What if: the seamless world.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Sifer2

Hitting a zone wall in the ocean an being refused entry due to pop cap would actually be less immersing than the gate not working though. Unless it was like you could pick any nearby continent to travel to.

There are a couple of methods of handling population control without actually saying the section of the planet has too many people in it already, please go away.

There could be a mechanism dealing with fuel. You have to stop at a fuel depot and get a charged battery to cross the ocean (playing off the current PS mechanic of no energy out there) and if the continent is already full, simply have the depot not give any batteries. Make it a soft cap though. As in if you make the soft cap at 500 per empire, make that the point at which batteries are no longer available, but provide a buffer of say 50 allowing for passengers and logins who skirt that. Once the hard cap is reached, throw in mechanical issues etc that provide a more immersive reason to not be able to make it.

[DviddLeff]

Thought I would bump this thread as since the producers letter and the way they keep banging on about the massive aspect, I keep thinking:

"what if they actually do have a massive, WWIIO style world?"

You are looking at whole new levels of strategy for PS players, something which I would be happy to see.

[Mightymouser]

Originally Posted by I SandRock

Which to me seemed to suggest there was no difference between how the system functions now (individual isolated zones) as it would in your suggestion except there is no loading screen, you travel across water while the zone loads.

I think the primary difference would be that, instead of having a guaranteed location where everyone knows you must enter a continent from you can instead attack (or come to defend) from anywhere along the coast of a continent. Of course the lattice would still limit which bases you can actually hack, though; somewhat reducing the impact of this...

Personally, even if a "seamless" world was put in place (in any fashion) the Warp Gates should remain in place. They are a very useful concept for moving forces across a 'Massive' landscape; and removing them would be a step backwards in my opinion...

[otomotopia]

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

Thought I would bump this thread as since the producers letter and the way they keep banging on about the massive aspect, I keep thinking:

"what if they actually do have a massive, WWIIO style world?"

You are looking at whole new levels of strategy for PS players, something which I would be happy to see.

This is what I was trying to get at. The lattice system would automatically create a front-based war, and the front itself is always shifting. If we had a world geography similar to ours, with multiple massive island continents and smaller islands that could be used for a form of a fuel mechanic, It'd be like what Planetside did for FPS's- taken it to the next level. If vehicles needed to top up on NTU, it'd be excellent for this idea. Mind you, I don't want this to be a hindrance in land combat, but rather something that would need to be payed attention to for truly long distances. Setting limits on population would be the major issue, or at least a way to split the population so that there can't be a massive, full pop push against one faction.


Adding naval power would serve to make this idea even better. Maybe outfits could be the only ones to build/buy some form of massive support ship used to attack across the sea instead of island hopping? One that would have naval, air, and land vehicle spawn points, defenses and such? Have it carry a resource silo that is very slowly depleted as it moves, and more as things are spawned? That way the viruses and NTU drains become much more effective and can take out this mobile threat. Give a ton of BEP for destroying it, but make it heavily armored so that it takes a concentrated effort to kill it. Have it be able to accept NTU from an ANT-like source, so a possible attack strategy would be a stealthy NTU drain and keeping the NTU replacement sources away.

[Heaven]

I think your onto something here with the seamless world idea, I just find it hard to imagine a planetside game without any kind of sanctuary or safe zone, as what happens if you have never played the game before you log on and you your empire has no bases or any where for your team to spawn, I think the game needs to implement some kind of idea that there does need to be safe zones maybe some big outpost where we can respawn and equip, and an outpost that yes is kind of a sancuary/safe zone but it takes no loading time as you could just walk, fly, or drive into it, sorry for my example but you know like a city in WoW, just walk on it equip spawn new vehicles etc... I think the outpost would have to have a forcefield or something like that so they cant be taken over, because if theres nowhere to spawn when you 1st log in then your going to be stuck plus for new players that have no clue about the game their going to want to have somewhere to figure things out, I think the outpost would have to be pretty big as they would need to be able to support 100s of players at once, I just cant see the game having nowhere for your empire to just chill for a few minutes and plan an attack and load up galaxys etc, but im just having a stab at what they could do if the game did turn out to be a big seamless world.

[Baneblade]

All Sanc actually has to be is a large base with a force dome on an island.

[otomotopia]

Originally Posted by Heaven

I think your onto something here with the seamless world idea, I just find it hard to imagine a planetside game without any kind of sanctuary or safe zone, as what happens if you have never played the game before you log on and you your empire has no bases or any where for your team to spawn, I think the game needs to implement some kind of idea that there does need to be safe zones maybe some big outpost where we can respawn and equip, and an outpost that yes is kind of a sancuary/safe zone but it takes no loading time as you could just walk, fly, or drive into it, sorry for my example but you know like a city in WoW, just walk on it equip spawn new vehicles etc... I think the outpost would have to have a forcefield or something like that so they cant be taken over, because if theres nowhere to spawn when you 1st log in then your going to be stuck plus for new players that have no clue about the game their going to want to have somewhere to figure things out, I think the outpost would have to be pretty big as they would need to be able to support 100s of players at once, I just cant see the game having nowhere for your empire to just chill for a few minutes and plan an attack and load up galaxys etc, but im just having a stab at what they could do if the game did turn out to be a big seamless world.

