Defence Force Domes revisited

[Gogita]

This is not my idea but it actually from the official Planetside site where it was under the category of "in concept". I think it sounds quite interesting.

Defensive Force Domes

Before describing this feature, there are a few things to remember. Firstly...this is an "In Concept" forum. That means that we have NOT decided to implement this feature yet. This thread is for discussion of this feature as a possibility, not as a certainty.

Also, despite the commonality of the "force dome" conceit, this idea has nothing to do with Capitol Buildings (currently).

That being said, let's discuss the idea of creating a mechanism by which the defenders can actually WIN once in a while.

In a nutshell: Put a force dome around EVERY facility. Have ANTs be able to drain the power out of the force dome (at range), and then the dome drops for 30 minutes. Battle rages normally during that 30 minutes, but defenders can actually try to resist the "zerg" long enough for the dome to reinstate itself. The time it takes to re-drain the dome for another try allows the defenders clean up, re-ammo, and repair in preparation for another attack. (See "Examples" below, for more clarity on the 30-minute timer.)

In other words, it lets the Defenders accomplish something by resisting the zerg for that time period, and gives them a breather against constant offensive assault. (This hopefully encourages "Alamo-style" stands.) Successful defenses of facilities can be accumulated as statistics this way also ("number of successful base defenses").

Now the details:
Every facility gets a force dome constructed around it. The force dome should encapsulate the entire compound, walls and all, but not the nearby tower.

The Force Dome prevents any non-friendly unit from entering OR exiting the dome area.

The Force Dome can only be brought down by bringing ANTs near the perimeter (a decent range away... 40m or so). This deploys them, and enables them to suck the power out of the Force Dome. Additional ANTs increase the rate at which the dome comes down, but the returns diminish beyond a few ANTs. Dome drain time should be around 5-7 minutes initially.

The concept is that the attackers have to drain the dome, while the defenders are warned that they're coming and can try to stop them at that new perimeter by destroying the ANTs.

Once the Dome falls, this triggers a 30-minute timer. Hacks and resecures have no bearing on that timer. However, at the end of the 30-minute period, the Dome has reenergized and comes back up. (Interface details for informing the players on the state of the timer have not been ironed out yet.)

The Dome itself does nothing except block the enemy's entry and exit. Therefore, the defenders still have to root out the attackers after the Dome goes back up. This enables them to have a chance to stop the zerg, root out the pests inside the dome, and retool the base for the impending attack once the dome is drained down again. Status of the force dome for the facility be shown on the overhead map.

When a facility is captured, the Force Dome goes up automatically. The former defenders are now trapped within the bubble...but can still Recall out, or respawn out after dying... or even try to storm the control console.

NOTE: Experience generally takes care of itself for defensive stands. There is still a 25% bonus for defending a friendly SOI. The chance to actually HOLD a base should increase the number of defenders available, hopefully counteracting the potential for attackers to "zerg" successfully. More defenders = more experience, which is further boosted by the "defensive multiplier". Additional experience bonuses shouldn't be needed, but we'll be watching player actions carefully during testing.

Examples:

Attackers hack at 22 minutes into the 30-minute timer. Eight minutes into the hack, the Dome goes back up, cutting the attackers off from resupply or respawn (unless they have an AMS in the courtyard). Now the attackers are in an "Alamo" sort of engagement and the Defenders are trying to "mop them up" before the attacking zerg outside can bring the Dome down again.
Attackers have hacked at 3 minutes into the 30-minute timer. The defenders resecured at 12 minutes. The attackers re-hacked at 20 minutes, but things are looking grim for the defenders. They would normally bail and leave because of the nasty odds...however, they know they only need to hold out for 10 minutes more now...so they stay and to the "Alamo" stand instead.
Benefits:

Phantom hackers (and gen destroyers) pretty much cease to exist. They can still bring an ANT...but the amount of warning given to defenders is much greater and they can respond much more easily.
Defenders can WIN! If they hold out until the dome comes back up, they can fix facilities, repair turrets, even request reinforcements (either by having friendlies reconstruct into the base, or by utilizing other Command mechanisms we're discussing internally now), so that more folks show up before the next wave of attackers arrives.
This also announces a "start" to the real attack...and defenders can "brace for incoming" a lot more...which is fun.
It also provides a new reason to use ANTs...which is not strictly needed, but is fun anyway. (And yes...we're going to be reworking the ANT somewhat to make it more interesting anyway. But this would enhance it's use.)

[brinkdadrink]

My one question is can you shoot through the force field.

[Warborn]

30 minutes is a long time to wait, and a short time to fight. I dunno. I like the idea of giving some pace to fights and having actual win scenarios for base defenders rather than just making most base fights a big long attrition slog, but I have to wonder whether there'd be ways of doing that without requiring every to just sit on their hands after a 30 minute period of fighting. People will just log off when that happens rather than actually wait 30 minutes to fight again, and they won't be happy if the fight was fun, defenders and attackers alike.

[Wrath]

i'm all for ideas to help defending teams out but this would just make it impractal to attack.

