PS, the Matrix and its future

[Nitsch]

Originally posted by OdlyEnuf
So the "Matrix" idea is a go? I hadn't been reading up on it the past few days.

Morpheus: "This is the world that you know .... It exists now as part of the neural active simulation that we call the Matrix. You�ve been living a dream world, Neo...."

"As long as the matrix exists the human race is not free."

[JonnyK]

i think that each matrix coming off of a base should link to 2-3 different bases, so that the battle doesn't have to be all out on one base, but there can be a few battles, and then maybe a squad would still be able to attack a base where there aren't so many others, and it could give infiltrators more to do, with this new matrix idea it seems that infiltrators will have a lot less to do.
but i really can't wait to get home from this godforsaken place (school) and hopefully play with the new patch

[Airlift]

One of the potential exploits that could render the latticework useless is a mule account in another empire used to crank things out of the vehicle pad and equipment terminals in order to circumvent the hacking restrictions. You can't stop them without TKing. I hope this is something that has been considered by the dev team, and I'm sure that if it hasn't yet it will be when the game goes live.

[Happy lil Elf]

You'd have to have 2 accounts for that I think since you can only be on one faction per server can't you?

[Vis Armata]

I can't believe it...for once, I agree with Mr. V...

Yeah, I was hoping that either small changes to exp points or just a change within the community ("hey, why don't we just defend today - its not all about points, right") would be the preferred course, but the short-attention spans won. I'll try it, but I still have reservations.

[Nitsch]

I think you could "Open another front" by attacking a generator deep in enemy territory and defending the base and letting it go nuetral. I can see some nice battles comming out of this.

As it is now, there is very little base defense going on. In the squads i get in, they just want to hop from one unoccupied base to another... that's no fun. Especally for me, since combat engineers are best at base defense.

[offline]

All your characters have to belong to the same faction on a chosen server. So mules wont happen.

[Nitsch]

I don't think you will see many 2nd account muling going on. This isn't EQ or DAOC.

I think it would be easy to catch someone using the "second account making tons of vehicles exploit".

[Airlift]

Yeah, mule account, not mule character. If you ever played EQ, you know that there is that special (short bus) type of player that plays more than one account at the same time to receive added benefits. While it is a lot less feasible to play two simultaneously in planetside, it is certainly not outside the realm of possibility. Further, it would only take 1 such mule in a squad or outfit to do this (though it might take more than one to drain the silo in a reasonable amount of time by spawning things).

Also, it should be noted that destroying Gens does not revert a base to neutral, only running out of NTUs will cause this.

[Nitsch]

If you destroy the generator and all the terminals.... that will drain the energy. I am assuming that with the increased "health" of the generator, it will take more energy to fix it.

[Airlift]

The thing is, we don't know the NTU consumption rate, so we can't say whether destroying everything once would cause a reversion to neutral. On the other hand, we do know that it takes half an hour for a generator to self-repair. That means that even if it will cause reversion, it's going to take a long damn time to do it.

I think it might be a good idea to cause the base to start bleeding NTUs if the gens are destroyed, but I doubt that is the case now. The thing is, if an exploit is the easiest way to cause reversion, there will be a lot more people doing it.

[Tendain]

Waitaminute, waitaminute. Are you saying that the devs are actually implementing this 'matrixing' idea? In the next patch?

I thought that it was just a thought being kicked around on the OF's, but, no, the devs are actually putting this thing in the game?

Okay, now to say that I'm not a fan of this idea would go beyond understatement into outright lying.

Now I can see so many things wrong with this idea that it would probably crash this forum were I to list them all (well, maybe not that many, but still quite a few), but the one that I'm worried about the most (aside from the sheer illogic of it, and the pending copyright lawsuit [ ]...) is how it's going to effect retaking a continent that's been locked. Now since you have to have a base to take a base, what happens when you have no bases? Can you just take a tower as per the original idea, or would you have to take the base nearest a warpgate or something, thereby removing the aggresor's only advantage, that they can attack where they're least expected?

Of course, even if they do decide to keep this idea in the game I'll still play it, for the simple reason that they're got me so hyped for this game that I'd play it if they changed the name to PlanetQuest and added elves. But I would certainly be disappointed in them. They were doing so well up to now...

