IDEA for resource system rework. Base resource pools, warpgate radiation, and ANTs.

[Phreec]

Stacking facility benefits mean more steamrolling for the dominating faction and less of a chance to fight back as the underdog. Not sure if I like that.

[Babyfark McGeez]

Maybe to get this rolling it should be kept more simple at first.

Instead of a classic "rts" resource system where each individual unit created / pulled costs a certain amount of resources (which should, no doubt, be the long-term goal though), a more simplified version could suffice for a start.

Resources as a simple requirement to pull units;

A freshly taken base starts with "x"(probably 0 would be good) "resource".
You can add "resource" by ANTs (free of charge) depositing it into silos / terminals / w/e.
Your base needs to have a certain amount of "resource" in order to pull certain vehicles. Basically the same requirements that are in place on an individual basis now, just without reducing the amount when pulling something.
Enemies can reduce your "resource" by hacking / attacking storage silos placed around the base and therefore deny you vehicles / equipment. You can refill them with ANTs.

Let's say your base only has 300 "resource" in its storage. You want to pull a sundy, which costs 400 resource, so you can't pull one from this base. You get an ANT (allways free), harvest some stuff and deposit it into the base.
Now your base has 500 "resource". You pull a sundy and the base still has 500 "resource" and you can keep on pulling sundys as long as the "resource" of this base is above 400.
Now the enemy attacks / hacks your storage, draining your "resource" below 400. Again, you no longer can pull a sundy untill you refilled the silo to +400.

This would be more easy to implement i would say and the system could still be easily expanded to a full fledged rts-style resource system (which, again, should be the goal). Also it can't be exploited by trolls draining enemy bases with alts constantly pulling shit.

Tl;dr:

- Resources as a simple, static requirement to pull units instead of a full fledged RTS resource system

- ANTs can harvest resources (At certain spots on the map) and deposit them into storage silos in bases, thus enabling certain units

- Enemies can hack / attack storage silos, thus disabling certain units

- ANTs are free of charge

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by Phreec

Stacking facility benefits mean more steamrolling for the dominating faction and less of a chance to fight back as the underdog. Not sure if I like that.

True. I only jotted down those benefits as ideas, to give facility benefits a little more MMPH and a little more meaning and reward for capturing territory. In my OP you no longer get resources from territory, so these benefits could make up for this. Combine that with the RU/sec advantage to a faction closer to their warpgate and in theory that would give the underdog a good chance to fight back.

Originally Posted by Babyfark McGeez

Let's say your base only has 300 "resource" in its storage. You want to pull a sundy, which costs 400 resource, so you can't pull one from this base. You get an ANT (allways free), harvest some stuff and deposit it into the base.

Now your base has 500 "resource". You pull a sundy and the base still has 500 "resource" and you can keep on pulling sundys as long as the "resource" of this base is above 400.

Now the enemy attacks / hacks your storage, draining your "resource" below 400. Again, you no longer can pull a sundy untill you refilled the silo to +400.

This would be more easy to implement i would say and the system could still be easily expanded to a full fledged rts-style resource system (which, again, should be the goal). Also it can't be exploited by trolls draining enemy bases with alts constantly pulling shit.

This is like as I proposed in my OP, but I still think resources are needed in there too. It should help limit extreme vehicle spam from one base and encourage gal drops from the warpgate and spreading out where vehicles are spawned from:

Originally Posted by Jonny

Players are directly limited by how many resources they can spend at a base according to the bases’ power level. This system prevents individuals from taking a base down to dangerously low power levels with large purchases:

IE – if a base has a power level of 50% - a soldier wanting to purchase a vehicle there can use a maximum of 50% of his total resource pool (200RU) meaning he can spend 100RU in total. This means the lower the base power level the harder it is for troops to spawn vehicles. This also prevents drivers/pilots who spawn vehicles from starving the base of resources for player spawns.

You have a point about trolls using alts to drain bases, however you could have a system where newly logged on players need to earn resources through XP giving activities (killing enemies, helping allies) before they can spawn a vehicle. Without having those 3 resources as we have currently, resource gain would have to be sped up to feel on par with how it is now.

Originally Posted by Malorn

Hypothetically speaking, what sort of other uses can y'all think of for a harvester unit's resource? Fun stuff that would make it worth pulling beyond maintenance? What else might that resource be used for, or how else might the harvester unit use that resource to do cool and fun stuff?

Some of you have poked holes in the meteor/ore veins idea. It’s a suggestion to relieve the possible boredom of ANT’s having to always drive back to the warpgate to refuel. This idea could be taken and reshaped into any form. I like the idea of ANT’s from each faction racing to secure a lucrative ore deposit they all hear about at the same time, and braving the battlefield to get there. Obviously the implementation needs more thought than my suggestion.

The way I see ANT’s being fun is:

• Refilling a low power base to help your team gather an army and progress, or saving a base/bringing a facility benefit online and helping everyone on the continent you’re in.
• Risk/reward of driving to contested areas to claim a useful resource.
• Deploying on the field to refill sunderers (RU pool) spawn capacity.
• I’ve seen this one suggested and it would need to be done carefully, but being able to steal 10% of an enemy bases RU pool by deploying at their refill area.

