What design features do we want to see for continents?

[Duddy]

Got to thinking about the continents, and it occurred to me that if we see them all return (in some form) they're going to be different.

But what would we like to see different?

Example;

Searhus, the bases in the crater. Instead of the volcano being dormant, why not have it as active? The bases could be suspended above the Magma and connected by bridges.

It would certainly make for different gameplay, would look gorgeous with the new lighting effects and lore wise you could justify it by saying they're making use of geothermal power for research activities ;P

Additionally, the sides of the volcano on Searhus weren't utilised too well, they were mostly open space and not a lot of fighting took place there.

But now, we can have bases and outposts built into the sides of the it! And I don't mean "on" the side of it like in PS1, I mean "in".

How else could we add to the existing continents, and what would you like to see as a feature somewhere?

[ringring]

Originally Posted by Duddy

Got to thinking about the continents, and it occurred to me that if we see them all return (in some form) they're going to be different.

But what would we like to see different?

Example;

Searhus, the bases in the crater. Instead of the volcano being dormant, why not have it as active? The bases could be suspended above the Magma and connected by bridges.

It would certainly make for different gameplay, would look gorgeous with the new lighting effects and lore wise you could justify it by saying they're making use of geothermal power for research activities ;P

Additionally, the sides of the volcano on Searhus weren't utilised too well, they were mostly open space and not a lot of fighting took place there.

But now, we can have bases and outposts built into the sides of the it! And I don't mean "on" the side of it like in PS1, I mean "in".

How else could we add to the existing continents, and what would you like to see as a feature somewhere?

I liked the crater in Searhus ... the bases were fairly close together and the land in-between had the right mix of openness and cover to promote good tank play .....
I think good tank country has enough cover to encourage infantry just enough to come out to play

[Mastachief]

really wide tunnels which vehicles cannot get in and some that they can

[Gandhi]

A subarea of a continent that's a desolate wasteland pockmarked with craters of all sizes, like it's been bombarded from orbit. Real craters, big enough that you can drive tanks into them to hide but still fairly shallow. Might be a bit of an aircav paradise though, so you could include some large tunnels and underground areas just below the surface too. Story wise these underground bases/areas could be what the bombardment was supposed to destroy.

[megamold]

i would like to see some crumbled/destroyed/deserted buildings
but i would make them rare ( like 5 per cont or something )

for ex: a ps1 stlye tower in the jungle with some holes in the walls , destroyed equipment inside and maybe somewhat overgrow by nature

so it would be like a landmark but every now and then there might be a tactical way to use it as a defence point or something when the battle happens to pass through that part of the jungle

[millo]

-Bases built on the walls of the chasm in ceryshen with a vertical layout.
-The bridge over said chasm reworked to be on different levels, some restricted to vehicles.
-Big base built on top of a mountain, with winding paths to approach it, or a huge landing zone on the cliffside to try and mount an aerial assault (on Ceryshen, of course).

Guess what's my favorite PS1 continent

[Mastachief]

I would like to see a 3km x 3km capital continent with skyscrapers and 4 lane roads all recently abandoned and shot up. Individually map all the buildings internally.

This of course would never be possible as it would take forever to create the 1000's of buildings and their insides but you can dream.

[Wargrim]

I hope there will be a continent, or places on a continent, where trees are so dense that you cant drive there with large vehicles like a Vanguard or Sunderer, so you got infantry only fighting areas outside of bases / courtyards / canyons.

And / or terrain like on that swamp continent where i forgot the name.

A bunker / tunnel network somewhere could also be nice.

I have a feeling that most of this is already planned.

Maybe a cool feature for a snow continent ( pun intended ) would be breakable ice, where some spots will only carry infantry, others light vehicles, and still others even heavy vehicles. And you can blow up the ice below enemies. Probably not possible because there is no destructible environment afaik.

Spots of very high grass / bushes for sneaky tanks.

Areas with large canopy trees that give a lot of visual cover against aircraft.

If there is a volcano again, it should have localized very thick smoke / fog.

Some area that is hostile to infantry, but not to vehicles. Cacti fields? Toxic air? Something like that.

An area with a maze - feel to it.

An area with extensive vertical gameplay. ( Pretty much confirmed from screenshots )
But i also want normal infantry to be able to get up and down the steep terrain, not just jumpjeting light assault and aircraft droppers. So there should be small walkways climbing up the cliffs, and/or stairs/ladders.

Climbable trees for snipers, in selected areas.

An area with a lot of craters or small trenches, for a trench warfare feeling.

What i dont want are floating islands or such.
But a map with lots of water could also be cool.

