Improvement: [Resource Revamp] Proposal v2.0

[GeoGnome]

Introduction
So, we need a resource Revamp. Currently the changes to resource costs smack of a fix that was either put in place out of order, or as a bandaid to the system, while a better solution lays down the road. We have not recieved a cohesive picture of what SOE plans to do with the resource system. I have asked about this on FNO to be told that it was still in discussion. Other people have asked through other means and received the same answer. The revamp is schedueled 2-3 months out. It took 5 months to get an indar lattice, the fact that there is not even a plan in place is worrisome. With the current resource changes that were just put in place, and a lot of people getting offended therewith, I think it has become abundantly clear that a complete rework is in order.

About a month ago, I proposed a resource revamp on PS2, PSU, and PS Reddit.

This is the followup, taking into account what criticism I had then, and attempting to adapt it to better fit the game world.


Executive Summary(TLDR):
So how does this work?

Well, mass extractors are scattered around the map. Mass extractors are either independent structures that are adjacent with at least 2 facilities; or a base on the lattice that has been designated a mass extraction point. Each independent extractor serves as an independent point that does not contribute to adjacency in the hex system. Instead the extractor is connected to each base it is adjacent to. Once you flip an extractor it will begin to build up mass. Adjacency of the extractors is such that, should you own an extractor adjacent to one of your faction's territories, when enough mass is built up, it will send the load on into the pipeline back towards your warpgate or another refining facility. Should you own a mass extractor that is not located adjacent to any of your territories the extractor will continue to produce mass unto it's storage tanks are full. At any time the mass can be taken from the storage unit and loaded into a converted transport, for quick transport back to a refining facility.

After mass reaches the refining facility it is changed over into real grey goo (Name of course probably needs work) and can then be pumped back down the pipeline to each facility for use. Because of necessity, the pipe line has numerous stations at which it is monitored along the lanes of the lattice. As the pipelines follow closely to the lattice, most of these nodes exist at various intersections around auraxis.

A certain amount of resource is allowed to troopers at respawn, which is drawn from the base they respawn at. The amount of resources they are allowed is determined by the individual soldier's loyalty to their respective faction. Loyalty is increased by performing actions that advance your faction’s cause, while it is decreased by griefing or pulling resources. Though you receive negative loyalty points for drawing more resources than allotted, the cost in loyalty is proportional to the amount of resources pulled, allowing people who pull vehicles to quickly replace the resources lost, by using the vehicles to their fullest extent. The resources can be used to pull vehicles, aircraft, resupply infantry placeables and what have you, but the cost of every one of these is determined by the distance of this base from the refinery. Further away from the refinery, means that there is a higher resource cost, since energy at those bases is at a premium.

As bases are drained of resources they are drained of energy, the increased energy costs means that certain systems may not work if undersupplied. This can mean bases powering down and loosing some functionality, if not shut down entirely.

Detailed Explanation

Mass Extractors
The key to all of this is the Mass extractor. Mass extractors can exist in multiple forms. The first and most common type is the basic outpost style extractor which is made up of a control point, a mass extractor, a storage/maintenance shed, and a silo. To take these facilities one needs stand on the point for 30 seconds, and the facility will flip. Each mass extractor will be located at a location that is adjacent to (And thus will possibly feed resources to) at least 2 bases, sometimes more. Imagine if you will Scarred Mesa Skydock and Red ridge communications. There is a ridge north of Scarred Mesa and west of Red ridge. A mass extractor in that area, could be located on that hill. If the NC hold the Skydock and the extractor, the extractor will feed into the pipeline heading back to the NC Warpgate through the Skydock. If the TR hold Red Ridge and the mass extractor, the extractor will feed into the pipeline through Red Ridge and back to the TR warpgate. Now, should the VS capture that extractor the resources will feed through neither the Skydock or Red ridge, but instead would sit in the extractor, and the VS could extract that material using a transport (A topic we will touch on more indepth later).

The second type of extractor is a base on the map devoted to extraction. These facilities would be few and far between, but produce resources to feed directly to the owner of the facility. There may still be extractors adjacent to these facilities, but they are themselves steady sources of income for those who hold them.

