Apr. 28, 2023 - PTS Update (Early Notes)

I like the update so far, it's promising and gives construction some attention. The main feedback I offer so far:

• It's difficult to build bases with a modular setting in mind, making it very difficult to cover up gaps etc.

Now, about some concerns:

1. Silo: The Silo is the most important, and most vulnerable structure. Fair enough, but it is a pain to cover it up to prevent immediate destruction, but if even a small team of Infiltrators in a Discord call can rush into my base and destroy my Silo, I feel extremely discouraged. Adjust AV Knife stuff or add more immunities to construction.
2. No Deployment Zones: As of now, no deployment zones kill the purpose of this update. NDZs are massive and the new buildings are huge. This makes it difficult to actually be near the people who need you.
3. Gameplay: Final concern is how will construction play out practically on live fights? Again, this plays into my NDZ point, construction players can't get close (ESPECIALLY near Warpgate), making them useless when people can just use their Sunderer instead.
4. Defense: The removal of automated defenses (AI Module, Pain Spire) is gonna be a very painful change for a lot of players. While I think people should definetly help defending construction more, in practice, if my Platoon builds a base and then moves on to the next fight, it's impossible to call them back to help defend unless you have a permanent garrison of semi-AFK players who sit around and wait for an Infiltrator or Zerg rush. It's extremely unrewarding, especially if the fight is on the front and you're just squishing bugs, at best.

Concluding, update is really cool, not perfect but it's a much needed makeover of the construction system. But with its size, and the fact that so many structures are more vulnerable now makes me concerned about common tactics (i.e. Zergs / Infil teams) mowing down base after base.

glaive-artillery foundation has no collisionbox

the big bridge is difficult to place at groundlevel without it having a bump to climb over, vissually difficult to place

the conduit-terminals gets laggy fast, and become unresponsiv. in the pillbox it became unresponsiv, while the fixed rebirth-terminal was still available.

opinion: the skyshield for the buildings are a bit too small and the commandcenter-skyshield shoud be a half sphere to better cover the first floor. the silo needs a option for skyshield.

PTS Feedback.

All construction objects should automatically come with a standard auto repair system similar to Nanite Auto Repair otherwise many of the implemented new modules will be overshadowed by the necessity of the repair module.

Alternatively, you could add a passive ability for silos that repair all structures in its vicinity acting like a repair module pre-construction revamp.

Observation (-) / Suggestion (+) :

Other :
+Rotation of buildings too slow. Request for a shortcut to speed up.
-Repairing buildings damaged by decay grants XP (with modules or tool).
-Cortium bomb does not cause area damage to infantry or vehicle on explosion
-Some module compatibility descriptions are either incomplete or incorrect
-Repair not being linked to the silo, risk of having continents littered with abandoned structures that do not decompose.

Core :

-No minimum distance between spawn rooms of the same category
+Should limit the amount of spawn rooms in the same area / Avoid having multiple Command Centers too close together.

Modules :

-Skywall / Projectile Shield : Need Silo (Enemy or ally) but no cortium to work.
+Request to add more placement options for the Skywall.
-Repair / Heavy Repair / Fortress Shield : Does not require Cortium or Silo.
-Buying modules with accreditations increases the chances of not spending them on installation.
-Modules can be installed on enemy buildings. (Intentional feature ? Interesting).
+Disappearance of the Structure Shield Module (overload and one-way shield for ramparts) / Proposes to add just the overload function to the new Shield projectile module.
+Heat Dispersion should last longer than 60s (120s ?).
+Add the possibility to install the Shield projectile module with the overload function of the old Structure Shield module on ramparts / bunkers / Pillbox / Infantry Tower.

Structures :

-Module dispenser : Terminal not accessible to non-owners.
-Bridge Vehicle pillars are short / Prevented from being used effectively to cross small straits on Oshur or crevasses on Esamir.
+The bunker is badly named, it should have access to the defensive modules: Skywall / Fortress Shield
-Pillbox has only one socket (Don't understand this choice).

Walls :

-Rempart Wall : Not affected by the modules: Repair / Heavy repair / Durability
Turret :
+AI removed, possibility to add small xiphos and Hoplon turrets?

Artillery :

-Orbital Strike Uplink : Charges despite no silo and cortium / Does not decompose / Only needs silo to fire.
-Flail / Glaive gun terminal too high.
-Glaive does not work.

