Random Continent

[Senyu]

I posted this in another thread but decided to give it it's own with some more detail.

The Random Continent (Name in progress) is a land completly flat covered in a metal. The Ancients used this land to help shape Auraxis in their own image and experiment with different formations. Every cycle (Day, week, what have you) the land will construct a differnet landscape in which the 3 Empires will fight across.


Construction
Starting out as a flat grey land, it will at the beggining of a cycle construct a new enviorment. The enviorment simply rises from the ground in a reverse way a vehicle is deconstruced. Starting with the mountain peaks it will continue to rise until it is all set. If it is allowed to be in the zone during construction phases (not sure yet) you can unfortunetly be lifted up in places you may not wanted to be on.

The process is a little slow though allowing time to move yourself/vehicle away from the rising mountain peak to a flatter and lower spot. And to be able to see the awesomeness of it. The process fully takes 1-2 minutes to be fully constructed. Upon completion of a cycle it will deconstuct in the same way receding into the ground. In which it will remain a flat grey land until next construction phase which could be in a few minutes or is completly a locked zone until ready.


Whats In It
The zone randomly generates a variety of enviorments set to a basic algorithim perhaps? Kinda like how minecraft has one. The enviorment would be of the same type. Thus if there is snow you can bet the entire place will be snow. There wont be any majority enviorment types meaning there wont be pure mountains. Although there might be a larger amount of mountains in general they wont be the only bit.

Bases have the two options im not sure on. Ethier they are already preset and never change position or type. You always know where they are and the map builds around that. Or they are also randomly generated as well. If so they would need to always be a minimum distance from each other and made so they dont all spawn as a tech plant for example. All types of bases must be in the map. Roads with an algorithim I imagine as well would be generated in logial paths through the various enviorments such as hills/forests/and mountains that may be generated between the bases and will always make sure they are there.


The Pro's and Con's

Pros: Having something like this as even just a weekly event until capture giving a week long timer or an everyday thing would be just awesome. A fresh new map randomely generated keeps the content fresh and lasting longer. It adds a level of randomness which personally I find exciting. Come on, who didnt enjoy Diablo 2? Forget if 1 had it as well.

And it gives the devs a chance to load certain map algorithims to see which ones are succesfull or to test permenent map designs before releasing as a permenent planet/continent. And even have now and then user map design contest that would win a detailed poster of their map and even perhaps it being in the game as a permenent thing or will show up on the random map. Basically it would be alot of fun

Cons: All the work that would go into this I imagine would eat the devs time. Building algorithims which my very little knowledge would beleive how this would operate (please correct me if I'm wrong) would take alot of their time they could be focuses on other parts of the game. And all the testing to make sure it isn't glitchy or messed up would take awhile. I can see it being very buggy and time consuming just to get it and keep it running.

And I see people getting annoyed of having to deal with random maps. Another thing would be lack of detail. I'm thinking of Maps like in PS1 and have no idea what PS2 maps will be like. But if they include little ramps and walkways on cliff edges for example I can see them not being in the random map so it would be very simple in design compared to the other already made maps I imagine.





Would this be alot of work? Yes. But I would love to see it. Perhaps as an expansion some day. One can only dream. Thoughts anyone?

[Hamma]

Pretty neat idea, probably not in the cards for PlanetSide 2 though. Well at least not at the start.

[Captain1nsaneo]

I don't think this could work as a whole cont as it would constantly be hostile terrain as you couldn't plan ahead. However, having one cont with smaller areas of corrupted nanites which change the terrain could definitely be interesting in placed between linked bases. Scale it down to making/unmaking hills, trees, and rocks at a rate of around 5min per small change would encourage people to fight there and would give you an excuse to force tank fights as AMSs couldn't be deployed in these areas.

[Lartnev]

And I see people getting annoyed of having to deal with random maps.

This is one reason I think it would be unsuccessful. Besides if the continents are big enough it should hopefully take a long time for a continent to get stale. Same location but under different circumstances - different opponents, different direction of attack etc. Another reason is how to procedurally generate maps that a) make sense, b) are fun to play, and c) have few quirks... like roads leading off cliffs. It's hard enough playtesting maps that don't changing O_

That said, it could be used as a plot device to subtly change continents from time to time but I think players like familiarity and being able to master the terrain. If I found a great spot to hide an AMS or snipe from, or a good canyon to use when approaching a base I'd like it to be there tomorrow.... of course tomorrow the enemy might find it as well. ;)

[Tatwi]

I like the idea of "The Ancients used this land to help shape Auraxis in their own image and experiment with different formations". It's fantastic!

However, I think it would be most interesting to have this area be in constant flux, molding and shaping itself (complete with structures and weapons) all the time regardless of what the players do to it - apart from a couple of important manipulations. :)

The growth rate would be variable and random throughout the zone, but players would be able to augment the growth rate and stabilize the flux by using resources in the areas. So if something cool was grown, an Empire could "stabilize the flux", preventing it from shrinking away by capturing and allocating resources to the hex grid that the "thing" is in. Similarly, an Empire could speed up or slow down growth and flux rates of hex grids under their control.

Overall, the zone would be an organically developing system, along the lines of the cycle of life: birth, growth, decline, death, rebirth. No area will ever be the same as it was, except for the areas that are defended and shaped by the players.

This would be really, really cool, because no one would ever know what will grow where or if what they've helped to grow or defend is really the best thing possible for that location. Consequently, I think curiosity and the drive to attain perfection would make a zone like this very popular; "Should we let this cave flux away now and see what grows in its place?"; "If we take that cool tower-like structure, will we have the resources to ensure it doesn't flux away on us? Do we leave it under enemy control just to make sure it stays in the game?". Those kinds of once in a life time, permanent community level choices would be awesome to experience and remember!

[basti]

With the right algos, it could be indeed turn out to be completly random, with some locations always changing. Could even just make sure that those locations that got no battle are changing, while those with battles stay the way they are (to avoid a massive spike just penetrating your tank from below. :D )

But the tech requirments for this would be heavy. You would need to dynamically adjust the textures, and the amount of work nessesary to make the continent change in a right way would also be quite heavy. On top of that, the engine itself would need to support this fully.

Means, if this isnt something they planned already, its propably never happening. Besides that, having a cont always change could cause quite a bit of frustration, as the continent could change to your disadvantage.

[Senyu]

Some cool ideas. Me personally I like the more frequent changes that would take place. And especially the one with small areas changing. I just like constantly random maps. Always halfway in a board game I want to change the map.


But for a more permenent feel while changing that some people like what about this?


The continent will only change after a lock. Once constructed it will keep its shape until an Empire has taken full control of it in which it will become locked and deconstruct. When unlocked it will then construct a new landscape for new capture and control. The only two things I'm not sure about is if the new spawned facilities would remain under winning empires control. And will players be able to access the continent before and after construction for a short time to be able to see the continent create itself?

A continent bonus from this could be pretty sweet to

[Senyu]

Another idea for Random Nanite Construction or technology would be for bases. Small sections in bases would have this feature and everytime the continent becomes unlocked after a empire claimed victory for it, these sections would randomly generated a new bit. This could be large in a sense (and probably to drastic for most people) changing the layouts of some paths in the base but I imagine most people won't like that. I imagine it would be used more for say a small concrete wall here, a rise on the wall for cover there.

But it could go to athestic things. Have a large pool of random looking athestics. A radar, banner, video screen, grid, charts, anything cosmetic for certain places on the wall and such. And these would randomly generated a new looking cosmetic bit each time continent is unlocked. Give a small but more fresh and new feeling each time. Its just something nice that could come sometime in PS2's life time.