Post by Hereticus on Mar 6, 2013 2:27:11 GMT -8
Just some hypothetical ideas for what I envision as a practicle introduction for Naval Combat in Planetside2
The Justification
It is said that you can judge the might of a Empire by the size and strength of its Navy.
Planetside2 is a game themed around three Empires, each very different in tactics, politics, and technology competing with each other for absolute domination of the alien world known as Auraxis, but just how does Naval combat fit in to a game set in the future?
We know that the developers ultimate goal is a seamless transition between the continents and the eventual implementation of Naval Combat. What would Naval Combat bring to a game like Planetside2? It brings the end-game logistics and coordination players are starving for in the form of fleet coordination, each Warship type complimenting each other and offering Squad/Platoons or even Outfits new options to attack facilities. Warships are large vessels that no lonely captain could hope to man alone and thus requiring the teamwork of a Squad, even a Outfit.
Planetside2 already offers us a interesting army mechanic in the form of Infantry firefights and Tank battles, we see the air element in the form of ESF dogfights, Liberator bombing missions, and Galaxy Dropships carrying deadly compliments to distant battlefields, but if Planetside2 is to complete the notion of a true War experience then it needs to bring to the field the strategies and tactics of a Naval element. Planetside2 has a Army, and Airforce, and it now needs a Navy.
The Navy’s first and primary role is to serve as a deterrent. Massive warships usually require a lot of heavy ordinance to take down, likewise they carry the payloads to level entire cities, so when a Warship appears off your coast it’s safe to assume whoever is living in that coastal town will tread lightly in what they do or risk naval bombardment.
The Second role of the Navy is to establish supply line and provide a foothold for the army in a new land conquered. A Carrier off the coast of a Continent can be used quite effectively as a command center to begin and sustain a invasion but obviously a Carriers influence can only go so far inland. Carriers alone are very vulnerable targets and will require protection and support, just like a Sunderer in a facility attack, but out at sea.
The Logistics
Now let’s get off of the preliminary stuff trying to justify the existence of Naval Warfare in Planetside2, everyone want’s it so the issue isn’t trying to convince developers to add it, but rather how and when. So let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this hypothetical and actually discuss some practical ideas and methods of how to implement Naval Warfare.
Establishing a basis for the hypothetical’s of Naval Warfare is a good start. We know the Planetside2 Developers have ideas and intentions of eventually adding a seamless transition between all the continents of Auraxis, one massive sandbox, so instead of having to use a WarpGate as a teleporter between continents you have to work out the logistics of transportation and organization of a invasion force.
We also know that Warpgates in the future will have the ability to be locked, so whatever Empire conquerors a continent can lock there rivals out of the Continent thus bringing up the need to assemble your Invasion force at what was known in the original Planetside as “Sanctuary” these staging grounds essentially served as your Empires capital city and thus do we enter where a Navy serves a purpose!
The oceans between continents are vast, open, and offer little protection. Loading up your army onto conventional transports - Galaxy Dropships, Some sort of Aquatic variant of the Sunderer or some brand new nautical transport, would leave them as easy targets for air raids and combat patrols that defend a conquered continents borders so you would need large warships to transport these troops, potentially even serving as floating factories to produce war material (Tanks, Aircraft, Infantry Spawn) so here’s my proposed ideas for just the basics in what we should see in Naval Ships!
The Basic Ship Types
“Warship” will be a vehicle category all it’s own symbolizing the massive ships that require at least a full squad to operate. By requiring a Warship to have so many players man and operate them it will limit the “vehicle spam” out on the open ocean and encourage players to attempt to board ships to cripple it’s effectiveness or even destroy it as a viable strategy. ALL Warships driver player slot or “Captains” Slot should not be able to control any turret to encourage team-play and logistics, thus only controlling the movement of the ship and not it‘s guns, leaving the turrets and gun batteries to the rest of your squad.
Presuming physics work in the game by the time Naval Combat is conceived even more players beyond your squad, or even a platoon all congested on a single Warship should be able to run around on deck without having to be stationed in a vehicle slot or worry of being killed by the moving vessel or have the ship slide out from underneath them.
