Base picture analysis

DviddLeff · 2011-10-27, 05:28 PM

The base we see in the PCG screenshot that T Ray tweeted which you can see here gives us a lot of information.

What we can see
It is similar to the Amp Station in the original game with the large central building with pipes running from it. The entire base is much bigger than we have seen in PS, perhaps double or even triple the size.

We see that there are three sections to the courtyard, and the two that we can see have shielded gates, we can probably assume that there could be another gate in the third section.

Inside these courtyards are rectangular buildings, purpose unclear. These buildings appear to be two storeys high, which shows the walls to be the same height. There are also multiple antennae masts, purpose unknown; perhaps merely decorative. The walls have light masts on the outside, strip lights on the inside.

In the corners of the walls there are towers, three or four storeys high which have landing struts on them similar to the outpost we have seen in the trailer.

Outside the base we see two "towers", which could be air towers as they have what could be landing pads on the roof. The tower closest shows a stairwell leading up to the roof. We also see other rectangular buildings outside the walls.

What we can't see
No infantry
No gunfire
No textures on the bases central building or the rectangular buildings
No idea as to any underground component to the base.

Speculation
In the bottom left corner there is the XYZ axis of a modelling program; it is not an in game screenshot?

TRex · 2011-10-27, 06:09 PM

Its an in game screen shot , but usually when you see a dev working on a game , they always have the game running in a windowed mode . The x y z axis thing probably there because of this.
Higby said the buildings in the footage are just placeholders . The 'players' are all in vehicles testing the dynamics , the buildings might just as well be made of minecraft blocks .
There's quite a lot of vehicles in the picture , and probably a good representation of the amount of staff working /playtesting that day on that particular project.
Some other day they could all be running around on the ground simulating a small base fight.
To fill the entire picture with air /vehicles and a crap load of infantry on the move...well , thats what beta is for.

Lunarchild · 2011-10-27, 07:59 PM

The axes of evil (as they are called), are used to get a good idea of orientation. They are not just used in 3D modeling programs, but also in most other programs where you somehow manipulate objects in 3D space. Games sometimes have them in development builds. Those in 3D modeling programs are usually more fancy than this.

Traak · 2011-10-27, 10:22 PM

Yeah.

DviddLeff · 2011-10-28, 03:41 AM

In this screenshot: http://yfrog.com/ntbh3pp

You can see there is a shield covering two parts of the courtyard, but not the part closest to the player.

Traak · 2011-10-28, 03:50 AM

Wonder if that missile-launcher looking thing is a Striker?

That part-shielded CY is cool. I feel my engie skills getting ready already!

I also like how in the new game, the weapons aren't as big as the players.

SKYeXile · 2011-10-28, 04:11 AM

Originally Posted by Traak

Wonder if that missile-launcher looking thing is a Striker?

That part-shielded CY is cool. I feel my engie skills getting ready already!

I also like how in the new game, the weapons aren't as big as the players.

its been said it was a nanite systems(it even says that on the badge on the side) rocket launcher, so deci? or perhaps the phoenix transferred to common pool? it does not look like it would ahve the ammo capacity to be a stryker.

wildcat140679 · 2011-10-28, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

its been said it was a nanite systems(it even says that on the badge on the side) rocket launcher, so deci? or perhaps the phoenix transferred to common pool? it does not look like it would ahve the ammo capacity to be a stryker.

Looks like it's a guided rocket of some sort, it has a red laser mounted under a square shaped thingy (look for a bright red dot).

In PS1 the striker needed a line of sight in order to maintain a lock and guide it's missile to the target, you could argue that it needed to paint the target with a laser. So this might very well be the Striker.

Xyntech · 2011-10-28, 10:41 AM

We know that the PS2 devs aren't afraid to change things up where they feel a need. It could very well be that they decided to update the Deci to be a laser guided weapon instead of a dumbfire one.

The original Deci looked like it should only fire once and then be done, but obviously was changed for balance to be able to fire three times. Maybe the new model is to reflect a more realistic looking multi shot design.

It could also be a new Rocklet design.

I think it would be nice to see MAXes go down faster to Deci's from behind than in front, sort of like tank armor. Give them a little bit more survivability in a firefight, but allow for more options for ambushing them. Either way, I think MAXes should be more survivable indoors than in PS1.

Being in run mode should make you stagger any time you ran into something as a MAX though, to prevent just charging through bases or up towers with them.

Traak · 2011-10-28, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by Xyntech

I think it would be nice to see MAXes go down faster to Deci's from behind than in front, sort of like tank armor. Give them a little bit more survivability in a firefight, but allow for more options for ambushing them. Either way, I think MAXes should be more survivable indoors than in PS1.

Being in run mode should make you stagger any time you ran into something as a MAX though, to prevent just charging through bases or up towers with them.

I would like to see no one short of another MAX have a chance against a MAX. The ghey "prancing around the MAX while taking advantage of net code" crap is nothing I ever want to see again. If anything, I would like to see MAX's have triple the armor on the rear, so prancing about like some ballet dancer who is allergic to women while lacing the MAX with shot after shot from behind will disappear.