30 minutes to get in and hack a base is just insane i've seen base fights last 2-3 hours before to get in and get a hack thats with constant pressure on the defenders and slowly pushing your way into a base. with this that pressure comes off every 30 minutes and fights will be almost reset people will just get disheatened and log or quit

[Raymac]

Yeah, its an interesting idea, but the timing of it just won't work. Besides, I rather enjoy the organic flow of the battle. If you are defending, hold the CC, then push out and retake the CY, then push out some more and retake the SOI, then push them back to their base and give them some of their own medicine.

[PsychoXR-20]

An interesting concept, but I would defiantly not do it at EVERY base, maybe one or two key bases along the lattice network, or on facilities connected to warpgates. Doing this at every single base would get tiresome and boring, but only have a few select bases with it would spice things up now and again.

[Robert089]

Honestly there is enough waiting around in this game as it is. I don't support adding more waiting and timers. I do support the idea of letting defenders win however.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by 0Shadow0

Honestly there is enough waiting around in this game as it is. I don't support adding more waiting and timers. I do support the idea of letting defenders win however.

Yeah, I was just thinking about this a little more, and this is the line that I keep going back and forth on. While creating more artificial boring wait times is definitely something that should be avoided, I wish they found a way to give squad leaders CEP for base defense and not just assaults.

As it stands now, the only thing motivating command to defend a base seems to be the inconvenience of taking it back. I never cared much for CEP myself, but you definitely saw a trend of the different empires zergs avoiding each other directly to just keep gobbling up each others bases.

[Gogita]

I think that some people here think that you have to wait for 30 minutes for the shields to go down but that is not the case. Depending on how many ants are draining the shields, it can vary between 10 and 2 minutes. The 30 minutes was how long the shields remain down. I'm also not sure if the 30 minute gap is long enough but as attacking force you feel that you have to get an AMS in the courtyard so when the shields go up, you can still spawn there but you cannot get new vehicles in the base before you down the shields again, again depending on how many ANTs there are it can go fast or slightly less fast.

[Ant001]

Who the hell can get a zerg to wait 10 mins to drain a dome. This won't work. And if defenders could defend bases all the time it would be pointless attacking. We have always faught on ps for bases and sometimes we can push out. But I believe the onus should always be on the attackers to win.

[brinkdadrink]

I remember this concept when it came up in the in concept article and when i talked with my outfit they were all against it also.

I do wish it was easier to defend bases but putting up a giant shield to stop fighting altogether doesn't seem right to me. I still feel just being able to upgrade bases especially the guns and places to hide behind would be enough to really help defenders.

I do want to point out to help this is that if you take down the gen then the shield cant go back up

[basti]

What? So you just want to make interlink farms that already can take hours to finish even harder for he attacker? You want to remove the possibility to backhack the enemy? You want to remove the possibility to genhold important bases?

[Robert089]

The problem is right now when you are sitting in a base defending all the doors there is no real way to push out into the court yard because there will always be that tank that is sitting at the door incase you do try.

Perhaps if the only vehicles that could enter courtyards were transport vehicles this would help defenders to reclaim the outer base. Hovering reavers and mossies are a problem aswell, perhaps make them auto land / auto take off when in a facility?

If there was some way for this to worked into the new game the defenders would be on the same level as the attackers pushing in. Inf versus inf rather than inf charging out of the doors and into the firing line of 5 reavers and 2 vanguards.

[basti]

Originally Posted by 0Shadow0

The problem is right now when you are sitting in a base defending all the doors there is no real way to push out into the court yard because there will always be that tank that is sitting at the door incase you do try.

Perhaps if the only vehicles that could enter courtyards were transport vehicles this would help defenders to reclaim the outer base. Hovering reavers and mossies are a problem aswell, perhaps make them auto land / auto take off when in a facility?

If there was some way for this to worked into the new game the defenders would be on the same level as the attackers pushing in. Inf versus inf rather than inf charging out of the doors and into the firing line of 5 reavers and 2 vanguards.

A problem to get the CY back? So you just trying to tell me that once you loose the CY, you loose the base? What about getting air/tanks from another base/sanc? What about Osing by spawning from a nearby tower? what about getting a bunch of AV maxes and just rushing out, killing tanks and other vehicles, while the rest of your guys just rush out as well and take care of everything else? What about you STOP SITTING INSIDE AND DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN WAITING FOR THE NEXT KILL?
You guys, really...

[Robert089]

Originally Posted by basti

A problem to get the CY back? So you just trying to tell me that once you loose the CY, you loose the base? What about getting air/tanks from another base/sanc? What about Osing by spawning from a nearby tower? what about getting a bunch of AV maxes and just rushing out, killing tanks and other vehicles, while the rest of your guys just rush out as well and take care of everything else? What about you STOP SITTING INSIDE AND DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN WAITING FOR THE NEXT KILL?
You guys, really...

Good job taking on the entire enemy zerg with your outfit / squad. Me and the outfit I'm rolling with always do this. Bind at a near by facility we know aren't going to lose soon and pull libs / orbital strikes, but in the end the base is lost.

But yes, in all of the fights I have been in during the last week or two, usually once you lose the courtyard in a base on red alert and the enemy have several AMS set up in there you have lost the base and nothing other than another empire attacking or a large AND organised outfit can change that. I can say the same about when I've been attacking, I've been in the courtyard and seen several AMS get orbital striked but we just pull another from the hacked vehicle term or one near by that couldnt be placed at first.

Stop being so elitest and condescending.