[DviddLeff]

From my Planetside Upgrade Project which was designed for PS, but works for PS2 with some minor changes:

I'd like to see some bases and towers replaced with continent specific versions, all of them fitting in with the landscape, looking as if they have been designed to be in that specific location, not just copy and pasted onto the map. I would like to see bases dug into mountains, underground or suspended over lakes, as well as the existing ones. Note that when I first wrote this capitals were present on every continent, which have now been removed on some maps. I do like the fact that there is now this variety, but I would still like to see every continent have one "main" base to fight over, even if it does not have a capital shield protecting it.

Amerish

The bases and towers on Amerish would be more or less the standard bases we have now, except a few of them would be dug into the rolling hills of the continent, as well as replacing the island base in the East with a base suspended over the sea, connected to the mainland via bridges. This base would have previously been an underwater research facility, and have various underwater passageways and rooms, allowing the troops underwater views as they work to defend the CC and respawn there.

Capital: The Amerish capital would be a very much larger version of the standard base; this would be the basic and raw capital design, from which all others are based.

Cyssor

A new base could be placed at the peak of Mount Cyssor, with only aircraft able to reach it (the flight ceiling could be raised). Also some separate bases could be dug into the sides of Mt Cyssor, making it into one vast base, perhaps connected via tunnels and mechanical lifts inside the actual mountain. Most other bases on this continent could be based on hover technology, floating above the landscape, akin to some of the bases in Tribes.

Capital: The capital Gunuku would be changed to be encompassing the entire island, with vast tunnel networks and trenches cut into its sides and bedrock. Between this and the Mount Cyssor defence network the centre of Cyssor would be an impressive stronghold that could take most of a day to fight through.

Towers: Towers on this continent would be a mix of existing base design, and hovering towers.

Foreseral

These bases would be unlike anything we have seen before, as this island was previously the base of the Ancient Vanu’s operations on Auxaris. The bases and towers of this island would be similar to the alpha screenshots we saw, depicting purple, organic structures. These base Artefacts would also have small human research outposts (light bases) near them, but no extensive human facilities on the continent at all. The troops would be able to spawn vehicles and equipment, as well as respawn in these bases only via human tech that has been built into the Ancient Vanu’s buildings. The weather on this continent would be prone to causing mists and fogs, making the whole continent seem eerie and other worldly.

Capital: The capital of this continent would be the Ancient Vanu’s main “Temple” a huge construct reaching far into the sky and far underground, spreading over a wide distance on the surface. This temple would have vast halls inside for the players to navigate and fight through. The sub capitals would be part of the actual Temple itself, gateways through which the Ancient Vanu passed to reach the Temple.

Towers: Towers on this continent would be small Ancient Vanu buildings, with human tech integrated in them.

Ishundar

The bases on Ishundar would have to be built to endure the continents harsh sandstorms (made much more regular and widespread, with possible damaging effects to light units such as cloakers and standard armours caught outside during the stronger storms), and would therefore be built further underground than regular bases, with ground vehicles exiting out of caves, akin to current tech plant vehicle pads, with air vehicles exiting out of canyon cliffs or caves as well. They could also be built into the continents many fractures, protecting them from the sandstorms, troops and vehicles being able to enter via paths cut down the sides of the canyons or mechanical lifts.

Capital: The Ishundar capital would be built far underground, only accessible via long tunnel networks for troops and vehicles would exit this base via shafts leading up to openings into caverns and canyons on the surface. This would be a very claustrophobic environment, with no fighting over 50m or so available, battles for this base would be brutal.

Towers: On this continent towers would be mostly underground; having phalanx turrets and repair terminals above ground, in a depression, covered with a concrete shield to keep the sandstorms off or small excavated holes in the sides of canyons, with protective walls covering the entrances with spawn tubes and equipment terminals would be underground.

Oshur

Oshur Prime would be brought back, perhaps as the first continent to be enhanced; it would receive large changes, making the impact crater it is meant to be more apparent, but it would still have the fossilised alien present. The bases would be designed in a similar style to Ishundar's, however would have more of a research facility feel to them.

Battle Islands

Despite the return of Oshur Prime, the battle islands would still be in game, as they represent unique game play challenges.

Nexus: This would be one giant base, with rings of defensive walls surrounding it. There would be capturable towers and gateways as you fight through the rings, so attackers and defenders have a strong place to spawn from. The streets through the walls would be very tight, big enough for one Medium Battle Tank or BFR to walk through. Side streets and passages would riddle the structure, allowing for intense short range combat, as well as ways to work your way behind the enemy and assault them from behind. Vehicles would be usable, but would be very vulnerable to ambush.

Ascension: The bases and towers on this island would be much like the standard bases we have now.

Desolation: These bases and towers would be much like Ishundars, dug underground and sunk into the landscape to avoid the islands fierce sandstorms.

