If you want player bases to have some utility in this game, the least you could do would be to make them less of a liability. The first step towards that goal would be to remove the ability to hack player base structures. The ability to hack the infantry terminal in the bunker, for example, and pull unlimited cortium bombs that will demolish a base in no time at all, makes this structure a pure trap choice. The vehicle terminals are slightly less horrible, but they still present a hazard to the builder and his entire faction. If you keep the cortium level below 20K they can't be used to generate an enemy armor column, but as you have no way to prevent teammates from filling the silo this once again creates a situation where an action that should be unambiguously beneficial (and that rewards points as if it were) causes harm to one's team. Furthermore, a hacked player structure cannot be neutralized as rapidly as a static terminal. It has hundreds of times as much effective HP and there's unlikely to be an infantry terminal nearby to change class to infiltrator. The amount of manpower necessary to protect player structures from these hazards is prohibitive given the meager benefits player bases provide. The obvious solution is to simply disable the ability to hack player structures entirely.
lol. hell yeah brother. like whats the point of a bunker terminal, if I have to strap tnt to it everytime as the builder just so a ninja doesn't hack
Though I do kind of like the idea, I am pretty sure others would call foul if the hackability was removed. There are alternatives to make them less of a liability... sadly it requires something the Devs have shown not too have... A genuine effort to invest in making PMBs work. If a bunker could have upgrades applied too it, such as an internal painfield and shielded entrance from the same upgrade modulet, as well as an option too add a spawn too inside the bunker, the bunker would then become much like your typical spawn room at permanent bases, except its painfield only exist inside the building. That would allow for anti-hacking defense without causing the infiltrators to call foul. If the pain spires could be equipped with an upgrade that extends the pain field size by +10 meters, that would make it easier to defend the Air and Ground Terminals, as the infiltrator would have to crawl/walk/run a longer distance. Making a ground level version of both the Anti-inf and anti-air turrets would also help, as well as upgrade modulets that allow different turrets to do targeting cross overs, where an anti-tank and anti-air can also target infantry, but have to use up a limited available upgrade slots too choose from.
Cortium bombs should just be removed outright, the game wasn't missing them before they existed. That said, even before cortium bombs were a thing the bunker was still something of a noob trap, as MAXes could be pulled off of that console. That however at least required the attacker to risk something. As for being unhackable, I don't think I'd go that far, but I would make damage interrupt a hack for anything, not just PMB assets. This way anything in a pain field is unhackable until the pain field is removed.
exclude the infantry terminal from the bunker and make it its own deployable asset to be dropped in a tower or Pillbox for example or indeed withing the sunderer garage
How about this: AI modules now activate/deactivate terminals. If an ally comes nearby (say 25m, 2,5 Sunderer lengths) the terminal activates and can be interacted with, then deactivates if the player moves away. Now it can only be hacked when players are nearby, as long as its in range of an AI module. You can then extend something like that to regular bases. Imagine some fixed lite AI modules in regular bases. These modules would not aim and fire turrets, but can deactivate them so they cant be hacked until a player is nearby (or the module is destroyed by small-arms and explosives). The AI also activates and deactivates a range of other things in the base: jumppads, gravlifts, teleporters, door shields etc. Now you have a great secondary objective. Destroy the module to get easier access to the base (everything is activated and unlocked upon destruction of the module). It also means that a base can be a lot harder to attack until the AI modules are destroyed. You could wait at that jumppad or a shielded door until an enemy approaches and it lets you use it or move through, but the moment you kill that enemy you lock it again for any allies that follow. Creates some exciting gameplay where NOT killing an enemy could be a valuable strategy. Even add a utility lite AI module with limited range so players can fortify the base by locking down things that arent governed by the fixed AI modules. Or the attackers could place one and steal control as long as they keep their module alive...
