Hopefully. We can still explore the possibilities, though. Share some ideas... see what comes of it. I've seen forum discussions lead to new game features before. Hell, I've had more than one of my ideas make it into a game. Devs do notice this stuff. Regardless, hashing out ideas for game design is fun. Now... if this thread can get less irrelevant hairsplitting and more creative contributions, we'll be back on track.
I know that it getting rid of all the waypoints would probably only frustrate people, but there has to be something that would make it worth protecting the squad or platoon leader with your life. Maybe having certain perks unlockable for squad leaders for a couple hundred certs would make something like that possible. Killing the squad leader would then disable those perks for 2-3 minutes or so. Should not be something game-changing, but like having a small amount of HP regen while near the leader, or a bonus in point capping speed. Such things would make it worth assassinating a leader while not making it too much of a deal. It should be something that would make the leader slightly more important than any of the regular soldiers, so that infiltrators could maybe get missions from someone with the appropriate certs in leadership to assassinate a leader from the opposing faction. It would make the infiltrators more useful as well as giving it the ability to scare opponents with it's presence (although not too much) as the devs wanted it to be (if I understood them correctly, that is) like for the infiltrators.
I like the idea but i don't see how the SL death would affect the squad... they probably are on TS3, and if the SL dies the squad is like...meh...who cares, he'll get back here in 1 min.
Which is why we want changes to that. If killing the leader would get rid of some kind of perk for some time it would actually be worth protecting the leader with your life, or as the opposing faction make him a high-value target. A leader should be someone you want to keep alive in any way possible, which is what we are suggesting.
AoE Platoon Regen/capping bonuses are in the right direction but not still the right thing. It has to be something different. But what? Bonuses for ability/tool efficiency?
It's a tricky thing to balance. Whatever benefit the leader offers his/her platoon needs to be good enough to matter when it's temporarily disabled, yet not so good that it significantly handicaps the platoon. Perhaps, the bonus for assassinating a leader could be given to the infiltrator's platoon. Free exp for everyone in the platoon... or a buff to exp gain for a few minutes... or... ? Offering a reward to the assassin's platoon would be another way to encourage infiltrators to not lonewolf. Who wouldn't want to be a hero for achieving a goal that gives a sweet benefit to allies?
To clarify, I'm suggesting that the assassin's (infiltrator) platoon gets a benefit instead of the victim's (PL) platoon being penalized. This seems like a safer way to do it. As for what the benefit could be, I think something to do with exp makes sense. Say... for the next minute, everyone in the platoon gets 25% more exp for kills.
Giving everyone in the assassin's platoon a bonus would be something to make infiltrators more useful in squads or platoons, but it would not achieve the goal of making leaders be someone you want to protect. It is a good idea though, I will have to give you that.
Reasons to whack a leader are easy to see, but reasons to protect one are not so clear. There could still be something for the PL's platoon to lose. What that could be is much harder to figure out, though. We need to know what special abilities the devs intend to give to the PL. Protecting your leader could be an interesting and fun scenario; however, it could also end up being problematic. What if the leader is terrible at survival? What if no one is willing to guard the leader? Ya... it all comes down to what features are added to the PL role. Assassinations can still work, but they'd be much better if the targets team had something to lose from it.
Simple, if no-one is willing to defend the leader that means that when the squad leader dies it's their fault. Also if the squad leader is bad at survival you can ask if someone else can maybe get lead or it gives you an extra reason to protect the leader. And if the perk were to be positive that would mean that it would not be as big of a penalty if you were to lose it, since we currently do not have any of those perks and are doing just fine. It's more something that stimulates defending the leader. Also having to defend the leader also brings this kind of sense of fear of death. As the game is now (also a problem in many other games) death is not really a penalty. You can just respawn and it does not have any effect whatsoever except for the fact that it resets your position. A mechanic similar to this would at least give the leader a fear of death, for it penalizes the whole squad. Also people will want to stay alive since when everyone is dead it makes the leader an extremely easy target. Also this would make the squad stick together more which would again, make the game feel more natural. Why are you in a squad if you are scattered around Auraxis? A squad should be a group of people assaulting a base together. Not random people everywhere on Auraxis which decided to form a group. This would also make a group of people choose their leader more wisely. Right now it is just the person who volunteers for it first, but with such a mechanic in place a squad would preferably choose a person who is good at surviving, and the person who then gets leader has to choose his class wisely, since not every class is good at surviving. This could open many doors for the infiltrator. It would make it a team player, as well as a high priority target for counter-snipers. The infiltrator could specialize itself in another path, that of assassinating leaders. It would add more depth to playing the infiltrator. It would essentially make the sniper half of the infiltrator more wanted in squads, since it can disable a bonus for enemy squads and platoons.
Enemy leaders are punished enough having to try to lead with the horrible PL and SL tools. I die far more as SL than a squad member. Why make leading in a game that requires good leadership for anything but zerging more difficult so you can feel special as an infil?
