A request if we ever do get a new continent

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by RabidIBM, Jun 18, 2021.

  1. RabidIBM

    You know how exciting and dramatic the alerts are when they are close? When you hit the point where only the 1 minute bases are in play and two factions are within a percent of each other? It makes for an epic, spastic, and climactic finish to an alert. You know how we also love 3 way battles?

    Well, put them together. If we ever get a new continent, can I suggest that the middle base be a 1 minute base? Not just because I absolutely want to build one of my forts at the middle as a challenge to the entire continent, which I totally do want, but also because I think it would be an awesome way to close out an alert with a 3-way mosh pit at mid map.
    • Up x 2
  2. Demigan

    Well if the devs ever decide to put in time and effort to make a new continent here is what they need to do:

    Turn around and get back to making the current continents and gameplay flow good.

    New continents is one of the biggest waste of time and money right now. Fix what needs fixing, change what needs changing. Don't waste time on a continent that will suffer the exact same problems as the current one's.


    A better idea to make more continents is to add alternative versions to the existing ones. Add a warpgate shield over different bases, make the current warpgates a capturable base. Relocate the starting frontlines. Suddenly we fight along bases we rarely see unless a zerg is moving passed them. With a relatively small amount of changes you've just doubled the amount of continents you have available and make better use of existing bases that see little combat right now.

    We can also look at adding new capture mechanics. Each time a continent unlocks each individual base is randomly assigned one of the available capture mechanics, meaning the experience you have at individual bases changes more often.

    Examples:
    VIP point holds. Each point only counts down while it is held by a player. You walk up to the point and hold "E" to pick it up. You can then move within a certain distance of the base perimiter. You are visible on the map and the capture countdown only works as long as you are within that area and outside of a painfield. Go outside of the perimiter or into a painfield and the point respawns within a few seconds.
    Players now have to defend the player holding the point. Defenders similarly have to hold the point to return the countdown. As an added bonus you could make the point have a lot of health, allowing players to destroy it if they cannot recapture it and then take it when it respawns in the pointroom.

    Capture the flag. Bring the point to a certain location, like a deployed Sunderer within a certain distance. Each capture speeds up the capture timer. Destruction of the Sunderer causes the loss of all captured flags. Alternatives could be bringing it to a specific building or even to the next base over. Limitations on vehicles can be added to prevent cheese tactics.

    VIP key. To capture a point you have to buy a keycode first. This reveals you to everyone in the base and allows you to infinitely capture the point. So you only need to prevent such players from reaching the point, or help them get there safely.
    • Up x 2
  3. Bonemiser

    Big +1 to a new capture mechanic as well as OP's idea of a quick and sloppy central point. Desolation is a concept that can be applied to the base game in more open areas like (ideally if it was placed better) the Shattered Warpgate section.
    • Up x 1
  4. RabidIBM

    Demigan, have you ever played BlackWake? I'm getting major capture the booty vibes off of your suggestion.
  5. Demigan

    No I haven't. Not sure what Blackwake is, is that like the alternative of Sea of Thieves?

    A more fair response to your idea:
    Should they truly try to push a new continent out then having a central base to fight over would be ideal. However a simple 1-point 1-minute base doesn't seem right. The base would seem less important as you barely fight there.

    Instead, points seem to represent the amount of connections of a base. 2 lattice lines means 1 point. 3 lattice lines means 3 points. 4 lattice lines means 4 points.
    Your construction base would be a 3 or 4 point base, and only if you hold all 4 points would it take 1 minute to capture. This means you can build not 1 but 4 fortifications there. Add some environments to allow players various methods of defensive setups rather than a singular idea and you are golden.

    Make sure that the construction base has a dressed down underground spawnpoint connected to the points. That way you always have access to quick spawns there. Add one central spawn for the defenders with a small vehicle bay.
  6. RabidIBM

    @Demigan I like the idea of multiple points, but if it's intended to be built on then there really is no need for built in logistics.