Spire :

-Routing Spire: No sockets / Destroyed, the placed router remains.

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Some buildings cannot be repaired or dismantled.
Legend :
R = Repairable with the tool
D = Dismountable with the tool
- = Neither of them

Core:

-Silo /R,D/
-Elysium Spawn Tube /R,D/
-Cortium Silo Reserve /-/
-Command center /R,D/
-Rebirthing Center /R,D/

Structure :

-Infantery tunnel /-/
-Synderer garage /R,D/
-Infantery Tower /R,D/
-Vehicle Ramp /R,D/
-Pillbox /R,D/
-Infantry Tree Stand /R/
-Infantry Awning /R/
-Vehicle Bridge /R/
-Module Dispenser /R/
-Light Vehicle terminal /R,D/
-Light Air terminal /R,D/
-Vehicle Ammo Dispenser /R,D/
-Bunker /R,D/
-Vehicle gate /R,D/

Wall :

-Blast wall /R,D/
-Narrow Bilwark wall /-/
-Wide Bulwark wall /-/
-Blast gate /R,D/
-Rempart Wall /R,D/
-Lumifiber Rempart Wall /R,D/

Turret :

-Spear AV Tower /R,D/
-Spear AV Turret /R,D/
-Hoplon AA Phalanx Tower /R,D/
-Xiphos AI Tower /R,D/

Artillery :

-Glaive IPC /R,D/
-Orbital Strike Uplink /R,D/
-Flail /R,D/

Spire :

-Routing Spire /R,D/
-Recon Array /R,D/

Decoration :

-Faction Banner /R,D/
-Light Post /R/

Oshur :

-The new Excavion Cleanup Sit (ex Mirror bay) seems nice in the variability of combat styles offered

-Removing the Astira Hydroelectric deck without offering a replacement move seems risky

-Astira (West) and Pommel Garden (North) may generate MBT. The team in the south is at a disadvantage if Warpgate is unstable, instead of coming out of Viridian Genetics Lab, they have to come out of Pilay Interlink.

-The new Centri Import Hub looks like a good modification, it's going to be hard to capture

-Wakerift Plateau and Bathala Overlook are an interesting idea, I'm waiting to see on live server how players behave.

-To make tridents more fun, I think adding underwater and above water capture points would be interesting to encourage ship and water infantry combat. I would also add elevators from the bottom of the trident to the upper levels.

What worries me in the center of Oshur there is still no link between
Astira Hydroelectric and Pommel Gardens. Makes everyone focus on mirror bay area.

Flail Audio bug. After firing the flail it constantly does the high pitch alert noise until deconstructed. Glaive was not working.

Command center died but the lift survived! https://prnt.sc/uU-AfokZd_0F

The New vehicle base silos activate Command and rebirthing structures player respawns even if they don't own the silo.
Example: TR owns base VS can place structure within range of the silo spawns will activate. Vehicle base silos are not faction locked. Access to silo is faction locked.

Cortium Silo & Rampart Wall is missing from compatible buildings, also doesn't have a compatible list in the viewer.

If a Command Center has no shield the flail will destroy the spawn tubes models. They are still functional.
If you dismantle a Command Center the base of the grav lift remains in the air.
If the dev made silo is empty the equipment terminals in the Command Center are not functional even if a player silo with cortium is in range. I would like to have a priority system between the silos regarding cortium so that the important silos can drain less important ones or we can transfer cortium between them.

Do not add HP, the CC does not need it, the structures do not need HP, you can skillfully use fortress bubble to protect your buildings outside and skywalls.
What the Command center truly needs is a gameplay loop, that ties into infiltrating it. The base needs to have projectile shield module on exterior of base, you will have to hack this to enter base, as projectile shield will now block infantry from entering.