Being in run mode in a MAX should cause you to bowl over and damage anyone who is in your way. Try standing still while being run over by a lineman from the NFL and see if you suffer no pain or damage. How much more something with 650 lbs of armor that can run faster? It's like being hit by a catwalking motorbike.

And, rockets of any sort should have a lethal backblast, preventing them from being used indoors unless the user is nowhere near being in front of others.

Xyntech · 2011-10-28, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Traak

I would like to see no one short of another MAX have a chance against a MAX. The ghey "prancing around the MAX while taking advantage of net code" crap is nothing I ever want to see again. If anything, I would like to see MAX's have triple the armor on the rear, so prancing about like some ballet dancer who is allergic to women while lacing the MAX with shot after shot from behind will disappear.

Being in run mode in a MAX should cause you to bowl over and damage anyone who is in your way. Try standing still while being run over by a lineman from the NFL and see if you suffer no pain or damage. How much more something with 650 lbs of armor that can run faster? It's like being hit by a catwalking motorbike.

And, rockets of any sort should have a lethal backblast, preventing them from being used indoors unless the user is nowhere near being in front of others.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that only another MAX should be able to take on a MAX, especially considering that I want infantry to have some recourse even against something as armored as a tank, but I really do want MAXes to have higher survivability than in PS1, especially indoors.

I totally agree about a MAX bowling over infantry by the ways, my point was more along the lines of how a MAX will enter run mode in PS1 and make their way up the spiral staircase of a tower, despite the fact that they are running headlong into walls. I only want immovable or extremely large objects to stumble MAXes, not infantry. It would be hilarious to see two MAXes run into each other and both stumble back

I'd like to see MAXes have more armor, but be even slightly slower than in PS1. Make them really be like slow moving walls of death. Keep the run mode, but make their ordinary movement speed be almost agonizingly slow.

Counterbalance the slowness by turning their run mode into more of an advanced spring feature. Hold down the shift key (or whatever button) and you lose your ability to fire weapons, but now you can accelerate to faster speeds. Make it work more off of momentum, so if you only just tap the forwards key on and off, you will move a little faster than standard walk mode, but still be pretty easy to control while trying to turn corners. You could also make stumbling only start occurring past a certain speed.

Hold down the moment key while in run mode though and you will keep increasing in speed, up to whatever maximum. That way it's a little less of a "switch to run mode, instantly bowl over that row of enemies" and more of a "switch to run mode, build up some momentum, THEN bowl over those enemies."

I don't think MAXes need that much more armor to have a lot higher survivability. We already know that PS2 will have vastly superior netcode, so hopefully that problem instantly gives MAXes a huge boost. Beyond that, I think that just giving them a vastly shorter TTK against infantry would be all you would need.

No more dancing around a MAX with shitty netcode and no more getting to shoot at them for several seconds before the MAX finally wears down your health. Infantry weapons shouldn't have CoD TTK's, but at point blank range I think that MAXes should.

That way, an armor boost may not even be needed and could be a small boost at most.

Several infantry with AV weapons already in hand should still be able to demolish a MAX, especially if they open up on it before it starts shooting at them. You can't just turn a MAX into a win button. I don't want to see MAXes being the only thing we see indoors, especially if everyone has access to pulling them. Rock paper scissors and all of that.

Edit: Sorry, this has gotten rather off topic.

LZachariah · 2011-10-28, 11:24 AM

That photo of the Terran in what seems to be the first REAL look at Reinforced Exoskeletal armor looks FUCKING beautiful. Where did this photo come from! It's the first I've seen it!

~Zachariah

Firefly · 2011-10-28, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by LZachariah

That photo of the Terran in what seems to be the first REAL look at Reinforced Exoskeletal armor looks FUCKING beautiful. Where did this photo come from! It's the first I've seen it!

Tweeted by Higby. I reactivated my never-used Twitter account just to follow the devs.

Xyntech · 2011-10-28, 11:55 AM

I like how you can see more of the circle inspired design on the heavy armor than the lighter armor. It makes sense considering that the lighter armor is mostly just a human form with a few distinguishing bits like the helmets.

It is already making my mind picture what the NC and VS heavy armors will look like. The TR one looks very appropriately like something between the light armor and the TR MAX, so we can probably expect something similar in the other two designs.

Considering what the VS MAX concept art looks like, I think the VS heavy armor is going to blow PS1's already awesome looking Rexo out of the water.

NapalmEnima · 2011-10-28, 12:25 PM

Remember the picture Higby tweeted last week to hint at this week's theme?

Remember how huge the TR armor was, somewhere between Rexo and MAX? I suspect we haven't seen the last of that grade of armor.

I'm going to guess that armor is exclusive to the Heavy Assault class, and the Rexo stuff we're seeing here is for medium combat classes.

HA might start with Rexo and unlock the pseudo-MAX suit, while other classes might start with agile with some able to unlock the Rexo (medic, engy? Sure. LA? I'd guess "no").