METAGAME: Araxium, NTUs and Technology. All the Awesome PS1 Stuff Worked into PS2 Fo

[wave]

Technology: The Faction Specific Resource

-A factions technology stockpile level is used to determine they type of vehicles that are available to them on a given continent.

-The range of technology stockpile that a faction can have on any given continent is between 0-100%

-0% Technology only entities that faction access to Flashes, Buggies, Sunderers, and ESF (front cannon only, air superiority fighter)

-The higher the level of the technology stockpile, the more and better the vehicles that are available to that faction all the way up to the most technologically sophisticated vehicle, the Libertator which requires a faction have a technology stockpile of at least 90%.

-All small bases on a continent have a level of technology associated with it that will contribute to the owning factions technology stockpile every minute.

-Small bases on Indar = .03% per minute. Small bases on on Esamir = .07% per minute. Small bases on Amerish = .05% per minute.

-A Tech Plant MUST be owned by the faction to process the technology of the small bases and add them to the factions technology stockpile. This means that no matter how many small bases a faction owns, that factions technology stockpile will never increase unless it also owns a Tech Plant.

-It takes about 1 hour to fully fill a factions technology stockpile from 0 to 100% if all the small bases on the continent and at least one Tech Plant were controlled by that faction. It takes about 3 hours to fill if the faction only controls a third of the small bases (including at least one Tech Plant).

-If a factions only Tech Plant is lost, that factions technology stockpile will slowly start to drop. The rate of drop is about 0.55% per minute meaning if a faction initially had a Technology level of 100%, it would take about 3 hours for the technology stockpile level to reduce to 0%.

10% = access to Lightnings
30% = access to Galaxies
50% = access to MBT
70% = access to ESF(all weapons)
90% = access to Liberators

-For example: if a faction attacked Indar, a locked continent, they would start off with a technology stockpile of 0% so they only have access to Flashes, Buggies, Sunderers, and ESF(cannon only) plus whatever they want to bring through the warp gate. If they quickly gained control of 10 small bases and a Tech Plant, their technology Stockpile would start increasing at about 0.3% per minute. They would need to hold those bases for at least 33 minutes before Lightnings would be available to that faction. As you can see, the more small bases your faction controls, the faster new technology vehicles will become available. This also illustrates how hard it could be to successfully attack a locked continent, which makes sense because locked continents should be hard to attack and easy and appealing to defend.

-Another example: if your faction has a technology stockpile of 100% and loses its tech plant, that stockpile will start to lose about .55% a minute. After about 18 minutes without a Tech Plant, the faction would no longer be able to spawn Liberators because the technology stockpile would have dropped below 90%. After 54 minutes without a Tech Plant, ESF(all weapons) would no longer be available and so on.

-The spawning of vehicles or any player actions have no effect on technology stockpiles. The only way the technology stockpile goes up is if the faction owns a Tech Plant and small bases, and the only way the technology stockpile goes down is if the faction loses its only Tech Plant.

-High technology vehicles can still be brought in through the warp gate from other continents/sanctuaries at any time as long as the continent is not locked just like PS1.



NTU: The Base Specific Resource

-A bases NTU stockpile is used to determine the capabilities of that base.

-The range of NTU stockpile for a base is between 0 and 100%

-0% NTU stockpile indicates a powerless neutral base incapable of even spawning players and up for grabs for any faction who can get NTU to it first.

-The higher the level of NTU stockpiled at the base, the more and better the options available to players at that base.

10% = spawn room shields and player spawning
30% = capable of spawning Flashes, Buggies
50% = capable of spawning Lightning, Sunderer, ESF
70% = capable of spawning MBT, Liberators
90% = capable of automated turrets?

-A bases NTU can be filled up in one of two ways: 1. AMP Stations will automatically fill and maintain the NTU stockpiles of all the factions controlled bases passively at about 1.5% per minute as long as the base in question is not surrounded by enemy territory and has a functioning generator. 2. ANTs can be filled at either AMP stations or the warp gate and driven to the base to fill its NTU silo just like PS1.

-Every base has a Generator that is directly linked to the friendly AMP station unless the base is surrounded by enemy territory. Destruction of this Generator will sever the link to the AMP Station and start to decrease the NTU stockpile for that base. The level of decrease will be around 1.5% per minute. If the NTU stockpile reaches 0% the base will go neutral.
Generators are extremely self healing, hardy, and very difficult to destroy. Maybe 30 blocks of C4 would do it, but a single back hacking ninja would never be able to do it.

