that needs to be refilled. Take the res bank idea I had and make pulling a MBT use a part of that. Maybe hold 500(?) MBTs in each 100% full tech plant (hold 1 TP and get 500, hold two 1,000, three 1,500). More MBTs you pull outside of the WG the less res you can get over time without having to restock the TP. Might be able to link Libbys to AMP stations, but what would Bio-labs go with?

Though you'd HAVE to make WG immune to limits other than personal res. If a WG couldn't pull Gals, libbys, sundys, MBTs, or any of the high tech stuff then how the hell could you get out of the bubble with troops alone? Flashes? Lightnings? Far to easy to get farmed and far to hard to push out against a wall of tanks and air.