[BladeRunner]

Tendain all your points are covered in the original patch notes about the "lattice."

I think it might be a good idea to cause the base to start bleeding NTUs if the gens are destroyed, but I doubt that is the case now. The thing is, if an exploit is the easiest way to cause reversion, there will be a lot more people doing it.

Gen destruction doesn't cause bleeding, but in the patch notes it says that the generators auto-repair will drain the NTUs. Hell, SJ even makes it as plain as day, that a new tactic for "punching continent lock" will be destroying terminals and generators, forcing auto-repair and therefore "bleeding."

Seems some haven't actually read the DEV's statement. Remember, this is their first interpretation of the original "matrix" idea, and it's only the first of many parts of the new system they want us to try. I still support the trial 100%. If I was a paying customer, maybe I'd feel different

In a nutshell, the Lattice lets you determine where you can attack next.

a) You may only hack a facility that is connected, via the lattice, to a facility you already own. (�Hack� links are shown in gold if they are your Empire, grey if they pertain to other Empires. Links between same-Empire-owned facilities are the correct color for that Empire�red for TR, blue for NC, purple for VS.)

b) If, for some calamitous reason, you own NO facilities, anywhere in the world, you can always hack the facilities connected to your secure warpgates at your Sanctuary. (Example: If you are TR, you can always hack Orisha on Cyssor because it connects directly to the TR Sanctuary Warpgate.)

c) To hack into a locked continent, you must own the facilities connected to the warpgate on the OTHER continent first. (Example: If you want to hack Leza on Cyssor, and Cyssor is continent-locked, then you can capture Sina on Searhus first. That will give you a hack link to Leza and you can try to punch the continent thereafter. (NOTE: This makes the lattice truly global in nature so, Commanders�stay aware.)

d) You may hack ANY neutral building, regardless of its position in the lattice. Therefore, ANTs become even more crucial.

e) NTU consumption has been changed. Buildings no longer deplete NTUs while doing nothing at all. NTUs are now consumed ONLY through auto-repair of equipment within the building (terminals, wall turrets, generators, etc.) and respawns. Therefore, if nothing is going on at the facility, it will never go neutral. NOTE: Enterprising squads might try to destroy equipment in an enemy facility with low power, hoping to consume the last NTUs and get the ability to hack the facility �outside the matrix�. This is another way to "punch" a continent lock.)

edit: Now that I think again, I kinda like the idea of "destroy and conquer." I think that would make a battle more enjoyable if you had to rush in destroying everything possible, killing all enemies and cutting off their respawns. Then, you must defend the "ruins" long enough for NTU to drain, perhaps during this time sending an ANT expedition (creating supply lines, which I've always thought would be cool), and hopefully bringing the base back online as 100% yours. I think that would be a lot more exciting as a battle scenario than the current. Which for the most part, in my experience goes like this: Kill the enemies, put a bunch of MAXs in the CC, and patrol around looking for people who ran back. After the 15 minutes, it all magically becomes yours. The former battle scenario would last a lot longer and, quite honestly, I'm very faithful that the Planetside team can make it the most enjoyable experience (work out the issues the smart people are bringing up, because there definitely are some).

[Nitsch]

Another stratagy might be to go and blitzkrig several bases...destroying the generator and all the terms. Just to make them lose power. Then go hack the one that dies first.

[MrVicchio]

Happylilelf,

If your BOTHERED to read my post, I gave voice to my concerns, what I can see from here, not having tried it, to spark discussion. As HAMMA said above, there is paper and there is in game. I DID NOT BITCH, I stated concerns, and why I have them. I also, at the end of the post, tossed props to the devs, but you obviously didn't get that far.

I am a HUGE fan of this game, thus the PSU Staff position. Were I not a deep drinker of the PS Kooladie, I would never have pursued nor taken said staff position.

That being said, as Staff, that does NOT mean I am bound to propagandize everything the devs do. I may disagree, or have concerns, and I voice them as a GAMER, a PLAYER. I have not, nor will I bash the devs with spam posts bitching. That is not my intent, nor is it my intent to win Fanboi Of The Week. I call it how I see it. I see "areas" of concern. I brought this for discussion, to gain insight on how OTHERS see the Matrix, and to broaden my understanding of the system.