News: Lunch interview with Higby: Complete

[SgtMAD]

Originally Posted by kaffis

But Higby, if you read this, I'm glad I brought up something you hadn't thought of, and I hope you'll also give some thought to making it fun or rewarding to occasionally defend a place where you THINK a fight's going to come, so that when the attackers roll up, they're fighting a manned defense instead of assaulting an empty base with some automated defenses for the first minute or whatever.

I am guessing that you have never gone to Tumas(NC) and waited for the TR that just locked the cave link and set up your CE/AA/defenders and waited for TRx and crew to show up?

or done the same thing on oshur when the NC hold it,you know the TR are coming, its just a matter of when.

I estimate i spent 25% of my playing experience waiting in ambush for ppl in situations just like you bring up and i always ran in outfit platoons and we ran full toons every day for 7 years or so,its the best fighting you can find most days.

Thanks to Napalm and Matt for taking the time to do all this,and thx for asking the hotdrop question

[Graywolves]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

I am guessing that you have never gone to Tumas(NC) and waited for the TR that just locked the cave link and set up your CE/AA/defenders and waited for TRx and crew to show up?

or done the same thing on oshur when the NC hold it,you know the TR are coming, its just a matter of when.

I estimate i spent 25% of my playing experience waiting in ambush for theTR in situations just like you bring up and i always ran in outfit platoons and we ran full toons every day for 7 years or so,its the best fighting you can find most days.

Thanks to Napalm and Matt for taking the time to do all this,and thx for asking the hotdrop question

ftfy

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Draep

One of the things I liked about vehicular combat in PS1 was the fact that drivers didn't have to worry about gunning. So is every tank going to be a lightning now?

This is the only thing in the interview that doesn't immediately resonate with me. I'm not willing to say that it's a make or break issue without playing what they're putting together, but I liked the two-man coordination that the MBTs (and, yes, Liberator) demanded to be effective. Did it suck to get stuck with a lousy gunner/driver/pilot? Sure. But that's not limited to vehicles. It sucks as a medic getting stuck with infantry that can't hit the broad side of the barn, too. That doesn't mean you get rid of support classes.

I like vehicles that require good coordination to be effective, and I like how that demand for higher degrees of participation (and staffing, if you will) provides a good balance point in exchange for high durability. Less than high durability, and, I would think, you start losing the right "feel" for a tank. And a one-man high durability vehicle with optional gunner seat (which makes me think like the prowler's 3rd seat) means you can run alone with 80% of a 2-man vehicle's effectiveness. Does that balance out? My gut says no, but I'm willing to wait and see before I bitch.

The logic does make sense, though. I cert the vehicle, I spend training time and resources on pimping it out, why should a random teammate get the gun? I'd rather see the gun and wheel separated, but have neither require the cert so long as one person in the vehicle is certed for it. That way, if you want to gun, you can pull your tank and climb in the gunner's seat and find a driver.

Originally Posted by FIREk

Waiting somewhere in case of an attack seems boring. On the other hand, if the automated mission system were to, for instance, send some TR players to location X a minute or two before it sends a bunch of NC players to attack location X, now that would be awesome.

Kind of like the dispatch system in APB.

This is, yes, the kind of thing I'd like to see. What I found in PS1 was that, indeed, waiting somewhere in case of an attack is boring. However, when the attack comes, the fight that ensues is much more enjoyable for both sides. The attackers get the challenge and excitement of fighting real players (instead of AI turrets and maybe some CE deployables) from the word go, and the defenders get the fun of benefitting from their entrenched positions rather than coming in to "defend" a base that's already crawling with the enemy.

However, in PS1, trying to convince people to do the boring waiting around was like pulling teeth. I had been pushing for some reward system mechanics to help incentivize players to be more receptive to it since late beta. As you say, though, the mission system provides a good opportunity to do this, as well.

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

I estimate i spent 25% of my playing experience waiting in ambush for ppl in situations just like you bring up and i always ran in outfit platoons and we ran full toons every day for 7 years or so,its the best fighting you can find most days.

