Faster NTU drains

[Tigerace]

TL;DR - I want every piece of equipment (armor, weapons, vehicles) to cost some NTU, and to have ANTs stay deployed after the base is full. The goal is to have 1 ANT always at a base thats under heavy use to prevent NTU levels from rapidly draining.

Introduction:
NTU is the fuel bases consume to remain operational. There are 3 ways to drain NTU. One is by using a virus from hackers, another is by destroying base equipment and the last is by letting it drain over time. Once NTU reaches 0% the base becomes neutral. So long as a base is defended from viruses and repaired, it would take hours to fully drain a base of NTU.

Problems with the current state:
NTU draining as a strategy is nearly impossible, if a base has alot of NTU it will take a very long time to drain it. The problem with trying to drain NTU is that all it takes is just 2 players, 2 players being a lodestar + ANT which can fully refill the base in just 2-3 minutes. The speed at which a base can be refueled and how slow it uses up NTU works against the reward for doing an ANT run and it punishes any sort of strategy involving NTU draining. Most players think that maybe 1 or 2 players have noticed the low NTU levels and are doing an ANT run so they assume it would be a waste of time to do it themselves.

What I would like to see:
I would like to see NTU levels go from 100% to 0% in just 15 minutes on a base which has many players actively using it. Lets say a base can hold up to 100,000 NTU units. Each piece of equipment would have its own indivigual NTU cost. A fully armed rexo soldier might cost 200 or so NTU units. This means that after 500 soldiers have been equipped, it would go from full NTU to zero. This puts ALOT more pressure on players to do ANT runs. But more importantly, it becomes more rewarding to refuel bases and NTU draining as a strategy becomes more effective.

To help accompolish this goal, ANTs should stay deployed even if the base was full and refill it whenever NTU was used, this is what makes it more rewarding to refuel bases as you can deploy it, forget about it and get BEP over time. The goal is to have 1 or more ANTs always sitting at a base to prevent NTU levels from draining.

Grief Points/Balancing:
A player can use a maximum of X NTU units per minute per base. Using more will give you grief points as its considered intentionally wasting NTU resources. This is much harder done than it appears, if you decide to change equipment without dropping it, the equipment gets deconstructed back into the system and the NTU resources are restored. If you keep spending NTU (by dropping equipment on the ground, or getting multiple vehicles) and accumilate lots of grief points, it will prevent you from getting equipment from that base for several minutes. Enemy players who hack a terminal have no effect on the NTU resources on that base. This prevents a single player from draining the base themselves.

[CutterJohn]

I find ant runs to be both boring and infuriating, since half the time you bothered to get one, someone else had already done so.

The concept behind NTUs is a resource that makes a base unable to stand forever. This is good, and refilling the silo during a siege is awesome. Maintenance is not awesome though.

I would prefer bases just refilled automatically, except that there was a base structure that could be destroyed that would stop the refilling. Perhaps associated with the bases tower.

This would keep the good points of NTU silos, while ditching the bad part, the tedious maintenance.

[Tigerace]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

I find ant runs to be both boring and infuriating, since half the time you bothered to get one, someone else had already done so.

ANTs can be a good source of BEP for those who need it so there therotically will always be players to do the chore if they want the BEP. Since NTU levels drain quicker, your efforts won't go wasted if you do decide to make a run. All a player would need to do is deploy a filled ANT at a base (even if the base had 100% NTU) and it will stay deployed and maintain the bases NTU. Instead of a player seeing a low NTU base and guess whether or not someone is making an ANT run, they will look at their NTU silos and see how many ANTS are there and determine if they could use one or an extra ANT to keep the NTU levels up. The decision to make an ANT run is made easier because you are no longer making a decision to race against other ANTs but your instead making a decision to prevent the fuel from draining.

You wouldn't need any extra maintinence on idle bases. Only the bases with lots of players using it would drain quickly and would require extra attention.

[Jonny]

Sounds like a good idea. Maybe when a player bothers to do a trip when the base is auto filling, they give a temporary boost to vehicle respawn times or turret damage. That way you could scramble to prepare for an attack or just help your team get mobilized faster.

[Tigerace]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Sounds like a good idea. Maybe when a player bothers to do a trip when the base is auto filling, they give a temporary boost to vehicle respawn times or turret damage. That way you could scramble to prepare for an attack or just help your team get mobilized faster.