Regardless of what happens in the future of the game (Whether we go into space, into the ocean, under the ocean, onto the moon, underground, what-have you) mass extraction translates there without needing to adjust the mode or resulting product to new environments as you are simply pulling practically everything into the extractor and compressing it. This would differ from environment to environment if your resource system were to extract particular resources at different locations. That is to say, resources that are extractable from a Tundra, would be different to resources that could be extracted from a mountainous area. There could be some kind of variation on what the extractor looks like (A sea platform in one area, a drill into solid rock in another) but as long as the basic premise of: Extract Mass and compress it for transport, remains the same the mechanics don’t need shift from continent to continent (No point in reinventing the wheel for each new continent after all). Something more consistent and always recognizable will also means fewer things that need to be learned by incoming players. Not to mention less time will be spent as only one basic model for mass extractors needs to be done.

Transports

Now as has been seen by the harasser, adding in vehicles is not easy. Simply put, to add in a specialized vehicle for the movement of resources would mean possibly delaying development time, while a truck is designed. Instead of this, transportation of resources should be done by existing vehicles. My recommendation is to use the Sunderer and the Galaxy. In order to convert to a resource hauler, each vehicle loses all but 3 seats (1 driver and 2 gunners), but would then be able to carry a large volume of mass or grey goo. Transporting materials will be something that is required in many situations that will be related in full later in this proposal. But for now, for a 100 cert investment for the cargo space conversion will grant you what you need to begin transporting. Carrying materials to the refinery, and to bases from the refinery, can be done at a greater speed than said resources are moved through the pipeline, and is incentivized by an experience reward upon each successful transport, depending on how much of the silo you fill at your destination, up to 1000xp.

Using existing vehicles will cut down on the time it would take to get this released. Also, it adds more utility to an already useful pair of vehicles, that have a significant cost. Using a more valuable vehicle, like the Sunderer or a galaxy, means that people will not be spawning an abundance of these to make quick runs to bases. You’re running something very valuable from location to location, you should have to pull something valuable to deliver it. This is in addition to the fact that Galaxies and Sunderers are the only vehicles that would posses the cargo space necessary at this point, unless you start adding trailers to MBTs and buggies. Also, by making these from existing vehicles with defenses, the trucks can potentially contribute to the battle and defend themselves, so it’s just a matter of some people pulling supplies, and some people pulling troops from site to site in the galaxies or the sunderers.

Refineries

Refineries take two forms, the warpgate and amp stations. This way, holding an amp station becomes very important. No longer are you fighting for a Turret Heat bonus, you are instead fighting for a facility that has a large volume of mass, supplies your war effort with new resources, and will mean faster resupply for your faction's bases in that area. Mass will always travel the shortest distance to a refinery, and once refined will travel outward to the facilities. Depending on the range the resource must travel, a certain amount of resources are lost in transit to create the energy necessary for transport. Also, it naturally takes longer for resource to reach a further away destination. The amount of resource that goes out from the refinery, is dependant on the volume of material that went into the refinery that cycle. So the more mass extractors that are owned, the more material that goes out. The storage at refineries is the greatest on the map, and resources can be picked up from stations therein, for transport wherever on the map by use of the transports.

Using warpgates as one of the refining areas just makes sense. Regardless of what happens with a continental lattice in the future of the game, warpgates will always be staging areas from which you push out onto a continent. As all roads lead to the warpgates, it makes sense that almost all of the resources would go there as well. And on the topic of roads, making the pipelines follow the lanes with the same configuration as the lattice means that there is one less system to memorize when trying to figure out where nodes are, and how taking each territory will benefit your faction’s resource collection. Attaching the amp stations into the grid means that taking these stations becomes much more important to resupply the resource intensive forward positions where most of the fighting will take place. Also locking one of these refineries down means that you could potentially stall a whole front on one continent. All of the interactions you can perform with these amp stations and warpgates will likely increase the strategy involved with continent scale decisions for each faction. None of this would require the creation of new buildings as existing structures in the warpgate outside of the inclusion of silos, which could actually be incorporated into the existing pads on the amp station (considering it is a refinery, it’s one big silo pretty much), minimizing the work of the level designers, unless they are so inclined to include large silo like storage tanks around the amp stations as well (This might help clutter up amp stations, which is something people have requested on the PTS).

