They say it's going to have the bells and whistles of a modern FPS... Does it...

[Senyu]

Whats stopping a bunch of people getting in Vangaurds and reducing a base to a pile of rubble from a distance instead of spending all the time and effort of actually hacking the base?

If destructable enviorment is gona be in the game its gona need to be done right for Planetside's needs. Not anyother game. This isn't battlefield or crysis.

[NewSith]

Originally Posted by Vancha

It gives too much power to change the battle? The population number would cause a performance hit? The sheer amount of people would means any destroyable environment would inevitably be immediately destroyed? That's just some of the reasons I could pull from that off the top of my head. You might want to be more specific.

I was quite specific.

EDIT: Try to read our discussion again, but read it thoroughly.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by NewSith

read our discussion again.

Originally Posted by NewSith

Clue: in this line lies another reason why D.E. will fail.

[Senyu]

Originally Posted by IDukeNukeml

I just hope there is no cover system like in a lot of the new FPS games.... I hate that shit with a passion.

Ya its kinda ridicoulous now. Its a cool thing and works for some games. But godamit you didn't need any cover in Goldeneye, Quake, Doom, Red Faction, or any of the other great FPS's

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Senyu

Ya its kinda ridicoulous now. Its a cool thing and works for some games. But godamit you didn't need any cover in Goldeneye, Quake, Doom, Red Faction, or any of the other great FPS's

To be fair newer games are just giving you more realistic choices. A lot of people when confronted with a wall and holding a gun (think paintball or airsoft if you've played) will use their surroundings for cover shooting over them and such. Old games more or less lacked the technology. Getting players to shoot and some models loaded was good enough in their books.

The goal seems to be now to give players as much intuitive choice as possible. Take Deus Ex (the new one) for instance which has an intuitive cover system. Works in a single player where you're sneaking and moving around for a good shot, but imagining a lot of people doing it seems preposterous.

I'm thinking it's because of how dense the battles are in the original that you imagine they'll be the same with streams of people filing into bases and down corridors that someone standing still for a moment to guard a door seems odd. Until you bring it all down in scope and instead imagine a squad of 10 people moving tactically through hallways or across land with trees and broken concrete for cover.

Depends on how the battles turn out. If what they're planning with the many territories does fragment battles into small groups then things will be different and having the option of taking cover might be interesting. Remember being on a base wall shooting down and it was just the two of you standing behind one of those concrete walls that jut up around the base walls for cover? Perfect scenario where cover could be used intuitively.

I feel it would be more immersive with a squad moving around or moving toward a base. The argument that it would slow down combat and detract from the zerg is a good point though.

[exLupo]

In regards to cover in modern games, I expect we'll be seeing it a lot more in the future. However, my guess is it will be in the form of sticky corners or ledges and it'll be used to replace leaning. For leaning and it's generally agreed lack of place in PS2, visit that thread here.

Neither would match the pace or timing that we're guessing PS2 will bring.

[Mezorin]

Originally Posted by Senyu

Whats stopping a bunch of people getting in Vangaurds and reducing a base to a pile of rubble from a distance instead of spending all the time and effort of actually hacking the base?

If destructable enviorment is gona be in the game its gona need to be done right for Planetside's needs. Not anyother game. This isn't battlefield or crysis.

People actually defending the area around the base? A good squad of liberator bombers/reavers blasting the vanguards into next week? Your own armor? Some AV troopers? Or maybe heavy guns on the base itself to counter the vanguard tanks? Just because a building can be taken down by long range tank fire doesn't mean by any stretch that the defending force are sitting ducks, it just means armies will have to fight out doors more rather than lasher spamming a back door for an hour.

It is already stated as a design goal that the entire map will be fought over, rather than a control terminal inside of a base. I see this as a good move, as most of the larger base seiges in PlanetSide 1 were just lame-duck phase back door zerg stalemates that lasted until the base ran out of power.

[Lokster]

I don't think the engine used by Planetside 2 yet supports destructible environments.

I'm pretty sure during the engine demo presentation, it was stated destructible environments MIGHT be supported in the future.