PlanetSide Universe - View Single Post - Possible upcoming changes to Spawn Rules
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Old 2013-07-12, 03:07 AM   [Ignore Me] #39
bpostal
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Lieutenant Colonel
 
Re: Possible upcoming changes to Spawn Rules


Originally Posted by Malorn View Post
Perhaps "throttle" wasn't the right word. Feel free to interpret that word as "some form of limited-use mechanism that discourages abuse of large groups." And feel free to offer suggestions. Goal is stabilizing the fronts and trending towards population equilibrium along a front.

Outfits of course will intentionally bypass that because that's a clear and obvious way to gain an edge. Nothing really stops one person from going to an area, putting down a spawn beacon and having the rest come in, and that's what organized groups will do. For moving large groups transport vehicles should be the most efficient solution and the preferred method of front-shifting.

That's where a resource cost for long-distance spawning makes a lot of sense, because the resource cost of one vehicle is a lot cheaper than a spawn cost being paid by an entire squad. And you can't guarantee that everyone in the squad will be able to pay that cost, thus transport vehicle becomes your most reliable and efficient solution of moving a large group. And that transport vehicle takes time to move, can be spotted, and can be destroyed. That adds depth and reduces the volatility. So if you want to go against the grain and shift fronts en masse you do so with a tradeoff. I think that's the general idea of how to correctly solve the problem, but it has it's challenges. I think it could solve the mechanical problem quite well but doing so without making the game more confusing is difficult. Also making it work for large organized groups without screwing over the casual/solo player is essential.
Would it be feasible to increase the timer on squad beacons by a given increment (to increase at some rate with more people in a squad) and shift the squad beacon certs into something that decreases that increment?
For example (numbers are made up and arbitrary) a squad that consists of two people has no penalty on their beacon timer whereas a squad of three has a 3 second penalty and a squad of 12 has a 30 second penalty on their beacon timer. A fully certed SL can drop the penalty to 1 second per squad member.
It stills gives the potential for one solid drop as the timer penalty is not in effect, but seeing as each member of the squad that is dropping into a contested area is placed in a potentially precarious position (I don't know how many people I've shot who were just hopping out of a drop pod but in most every instance they were extremely vulnerable(Also, sorry to all the BR 1's I've killed, if I knew you were new I would have given you a running start)).
If a squad wants to move to another front in a more cohesive and 'safe' manner than Gals or Sundies would be a much more viable option.

Also, as for squad deploys costing resources; I think I personally would just enact a 'minimum resource limit' that platoon members can not dip under in the event that a squad drop is needed, mostly invalidating the direct impediment that the proposed idea presents. I can always get more resources, I can't always get 30 seconds (or more) on a cap timer that's going south and needs to be cleaned up ASAP.
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