Defending

[Valdae]

One of the most memorable moments from the first game for me came from "last stands" against overwhelming odds. Whether this was defending a bridge, or the last tower on a continent, there was something so much more exciting about desperately beating back wave after wave of opposition rather than just zerging across a continent.

The problem was that with lack of serious xp incentive, players were never encouraged to stay and defend. If it didn't look like they'd be capping more bases anytime soon, people would return to sanc, and simply invade somewhere else.

This is something that I've spoken to a lot of PS players about since, and its one of the reasons why people lost appeal in the game.

With the upcoming launch of PS2, I wondered if any of you guys felt the same way, and what you would like to see in the sequel to make defending worthwhile?

[Bags]

Originally Posted by Valdae

The problem was that with lack of serious xp incentive, players were never encouraged to stay and defend. If it didn't look like they'd be capping more bases anytime soon, people would return to sanc, and simply invade somewhere else.

I don't know what you're talking about, but 500 bep a kill is a damn good incentive to stay and defend. Defending was always more worthwhile than capturing a base.

It was easier and more rewarding. The enemy has to come to you and they're generally worth more.

[Malorn]

I've had a thought that since they want to move more combat into the wilderness territory and not make it a game of going from base-to-base that in order to keep up a reasonable combat pace they would need to have more spawn points out in the wilderness. I expect that we can expect 1 spawn point per Hex, with the owner of the hex owning the spawn point. Now I doubt every hex will have a facility or tower, but they could have a bunker, which could be an underground spawn point with some tunnels that have various exits around the Hex.

We also know they want to allow vehicles to capture territory, so I can imagine bunker-spawns may not have a capture point in the bunker. Instead it might be a domination-style capture point above ground (and exposed) where tanks/vehicles have increased capture rate compared to infantry.

I can see some cool indoor fighting out in the wilderness in bunkers while above-ground tanks fight for control of the open plain to capture the territory. I can also see some crazy fighting where those in the bunker wage guerilla war on the vehicles, with snipers getting involved to keep the bunkers clear of AV and bunker-raids and tank battles. All sorts of potentially good stuff there.

That's roughly waht I think these territory battles might end up feeling like. Some will have towers, some will have facilities, and some will have bunkers, but I think in order for fast pacing every hex territory needs a spawn point. Invaders of course would bring AMS with them or spawn at a nearby territory...that could work out quite well. Seems fun to me!

For bridge fights, bridges could actually span multiple hexes depending on how big they are. You could have one side of hte bridge in one territory and th eother side in another territory, with bunkers at each end defending them. Fun stuff potentially.


Edit: There's some evidence for my bunker proposition - if you look at the trailer the NC are coming out of what looks like an underground bunker door. That could be the spawn point from the neighboring hex.