[Valkar]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Hypothetically speaking, what sort of other uses can y'all think of for a harvester unit's resource? Fun stuff that would make it worth pulling beyond maintenance? What else might that resource be used for, or how else might the harvester unit use that resource to do cool and fun stuff?

I could see the resource being used for a number of additional things. For instance instead of using it tofill a base you could convert it to energy via a module attached to the ANT and make the ANT a mobile shield generator, providing defence from bombardment. So for example it mined 10000 RUs then this converts as a shield with 10000 shield points. The shield could extend like a bubble for say 25-50m in all directions protecting things like AMS's or Skyguards or troop concentrations.

Again you could replace the shield module with say a heavy EMP turret module that uses the RUs as fuel/ammo and it can fire focussed EMP blasts disabling vehicle weaponary or base turrets for 5 seconds.

Loads of possibilities

[Rahabib]

I gotta say, ANTS/harvesters and silos dont excite me. They sound boring and force the players to micro manage. I am all for a meaningful resources system (see my sig) but it should be an extension of tactical battle management, not making players play farmville planetside. Also allowing hackable silos will just make it so that people have to sit around watching for invisible infiltrators just screwing around. Baby sitting silos isn't fun.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Hypothetically speaking, what sort of other uses can y'all think of for a harvester unit's resource? Fun stuff that would make it worth pulling beyond maintenance? What else might that resource be used for, or how else might the harvester unit use that resource to do cool and fun stuff?

Well, going back to my own musings on Nanite Pipelines and Communal Base Resource Pools:

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

-Resources are reverted back to their Beta Incarnation, where the three colors all have a use for different consumables and Vehicles.
-Their storage is switched from the Individual Players to communal Base Silos, from which the purchases of every Allied Player within that Territory are deducted.
-The Resources now also serve as NTU, being evenly drawn on to repair damage to that Base's Terminals, Turrets, and Generators slowly over time.
-The Lattice is now represented in world by an Ancient Tech Nanite Pipeline, with the various Bases having been built on the distribution nodes of this Pipeline.
-Each Node is also connected to an "Extractor" located somewhere within the Territory, which in game represents where the Resources actually come from.
-On particular stretches of Pipe there are "Safety Valves" which control the "flow" of Resources, which can be hacked by Infiltrators to mess with or outright destroyed via damage to stop said flow.
-Nanite Transports are Support Vehicles that can either remove or refill Nanites from a Silo, as well as draw extra "Residual Resources" from the Safety Valves or Extractors at the five minute Resource Ticks.

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

Trouble is I like the current system as it has different flavour resources, even if it is currently inconsequential.

Eh, I like its Beta incarnation better, where the three Resources were used for different things in each catagory.
So the Catalysts were for Heavy Combat Vehicles like MBTs and Liberators, while Polymers were for ESFs and Lightnings.

Originally Posted by sylphaen

Want something original ?

Want a better idea for harvesting ? Corpses... Pull a dead body from the front line and bring it back to your closest AMS: get "Salvage" (not "savage") points for it (i.e. resources back) ! And if the corpse is enemy, get extra "glory" points. Of course, the more contested the area is, the more valuable the enemy is, the more glory you get (and the opponent's dogtag too - since we might as well copy BF franchise and improve over it!).

...Corpse-eater attachment for the ANT, that refills its Resource Tanks depending on what was just killed?

[Jonny]

My new edit to the OP based on Malorns resource ideas. Edits in red to compare ideas with my original idea.

PLANETSIDE 2 RESOURCE UNITS

BASE RESOURCE POOLS, WARPGATE POWER, AND ANTS:

Warp gates channel energy through rudimentary pipelines installed by humans between bases. This energy can be turned into nanites to fuel the war effort in Planetside 2. Any faction has the ability to use the resources from their warp gate to power the facilities/bases they own as long as they are connected to their warpgate. These nanites come in packages referred to as Resource Units (RU’s)

Bases drain RU’s as they as resupply troops. However his happens indirectly - nanites from a base are transmitted to any ally troops in the bases territory who have a resource deficit. Different bases have different sized pools of RU’s at their disposal, and the amount of RU’s the base has stored is known as the bases Power Level. Facilities have a whopping 10000 RU capacity. Towers can store 2500 RU’s and small outposts and bases 1000 RU’s.

All bases regenerate RU’s from lattice links to the warpgate. However, due to bases on the pipeline drawing power, the further the base from the home warpgate, the lower the 'pressure' of nanites and the slower it regenerates RU's. Facilities (Amp stations/Bio Labs/Tech plants) will provide powerful continent wide facility benefits to the faction that owns them. These benefits are only online when a facility’s power level is above 60%.

Being their own power source, Warpgates are always at full power.

Infantry carry RU’s on them. They can carry a maximum of 200, and this store is slowly recharged via arrays on the nearest allied base with power to spare. This rate resources are transmitted from the base's array is directly related to the power level of that base.