First off: Welcome Drew! https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/8119qc/hello_from_a_new_face_lets_talk_construction/ Since i am not on reddit, i welcome you here in the "official forum" and hope you will also take feedback on your request here. So, lets talk construction. The good: Construction adds a complete new playstyle A lot of ways to make use of Construction items look nice/functional The bad: Huge No-Deploy-Zones, not only for construction, but also ants themself Not usefull XP wise. After farming the cortium, a base just feed the enemy XP. No need to interact with construction, but sometimes on the new sites. Most construction fights turn out to be long distance shelling, or simple crushing with drops. Not much fun for everyone Buildings like bunker, tower and garage, as well as vehicle spawns provide more utility for attackers than defenders, unless protected in some way by (old) skyshields effectivness of autoturrets is ranging from early waring system with some area denial (AI) to usefull if sth shot (AA) to waste of space (AT) Glaive and OS are useless, They are both taking to long to get ready (building a base for attacking a base), both are excluded from normal gameplay through NDZs. The range is very limited. Instead of a timer for OS, why dont make it cortium based? One shot for 10k, single use, then build new OS (prevents spamming) IPC and OS are not a real threat to anything but unmovable things for people with eyes. I can redeploy if i see the OS inbound, vehicles can just drive away, and Infantry also can escape. Still they are kept out of normal gameplay... Cores dont play well with the game. It is almost never the case that you have a cortium race, rather then a terretory one. Core bases are usually throw-aways. Interesting would be cores preventing caps in a hex... The ugly: Cortium spawns not everywhere equal on the map. I was driving through the left of Amerish without encountering a single, not up in the mountains spawn for 10min. (Off hours, no other ants, max radar) Placement in hills is problematic, or impossible. snapping would be nice I want to deconstruct the core/OS to switch. Bases can not play against long distance shelling
Repairing an PMB gives off EXP. Mining gives an excessive amount of EXP. Keeping a Silo filled, requires Mining. If you had an automated EXP-dump, it'd just get insane: Given that building, grants EXP from mining EXP for drop-off from mining EXP from repairing EXP from automated defenses EXP Boosts from Hive proximity 2 of these, are hand-in-hand. 2 of these, and only two of these, actually require an enemy. 1 of these, boosts the others consistently. The old Skyshield, that burned enemies to death within seconds, being used to perfectly seal bases, place unavoidable fields of death onto the very terrain due to height differences... If you need those, to protect a vehicle Pad, to gain more from it than the Enemy.. I don't know what the hell, you're doing with it - but it certainly isn't protecting from the bloody sky. An-All-seeing perfect-shot Automation handling weapons capable of long-range shots, without any interaction by the Builder. The range got limited, due to these things sniping people from a distance brutally - not to mention, these things are paired with Repair modules, making them self-repairing infinite Ammo turrets that don't need an ally even in the same hex. Glaive is anti-sky-shield. OS is anti-PMB: If an OS could fire into the Lattice, due to how they work, Entire bio labs would be nuked a hex or two away. Any Spawn room wiped clean. Why they are timers: Have 5 full ants. You now have 5 entire ants worth of Cort to build & fuel OS shots. Can't fire it nearly at the moment it finishes building, and do it again at max range. It was designed to siege \ demolish bases, not massacre entire groups instantly: Bases don't move. Which is literally what the videos on it, were about. If you recall the Original Hives, you could set at the warpgate, and be 50% of the way to victory for 6 hours if the map stalled. And have 0% territory, yet be 50% of the way to victory. Hive VPs could not be lost, only gained, and Progress towards VPs only accelerated or paused. Destruction of Hives, achieved nothing worth a damn. A single hive had a consistent value - and scaled murderously up to 7 Hives at once. Territory did not: The more land you had, the more land you needed per VP. A single VP could be worth 3 entire hexes, and was lost if any of the three were taken. A Hive could generate from a single spot on the edge of the map, more VP than half the Map. More than any Large facility was worth by itself, and more than owning all 3 of a facility type. Which requires the majority of the map. A Hive requires no Land-mass, has no means to lose progress, and is only a matter of time. Nothing about Hives was related to the main game: Everything in relation to Hives was to kill or ensure as little enjoyment in any attack on them, to maximum profit. From Builders, using the Terrain, Automated Self-repair, Automated Defenses, to exploits.. From Attackers, using 12-96 man Max-unit Drops delivered via point-blank galaxy into the center, to entire zergs of anything & everything. Doesn't help, that the process of setting up a PMB in terms of EXP is bloody high, as a pay-off. Rebuilding, literally forces the collection as well: While a bloody bore, it's the safest & most consist EXP source. It was either fun for one side only, or an absolute bore for both. Having the Lattice controlled by Hives set up in a hell-hole, built to kill off any desire to attack it.. Just kills off gameplay -- Which is the actual goal of the Builders: As that is how you best defend a PMB, that you want to keep. So putting Hives, to block the entire lattice lanes, just encourages more of that crap. Sure, it won't lock the entire ******* map this time, but it will pointlessly & near endlessly cause hell for one side. Destroy a Hive, watch the 3rd come online in that hex. Activate your Hive, watch the massive zerg descend from the Sky in a "NOPE". All so that you can begin the actual Lattice capture. -- As well, the reason for PMB's not be able to prevent long-range shelling by themselves.. Is that half the damn things are Automated, and everything can self-repair. If it could eliminate Long-range shelling, they'd be even more annoying to engage or tolerate.
