Resources and SCUs in Rush-Lanes

[OctavianAXFive]

So recently Higby asked for feedback on SCUs and gave us a glimpse of what Malorn is working on, the so named “rush-lane” system. The following is not about the merits of the rush-lane system but rather in response to the devs asking for feedback on SCUs and how to possibly make resources (and by extension bases) valuable based on the tidbit we have of the rush-lane system.

I didn't know whether to put this in the SCU response thread or the rush-lane thread so I just made my own since it's relevant to both.

So think of SCUs as MCOMs from Battlefield (queue half of you to stop reading). It wouldn’t work in the current system at all however I think it can actually work so long as it’s framed around what we can draw from the rush-lanes.

Basically instead of a capture point, each outpost has an SCU just like the large facilities. Because SoE is forcing some linearity to the way outposts are captured, you can assume that SCUs are invulnerable until an adjacent post is captured.

As a lot of people have pointed out, once an SCU goes down in a main base the fight is essentially over. Do we really need to change that? Doesn’t that actually kind of make sense? The defenders are no longer able to spawn and so are booted from the base.

Here’s what I’m thinking. Instead of the one SCU shield generator, how about each control point that is currently in the game is a power generator. Each one must be overloaded to power down the shields around the SCU. It also has an additional adverse effect on resources but more on that later. Destroy all the generators, make the SCU vulnerable, and then destroy the SCU.

When the SCU goes down the shields to the spawn room lower and the defenders stop spawning. Inside the spawn room, have a terminal that acts as a final objective. This terminal is indestructible and must be “hacked” (the usual press “E”) to switch control of the base. In other words, the attacking faction has to literally change the base from spawning enemies to allies. From here you can either have all of the generators and the SCU auto-repair almost instantly OR you can force the new owners to repair it themselves, giving the previous owners a chance to mount a quick counter-attack.

This can also work in small outposts. Even if a tank swarm surrounds the spawn building, enemy infantry will still have to fight their way inside to the “switch.” Some slight adjustments to base design and outpost spawn rooms might be needed to make this more interesting.

As for resources, here’s what I’m thinking.

The point of resources it to provide scarcity in vehicles which has an effect on a faction’s fire power on the battlefield.

In other words: The purpose of resources is to limit the number of vehicles on the field.

Do away with the current aerospace/mechanized/infantry system and replace them with continent specific tokens that are rewarded to the player for kills/support roles much the same way certs are accrued.

The reason for continent specific tokens is to force players to play some on other continents if they want to get vehicles from that continent. It should also promote cross-continent vehicle spawning if a faction is trying to break out of its warpgate.

Outposts do not necessarily need to contribute/detract from resources; they merely need to provide adjacency (read supply line) for major facilities.

Major facilities should reduce the cost in tokens for a certain vehicle type (MBT, ESF, etc.) or infantry accessory (C4, mines, medkit, etc.)


Example: You can have the first 25 tanks cost 10 tokens but every tank after the 25th costs more tokens unless you control more tech plants. The cost of the tanks scale up the more tanks a faction has (or you can mix and match making the cost rise depending on the current mix of vehicles a faction has, reducing vehicle spam). Think of it like upkeep except it is not draining resources from a single faction pool as some have suggested.
Enemies can sabotage a facility by destroying power generators! Not only will destroying the power generator(s) make the facility more vulnerable when an attack comes but you can also make it so that it reduces the amount of vehicles the facility can make at X cost go down.

OPTIONAL:
I see a lot of people really like these ANT things or w/e they’re called from PS1. From my understanding they were a supply truck that provided a resource to a facility that allowed it to either keep spawning troops and/or vehicles. I personally kind of like that idea but I’m not sure how many people actually do.

You can implement an ANT with this system if you so choose. How would it work?

The power generators need fuel! The more people who spawn and/or the more vehicles spawned from facilities/outposts, the more power is drained from a silo. You can have those supply trucks supply those bases with Auraxium!

TL;DR
In the Rush-lane system:

No more control points.

Make SCUs like MCOMs guarded by power generators. Once the SCU dies, attackers can access the spawn room and flip the territory by "hacking" a special console in the spawn room.

You cannot overload an SCU unless you have an adjacent territory.

You earn the right to use vehicles the same way you earn certs.

The price of vehicles is influenced by the number of vehicles your faction has and the number of major facilities it controls.

Sorry admins if you prefer this post in one of the other threads or in the New Idea vault. I felt this was the best place for it though.

[Gatekeeper]

I like that idea - tying the SCU more directly to the capture of the base makes good sense, and breaching the spawn in order to hack the final console sounds like a good finale to the fight.

Might need some thought about what happens post capture though. Seems like it would be logical either to have the SCU reset straight away, or to have some kind of timer before the final console can be hacked again - just to stop the base flipping back and forth a bunch of times and providing an xp-fountain for all concerned

Less sure about the resources side of things - but earning them in a similar way to certs does make sense to me.

[OctavianAXFive]

I suppose you can have the base "reboot." For a few minutes. I know a common suggestion to prevent ghost capping and rampant back-hacking is to put a fixed timer on base captures. Meaning: Once a base is captured, X minutes must pass before it is attackable again.

Seems kind of like a bandaid solution but it works.

An alternative to this is would be to force the new owners to repair the SCU after the switch is thrown in the spawn room. It is only at that exact moment when attacking force repairs the SCU for their own use that the base flips.

Boosters could very well exploit this but it would be painfully obvious to any admins floating about and I'm sure some sort of automated system can be made to suspend people for base flipping. Not to mention that on the mini-map the base would be flashing back and forth for all to see.