I like the idea of an "overcharged" base. If you have 2+ ants with NTU left deployed at a base with 100% NTU, the base will gain certain benefits like improved modules (pain modules), much faster self-repair rates, reduced respawn times, quicker equipment spawning or other things. By equipment spawning I mean the x minutes or so timer you get when you make a Reaver/MAX or something. These benefits will give players more incentive to use these bases which in turn will drain the NTU a little bit faster and give more BEP to the ANT drivers.

[Grimster]

Can't really decide if I like this idea or not.

[Wrath]

I dont like it at all, given the fact all attackers need to do is stop the ant runs the win a base it would make capping them so much easier. currently now you have a long time between refills so people dont concentrate to much on stopping the ant runs cause there hard to predict and find.

also the fact that when I played there where may fights where we'd lost the court yard but held out inside the base before regrouping and pushing back. if that was put into place you lose the court yard you lose the base hacking the base no long becomes needed even blowing a power gen doesnt all the attackes would need to do is sit outside for 15 minutes and win.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Tigerace

ANTs can be a good source of BEP for those who need it so there therotically will always be players to do the chore if they want the BEP.

Ants were never very good BEP. People did it mostly because someone had to, not because they particularly wanted to. If you wanted BEP a cheap AA max was much superior.

Thats not to say your idea wouldn't work. I just feel the whole concept of refilling NTU silos is rather boring and tedious, except in emergencies.

[Valverde]

I agree completely with the Original Poster. The Energy drain is way to slow. It may be boring for players with a complete layout they like like MAX or Elite but for a new player trying to be part of the community or just level up, there is some fun to it. Plus if your chosen setup doesn't come in use all the time it isn't such a bad idea. For Example: My Guy is a fantastic Advanced Hacker with Infiltration Suit + a Phastam, but unless someone needs hacking at the moment or needs a stealthy drop off my guy is useless so I rather not waste my time and go take my ANT to fill up energy. Keeps me busy and doing something.

[BlazingSun]

I think the question we should ask our selfs first: Is the whole NTU/ANT concept really necessary? Sure it did add a little bit to the tactics in the game (base NTU drains and hunting the enemy ANTs), but it was also, in my eyes, extremely annoying and very tedious.

[Valverde]

In my opinion it is important. Like you said it adds depth to the game, keeping you on your feet. Otherwise your chance of keeping a single base to keep someone from owning the whole planet is higher and more drawn out.

[BlazingSun]

But ask yourself: How often did you lose a base, because it went neutral in a siege as opposed to losing it because the enemy conquered the base? 1 out of 10 times or 1 out of 20?

[Valverde]

Originally Posted by KornDemon

But ask yourself: How often did you lose a base, because it went neutral in a siege as opposed to losing it because the enemy conquered the base? 1 out of 10 times or 1 out of 20?

True I agree with you. Maybe they just need the power centers to be the soul source of energy. and without linking bases they have to be refilled or bases would lose defenses and consoles.

[Firefly]

How often it was lost is irrelevant - the fact is, from what I recall, base drains provided the enemy with a second or third front. And more often than not, when a base went neutral, it was difficult to capture the base if you were already involved in one or two other base sieges. The key to thinning the ranks is to make them fight on as many fronts as possible. I got a decent amount of XP driving an ANT around a continent filling up bases. And several times I found myself driving into a stealth base-drain. I know CDL and my own outfit used to run cloaker ops which were designed to simultaneously drain a number of bases at one time. It was very difficult for the enemy to get in and sweep us out because we were ALL OVER the place.

Refilling bases may be tedious, but a lot of combat-support roles are. Simple preparedness would solve a lot of issues, and that requires initiative on the part of the player. I know several outfits that filled an ANT in Sanctuary, put it in a Galaxy, and brought it to a fight when it was time to fill. My own outfit did the same thing several times, and gave it gunship/Liberator escorts. And when that ANT came, it came as the base was at the 10% NTU level. I know of one outfit which set itself up as a Support Outfit - I can't remember the guy's name but he was a fairly skilled player. Damn - wish I could remember it, started with a D, I think. Guy was a school teacher IRL.

[Bags]

I've never seen a non-interlink drained completely during a siege.