I was surprised that you can't deploy any kind of defensive countermeasures in this game other than the deployable minigun. The continents are huge, how are players supposed to defend themselves on the flat plain areas?(Which there is alot of.) This brings up a new resource suggestion: Construction Resources Tank Traps: http://www.missing-lynx.com/library/german/pztrap_dmourtizsen.html Tank mobility restrictant. Should be destructible by tanks, maybe 4-5 direct hits on the hedgehog should destroy them (If they can hit). Engineers can easily destroy them with explosives or deconstructing them by using their repair tool on enemy structures. A matter of fact anything that has an explosive can kill a tank trap if they have enough ammo for it. Why would we want this?: To give defenders more time to prepare and defend certain strategic points. Choke point a tank column to where your team wants them. Only works if the tank column is ignorant enough to not destroy the tank traps, which most of the time they are. This would turn bases into impenetrable fortresses if we cant get our tanks in! I mean look at the Crown! Tank traps would make that uncappable!: How about this, you can't deploy these in major bases like Flak Towers, Tech Factories, BioLabs, AmpStations. The tank traps are only deployable out on the field or in small insignificant outposts. Sandbags: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...202&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:24,s:0,i:170 http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...85&start=25&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:28,s:0,i:182 Sandbags, one of the most simplest forms of defense, yet people from the far future don't even know how to use it/ know of its existence! How hard can it be? Sand + Bag = Defense from Bullets. http://www.shapeways.com/model/37485/1-144-sandbag-system-straight-short.html The sandbags should come out as small segments when deployed individually, so creative players can get interesting infantry defense formations going in or out of bases. These can be destroyed by explosives or deconstruction of course with moderate ease. Direct hits from AT or HE tank shells would decimate a sandbag segment in 1-2 hits. Why would we want this?: Infantry defense. Especially useful for defending deployed sunderers against an infantry rush. This would act as a doorway blocker!: Make it only deployable in outdoors and rooftops then. Barbed Wire: Simple concept, wire with barbed tips on them. Infantry area prevention. Best combined with either the sandbags or the tank traps. Fairly quick to destroy with well placed HE explosives or repair tool. Only deployable outdoors or on rooftops. Why would we want this?: For preventing infantry from charging in so easily. Trenches: Simple holes in the ground would provide effective cover for the infantry in this game! It's amazing that these 3 factions have been battling it out on the planet for so long, yet they haven't bothered to make any trenches to help defend their holdings. Why would we want this?: To increase the casual infantry's lifetime from 2 minutes to 8 minutes Anti-Tank Emplacement: http://www.moddb.com/mods/world-in-war-vietnam/images/devupdate-3 Used in every war that humanity has seen since WW2, the Recoilless Rifle. A simple design that turns a 2 man crew into a tank killing machine. But obviously in this game they wouldn't be so awesome. I'm suggesting another buildable for the Engineer, like the 85mm rocket launcher from the prowler tank cupola, but stuck in the ground...stationary. Deployable AT for engineers. Slow rate of fire for balancing reasons. Low ammo count. Has a bullet shield. Player is visible. Has to use repair tool to build it to prevent instant Anti tank placement. Why would we want this?: More guns shooting at the enemy tanks will keep them at bay, and keep your butt alive longer. Anti-Air Emplacement:http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...=195&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:140 http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...=235&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:146 http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Yr3&sa=X&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&biw=985&bih=860&tbm=isch&tbnid=3HXEKQTnF04K9M:&imgrefurl=http://www.gyges.dk/fliegerhorst_grove13%20Light%20Flak.htm&docid=wGjcP_8dlgV0TM&imgurl=http://www.gyges.dk/Flak%252038%25206%2520(Small).jpg&w=640&h=443&ei=e1rlUIG4JrSG0QHz5IDwCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=675&vpy=477&dur=2064&hovh=187&hovw=270&tx=162&ty=85&sig=108777193189766352749&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=226&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:164 A simple single barreled AA Emplacement. This would be a buildable, has to be built with the repair tool. Has the rate of fire slightly faster than the Burster. Has a bullet shield. Player is visible. Highly luminous tracers for balancing reasons. The major downside is that it's stationary. But any AA gun used to defend a point against a fleet is better than nothing. The build has a distinct form when seen at a distance. The flak guns in the example pictures have stands that look like a big metal "X" when seen from the air, so competent pilots would be anxious for metal "X's" on the ground. Moderate in durability. Why do we want this?: Why wouldn't we want this? How many times have people experienced being in a base that doesn't have air cover or useful AA guns? Many times, i bet. ------------------------------ "Why the hell would we want all of this Tycoh?"--- To promoted base defense of course! (And small deployed sunderer bases wouldn't be bad either.) Tell me when it was "fun" when defending a sunderer or a small base that doesn't have any kind of static defenses or any significance like the Flak Towers or Stations? Also remember, each faction would get their own style of defenses. For example, the tank traps, the Vanu would get something like a high tech looking tank trap, the Conglomerate would get the good ol' Czech hedgehog, and the Terran Republic would get Dragons Teeth. Same goes for other defenses.
