Moving frontlines and the Navy

[Revvin]

After posting in the thread started by Mathman about CV's having more ports (not CV launchable just repair ports) dotted around the coastline it reminded me of a thread I started in WB a while back about moving frontlines.

To create a moving frontline would it be possible to have something like a Bedford truck in the game that players could drive maybe two or three of them and setup a forward field for GV's? Instead of relying on the static fields and spawn points which not only feel gamey but once located can be vulched easily we could have players take a few trucks, have them escorted by M16's (oh wait that sounds like players co-operating   ) and setup a forward field with a few acks and a fuel and ord dump. These forward fields would have a 'shelf life' and a message displayed in the radio buffer when supplies got short such as "FIELD XX LOW ON FUEL" and a player would have to drive a truck there or a C47 drop supplies to restock it.

On a primarily land based map (NDISLES could be a problem) this would create a dynamic frontline. What do you guys think?

[Nordman]

Sounds interesting. But then again. At the beginning the map would be filled up with these forwarded frontlines. After a while I think it would work out pretty well. But if it comes to life, beware the first months in MA, I believe it would be fun for many players since it's new and all. But the idea is good.

(Add it fast since I'm not playing in MA atm   Then it might be normal again when I join again)

-XroverX

[Revvin]

What about if these forward fields were not resupplied say after 30 mins of the automatic radio broadcast "FIELD XXX NEEDS TO BE RESUPPLIED" then they are made unavailabe even to resupply trucks/planes etc then after 10 mins they dissapear from the map. The map remains uncluttered and the frontline moves on.

[LtHans]

There have been several pro-vehicle suggestions people have asked to be added to AH.

1.  Roving Army Group.  Similar to an aircraft carrier.  You have a formation of AI tanks, trucks, and artillery and it moves overland like an aircraft carrier.  You spawn your tanks from it, but it can also be wiped out like a carrier group.

2.  A seperate, but linked arena for ground combat.  This new arena would be very different programing, smaller physically, but full of detailed terrain to play on, and different rules.  HiTech himself mentioned interest in doing this one time.  The problem is finding enough players to fill it.

3.  Battlefields.  Add dedicated, areas onto the map that have the terrain and capture points for vehicles to assault, and spawn points for two opposing sides on either end of it.  The capture points are easier to capture thru ground assault than thru air attacks (I won't get into detail on the hows and whys of it).  Litterally capture the flag.  When you capture the enemy "fort", you open up the next battlefield down the grid from you, miles away.  This way we avoid "warping" past each other and get to experience ground to ground combat.

This could also be added in small clusters that are not hooked in any way to other clusters of Vehicle Spawn points.  Thus you still to Air-to-Air to capture a tohold in an enemy VH cluster, then a combo of Air and Ground to capture the rest in that group.

Hans.

[K West]

I like it Revvin!

Westy

[Revvin]

Maybe we could combine these player deployable fields with the roving AI tanks formations?

[Seeker]

AI?

You guys really miss EAW, don't cha?  

[LtHans]

Seeker, you didn't bother to read above there, about what TYPE of AI we're talking about.

Roving army formations, which are the land based "aircraft carrier group".  In this case an army group.

ANYTHING that replaces the current teleport system is good in my opinion.  what we need are

1.  Cover.  Not the single trees we have now.  Those are useless except to making ditching impossible.  My vote has always been for Treelines, similar to smoke rounds that are permanent to the map, don't move, and have a tree pattern to them, not grey smog.  That alone is enough for now.  Hell, even 2D sprite trees in large numbers are preferable to the 3D trees in sparse numbers we have now is better (like in Steel Beasts).

2.  Changes to the spawing so both sides have to advance thru each other to get to the capture point.  Right now we can teleport past each other skipping the fun part of shooting at each other.

3.  A reason to use vehicles over planes.  I don't mean everywhere, but a few fields ought to be very vulnerable to ground assault, while very resistant to air attack.  This way both air and ground war can take place, with none being better ALL the time, just SOME of the time.

Hans.

[Kweassa]

I like that second idea. I once posted about it as a 'moving spawn point' to simulate the GV frontlines. It basically was something like this..

ex) Imagine two conflicting fields with total 5 spawn points.(Let's say Knit and Bish)

    [A19(k)] - s1(n) - s2(n) - s3(n) - [A20(b)]


 At the beginning of the game, only the spawn points on the fields(VHs) are accessible. The distance between each spawn point are about 5 miles or so.. requires some driving on the part, but definately not too long.

    [A19] - s1 - s2 - s3 - [A20]

 As the game makes progress, gvs from the fields will advance to capture the spawn points.

    [A19] - s1 - s2 - s3 - [A20]


 After GVs from the two field have each captured s1 and s3, they can spawn at that place. The distance to the middle spawn point is 5 miles. This is where the 'front' is formed.

   [A19(k)] - s1(k) - s2(n) - s3(b) - [A20(b)]


 Let's say after a lengthy clash at s2, the Knits have finally captured s2. Now the 'push' begins.
 
   [A19(k)] - s1(k) - s2(k) - s3(b) - [A20(b)]

 Knit GVs now can spwan at s2, while bish can only up to s3, the front is moved closer to A20. The battle rages on and Knits have managed to capture s3 too.


   [A19(k)] - s1(k) - s2(k) - s3(k) - [A20(b)]


 Now, for the Knits, the distance is only 5 miles to enemy field, for the Bish they have to spawn at the VH, to stop Knit gv advancement.


 This is the basic concept I had, with some more additional ideas to it:


 i) The spawn points can only be captured with ground troops


 ii) when a spawn point that is behind enemy lines is captured, all enemy spawn points up to that point is set to neutral.


   [A19(k)] - s1(k) - s2(k) - s3(k) - [A20(b)]


 Bishops break through enemy lines and capture s1? Then..


    [A19(k)] - s1(n) - s2(n) - s3(n) - [A20(b)]
 
 In this state, any Knit GVs near s3 will not be able to capture s3-> meaning: in the case of neutral captures, you can do it only one adjacent spawn point at a time. Capturing a non-adjacent neutral spawn point only brings out the 'flank attack null&voider' effect. Knit GVs may capture s3, but no effect at all.

 Of course, if that is to be possible, a Bish M3 would have to sneak through 15 miles behind eney lines, and rely on pin point timing air support because...


 iii) after a spawn point is captured, 1~4 acks are spawned at that point to simulate the front line defenses(unless it is a spawn point behind enemy lines). Maybe 3 acks+1 flak. This would prevent the sneaky 1 man M3s slipping through enemy lines and capturing spawn points.

 iv) a captured spawn point is also equipped with GV resources storage building(tent maybe?), simular to the VH. Destruction of these would not disable GVs like tanks, but would disable troops, GV supplies and GV rearming.

     
 v) the spawn will be in a random pattern along with in 0.5 mile radius half-circle

 vi) These points would of course have to be marked at the map, the members of each  countries would see their foremost GV spawn point marked in the map. Connect all the fore most spawn points and you have a 'front'  

 vii) When a spawn point is attacked(enemy GV firing within certain range of the spawn point) the spawn point will flash on the map indicating it is under attack.
 
 In my opinion, this is about the only way to recreate a 'front' concept without any AI. The basics are all from current AH environment, just a few more spawn points, putting in some new rules/regulations concerning those spawn points.. and etc etc.

[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: Kweassa ]

[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: Kweassa ]