[Suggestion] Fortifiable/Upgradable Bases
Abstract (TL;DR): Bases are able to be upgraded by spending air/mech/infantry resources to reward factions for holding onto them. This increases game depth by encouraging strategy in a less artificial way, and encourages defensive play. It may also help resist zerg forces steamrolling bases and help personalize and differentiate bases, giving players a better feeling of "owning" a base. This may be done with a smaller development cost vs other entirely new features by leveraging existing effects as the base upgrades.
Preface: As things stand in the game currently, there isn't much of a reason to own a base beyond helping to take the next base. There is no real sense of "owning" a base, and all bases are sort of homogenized where it's either a small base, or a larger base, or a facility and as long as it's one of those types there's not really anything else to know about it. In an effort to increase the sense of ownership of a base, and increase the differences between bases would be made upgradable at a cost of player resources.
Core: Bases become upgradable, via a terminal in each base's spawn building. These upgrades activate various machinery already placed within the base and cost significant resources from the player who activates them (which can be any player of the faction that owns the base). The upgrades could have tiers like Air Upgrade Level 1, Air Upgrade Level 2, etc. that progressively increase the effect they provide or provide additional effects, or they could be simple and flat like Air Upgrade, Infantry Upgrade, Mech Upgrade. There must not be choice in which upgrade a base gets if it permanently locks out other choices (like a tree-style upgrade path) in order to limit the effect of possible poor choices, either by well-meaning but inexperienced players, or malicious players of another faction that switch characters to grief.
The upgrades should not be so strong that they make a base impossible to assault, but they shouldn't be so minor that they are ignorable. Additionally, the upgrades should not significantly devalue any player classes or vehicles. Ideally the upgrades would leverage existing effects that are already in the game in order to reduce development cost but additional new effects could be added later. "Passive" upgrades should be avoided, the upgrades should be visible to help players feel that the upgrades actually have an effect. For example, an upgrade that reduces the vehicle spawn cost would probably be a poor choice. The upgrades could be implemented as small structures (like the base turrets) that are not "activated" until the resources are spent through the Upgrade Terminal at which point they become active. Once active they must stay activated until the base is capped at which point all upgrades should be reset. The structures that provide the upgrade effect should probably be destroyable/repairable but not hackable. Destroying the upgrade structures must not decrease the "tier" of the base. Upgrades should probably not be "placed" at activation time to avoid problems with them spawning on top of players. For example, placing destroyable vehicle barriers, while there is already a vehicle where the barriers will pop up. Upgrades should not be available to activate until the base has been capped for some (probably small) amount of time (say 1 minute) in order to give the enemy time to contest the base again, and there should be an interval between upgrades (maybe 5-15 minutes) in order to prevent a base becoming fully upgraded immediately after being capped. Additionally a base should not be able to be upgraded while contested (capture timer ticking up or down).
Some ideas for possible upgrades:
- Air Resource Upgrades
- Radar Tower/Dish on or near the spawn building. It may only reveal aircraft, or it may reveal everything nearby. Additional levels could increase the range and/or what units are detected.
- Large area shield over the spawn building or control point to reduce aircraft bombardment. This could re-use the asset that was on the test server at one point I believe?
- Mechanized Resource Upgrades
- Repair Aura on/near the vehicle spawner. Additional ranks could increase the range or the repair rate. The repair should be disabled for a small amount of time on damage (similar to the nanite repair system).
- Additional vehicle barriers. Probably placed near the entrance to a base. May be expensive development cost-wise.
- Infantry Resource Upgrades
- Healing Aura on the base Control Points. This would be a relatively weak and small aura, enough to get you back to full after a fight, but not enough to significantly alter the outcome of a fight. Additional ranks could increase the range or strength of the effect. This doesn't devalue medics as you still need them for healing outside of the control points, and the aura would not revive players.
- Automated anti-infantry turrents placed around the base. They wouldn't be very strong, but could cover the spawn building doors and/or control points (remember, they should be destroyable). This may help with ghost-capping bases somewhat. I personally like this one the most but it is probably unrealistic since there doesn't seem to be any other sort of AI implementation in the game. However, if it was implemented the work would pave the way for something like a small automated anti-personnel turret that engineers could equip/place instead of the larger manned turrets they currently have.
The level of upgrades must be visible on the map, so platoon commanders can make better educated decisions about whether a base is worth defending/attacking. Additionally not all bases need to have the exact same upgrades available to them. For example, one base may have the Healing Aura infantry upgrade while another might have the automated turrets. In fact, having the upgrades vary by base adds additional differentiation to the bases. The cost of the upgrades may be something like 750 of a single type of resource, or it could vary by the size of the base (say 500 for a small base, 750 for a large facility). Mixed costs (say 300/450 air/mech for a single upgrade) should probably be avoided as nothing else uses mixed resources like that. Requiring resources from more than one player should also probably be avoided as there is no other similar mechanic in the game.
Optional addition #1: Ghost capping on non-lattice continents (Amerish) is somewhat of a problem. It's not very good gameplay and is especially annoying for the defenders. In order to combat this, as the level of upgrades increases, a control point could require more people to be on it to cap, or the capture time of the control point could increase. Something simple like "naked" un-upgraded bases remain as they are needing only a single person, while bases with one upgrade need two people on the control point, etc.
Optional addition #2: Large facilities (biolabs, amp stations, tech plants) are impressive looking, but not very interesting. They have lots of "stuff" but don't really seem to doing anything. A way to make them more interesting and appealing could be to have an upgrade that increases their resource generation (like a large generator or something similarly visible so players can see it and think "oh yes, this is the thing that is helping us") that is upgradable, with similar mechanics as the base upgrades, or takes the place of one of those resource slots. For example: a biolab's Infantry resource upgrade takes the place of the control point healing aura. These additional resource generators may also provide a small resource bonus to players (of the faction that owns it) fighting in that base/region.
Closing: I want to say that I do not care for the lattice system as currently implemented. It feels like a very artificial limitation and removes a lot of player choice about what base to go to next. It also seems to encourage one of two types of battles: you are either part of the zerg and steamroll through a series of bases, or you aren't part of the zerg and get steamrolled, niether of which are especially fun in the long term. My suggestion however doesn't necessarily need to replace the lattice system, but can be implemented with or without it (though I personally would love to see the lattice system go away, or at least get 1-2 more links between bases).
Notes: I've generally written this with the context that it is already accepted as a suggestion and this is the outline to implement it. Anywhere I've used "should" and/or "must" should be read with that in mind, and in the context of keeping this plan internally consistent and balanced, rather than in the sense that I'm demanding SoE implement this, exactly as outlined or only in part.
I agree, however there are other reasons. For example, Biolabs provide passive heal bonus. I think owning tech facilities reduce turret cool-downs? Perhaps you want to mention these and note that they are not very effective at "attaching" people to bases