Gameplay: More involved base hacking

[Xyntech]

I've been thinking about some ways you could make capturing a base be more involved and interesting. The devs probably already have their own plans for this, but I figure it can't hurt to voice some ideas of our own.

Hacking the base:

I think that control of the base should be split into two main consoles. The Central Command Console (CCC) and the Main Security Console (MSC). Splitting it into two separate locations would make it harder for both the attackers and the defenders to keep control of the two areas at once.

The MSC would store the command codes for the base. These would have to either be taken, in the form of an LLU like module, to a friendly bases MSC, where they would instantly be decoded, or an advanced hacker (if there is such a thing in PS2) would be able to decipher them without leaving the base, although the adv hacker option would tend to take longer. Defenders could hack the MSC to change the codes and reset the process.

The CCC would be protected inside of a vault with impenetrable blast doors. A small automated drilling robot, a low level engineering item accessible to everyone, would be required to cut into the blast doors access panel and force the doors open. This drilling would take a little time, but not as long as getting the codes from the MSC would ever take. It could also be done at the same time as you were waiting for the codes. Defenders could disable the drill and repair the damage relatively quickly if given the opportunity.

Once your empire has deciphered the codes and you have gained entry into the CCC, you must hack the Central Control Console before the codes become obsolete. Fortunately, the CCC flips the base to your empires side the moment you successfully hack it.

Unfortunately, it takes quite a while for the bases security systems to fully repair themselves after the flip and while players can speed it up by fixing some thing themselves, it still takes a little time. If the enemy gains access to the CCC before the vault doors are repaired, they can rehack it and instantly flip the base back to their side.

Another possible step in the process:

As an additional layer of complexity, you could add Secondary Security Consoles (SSC) throughout the base. These consoles would be exposed and easy to hack and would be disabled the moment you hacked them. Each SSC would control a different part of base security, such as defensive shields or the bases turrets or sensor systems.

To make the SSC's a vital part of capturing a base, you could add forcefields that protect the CCC and MSC, which can only be dropped by hacking all of the secondary security consoles. A defender could then rehack one of those SSC's to disrupt your hacking process. If you don't hack back that SSC within a certain time limit, the CCC and MSC forcefields go back up until you hack that SSC back again.

Keeping base battles raging until the bitter end:

Spawn tubes could also be more involved. You could give each base several spawn rooms. As one room gets disabled, more people would pour out of the other ones, making them harder to attack. Dropping all spawn rooms at once would prevent this, but would be a lot harder to coordinate.

You could also make it so that spawn tubes repaired themselves quite quickly, within one or two minutes without assistance. Make it so that the only way to disable the spawn tubes long term is to hack a spawn tube control circuit found inside the spawn room. Then the only thing that a defender would have to do to reactivate the spawn room would be to rehack the circuit. Defenders would have a much larger opportunity to keep spawning and fighting until the base officially flipped sides.