Check me on this.. Last night I came across a base that been capped and left destroyed.. every generator, every turret. So I went cert farming. Got all the generators back up, and started working on the turrets.. and had a thought.. So I repaired every turret to just before its last tick. Until that last tick is repaired, opposing forces can't damage it, so can't get any xp off it. If there's no defense force, the opposing force breaks in and gets xp for taking down the generators and the capture. If they stay to repair, all they get xp for is the generators and the last tick on the turrets. If our forces decide to defend, all it takes is one repair tick to make a turret functional. And if they destroy an active one, hop out and repair the last tick on the one next to it.. So, is this an *** move, or possibly a new best practice for engineers?
A clever idea I'll grant you. Especially when considering the xp denial in the scenario where you abandon the place where an attacking force would usually slaughter each of the defensive placements before capture as well. However, the term 'readiness' comes to mind when imaging why this isn't a great idea. If you were in the same situation you described where you repaired everything, but your faction decided to defend instead, what happens? You run around trying to repair the last tick on everything. This might take you 2-3 minutes for even the smallest of defensive posts for just running/travel time. 15-20 minutes for the large bases like an amp station. I imagine in your mind's eye you see engineers at the ready nearby all almost-repaired turrets capable of getting the bases defenses back online quickly, but in reality that probably wouldn't happen efficiently. Instead, you have a whole bunch of non-engineers running for their lives under bombardment from armor and aircraft who could be manning turrets instead if they were fully repaired (that is, should be manning in an ideal world; not this current one where 2/3 of all base turrets never see a shot fired during a defense). I just think having active turrets for when us engineers aren't around is probably more beneficial than the xp we can potentially deny enemies. Because, ya know, engineers just aren't always that reliable :/
I considered this.. As you noted, this is only useful to Engies.. So who uses turrets? Infiltrators? nope - they're sniping or stealthing Light Assault? nope - they're hopping out and planting C4 Heavy Assault? Nope - missile launchers Medics? nope - healing heavies or self healing kamikaze Maxes.. nevermind... I rarely see anyone but engies using turrets. First, becuase they can repair them, secondly becuase every other class has better combat abilities than sitting in a turrent. Since engies are usually the first to run to the walls for a turret, there's not much need to repair every turret - usually the only manned turrets have engies. 9 times out of 10, when defending, by the time our unit gets to the wall, the turrets are all destroyed and require full repair before use anyway, And while I'm in one turret, the enemy is busy taking out all the other turrets on the wall anyway cause they're unmanned. Except for the Tech Plants, I rarely see anyone else manning the wall turrets. So what's the point in leaving a fully repaired turret that will just get destroyed before use, when I can leave a 99% repaired turret that can't be harmed, prepped and waiting. I'm not advocating this as an ideal.. as you noted, ideally everyone should be manning a turret with a couple engies keeping them repaired. But from a 'gaming the game' perspective, best practices are often counterintuitive.. like how the AP turret makes a better shield than weapon.
nice idea, but.... we could try it. In most Turrents are afk players i think. You can go in and out fast. So against Air, i stay as Engineer in a Turrent. _I_ hit with it much better as with AA Max. I repair much, so Medics and Infiltrators take Towers to. Versus Tanks, my AV Turrent is better, or me as an Engineer and other HA have other choices to bring Tanks down. Stations Turrents shoot outside of the Station (there were some that can shoot inside, but i think they are gone with an update). Anti Air Guntower can shoot around. If you think it is a good idea to hack a Tower, then take the Anti Air. On the other Side if you defend, tanks stay outside an bring towers down, that you not need. If there ist nothing outside then, they will come in, with the others. That can sometimes to be much enemies, more then you want. Towers are sometimes a distraction for the enemies.
Maybe if the turrets were auto until you can decide to get into one and start deciding targets. I have seen no real use to truly repair them now too. I understand having these things ready for people who are not engineers but majority of the time they don't even get into these from the start and at that point half the defenses are down any ways at the start of the fight.
I actually like that idea of having turrets remain on auto with a dumb ai but still allowing people to get in them and fire manually. Honestly, its not like they get used that much. During a big fight you're going to have Maxes and HA AA launchers doing the grunt work. As a engineer I serve a better purpose manning a av turret and supplying the HA's and Maxes.
I was told by vets that bases like bio labs amp stations and tech plants use to be like fortresses with doors, auto turrets, etc I can't see why they would remove those as we can all see it makes big bases a giant long *** timer at times.
Would that explain why a tech plant has all these big vehicle bay shields to keep bad guys out but there's a ******* unprotected wide open door in the back right next to the elevators? What gets to me though is how few people seem to know its there.
I've been doing this since the game came out. Mostly on turrets. Leave the turret at 99%, so that when you come under attack, it doesn't get immediately destroyed. Then, let the enemy get in close, pop the turret up, and wipe them out with a surprise attack.
Talking about game after launch: Tech plants used to be the most defensible base in the game. Both shield generators used to be inside the base, which means that a relatively small force could choke point a huge force in those two rear doors. Back then hardly anyone was using galaxies to drop squads inside the base, the LA usage was minimal and practicall noone had the shield breaker certed. The end result was to change the tech plant to what it is today, the easiest base to take in the game. The amp stations on the other hand used to be impossible to defend. Low walls made shelling from outside easy. Gain access to one tower meant that the attackers could spread all over the base. No tunnels to the shield generators etc. Today the am station is a relatively defensible base and definitely at a much much better state than it used to be. The bio labs haven't changed much from launch. Some barrels here and there to prevent vehicles from entering and ESFs from flying inside and to stop the interior bombing somewhat, but that's it. Auto turrets and doors never existed in PS2. That was a PS1 feature.
