Wouldn't it be nice to pilot tanks and not get instagibbed by liberators and ESF? Wouldn't it be nice to fight other aces in air to air combat and not have to worry about invisible MAX AA fire (because we know that you don't worry about AA turrets, skyguards and AA launchers)? Why not have both in the same continent? Let us consider Caveworld! (brought to you by the makers of Tar guard: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...-introducing-the-tar-guard.73682/#post-927561) Caveworld features a map with a separation of ground and air terminals. The air uints all spawn on top above the surface and all the infantry and tanks spawn below. Note that the surface of caveworld is all lava other than the warp gate (which is larger as to allow for more simultaneous landings). In order to keep things interesting there is one central base above the surface (biolab with more landing pads at varying heights). But due to the hostile climate there is no way to respawn infantry at that facility. Troops must be constantly shipped in via drop pods (spawn beacons welcome) and galaxies. This of course is problematic as those ships will need fighter coverage. Due to electromagnetic interference from the atmosphere ground to air launchers are only capable of firing in dumbfire mode (but you can still lock on just to make pilots waste flares). The surface of caveworld is broken in many places and a clever liberator crew might make use of these openings to shell the ground below (but it will be really difficult and it's probably a waste of time). Note you can't fly down from the surface as the lava flowing down would instantly destroy your aircraft. But every now and then you can drop a bomb on a tank moving through the tunnels and laugh. Air units deploy to the surface and only fight other air units. Ground forces fight below and fight only other ground units. Note that caveworld is built with infantry in mind as there are miles of infantry tunnels. While transports and tanks are still needed underground they are largely out of the infantry combat. In fact it is possible to walk from warp gate to warp gate while only being exposed for a few moments. But this can be hazardous as caveworld features linked powergrids. Most territories do not have their own power generator and as such must be connected to an adjacent generator (by controlling both territories) or the lights will suddenly turn off. On the bright side (no pun intended) if you see the lights go out then you know the enemy has taken some nearby territory. Infantry is advised to carry night vision scopes or flashlights as it is ill advised to fire your weapon so that you can see where you are going. The biolab above the surface provides a boost to infantry fighting on the continent below. It also provides a unique experience requiring careful planning as you cannot respawn or switch your class once you have been dropped into the location. Caveworld features excessively wide tunnels that were once used by massive mining vehicles. The resulting terrain features regular outcrops of rock that were too dense to be mined. It might take an hour to gain a few hundered meteres of progress towards the central tech plant. Everyone knows that the central tech plant frees your faction from having to divert tanks through much more narrow tunnels in two by two formation (the main roads are at least twice that wide). But it also requires a great deal of effort to defend. If you would like to see caveworld implemented then reply to keep this thread bumped and like it to show your support. Otherwise you're stuck with aircraft ruling the map.
No, G2A missiles don't need any more nerfing. They're weak enough as it is. The first outfit to spawn a dozen AA Maxes on that central biolab will own it as long as their members stay awake. And there won't be any air other than that which deals with that central location, because there's nowhere else to go. Nifty idea though.
So, your suggestion is to add another continent when there are already maps that never see play, as well as basically remove air from the game? We're done here.
I do not like the idea of the entire surface composed of lava, but it could be based under the upcoming volcanic map. Some of the facilities could be based on the surface, with others underground in the caves. The caves themselves would be like you described, except a bit more dangerous with pitfalls and such. The game mechanics should not be changed in any way just for a continent.
Well I think there would be a huge problem with infantry spamming AA launchers from the middle surface biolab if you could use the AA launcher. If you don't like the rules for caveworld you don't have to play there. You are welcome to back to Indar and die 37 times running towards the crown. Or you can have your choice of air unit bomb your vehicle to the stone age the second it drives near the front lines unless it is part of a 50 tank zerg. The lava surface is so that there is no landing anywhere you wish to repair your aircraft (caveworld removes ALL cheese currently in the game). It also prevents a galaxy from dropping infantry to create an AA deadzone somewhere with engineers and MAX units. Well see what would happen is that everyone would enjoy the new continent except pilots who spend all day farming ground targets. That would make everyone else happy. There wouldn't be any interest in caveworld if AA actually did its job. Tank and infantry would have a few peekaboo confrontations but overall would only be fighting each other. Meanwhile aircraft would only be fighting each other. It would remove the most obvious glaring problems from the game. Who cares if AA is broken if it is no longer necessary?
The air power is not too powerful (air is supposed to be potent, and battles have been won and lost just because of air); rather, there are not enough countermeasures. I would like to see the Skyguard return to its former glory rather than being a "deterrent." SAM missile launchers (perhaps a sidegrade for SPG artillery, like the Skyguard is for the lightning) would be good as well. Moreover, bases need to hold more cover from aircraft.
Caves might sound like a good idea on paper, but ingame... Let's just say with what I've seen some pilots do near cliffs in Indar, I'm sure they would find a way in there somehow.
I've seen what the cliffs do to the pilots back. If some random ESF manages to get into the tunnels, and survives maneuvering somehow, let them have a 1-minute hayday until a tank nails it in the face, since it has practically no place to flee to. Overall this sounds hilarious and great; I expect the tunnels will be twisty-turny enough to give tanks a hard time staying alive with infantry crawling behind them.
Speaking of. I love flying Galaxies into the canyons. Max speed I've reached is 164km/h in the Indar Canyons, shouldn't be too hard underground.
Not really... my vision of caveworld has no holes big enough to let even a scythe (which has the smallest profile from every angle except the top) through one of the holes. And if it did get through the lava drip would kill it instantly. See there's a zone right under the hole that deals 10000 damage per second to the aircraft. Any light assault who finds a way to fly up there dies too because he got lava on him.