[GeoGnome]

Silos

These are simply the reservoirs where the mass and or goo is stored at a facility. All have connections to their respective pipelines, and a loading pump that can take material from or insert material into a transport; as well as, a landing pad on top for galaxy transports and a bay below for sunderer transports. The only other thing, besides the landing/parking sites, is a terminal that controls the silo itself located in a shed next to the silo itself. The terminal exists as a resupply point for troops, who can go to the silo if they are in need of additional resources. As all facilities can have material taken from their silos by transports, material can be siphoned out by retreating forces before a base is taken by the enemy. Material can also be loaded into the silos by transports as a way to replenish a base that is running low, if the pipeline is not providing enough to support whatever combat is occurring in that area, draining the local supplies. A destroyed/hacked terminal will mean that material can no longer be loaded into, or taken out of the silo, until the terminal is repaired or converted back to the side that holds the silo itself. Hacking the terminal, will mean that the resources can be extracted by the faction of whoever hacked the terminal, allowing resources to be stolen from enemy facilities by transports, or by individual troops looking to resupply. Material will also be fed into the silos by the pipelines (The amount fed into the silo by the pipeline determined by the distance from the original source) over time. When a silo is full, any material that would have been granted to that silo will move up to the next silo up the lane, to be divided equally to all other facilities up the pipeline. Material leaves the silo to automatically resupply respawning troops, granting them their full allotment of resources upon each respawn (This will be discussed more in depth in a later section). A fully drained facility shutting down after a fixed period, and converting to a neutral territory. Neutral territories can be taken by any faction adjacent to that territory, but require resupply upon capture, lest they revert to neutral status again.

Allowing materials to be extracted from enemy facilities, provides an opportunity for some smaller units to take action behind enemy lines, contributing meaningfully to the larger conflict. This would also incentivizes defense, as it would encourage people to try to stop the other faction from stealing resources that they themselves will need. Though bases can be converted to neutral behind the “Front”, converting a base to neutral does not allow for a capture unless there is territory of another faction already adjacent to that territory, and even if it causes a techline of one lane, neutral territory will not provide benefits to the enemy faction who caused that location to go neutral. Instead, it will mean the broken link needs be repaired. In order for a territory to go neutral, the flow of goo has to be cut, which will show up on the map, giving the faction ample warning of what is happening. Interaction with silos that allows material be removed or placed into the silos by transports, also means that people can reinforce battle torn areas, save material from areas that are themselves going to be taken, perhaps even causing their own bases to turn neutral prior to the capture by an enemy force, who would then need to spend resources to get that base fully operational again, potentially stalling an enemy force. Any well organized group will recognize the benefit of making sure that supplies are kept on hand.

Nodes

Nodes are simply points where the pipeline rises from under the ground. They are associated with a terminal and a shed. A node exists at each base on the map with a few scattered at other locations around. The terminal for each node is used to open or close the node. Node terminals can be hacked and destroyed. If a terminal is destroyed it reverts back to the ownership of whatever faction owns the territory that terminal is located in. As the nodes exist on up the pipeline away from the silo, they do not influence material coming Into the base, but material leaving the base. Nodes are not extraction points, so taking material away from, or depositing material into a node cannot be done. Closing a node can be useful in managing the resources your faction gets. As an area that has full silos will not benefit from resources, the resources that would usually be diverted to that region, might be better suited going to another location. Obviously, shutting off nodes after hacking a terminal, also means that the resources can be diverted from an area they are needed, potentially leading to insufficient resources reaching the front, or techlining enemy territory.

Simply put, the control of the resources should be disruptable. Resources will funnel to the base, but the longer it takes for resources to reach a base, the fewer resources will be transported and the longer the payout will take. People will get a lot of warning for this happening, and the effects of being starved for resources will quickly begin to affect people, necessitating that the node be taken care of. Nodes also provide good secondary objectives that people will feel compelled to protect and attack, though they are less valuable targets than silos, at which raw resource can be taken or hoarded. Luckily there are pipes that already criss cross auraxis. The pipes all over the land masses, means that a shack and terminal, would be the only things necessary to get the nodes in place on the world map.