-Bases that are surrounded by enemy territory must have their NTU supplied from ANTs, and the bases NTU stockpile will drop at 1.5% per minute.
Factions that do not own an AMP Station will need to supply all their bases with NTU from ANTs and all their bases will lose about 1.5% NTU per minute.

-A base with a NTU stockpile of 100% that is losing NTU at 1.5% per minute because it is not connected to an AMP station will take about 1 hour to go neutral unless it is resupplied with an ANT.

-1 ANT is all that is needed to fill a base from 0 to 100% NTU.

-Example: Your faction has just defeated the enemy and taken control of a small base. Because your faction owns an AMP Station, the small base after its generator is repaired will start filling its NTU stockpile at 1.5% per minute. Since the base starts at 0% NTU and needs at least 10% NTU stockpiled to even spawn new players you have a choice of waiting the 7 minutes for the NTU to reach the 10% level needed or get an ANT to immediately fill up the base and make it fully capable. In all likelihood, just like PS1, there will be players there will ANTs ready to fill the base and make some quick XP.

-Another Example: You and your ninja stars outfit have decided to go behind enemy lines to capture a base and piss your enemy off. Because the base is deep inside enemy territory and has no adjacency, you can not use the usual methods of capturing a base like the influence system. Instead, with great difficulty, you destroy its generator. Now you must defend off the enemy for at least 1 hour while the NTU for the base slowly sinks. After a hard fought and successful battle, the base finally goes neutral. Problem is, this base is surrounded by enemy territory and has no connection to the friendly AMP station. Now you and your ninja friends need to find a way to get an ANT to fill the NTU stockpile to really claim this hard fought base for your glorious faction.

-Another Example: The enemy has just taken your AMP station. A devastating blow to your faction! Being one of the leaders of your faction you have been sure to ensure that all of your factions controlled bases had 100% NTU stored. Now the race is on. Knowing that all the bases NTU will start to drain at 1.5% a minute you have just over an hour before all your bases go neutral. Periodically you organize ANT runs to ensure that as individual bases NTU levels fall, they are refilled to retain its functionality and prevent it from going neutral. You also rally your factions troops to counter attack and repulse the enemy to retake your AMP station!

-AMP stations do not have generators that can be destroyed since they are directly connected with the warp gate. The only way the enemy can take an AMP station is through the normal influence style capture.

-The spawning of vehicles and any player actions has no effect on the level of NTU stockpiles at any base. The only way the NTU stockpile at a base can be increased is if your faction owns an AMP station with adjacency, or by using ANTs to deliver NTU to that base. The only way the NTU stockpile can be decreased is by destroying the bases generator, or by taking the enemies AMP station.

-If a base is incapable of spawning a specific vehicle that a player wants because its NTU stockpiles are too low, that player would either have to go to a different base with a higher NTU stockpile or go to the warp gate to get the vehicle.




Araxium: The Player Specific Resource

-Araxium is used to purchase vehicles and infantry goods.

-Araxium is given to players as a minutely wage. Every player who leaves the safety of the warp gate will start making their wage of 20 Araxium per minute.

-Additional bonus Araxium is given as a 5 to 1 ratio of experience up to 20 additional Araxium per minute. That means every 100 XP kill you make, you also make an additional 20 Araxium.

-Additional bonus Araxium could be given for following orders or completing missions.

-Rewards good players because they make more Araxium but does not leave behind bad players since there is a “minimum minutely wage”.

-Players who subscribe to Planetside 2 could be given a higher minutely wage.

-Factions with chronically low server populations should be given a higher minutely wage to help them out.

-Brings real value to all vehicles in the game because players are using their own hard earned Araxium to buy them.

-To purchase a vehicle, your faction must first have a high enough Technology stockpile to build the vehicle, next the base you are at must have a high enough NTU stockpile to be capable of spawning the vehicle, and lastly the player must have enough Araxium to purchase the vehicle.

-Low technology vehicles cost very little Araxium whereas high technology vehicles are more expensive. For example, a Flash might cost 160 Araxium whereas a Liberator might cost 600 Araxium.

-This would mean that good players could afford a new Flash every 4 minutes or a new Liberator every 15 minutes.

