Gameplay: Outfit Bases

[Mech]

Purchase, Acquisition and Maintenance

As we all know there will now be resources in Planetside 2 which will be required to purchase equipment and vehicles, so the same rules should apply to Outfit Bases.

They will have a initial purchase cost, which in turn will yield a regular maintenance cost over its lifetime; This maintenance cost will be a single fee, and not separate fees for fuel, consumables, parts, etc. To my knowledge Planetside 2 doesn't include game-play mechanics for fuel, personal consumables and vehicle parts, so having to pay separate fees for those doesn't make much sense to me. By default the initial purchase cost will be extremely high, starting at a randomly generated price between 500,000 and 1 million resources, while maintenance costs will be randomly generated per billing cycle (Not to be confused with subscription and/or cash shop billing cycles); However, the equation for determining the initial price or having a objectively flat price for all outfits can be changed for balancing purposes, likewise for maintenance costs.

Upon the purchase the Outfit Base will undergo a "building phase," during which the Base is unavailable for use since it is being constructed and assembled. By default the building phase will last for two weeks, but this can be changed or disabled entirely for balancing purposes.

Types

There will be multiple types of outfit bases, each with their own pros and cons.

• Ground Fortress
• Mobile Ground Base
• Mobile Naval Base (Depends on SOE implementing naval combat)
• Mobile Air Base

Ground Fortress:
Ground fortresses are stationary facilities, but provide the most defensive and offensive capabilities of all the types; It is also the only base type capable of generating vehicles. However since Planetside 2 uses a Hex-Grid System in replacement of the Lattice-Link System found in Planetside, finding physical room to dedicate to a specific ground fortress will be difficult.

Mobile Ground Base:
Mobile ground bases (or MGB for short) are essentially PS2's equivalent of a Sandcrawler, only much more awesome. Unlike a Ground Fortress which is incapable of moving, MGBs can travel between hexes, and lay siege and artillery fire upon targets; However due to their mobile nature they cannot carry the same armaments as ground fortresses.

Mobile Naval Base:
Mobile naval bases (or MNB for short) are floating fortresses capable of shelling and besieging targets to a greater extent than MGBs, but are limited to travel over large bodies of water or wide, deep rivers.

Mobile Air Base:
Mobile air bases (or MAB for short) are flying fortresses designed and equipped to obtain air superiority; They are also the most mobile of all the bases. Outfit members that spawn at a MAB can hot-drop in a drop-pod from the MAB to a target underneath or nearby the MAB. For game-play balancing purposes they cannot siege ground targets as easily, or possibly not at all.

Logistics

Native Equipment:

• All Outfit Bases have usable equipment terminals, which can provide a full compliment of native tech infantry weapons and ammunition to choose from; However resources spent on these do not return to the outfit resource pool, despite the terms being installed on an Outfit Base.

Enemy Equipment:

• All Outfit Bases are capable of selecting a specialized side-grade which adds "stock bins" that are dedicated to storing captured enemy infantry weapons and ammunition. Outfit Base equipment terminals are capable of pulling from the stock bins on a 1:1 ratio.
• The distribution of enemy ammunition and weapons is directly linked to the quantity of enemy equipment placed in the stock bins. Once the stock bins have ran out of equipment, outfit members cannot pull enemy equipment from terms until more has been deposited in the stock bins.
• Native equipment cannot be stored in stock bins to prevent potential glitches or duplication hacks/exploits, and also because there is no point since it is native tech.
• All outfit members are capable of depositing enemy tech in the stock bins, but cannot retrieve it without the use of equipment terminals.
• By default all Outfit Bases do not have the stock bin side-grade and it must be purchased separately.
• This feature depends on SOE implementing a equipment looting system.

Spawn Tubes and Lockers:

• All base types include spawn rooms and personalized lockers, and as such all outfit members have a permanent bind to Outfit Base spawns and can spawn there at any time.
• Personalized lockers operate like they currently do in Planetside 1; However in the presence of stock bins this can be changed for balancing purposes.