Resource Management

Now that we have taken time to break down each of the critical pieces of the system and how they interact, we will begin discussing how this provides you with tank mines.

Each trooper will be given an allotment of resources that refills upon respawn, and when filled at a resource terminal. This is a small quantity that is stored on their person, that provides that trooper with explosives and vehicles. Practically the resources will only be drained by the resupply of grenades, C4, tank mines, AP mines, etc. Once you are out of goo, you would need restock at the nearest silo or transport (Transports bringing along supplies will allow you to resupply in the field), but after that you can quickly go back to killing your fellow man. Pulling vehicles is much more resource intensive, so the majority of the cost is consumed in the facility, but a certain amount the cost is shuffled off onto the player as well. How much of that cost falls to the player depends on the loyalty of that player to their respective faction.

Since the majority of the resource cost for a vehicle is paid for by the silo at each facility and since resources automatically refill on each person at respawn, this means that if you have been fighting for an extended period at one location, and resources have been drained by the continual respawning of infantry at that location, resources may need be brought in, in order to allow people to spawn tanks at that location. Hacked consoles will draw materials and such from the silo located at that base too, again allowing you to leach material from your enemy.

As the energy and raw materials on auraxis are the same thing (Grey goo) then as goo is drained from your facility, other things begin to be affected. Turret heat, spawn times, turret availability, and the reliability of shields will all diminish as the supply of available energy begins to drop. For this reason, making sure that your well supplied is paramount, if you are being sieged. Also, as each facility needs power, there is a slow drain on your resources from each facility you own. This drain gets to be more, the more resources are used at that facility. So if you resupply from a ammo tower, that drains resources from the base. If you fire a turret, that drains resources.

For the passive resupply through pipelines, resources that reach the refinery, leave the refinery through the pipelines at regular intervals. Traveling out, at each base along the pipeline a certain ratio of certs are retained. the further down the pipeline you get, the fewer resources are available, so fewer resources payout. This means it is critical to secure other refining facilities in order to supply your advancing forces. As silos fill closest to the refinery, more facilities out from the refinery start getting more resources. Because of this, resources in facilities around your refinery will be the richest and most valuable sites to both you, and your enemy providing clear targets. Why? Because if you take a base that is rich in resources, you get what resources are still there. Seizing rich territories, means your enemy not only gains himself a spot further up the lane, but he also gains everything you had in that silo.

Techlining will also be a devastating thing to have happen. If you are techlined you no longer just lose the ability to put resources back towards your warpgate, but each facility that is tech lined, will now not get resources from the warpgate. Cutting these territories off from the primary refinery on the continent, means that territories will begin to slowly turn towards neutral as they burn through their allotment of resources unless they are supplied by an amp station. Eventually territories that do not receive any resources will flip to neutral. The only downside to such a devious tactic, is that these facilities will then need to be resupplied when they are captured back, or they will simply flip to neutral again, which can be a massive drain on whoever secures the territories, creating a vacuum on the map, and hopefully causing a fair amount of chaos.

When it comes to the resource allotment allowed to each trooper, that is based on the behavior of that player. Simply put, the record of that person in the army, will determine how many resources they are allowed. If someone has done multiple things that would be frowned upon, they will have a smaller pool of resources to draw from. They would also have a higher cost to pull vehicles than other people, as they are less likely to be allowed any kind of advanced technology, in fear of them abusing it. For positive points towards the volume of resources you can pull, killing enemies and anything else that promotes the advance of your faction will give you more resources. Negative actions, such as team killing, will be much weightier. So for each Team Kill you perform, that requires many more positive actions to outweigh.