No added HP needed, simply make the fortress bubble works as follows. Fortress bubble lasts (enter time here) for (This much cortium per timer cycle) This will give players wanting to have fun, the time to gather their resources while also having a deterrent. To disable fortress bubble and other module of course, you will have to disable projectile shield from outside first. Even with these changes any player can come in and drop cortium bombs on your outside buildings, this is not a big change but just some reason to have to always be working on your logistics. can apply same logic to fortress bubble on spawn room and OS terminal if you like but not necessary. Fortress shield is a key component to the survivability of the base, once you get in and disable that then you are going to be in deep trouble in a actual live server because these command centers last minutes, these silos last seconds.
Also the bubble must be 1 way, there is no deterrent keeping tanks from just rolling into the bubble and totally nullifying it without the loop, (you can already break this loop by infiltrating on foot) the only deterrent is the knowledge that a lock-on can come at them from within the bubble and that will be enough of a deterrent most of the time.

Secondly I believe maybe be more liberal with the module slots, more for the silo, remove the spare silo it is useless, just give base silo the ability to add multiple storage expansions. too many buildings as it is. I feel the CC should have one slot for each major ability, such as shield, durability, repair, and so on. all the essentials and only the essentials. with the projectile shield now external, this wont be hard to alter. EVEN WITH THEE CHANGES THE BASE WILL TILL BE VRY WEAK! These are just to improve the sense of it.

lastly Orbitals must not work on bubbled bases, or what are we doing? All of these changes simply make the base a bit more fleshed out and capable without altering its actual stats, but just how the base is defended and uses cortium to supply said defense. It is important that this gameplay loop be accessible sense you are devoting a lot of the game to construction, people want to plop a base and have a chance, most of these bases will not be used to nuke the map constantly but just for stationing.

Edit: Of course for this to work firewall module will not affect projectile shield outside.

I have some comments on the new construction system.

“Pain Spires and turret automation have been removed, and Skywall Shields no longer EMP shields. These mechanics aren't fun to play around for attackers, and one of our goals is meant to encourage back and forth gameplay throughout construction bases.”

I don't see any additional “back and forth gameplay”. People need a reason to fight at bases, such as back when bases had a core that generated victory points. During the testing event on April 30th I saw players were still just destroying bases from a distance with artillery.

Regarding removing the turret automation and pain spires ….
Previously, any competent solo player could destroy an unmanned base; they just had to be careful. But now taking out an unmanned base is trivial. A base builder now has to stay at his base full time to prevent some newbie walking in and taking it out. Maybe the turret automation and pain spires “aren't fun to play around for attackers”, but sitting around at a base just in case someone attacks isn't fun for defenders.

On the test server I destroyed two well developed bases solo. For one I just walked in as an infiltrator, hacked the modules, hacked the vehicle spawn pad, and then spawned lightning tanks to destroy all the structures. When the tank ran out of ammo, I just spawned another one. And for one base I just used an engineers anti-vehicle turret. Without AI turrets and pain spires there was no thought needed. Just walk in and destroy everything.

Also, I am concerned about giving away the Elysium Spawn Tube and Light Vehicle Terminal for completing a trivial directive. Those of us that used certs to pay for those objects feel cheated because now you are practically giving them away. Perhaps you should reward players with certs if they complete the directives and they have already unlocked those items.

◆What was great about this test
-Placing modules became much easier.
-The increased number of placeables made bases more complex and larger.
-The new construction assets look fantastic.
-I've been wanting to practice construction in VR.
-Thank you for the Secure Silo.

◆Issues with Construction:
-The Grave cannon is not functioning properly.

-Sometimes the blueprint disappears when taking out the deconstruction tool after holding the blueprint.

-Blueprints are reset to an unlocked state every time you log out.

-The description of the Capacity Module on this page is incorrect.

-Objects under construction are not always displayed correctly.

◆Improvement points (Construction)
-"We are considering reducing the overall size of construction prohibited areas for each continent as much as possible."
Please make it possible to construct buildings that can accommodate a wide range of uneven terrain and walls while maintaining glitch prevention, rather than reducing the prohibited area size. Current construction is limited by even small slopes or depressions in the ground, greatly reducing the width of construction.

-Please improve the glitch where players with network latency continue to suck up ANT's Mining Laser regardless of overheating or distance.

-"These mechanisms are not fun for attackers." This is a ridiculous proposal made by an incompetent person.

◆Improvements to Oshur:
-Buff the ability for Sunderers to submerge or make the submersion limits clear. The current underwater time is short and deployment in water is difficult in many situations.

◆Major Complaint
-If you are going to remove the automated defense system, please immediately replace it with something that has equivalent or greater defensive capabilities. The current defensive capabilities of the construction bases are far too weak.