I agree about successful ambushes and entrenched positions being the best fighting you can find. However, it shouldn't require full outfit platoons with lots of dedication and discipline to achieve. I want to bring this kind of excitement to the masses, and I think some thoughtful and clever game design can do it.

[SavageB]

Just wanted to say thank you Napalm for asking my questions. Seems they dont have a lot of things final as of yet, I think beta is going to be next year if anything.

[NapalmEnima]

I'd also like to apologize for butchering some of the questions.

There was a question on customization that probably didn't get answered the way it should have. The CE/base defense thing... probably a couple others.

Overall, I think the interview went really well. We got a lot of good, new information, and have plenty of fodder for further questions on the twitter Q&A today.

Good times.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Graywolves

Cloakers don't have armor, why would you think cloakers have shields?.

I'm expecting that the cloaking field interferes with the normal shield technology or some such explanation for cloakers not having shields.

Which further leads me to believe that shields will vary by class in general. Maybe the heavy assault carries a larger/heavier generator for their shield than light assault, medic, or engineer. And a MAX shield should be pretty epic.

And I imagine that health will vary by class as well. That could leave medics "healing" MAXes for example even though the health points they're replacing represent armor plating rather than flesh and blood.

OTOH, classes may have different damage-reduction-style armor under the shield... so MAX wearers will take less health damage than other classes from a given attack.

Time Will Tell.

EAGER to get into beta.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

I'd also like to apologize for butchering some of the questions.

There was a question on customization that probably didn't get answered the way it should have. The CE/base defense thing... probably a couple others.

No worries. You did a great job, particularly since you weren't reading verbatim from the posts and taking community questions. It was an engaging interview with lots of great information.

I'm still listening on and off; I love "I'm trying to remember what the default helmet for the TR MAX is like..."

[Graywolves]

Originally Posted by IDukeNukeml

the audio keeps fucking up...... halp.

Read the stuff Bags' posted. He posted information covered in the interview.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Bags

• Can spawn in flying galaxy; has equipment terminals, and can spawn maxes

But only if the gal pilot has progressed that far in their cert tree.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Spawn tubes still in for deconstructing

And transportation.

We need to ask if there will be "matrixing panels" in PS2, and what spawn locations will be available when you're dead/deconstructed.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Death screen allows you to look at certs and choose class; equipment terminals let you change class

*A* terminal will let you change class, I didn't specifically ask about equipment terminals allowing class changes. Might be a standard equipment term, might not.

Originally Posted by Bags

• MAX can heal somehow in PS2

Huh? They'll have health kits like everyone else, if that's what you mean.

We need to ask about MAXes resupplying their allies.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Player Missions: SL, OL, officers allowed to create missions; "infiltrate/capture" base, outfit mates will see these as higher priority mission

Missions from higher ranking players give larger XP bonuses. No mention of resource bonuses for completing missions.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Resources earned passively based on territory that your empire owns on the continent you are fighting on

I fear this will encourage folks to bail on losing continents for continents where their empire is winning.

The auto-mission system can certainly compensate for that.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Can pick up resource canisters from crashed vehicles, just a few resources

Higby mentioned the crashed Galaxy as a "point of interest". I suspect there will be quite a few, perhaps one per hex? Encouraging exploration.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Group transports keep everyone together, nice to sit back and take a breathe while en-route, Sunderers in game, will have some unique aspect - some cool stuff, very well armored at the moment, but up to the person speccing the vehicle, maybe adding gunports to shoot out of (jackhammers!)

The way this is written could lead someone to believe that gun ports are part of the way the driver specs their Sunderer. They're under discussion from a design perspective. May be optional if they add 'em, maybe not.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Hot dropping from mossies: yes

Hot drop from all air: yes

Originally Posted by Bags

• Bases are completely different from PS1 bases; no more room hallway room hallway, much more open and cyclical; one of the bases feels a lot closer to sort of level design in Call of Duty

closer to CoD design in that there are multiple lanes that are "porous". You can switch lanes in various places and they can "interact" (blow the shit out of each other) to some degree.

