News: New Esamir Bases

[Canaris]

Originally Posted by Figment

Combined arms doesn't mean you have to be able to combined arms camp spawnrooms.

QFT!

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by Methonius

I agree that aircraft will try to do this. IMO I think the shields should just be removed we have so much shit to counter air now just having more defensible bases is good enough. I know ppl will always bitch about getting bombed or something. But that's part of war and I actually enjoy getting out av weapons and trying to take down vehicles even while I'm fighting infantry at the same time.

Taking them completely out of the fight I don't agree with we already have bio labs for that. Also many other buildings for cover.

Another thing is those dome shields look super tacky and don't look like they belong.

the domeshields are a very uggly way of adressing an issue that is caused by the false decision to put the spawns into little containers in the open field.

is there really no way to put the spawnrooms somewhere else and make them defendable without stupid shields that give invincibility to one side?
implementing so many big shields that will mess with ground air balance for sure is a big mistake.

shield domes will be abused. we all know that gamers exploit anything that can be exploited. they will not help to avoid ground-farming, they will increase the amount of rocketpodspam to the ground even more.
so please don´t create workarounds for a problem that create even more problems and make it worse. instead change the fucking spawncontainers, put them underground or into the main buildings. just sealing off the whole bases from air (and vehicles) is a lazy approach. the bases need a complete rework, it makes no sense to try to keep the faulty design just because it looks so nice, and create uggla things around it, to make it work.

design the bases with the defensability in mind, THEN see if you can make this working base look a little better. not the other way round.

[Canaris]

Originally Posted by Shogun

the domeshields are a very uggly way of adressing an issue that is caused by the false decision to put the spawns into little containers in the open field.

is there really no way to put the spawnrooms somewhere else and make them defendable without stupid shields that give invincibility to one side?
implementing so many big shields that will mess with ground air balance for sure is a big mistake.

shield domes will be abused. we all know that gamers exploit anything that can be exploited. they will not help to avoid ground-farming, they will increase the amount of rocketpodspam to the ground even more.
so please don´t create workarounds for a problem that create even more problems and make it worse. instead change the fucking spawncontainers, put them underground or into the main buildings. just sealing off the whole bases from air (and vehicles) is a lazy approach. the bases need a complete rework, it makes no sense to try to keep the faulty design just because it looks so nice, and create uggla things around it, to make it work.

design the bases with the defensability in mind, THEN see if you can make this working base look a little better. not the other way round.

another good trick so we don't need shields everywhere is to have the bases with interconnecting large buildings on multiply levels with open and covered bridges, covered sky bridges leading out from the spawn rooms with lots of indoor space for infantry to fight over and I mean a lot more than we have now. Vehicles and planes can get you to the doors(or where the doors should be) but to take that base you need to roust out the defenders on the inside.

[Stanis]

Originally Posted by waldizzo

I'd like to see the dome shields be the amp station base benefit. Lose your amp station or get cut off? Lose your dome shields.

Would be a pretty big deal on par with losing tanks when losing a tech plant.

I like the idea in principle but that is a major advantage that acts as one of those - you're already winning now it just got easier - advantages.

Especially if they take the time to work on some infantry-centric gameplay and then really buff vehicles.

[PredatorFour]

I welcome the shield changes. Not because it protects infantry from air but the opposite. I get most of my scythe kills with the turbo laser ganking infantry and that isn't going to change when i can just fly through the shield and get kills.

It's only going to HELP me avoid the striker spam from the lock on republic as THEIR defensive weapons can't follow my tail pipe out through the shield. It's genius, thanks devs !

[Roxputin]

Originally Posted by Hmr85

Love it!! Finally these are the changes we have been waiting for. This should make for some amazing combat.

My head hurts from reading all the lattice posts on the PS2 forums. Hmr85 to the rescue.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

I welcome the shield changes. Not because it protects infantry from air but the opposite. I get most of my scythe kills with the turbo laser ganking infantry and that isn't going to change when i can just fly through the shield and get kills.

It's only going to HELP me avoid the striker spam from the lock on republic as THEIR defensive weapons can't follow my tail pipe out through the shield. It's genius, thanks devs !

that´s what i was talking about. the airspammers are already jumping in joy about this glorious godmode buff they will get with the shields if they are implemented the way we saw in friday night ops.
but most of them are smart enough to shut up about it to avoid a mindchange of the devs.

