Gameplay: Planetside 2 'Win' Condition - The Space Race

[TerminatorUK]

Introduction

After listening to a recent PSU AGN and the discussion topic regarding the lack of winning condition or a 'reset' in Planetside 2, an idea sprung into my head that I felt I needed to share with the community.

In the AGN, there was overwhelming majority in favour of having no reset or 'win' condition as Planetside doesn't need being persistent (and taking away a major benefit of the game) and inevitably it will interrupt someone's gameplay.

I definitely agree with this statement but looking back on the original Planetside and the lack of semi-permanent goal or something else other than the main metagame got me thinking of a of side / secondary objective.


The Space Race

A working title but this sums it up quite nicely. The Space Race is a separate secondary objective after taking territories and maintaining resources.

Outside of each empire's foothold, a space craft/rocket/probe is being constructed which you may visit and check its progress at any time:



Figure 1 - A Vanu Sovereignty solider checks the progress on their space program

The 'type' of space craft is voted on by members of the empire (in game + outside of game in the battlelog-type browser) which will be attempted to be constructed.

The 5 types available to choose from are:

- Reconnaissance
- Mining
- Weapons Platform / Defence
- Electronic Warfare
- Logistics

Whilst being constructed, the space craft is protected by a powerful shield bubble with multiple static defence points designed to repel light assaults with ease.

The space craft requires a unique resource called Solarium:



Figure 2 - Solarium Icon

This resource is only used in the space program and cannot be purchased via Station Cash or any acquired via any other method other than taking over a territory which contains it on the global map.

Winning the space race is simple; the more Solarium your empire controls, the faster your space craft will be constructed and the greater chance of launching it before other empires can.


The Fifth Element

No pun intended on a particular film starring Bruce Willis, but the new Solarium resource would become the fifth resource / element on the global map where other resources aren’t featured.

Taking over these territories speeds up your empire’s progression to winning the space race:



Figure 3 - A global map showing resources of Solarium



Slowing the enemy's progress

As well as the main battle frontlines, commanders will have to keep an eye on the space race progress if they wish to ensure that their enemies do not achieve success in their space program and receive the corresponding rewards.

Obviously removing enemy control of territories with Solarium resources will slow their space program's progress but the construction site itself can be attacked if desired.

The shields and defences at each empire's space craft are sufficient to ensure light assaults are defeated (this in turn also helps to ensure space programs are not sabotaged during off-peak hours too easily with low populations):



Figure 4 - Light assults with few attackers will not penetrate shields or defences

However, a large, organised assault will be able to penetrate the defences and inflict serious damage on the space craft:



Figure 5 - A heavy assault penetrating the shield and damaging the space craft

Damage caused to the space craft detracts from the progress the owning empire has made which will need further Solarium to repair and continue the project.



Benefits of winning the Space Race

Empires have a vested interest in winning the Space Race for one of the following benefits for the next 24 hours depending on the type of craft which was constructed and successfully launched:

Reconnaissance: Enhanced Minimap – Commander(s) may pick a single hex (at any one time - maybe re-targeted) in which to point the now orbiting space craft's sensors to pick up enemy movements and display them on all friendly soldiers’ minimaps (potentially this could be balanced by requiring the Squad Leader is carrying a CUD-type device to receive the uplink data and show his/her squad the enemies found by the reconnaissance space craft).

Mining: Extra-terrestrial Mining - The spacecraft's mission involves gathering and sending special materials that are not normally located on Auraxis. These materials are much denser and more efficient to utilise than those found domestically reducing the cost of vehicle and upgrade acquisition for the empire.

Weapons Platform / Defence: Orbital Strike Platform - This grants commander(s) access to the Orbital Strike Platform (assuming not available in the game by default) and/or the Tactical Orbital Strike Shield Emitter Defence (TOSSED) which blankets a single friendly hex (at any one time - maybe re-targeted) from Orbital Strikes (if in the game at all).