I've been practicing this for a while as well, with a few exceptions. If a base is actively being attacked and defended, I'll usually top it off. Even if no one jumps in, the turret will at least distract some tanks / heavies for several seconds, allowing them to be sniped or flanked. I also usually leave a couple fully repaired turrets of each kind at empty bases just in case another class happens to be around and needs to hop in one for the occasional passing ESF, or sundy coming down the main road. I believe the devs know about and encourage this practice as well. There is a subtle clue to be found in the relatively new wrench icon that appears above turrets that are in need of repair. Vehicles, maxes, generators and SCUs will all display the icon until they are completely 100%, but you may notice that the icon disappears on turrets when they reach about 85-90%. I think this is meant to serve as a signal to other engineers that a busted turret has been left in this mostly repaired state and doesn't have to be touched unless it is needed at the moment. Of course with the boost to generator and SCU sabotage and destruction, a lot of people aren't bothering with the turrets anymore these days...
Ummm, yeah they can damage the unrepaired turrets, I've had a Magrider shooting at a turret wreckage I was repairing, and it's HP was going down, also I've done it myself. But not many ppl bother to shoot destroyed turrets so yeah it's clever to nearly repair it full.
I've actually been doing this tactic with the generators and SCU as well. Over the last week, these kind of tactics have become necessary... at least on my server. This is due to the increase in the amount of experience granted for compromising generators and SCUs. On Connery, there are folks that will find a way to get deep into enemy territory because they figured out they can net 4-5K experience per major base by just taking out the generators and SCU at empty, un-cappable, undefended bases. I've started repairing those objects to where they can be brought back up in short order. Otherwise, they're just going to get taken out again within 15-20 minutes.
What's up with people wanting to deny the enemy XP? I like the idea, very clever, but I feel like this is pretty over-the-top if you know what I mean. Denying people XP for a simple generator shut-down is a dick move, so I wouldn't do this. Why do you think they removed deconstruction? It denied players of well earned XP, and if an enemy penetrates a base to get in an have the opportunity to trip a gen, then they shouldn't be rejected because some ********* engineer decided, "Hurr hurr, I'm gonna leave this at one tick ;D"
They do it because people fly around just to disable the gens and make a living from the exp they earn with it. Could understand it if it would be to make it easier for an attack, but most of the time the enemie never attempts to go there. They should make gens un-overloadable (****** word) when the enemy has no adjacent territory to the base. I heard there is also a portion of player who just don't like the blinking icon on the map and go there to repair them :x
So your the annoying **** that does that, i run around the base screaming because i see something damaged but when i go up to repair it its already full and i get nothing for finishing it. I run around the whole base thinking i have some exp here and then i leave with bugger all.
I had thoughts about this, let me share them with you. Scenario: On server Gilford (fantasy name) every engineers of every faction fully repair the turrets only if the base is under attack. Assuming that it is impossible to damage a destroyed turret until it is fully repaired, to me this lead to: - The other classes can't "farm" empty bases (destroying/hacking turrets/generators) - Engineers will not be able to "farm" certs from repairing bases - Turrets, shields and spawn rooms can't be used until an engineers come to repair them - Attacking is virtually easier if the defenders have just arrived or are in smaller numbers, since they have to "activate" all the defensive systems of the base (SCU included). Also, ESF and Liberators would have a nice farming of certs, killing every engineers going near an AA turret (also, it is easy to spot a blue working turret when the others are all burned) In the end, even if sometimes is annoying, I think the current situation is better
From my experience in the game, Infiltrators love to hack turrets and use them against armored and infantry (and I love to counter-hack the turret to kill them ). Even the other classes, when possible, use the turrets while defending a base, because usually a base assault is lead by armored/aircrafts with the support of the infantry. So the main focus is to crush the vehicles, and you do it better with a turret: you are in an armored shell with infinite ammo, little reload time and only overheating to look at (even Heavy Assault don't have anything close to this ).
Everyday when I first login, if there is no one else from my outfit online, I will pick a map (possibly the Alert Map) and do a "Combat Patrol" of friendly territory. Just to make sure that ALL stations are available for use whenever our Zerg runs out of steam and has to 'fall back' and re-group. This way I can watch for enemy infiltrators and other classes performing LRRPs. If I am alone then I will allow them their XP and try and stay hidden while they 'Prep' the base for capping by the following Zerg. I will move around and repair each downed Generator to 99% and leave it there, then once the ghost leaves I can quickly bring the base back online. Just rebuilding Saurva Bio Lab on Indar can take almost 35 minutes. There are 16 AA Turrets and 18 AV Turrets, figure about 60 seconds per turret to repair and move to the next. Approximately every 4 turrets is a Service Ribbon, so you can get your 5 daily ribbons in one complete Base Repair. So that is 30 Certs for the work of 15 Certs. Well that's my Dos Centivos on the subject.
Moin Since they increased the XP for overloading I've used that strategy too, at least for generators. I still repair turrets 100%, as they don't have an indicator for their repair status. Grüße, regards, the Toast
