Base Design Variety?

[Mechzz]

I confess to being a bit thrown by how open the current base design is compared to the first base we saw (see below). I also remember when jet packs were revealed thinking "wow! I would love to assault a base with those tall walls using these things!"

The latest base design, seen in TB's video, is entirely lacking in defensive walls. the big tower structures from the picture below have been preserved but the base itself is entirely open and the walls have effectively been replaced by jump pads.


The little boy in me loves the idea of attacking/defending an updated medieval castle with all the defenders lining the walls and getting gradually pushed back to the inner citadel. I would be disappointed to not have that in the game.

I'm pretty much on the fence about jump pads, at least as a one-off on a continent, but I'm interested to see how wide the spread of opinion is on the base design so I've tried to frame some questions to get a sense of the thinking.

I'm going to assume that no towers have walls, so my focus is on understanding what we want from the big bases (bio, tech and amp).

It also seems the new bases are big enough to need a lift to get upstairs, so I'll include that in the "with walls" option.

[Nick]

I think bases should have complete walls instead of jump pads. I think the main idea with jump pads is that players get back to the fight fast. There are already so many new mechanics that I think it's a bit overkill, especially considering there are several spawn points now in addition to the main spawn room. As long as these spawn points are dispersed appropriately, getting back to base defense will be quite quick. Also, it will reward defending your base's capture points.

When have you ever, while playing Planetside 1, thought running down the battlements took too long? I really think that jump pads will ruin the immersion of being in a massive siege.

I'm also concerned that indoor combat takes place in a series of small rooms now. Whatever happened to the Planetside 1 base design with massive interior areas underground? I think they should be there too. Who would build a base without some kind of underground bunker in it when your enemy has aircraft like Liberators and Galaxy Gunships? Please give us the best of both worlds. Fun interior and exterior base gameplay.

[Toppopia]

I would like to expect all bases to have walls? Because who designs a base with no walls? Thats like asking someone with the plague to give you a hug while you have open flesh wounds.

I hope that base is only like that for testing purposes or is a one off design, because i agree that defenders should be on an outer wall and slowly be pushed back to more walls and eventually into the massive buildings themselves with wide open areas and small areas, but it looks like defending is just wait till enemy walks through big gaping hole then shoot at them. Where is the defensive advantage?

[Immigrant]

Interesting topic. I would definitely love to see base walls in this game. Perhaps the base we saw is the lowest level base and hopefully when players invest some resources in it walls will get erected and defenses bolstered further. So I would like to see both walls and teleportations between distant friendly controlled parts of the base (no jump pads though - air should be reserved for aircrafts, LAs and local avian fauna imo).

Also when it comes to bases I would like to see destroyable base assets beside various turrets like thin walls so the attackers can punch through unguarded part of the wall with C4 or when tank shoots a hole through the wall.

[ringring]

I assume the DEVS first choice/thought was that bases would have walls.

Their second thought was that walls make base offence too difficult and defence too easy and removed them.

Then they thought that it was too hard to transit from one corner tower to another and added in the flippers.

On point 1 and I ambivalent and will trust the DEVS.

On point 2 I will trust the DEVS thinking as far as transit time is concerned my only quibble is:
a) the flippers look stupid
b) I don't want a fight to be like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with people flying though the air in an entirely unbelievable way. I accept we're going to have jet-pack troops, but even those must have cooldowns so that they aren't abused.


(ps regarding 'unbelievable' I know there has to be some suspension of disbelief but you can't push it too far)

[SuperMorto]

they could just put in smaller walls. I must say I like the idea of a full wall around my base!

[Figment]

Star fortress. We need some. Napoleon era got it right!


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naarden

Water, firing lines, fortifications, crossfires, you name it.

Taking this fort would be an epic siege and defense.

[Mechzz]

Originally Posted by ringring

I assume the DEVS first choice/thought was that bases would have walls.

Their second thought was that walls make base offence too difficult and defence too easy and removed them.

Then they thought that it was too hard to transit from one corner tower to another and added in the flippers.

That's interesting Ringring, I've had similar thoughts since I posted this. Imagine a series of "creative design" meetings where Higby, T-ray and the crew are reviewing the game and setting direction:

Day 1.
Higby: "Let's have jetpacks"
T-Ray: "OK, but we should take it off the VS Max to be fair"

Day 100:
Higby: "Having jetpacks makes it too easy to get over those huge walls we designed"
T-Ray "OK, so let's remove the walls and open things up"

Day 200:
Higby: "Well, it's more open, so these huge bases we built, I can't get from one side to the other before you've capped a control point"
T-Ray: "OK, let's add jump pads to speed it up"

So I think it's a logical progression from jetpacks to jump pads, through a series of decisions that went further from the starting point each time.

Interesting to see that no-one who has bothered to vote is in favour of only open designs but that most of us are open-minded enough to want at least one base that is open.

[LordReaver]

I don't think you really need walls, so much as potentially strong defensive positions.

[vampyro]

There should be walls around some bases deep into each factions territory. Close to their safe zone "warp gate" otherwise how the heck will they dig themselves out. In the middle of the cont is where they could put more open bases.

The jump pad doesnt belong in ps, just make routers built into each base that can be repaired or destroyed, or give that feature to a specific class. No need to make a router a vehicle.

[IMMentat]

I'm all in for diversity, some traditional PS1 bases like the amp station design plus some more open bases where the bse raised up off the ground and surrounded by killzones created by armed towers will keep things interesting.
I can't wait ot see some of the layouts and start making plans for attack and defence.

I will say that I hope there is some variety in how to cap a base. LLU runs were a but underwhelming in PS1 but at least an effort was made.

[Mechzz]

I like the idea of bases closer to a foothold having more defences and those in the central area of the continent having lighter defences.

Oh, and here's a thought. The original base has a big wide parapet. Wide enough to get at least a quad bike on.......

Oh, we need walls like that on at least some bases, please!

[Gonefshn]

Definitely walls on some bases! The old Planetside base walls were so much fun. And with this being a sequel there needs to be at least one base type that reminds us of that old style.

I'm all for changing it up though and definitely think that we should also have new bases without walls and all sorts of designs that are incredibly different from one another. They are doing a fantastic job of this already, I just hope some have the old school walls and courtyard.

[Graywolves]

I would really like to have a variety.


But with the jumppads I can't helpt but wonder if the spaces in between is actually useful and if this will lead to 20 people sitting on each platform. I'd prefer areas be made useful rather than skipped.

[Baneblade]

When I hear the words 'base design variety', I don't think about whether it has walls or not. It is all about layout.