Breaking Lattice

[NoXousX]

I personally believe the lattice should only kick in when populations on the continent dip below a certain number in order to help concentrate the fight. The fights are too big with the lattice system on pop-locked continents. The servers can't handle the load, and neither can our clients.

Either that or lower population caps...

[NoXousX]

Originally Posted by Livefire

I think they should combine both and have a hybrid which would be a clear improvement from the old PS1 version we have now. Let you cap anything via adjacency but not get resources unless you are connected to the lattice. And resources should be made way more important and actually be the purpose of the war as the devs are currently working on.

Not bad.

[NewSith]

Originally Posted by Livefire

I think they should combine both and have a hybrid which would be a clear improvement from the old PS1 version we have now.

Will people ever stop mistaking PS1 lattice for the lattice we have now?'

EDIT:
Elaboration:
PS1 Lattice:

• No uncapturable footholds
• Substantial benefits provided by every facility
• Bases turned neutral by an incredible amount of effort and luck (Continent Map NTU Percentage Indicators informed the owning empire if the base was being drained for further hack, though it's didn't do the modern dumbed down "Arrow Here! You Are Getting Drained! RESPOND!" mechanic)
• A Generator responsible for providing power to a facility (terminals, spawns, turrets), destroying it is an alternative way to win the fight
• Generators destructable on any base
• Generator destruction used to deny benefits for any link extensions (Continental Map Indication was the danger again)
• Defensible bases (like walls that can't be ignored, spawns designed to give quick access to critical locations, scale reducers aka chockepoints)

PS2 Lattice:

• Uncapturable footholds
• No substantial benefits (even Tech Plants don't mean anything, because ^that)
• Bases cannot be turned neutral
• Generators existing for each separate installation and neither of them is "I win" button
• Generators are only destructable on adjacent bases
• Generators don't have any strategical value
• Bases designed to "prevent farms", with solutions benefiting attacking side

So in short, the "value of resources (benefits)" is just one of seven components making a proper PS1 lattice. Although, my personal opinion, - no matter how hartd you try you'll never make resources count unless it cots 100% of your resource pool to pull a vehicle. But that typically ends with whine (reasonable, I should point out) on the community's side.

[CidHighwind]

How about this long term idea.

Interlink Facilities are brought back. When ANY empire captures an interlink facility, it changes where the lattice lines run. It needn't be a complete rework, just a simple strategic shift. If an empire plays its cards right and caps an interlink facility at the right time, they can lock a tech plant (or any facility?) 4 caps away (arbitrary number)from the enemy instead of 1. Some might call it frustrating and needlessly confusing, but I call tactical, and I call it a strategy meta-game.

Heck, maybe make there be ONE interlink per continent, and have it be similar to the capitals in PS1?

Thoughts?

[Rumblepit]

Lets promote less fighting and more backcapping.... Just like the good old days.

I am very happy the days of back capping are over. I was sick and tired of chasing down scrub outfits that did nothing but back cap. People would avoid each other altogether just to backcap. Platoons passing each other in the field moving to the next base.3x Platoons vs 1 squad on every single fight. Yea lets give each faction 15 to 20 links each and see how it goes.This was garbage game play. Its in the past,and it wont be coming back. move on,adapt,and try to use tactics to take defended bases.

Also your all forgetting that when they add continental lattice these will be 2 way fights with alot more options. It wont be a 3 way on every continent.Let them finish the lattice system before you ask for it to be changed.

[Baneblade]

What if there were a way to create lattice links temporarily?

[MrBloodworth]

Originally Posted by snafus

Anything that can promote breaking up the zerg fights I can get behind.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that in a game about large battles, large battles are disliked.

Also, the lattice is great. But I would love to see a way to create temporary links that can also be broken.

[EVILPIG]

Originally Posted by MrBloodworth

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that in a game about large battles, large battles are disliked.

Also, the lattice is great. But I would love to see a way to create temporary links that can also be broken.

It isn't that large battles are disliked, quite to the contrary. My biggest problem with Lattice is that it completely dumbed down strategy. You're on a lane and once a territory is complete, you usually are just moving to the next. It creates artificial bottlenecks and ignores the terrain that used to be followed. There's little flanking or truncation of territory.

[Sledgecrushr]

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

It isn't that large battles are disliked, quite to the contrary. My biggest problem with Lattice is that it completely dumbed down strategy. You're on a lane and once a territory is complete, you usually are just moving to the next. It creates artificial bottlenecks and ignores the terrain that used to be followed. There's little flanking or truncation of territory.