I was thinking if the sancs were large island-like territories with massive defense networks, it would work well. Utilizing a large network of sea-based/floating automated turrets would provide a massive deterrent that would be impossible to penetrate. The sanctuaries themselves do not necessarily have to be on the battlefield, they could be off-map. Or they could be located in one hub area with sectioned staging areas. Maybe even add a structured 30 v 30 platoon firefight for outfits, complete with tournament events? That would give outfits something to brag about-throw in extra BEP for winners and some cool flair, it'd be golden. I am thinking somewhat like what Global Agenda did with their Dome City. But with the open-world persistent war we know and love, it'd just be a substitution for the current sanctuary system.

The sancs and persistent battle map should have separation, but they should also have the ability to drop in via a HART-like system. Maybe even add the ablility to HART in the entire outfit's army at a distance away from the battlefield?


WWIIoL did an excellent job of having a persistent campaign in an open world, and I'd love to see Planetside shamelessly build off of that base.

[otomotopia]

Originally Posted by Heaven

I think your onto something here with the seamless world idea, I just find it hard to imagine a planetside game without any kind of sanctuary or safe zone, as what happens if you have never played the game before you log on and you your empire has no bases or any where for your team to spawn, I think the game needs to implement some kind of idea that there does need to be safe zones maybe some big outpost where we can respawn and equip, and an outpost that yes is kind of a sancuary/safe zone but it takes no loading time as you could just walk, fly, or drive into it, sorry for my example but you know like a city in WoW, just walk on it equip spawn new vehicles etc... I think the outpost would have to have a forcefield or something like that so they cant be taken over, because if theres nowhere to spawn when you 1st log in then your going to be stuck plus for new players that have no clue about the game their going to want to have somewhere to figure things out, I think the outpost would have to be pretty big as they would need to be able to support 100s of players at once, I just cant see the game having nowhere for your empire to just chill for a few minutes and plan an attack and load up galaxys etc, but im just having a stab at what they could do if the game did turn out to be a big seamless world.

The sanctuaries themselves do not necessarily have to be on the battlefield, they could be off-map.


I was thinking if the sancs were large island-like territories with massive defense networks, it would work well. Utilizing a large network of sea-based/floating automated turrets would provide a massive deterrent that would be impossible to penetrate. Maybe, to capture a sanctuary, an enemy must cut off the power to the defense network by capturing special generator facilities, and then capture (if naval combat was included, oh God please let it be included) a naval base and air base to launch an invasion force. The attackers would need to get close enough to use naval and air bombardment, and then launch a ground force to capture one of the three main HART compounds, and then the other two.


Or they could be located in one hub area with sectioned staging areas. Maybe even add a structured 30 v 30 platoon firefight for outfits, complete with tournament events? That would give outfits something to brag about-throw in extra BEP for winners and some cool flair, it'd be golden. I am thinking somewhat like what Global Agenda did with their Dome City. But with the open-world persistent war we know and love, it'd just be a substitution for the current sanctuary system.

The sancs and persistent battle map should have separation, but they should also have the ability to drop in via a HART-like system. Maybe even add the ablility to HART in the entire outfit's army at a distance away from the battlefield?


WWIIoL did an excellent job of having a persistent campaign in an open world, and I'd love to see Planetside shamelessly build off of that base.

[Furret]

Yes, i resorted to paint.

Basically, you stick with the separate zones for each continent, but you allow people to enter the continent from different sides instead of only from the warpgates.

HC stands for Home Continent

The pink arrows are a possible attack plan involving multiple flanks

The gray area is not on the map, and nobody can travel there. The sanctuaries could still have a warpgate to the neutral continent nearest them to allow players to travel from sanc to battlefield quicker instead of having to fly across multiple continents (although it would be more realistic).

[Nephilimuk]

single shard one world - events and actions define strategy - devs just provide the world the rule and all the mechanics everything is in the domain of the players.

That would be epic but tough to deliver - still can you imagine the stories which will be generated.

[otomotopia]

Originally Posted by Nephilimuk

single shard one world - events and actions define strategy - devs just provide the world the rule and all the mechanics everything is in the domain of the players.

That would be epic but tough to deliver - still can you imagine the stories which will be generated.

That's why I love the possibilities this idea can generate.

I still remember the battle stories from Planetside... but I remember the entire campaign from WWIIoL because it had a developed strategic element that Planetside lacked. Planetside's grand strategy became pre-programmed. But WWIIoL was different- I remember when the Axis created a virtual Battle of the Bulge just because it happened like that, but it happened 100 miles east of Bastonge in the 'Summer of 1943,' and then they won handily by using their other assets to the north and south to create two pockets of allied resistance rather then one axis bulge. I remember that the northern advance was pinned down by the Allies' top sniper and small tank contingent. The supreme command sent an AT platoon asset to deal with it, but the sniper pinned us down. I volunteered to grab a kit from well behind the lines and hoof it up to the advance point so we wouldn't fail- the allies were already starting to out flank our flanking maneuver. It took me 25 minutes to get there, and then to maneuver into a great sniping spot. I killed him, we advanced, and we hit Paris the next day.

It was a great game, and to remember the maneuvers that GOT us to the action rather then just the action is really, really cool to me.