Goliath Raven
Osmon Surveillance
Caldari State
80
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Posted - 2012.10.02 21:00:00 -
[1] - Quote
I get that the real strategy elements of the game, the RTS commander role is not in yet however I worry about what this role is going to be able to do at this rate once they are implemented. Here is what I mean.
1. Roles are being diminished.
Anything that provides an advantage are not being balanced via cost / difficulty to acquire, but instead by nullifying the advantage. This pretty much means that every troop on the battlefield is in an almost Scissors, Rock, Paper match. Vehicles take out Assault troops, Assault troops take out AV, AV takes out Vehicles. This makes it so that battles will never progress past a "First Teir" unlike we see in Every popular RTS. This on a completely level playing field turns every match into a contest of numbers. Have greater numbers with sufficient diversity in one area and you win every contest. This is not strategy.
2. The level playing field.
If you can get anywhere that gives you a significant advantage over your opponents, then it appears that CCP believes that needs to be made inaccessible. Just look at the dropship flight height nerf. The only reason I can see to do this is to prevent dropships from tower camping. Now if tower camping is such a significant advantage, shouldn't it be more contested? This is what strategy is all about. First you fight for the most control of the battle field, then you fight for the checkmate. Taking out the tower tops because they provide an advantage is like if the creators of chess decided to make the center four squares inaccessible. It just doesn't make sense.
3. The un-dynamic battlefield
Spawn, run, die, rinse repeat. Lets face it, the only real element of strategy currently is your squad leader pointing which direction you should run in this process. So what's the battlefield commander going to be able to do? Direct the squad leader on which way he should point while flying around a big spawn point? That sounds incredibly boring.
How can this be fixed?
1. Exaggerate roles! Balance by cost / difficultly to acquire / difficultly to use.
Don't be afraid to make dropships hard as hell to fly well! Don't be afraid to make tanks cost a small fortune! Don't be afraid to make a crazy change like a pure medic Red Cross dropsuit that cannot carry weapons but will give anyone who kills them -10 wp! Make a game mode where instead of "clones remaining" deciding the outcome, each team has a set amount of isk they can spend before they lose (BPOs count as BPCs spent toward this counter). Don't be afraid to make this game interesting! This is a beta and we can certainly struggle through the worst of these ideas to pick out the gems for you! I am certain that CCP has more ideas in the hopper than what we are seeing, where are they?
2. Embrace how players play your game, don't confine them!
There should be spots that provide major advantages when held, and not just because they have a null cannon but because the commander was visionary enough to recognize a seemingly unimportant piece of land and use it's topography to his plans advantage! If things like dropships landing on the top of buildings are really that big a deal, then give the swarm launcher a fly by wire feature or something like that.. The only reason it seem cheep is because people can't shoot it down without a dropship anyway and that will quickly be solved by fighters. Either way, these advantageous spots should be contested over, that's what makes battle interesting!
3. Give the commander control
This has yet to be implemented and may actually already be in the works. I only note this as something that would improve the strategic element of this game from its current state and given the future vision of development, this is the most likely way this will be improved. I hope to see the commander having more to do with the battlefield than setting objective. I hope the mcc can drop installations, turrets, and even barricades. The commander should be able to reinforce front-lines, create impromptu forward command posts, set/spring traps, and maybe even provide long range artillery support.
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