Better Base Taking Mechanics

[Zygote404]

So the main problem with the game in my timezone is how imbalanced the sides are, and how pointless it seems to up at times or try to defend a base.   This is a well known issue.

Just a few mins ago we had 3 bases taken by a much more populous side in about 1 minute.  This happens because its very easy to do a 1 or 2 man base take.   

My idea is to make base taking a little more complicated than taking an M4 to town, killing all the buildings and then M3'ing a capture.

The idea:

Around each town is a ring of entrenchments with small bridges on each division.  The trench is divided into 12 - 130 oclock, 130-300 oclock and so on making up 8 divisions.  Each division has a certain number of troops based on Eny.

To capture a town you must first deploy your own troops from Goon or M3 before the trench position and the troops begin battle (max 15 minute duration).  Each troop has a random chance to kill one other troop per 1 minute round.  Every 2 minutes 1 reinforcement is added to troops.  Some troops are armed with AT weapons.

You may drop additional troops to bolster your troop numbers or use a goon to overfly the trench positions and drop straight into town after town is taken down as normal.     

You may strafe, bomb or use tanks, ship based artillery from range to to make the capture faster by killing troops.


What does this accomplish?

Current situation: 

Ship - use heavy guns to WF a town without any warning.  Roll an LVT and capture.  Single player.
M4 - Roll M4, take out town ack, roll into town and kill buildings.  Bail and grab M3.  Capture base.


New Situation:

Ship - Goon or M3 drops troops, base flashes, use heavy guns to attack trench positions.    Use heavy guns to attack town.   Launch LVT.  Troops in trenches respawn while you're taking down town.  You need two or more people at least to take a base from a ship. 

M4 - Roll M4, get attacked by troops with AT OR Roll M3, deploy troops, roll M4, assist troops with M4, if Eny is not too high win the battle.  Roll into town, take down buildings.  Get an M3.  Capture base. 


End Result:

Base sneaks become more difficult based on Eny.  Base sneaks take longer alone and become much faster if aircraft are deployed in conjunction to vehicles (especially goons if they are employed to fly over and dump in town but they're much more vulnerable).  The non-flashing base sneak is eliminated.  Goons / M3's are more active on base captures and multiple goons / m3's can dramatically speed up a capture.  Its less gamy than the current method. 

[lunatic1]

losing a base is usually do to the fact that nobody is paying attention to the flashing base. a flashing base is a indicator the said base/town is being attacked by plane or gv.

as a Knight I see it all the time. base is flashing for 10-15-20 minutes and no one checks on it, boom it's gone.
we don't need any change other than people paying attention to their flashing base.

[bustr]

The town can be deleted from any number of airfields and replaced with a map room on the airfield itself in a day of work by a terrain admin. Then it's your base to keep or give away since there won't be that buffer called a town to give you time to interfere with the base capture attempt. Instead you and the auto ack will defend the map room sitting on the grass in front of the tower. Then the attackers really have to drop the GV hanger and fighter hangers. An AI war in the Melee arena is not going to fly as a replacement for people being unwilling to defend a field from a capture attempt. We can't even get Hitech to put in regular AI bomber missions to have something to shoot at 24x7.

[JimmyC]

Nothing wrong with sneaking a base, it's all part of the fun..
Your fault for not uppin in defence , town and possibly base is flashing.. All you got to do is kill 1 troop
Nothing more fun than a scramble to town, kill troops, mop up .. Intercept new rampant m3 advance.. Call on country if you need help...
It don't need fixing... Games good 

[FESS67]

Nothing wrong with sneaking a base, it's all part of the fun..
Your fault for not uppin in defence , town and possibly base is flashing.. All you got to do is kill 1 troop
Nothing more fun than a scramble to town, kill troops, mop up .. Intercept new rampant m3 advance.. Call on country if you need help...
It don't need fixing... Games good 

I had a big response to this written out but then my PC crashed and I lost it so here is the abridged version.

JIMMY, in my prime time we get 10 to 15 players a side.  Each side has probably 15 to 20 bases in the direct front line, that is 1 player to guard each base.  Of course all they need to do is sit and wait for a base to flash, well that is if they are not trying to bomb an enemy base.....oops, 3 players are doing that.  We are now down to 12 available.  Hang on, 3 went AFK, we are down to 9.  Another 3 are in fighters, trawling around trying to find a fight, we are now left with a pool of 6.  We see a base flashing, we spawn planes (useless since as soon as the GV turns engine off they become invisible) or we spawn GVs.

Takes 10 to 15 mins to get those assets we spawned into position.  Ahhhh, false alarm , the next base is flashing, not this one.  OK  NP, let's all just end sortie and go chase the ghosts at the other base.......oh my what fun, sign me up!!!

An Jimmy, I will put my money where my mouth is, I will pay for your sub for 5 years if you come log in at my prime time and prove to me that the game mechanics work just fine and all we need to do is just scramble to the town, kill troops, mop up and defend the empire with all our might.

Genuine offer, come teach me what you see.

