Gameplay: Naval Warfare and Potential "Continent"

[Flaropri]

The "Continent" would be an archipelago. Islands, docks, drilling platforms, and maybe even inoperative hulks etc. Several islands I'm sure could easily be connected with bridges, but the defining characteristic of the Continent would be that at least half if not a majority of it would be water and ocean. My vote is tropical in environment, volcanic islands (active or dormant).

Each Empire Foothold would have ready access to a Shipyard (such as in an adjacent hex), and a few capture-able shipyards would be scattered about as it makes sense to do so.

Air-to-air and general naval combat would be the primary use of the Continent, though several large islands and connected island chains would still make good use of ground-based vehicles and various facilities would be more oriented towards infantry combat over vehicle combat.

Even in the absence of Shipyards and naval combat, an Archipelago could present interesting diversity in scenery, and allow for different tactics to be used due to the relative lack of land-mass and different structures that would be used in the region (such as the aforementioned drilling platforms out in the middle of the ocean).

Ships:
There are three to four types of ships that I think would be good.

1. 1-2 crew motorboats. Small motorboats with a light gunner position or something more like the Flash has for weaponry. Would be ideally a little bit cheaper at least than a single-crew aircraft, and would be used for scouting, personal transportation, and traveling rivers and lakes or other smaller bodies of water where larger ships wouldn't fit or would be impractical.

Possible modifications: Replace the light gun with something stronger such as a missile launcher or torpedo launcher at the cost of speed and/or toughness. Apply tools to remove water mines, or tools to jam radar, or similar.

2. 1-4 crew Fast Attack Craft. Ideally these would be faction specific, however I have not yet thought out what the specifics would be for differences. A crew of 1-4 players including Driver, Main Gunner, Ancillary Gunner, and AA Gunner. The types of weapons can easily be modified, possibly even reducing the number of crew positions available. For example, if made into more of a missile boat, an ancillary gunner might not fit in along with the missiles and AA or Flak guns. These ships would likely be the mainstay of naval combat.

Possible modifications: Aforementioned Missiles instead of a main cannon and/or ancillary cannon (for example, if a multi-warhead missile system). Torpedoes. Surface or Air radar. Mine deployment, etc.


3. 1-4 crew Transport: Kraken. Fulfilling a similar role to that of the Galaxy dropship or Sunderer APC in providing transit for infantry, the Kraken has several advantages. a) It can transport more troops, up to 16 soldiers and 4 MAX units not including the crew. b) It is even more difficult to destroy than a Sunderer. c) It has multiple access points. Soldiers can individually "bail" from the vehicle exiting through a top hatch (and thus standing on top of the ship by default), or the driver may send their cargo out through a front hatch onto a beach-head or dock for quick, safe egress onto dry land, including into sea-side caves or the beaches of a dense jungle island where Galaxies would have difficulty landing.

Crew consists of the driver and multiple light gunner positions to deal with light aircraft and ships, and one turret mounted cannon.

Possible modifications: Vehicle transportation, stealth systems, amphibious treads for limited ground travel, improved weapons, safety netting for those that go out the top hatch, Drop-Pod cushion to allow for squad deployment onto a Kraken, etc.

Possible replacement: Give the Sunderer amphibious capability as a modification.


The much more iffy one:
4. 1-7 crew Carrier: Leviathan. The Leviathan is an aircraft carrier. Due to it's size, it can only be built in specific shipyards. It has a large, flat deck on which other aircraft can land (say, 2-3). Likewise ground vehicles and infantry can also occupy the deck, though that is less practical for most situations, as the Leviathan cannot go safely into shallow waters near shores, or enter the smaller docks (also, it may be difficult for ground vehicles to get onto it). The Leviathan can function as a deployment zone when anchored, similar to a Galaxy, with the added benefit of being able to deploy single-crew aircraft such as the Mosquito or Scythe (but not the Liberator or other aircraft), however there is a longer delay between spawns than at a regular vehicle bay.

Crew: Driver plus 1-6 gunner positions, including heavy cannons, SAMs, and/or torpedoes Weapons would largely be focused on being good against larger targets, and not generally effective against infantry or small vehicles due to accuracy. The crew would enter the deck, then go to a given station. If the ship was boarded by the enemy they could hack to disable a given station (and the crew could exit back to the deck to fight them off as well). If hacked, the crew would need to re-hack the station to make it operable again.

Essentially, one potential strategy would be to board the ship from a galaxy drop or via a Kraken (through the upper hatch), disable it's weapons and/or drive and Rebirth stations, and then be able to more safely bombard it without worrying about as much incoming fire. Though obviously it is hard to say if that would work out.

The Leviathan would be the most expensive vehicle in the game to make, and the most difficult to destroy.

Possible modifications: A multitude of potential weapons including ship-to-shore artillery, ship-to-ship missiles, MIRVs, and a Rail Gun. Additional armaments at the cost of deck-space is also a possibility besides just replacing the standard weapons. Lots of potential for utility slots such as radar, radar jamming, mine deployment, faster aircraft queues, small boat spawning (the first boat suggestion in this list only), etc.



Why Float when you can Fly?

Obviously, aircraft obviates the need for ships for means of transport. However, ships are fun!

Also, ships can generally carry more armaments, be tougher, and attack from more horizontal and stable vectors than most aircraft can. The Liberator is great for vertical bombardment, but it can't match the potential of a warship's horizontal bombardment, aiming 4-5 heavy cannons at a single location. Ships can also (more easily) be bigger than most other vehicles, potentially allowing for combat on (or even inside) them instead of inside static buildings and ground terrain. Jumping up onto a Carrier and disabling key weapons systems for your own fleet to move in for the kill is something that doesn't happen with aircraft or tanks, at least not unless you put in an Air Fortress, which would also be awesome.


There are downsides to ships however.

1. I'm positive that the vast majority of design thus far has been without ships in mind. As such, it would need special continents and areas to be effective, such as the Archipelago. They won't fit into the current plans, and I don't expect them to try to fit them into them.

2. They can be larger than other craft. Large craft can be difficult to deal with properly when there are a lot of players, especially something like the Leviathan.

3. I'm not sure how well long-range artillery would go over. If you can shoot a few kilometers from shore to hit a nearby base, are people excited by that, or frustrated by being shelled by something that is potentially very difficult to get to and thus disable? The Liberator needs to be over it's target, and as such is more susceptible both to knowing it's location in the first place, and to being shot down. If a Destroyer fires off a MIRV from a Kilometer off the coast into your bases walls, would that be frustrating or fun?

4. Without long-range artillery Ships are very limited in their use. Other than the Leviathan which can act as a spawn location and airport, they don't offer much support for ground-based operations. They only operate as transports, which can be accomplished well enough with just aircraft without complicating things more with naval combat.

5. Related to the first issue, people who focus on Certs for ships will also be (more) limited on what type of combat they can pursue. While it's true that some capture points and locations favor one type of combat over another already, ships flat-out would not be able to participate in them, and those locations where certain types of vehicles are at best ill advised are still relatively limited, rather than covering a whole continent.


Anyway, in spite of the drawbacks that Ships would have, I think that the potential means it is worth looking into down the road. Something to consider if/when the 4th/5th continents are released, and possibly to implement then or with whatever maps may follow those.