Gameplay: Outfit Air Cruisers Redux

Baneblade · 2012-05-12, 08:06 PM

Original OP Text can be found here: http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...&postcount=294

Originally Posted by Baneblade

After experiencing the way PS2 feels and handles such things, I have revised my OAC idea. OACs can be spawned freely so long as the outfit resource pool is sufficient and the timer has been expended. Outfits will be given an outfit resource pool specific to them. Outfit Resources will not be based on performance or how many players you can zerg with, nor even how many BR 100s you can stack on a medic.

It takes 7 days to fill the pool to capacity from zero.

There are four base frames to work with: Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, and Battlecruiser. All of them have Outfit Spawns which feature no timers, are always available, and are accessible from any continent. OACs are altitude locked at 50% of flight ceiling. They have no ability to reduce or increase altitude. They are essentially water naval ships in the air in regards to navigation and combat.

OACs have their own ingame voice channels. OAC Commanders can also talk to each other over voice with either the general broadcast (enemies can talk to each other) or the faction broadcast. There are also chatbox analogs to those channels.

Once spawned, each OAC has a minimum activity timer that must be expired before it can be despawned with a 100% resource refund. That timer is 6 hours. If the timer is not expired, the OAC will not despawn and can be destroyed. Despawning an OAC is merely a mirror of the spawning process and requires the OAC to be at the spawning facility. Once the despawn is triggered, the OAC remains in the world for 15 minutes. It can be attacked and destroyed during those 15 minutes, but moving it or using its weapons or abilities cancels the despawn and restarts the 6 hour timer.

OAC Weapon systems are entirely designed to combat other OACs and thus eschew the ability to effectively combat smaller aircraft and have no ability to engage ground targets (OAC weapons are like AA turrets on ground vehicles and have no ability to aim lower than 0 degrees). OAC hardpoints are either fore or aft with 270 degree arcs centered on their orientation (broadsides will be common for all but the Frigate), they also only have 10 degrees of up vertical adjustment. OAC Weapons have limited ammo and must be resupplied, which can be done by parking over a friendly ammo tower and entering resupply mode. Resupply mode takes 300 seconds to completely rearm the ship from empty.

Frigates are the fastest OACs (50 kph straight line, 30 while turning) and can choose from two special abilities: Cloaking or Engine Overload. Cloaking works like all other cloaking systems in PS2, with one exception: The Frigate does double damage for 30 seconds after decloaking. EO is basically an afterburner and can add 20 kph to the Frigate's current speed for 5 seconds, reaching that +20 kph by the 5th second. Frigates have two fore hardpoints for weapons, are about the footprint of three Galaxies, and have two internal decks (Command and Crew). The Command Deck is small and cramped, with only space for the Commander and the two Gunners. The Crew deck is about the size of a Tower Spawn room featuring an equipment terminal and a dropship trooper hatch (essentially a down elevator to the ground). The Frigate has no outside deck access. The only way to board the Frigate is via spawning.

Destroyers are offensive specialists with solid speed (40/25 kph). The Destroyer special is Interdiction, a leeching effect that basically does to enemy OACs what a concussion grenade does to enemy infantry. It is an AOE ability that centers around the Destroyer. Being a short range ability (less than 500 m) it requires some effort and balls to pull off. Destroyers have three fore and one aft hardpoint and are about the footprint of five Galaxies. They have a larger command deck with windows. The crew deck is larger with windows. The Destroyer also has a small Flight Deck large enough to handle one Lib or a couple ESFs. The Flight Deck rearms/repairs aircraft.

