Like Needles In My Eyes (1)

Totally agree with this.
This is a major design flaw that breaks the game down to small skirmishes interrupted by short travel times (which can again be nullified by simply redeploying).
The truly epic battles for tactical vantage points like bridges which could last for hours were the thing that made the original PS so great.
And having no nearby base to spawn at actually made those structures to vantage points and chokes that could be exploited.

If they would actually just consider this, I'm afraid it would make me giggle like a schoolgirl from happiness.

Kudos for taking the time to write all that down, thank you.

If not remove the small outposts in between, maybe just make them like the satellites on Amerish in which you just need to stand on the point for about 20 seconds to cap the base, this would help preserve momentum of a force without having to radically change the map.

Removing small outposts would be nice, I find those battles almost too cramped for a real 24V24, and increasing the area between battles would be really nice, its almost camp a base, win, camp a base. forcing us to fight outside facilities would be make the flow of this game better.

Like OP said, you wouldn't nessecarily even have to remove any of the outposts (maybe remove the shields around them though), just make them so you can not spawn there by default, but have to bring your own infrastructure (I.e. SAMS) and simply removing the lattice link from it

Therefore if the devs give this consideration, a test run on PTS shouldn't even require all too much (At least that's what I believe, having no clue of game development)

This is the most constructive and awesome planetside post I've ever seen, and really would make this game how I hoped it would be. We need to get this on higbys desk

I (and others) have suggested a related thing:
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...ach-to-the-capture-of-main-facilities.156062/

Ideally, we would have the base density as you described, with the remaining main facilities / large bases changed to have a layered defence.

Also, capture timers for those locations should extend to 30 minutes.
- To allow the defenders a chance at actually coordinating a decent counter-attack.
- to lengthen the time taken to capture the base as there would be fewer bases.
- to increase the time spent fighting over the facilities for more fun and a bigger sense of accomplishment when it is finally captured.

This sounds awesome and would give meaning to large troop maneuvers. I believe that if teamwork is rewarded, that is what we'll get. No more cert grinds, but flanks, intercepts, and line holding. It would be glorious.

I have a feeling that SOE knows the ramifications of your suggestion and doesn't make the change because it'll detract casual players from liking the game. Without semi-consistent base capturing the game feels stupid quickly to all but the hardcore crowd. Now currently PS2 does get stupid... but slowly. Base capturing gives the player a feeling of success and progression. Eventually this dies out and players leave.

So we need some kind of META badly. I feel that adding days long epic battles would just make it worse honestly. I like my random players who are terribad at this game. Gives me a reason to play. Hoping they'll eventually finally whip up a PS game that makes me want to play indefinitely.

The reason why we have so much silly spawn camping is because the smaller outposts take far too long to capture and the large facilities cap stupidly fast (especially the biolabs).
Capping time should be something about this:
Small outpost - 2 minutes
Large outpost - 4 minutes
Major facility - 15-20 minutes

Capping multiple points shouldn't have influence on the capping time at all. It could have another bonus effect - like there are terminals, healing tubes and ammo dispensers close to each cap point and if you have the point you get control over those.

That would work to a degree, i but i think you missed a big point.

Sure you address the spawn camping, but the only difference is that the camping will be just not as long. everyone will still be sitting at these places to claim their certs, the main difference with yours being that these bases will now be getting steamrolled at a faster rate and the bigger zerg will outright win every time effectively just instantly pushing the enemies back without much time to retaliate until they hit the larger bases.

OP focuses not only on the spawn camping, but the bigger picture, the gameplay itself, and where the gameplay will be taking place.

He does this by making it so factions will not just be meeting at predetermined bases for their engagements, but in unused more open fields where tactics and actual strategy can shine. thus making the spawn camping just a secondary objective rather than the primary.

As it is, currently, the primary objective in most zergs is to lock down spawn rooms, and to do this they swarm the area with men and prevent them from leaving. OP's objective is to make the actual fight be in a more broad sense, where fighting to actually get to the base is more of a commonality rather than a typical 30 second drive to repeat the same spawn camp objective.

I agree that there aren't enough battles of armies colliding between facilities and outposts. Usually one side is backed up to their outposts/facilities and defending from there instead of massive armies clashing in open environments. However, such situations would probably lead to a very long stalemate, like world war I. I would say remove some outposts but not all to get battles of both types. This would work well for those that want shorter fights and those that want longer ones. Alert time limits and rewards for capturing would also need to be changed to suit the longer battles.

