Resources And Vehicle Timers for Upgrade Balance

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by NewSith

I would not want resources to be a deciding factor in the game. Afterall it is MMOFPShooter, not MMOFPStrategy...

You're not the only person to say that. When resources were first mentioned by Higby we had a thread where people complained since the game should be perfectly balanced. Ideally what I suggested wouldn't effect the balance of the game at all. No more so than a person trying to kill a tank with a rifle and saying it's not balanced and that weapons or vehicles shouldn't be the deciding factor in the game. Meaning the added customization for soldiers and vehicles would simply be a choice like using a shotgun or an SMG. So it wouldn't be resources being a deciding factor it would be choosing the right loadouts for battle. The resources would simply be designed to give players an artificial constraint in which to design loadouts allowing the game to introduce rarer utilities or items into the game and to balance vehicles on a level higher than just "we have 10 guys let's just keep pulling 10 tanks".

I could see your point if the resource system was totally unbalanced, but using the model I described for simplicity of getting a constant amount of resources over time sets up a nice system to work from. (For example, 1 Auraxium every 5 seconds from your faction).

I probably shouldn't mention games, but this isn't related to a strategy game unless having resources makes it automatically a strategy game. I can only think of 2 FPS games that really use a resource system for loadouts. An old game called Soldner (game is apparently still alive somehow) and Counter-Strike. Possibly Tribes Ascend, but they only do it for vehicles. (I haven't read much about Dust514 but the trailer had resource numbers. I kind of enjoyed that cost of war aspect).

Speaking of a comparison against strategy games I did bring up RTS mechanics for outfit funds in another thread which is much closer to your fears of resources changing the battlefield and being a deciding factor. That's a separate idea though than merely customization options.