First off, because I can see people's veins popping already, yes, old hives were awful. They were so bad that getting rid of them improved the game, and I'm not advocating bringing those hives back. I am also not advocating for a return of invulnerable player made buildings. So, to anyone who's blood pressure doubled at the mention of hives, cool your cannons. That said, there is a major problem with the current construction game. I think I am one of only a few players who actually puts thought into building bases that are intended to mesh with the rest of the game. Most of the few people who are building at all are either building a cheap quick and dirty router base close to the warp gate, or are trying to farm orbital kills. <--after thought, also whatever is going on with the campaign construction. I stopped playing the campaign once I realized how much time I was going to be spending away from the game pressing E on things. So, if there actually is some value in construction hidden in the campaign I will have missed it. Quick aside on orbitals strikes, I don't think there is much disagreement left that the outfit armoury OS is the real problem, and there is much less hate for the constructed OS, as that thing takes time to charge up and gives plenty of warning about where and when it might hit. That said, those OS bases built around TI alloys or Nason's Defiance aren't really contributing to the game, they're just farming. The problem is that for the most part construction is in it's own world, separated from the rest of the game. There's not much reason to care about attacking or defending player made bases, and those who are playing construction don't pay much attention to the war front. Hives did have a glimmer of something good about them despite all the things that were wrong with them: They gave a reason for factions to care about PMBs. There was a reason to fight at them. So, what do I suggest? Once alerts have started, activate the old 7 hive cores. They would be worth territory value, but wouldn't affect the alert timer. This way they wouldn't contribute to the sudden continent lock that seemed to upset many people before. Now, yes, it says territory percentage, and this would result in the total being much more than 100, but if you're watching, you'll see that the total is actually quite often something other than 100, so think of it as points instead of percentage. Some rules I would have in place: -Destroyed hives explode like before, even if they don't have a core. -Hives are shown on the map even if they don't have a core yet. -Cores are awarded in the order the Hives were built, and their place in line is marked on the map. -The value of an active hive is based on the distance from its owner's warp gate.* -If the territory the hive core is in is lost or cut off, the core returns to the pool, but this does not destroy the hive. -The hive re-enters the queue at the back of the line if the territory is recovered. What this would offer would be a chance for builders to more directly contribute to alert wins, but still force them to care about the rest of the game. If the western warp gate faction builds a hive at Indar Excavation Site, they'd better not lose Quartz Ridge Camp for example. *I'm deliberately not pitching an exact number. I know that any number I hypothetically pitch without testing would almost certainly be unbalanced. Now, I recognize that much of this hinges on players caring about alerts, which is it's own issue. What I'm trying to achieve is to give purpose to construction. I personally build my bases with the intent of contributing to the control of a specific base on the war front, but I don't see many others playing this way very often.