I imagine something like a warehouse with several large aisles running its length, but you can still take frequent side paths between the aisles.

Originally Posted by Bags

• In-game rez, medics healing ray increased by progressing down class, no stimpack thing, mostly about healing and resurrecting

"Buffs" under discussion, but Hard To Balance. I suspect they'll be part of the Three Year Plan.

Originally Posted by Bags

• TR max face no longer exposed

With the default helmet. I suspect helmet appearance may be more than cosmetic. We'll see.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Higby loves me

And IDukeNukem1

Originally Posted by Bags

• Right now can’t pull bullets out of a dead player’s backpack

Still discussing what dead folks leave behind. There's a salvage bullet point later that this could combine with.

Originally Posted by Bags

• All stuff is WIP

Work In Progress. Mostly. Classes are nailed down.

We know of:
Infiltrator
Light Assault
Heavy Assault
Medic
Engineer
MAX

AV may be a separate class, may not.
Ditto for sniper.

Originally Posted by Bags

• Grenade killing depends on type of character and grenade

Lots of potential grenade types on the drawing board.

Originally Posted by Bags

• MAXes are on timers

Not a certainty.

And that's it for my feedback. THANK YOU for typing all this up.

[Majikk]

Originally Posted by kaffis

This is the only thing in the interview that doesn't immediately resonate with me. I'm not willing to say that it's a make or break issue without playing what they're putting together, but I liked the two-man coordination that the MBTs (and, yes, Liberator) demanded to be effective. Did it suck to get stuck with a lousy gunner/driver/pilot? Sure. But that's not limited to vehicles. It sucks as a medic getting stuck with infantry that can't hit the broad side of the barn, too. That doesn't mean you get rid of support classes.

I like vehicles that require good coordination to be effective, and I like how that demand for higher degrees of participation (and staffing, if you will) provides a good balance point in exchange for high durability. Less than high durability, and, I would think, you start losing the right "feel" for a tank. And a one-man high durability vehicle with optional gunner seat (which makes me think like the prowler's 3rd seat) means you can run alone with 80% of a 2-man vehicle's effectiveness. Does that balance out? My gut says no, but I'm willing to wait and see before I bitch.

The logic does make sense, though. I cert the vehicle, I spend training time and resources on pimping it out, why should a random teammate get the gun? I'd rather see the gun and wheel separated, but have neither require the cert so long as one person in the vehicle is certed for it. That way, if you want to gun, you can pull your tank and climb in the gunner's seat and find a driver.

The worst part is that even if we're given the option to have a gunner, no one will take it. If a 10 man squad is faced with a choice between fielding five fully crewed tanks and ten tanks with only one crew, they'd be foolish not to opt for the latter. They may be less efficient, but they have 2x the armor, 2x the firepower, 2x the flexibility. This sort of dumbing down of things is awful. I'm all for streamlining things or making improvements to get into the action, but this is just nasty.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Majikk

I'm all for streamlining things or making improvements to get into the action, but this is just nasty.

A driver/gunner may be some sort of in-game restriction on their ability that would encourage dedicated gunner seats. (edit: like a reduced rate of fire)

It may also be that all drivers will get *A* gun (like the mag-rider), but not *THE* gun.

Not enough detail yet.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Shogun

the only shooters i liked so far were shooters where i could place sentry guns :-(

Tribes? What else?

[Bags]

I updated my info thread with your feedback napalm.

[Shogun]

i hope WIP means that some of this stuff is still subject to massive change.
planetside 1`s concept of multiplayer tanks was great and i would not like to see this go overboard. it added a lot to the coop feeling!
but there is a lot of great stuff also. the sunderer sounds badass and the galaxy spawnship as well.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by Bags

I updated my info thread with your feedback napalm.

Not seeing any changes. Maybe need a new link to see the new edition?