>>>Proposed improvements>>>
I don't understand why your management has avoided implementing an automatic defense system until now, as even those defending a base in actual construction understand the need for it. However, if it must be done, I suggest the following
---All buildings are indestructible until the main silo is overloaded. The overload time should be about the same as the generator found in AmpStations, for example. Once overloaded, it cannot be undone as long as the base is under attack. To cancel the overload, the buildings must not be under attack for one minute. If several major parts of the base are destroyed while overloaded, all buildings will disappear.---


◆Things experienced and complaints on the live server

Currently, various automatic turrets, Pain Spire, and alarms are present in the live construction base and they play a very important role.
The automatic turrets cannot intentionally take kills, but they prevent intruders from rampaging for about 10 minutes. The Pain Spire covers the vulnerable areas of the turrets and the base. The alarm informs the player immediately when the base is invaded while the player is away.
However, even now, they do not function sufficiently well, and intruders can easily bypass these obstacles. While anti-vehicle knives are often talked about as the reason for the rampage, attackers can easily weaken the base by destroying the modules, hiding behind the turrets, and using normal guns. The automatic turrets can be destroyed by shooting from a distance with a tank and all of them can be destroyed without harm. And these sabotage works can be done alone.
With the recent PTS update, these automatic defense functions have been removed, making it easy to destroy any large base in about 10 minutes by simply carrying a bomb back and forth with a Sunderer. It goes without saying that the players who experienced this were very distraught. The cloak of the Infiltrator has become almost useless due to the light, but with the increased complexity of the base, there are now more blind spots where attackers can hide, making it easier for them to walk around without any obstacles, even feeling like a leisurely walk.
Attackers can easily rampage without any drawbacks, simply running around the base with a sense of mischief. The modules become bombs just by poking around, and even more powerful bombs can be placed. The defense side is just being tossed around by this, making it feel pointless to build.
April 30th, PT 11:00, what was the meaning of the one-hour test? Normally, there are only one or two players in the construction base, and it is not common for many players to defend instantly like that. After you and the onlookers left, the base became a small number of soldiers and was quickly destroyed by a small number of infantry.
On the live server, most of the builders are solo or in small groups of less than five, and it usually takes 10-15 minutes for allies to come to defend.
With the removal of invincibility in the construction base, the implementation of the Cortium Bomb and the Bastion, aren't the number of players building bases decreasing? If you insist on this matter, even more people will leave.
Tell the designer you belong to, "From today, all buildings on the map will be deleted from the data if a player touches them, because it's more fun that way. Please design new buildings and redistribute them within a day each time." The designer should be outraged. What you are trying to do is the same.
For these reasons, I do not approve of removing automatic turrets and Pain Spire and performing an update based on the assumption that the base is manned at all times.

The Command Center is weak for it's size. When armor start focusing on, it just melts. Two prowlers make quick work of it. You won't have time to save your base if leave it. Check out this out to see what I mean

Cons
Module Placement: Now that modules need to be manually slotted for all constructs, the time to build any size base has increased greatly. If one is looking to build an effective base, modules like repair and shield are almost mandatory, lest your constructs be destroyed very easily. As a result, half the time base building is spent just installing repair modules. Most structures can't even install shield modules anymore, particularly rampart walls, bunkers, and pillboxes. I believe this change was made to make base assaults easier, but since the shields are no longer one-way, why not allow these structures to equip them. Some structures can't even equip any modules at all, and can only be repaired manually. Some structures (reserve silo) are like this and can't even be repaired at all under any circumstances.

Modules like the skywall shield, durability, and firewall make sense since they are special enough to warrant running around for several minute to give the associated structures the added benefits. Repair and maybe even projectile shield are a must have, and in an even medium size base with potentially a dozen constructs, some with multiple modules to install the tedium isn't worth it for players not interested in construction already on live as they find it slow enough as it is already.

TL;DR: Base building takes much longer now. Half the time is spent slotting it mandatory modules like repair.

Potential improvement? If possible, remove repair modules and have all structures in the influence of an active silo passive repair over time, the rate of repair can be adjusted for balance. Heavy repair modules can be kept. Increase the types of structures that can equipped projectile shield modules to include rampart walls, bunkers, pillboxes, and infantry towers.