Electronic Warfare: Enemy Sensor Disruption - Interferes with enemy minimap accuracy and 3D spotting ability on friendly troops within a single chosen hex (at any one time - maybe re-targeted).

Logistics: Teleportation Beams - Commander(s) may pick two friendly hexes that will be targeted by a pair of synchronised teleportation beams. Friendly units entering one of the beams will be immediately transported to the other without transversing the distance between them.



Notification of the Space Race victory and reset

The space race does not interfere with any of the main game's mechanics - no battles are interrupted, territory is not lost or gained and the fight continues regardless.

When an empire wins the Space Race, a notification is shown on the HUD:



Figure 6 - HUD Notification when an empire has won the Space Race

At this point, all empires progress on their space craft is reset to 0 and the Space programs have to be re-voted and start again.

The empire that successfully launched their space craft gains the benefit of the space craft type they constructed for the next 24 hours.


Conclusion

The Space Race gives an interesting side-objective to the main territory capture and would help to provide a sense of a semi-permanent achievement.

The advantage of delivering in this format would mean the main combat is never reset or interrupted yet it creates a 'win condition' for a secondary portion of the game that some players may find compelling.

All of the ideas above (particularly my shoddy drawings!) are all rough around the edges but you get the idea - a side goal with meaningful and useful benefits that would not imbalance or detract from the main game yet provide an objective and sense of victory to the game.

Thoughts / comments good and bad all welcome - just glad it isn't sitting in my head alone anymore!

[Whalenator]

The problem with presenting any significant "game-changing" idea before the Beta is that we currently have little grasp at game's feel. At all.

So, although this is a really good idea, you should hold onto this until later.
Also, it might be better off as a recurring event rather than a day-to-day thing.

[Purple]

Originally Posted by Whalenator

The problem with presenting any significant "game-changing" idea before the Beta is that we currently have little grasp at game's feel. At all.

So, although this is a really good idea, you should hold onto this until later.
Also, it might be better off as a recurring event rather than a day-to-day thing.

i agree this is a great idea but this would be a few years down the road if it were implemented.

[Raymac]

I'm usually fairly skeptical of ideas like this, especially when it comes to "win conditions". However, this one is pretty cool, and doesn't require denying players access to certain continents. I think it is a cool well thought out idea. I even dig the name.

[TerminatorUK]

Thanks for the comments guys and I definitely agree this has no place in the game at the moment.

They'll be so much to learn and do that'll keep at least the first couple of years nice and fresh.

However, the devs said they wanted to have (and publish) a 3-year plan so I was just punting an idea to consider down the road in later years - wouldn't be too tricky to retrofit at any time.

[Machine]

I like it.

alternate simpler idea that gives devs time:
space race to send probes out for new wormholes back "home". its a stat based on resources for your empire then when the space elements expansion comes in the highest resources faction gets credit for bringing more ships to auraxis and maybe a perk reward thing... lol like opening the gates of ahn quiraj.

[Marinealver]

I think counts as a win in planetside.

But yeah I was hopeing for like some outerspace battle and starships to travel from planet to planets and planets have diffrent conts. anyway posted allot of space battle concept in the idealab forums.

[Xyntech]

Anything that adds consequences to individuals and empires actions without resetting the world or disenfranchising one or more sides from playing the game is already on the right track in my mind.

Not only do I think something like this would be a great addition to the game down the road, I think it would be awesome if this were only one of many such features.

I would love to see there be all sorts of diverse objectives that players and outfits and empires could work to achieve, or prevent the other side from achieving. As long as all of the benefits were balanced, both individually and cumulatively, it would really add a lot of fun and diversity to the gameplay, both in minute to minute battles and in month long wars.

I'd love to see different things provide different benefits for different amounts of time. Some things lasting for a day, other smaller benefits maybe lasting for a week or more. Maybe some things only lasting for an hour, a temporary boost that, if you complete a specific objective, will potentially help your empire make a push.