Hybridization of capture system fixes Planetside 2

[Livefire]

I have been very excited about the PS1 lattice system getting back into PS2 now being called a resource pipe line. As I played with my outfit several people brought up complaints because they feel their style of play has been removed as they always play stealth and like doing special forces type stuff. Now with the lattice (resource pipe line) it's just big fights because every one can find where they should be fighting and what they should be fighting for, however that is not what every one wants to do. A lot of people prefer the smaller squad on squad fights attacking some random towers and not having the fps problems that many suffer from in big fights. So that's when I started thinking about PS1 and all the stealth stuff we did all the time even with a lattice system that was far more restrictive then PS2's, that's when I had an "epiphany". It was the resource system in Planetside 1 and the fact you could even make bases go neutral by draining their resource tanks Nanite technology Units"NTU". We had these capture mechanics that were more dynamic at the same time as having a much more restrictive lattice. So then I propose we merge the hex system from PS2 with the new resource pipe line flow system "lattice system" from PS1. This would also allow several changes to PS2 that the Devs have been struggling with like the resource system as a whole.

Changes and modifications to the resource system.
1. We change the resources back to NTU that are created by the alien warp gates which is still current PS2 canon. They are then pumped to all the bases/towers/outposts that we dropped from space through a network of pipe lines "lattice", that connects the bases/towers/outposts to the warp gates NTUs allowing them to amazing spawn the vehicles and weapons and even US.

2. Resources would be infinite as the alien warp gates create them but would only be supplied to the bases/towers/outposts via the pipe line at a certain amount per min just like it does now, the NTU's from the warp gates would fill up an on base/tower/outpost storage tank that each base/tower/outpost would have. Larger bases/towers/outposts that can spawn tanks and aircraft would have a larger NTU tank, smaller bases/towers/outposts that could not would have a smaller one. Land based purpose specific resources that are currently in game would be removed as they make little sense now and would have no real purpose as NTU's can just create everything.

3. Everything would cost NTU, even just spawning would cost the bases/towers/outposts there NTU's, Under normal circumstances You would never have to worry about not having enough NTU at your personal use to spawn or pull the equipment that you do not have to pay for in resources now but they would eventually drain the bases/towers/outposts of there fuel "NTU" by spawning and pulling them. But spawning vehicles and maxes and grenades and such would cost you out of your personal resource bank that is stored for you at every base just like now as it costs a lot more NTU's so the empires manage this by spreading this high allowed amount evenly among all soldiers. The base under normal circumstances as long as it is connected to the warpgate pipe line would never run completely out of NTU's but the personal NTU limits for players pulling tanks and vehicles and maxes would top out and the player would have to wait to have enough resources in his/her personal bank to pull again. This would allow us to get ride of cool down timers on everything as they are redundant as resources would govern all as it should.

4. (First possible mechanic) You can drain a base completely empty by 2 ways. 1. drive/fly a new fuel tanker vehicle that would be added to the game that would be much like a sunderer and or galaxy up to the NTU tank at the bases/towers/outposts and drain it dry by filling the vehicle. 2. During a massive siege fight, vehicles spawns and equipment being created would pull 'NTU' resources faster then the warp gate pipe line could supply it eventually draining the base and making all the spawn systems go offline this includes, spawns, equipment terminals, vehicle terminals, another words the SCU would go down as it runs off of NTUs. This could be avoided by the defending team managing to drive or fly in a fully fueled NTU transport that they filled up at a local base by pulling NTU's from that base or the massive warpgate NTU tanks that would be sitting in the warpgates in place of some other unused warpgate structures currently there now. They could then use this vehicle to refuel the base/tower/outpost so its spawn systems do not go offline, this would also reward a great deal of XP to who ever manages to save the whole base/tower/outpost this way as it almost for sure will fall into enemy hands if all of its spawn systems go offline.

5. (First possible mechanic including the neutral mechanic) If a base/tower/outpost manages to be drained of all fuel "NTU" it goes neutral which then allows any empire to capture it regardless of there connection to the base via hex connection, while the base is neutral all systems would be offline (ownership computer "CC" and SCU) as there is no fuel and empire ownership. You can drain a base completely empty by 2 ways. 1. drive or fly a new fuel tanker vehicle that would be added to the game that would be much like a sunderer or galaxy up to the NTU tank at the bases and drain it dry by filling the vehicle which then in turn would turn the base neutral. 2. During a massive siege fight, vehicles spawns and equipment being created would pull 'NTU' resources faster then the warp gate pipe line could supply it eventually draining the base/tower and making it go neutral. This could be avoided by the defending team managing to drive or fly in a fully fueled NTU transport that they filled up at a local base by pulling NTU from that base/tower/outpost or the massive warpgate tanks that would be sitting in the warpgates with the other warpgate structures. They could then use this vehicle to refuel the base so it does not go neutral, this would also reward a great deal of XP to who every manages to save the whole base/tower/outpost this way from turning neutral and then falling into enemy hands.

Changes to capture mechanics
1.The bases are all run by massive computers in each base that recognize what empire it works for, when a base is owned by X empire that computer also broadcasts a signal telling all other bases that are bordering it on the hex system to join that empire. But before that computer can be tricked into doing that the base computer must be hacked and a program or virus uploaded to make the base reboot its self and be defended as this happens over a certain amount of time. In doing so resets the base computer which then makes it join that empire that hacked it and loaded a software program or virus to make the computer believe that it belonged to that empire before it rebooted and there for is just rejoining the empire it belongs to.

2. All bases bordering each others hex would be hackable through the wireless broadcast system each base has and still is on Amerish and Esamir. But if they are not connected to that empires pipe line or supplied by an NTU supply vehicle ever so often the base will not have NTU's "resources" and would not be able to spawn anything that cost the player resources and if it ran completely out (if the neutral mechanic is added) would go neutral or if not would simply have all of its spawn systems disabled until it was refueled. This would make small fights at such bases while the big fights would follow the resource pipe line where every one could pull tank columns and aircraft. The small fighters, stealth and SF guys would have there fights and the zerg would have its fights.

We would get the best of both worlds with a high tech fight management system from the lessons learned from PS1 with the size and flexibility enjoyed in PS2, some more meta game with the ANT/NTU mini game and better fluff that makes perfect sense all at the same time. This would even flow into the eventual continental capture mechanics. As the point to capture whole continents would be to capture all 3 of there warp gates, as an empire would capture more warp gates there total NTU resource production would increase making all soldiers of that empire able to pull more often. As there total NTU production would go up with multiple warp gates under that empires control each soldiers resources allowed per minute would increase as well.