Cortium Drain: The cortium upkeep for bases has been certainly reduced when the base is idle (not under attack.) When it is under attack, the active modules (not high capacity modules) drain cortium at an incredible rate, especially for repair modules. Since a player is likely to have repair modules on most constructs, when they take frequent damage from a front-line fight or an armor column, many repair modules will be draining cortium simultaneously.

That is all fine, especially since the improvements to the ANT, the orbital mining drill, and the greatly increased capacity of cortium you can store at your base would offset this. The real problem come from that even with all those improvements, cotrium is drained faster than you can deposit it. Ex. I built a large base on Esamir and it was hit by one orbital strike. At the time I had just finished topping up a improved capacity silo and reserve silo for a combined 85,000 cortium. After being hit, all the structures were brought to half health and the 85,000 cotrium was drained in a few seconds. Trying to resupply the silo with a fully certed ANT from an adjacent mining drill with a Howler mining lazer was fruitless. The moment any cortium was deposited it was instantly drained to zero.

TL;DR: Modules drain cortium at a rate that is impossible to keep a silo drop depleting rapidly when under attack, even when being constantly resupplied.

Construct Health: It seems that the health of all construction objects has been reduced, and the changes to modules has also made them more vulnerable to attacks like orbital strikes and AV blades.

When building large noticeable structures like the new command/rebirthing centers, just a couple MBTs shooting at them in enought to make quick work of them and other structures, this includes when a squad of players is dedicated to supporting the base.

Most structures can be meleed to death in about 60s by a single player with an AV knife.

Orbital strikes are much more effective against constructs. One orbital will bring most constructs to half health, with another destroying most. This is only worse with the orbital draining all cortium in the base. Skywall shields do nothing to protect from orbitals. Currently on live, skywall shields hit by an orbital will deactivate, absorbing the blast while constructs inside are lightly damaged. A second orbital will bring modules to burning and moderately damage constructs, a third orbital will destroy all modules and light constructs and bring larger constructs to burning.

TL;DR: Construct health has been reduced so that a small amount of players using MBTs, AV knifes, or orbital strikes can quickly destroy a base in a matter of minutes.

Potential improvement? If possible, improve the health of structures, especially command/rebirth centers due to their large size, as well as others. Change the damage type for AV knife so their output against constructs is greatly reduce or removed, some range with orbitals to reduce the damage they do against construction by a feature enabling builders to better defend against it, or in the orbital itself.

Pros
Walls & other structures: Many of the new constructs are excellent. Walls are much better now that you can place 4 rampart walls instead of three, and placing them does not preclude you from placing bulwark walls and blast walls. Things like the bunker and blast walls have been greatly improved. In addition to other great designs like infantry awnings, blast portals, and even infantry tunnels allows them to be better placed in together to from a more effective layout.

Modules: New modules like the firewall module and capacity module for the silo are great. Worth the special attention required to install them in structures with many modules or intended to be used as strongpoints.

UI: The changes to the UI are great across the board, ANTs, cortium deposits, map indication, construction menu, and the favorite mechanic.

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These are the principle takeaways I have from both playtest as well as playing on PTS in between. If any developer reads any part of this, I thank you for your attention.

You can't refil the Dev placed silo with your ANT.

As I was testing the ant I have found out that the turbo path no longer Activates even on hills. this may due to the change of the cordium scanner and tank changes.

Enemy vehicle terminals in the Command Center can be destroyed and they disappear.
You can also sneak into the spawn room of the command center while it's under construction and destroy the spawn tubes.

Underwater combat is currently leaning toward "realism" at the cost of fun. No one likes it. This is a missed opportunity to make underwater combat MORE fun than land combat.

First of all, get rid of the speed and movement penalties - take that underwater propulsion device and have it be something that automatically appears on our back hip when we enter water. The exact details of how much it propels you could be up for debate. The point is that it's an explanation for having normal walking speed. Secondly, get rid of the bullet drop and weapon restriction penalties - it's the future, everything works fine underwater!

With these two changes, underwater combat could be like land combat, but because of the additions of unhindered 3 dimensional movement in water and perfectly functioning weapons, it could be even MORE fun than land combat. It could be like stepping into the old Tribes games. Planetside 2 with more movement sounds like a fun change of pace and a new test of skill.