The Basic Warships for the beginning of Naval Combat in Planetside2, obviously more could be added later in future game updates, patches, or in a expansion.
*The Carrier - The largest of Naval ships, Carriers can serve as a mobile spawns by becoming stationary and dropping anchor. Able to transport multiple platoons across the ocean and conceivably spawn Aircraft on the flight deck. Likewise it’s conceivable that they could either transport or spawn tanks in the lower cargo hold to be loaded up onto smaller amphibious transports to carry the armored ground vehicles to the beach.
+7 Turrets Total
+6 AA Turrets (3 on Starboard, 3 on Portside)
+1 Deck mounted Phalanx Turret (Or some kind of Ship-2-Ship Cannon)
+Utility Slot: AMS Spawn (Possible Utility Slot upgrade?)
+Ground and Air Vehicle Spawn (Possible Utility slot upgrade?)
+Most Health of any unit In the game
-Largest, Slowest, and easiest to hit target on the sea
-No armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Has no significant defense against enemy Warships, purely AA
-Highly vulnerable to boarding action
*The Battleship - A veritable floating fortress, a Battleship is bristling with turrets on all sides, serving as a juggernaut of the high seas. Massive but slow targets, capable of soaking up tremendous amounts of damage and likewise dishing out the most amount of pain of any unit in the game.
+6 Turrets Total.
+4 AA (or Ship-2-Ship optional) turrets, 2 on Starboard, 2 on portside.
+2 Artillery Cannons, One on the Bow, the other in the aft section.
+Artillery Cannons deal the most damage of any Warship
+Most Armor of any unit in the game (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced Hull or Mine Guard)
+(Possible AMS Utility? Large ships need large crews, make for a great spawn)
-Slowest Ship on the waves
-Large target makes for easy kill (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Not properly crewed = Easy prey to enemy forces
-Not properly supported = Easy prey to enemy forces
-Artillery Cannons have a very long and slow reload, Also must have a wide spread shot making it difficult to hit smaller or faster moving targets = Great against Ships or clustered enemies, terrible against smaller and faster craft, also weak if the enemy gets under your arc of fire.
-Because of The cannons wide spread, highly vulnerable to boarding action.
*The Destroyer - These ships are a medium sized vessel and serve as the MBT’ of the ocean, the most common type of ship of the sea they are versatile vessels. A Destroyers primary purpose is as a Sub-Hunter, The only Warship to carry Depth Charges to deal with enemy Submarines.
+4 Turrets Total
+1 AA (or Ship-2-Ship options) on both the Starboard and Portside of the ship
+2 Ship-2-Ship cannons (One on the Bow, the other on the aft)
+Unique Utility Slot Sonar: Allows the Destroyer to detect Submarines (Similar to Scout Radar)
+Depth Charges
-Medium Warship, not to much health, must play smart
-Medium Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Easy warship to focus fire and take down fast, can’t take a heavy beating like the Battleship or Carrier)
-Vulnerable to Air Raids because of the lack of AA capacity.
-Depth Charges: Depth Charges are AOE explosives a Destroyer can deploy near it’s aft section, To be effective against a Submarine with these, the Destroyer must be right on-top of the Submarine.
-Without a Destroyer in your Fleet you are left wide open to Submarines attacks.
*Frigate/Cruiser - These ships are specialized fleet support options. Technologically the most advanced warship on the high seas, these ships are vital to keep your fleet alive and specialize in AA deterrent.
+2 Turrets Total, One in the Bow, One in the aft. AA specialty Lock-On Rockets (but not limited to).
+Utility Slot: Sonar
+Defensive Slot: Ammo Dispenser
+Defensive Slot: Repair
+Utility Slot: Missile-Interceptor (When used it will launch a intercept weapon (Chain gun salvo for TR, Missile for NC, Laser for VS) That will intercept and destroy any lock-on missiles launched from aircraft or Infantry within a radius, So it not only protects itself from Lock-Ons, but allied vessels or aircraft as well, obviously far fetched but certainly a interesting option)
+Forward Weapon Slot: Mine Sweeper - Can detect Sea Mines with specialized optic and used specialized lock-on torpedoes that can only target sea mines)
+Rear Weapon Slot: Sea Mines - Can deploy 3-6 Sea Mines that lurk beneath the waves, magnetically attracted.