Vehicles and Vehicle Hangars:

• All Outfit Bases have a vehicle hangar; Vehicles acquired on the battlefield or stolen from the enemy will not deconstruct when parked in the Outfit Base hangar, even if it has lost its owner. For MABs and un-docked MNBs this feature depends on SOE implementing Lodestars for ground vehicle transport.
• By default Outfit Bases cannot generate vehicles, but will be able to select a side-grade granting the ability; However the Outfit Base Vterms are limited to a preselected set of vehicles, which is initially created upon purchase of the side-grade. This list can be changed at any time, and takes 1 week to process; During this period the stock of selected vehicles is being prepared. After the change has been submitted vehicles on the old stock list can still be pulled for a limited time or a limited quantity, and will be removed when one of the conditions is reached. During the processing period the vehicle manifest cannot be changed until the process has been fully completed; The processing lockout and the amount of processing time can be changed for balancing purposes.

Combat

• All Outfit Bases have a number of gun turret and weapon battery installments for combat purposes; These turrets are customizable and interchangeable, as-well as destroyable. If they are destroyed, the cost of each turret will add to the maintenance bill, and will require 2-3 days to replace and become operational again.
• Outfit Bases are designed to engage in prolonged battles and campaigns, and as such are very heavily armored.
• Outfit Bases ARE DESTROYABLE, and must be re-purchased if destroyed in battle. Mobile Outfit Bases must be moved to a combat zone before engaging in open combat; Only the outfit leader or authorized officers are able to issue a move order to the Outfit Base. If all authorized officers and/or the outfit leader log off without issuing a disengage order the Outfit Base will retreat to the safe zone automatically, as to not be accidentally destroyed in the absence of command personnel.
• The safe zone for MABs are above the standard flight ceiling while the safe zone for MNBs is a distance out away from visible range on shore, and inside the warp-gates for MGBs (This can be changed if more physical room is needed).
• Outfit Bases ARE NOT CAPTURE-ABLE. This is still being considered.
• Enemy outfits may challenge the outfit to a outfit war, and if accepted a instanced zone will appear allowing the two Outfit Bases to combat each other without interruption; This instanced zone changes depending on what base type each outfit owns. If both own air types, there is no land or sea and all infantry can fall to their death if not careful. If both own naval types, the entire zone is composed of ocean; Infantry can drown if knocked off of the bases or out of their vehicles. If both own ground types a land zone is created, infantry, ground and air vehicles can move across it like normal.
• If one of the outfits own a ground fortress the outfit war takes on a more objective approach for victory; The attacking side must destroy the defending ground fortress. For the defending outfit they must hold off the enemy for a predetermined amount of time; Default is 1 hour, but this can be changed.

[Ravenclaw]

I belive they will be outposts as well as towers and bases, and i would guess they be plenty of outposts, prob better idea would be the ability to claim a outpost and a outfit base and have have that upgradeable with resorces as opposed to building compleatly new bases

[Symmenix]

I heard higby talking of flagships (IE air base for outfits at a huge price) on twitter.

But they were merely ideas, don't get too excited.
And he said that if they did do it, it'd be post release.

[Reizod]

Originally Posted by Ravenclaw

I belive they will be outposts as well as towers and bases, and i would guess they be plenty of outposts, prob better idea would be the ability to claim a outpost and a outfit base and have have that upgradeable with resorces as opposed to building compleatly new bases

I like this ^^^ idea much more.

The OP's ideas are great don't get me wrong, but I can see after several months, most of the battles will just come down to large outfits rolling around in the MGB's capping bases. Then everyone would be forced to join the "arms race" to compete. Then things would get boring since to really even be a dent in a battle, you have to roll with/have a MGB.

Don't want to feel like I have to keep up with the Jones' every time I login.

Maybe we can only see MGB's if the PS2 devs bring back "Black Ops" maybe?