[Corvo]

As much as I would like them to implement a mechanic that promotes infantry play I have to say no to these changes. Putting a giant shield overhead is a horribly lazy way to do it. It could be cool I guess if they introduced it as a feature for a few bases on the continent, we could always use more variety, but placing them over all bases on all continents is just ridiculous, half the map will be covered with those.

And I don't really like the way they are redesigning Esamir. As a barren snowy wasteland with alien-looking peaks it had its charm. I would prefer them to redesign ground facilities so that they are more under the surface as if harsh conditions forced people to build there. And then maybe when they finally get down to it add some crazy snowstorms happening randomly, killing people and damaging vehicles, with maybe a 1-minute countdown to get into cover. Imagine three factions suddenly forced to fight for a limited number of shelters in the area and all vehicles wiped out completely. Now that they are adding trees and stuff it's clear all of this isn't going to happen.

[Figment]

I'd mostly like to simply see more underground facilities and better approach control. :/

[TotalEclipse]

Some of the bases look a little too cluttered but apart from that the changes look incredible, the last few patches have been perfect for Planetside.

[Phantomdestiny]

they could reuse their modular building structure to make bigger indoor outputs by just connecting the buildings together with interior or exterior tunnels . I wouldn't have an impact on frame rate maybe it would even increase it due to less players rendering indoors

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by Figment

I'd mostly like to simply see more underground facilities and better approach control. :/

Indeed, using tree and rocks instead of useless overly complex barrer structures is at least a step in the right direction though.

As I've stated elsewhere, the biggest issue with Facilities (and most Outpost now that I think about it) is that they're set-pieces, not functional FPS maps...
Most of what there is... is there to look good and nothing else...

It's a sad thought, but at the begining and somewhat right now, Air Towers are better designed in this regard then Major Facilities.

I must say though, some of those new Esamir Outpost builds are again moving in the right direction, with walls, floors, and ceilings built to purpose instead of prefab shacks littered about randomly.

[moosepoop]

i really like the old school walls. hope they introduce this to a lot of bases.

[Carbon Copied]

I don't know about anyone else but I kind of felt that when Lenny Gullo was chatting about his ideas and what he was doing around bases that he gave a more encouraging forecast than a few FNO's back when they had Corey Navage and his take on the level/base design. It's also good to achknowledge "we got it wrong" so I'm actually really encouraged after that sneak peek and reveal of the Esamir re-structure. I'm also happy that there will be another planned pass of Indar later on.

The bases themselves though - they actually dare I say it look like fortresses now which for that "installations in the Siberian style wasteland against the elements" feel I thought was a great step forward and I'm really looking forward to playtesting.
Dome shields do feel a cheap band aid solution to the spawn locations and also just to encourage infantry fighting areas. I'm not fully against vehicles domintating the outer "courtyard" in that scale tipping as there should be counter opputunities and vantage points to defenders to deny the area and take it back however overall vehicles are going to be a big part of the way you get in. You should however have these "infantry designated areas" feel more of a natural progression than what is effectively props creating road blocks (although these are good for some areas they shouldn't be the norm); using larger interiors of rooms and tunnels/corridors. I think the domes could work in certain areas on the smaller outposts but it shouldn't be a solution to every problem like on the main facilities.

[BlaxicanX]

I felt the same way when I saw the bases. I thought "these look like some god damn Gulags". Which is awesome. The high walls really add to the aesthetic.

When I first saw the dome-shields I was ecstatic. But, thinking about it now, I do think they're a little cheap in the way they're presented now.

I still want dome-shields in the game. But, I'd like them in on the condition that they can be shut down by infantry somehow. Either tie them to a base's SCU/generators, or have them be a benefit from owning a tech-plant. The first idea is self-explanatory, for the Tech-Plant, instead of having them be active everywhere so long as you own a single tech-plant, they should instead work in a localized area around a tech-plant. So if you own tech-plant X, all the bases within Y amount of hexes around the Tech-Plant have the dome-shields active. If you lose Tech-Plant X, those hexes lose their shields, but if you still have tech-plant Z than the hexes around Z are still active.