Another negative action, is taking additional resources, either for transport, pulling vehicles from the facility silo, or by refilling your personal allotment. How negative this is, depends on how many resources you pull. So transporting a large number of resource, means that your not going to be able to pull practically Anything, unless you complete that resource transport mission (Which will mean getting your possible resource allotment boosted from what it was before), but just refilling your personal allotment will mean a very small negative bump, something easily offset by killing a couple people. Further, pulling tanks or aircraft will count as a minor negative action, as you are pulling from the resource allotment. Thus, continually spamming tank after tank after tank, will mean that you are hurt in the long run. One exception to this, is if you steal resources from the enemy. Doing this will mean that you will take no negative hit to your allotted resources, as they are not your resources, and contribute to the cause of your faction. You can offset the pulling price by being efficient and killing enough enemies or destroying enough armor to offset the penalty relatively easily (Killing say 5 people), but if you are pulling armor/Aircraft and doing nothing worthwhile with it, you will fast find yourself having higher costs to pull the aircraft/armor, and having fewer resources allowed to your person.

[GeoGnome]

Technical

As most server populations are consistent, linking the resources produced each minute to the number of people means that you aren’t going to have wild fluctuations in the available resources, and the system will scale with each server. Thus, for each person on the server, a certain amount of resources enters into a pool of potential mass resources. The volume of this pool fluctuates every hour as people move on and off the server, but every 60 seconds a certain amount of resources are produced at each mass extractor on the map. The amount of mass produced produced takes the volume of the potential resource pool (Which is the sum of every trooper across all factions available on that map, at that time), divided by however many resource points are credited for that continent (90 resource extraction points available on indar). Of all of the bases that exist: Biolabs, tech plants, amp stations, and warpgates will not produce any mass. Regular bases, mass extractors, and extraction bases will produce mass. On indar, there are about 63 bases that will thus produce mass, 21 for each faction on default. 19 of those 21 per faction, will be standard bases that produce 1/3 of an extraction point (That is to say that if 1 extraction point is 600 resources, a regular base will produce 200 resources every minute). This is to take into account recycling and other activities in the base that might produce things that could be used for mass extraction. Extraction bases (A different kind of base, of which only 6 exist on Indar) produce 2 extraction points worth of resources. Mass extractors produce 1 extraction point worth of resources. All of this adds up to 90 extraction points available on Indar, 30 points from plain bases in the lattice and 60 points from mass extractors scattered about the map. This calculation differs from continent to continent, based on the number of bases and extraction points on each continent. Some continents will produce more, each minute at each extraction point, but it will all effectively mean that enough resources are produced for every person on the continent to spend and resupply 1688 resources (75% of the current resources allotment per person) an hour, as it seems that, that is approximately (This may be wrong and I wouldn’t complain about being corrected) what is used on average by most characters worldwide. Most of the numbers should be rounded up, and the 75% resupply might need to be adjusted.

Resources travel out from the base towards the nearest refinery, and will always take the shortest route available. Each hex will represent 2 minutes travel time. And the transport of resources through a facility will mean a small drain on resources from that base. After resources reach the refinery, they are siloed until the next batch of processed resources are ready for transported. Each refinery distributes its resources allotment evenly upon the reception of a load of resources, down all available lanes. While the refinery will constantly be receiving resources, it will produce a load equivalent to all the mass brought in 10 minute cycles. The resources will only travel to bases that were in the control of whatever faction controls the refinery, at the time of the cycle. So if Scarred Mesa skydock is in NC hands at the end of a 10 minute cycle, but flips just as resources reach Red ridge communications, Scarred Mesa will have to still wait for resources until the next load is pushed up lane. Providing constant resupply after the line has been set up, but will mean that the initial rush of resources is slow (This means that anyone who takes a location a ways away from their refineries will have to wait a few minutes to get the initial supply of resources). As the load of resources travels down a lane, at each junction it will split equally down each arm of the junction. Every base the load of resources reaches, will impart 1/4 (Or what is needed, if the needed amount to fill the silo is less than 1/4 of the load’s resources) of the resource load traveling down the pipeline to the silo, this includes the refinery, which will retain 1/4 of the initial load for itself. Further, a small amount of resource is lost every hex, as the energy powering the pipeline exhausts some of the resource. If a silo is full, the load progresses up to the next base, and no resources are deposited. A very well supplied rear will thus allow more resources to flow to the front, while a poorly supplied rear, will mean that resources will be slower in getting to the front line in large quantities. If the load gets to the end, and resources are still available after resupplying every base, it will be retained in the pipeline.