-There would be a limit to how much Araxium a player could accumulate. Possibley 2000 Araxium or something like that to prevent players from sudden vehicle spamming.
This system would give real value to vehicles as well as prevent vehicle spam.



What Makes This System So Cool?

-It gives real worth to every base in the game, even the smallest ones.

-It allows for dynamic and strategic game play on many levels.

-It allows for outfits to play spec ops and go behind enemy lines.

None of the resources are pooled. Each individual has their own say on how to spend their resources.

-It brings back many of the coolest metagame aspects of Planetside 1 and enhances them.
It brings true worth and meaning to vehicles and prevents vehicle spam.

-It is not overly restrictive in that most vehicles are available to all players at all times, if a certain type of vehicle is not available on a specific continent, it can be brought over from a different continent/sanctuary just like Planetside 1.

-It is just plain better than what is in the game today.

[Timealude]

I like all this stuff, but in FNO...Clegg even said himself that if they wanted to add all systems like this. It would take the whole team to do it, which would mean we would mostly have to wait quite a bit without any new content as it would tie the whole dev team up with working on systems like these.

[Bags]

araxium was in Ps1?

[ringring]

Originally Posted by wave

Technology: The Faction Specific Resource

-A factions technology stockpile level is used to determine they type of vehicles that are available to them on a given continent.

-The range of technology stockpile that a faction can have on any given continent is between 0-100%

-0% Technology only entities that faction access to Flashes, Buggies, Sunderers, and ESF (front cannon only, air superiority fighter)

-The higher the level of the technology stockpile, the more and better the vehicles that are available to that faction all the way up to the most technologically sophisticated vehicle, the Libertator which requires a faction have a technology stockpile of at least 90%.

-All small bases on a continent have a level of technology associated with it that will contribute to the owning factions technology stockpile every minute.

-Small bases on Indar = .03% per minute. Small bases on on Esamir = .07% per minute. Small bases on Amerish = .05% per minute.

-A Tech Plant MUST be owned by the faction to process the technology of the small bases and add them to the factions technology stockpile. This means that no matter how many small bases a faction owns, that factions technology stockpile will never increase unless it also owns a Tech Plant.

-It takes about 1 hour to fully fill a factions technology stockpile from 0 to 100% if all the small bases on the continent and at least one Tech Plant were controlled by that faction. It takes about 3 hours to fill if the faction only controls a third of the small bases (including at least one Tech Plant).

-If a factions only Tech Plant is lost, that factions technology stockpile will slowly start to drop. The rate of drop is about 0.55% per minute meaning if a faction initially had a Technology level of 100%, it would take about 3 hours for the technology stockpile level to reduce to 0%.

10% = access to Lightnings
30% = access to Galaxies
50% = access to MBT
70% = access to ESF(all weapons)
90% = access to Liberators

-For example: if a faction attacked Indar, a locked continent, they would start off with a technology stockpile of 0% so they only have access to Flashes, Buggies, Sunderers, and ESF(cannon only) plus whatever they want to bring through the warp gate. If they quickly gained control of 10 small bases and a Tech Plant, their technology Stockpile would start increasing at about 0.3% per minute. They would need to hold those bases for at least 33 minutes before Lightnings would be available to that faction. As you can see, the more small bases your faction controls, the faster new technology vehicles will become available. This also illustrates how hard it could be to successfully attack a locked continent, which makes sense because locked continents should be hard to attack and easy and appealing to defend.

-Another example: if your faction has a technology stockpile of 100% and loses its tech plant, that stockpile will start to lose about .55% a minute. After about 18 minutes without a Tech Plant, the faction would no longer be able to spawn Liberators because the technology stockpile would have dropped below 90%. After 54 minutes without a Tech Plant, ESF(all weapons) would no longer be available and so on.

-The spawning of vehicles or any player actions have no effect on technology stockpiles. The only way the technology stockpile goes up is if the faction owns a Tech Plant and small bases, and the only way the technology stockpile goes down is if the faction loses its only Tech Plant.

-High technology vehicles can still be brought in through the warp gate from other continents/sanctuaries at any time as long as the continent is not locked just like PS1.

My personal thoughts are that there is a kernal of a good idea here which is devalued by linking it with resources.

I think 'resources' are something that do not work as a motivation to capture territory. They are too amorphous.

Whenever anyone runs out of resources at present all they do is to move to another continent where they can gain whatever they need at the fastest rate. And then return and continue.