[Sabre]

Personally, I'd like to see the VH moved to the town, and some manned ack as well. Makes more sense that you'd have your defending ground forces deployed in the town, which is the actually objective of the enemy. For a small field, the single VH would be in the town; for bases with more than one VH, put one in the town and one on the field. The way it is now, the defenders are at a bit of a disadvantage in that the center of gravity, the town, is often easier for the attacker to reach unimpeded than for the defenders.

[Ramesis]

Personally, I'd like to see the VH moved to the town, and some manned ack as well. Makes more sense that you'd have your defending ground forces deployed in the town, which is the actually objective of the enemy. For a small field, the single VH would be in the town; for bases with more than one VH, put one in the town and one on the field. The way it is now, the defenders are at a bit of a disadvantage in that the center of gravity, the town, is often easier for the attacker to reach unimpeded than for the defenders.

Hmmm... manned ack at the twns would be nice 

[Lazerr]

Nothing wrong with sneaking a base, it's all part of the fun..
Your fault for not uppin in defence , town and possibly base is flashing.. All you got to do is kill 1 troop
Nothing more fun than a scramble to town, kill troops, mop up .. Intercept new rampant m3 advance.. Call on country if you need help...
It don't need fixing... Games good 

Some of the best fun in the game mentioned above.  M3 resupply kills these fights off sometimes.. which is kind of a buzzkill.

[bustr]

Personally, I'd like to see the VH moved to the town, and some manned ack as well. Makes more sense that you'd have your defending ground forces deployed in the town, which is the actually objective of the enemy. For a small field, the single VH would be in the town; for bases with more than one VH, put one in the town and one on the field. The way it is now, the defenders are at a bit of a disadvantage in that the center of gravity, the town, is often easier for the attacker to reach unimpeded than for the defenders.

Until Hitech likes that idea, the closest to the utilitarian purpose for the vehicle hanger being where the capture initiative takes place, is to move the map room onto the airfield. Terrain builders have always been free to do that versus setting down a town next to an airfield with a map room in the town. Then everything to defend your field is inside of the 1x1 mile area the map room sits on.

My new terrain has 33 feilds per country. Ten of them are small airfields with no vehicle spawn to them, while being within 19 miles of the nearest airfield. I'm thinking about not laying down a town for them but instead a map room near the tower on the grass. I might test the idea of setting up a multiple spawn nexus to some of those airfields that are 5-7 miles from them to slow down GV initiatives and runway camping at them. Most of the airfields on this terrain are 19 miles from each other versus the average of 25miles.

All airfields only have a single GV hanger. The 2x2 and 1x1 GV bases have three, while the tiny GV hanger base has only one, a tower, and a map room. You experience a species of what you describe attacking or defending a port.     

[SPKmes]

I had a big response to this written out but then my PC crashed and I lost it so here is the abridged version.

JIMMY, in my prime time we get 10 to 15 players a side.  Each side has probably 15 to 20 bases in the direct front line, that is 1 player to guard each base.  Of course all they need to do is sit and wait for a base to flash, well that is if they are not trying to bomb an enemy base.....oops, 3 players are doing that.  We are now down to 12 available.  Hang on, 3 went AFK, we are down to 9.  Another 3 are in fighters, trawling around trying to find a fight, we are now left with a pool of 6.  We see a base flashing, we spawn planes (useless since as soon as the GV turns engine off they become invisible) or we spawn GVs.

Takes 10 to 15 mins to get those assets we spawned into position.  Ahhhh, false alarm , the next base is flashing, not this one.  OK  NP, let's all just end sortie and go chase the ghosts at the other base.......oh my what fun, sign me up!!!

An Jimmy, I will put my money where my mouth is, I will pay for your sub for 5 years if you come log in at my prime time and prove to me that the game mechanics work just fine and all we need to do is just scramble to the town, kill troops, mop up and defend the empire with all our might.

Genuine offer, come teach me what you see.

I do this all the time....It is my fun in game.....  I like to think myself the thorn in ones side when they try take my bases......I may not stop the take but I bet they are swearing and cursing about being slowed down...I know this is happening when they up wirbs(bastids hahaha) and multiple M3's 8)..... it is all fun in the end...if I'm lucky someone will up and help but quite often with the numbers on when I play this is a lone venture....and I can be bouncing from base to base....To some it may be fa fruitless effort....but to me it is frustrating as all heck at times but the best fun for me....

[JimmyC]

On a holiday with the kids but when I'm back ..lets party
Also best form of defence is attack

[Zygote404]

losing a base is usually do to the fact that nobody is paying attention to the flashing base. a flashing base is a indicator the said base/town is being attacked by plane or gv.

as a Knight I see it all the time. base is flashing for 10-15-20 minutes and no one checks on it, boom it's gone.
we don't need any change other than people paying attention to their flashing base.

Nah.  Last night when I logged on there were 4 Rooks, 12 bishops and 8 knits.  Attention or not single players taking bases as quickly as they do is not working.