The Cruiser is the backbone of an OAC Fleet, costing half what the Battlecruiser does, with respectable offense and defense. Speed however, is not on the agenda at only 30/20 kph). Weighing in at seven Galaxies worth of footprint, the Cruiser sports one of two specials: Ablative Armor or Retaliation. Ablative Armor enhances the Cruiser's natural armor to ignore most damage for a short amount of time and to repair some of it (think Fire Suppression mixed with Vanguard Shield). Retaliation quickens weapon rate of fire by 25% whenever the hull is below 75%. The Cruiser Command Deck is large and has access to an external flying bridge. The Crew Deck is spacious and has an observation lounge. The Flight Deck is large enough for a Galaxy and retains the rearm/repair feature.

The Battlecruiser is by far the pinnacle of OACs, footprinting at twelve Galaxies and being able to use both available specials at the same time, it is clearly the king of the skies. At 25/15 kph it is definitely the slowest king ever... except maybe Henry VIII. The BC features Shields and Aircraft Spawning. Shields are an always on ability that adds roughly 50% to the already impressive defense. Shields regenerate over time and protect the otherwise exposed Flight Deck while active. Shields must be fully drained of hp to be deactivated, and require 15 minutes to recharge before reactivating. Aircraft Spawning is done on the carrier-like Flight Deck, only ESFs and Liberators may be spawned. The Command Deck resembles a control tower and allows clear visibility of the skies around the BC. The Crew Deck adds a meeting room for outfits to gather together in. The BC has a Cargo Deck which allows it to load and unload ground vehicles with infantry style elevators. The Cargo Deck is protected by the hull of the OAC and is large enough to move five MBTs comfortably.

I'll edit a quote of this into the OP as an update.

Purple · 2012-05-12, 10:10 PM

It would totally ruin any air battles going on. i dont like this idea it just seems like gals could fill the rolls already. Gals are transport can most likely fit AA guns and are mobile spawn points. it just seems like the devs shouldn't spend time on. i would rather have buggys or that space race idea brought in.

i would however like to say its the most thought out airship idea i have seen so far.

Toppopia · 2012-05-12, 10:17 PM

It would be pretty cool to be defending a base and next minute look up and see a battleship fly over top, but i agree with thingy who posted above(About the space race idea, but there could be some balancing issues that would need to be addressed), i would rather see the space race idea, but this has been well thought out and presented in great detail, good idea but maybe a few years after launch.

IMMentat · 2012-05-12, 10:18 PM

In a word, YES!
Commonpool is fine, I'm not that fussy and ES stuff can be done with modules.

I want one. Actually I want 90 (10 per side per cont). They need numerical restrictions else the planet would be covered in flying fortresses. Also need a reliable method of letting outfits bid/bargin/vote/apply/lottery towards getting one of the available slots.

I suggest 1 hour slots normally, 30 mins during primetime, fixed resource fee for use (lowered during off-peak hours) plus whatever the upkeep and cost of purchase are. No more than 2 timeslots in a row for times where more than 10 outfits want one.

Reusable?
Upgradable?
Linked to outfit level?
Best method of attaining a timeslot?
(IMO a mix of 4 bid 4 lottery 2 Vote/random/opt-out feels ideal, all managed through the same screen by a specifically flagged outfit officer)

TBH 5 options seems overkill, 1-3 sizes plus modular upgrades would be plenty.

If i can remember where i put my other Mobile Fortress post, i'll re-link it here.

Baneblade · 2012-05-12, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by Purple

It would totally ruin any air battles going on.

No it wouldn't, if anything it would greatly enhance them.

i dont like this idea it just seems like gals could fill the rolls already.

The Galaxy does not fill the intended role at all.

i would however like to say its the most thought out airship idea i have seen so far.

Thanks, the old incarnations are floating around somewhere.

Originally Posted by IMMentat

They need numerical restrictions else the planet would be covered in flying fortresses. Also need a reliable method of letting outfits bid/bargin/vote/apply/lottery towards getting one of the available slots.

I agree with numerical restrictions, but not in the way you propose. I'd rather see an escalating cost of ownership, to the point that friendly AC owners might be tempted to destroy another friendly AC to keep costs down. Like maybe it is a soft cap of Air Cruiser Command Points:

Light = 1
Heavy = 2
Battle = 3

Your faction gets 10 free ACCP, but the upkeep cost increases drastically after 10 ACCP. Doubling every 5 ACCP.

