I'm going to keep this short but the main idea I see for defense is that there is nothing to gain while sitting at an empty base doing nothing. However, what I think might be reasonable is if we had some sort of a timed experience gain (ie everything 5 minutes) ONLY on hexes that are beside an enemy hex (excluding warpgates). The reason for it is because somebody who stays and defends is going to get less experience compared to the guy who runs off and fights up ahead. Both roles are very important for conquest, but right now assault is heavily favoured over defense which is what leads into the zergball. Within this reasoning, one can see it like a job: You are getting paid for defending a base (and one that matters). It will break up the zerg while also creating more equal battles because people will still want to attack, and people who defend will be able to do that. Some ideas against it is that people wouldn't do anything other than just sit in their bases racking up exp. What could be done to prevent this is if there isn't any enemy activity for over 30 (random number) minutes, exp gain starts dropping until it is nothing. Although, if this is problem, ultimately, the main issue is not with defense but rather it would show there is a lack of incentive to cap a base, which might lead to a more sophisticated meta-game. In any case, the goal with this is to split up the attacking force so it is easier to deal with, while also having more people willing to stay and defend a point. Feel free to discuss. =]
I agree something needs to be done, but how could you separate those who are just afk, farming certs and **** from those who are waiting to defend? Instead of having people sit around doing not much of anything at a base waiting for it to be attacked why not give us tools and allow us to prep a base? In yet another Planetside reference, a base that was next on the lattice link was always getting prepped with CE, minefields were being laid, pain fields were getting boosted, turrets were getting upgraded and armor was starting to gather to prep the assaulting forces from reaching the CY. Engineers can place three mines? Super! Triple the number and allow for minefields. Turrets aimed at the main avenue of approach? Fabulous! Now upgrade the **** outta them. And overall, more information on the map is always a good thing. Status of generators, status of hard spawn points, we need more data to make well informed decisions and since bases and outposts flip so damn quickly we need much more warning than what we've got if defense is going to be possible. EDIT: And Cerb turrets!
Yeah the afk player I imagine would be annoying but I imagine it probably wouldn't be worse than the tons of people who basically afk in sunderers/tank turrets as they steam roll the content. It would be pretty cool if we could set up some sort of base defense though like our own deployable forcefields or something. The only problem I can imagine with a mine field is that because you can switch your classes easily, a ton of people would start the battle off as an engineer and then switch after the gate has been breached past the bajillion mines lol.
Another thing is if they added more to do WHILE defending/on guard duty....Something as simple as a few scattered tables of poker to play with your squad buddies as you wait for an attack would probably help a lot lol.
I agree there definitely needs to be motivation to defend. I would happily spend time defending, sometimes I would like to pull guard duty and mellow out. But I don't think you should get any XP from just standing there. There is some sort of defense kill XP bonus when you are near objectives, how about extending that XP bonus all over the base, and maybe increasing the bonus?
You have a point, well multiple points really. I will say that even if everyone switches engineer, having a CE table a la Planetside can help act as a 'warning device' as to activity at a given base. If you have a bunch of mines and spitfires but they are getting taken out one by one then it's probably somebody ghost hacking the place. If you lose a whole bunch at once, it may be time to haul *** back there and see what's going on...all the while the attacking force has been slowed, albeit slightly, by the CE.
Some sort of upgradeable base defenses would be good, Motion sensors, more tank-traps, upgraded base turrets and so on. Could give some XP for the people upgrading them, the different upgrades could need certs to unlock. Bases where your faction has 100% influence should be unable to be upgraded, and perhaps the upgrades could degrade after a set time (unless battle has commenced).
Upgradeable bases would be nice but I think it would still lack the incentive for a large group of people to actually sit around and wait for an enemy strike. I think if there was only upgradeable bases, it would just be the few engineers who go around repairing things which would leave nothing for other people to do.
