Stuff that changed: -More buildings -Balcony -Some stuff moved around inside (gen) -Vehicle terminal moved outside -Tunnels First of all, the good parts: -Little shacks in the courtyard Some much welcomed cover for infantry, it's a quick and nice addition that blends in nicely. -The balcony At last, a decent "roof" access, though you have to break an ankle to get there. And the mid-level of the tech plant isn't a desert anymore, I guess. It should be promoted a bit more as an access. It's not really intuitive to crouch below a giant steel pipe and jump down, and I'm not sure players have caught on yet. -The generator Moved to the ground in an area that was just disregarded because uninteresting. -Tunnels Good concept, "meh" implementation, is always a plus. And now, for the big bad parts: -The back doors. With the addition of the balcony, this is yet another access. Ever since we got the shield gens outside, we had to get rid of the GROUND access. It's becoming exceedingly hard to defend a base you can get inside, or at least infiltrate from the ground with no effort. -THE VEHICLE SPAWN Sorry, but I just couldn't hold it: YOU HAVE LEARNED NOTHING I've ranted about it previously. It totally went in the worst possible direction. Get a look at those pics: Consider the enemy wants to attack from one of the 3 bases above, Regent Rock, Crossroads, or Zurvan. Those are the distances separating them from Tawrich. And distance = time when driving on the road. Now, the satellites All the satellites have HEAVY vehicle spawns. If the enemy takes a satellite, its closest vehicle spawn goes from 1400+ meters to less than 300, while it's a very negligible advantage for anyone at Tawrich to spawn vehicles from satellites. This clearly plays against the defenders. But apparently, it wasn't enough. Now, if you are attacking a Tech plant and your Sundy blows up, you can just walk to the Vpad, hack it, and get a truck out. And you are stuck in a base without being able to spawn tanks. Ain't that great ? Don't be surprised if your base is constantly surrounded by a dozen MBTs, because the map design allows it if not promotes it. Heavy vehicle terminals have no purpose in satellites other than screwing defenders over. DISTANCE is TIME, it's also TERRAIN; which means OPPORTUNITES to prevent any invading force from ressuplying its assault.
And of course if I forgot anything about the changes please tell me. This is of course a shameless self bump, because for once it's refreshing to see something NOT about Annihilators on forums.
There are two Vehicle spawns inside the building. You even have a picture of them in your post. They're at the back of he plant. Or is it the front? Whatever, behind the shield in your first picture is two pads. The terminals are on a walkway above the pads. There was one there before but they gave us another one when they removed the ones in the middle. You also forgot the fact that we have infantry terminals inside the main building now which is awesome. It was something that I really missed before. Now it's actually possible to change class when defending.
Oh, my bad. Relieved we still have vehicle spawns (though 90% of the population ignores this terminal existed) Point still stands about external vpad though.
External vehicle pad should just be removed. Path to the vehicle spawners in the back should be better defined, honestly didn't know they existed even before the update. I do like the change of focus from the center drive-way to the shielded area though, so the vehicle spawners in the center don't really need to be added back. I am not sure how I feel about satellites spawning heavy vehicles yet. Need to play more first. Back/front doors don't really need to be there with the gens outside, but then it would be too much like an Amp Station. I personally like the option to take a Tech Plant without killing a single generator. It also gives an entry point for Infiltrator to do their thing.
There's been a vehicle pad back there for quite a while actually. Some tech plants had them, some didn't. It clears the vehicle bay of the complete craziness, allowing for the middle to now properly lead from one side of the plant to the other.
Added in the vehicle terms (on the balcony as stated) and Spawn Exit Tunnels to your diagram: Just to point out, that northern Tunnel Exit is complete garbage in my opinion, and should be inside the actual facility as that building is VERY easy to camp.
I agree that the removal of the pads in the middle is good. It was a complete death trap for friendlies. Way too small to be a good spawning point.
Is it really there? Maybe its a different tech plant - I came up within 10 meters of the SCU the last time I used the tunnel... Will have to go check now! EDIT: Yep, your right, I must have been at a different facility - the one at Tarwich does indeed come out in the crescent building. It might in fact be an Amp Station. Damn, it's in TR hands at the moment so I can't check that one :< Anyone that can correct me?
Some of us don't need an XP incentive to defend anywhere, we do it for faction loyalty, tactical advantage, a deeper feeling of fun - generally the things that you cannot find in other more simple/focused FPS games.
Actually... You see those two doorways on the balcony? Those lead into the main building where the SCU shield generator used to be.
Cause, holding off a large, angry force is not only possible, but gives you a great rush. Was at Indar Bay point with my outfit last week. Several platoons of angry TR in planes, tanks, and on foot decided to take it from us. No adjacency, no backup, nothing but a platoon and the will to hold out as long as possible. Took them over an hour, and we walked out with a healthy gain in certs.
There is an XP bonus for defending territory, 15% I think. Mouse over the XP bonus text onscreen and it will tell you all the bonus mounts you're receiving. At +15% for EVERYTHING (kills, assists, repairs, heals, ammo, etc) assuming a conservative rate of about 100 xp/min, over an hour defense that's 60x15xp = 900xp. While defending a heavy assault, I can see double this amount. An assault will earn a bonus 1k xp and 4 certs for taking the base, regardless of how long or how hard the fight is. Defenders can earn from 1k xp/4certs to 3k xp/12 certs bonus, PER HOUR, depending on how hard the fight is, for defending it. There's no incentive to stay and defend a base solo, you'll just get rolled. There's every incentive for a platoon to garisson a large facility.
It would be nice if they reimplemented the spawn-to-mid teleporter Tech Plants used to have, but I know that's way too much to ask because it might actually give the defenders a fighting chance.