To be honest, they should've thought of it 1st when making this OMFG project. The map is too big, with too much area between bases and lots of useless small bases between. A smaller map with few bases would also make the spawn beacon and squad deploy less vital, which actually bypass the whole map area anyway, and lead to a much dynamic game play.

Knock that off...quit trying to make sense and stating what's so massively obvious that the only logical conclusion one can come to is the devs don't give a crap, they rarely play their own game anyway and they intentionally want PS2 to be one big spawncamping fest.

a couple hours ago i got out of a game, where my platoon and i (NC side) faced off against the Vanu side.

I dont know the location of the area exactly but it was in their territory up past the biolab in the northwest on indar, we pushed the vanu back off of one base and ended up fighting each other in-between their base and ours, we met in a more open area, and i must say. It was GLORIOUS.

The amount of maneuvering each side did to try to gain an advantage was superb, you would FINALLY see some basic military tactics being played out, in one case there was a group of 6-8 harassers charging from our flank just to draw our attention off from an incoming attack from a lib and a couple of scythes (we still held our ground though with some very good placed shots by our guys)

It was one of the most satisfying experiences i had in a while playing planetside 2, it was something that you could literally say "this is planetside" where 2 large forces meet in the battlefield of their own choosing to slug it out over this plot of land that has no significance other than to reach to the other side, to gain as much ground as possible, and not some useless predetermined stage with a point that is only important because someone made it so, and only encourages us to flock to because of the thought of granting us a minor reward on its capture.

Unfortunately, after finally pushing them back to their base, it ended up with the exact same routine of everyone spawn camping (i admit i racked up more than 30 kills in my tank shooting enemies coming around the corner from their spawn room) but i can truly say that what OP has stated will bring more of these situations to life, and i want it so badly again.

I do think that the smaller bases shouldnt have any spawn rooms or terminals at all and not be able to be capped, instead just have the ammo dispensaries for vehicles to provide nothing but a position to be able to slow down or repel an attackers push or provide a staging area to prep for an assault or to resupply.

Finally, some one said it better than I could!

The current lettuce is a temporary fix for low-pop. PS1 Lattice must return!

Woah! That's a lot of suggestions!

Keep 'em coming!

You know, I always wanted to ask a PS1 vet...

The towers in PS1, what purpose did they serve? Were they similar to outposts in their current form?

I'd add that making less bases actually gives the developers a very interesting opportunity. By even removing some of the base geometry in small outposts, the devs COULD use the map resources (polygons and all that jazz) to pump a few of the towers/bases in the middle of nowhere full of steroids. Make them actually interesting. You remove a pointless base from some stupid nowhere area and that should give you resources to buff an another base WITHOUT compromising the overall performance too much.

Well. At least I think that's how'd it go. I know close to nothing about programming.

I love this idea, but i dont know if the community (non-forum siders) would be ready for it.

A thousand recommends for this.

I'm pretty casual so I guess some of the 'SOE won't go for this because it will turn casual players off' posts are ones I can address. Yes, it's nice to see that 'facility captured' and get a few XP in the zerg. However it's very frustrating to be on the wrong end of a steamroll or a spawn camp, and that momentary rush isn't worth a lot when you know the opposition can take that 'lane' (or ghost cap on Amerish) back in the near future anyway. Facility alerts can (when population is balanced) be awesome fun because your attacks and defences actually feel like they mean something.

I don't actually think the outposts need to be removed, just add a high level lattice link between the main facilities (so outposts are an optional extra) and remove the spawns at the intermediate towers. Leave infantry terminals, ammo resupply points and even shields and turrets just as they are now; taking those bases should mean something and if the opponents want to dodge them then they should have to consider turret range.

On Indar I'd leave a central base, probably The Crown. I'm not sure why the impact site should be a lattice base; it retains its interest and strategic value as a resupply point without being one, and The Crown is the central location and obvious stronghold, as well as having historic value to you veteran players. Esamir's okay because Eisa is already a core central facility. Amerish doesn't have an obvious non-facility central territory that should stay; maybe it would be ok with nothing other than the facilities.