The best strategic motivation in game currently is the base benefit assigned to the tech plant. This benefit a) is worth having, b) is a strong dis-benefit if you don't have it, c) it does impact on strategic/tactical decision making

Current base benefits for Amp Stations and Bio Labs do not do this.

We also currently have 3 mechanisms that govern vehicle usage. 1) Resources, 2) Vehicle timers, 3) Tech Benefit - to me this is one mechanism too many.

I think resources complicate the gameplay without adding depth, I think your suggestion does the same (sorry).

To me the answer is:
a) remove resources
b) change Amp Station and Bio Lab benefit to something really benefical if you have it and punishing if you don't.

NB: item b) was also suggseted by Robo on the lastest PSU discussion.
NNB: base benefits could be Amp Station - additional armour, Bio Lab - additional health - or remove access to weapon classes or special abilities such as cloaking or health regen or LA rocket pods.

NNNB: I like the idea that if base benefits aren't owned people would not be able to even draw tanks (as an example) even from the WG - this means that these changes could only be put in place after new continents and after the inter-continental matrix and after warpgates are fully operational.

[wave]

Originally Posted by Timealude

I like all this stuff, but in FNO...Clegg even said himself that if they wanted to add all systems like this. It would take the whole team to do it, which would mean we would mostly have to wait quite a bit without any new content as it would tie the whole dev team up with working on systems like these.

I agree that my system is bloated and not realistic in the short term. It was just a fun design concept that I hoped a developer would happen to read and maybe get some good ideas from.

My personal thoughts are that there is a kernal of a good idea here which is devalued by linking it with resources.

I think 'resources' are something that do not work as a motivation to capture territory. They are too amorphous.

Whenever anyone runs out of resources at present all they do is to move to another continent where they can gain whatever they need at the fastest rate. And then return and continue.

The best strategic motivation in game currently is the base benefit assigned to the tech plant. This benefit a) is worth having, b) is a strong dis-benefit if you don't have it, c) it does impact on strategic/tactical decision making

Current base benefits for Amp Stations and Bio Labs do not do this.

We also currently have 3 mechanisms that govern vehicle usage. 1) Resources, 2) Vehicle timers, 3) Tech Benefit - to me this is one mechanism too many.

I think resources complicate the gameplay without adding depth, I think your suggestion does the same (sorry).

To me the answer is:
a) remove resources
b) change Amp Station and Bio Lab benefit to something really benefical if you have it and punishing if you don't.

NB: item b) was also suggseted by Robo on the lastest PSU discussion.
NNB: base benefits could be Amp Station - additional armour, Bio Lab - additional health - or remove access to weapon classes or special abilities such as cloaking or health regen or LA rocket pods.

NNNB: I like the idea that if base benefits aren't owned people would not be able to even draw tanks (as an example) even from the WG - this means that these changes could only be put in place after new continents and after the inter-continental matrix and after warpgates are fully operational.

If only the 3 main bases have real value then we still have the same problem of having about 64 small bases of little value on Indar. I think all bases should have more value to them other than getting from one place to another.

I agree that 3 types of resources is bloated. However if I had a choice I would get rid of timers and keep the tech benifits and resources. This gives players a more dynamic way of playing the game and does not limit them by arbitrary vehicle timers. Resources should be what limits vehicles in the game IMHO.

[Hamma]

One thing everyone forgets is PS1 wasn't this magical game from release it took time for it to get that way. What we all want will happen in time.

[Mietz]

What we all want could have happened already...

[Figment]

There was only one thing that could count as a resource in PS1: NTU and it only supplied bases with the power to function (at no resource cost) and repair terminals, gen and wall turrets automatically.


The only other things you could kinda see as resources (more like strategic benefits) would be lattice-linked base benefits (have this in PS2: Tech, Bio Lab and AMP benefits) and overarching continent benefits (have this in PS2: reduction in resource cost), cave modules and cave locks (only shield modules are partially in PS2 in the form of shield generators, but quite a different system and implementation of courtyard shields).

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

Originally Posted by Hamma

One thing everyone forgets is PS1 wasn't this magical game from release it took time for it to get that way. What we all want will happen in time.

Past the first 6 months what was added that was good? I started playing PS1 3 months in and it already had the Lattice, Skygaurds, and Libs added, LLUs were shortly after that. Everything they did to the game after those first 6 months only made it worse.

This game has been out for almost 4 months now and it still isn't anywhere near what PS1 was at its launch.