News: Update on new Hex Adjacency System via Higby

[igster]

Re: incentives for locking continents : call me old fashioned but access to enemy faction tech tech used to be a kick ass incentive - for both attackers and defenders

Denying dirty reds and blues from getting their hands on my mag riders definitely drove me to defend.

Perhaps also as a by product of making this feasible we might even get the old hacking enemy vehicles back into the game

Both of these things would really bring planet side back to life for many people.

Bring back the rich gameplay and lose the n% nonesense

[Baneblade]

I don't miss that part of PS1.

[p0intman]

most interesting.

[ThatGoatGuy]

The thing I'm afraid of cont-locking is that the continents that have New, fresh potential-fights will end up being ghost capped, so that people with still endlessly play on Indar. I await the day that SOE decides to lock people out of indar for a week, so that we can finally get some fights on Amerish. (Coming from a Mattherson pov)

[Figment]

Anyone notice the four links in the south east from the warpgate, opposed to three north and west?

Especially the west one seems to be a bit harsh due to the one it links to near Hvar. Doable though.

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Figment

Anyone notice the four links in the south east from the warpgate, opposed to three north and west?

Especially the west one seems to be a bit harsh due to the one it links to near Hvar. Doable though.

Aye you're right. I can see why the eastern WG has four because of the roads (mainly because of the canyons), same reason for the western one only having 3. Wonder why the northern one has three and not four, could certainly add in one more at the SE side of it.

[Riekopo]

This is the best thing to happen to PS2 in my opinion.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by NewSith

Bad:

• Leopardwood Nursery being a useless hex.

Well to be fair, the Leopardwood-Scarred Mesa Skydock was a pretty exploitable connection... Especially going East to West...

All an Infiltrator had to do was fly over the bay and hack Leopardwood's Terminal for a AM-Sundy and BOOM, the entirety of Southwestern Indar is flooded with Zerg rushing out of there with their own Sunderers.

Originally Posted by NewSith

• Hvar is hex-clusterfucked.

Yeah, but that's probably because Quartz Ridge Camp is still set up to funnel everything to Hvar's Eastern Satellite.

As much as I liked Quartz Ridge as a check point, it should probably be replaced with a "Saltflat Garrison" to ward against Southern advances and two check points on passes branching off to Hvar's Eastern and Western Satellites.

Originally Posted by NewSith

• If I read the map right, the Rashnu Tower is connected directly to Howling Pass. NS Material Storage was a good and necessary checkpoint, no need to remove it.

Eh, I don't know...

I mean on the one hand, the Abandoned NS Offices no longer bridge Mao to Crimson Bluff, so attackers can't just airhop around Howling Pass...

...On the other, Howling Pass is one of only two routes that the North can use to attack the Southeast, so its capture is vital while NS Material Storage is only a temporary stopgap from using this route to continue Westward.

Personally, I'd chop that winding Eastern road out of Howling Pass Checkpoint into its own Hex and put in some kind of Air Defense Station there...

...Then again, I wouldn't mind Defunct Solar Hub being put back into service as a link between the NS Refinery and Howling Pass...

Originally Posted by NewSith

• Saurva adjacency design as opposed to other bases. In reality this Biolab is the least contested territory, I don't see a point in making it more defensible than the bases close to the frontline. If anything it should be vice versa.

Actually the Indar Excavations/Helios Solar push is a big part of any Southwestern on Northern assault, so Saurva often falls BEFORE Dahaka.

Really though, that whole plain between Saruva and the Northern Warpgate is a pain in the ass, so Saruva having less connections can only be a good thing.

Originally Posted by Figment

Just gonna leave this here.

Nice, though Xeno Tech Labs connects with Broken Arch Road and not Northwestern Tawrich...

...Which makes one wonder if it shouldn't be removed all together, since it only allows the Eastern faction to bypass Crossroads Watchtower while Broken Arch can be assaulted from ether side...

Still, this is only a prototype, so it's not like the layout is still set in stone or anything...
Personally I'd move the "West Highlands Ridge" so that it separated West Highlands checkpoint from Quartz Ridge Camp, then remake Coramed Labs, Indar Comm Array, Seabed Listening Post, and West Highlands Checkpoint into much more substantial bases.

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

Aye you're right. I can see why the eastern WG has four because of the roads (mainly because of the canyons), same for the western one. Wonder why the northern one has three and not four, could certainly add in one more at the SE side of it.

Uh, I think you guys are looking at two different things, unless you are both talking about links leading out of the Warpgates...
If you are, I'm guessing the reason is that they don't want to directly link the Northern Warpgate with Briggs Laboratories, which would then require a new base in that now empty area once split into three Hexes...
Plus it would make the Southwestern Gate the odd one out, unless they made a hugeass bridge base connecting it with Sandstone Gulch Mining...

If Chip is talking about links between Faction Territories, yeah, it is a bit sad that North/Southeast only have two connections, but I already laid down my spiel on that area earlier...

[Figment]

You're right, wrong link north of Tawrich.

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

Uh, I think you guys are looking at two different things, unless you are both talking about links leading out of the Warpgates...

We are both talking about links leading out of the warpgates.

If you are, I'm guessing the reason is that they don't want to directly link the Northern Warpgate with Briggs Laboratories, which would then require a new base in that now empty area once split into three Hexes...
Plus it would make the Southwestern Gate the odd one out, unless they made a hugeass bridge base connecting it with Sandstone Gulch Mining...

Now the southeastern one is the odd one out.