    I will dispute your point about people not fighting at 1 minute bases. Any time the alert is close, it finishes with a race for the 1 minute base. They are worth getting ahead of time because the faction who build on it have an advantage, they are worth attacking ahead of time to eliminate that advantage, and they are worth attacking at the end for the simple reason that everything else is out of play. The lack of fights has more do with the lack of 1 minute bases, not lack of interest in them. We had a great hour long rager at Lowland Trading post last night on Connery. So much so that the NC's WTAC outfit paid us a couple visits just because they didn't want to be left out of the fun.
  7. RabidIBM

    Regarding Blackwake, yeah I guess kinda like sea of thieves, but it's own thing. I found a 1 minute YouTube video promoting the capture the booty game mode. And yes, the guy is playing like an idiot to make the video happen:
  8. Demigan

    One of the problems of current construction is that it doesn't invite players to fight there. Spawn systems take more time there unless you brought a Sunderer and players don't know what they'll find if they spawn in one. By giving a basic structure of one normal spawn and one vehicle pad, perhaps a few trenches or similar for infantry to move through semi-protected, you can ensure that players show up to defend it.

    Unless the bases around this point are nigh impregnable I suspect that the fight will simply move on and this base becomes inaccessible. By making the base harder to capture you will more often have a lengthy battle there and players are more likely to pick a fight there. I want the option for a 1-minute capture to be there, but I don't want players to just be able to bum-rush it with a Galdrop or something and capture it at the last moment. It should take more coordination than that. Having multiple points to defend with a PMB would also help as an attacker might already be building his own PMB on the points he captured, making for a nice claustrophobic fight between PMB's that would normally rarely happen.
  9. LordAnnihilator

    While this is a nice idea, I do have to echo Demigans thoughts.

    A new continent might bring in some new or old players interested in the update, but if the foundations aren't there then it'll just add to the problem.

    Take The Shattered Warpgate. Adding a Campaign and new items to go with the reworked Esamir, with a big step forward in the lore to accompany it, is a neat idea, and it certainly brought in some interest. But a lot of people don't like some of the changes. Personally, I like some of the mechanics of Containment Sites, but ultimately they don't revolutionize anything - they're just another type of complex large base. There's still issues with the lattice design, and parts of the map still don't see much action (I feel like the area around the Shattered Warpgate only sees action when a ghostcap starts making particular inroads). Additionally, the update has barely done anything to affect gunplay in a positive way (I could be wrong here, but things certainly don't seem to have changed in the years i've been gone) and there are still more than a few issues with the game, if the forums are anything to go by at least.

    Adding a new continent would ultimately just be a case of "Same ****, Different Place" unless they also fixed some of the existing issues first. As much as a lot of people would like new content (like the upcoming NSOverhaul) we won't retain players if we don't sort the current to-do list as well.

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    I don't have anything against the idea itself though. Central bases are pretty popular and are certainly a source of some of the best fights in the game, like TI Alloys (Rest In Peperronis) or Nasons Defiance. I vibe hard with some of these capture mechanic ideas, because we certainly need more variance on that front. We could even modify some recent additions to that effect: From the Containment Sites.
    • The Destructible Shield Generators at the Reliquary. I've seen some intense fights occur at this point, and the shields certainly add another layer to combat - allowing for more give and take as shields go up and down. Stuff like this would work brilliantly at some out of the way bases. Granted, they wouldn't hold up long against a zerg, but with a balanced enough population you could feasibly achieve some decent combat. Bonus points if it becomes possible for Infils to hijack them, allowing multiple sides to entrench themselves in part of a base and make pushes against the other areas. Like biolabs, except with Routers, shields, and not in an elevated dome.
    • The Destructible Cover at the Arboretum. Destructible cover is a decent idea, and the area certainly has more interesting cover than a lot of bases. It would make decent sense lore-wise to "outsource" the growth of these veggies. So many locations supposedly make stuff for the empires, but we only ever realistically see evidence of actual work in places like Tech Plants and the aforementioned Containment Sites. More evidence of that beyond copy pasting the same base designs could allow for more interesting base dynamics. Like the PMB, perhaps a testing ground for base construction that allows building near the spawn points but not beyond them. Slap that in the middle of a continent and people will race to engage in base to base combat. It would have to be pretty big to allow for limits on building Cortium Depositories near each other.
    • The mechanics behind the Tempest siphon. A mechanic that outright locks down a point, forcing the enemies to leave and reacquire control the terminal, but while off opens up the option for Gal and Valk drops directly into the core of the base. More interactivity like this would be excellent, allowing for crafty Infiltrators to do more than upset people and occaisionally hack turrets and terminals. A good infil in the right place at a containment site could turn the point in an instant, or open the way for an entire platoon to jump down the defenders throats. You could have blast shields, controllable cover, automated base defences that have to be shut down on foot before armour support can arrive (like gate shields, but offensive instead of defensive).