Short answer. Yes I think that tank traps should only be destroyed by C4(and whatever infiltrators end up getting) makes the tankers need to get out(or call the engineers(its one of the points of combat engineers)) and only have 1 or 2 traps per person with a deployment range(no traps within 10m of each other) and when was the last time you saw an enemy tank get to the crown before the infantry? Sandbags & Barbed Wire I would have as a universal cert so any infantry can place them, and any vehicle(except flash) can run over/ destroy them personally I think the limit (per person) on these would be set by what the game can handle. and not by what the players can handle. PS I lover the answer to 'This would act as a doorway blocker!' Now would Barbed Wire stop movement or slow it or cause injury or a combination? and then, would Barbed Wire have FF? and maybe crawling/crouching would allow you to pass through I can not see Trenches working as, empires: total war, & BF3 can not do real trenches and both are far better suited to it. AT/AA guns are obvious and if the devs are not working on them I'll be very disappointed However having OP versions that require an engineer to build and 2nd body to operate (stationary weapons are almost always more powerful then their mobile counter parts) also I would not have a bullet shield on ether but maybe an explosives shield
Tank Trap --->Your Tank trap idea sounds pretty good. Also 1 tank trap per 10 meters? First we need to establish what kind of tank traps it will be. I mean will it be just a wall of tank hedgehogs that would be deployed or just a single tank hedgehog? I could understand 10m between tank trap walls/fields, but if they're just a single tank trap, a tank can just drive in between the 10m gap. Scratch that, i wasn't thinking. Good idea Sandbags & Barbed Wire---> That sound pretty understandable. But have it where Engineers build it faster, where as other infantry have to hold their "Use" button to slowly get the fortifications up. So 1 Engineer is 2x's faster at building the simple fortifications compared to a normal infantryman. As for the barbed wire, I'd imagine it would stop enemy movement while damaging them, alot like a small damaging wall. As for friendly fire, i would say that it should do 1/8th damage every 2 seconds the player is in the barbed wire. The friendly's movement would also be stopped like the enemies until they turn around and move out of the barbed wire I'd say that crawling under barbed wire will only happen if the barbed wire was placed over uneven terrain. Restrict buildables in Warpgate then, just until they add Warpgate Invasion for the enemy when they've capped almost all of the territories.
I doubt we'll get anything that actually digs into terrain or alters it in anyway anytime soon, but I wouldn't mind some deployable tank traps, cover(sandbags, cement half-walls, etc), and easily dropped things of that sort. Barbed wire is iffy unless there were considerable restrictings on it's placement and it was easily destroyed. Honestly though, I'd love to see this idea go through as far as the game engine can take it. But not being sure of how far that is, I'm just going by what I can guess from what's already in game.
I think the problem I have run into with mines, as they end up detonating and TKing the friendlies. This is mostly due to the mortar spam that goes through the tower doors.
Not to be a downer, but as is, bases are super cluttered, and none of it really helps infantry survive. Sandbags would simply be bullseyes. The tanks traps would be cool, but you would need to be able to build a **** load of them, especially if tanks could just destroy them, would they have a resource cost? Or Cert into being able to deploy more of them? barbwire would just be annoying. All of these could be used for lots of greifing.
I say yes to czech hedgehogs. Let them be expensive in terms of resources and take 30+seconds to deploy with the engi tool. Let them be destructible only with C4 or said tool and be persistent otherwise. Not so sure on AI fences, but if so, don't nerf FF damage, just have no owner registered. If someone is stupid enough to believe they can run through it, friend or foe, let them suffer. It is a deterrent after all.
I'd make them about 15-20 resources and be persistent like our AP/AT mines with a carry limit of maybe 3. They would need to be vulnerable to C4, but impossible to kill with non-explosives. A solo tank trying to chew through one should need about 10 shells. Minimum distance from buildings or other entities should be such that infantry can easily flow around them. They should also not cause weapons-lock via friendly-fire. The goal of a hedgehog is to restrict / delay vehicle movement until removed. Or to encourage tanks / vehicles to take a different route - such as right over some AT mines.
I think persistence until destroyed would be better for metagame purpose. Having remains of half-intact hedgehog lines would add to the feel of a constantly changing continent. Also I would not associate them with a player and not have any XP associated with deploying/destroying them (I don't even know if a deployed object can be not owned by a player/faction in the planetside 2 code....it appears to me every obj has associated XP for this purpose...thoughts?). Carry limit? I agree, mebe cert tree like mines. Tank shells? I would say 15 minimum, wanting to encourage infantry counters to them. Minimum from base distance? Yes, I see this as a roadblock/terrain buffer for transport denial, not a "lets spam hedgehogs around the crown vehicle bay"
I think they need to fix the current game before they go adding more stuff to make the crashes worse. I really lik ethe AA Turret the most.
Spamming these around vehicle bays would only force infantry in, and armor to pound the crap out of the guys inside... which happens anyways. And if you successfully repel an attacking force you you will still have to remove them before your team can move out. Which would discourage spamming them also.
We really need some type of mechanic for base defense! Other than building your own defenses, defending is absolutely pointless. That's why you always see zerg farms moving from one base to another, not even caring about securing or defending newly captured points.
That's a very valid objection. So why not construct them out of the Amp Station building force field which blocks all fire, but allows friendly vehicles to pass by. Or the "gate" force fields at the Amp walls which block armor/projectiles but allow infantry to pass through. - The device that gets placed on the ground should be flat. - It works off of the ACE tool and lasts for 10 minutes. - It generates a 2m diameter sphere shield, centered around the device. - The shield can take damage. - When the shield is below 25% health, it should start to flicker / crackle. - Maybe higher cert trees could create larger shields (up to 3m diameter). - Higher cert trees could give you shields with up to 50% more HP. Now your engineers could plant these across a bottleneck to stop enemy armor from rolling in. Other then blocking lines of fire, they wouldn't do much in the way of griefling your own team.
