Feedback on SCUs for Higby

[Hamma]

[Hamma]

Updated OP

[Wahooo]

Of all the base design criticizing I could do, the SCU's IMO aren't an issue.

I'm not 100% happy with the location at the Tech plants but that is an overall issue with the location of the spawn building.

On one hand I'm not sure the game mechanics NEED an SCU. Most defenders have left the base and are no longer attempting to re-take the points by the time the SCU goes down.
On the other if that develops to a point bases can be re-taken then the SCU works I think.

[Tatwi]

Good:
- It's nice to have the generator style game play.

Bad:
- They end the fighting before the base is captured.
- It's bad enough that defenders often can't get out of the spawn to defend, but to have attack the base that you are trying to defend (because some thing in one room is broken) is dumb.
- It's pretty lame that a single person can waltz into a base where they have no influence and take down all the gens and scu in 5 minutes, thus preventing the owners from spawning there. That's not "spec ops", it's broken game design, because there is absolutely no incentive for owners to man bases 24/7 and literally nothing at all for a garrison to DO if the owners put one there. As such, no one is there to stop (or even know about) that one guy who is taking down the gens/scu. Hence, broken game design.

I think the SCUs should be removed. The other strategic points, such as shields/generators, terminals, and turrets are sufficient.

The way I look at battles in PS2 is that there is an imaginary circle of influence from the spawn room outward at each base. When the base is empty, the circle is very large. As enemies begin to control more areas of the base, that circle of influence shrinks and shrinks eventually to the point where it is inside the spawn room. And that's where we get the "spawn camp until flip" from, which is totally fine and perfect, so long as it's not 10+ vehicles rolling in and instantly shrinking that circle into the spawn room without a fight ever occurring. That's where smart spawn layout and exit routes become important. Anyhow, the eventual goal of the attack SHOULD BE to CONTROL the defender's movement within the base, to the point where the defenders become in effective and lose. That makes sense.

[ringring]

Sorry but a simple question.

What problem are we trying to fix?

[NotTheMomma]

Originally Posted by ringring

Sorry but a simple question.

What problem are we trying to fix?

Fights getting shut down too early or before they've even started? Just a guess.

[wasdie]

SCUs aren't the problem. They already require 2 generators to be hacked. However the issue does lie within how those generators are hacked.

I think that overloading generators should actually require a player to stand within a radius of the generator. Once they initiated the hack, they have to keep a strong wireless signal to keep feeding the overloading algorithms to the local generator.

This means one player can no longer knock out gens by hacking them and then running away. They need to stay there for the duration of the hack. I don't like the idea of them having to sit there and holding E or using a tool like in Planetside 1 for the 60-90 seconds, but within a radius is fine.

This will slow down ghost hacks AND it will force attackers to actually hold what they've hacked all without radically changing any gameplay.

SCUs and whatnot are fine the way they are. If they would add in such a mechanic like this to all gens it would be a massive improvement for defenders. It wouldn't be much different than what we currently have, but it would be easier to un-overload a generator and much easier to clear out the 1-2 moles constantly popping generators.

One of the WORST parts of this game is 1-2 guys just hacking a generator and running away. It can compromise entire base defenses and is just a total pain to deal with.

I also believe this same mechanic should be implemented for capturing territories. If you have a 0/2 or 0/6 on ANY of the points, you cannot cap the territory. Ghost capping = DEAD.

[Ghoest9]

This sounds like a solution to a non existent problem.

Putting it on a timer would be esentially removing it from the game and instead linking spawns to the control point - why is that good?

[Pella]

It can be improved.

Adding a Countdown timer, When its activated would be helpfull. Most people dont even know its going to blow up.

Adding the timer above the bars would be a huge help for attackers and defenders.

It a guessing game at the moment. And a big reason why people can be bothered to go resecure it.

[Sirisian]

If the enemy has gotten to your SCU and is holding it for long enough to bring it down you've basically lost the fight with the current base layout. I don't think anything that's done with the SCU will fix that. That and since the SCU is close to the spawn this usually means if they've gotten to your SCU then they're spawn camping you already.

My only suggestion is to remove the tunnels on the tech plant and amp station and replace them with jump pads. That would help with defending such a large base. A jump pad to near the generators and one to the SCU should be fine and really liven up the defense.

[Mastachief]

I like the idea of the half way ticket thing for zerged bases not sure i like it for specops.

Personally i hate SCU's the enemy should have to fight their way into the spawns to drop the tubes, painfields and everything.

Once the tubes are down people are more likely to retake a outer foothold spawn and try to retake the base rather than camp inside the spawnroom sniping out. Also its too quick to take a base with large influence.

[Redshift]

I'd just like the generators to go back to requiring damage so one person can't nue the lot of them in 2 mins

Maybe a timer to remove it's shielding then a few rockets to put it down

[p0intman]

scus aren't the problem, like others said. its spawn CAMPING that is the problem. because you cant destroy the spawns, people camp and only take the scu down once they already have overwhelming force anyway. how has that not gotten into their heads yet?


start treating the problem, not the symptom.

read: base layout makes it too easy to cap. spawn camping and early scu kills are a symptom of the problem of bad base layout.

[ChipMHazard]

Regarding Higby's second tweet.
Well I'm thinking that if an enemy is able to cap a facility half-way then chances are they are already in compelete control. I'm not so sure having the SCU be inaccessible until a certain point, besides having to take down the generators, is going to help out the defenders all that much. I don't see that doing anything besides buying the defenders some time until reinforcements arrive.
In this respect it might be a better idea to have the destruction of the SCU increase respawn timers and remove the ability to spawn vehicles/aircraft. So basicly like the roadmap version but more strict.

I agree with the others in that changing the SCU is such a manner probably isn't needed. From what I've seen, and I doubt it's changed since last I played, many players didn't know how the system worked. They were unaware that they had to plant a bomb and instead they thought you could still destroy the generators by shooting at them. The player mentality might have changed since.
I would like for the UI to be improved to more clearly show when an explosive is being planted, how long until it explodes etc.

[ringring]

Originally Posted by Mastachief

I like the idea of the half way ticket thing for zerged bases not sure i like it for specops.

Personally i hate SCU's the enemy should have to fight their way into the spawns to drop the tubes, painfields and everything.

Once the tubes are down people are more likely to retake a outer foothold spawn and try to retake the base rather than camp inside the spawnroom sniping out. Also its too quick to take a base with large influence.

Me too, I'd always assumed the SCU's were there because Forgelight couldn't do what you said.

Forgelight is a work in progress .... e.g. water couldn't be done and now it can, underground couldn't be done and now it can etc.