-Weakest Warship, Least amount of Health
-No Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-No effective Ship-2-Ship weaponry, must be supported
*The Submarine - The stealth hunters of the sea, a Submarine serves a variety of purposes such as scouting, intelligence, enemy harassment and if need be: Hunt and Destroy. Submarines are warships that can travel beneath the waves, hiding from enemy view and likewise conventional weapons. Stealthily sneaking up on high priority targets like the Carrier or Battleship and sinking them with some well placed Torpedoes, These ships require a lot of skill and coordination to use effectively.
+2 Turrets Total
+1 Bow torpedo launcher (Different torpedo weapons such as for example a spread shot, launching 3 weaker torpedoes to chance a hit on a maneuvering Warship)
+1 Deck mounted Turret (Can only be used on the surface, can be either a AA Flak Gun, or a Ship-2-ship cannon to deal with smaller transports
+Utility Slot: Cargo Hold - Takes away Torpedo and Turret offensive options for the option to transport 12 players stealthfully beneath enemy blockades to distant locations)
+Diving, can travel underwater where it cannot be spotted and conventional weapons cannot hit it. At a certain depth it cannot be picked up on Sonar, and Depth Charges cannot hit it.
-Weak health
-No Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Slow to Medium speeds
-Torpedoes cannot Lock-On (Even though it’s the future, Warships are slow and difficult to maneuver, Torpedoes are fast and will go in a straight line, Could possibly even be controlled by a periscope, Similar to the Engineers Anti-Vehicle MANA Turret, or remote controlled all together)
-Diving: Once under water there’s no camera to see where your going, you will depend entirely on your minimap to navigate, and Sonar to detect enemy Warships, Periscopes are only useful at a certain depth, Periscopes likewise can only be used by the Captain and torpedo gunner slots, Deck mounted turret is unusable while under water.
Lastly I would like to talk about smaller support craft or Inter-Warship transports for getting between ships fast. These support craft are not of the Warship classification and more or less serve in the transport capacity, some of these vessels could be conceived as just a sea-variant of the land based vehicles in the game.
*Jet Ski- Similar to the Flash, these are 1-2 people transports, incredibly fast for getting from point A to B, can likewise be used to harass the crews on deck of some Warships.
*Attack Boat- Similar to the Dune Buggies or Jeeps, these are like the Jet Ski’ fast attack transports that can carry 4 or so players with maybe 2 turrets or just allowing players to use there infantry weapons.
*Amphibious Transport- These are larger transports comparable to a Sunderer or Galaxy, transporting a full squad of 12 and having 2-4 defensive support turrets, Likewise Amphibious Transports could carry land based armor like a MBT or a Sunderer from land to a Carrier and then Carrier to land for invasions, These craft will NOT have AMS.
Utility and Convenience
Utility options for Warships and Nautical transports may vary depending on a variety of things. For example the massive Warships like the Carrier or Battleship, it would be conceivable that they have the technology on such a large ship that players could spawn on it, For balance issues I would say they can only serve as Spawns when they “Drop Anchor”, where the medium or smaller sized Warships like the Destroyer, Frigate/Cruiser, or Submarine cannot carry a AMS. This would promote ships to travel together as a Fleet, in the event a crewman of say a Destroyer is lost in battle he would spawn on the nearby Carrier and have to take a jet ski to taxi back to his squads Destroyer.
Some Utility Slot options would be universal like Flares shot straight up into the sky to deal with Lock-On launchers that conceivably any Lock-On launcher could target a Warship, or Scout Radar, Sonar, or Nanite Regeneration.
For convenience sake I would also recommend Warships be able to spawn the smaller transports. Carriers being exclusive to spawn ALL heavy transports, including Galaxies, Sunderers, and Amphibious Transports. Battleships could Spawn Jet Ski’ and Attack Boats. Destroyers, Frigates/Cruisers, and Submarines could only spawn Jet Skis.
