Change the Towers

Senyu · 2011-04-08, 11:02 PM

As fun as I have having a stalement of tower defence that lasts for an hour until 5 NC MAX's come in and wtfpwn with shotguns, the same tower design gets kinda boring.

Add in the Base Cosmetic Change thread I did to the towers as well, and also add tower variety.

Yes we have a tower and air tower, but more variety could be added. Say a pool of 5 different tower designs. They dont all have to have unqiue options like the air tower, but are just differently built. Would add more variety to the fights and its not to many to never know where things are. One tower type could have more of a bunker feel, this one branches out just a tad, random level and roof on the side of this one. Basically just more tower design options. Also one could be a vehicale repair tower for ground vehicals since theres an air. And a heavily turret fortified tower just for kicks now and then.

Thoughts?

Raymac · 2011-04-08, 11:16 PM

I'm incredibly excited to see the new base and tower designs. Fighting in the same stairway over and over again is something that I think we tolerate as opposed to really enjoying. The more variety the better, and I really like this idea of breaking it down even more to different varieties of a certain type of building.

Senyu · 2011-04-08, 11:19 PM

Definitly.

Hmm a list of tower types? Perhaps Normal, Fortified, Air, and Vehicale

And there would be 2-3 normal varities while 1 of each other type. The vehicale one I imagine a over hang on the side of the tower that reaches down. Making it look like an incredibly short tunnel or archway where the vehicales enter, park inside it, are repaired, and drive out. Kinda like a carwash on the side of the tower. With a small platform build in the side to see and a door heading in so you can go from vehicale pad straight into tower. And the fortified would be the one with more advance defences like more turrets

DviddLeff · 2011-04-09, 03:50 AM

I may have thought a little about this:

https://sites.google.com/site/planet...rrain-overhaul

Checkpoint "Towers" for bridge ends and choke points in the terrain:

Light Bases for connections to warp gates, only have a 5 minute hack timer:

Relay towers to connect bases, actually included on the lattice and are used to transmit NTUs and base benefits between bases; if these get taken down then a base is cut off:

Fortified ground towers, halfway between a light base and a standard tower:

Apologise for the crude models, I need to go back and render them properly at some point.

Peacemaker · 2011-04-09, 03:54 AM

stuff like this makes for epic wins

TRex · 2011-04-09, 03:59 AM

Some nice ideas there , I wouldn't worry about the renders , the idea is enough to put a spark in the devs that variety= spice of life .
I hope they incorporate things like this, and give xp and/or cep or whatever they will be using for capturing /defending them as well. Anything to spread combat over the entire map and allow even small outfits a niche to feel like they are doing something useful .

Senyu · 2011-04-09, 03:15 PM

Those are awesome. Really like the checkpoint one. Really hope the devs are seeing these for inspiration as said above.

FortunadoAE · 2011-04-09, 03:51 PM

Really like the renders! They're the perfect amount of work, actually-- might even look a little too good.

Checkpoint: This one I like the most. SO many battles in PS naturally formed at one end of a bridge. It'd be great to have a structure there. I'd say skip the NTU thing though and just make it a tower (even if it's not a "tower," that term should be dropped anyway).

Light Base: I like the design as a normal "tower" but I don't like the idea of putting it near a warp gate. I think SOE wanted to keep battles away from warp gates, since you had the protective field right there, and it just becomes a weird dance in and out of the bubble.

Relay towers: Cool design, but the lattice is already one of the most complicated systems in the game. I think it should be kept as simple as possible, and relays make it way more complicated.

Fortified tower: Another awesome design! I think the mini-courtyard would make for some interesting gameplay. A tank could alternate between patrolling and going into the courtyard to repair.

Senyu · 2011-04-09, 04:09 PM

I would also like to see one with shooting ports in it. Smiler to those at the front of the bases with the shooting slits.

Also another topic. What of upgrade choices. Should towers remain static and non-changing. Or should certain engineer certs be able to apply upgrades other than modified turrets. This could range to many options for upgrade choices and could have any limit such as how many active or the only last a duration.

Furret · 2011-04-09, 04:21 PM

I'm more concerned about the placement of the towers than whats actually inside them. As far as I'm concerned, the game's strategy should be this:

Pick your continents to gain benefits. (shields, modules, enemy tech)

Pick the bases to capture that give you the best mini benefits (tech/air/interlink)

Fight for the towers that give you the best attack vector into that base.

Platoon down to individual organization that isnt important for this thread.

So if they implement these new types of towers, they need to account for the terrain around the base the tower would be supporting/defending.

If the tower is close to a base, but there's a large mountain range or valley in the way, the tower type would be best suited to spawn small airships.

If the tower was across from a forest or swamp, it would be easily defendable by foot, but very vulnerable with armor.

If its across a small lake, make it good at spawning vehicles

Senyu · 2011-04-09, 08:18 PM

I like this. The environment should very much define the tower

Edfishy · 2011-04-09, 09:56 PM

Brilliant ideas.

Keep the renders simple, what you have definitely gets the point across. =D

Furret · 2011-04-09, 10:54 PM

The only question is whether the towers support attackers or defenders.

It would be difficult to do both.

Senyu · 2011-04-10, 03:32 AM

Originally Posted by Furret

The only question is whether the towers support attackers or defenders.

It would be difficult to do both.

Towers should be a defensive point in all aspects, even offense.

Towers are a point in which the owner has the advantage of the building in ether using it as a fortified and stable position in which to commence attacks from or to prevent the enemy from continuing past that point. They would behave pretty much like today's tower with more variety and less static stalemates (or i least hope)

CutterJohn · 2011-04-10, 10:03 AM

Towers I'd like to see..

Defense Tower. These are placed next to bases. They have a couple turrets on the side for tower defense, and one Big Ass turret up top that frightens children and makes grown men weep. The big turret cannot be killed, but it does have a minimum range, so it does not serve to directly protect the tower. It is a major obstacle attackers must clear before taking a base. After the base is taken, it supports the invasion.

Logistics Tower. This tower has air and vehicle repair pads, and is a non tech vehicle spawn point. These are most commonly located outside of warpgates, and in between bases with long distance lattice links

Watchtower. This tower has a massive radar installation capable of detecting units over a wide area, showing the location of enemy vehicles on the map(not minimap) as indistinct blobs. Cloaked vehicles are not shown. Aircraft are shown as a different color than ground units. Situated in a generally regular pattern providing coverage of most of the continent, though gaps do exist that can be exploited against enemies too reliant on it for intel.

Artillery tower. This tower has a massive artillery cannon attached that can be used to call down strikes by approved personnel. Not as devastating as OS, but still nasty. Generally only 1 or 2 per continent.

All towers are to be constructed with firing ports that will make it difficult for vehicles to camp the doors.

And a tower mechanic.. A sorta gen droppy gizmo. If a fight rages for too long at a tower, a decision can be made to disconnect it from the lattice. This disconnection requires the cooperation of 3 individuals hacking at outside terminals. When the tower is dry, it goes neutral, stopping spawns. An ant must be used to recharge it before it can be hacked. However, all tower functions will be offline for twenty minutes as it reboots itself.

You can end a tower fight quickly, but the sacrifice is you lose the rather large advantage the tower represents for a lengthy period of time.