(I posted this idea on Reddit earlier, and it was well received. Re-posting it here since many of you don't use Reddit.) The current redeploy mechanics suck because a whole platoon can spawn from nowhere and ruin a good, close fight. On the other hand, defenders do need some ability to easily redeploy to a base which is under attack, or else there just won't be many fights in the first place. Any solution to Redeployside needs to take this into account. What I have in mind is a sort of less-extreme SCU which will allow the attackers to eliminate the other side's ability to redeploy into the base without blocking current defenders from respawning. For lack of a better name, let's call it the "Redeploy Control Console." THE RCC This would be an objective at every base (at least the ones without an SCU), located in a defensible room. It would have two possible states, and hacking the console (by infiltrators of either side) would toggle the RCC between the two. In the first state ("unhacked"), all spawn and capture rules would behave as they do in the current game. In the second state ("hacked"), No defender could spawn in the base (not even through "squad spawn") unless they died in the hex. However, the remaining time to capture the base would be doubled. The RCC would be indestructible. Hacking it would provide no XP; since hacking it is not always beneficial to your team, the decision to hack it should be based on strategy, not cert farming. ADDED STRATEGIC DEPTH Controlling the RCC is not essential to capturing the base but gives your side greater influence on how the battle will play out. It may be to your team's benefit to hack it and unhack it more than once in the same fight. Attackers will probably want to hold off on hacking the RCC as long as possible, in orderer to capture the base more quickly, but the longer they leave it unhacked, the more they leave themselves open to a redeployside counterattack. If attackers hack the RCC early, defenders will have plenty of time to organize transport to the base and set up sunderers, which they can redeploy to as usual. Defenders unable to retake the point could hack the RCC to double the capture timer in an effort to buy time for reinforcements. Of course, if the attackers can gain control of the RCC room, they can hack it again to reverse this. If the attackers have hacked the RCC to block redeployment, the defenders can rush the RCC to unhack it and "open the floodgates." Obviously, exact numbers and details are up in the air, and I'm asking a lot of the devs to change every base to accommodate this new objective. Still, I think there's some potential here to mitigate one of the game's most hated flaws.
Sounds good to me. Spread players out a bit. Hacked only by Infiltrators or like Bloodworks bridge? If they are forced to grab transportation then we can have some fights in between the bases more often. Things become more meaningful. I see one problem though. 4thfaction hacking it too early. Sabotage. Unless it is a mechanism that isn't necessarily tied to any Faction but is neutral and can be toggled into the different states by any one player.
bases would need to be bigger with possibly an additional entrance / exit since the game has 10 times the population now. But for the most part i agree, ps1 was a much more fleshed out game as a whole and imo much more enjoyable.
I like the idea, and I wouldn't expect anything less from you. But there is a HUGE problem with it that I am seeing: It assumes that the average player has the slightest idea about what's best for their faction, or even just the specific battle, especially during alert times. I love the idea. I think it would be super awesome and immersion-adding for us analytic/strategist/leadery types. But the problem lies with the execution. If hacking out the RCC toward those last down-to-the-wire moments of an alert would cause us to lose the alert, how would we stop BR 8 Joe Blow from hacking it either because he simply doesn't know better, or because he thinks "Oh, I'm doing something to the enemy machine! It must be helpful!"? It's hard enough trying to convince the faction to attack a certain base, or even to push an entire front. We have trouble getting players to listen when we say "Attack THIS HALF of the continent!", and that order is so simple that there's a 50% chance of you following it even if you don't want to. I think this is a neat idea, and when it does work out, it sounds like it would be a wicked tool, but I feel it's too 'unpredictable', and would cause more frustration than it fixes. Just my $0.02 --Stay Fr0sty
The problem statement gets a little weird when you try to put it into words. If the enemy is attacking the base in any sizeable force, and you want to get to the base from a distance to defend it, but the said enemy has disabled the Deployment Terminal, you'll need to move a sizeable force to defend the Deployment Terminal. So, in the end, you're taking a Galaxy to the base to re-secure the Deployment Terminal so that you don't have to take a Galaxy to get to the base. So, if you move too many people there, and that's equalized the populations at the base, no one else on the continent can deploy there from a distance anyway.
Why employ some mechanic based on a console that there is no immersive explanation for? Some random dude will always hack the terminal, because too many Planetside players have no concept of objective-based play. This is simply another source of grief. Redeploy is one of the essential features of Planetside, but the problem is precisely that it is being abused to population-nuke fights just before they are decided. That is part of the strategy in a way, but ruins many good fights. The solution would be to simply rate-limit redeploys/respawns based on population imbalance: The timer simply prolongs proportionally to the rate of respawns and population. What would that change: one wouldn't be able to redeploy a platoon (or more) instantly due to the increasing counter, but would have to transport the army actively to the fight deaths would be more detrimental to the overpopping faction more focus on medic revives more strategy in transporting squads more fights between bases Secondly! The real issue is the mobility of redeploy. It is meant to get you to your squad, or back to a base after bailing a vehicle/aircraft - not more. However, one can easily redeploy to the other end of the map, making it too easy to drop the population nuke. I suggest that redeploy should simply be much more restrictive: it should only allow you to redeploy to: the warpgate your squad leader's position (squad spawns) adjacent (i.e. linked) hexes Further, redeploy - once used - should have a significant cooldown of >1min, to limit redeploy jumping. Instant action is broken! More often than not it drops you next to a full enemy squad, or alternatively into an empty, unconnected hex where the points cannot even be capped. It is influenced by attack/defense requests, but not as directly as it maybe could be. Instant action should take solo-players to even out fights primarily. These locations can be generated automatically by the game, but the player should be able to steer the landing zone more. The timer should also be prolonged. For squads, instant action does not make too much sense: it doesn't always take everyone to the same place, and why use it when you should be sticking together? When in a squad, instant action should always take you to the location of the squad leader (or the location of the team). Thus, it will be more like a last-resort deploy if all other spawns are down. Thus, instant action should work differently, depending on whether you're in a squad, or not. Taken together, I think this would be a better mechanic.
Make the ability to hack the RCC a 1000~2000 cert hacking skill, that should keep the newbies / Low BR griefers from messing with it.
I like the sound of the idea, though as MisterSlim said, it does have potential to be used in a different capacity than what was intended. My thoughts on the matter are to make redeploys only go to the Warpgate, any owned major bases (Biolabs, tech plants, and Amp stations), and any base connected via the lattice line. The last could still be exploited to get to bases en masse, but not from across the continent.
Interesting idea. I would not make it hackable.. as, once it is hacked, it then gives an additional redeploy advantage to the attackers. Would that really change anything on redeploy side? It should take tank shells, or C-4 etc.. to destroy the rcc. and defenders can repair it, if they want to keep the advantage of having additional troops redeploy there to help them defend the base.
Sounds like a great suggestion. Not being able to spawn within a contested territory will encourage platoons/squads with any form of communication or organisation to take advantage of galaxy drops, Valk insertions or esf air strikes/raids. That is where the glory in PS2 lies. On a side note, I'm pretty sure that once the territory surpasses 50% friendly population, the territory is no longer listed under the "Reinforcements Needed" tab on the deploy screen.
Meh, I would take it's graphics, just massively overhaul its gun play and I would be there now....well....prolly not since my PC decided to croak...but anyway, yeah. I would be there right now driving around in the BFR im magically now imprinted for =D........sadly I dream.
An addition to this could be a Redeploy Terminal found in every base, this way players cannot disappear in the middle of a fight to escape certain death... believe me I've seen it happen, and it's a tryhard thing to do.