For reasons I don’t know but I would speculate for balance issues a Galaxy cannot carry and transport a armored vehicle or risk players getting them to unintended areas, for example a Sunderer into a Bio-labs dome, However a Amphibious Transport being able to carry a armored vehicle I wouldn’t see that as a problem, a Sunderers AMS or a MBT’s main cannon is useless and disabled while in transit, only useable after being offloaded on the coast or in a Carriers hangar bay.
Obviously Latter’s or cargo net does not exist in this game for infantry to climb, as cool as it may be I don’t foresee it coming into the game anytime soon. So to board a Warship you would need a ramp at maybe a cargo loading part of the ship. With a Carrier I would imagine the core of the ship hallowed out as a protected interior hangar with enough space for troops to spawn Vehicles, drive them to the rear of the ship where there’s a ramp that if your not careful you can drive right into the sea. Sunderer’ or MBT spawned inside the Carriers “Cargo Hold” could be loaded into Amphibious Transports to be carried from the Carrier to the Coast, Players seeking to board the Carrier could likewise just drive right up the ramp into the cargo hold.
Emulate this Ramp and Cargo hold with the Battleship, The Destroyer and Frigate/Cruiser obviously aren’t as big and thus cannot have a cargo hold, Instead put a small loading ramp in the rear of the ship.
To avoid players exploiting, armored ground vehicles should take progressive damage in deep water, this way MBT’s for example can’t just be spammed and hit the hull of a warship from under water. Infantry swim animations will have to be added to the game, For practical purposes I believe Infantry should have slow swim and sprint, just like on land, and should be able to use there weapons while swimming, However to prevent Platoons from simply swimming from Continent to Continent stamina should be added for swimming infantry, if you are in the water for X amount of time your trooper becomes fatigued and eventually takes damage until he drowns to death.
Given Purpose and Strategy
I believe there should be a “Sand Bar” along most coastal regions of a Continent, to prevent all Warships from simply driving right up onto the beach, Likewise if a Warship is foolish enough to beach his Warship on the Sandbar, so sad for that crew, there Warship just became a static target. This prevents Warships from overly harassing or even camping Coastal facilities and limits them to the support role of hammering other Warships to protect the invasion force, or hammering coastal defense cannons or MBT clusters.
A Amphibious Transport kind of acts like a hovercraft, able to drive right up onto the beach safely to deploy it’s cargo of 12 players or even deploy a MBT or a Sunderer, However the Amphibious Transport should suffer a penalty or take progressive damage if it wanders to far from the water. Because it hovers it can drive onto the beach, deploy it’s cargo, then return to the Carrier to pickup another tank for the Invasion, or another Squad all without worry of being beached.
Because Warships are limited in there capacity to impact land-based units I.E. only hitting coastal targets, I suggest Land based forces only be able to deal limited amount of damage to a Warship, again as a example: Lock-On Rocket Launchers like the Annihilator, these would deal very trivial next to no damage, even when a Squad or Platoon of Heavy Assaults are focus firing, However MBT’s or Liberators would do moderate damage against these Warships, Even the creation of a new facility turret type the “Coastal Defense Cannon” that deals exceptional damage against Warships, directing the flow of combat around these weapons. Defenders would have to keep these cannons alive and invaders would have to destroy them to sustain there invasion.
There’s a growing rivalry between the Navy and Air-force, with the use of Aircraft that can do so many things and fly across the ocean with such ease, what use is the Navy? Similarly in my experience it’s been that Pilots have great difficulty in dealing with Air-2-Ground targets because of the huge amount of AA weapon varieties, instead held in reserve more specifically for Air-2-Air fights.
By adding the Naval Combat element to the game you give Pilots another purpose, as a competent counter to Naval Warships, at the end of the day other Warships will be the hard counter to Warships but Pilots have a very effective use. ESF pilots using there A2G weapons like Rocket pods to destroy invasion landing craft and strafe the crew on deck, I’m sure pilots would risk the chance of a Warships Flak barrage to chance destroying a Amphibious Transport carrying a squad of 12 and a Sunderer all in one go, Liberators will enjoy dueling with Warship Flak cannons as I believe Warship Flak Cannons should be powerful and hard hitting, arguably the most hard hitting AA in the game, but extremely inaccurate, having a wider cone-of-fire then ever before. Similarly AA turrets if they will be so powerful on Warships they should pivot slower and will only be able to rotate 180 degrees, Forcing Warships to maneuver to keep there Turrets in a Line of Sight, Once again promoting team play.
