Who enjoys base defence?

gonnagetyou · 2003-10-03, 04:41 PM

Base defense is one of the things I take a personal interest in when playing. It's not a glamorous job, and the rewards versus the time invested sometimes don't equal, but hey someones got to do it. Holding a key facility, can sometimes make or break your factions advance. Lone hackers and generator destroyers are a constant nuisance nowadays and they can severly disrupt the best of plans.

I've gotten good at selecting bases that I know are prime targets for soloists and small 2-3 man teams. Hackers like to go after those bases away from the main zerg, but still hackable on the other side of the continent. Or they like to get ahead of their forces and do some recon or set up in the CC and wait for a friendly link. Generator destroyers really love to hit Techplants and then any other base that may be an easy target.

Just take some time to watch the map and keep track of the enemies movements. You'll soon get a feel for what kind of players are out there and just how organised they are. You can then make some good logical guesses as to what they intend to do and where.

My favorite Certs and Implants for defense are as follows (speaking as a Vanu): Lightning, Combat Engineering, Medium Assault, Special Assault, Surge, Audio Amp and Darklight.

When I select a base I first set up deployables. Where I put them and why all depends on the circumstances and is a class unto itself. Hopefully you will have the advantage of having an Interlink Facility with the advanced radar, but if not, use every motion sensor you have and make sure you have good coverage. The next step is to grab a Lightning and then monitor the minimap. Be sure to occasionally check the main map to keep track of base/tower caps. Patrol the area in the Lightning and if you see a red blimp moving in, then do what ever it takes to surprise them. Troops on foot are easy meat for a Lightning if you have the advantage of knowing where the enemy is. Vehicles are trickier. I tend to try and lead them into a minefield, or I use the base walls as cover and do hit and runs on them. If it's a solo Reaver or Mosquito, I'll sometimes hold back out of sight and let the pilot land.

Once an enemy gets inside the base it is very important that you know the layout of the base better than they do. I will usually switch over to a sweeper, agile + surge combo and attack them from behind. Never go head to head if possible. Take your time to get behind them. I'll even sometimes follow them if I know they'll have to pull a REK out soon. Once they do that, they're mine.

I love the suspense of waiting in ambush for people. Done properly, one man is all it takes to defend a base from the soloist and small squads that like to operate behind your lines. With the next balance adjustments (more BEP for kills in friendly SOI) + Core Combat base inhancers like Pain Modules, I think base defense will get a lot more interesting and more worthwhile for someone with the interest to do so.

Kikinchikin · 2003-10-03, 04:43 PM

I'm like you. Now that i've experienced huge 50 man outfit ops and 150 man multi outfit ops, fought in numerous zergs, participated in massive takeovers blah blah etc, I find I dont really enjoy the big battles as much as I do small tactical battles and holding bases, either one on one 2 on 1 or as large as a squad versus squad. It's really fun and u can really showcase ur skills especially when defending. Sure it doesnt pay out the xp, but since im br 20 i dont care about that newayz. It's fun to try new things such as putting a boomer in a certain place, trying different ambushes/hiding spots etc. So yes I will gladly defend if asked to.

Rbstr · 2003-10-03, 04:51 PM

As a commander i feel the best part of the game is defending bases with a good squad and holding it even though they enemy has far supirior numbers. even if you lose it's still very fun

TheRagingGerbil · 2003-10-03, 04:52 PM

I love defense. Last night my squad and I defended Orisha for almost two hours against a steady flow of VS. It was great, a squad of VS would attack, we would hold them off till they got bored and left...then the next squad would come.

At one point last night, we jacked two Magriders. We armed the guns and proceeded to smear VS all over the roads for the next hour. I had never ridden in a Mag until then, and man was it fun. I had this Jack Nicholas (Joker style) smile going the entire time. At one point I think I started felling sorry for them, but not really. I now truly understand why the VS use the Mag so much. My driver was an accomplished Vanny driver so he picked up the Mag very quickly. The rail gun took some getting use to, but I got pretty proficient at picking the poor purple guys off the tower in 3 to 4 shots.

DoomWarrior · 2003-10-03, 06:16 PM

i like defending base alost, i would use my misquito to fly me on top of the base with my Bolt Driver and watch the entrance and walls for enemies and kill then, most enemies cant usually find me cause i blue up my jet and let it degrade long before the enemy attacks leaving me free to shoot them until they send the reavers.

NNY · 2003-10-04, 03:38 AM

when is the 25% bost in Xp for defending is coming online that will get more ppl to stay to defend

i have seen too many Xp whores leave a cont. when the battle shift from offence to defense because they dont like dieing alot for littel to no Xp.

Jagd · 2003-10-04, 11:04 AM

They're not XP whores, they're just new so they need to get some certs under their belts. Sheesh, I'm sure you were the same way till at least BR12.

Oh, and the XP changes (which are a part of the balance pass) are on the test server as we speak, so it ought to only be a week or two until they go live on the main servers.