Extinction: The bases on Extinction would be built into the sides of some of the volcanoes and hills, some with only bridges connecting the base courtyard to the surrounding landscape, as bridge battles seem to be the aim of this island. The towers on Extinction could be positioned at the end of some of the bridges, with firing slits facing the bridge so that defenders can fire down on enemies who are trying to cross it. Remember that bridges would be much improved as noted above.

Solsar

The arid landscape of Solsar would be very much like Ishundars, except on this continent there is a strong presence of Ancient Vanu buildings, akin to Foreseral, to tie in with all the strange rock formations on this continent. To complement these a large amount of human research buildings would be on this continent.

Searhus

The bases and towers around the exterior of the island would be again similar to Amerish, standard bases with standard towers. All the bases on Searhus would have been subjected to years of lava bombs from the volcano, damaging some bases, leaving large rocks over parts of them, coating others in a hard rock coating, especially in the crater.

Capital: The capital would be suspended 50m above the boiling magma (all of the crater would now be magma), only reachable from large bridges connecting directly from the four sub capitals and from the air. “Towers” would be built along the bridges, wrapping around the bridge above and below, providing the factions with a strong point to take and hold. The four sub capitals and the capital would have originally been research stations, built by the humans to discover the workings of the planet. Two of the sub capitals would be down in the base of caldera, slightly built into the walls with many pipes and tubes descending into the heart of the volcano. These would be reachable via the existing roads into the crater. The other two sub capitals would be built into the cone of the volcano (original purpose perhaps to take samples of the vapour for analysis), reachable via roads as usual.

Hossin

The humans on Hossin have to deal with the onslaught of the weather, storms lashing at the bases on this continent, often causing flooding, damaging the first bases the humans established here. Because of this some of the bases would be partially flooded, whole tunnel networks underwater (none of the vital base equipment would be underwater, however alternative routes to them could be via the flooded tunnels). Newer bases would have been built on this continent, on stilts above the water to avoid the flooding. All the new bases would have covered walkways, to keep the heavy rain (and rockets) off defenders. These tree top bases would be accessible via ramps, stairwells and mechanical lifts.

Capital: The capital would be built on the only bit of well drained and high ground on the continent, the central island where it resides now. This too would have covered walkways.

Towers: The towers on Hossin would be suspended above the ground on stilts, among the tree tops, with exposed stairs leading to the entrances.

Esamir

Bases on this cold and wintry continent would be snow covered, all walkways and level surfaces covered with snow, with large snow drifts up the sides of base walls, sometimes giving attackers access to them from the outside. Towers and bases here would be similar to Amerish as well, except blanketed in snow.

Capital: The capital would have a large snow shield built over it, at a height of about 30m. This would keep the base below snow free, as well as defending occupiers from orbital strikes. There would also be a stairwell leading up to the snow shield, for use by both attackers and defenders.

Ceryshen

Much like Ishundar, bases here would be built deep underground, except here to avoid the cold and snowstorms rather than heat and sandstorms. Here also snow would be built up in drifts around bases, and would cover exposed surfaces.

Capital: The capital of Ceryshen would be built much like Helms Deep in The Lord of the Rings, built into one of the giant cliffs, attackers having to breach a large defensive wall network to get to the main doors of the facility. Other features of this building could be a small backdoor that is difficult to defend at the top of the cliff, leading to tunnels inside the base that work their way down to the main facility itself. The air pads could be hangers dug into the side of the cliff away from the main entrance, with a large landing platform extending out from the cliff (an entry point for airborne attackers, think of Galaxy's landing in the hanger, disgorging troops as they do).

Towers: Towers on this cold continent could also be built a small way into the cliffs and glaciers, a bolt hole during the storms. Air towers could be built in the middle of the cliff faces, a landing pad jutting out making them only accessible from aircraft or via ladders.

[Xaine]

Id love a smaller continent that's just a ruined city. It would take ages to design but as someone already said. We can dream.

[Gandhi]

Jumps! I want to spec my ATV for maximum speed and take some ridiculous jumps with it

[UnknownDT]

Urban Combat whether it's a cont or not IDC and they all ready said they'd have something like it in place.

And yes we need jumps for our ATVs lol.. massive jumps :P

[EightEightEight]

I really likes the island on the north side of cyssor make it so you could set up good defense and hold people so they were forced to use alternatives to zerging like Gal Drops (So much fun flying 5 or 6 gals over a base)

[Malorn]

I like the idea of tunnels under certain areas where infantry will generally be king but one might be able to fit certain vehicles (like a sunderer) through. Having a set of passages and caves underneith mountainous areas could be quite cool and a way for infantry to flank or reach a few facilities/outposts.

Be cool to have an outpost underground as a base inside the tunnels. Sort of like Iwo Jima. Got the battle on the surface and the battle in the tunnels.

Gets us a taste of core combat and old school planetside corridors while remaining relevant to the surface fight.