If Chip is talking about links between Faction Territories, yeah, it is a bit sad that North/Southeast only have two connections, but I already laid down my spiel on that area earlier...

We've always said since alpha that there was more southwest-southeast flow than south-north flow. We've been talking about the disconnected feeling of the north for ages.

And remember, before there were LESS links there. Two new bases have been installed since on the slope down (one far west, one far east).


Hvar is mostly this way because there is no northern outpost at that base, the connectivity is in principle the same as the others in numbers, just the spread is non-triangular with the main base in the center of the triangle, like with the others.

[Hamma]

Nice Photoshop there Figment

I'm really looking forward to trying this I think it's going to make things interesting.

[DviddLeff]

Looks solid, few tweaks needed to the terrain supporting this system as others have mentioned but should be a great way to keep the fights raging.

Now what do we do about resources?

[typhaon]

Originally Posted by Rothnang

I honestly have to say, I don't like test servers in MMOs. You always end up with this obnoxious test server elitism where only the people who either don't play on live servers at all or play so much that they have time to test everything and still play on live get to really weigh in on new features.

Confused...

I may never venture over to the test server, ever... but I'm happy that those that want to help test stuff, can. Also - there might be times when SOE would like to stress test something and this can now easily happen.

Play however and wherever you want to play!

[Climhazzard]

I'm curious about how the new adjacency graph will play, but I'm also extremely skeptical that it will be the boon that everyone thinks it will be. Personally, I think it's premature.

The lattice system wasn't the only thing that made base capture enjoyable in the original game. The ability to drop a generator in an enemy base to deny benefits, draining a base in order to start a hack, etc. all made sure the game was more than just two bucks ramming their heads together. PS2 currently has no equivalent to any of those things.

Until those features, or equivalent features, are added to the game, the new system will do nothing but limit possibilities in a negative way.

"Spec ops" is already a nearly nonexistent thing in the game, limited only to capping poorly defended regions in an attempt to draw off enemies from the main force or cut off an enemy-held territory. The new system will make even that half-baked spec ops role much more difficult by forcing these teams to take potentially longer chains of bases in order to cut off a territory.

I believe there's just too much currently missing from the game to make the new adjacency graph a Good Thing™.

[Noivad]

Test Server - This is a good idea. Please make sure you have a time schedule for a test long enough so as many different people can try it out if they so choose. 1 week per test would be appropriate.

I play on Mattherson.

This new system is going to be dumming down the game for people who have no idea what tactics are, how to read a map with terrain on it, an insult to Outfits who know how to play. It was bad enough when you put in the adjacency rule, that took out a whole area of Meta game play, and now you are going to draw lines on the map for the sheep to follow because they have either no leadership ability, no leader or they have no understanding of the flow of battle.

The game is already very easy to predict where one needs to go to get into a fight. It is very easy to get enemy Outfits to respond to your moves on any of the maps if you know what you are doing. If you don't know how to do it then that is good reason to get into an outfit that does know.

Mattherson has some very good outfits playing on it from all factions, and they do know what they are doing.

The problem with the game is that it is so predictable it is almost boring. There are just a few minor things that need to be fixed that would have a dramatic affect on game play.

1. Require infantry of any class to actually stay on a cap point for that area to cap. Stop the ghost hacking. Maybe require at least two people be on point, no more 1 man army types. We get to a lot of caps that have been started an either no one is there at all, or they have hacked it, then get back in their vehicles to wait out the cap. Some caps have 30 tanks around it and no one on point. Infantry should be the most important player in the game. All vehicle types are merely support roles for infantry type units.

2. Require for a main base to be taken, that X amount of influence from surrounding hex bases is captured. This makes surrounding hexes have more value. Maybe increase the Value Cap of a surrounding main base cap higher then on not adjacent to a main base.

3. Require that Factions need to have a tech plant to pull certain vehicle types and or configurations.

4. Fix the Galaxy Drop and die problem - No one should die when they drop from a gal.

5. Fix everything that has to do with Outfit management and specialization, so that Outfits have a more specialized role.

6. Get rid of adjacency rules as it was in tech test and first part of Beta. Make a capture of a back area more important. Assign some type of equipment/benefit to smaller hexes.

7. People still do NOT understand that defending bases gives you more points then taking bases. Redo your point spread for defense, give the sheeple some cap defense points that they can see and make them happy.

8. Publish some tactics training so people know what to look for on a map to find the fight and see how the battle will progress.

9. Make AMS have the option for Outfit only spawns. So no zerg people show up an give it away for special operation type units.

10. And this one I am going to take some flack on for sure. Make Outfit Leaders cert into specialties, and members of these Outfits cert into Outfit specific type specialty certs that they can only get if they are in this special type of Outfit.

11. Make individuals specialists, so they are (feel) more important to their organization.

You have made a war game SOE. The attraction of playing a war game is that you actually play war. Taking that way by making it easier, drawing lines on a map, makes war uninteresting. Killing people in this game is easy. If you take out the strategy, and tactics of the game, the x factor of not knowing what the other side is doing, and just say go fight here or there next, what fun is that.

[Snydenthur]

So they want to change this game to be more linear instead of open world. And I'm guessing it's because of crown. But I don't see this changing the situation. There aren't really much real attacks on crown. Usually it involves people getting on the crossroads hills to shoot at crown. This changes that how?

This might help the crown situation, in some cases, but for the most part I think this will hurt the game. Bigger fights, but less options. Zergs are going to love this, though. Well, everyone is in a zerg after this.