10 ACCP = X
15 ACCP = 2x
20 ACCP = 4x

etc

So it might even be better to invest in Light Cruisers since more outfits will be able to use them without raising ACCP as much.

TBH 5 options seems overkill, 1-3 sizes plus modular upgrades would be plenty.

Six actually, I went with that many because it helps customization and forces specialization more, not to mention each upgrade level has added costs, helping to maintain a healthy price barrier. Many of the upgrades are purely stats and have no visual component, so development time won't be overboard.

Baneblade · 2012-05-16, 08:51 PM

This idea must be so awesome there is nothing left to post about.

Toppopia · 2012-05-16, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

This idea must be so awesome there is nothing left to post about.

Yeah... sure... lets go with that.

You could mention this idea on the thread about Hamma going to SOE so he could ask Higby what he thinks of the idea.

Artimus · 2012-05-16, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by Toppopia

Yeah... sure... lets go with that.

You could mention this idea on the thread about Hamma going to SOE so he could ask Higby what he thinks of the idea.

Or just outfit controlled bases in general.

Garem · 2012-05-16, 11:17 PM

I think you're spot on about this being the best way to introduce Outfit Bases.

Baneblade · 2012-05-16, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by Toppopia

Yeah... sure... lets go with that.

You could mention this idea on the thread about Hamma going to SOE so he could ask Higby what he thinks of the idea.

I did actually, but not sure he took it seriously

Raka Maru · 2012-05-16, 11:53 PM

Wonder if average joe could ever get one. If there are limits for per continent, even large outfits would not always be able to launch theirs.

Toppopia · 2012-05-17, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I did actually, but not sure he took it seriously

Edit the post so it says "I am 101 percent serious".

VelRa · 2012-05-17, 02:57 PM

I quite like this idea, much more than the idea of outfit bases.

In addition to access balconies, I think it's important for them to have something like a air vehicle pad, maybe two on battlecruisers. The outfit could transport one or two air vehicles, while any attackers would be able to land a Galaxy on them to anchor an assault.

I think the way to make them low in number is to make them obtrusively expensive and very destructible if caught out of position and subjected to a coordinated attack. For most outfits, they would be liabilities rather than assets.

Also I think they should have one very large cannon which can only shoot horizontal and so will not effect the ground conflict, but will light up the sky with a huge blast in cruiser vs. cruiser battles. Imagine the sky lighting up over the amp station in TB's Night Ops footage as two cruisers battle it out in the sky! Gives me the nerdchills.

Last but not least, to pilot one should require an intense amount of certification. Obviously not like the amount of time it takes to pilot a Titan in EVE, but nonetheless not something easily achievable.

Baneblade · 2012-05-17, 08:09 PM

The way I see it, if anything piloting one should be part of outfit advancement and specialization. And a player being able to control it, should be a matter of outfit hierarchy, not a per player grind.

Perhaps even have each Mark level of modules something you have to unlock as an outfit, it would also involve a lot of cost:benefit decisions on the part of the leadership.

VelRa · 2012-05-18, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

The way I see it, if anything piloting one should be part of outfit advancement and specialization. And a player being able to control it, should be a matter of outfit hierarchy, not a per player grind.

Perhaps even have each Mark level of modules something you have to unlock as an outfit, it would also involve a lot of cost:benefit decisions on the part of the leadership.

Yeah your option sounds better, upon reconsideration. Except for the fact that presumably a pure heavy assault player could pilot a behemoth of an aircraft equally as well as a pure galaxy pilot. But I'd be willing to sacrifice the immersion for the ease of gameplay.

And yeah maybe each Mark level requires an outfit cert, and purchasing the module each time you build or upgrade a ship requires resources.