Joer, read the whole thread. We discussed why. There's more to it than just punishing leaders. The feature hangs on leaders getting more abilities.
Qui17, I can see how defending a leader would be engaging and fun. But, would it be the same for a leader to hang in the back avoiding confrontation? Mind you, leaders wouldn't always have a price on their head. They'd only become a target in specified areas, after a radar tower has been activated by the enemy. So, it shouldn't be too much of a burden. Still, what does a leader do when they're being hunted? Ignore it? Hide? Or, just tread more carefully? Hiding would be boring, unless the leader could use the time to direct troops... When leading, I often have to find a safe place to duck into and look at my map. I've unlocked all the Squad Leader certs, and I like to stay on top things. I'm studying enemy activity, territory control, placing smoke markers and faction wide signals, keeping waypoints current and kicking dumbasses who are wandering off on their own. It's a chore, although entirely necessary for my platoon to be successful. I just wish that I had more and better tools for directing my people. I'd love to see some RTS elements added to the leader role. How cool would it be to pop into a command map and be able to micromanage every unit (if I needed to)? Or... observe what every platoon-mate is currently seeing, by remoting into their headcams. Anyway... the platoon leader needs something better to do if he/she is to avoid confrontation and/or require personal defenders. Otherwise, it's gonna really suck to be a PL. Being hunted by certain rival players sounds thrilling. Sure, it would make the PL job that much harder... but I bet most players would be cool with it so long as the tradeoff was worth the extra threat.
For this to work, leaders should be more meaningful. As it is now, theres no point in assassinating a leader, as it will simply deter him for a few seconds and nothing more.
When a leader is getting hunted, he should not have anything to fear when he has a squad protecting him. If he does not have that, however, infiltrators do become a threat to him. If he moves carefully though he can avoid enemy infiltrators trying to snipe him. Keep in mind that this bonus would probably be best if it were only to be for infiltrators, since they are basically the assassins in the game, so it's not that big of a threat to any leader who actually thinks about their path. Any smart leader would not have to fear infiltrators as long as he also has a good squad to protect him. Also, I do agree with RTS elements or something being added to the leader role. Best would probably be being able to see other player's screens. Being able to see the screen of another squad leader in your platoon would be very helpful for coordinating attacks with clanmates.
a few ideas: leaders get painted however, The radio tower is a good idea, something to control. The only way to know if your leader is in any danger is by proximity to a controlled tower. my idea is harsh. when the PL or SL gets killed by the sniper the squad disbands. I think that would definitely make the squad be paranoid enough to protect him no matter the cost. If that's too harsh then when the leader gets assassinated, the leader position is now no longer attached to the player who got assassinated, no notification to the squad, he just simply drops out of mic range until he can spawn back in and let the squad know what was going on. When he spawns back the ex leader gets to nominate a new squad leader. The ex leader is now on cooldown to be the leader of a squad. Huge EXP bonus for the INF. I think INF's shouldn't automatically see the leader unless they opt into the mission. I'd love to see this kind of thing be a player generated mission like those proposed in the roadwork.
Disbanding the leader's PLT would be absolutely disastrous. The only people who would like a penalty that severe are griefers and keyboard manufacturers ('cause folks would be replacing their smashed ones). Sorry, man. No way in hell can you hurt a platoon that much. The penalty for being assassinated MUST be minor. It shouldn't take away anything from a PLT that is already in place. The best approach, IMO, is to give PLs a small buff, which applies to their platoon-mates, and then temporarily disable it. Nothing major. Just enough to make a platoon care about the safety of their leader. But, no big tears if the leader does get whacked. Another approach: What if... the availability of a platoon leader's new special abilities - such as orbital strikes and whatnot - were dependent upon a power meter? A meter that slowly filled until it maxed out and allowed the PL to activate his/her special ability. The rate that this meter filled could be fixed... or, possibly, it could be increased by platoon-mates completing missions. Now, to decrease or temporarily pause the rate, an enemy infiltrator could come along and assassinate the PL.
Here's a punishing idea I had for killing a PL, everyone in the platoon loses 3 certs! Killing a SL, everyone in the squad loses 1 cert. But, there has to be a way to control the kill count. It can't be that an infiltrator is going for a PL, then some random liberator flies overhead a squashes him with a dalton, entire platoon loses 3 certs!
The hardcore player in me is all for harsh penalties like that, but it would NEVER fly with pugs (ie the majority) HEY.... I just thought of something. There are other leader types to factor into this new system: Outfit Leaders OLs can be in charge of multiple platoons. Wouldn't it be awesome to get an extra special reward for killing TotalBiscuit... or DVSDelrith... or BuzzCutPsycho (cough)? There could be some sort for of broadcast to the assassins' faction when it happens. Everyone within the same region would get an audio announcement accompanied with the victim's name in text somewhere on their hud. "(Name) has assassinated (Tag) (Name)`` This would also require that the devs build something into the game`s outfit manager which lets outfits manually establish who their acting OL is.
