Currently Construction is boring and doesnt make any good sense beside the Orbital Strike option, which is quite often used around a continent. The problem with the contruction is, that it can only be used in open fields, outside the "no deploy zones" and while on some continents many normal latticed bases are close together, there is no place to get a useful playerbase up and running. Means, playerbases and their extended contend have a very limited use on the "short living" continent gameplay until the continent locks (except Indar, which is playable quite long compared to others) So my suggestion is: Remove the No Deploy Zones and add the ability and option to extend the existing, latticed bases with construction material, within predefined rules (i.e.): (inspired by PS1) certain distances between PB structures and existing structures, similiar to the abandoned bases existing cortium silos within the bases, need to be filled to power auto repairs and certain terminals terminals that are only available when the silo is filled with cortium latticed links that only work above a certain cortium level in the silos PB walls that can reinforce and extend existing walls PB vehicle gates that can close the passages in Towers Flails and such, that work as defense for or attack against bases keep certain vehicle ways free of deployments, so vehicles can move, despite of foolish deployed stuff repair modules that affect also normal destructable stuff (terminals, turrets) structure shield modules that also affect on normal structure and that also shield entrances, but that can be overloaded under (very) heavy fire on the shield, when be placed inside a shielded structure (outside placed you can just destroy it....) hackable security terminal (at best close to the spawn room, to make defense for the defender easy, but when not actively defended, a hacker can access it and switch modules off - every module in the base gets a switch. Time to hack: 1-2 minutes, can only be hacked, when the base is free to conquer) The existing alarm module can also notice the hack and give warnings to close factioneers However, the list can be easily continued with a lot other things to make the contruction "really really" useful and "very very" satisfying (well using the "phrases" of the currently most popular twitter troll.... ) Currently its just boring... but that are only my 2 cents... Leave your suggestions here to make it better.
I don't really like construction as a whole. While sure it could be improved in a number of ways as far as I'm concerned flat out removing it would be the best option for the most people. PMBs are mostly just an annoyance or frustration, an obstacle firing OSes every 10 minutes.
Indeed, that too. I built a base yesterday on Esamir (the NE corner), that took me about 1 or 1.5 hours, so you could defend this area very well, because there is always an attack on that tower sooner or later, coming through the area of the base. Unfortunately my VS buddies, thought it would be better to be somewhere else, instead of defending the Tower by using the base as defense outpost, so the base got steamrolled by TR within 5-10 minutes. Well, at least the TR got delayed by that time and the VS could successfully defend the tower - nonetheless, a waste of time for me. Currently, the best base build, is just: Silo, OS, AI module - period. Takes a few minutes to build, or rebuild and its the only thing that is needed and works. Needs no time, no defense, just shoot the OS if possible or rebuild when destroyed. This game in its current form has no need for a properly built basedesign, that takes hours to build and minutes to be destroyed. If basebuilding isnt intergrated into the normal basedesign, then its useless beside the "temporary attack OS"-base
Just constructive criticism, but you might want to pull that in a bit. The game definitely has a need for bases that are decently constructed used in moderation. Even if your design is amazing, spending over an hour on setup - let alone an hour - is a sign of over-engineering. I don't disagree with your assessment but, in two strokes, I don't think the sort of integration you are discussing is the purpose the current PMB paradigm is designed to fill; and, I feel you are under-reaching with your "silo-module-OS" mantra. The reason you build a base is the reason the base exists. If preparing for the chance to later perform orbital strikes is the only thing you care about, then that's all you need to build. Other specific builds exist but will benefit from a different configuration and fortification mindset.
The setup time for bases is currently it's biggest limiting factor. It takes far too long to get a base up an running; by the time you've got your defenses in place and your OS is going up, the front lines will have shifted forward. Or the fight will have moved to another lattice. Or your base will have been steamrolled by an enemy armor blitz.
Building a base within an hour isnt the problem, but getting the necessary Cortium is, because I wasnt the only one collecting in this area and only 2k cortium piles were available. So make a quick calculation, how long it takes when 3 competing ANTs collecting at 2 places, when another moron thought it would be good to place an (undestructable) silo directly on the 3rd place, so the cortium doesnt pop up there... However, base building in its current form is extremely uneffective - just have a look at every continent map. 9 of 10 bases are at spots where they are never needed (well, a decision of the basebuilder, I know), taking away manpower and resources from the real fighting areas. And why is this way? Because it is NOT possible to build anything within "no deploay areas" - but there are the majorities of battles going - and the ONLY thing that is possible to attack within these areas are OS - not even a flail can shoot there. So the only really effective basebuilding, that makes its job, is to build an OS base - with minimum of resources, so it doesnt matter when it is destroyed pretty fast - everything else gets steamrolled or ignored (which is both very frustrting for the builder)