I understand your point there boss. Grand movement strategy has been mostly broken by the lattice. But i have to say that our grand movement strategy mostly consisted of avoiding contact with the enemy. So instead of movement strategy we now have battlefield tactics. And personally I am much happier with this new setup than the old ghost capping we used to do.

[EVILPIG]

Originally Posted by Sledgecrushr

I understand your point there boss. Grand movement strategy has been mostly broken by the lattice. But i have to say that our grand movement strategy mostly consisted of avoiding contact with the enemy. So instead of movement strategy we now have battlefield tactics. And personally I am much happier with this new setup than the old ghost capping we used to do.

We never avoided conflict. We spread our forces across the front and swept. When part front became heavily engaged, we flanked and converged. It's funny to me that so many complained about how we operated. We'd have 300 soldiers across 10 territories. So unlike most any other outfit, which would have all 300 moshing 20 enemy on territory at a time.

[AuntLou]

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

Lattice is a love or hate mechanic. What if we had the best of both? How would you all feel about events where the Lattice drops and conts become purely adjacency?

An immediate example would be changing Territory alerts to adjacency. Thoughts or ideas?

I'm on board with this idea. Having variety in the game in anyway is a positive. I would keep it rare though, maybe put it on the list along w/ the alerts.

[Wahooo]

There are too many sub-bases and towers/outposts. The lattice as a concept isn't the issue it is the number of places tied to them. And as was pointed out the constant forced 3-way.

Hopefully the resource overhaul will also change a lot. I'm waiting on this. It is such a hard thing to balance, they end up being so important that a losing side just gets roflstomped with no way to recover or they are irrelevant. VERY hard to find the middle ground.

But I also have to agree that in a game that is supposed to be about large fights people complain about large fights. And limited tactics? As if the hex system had any sort of tactics to it. just run to an empty base and cap it, and move on... in an organized fashion... yeah we are a leet commando squad!. There are actually more tactics with this lattice than there were with the hexes, but yeah it has a LOT of room for improvement.

[GeoGnome]

I've always been of the opinion that the lattice's issues of limiting movement are easily resolved: A system by which you can add and subtract lattice links. You have the permanent links tied to gens or something that can be destroyed, you have temp links that can be set up with some kind of router like teleporter device. Issue solved, now you have mobility and lattice.

Conversely, the way to solve the issues with the hex involved fixing the community... preferably with a hammer. Even if people didn't INTEND to avoid fights, that is the way it shook out most of the time.

The best example I have, is one time I recall vividly on Amerish. The TR had pop, they were pushing north, there were enough people to form a full front... it looked good, and then the VS took a territory that had on line of the bottom most hex adjacent to One territory decidedly behind enemy lines, and most of the TR Missed it. 45 VS poured into an undefended base and spread out, so while the real intense fighting was happening at the front, 45 people from a distinguished outfit captured a base from me and 2 other people. When this happened, the TR had 4 territories that were undefended instantly start flashing. Every fight collapsed, because people had to fall back to deal with the issues happening behind the line now, because the VS were taking all the undefended territory. This isn't "Winning the battle", it was exploiting a link that most people missed in the VERY CENTER OF THE LINE. It's like that famous time in gettysburg where Robert E Lee noticed that there was a train track on which he could ferry his men directly to Washington DC and blow it up, even though it went straight through the heaviest fighting of the battle... oh wait, that never happened. That was more frustrating to me, than any meatgrinder I've had on the lattice.

The only time a defense was viable was when you were the last territory on the map, and when that is the case, your likely going to be outnumbered 10-1, so it doesn't matter, your boned. The hex only really worked to provide good fights right at prime time, whereas I can go home, hop on the lattice, and have a decent fight Right now, 9 hours off primetime for my server. It doesn't limit tactics, infact I see people trying to be More tactical now, and you still have to scout and figure out how to use your people...

[Sirisian]

I've mentioned this before, but the only issue I have with the lattice is not all current objective designs aren't built for it. That is there should be subobjectives around every objective. This gives players choices on what they can defend and what they can take. Currently some objectives are very linear which for the zerg means thoughtless tactics and strategy.

That being said I think the developers understand that already.

[fierce deity]

What if when a faction gets cut off from the warpgate the cut off territory reverts to using the hex system?