LAs could combine their jetpack + underwater propulsion to have more speed/movement than anyone else. Water scooter would always be active with the WASD keys. Works the same as walking. For non-LA classes, space propels you upwards and Ctrl pushes you down. For LA, space activates your jetpack and upward water propulsion at the same time, which is where the increased speed comes in. The flaw with that control scheme would be that LAs can't choose to have one of their two different propulsions off.

Other possible control scheme is that WASD activates the water scooter, but upward/downward directional movement is controlled by moving the mouse up or down. That way a light assault can press Space and not have two different upward propulsions activate. The flaw with that control scheme would be that it's similar to flying and having to move your sightline to move a certain way isn't ideal.

There could be another way I'm not thinking of. I suppose it's possible the water scooter could be "switched to" by holding Shift.

So devs, PLEASE do something to make water combat better if you're going to make half of the center base on Oshur underwater fighting. Making half of the mid fight be underwater with no changes to the current underwater combat system is a disaster waiting to happen.

Buildings that would be nice to remake:
-Rebirthing Center - its shape does not fit well with the walls, it takes up too much space to make a compact base along with vehicle terminals inside this base. It should be reduced by removing the extra room where the modules are installed and make ordinary stairs at the exits of the respawn room.
-Vehicle Gate - you need to remove the stairs, make the place where the stairs are mirrored to the opposite pillar. Make a pillar in the middle with a cell for the module installed on it. It is advisable to make the lower strip with small ramps deepening into the ground for better installation. (there are cases when the technique jumps on the current jumper).
- It is necessary to make a ramp for the Bridge (2pcs) which will not have a very steep angle and so that the ramp is at the height of the bridge on a flat surface.
-If you want the bases to have more passages for the infantry, then you should make the same wall based on the Rampart Wall with a special passage for the infantry (protected from the possibility of shooting through the insides of the base by vehicles through this passage).. Give the opportunity to put 2pcs Rampart Wall and 2pcs Rampart Wall with a passage. It is also necessary to increase the thickness of the front part of the wall so that the area damage from shells does not reach that of the infantry standing close to the wall.
-Solid Wall fix this wall being destroyed by OS while on Skywall.
-Light Vehicle Terminal and Light Air Terminal need a downsize rework and remove ramps that are oversized. For the Light Air Terminal, it is necessary to make it possible to climb to the upper platform using a ladder or a gravity lift. For the Light Vehicle Terminal, you also need to add a roof or canopy so that the base does not have such a large area for farming A2G. Also, replace all vehicle terminals with the third slot for a special module in which you can install a vehicle terminal without the possibility of hacking the terminal, but with the possibility of overloading it.
-Cortium Silo - remove the ladder, make it just a cylinder with no protruding parts, this will simplify placement.
-Pillbox - give the opportunity to install them 2pcs (you can install either 2pcs Pillbox or 2pcs Bunker or 2pcs Infantry Tower). Remove sunroof. On the sides, make solid walls without windows and align these gaps with the bottom of the structure by making the sides solid walls. Add vertical posts down the middle on the side walls like on the Bunker, this makes it easy to install these structures without gaps. (thanks for such a decision on the Bunker!) Increase the thickness of the front part so that the area damage from the shells does not reach that of the infantry standing close to the windows of the bunker.
-Infantry Tower - It is also necessary to make the side walls level with the top of the tower. Also add side posts. And also remove the sunroof. Increase the thickness of the front part so that the area damage from the shells does not reach that of the infantry standing close to the windows.
-Change the repair strength of the normal repair module so that one ANT can't deal damage with the WLT-Howler Mining Laser to any structure!
-Make Cortium Silo invulnerable while there is a structure with a spawn point within Silo's radius! For all structures that do not have a module slot, give at least one slot.
-Add additional slots for all structures specifically for temporary modules so that anyone can insert a temporary module into the same slot.
-Change lantern light color from decor to fractional and make more decors. Spotlight 2pcs shining in the sky with light of the color of the faction. Fractional decors. Some kind of trees in pots, etc. All this for DBC.
-Make special versions of buildings and walls for the holidays according to their theme. Also change the models of Cortium cores during the holidays. Christmas trees and candy canes. Green crystals with the effect of flying souls for Halloween. Pots of gold for st. patrick's day. And everything in this spirit.