Bases will silo up to more or less resources based on the size of the base. Small bases will silo 50,000 resources, large bases will house 100,000 resources, facilities will house 250,000 resources, and warpgates will house 500,000 resources in the silos. Every infantryman is resupplied automatically upon respawn, up to his/her maximum allotted resources. All aircraft and vehicles spawned at a base will require resources from the base’s silo. If a terminal is hacked, and used to spawn something at an enemy base, the hacked terminal will draw from that bases resource silo. Each base will also drain a certain number of resources, that equates to the level of activity at that base. Highly active bases will be points where there are more respawns, where more vehicles and aircraft are being drawn, more turrets are being used, more ammo towers used, etc. Since grey goo doubles as both a building material and an energy source, as the silo gets low, the base is adversely affected. Below 40%, the base begins to experience issues with faster heat rates on turret guns, slower spawn times at respawn points, slower reload times at Ammo towers, and occasional shield failures. These problems worsen if the silo gets below 20%. At 0 %, the base begins to flip to neutral at the equivalent of 1/2 the cap time of that base, unless 20% of the silo can be refilled. Taking a territory that has gone neutral will mean that the base has to be resupplied, but only requires 1/2 the cap time (As half the cap time has already transpired) and adjacency (Which may have been lost at that point).

An AMS is rather high technology, that allows a sunderer to act as a spawning point for infantry, but does not fill an infantryman’s resource allotment upon spawn. Resource sunderers can be placed nearby that can be used to resupply, but their supply is limited by what they bring with them. Thus, respawning at a sunderer means faster deployment, closer to the front, but will also mean reduced capabilities, as your resources are not going to be refilled unless you are at a base. Ammo sunderers and ammo packs are unaffected by the availability of resources.

All resources in a destroyed resources sunderer, or resource Galaxy will be lost forever. Further, since it costs greatly to haul a load of resource, losing that load will also mean that the character will be experiencing the effects of losing such valuable cargo, until they have had a chance to make up for that negative act. This is in place to prevent griefers from pulling resources. To do so continuously, would render the character useless.

As said earlier, pulling vehicles means a small cost at times. Simply put, the further away from a refinery you get, the greater the cost. So pulling tanks at the front line might not be as economical, as pulling them further away from the line. This eats up your own resource allotment, more than it drains the base itself. Thereby decreasing your ability to pull other things that you could use to be more effective in battle. Moreover, the cost increases as the bases supply of resource is lowered. So pulling resources from a nearly empty base, means that you are going to incur considerable cost in pulling your vehicles. Conversely, if you pull from well supplied bases near the refineries, then the cost for your tanks and aircraft will be minimal to nonexistent, depending of course on your own personal loyalty to the faction.

As to personal resource allotments, the volume of resources you can pull is going to be dependant on how you contribute to your faction. Shooting enemies, accomplishing primary and secondary objectives, destroying enemy vehicles, finishing resource runs, destroying spawn beacons, everything that could potentially further the agenda of your faction, will mean a positive loyalty point. Shooting your own team, destroying your own teams vehicles or secondary objectives, taking resources for vehicles or resource runs, will all mean a negative loyalty point. The sum of your loyalty points will determine the modifier you have on your resource allotment. If you are too disloyal, eventually the volume of resources you can pull will continue to decrease, until it becomes difficult to pull even basic vehicles. Further, the cost of vehicles will increase or decrease with your loyalty score. Pulling vehicles costs a certain amount of resource, and as you become more loyal, more and more of that cost is pushed off on the facility you are pulling the tank from. If you are disloyal, the cost is pushed off on you.


Special Thanks

So with my initial post I received a lot of feedback. A lot of very good points were brought up, and I would like to take time to say, even if I argued with you, I do that in order to get a better understanding of what exactly you are saying. Thanks goes to LordMontado, Sirisian, UberBonisseur, carbonite, Basti, and WhiteEagle for helping in various ways to help inspire the changes in this system.