Another viable tactic that I’m sure some players will enjoy is the chance of boarding a enemy Warship, as a example: a Galaxy Dropship races in and drops it’s cargo onto a enemy Battleship, because the Battleship might have a AMS equipped this boarding party must be quick to cripple the ship, C4 explosives can’t be placed just anywhere, Similar to how MBT’s have armor values based on the angle of attack - Heavy armor in the front, medium on the side, none in the rear, it would be the same with a Warship. Heavy Armor in the hull and reinforced control towers and structures on the Battleship, but a shot landed on the deck in the middle of the ship would do significant damage, Aircraft would have to be clever about hitting this sweet spot because the Warships towers and scaffolding between Towers would make the shot difficult.
A boarding party could conceivable carry the C4 to this weak spot, or even drop it in a (possible?) corridor inside the ship, C4 detonated from inside the ship would do extra damage.
New Facilities & The Flow of Battle
Warships and Naval Combat as fun as it is cannot exist without land based assets and just like how a MBT cannot be produced without a Tech Plant, it should be the same with a Warships. To make Naval Combat work you would have to create new facility types out at sea, Different facilities allow for different types of Warships to be constructed. Island hopping campaigns will be a precursor to Continent Invasions. It may also be a stretch but conceivably if we are going to have Continent Bonuses, Controlling the Island or facility Chain between Continents could allow/deny the Continent bonus or even Continent supply lines, for example: Essamire gives Tank Bonuses, if the TR controlled Essamire and then moved to fight on Indar, they would have the Tank Bonus and all the resource supplies of Essamire, BUT, if the island supply chain linking Essamire and Indar together is disrupted or cut off, the TR may still control Essamire, but the Invading forces on Indar will not receive that Essamire bonus.
A new resource type would have to be implemented to purchase Warships and Naval Transports, Once again emphasizing Vehicle spam control - Make the Warships expensive, or make there cool down when the Warship is lost a significantly large CD, a hour at minimum.
Following my proposed facility types it would control and direct the flow of battle. A Sanctuary will not have access to a Dry Dock or Sea Rig, Forces would have to be flown via Galaxy to take control of a facility to gain access to Warships. Likewise starting from example: Indar, you take control of a Dry Dock near Indar Excavation Site, use that Dry Dock to construct a Battleship, take your Squad or Platoon on that battleship and fight your way to a nearby Sea Rig, drop anchor so troops can spawn, load up the transports and invade the Sea-Rig, If you take the Sea Rig you can spawn a Carrier and use that to launch a stronger invasion of the surrounding Island Chains and eventually invade a Continent.
Dry-docks - This is the first of the new Main Facilities. Dry Docks are large coastal facilities dominated by 3 large hangars, These hangars are where Warships are spawned, they come out of the Hangar and stop along the edge of a dock that extends decently far out, this puts friendly squads within walking distance to jump from the dock to the Warship and then out to sea. 3 large Hangars gives you 3 different spawn points to prevent Warship pile ups. Dry Docks on the side facing inland will be walled off, save for only a single Energy gate guarded by two Bunkers. The shield generator controlling the gate will be in the court yard, the SCU will be inside the main facility itself.
Dry-docks will allow basic vehicle transports from the court yard such as Flash, Sunderer, or the new Buggies. The hangar themselves will produce All warship types except Submarine and Carrier.
Fighting within a Dry-Dock with the exception of the court yard will be primarily within the main complex that leads into the Hangars, this means corridor and hallway fighting free of vehicle harassment. Alternate routes to attack the facility may include but not limited to attackers trying to invade in through the Hangar via sea transport or Galaxy, maybe a ventilation or skylight entrance on the roof for Light Assaults to drop into the main lobby of the complex, or a service entrance on the side of the facility that only infantry can get in at.
Sea Rigs - Imagine a Bio-Lab combined with a Tower and you have a Sea-Rig (Inspiration comes from Oil-Rig design). Sea-Rigs are deep sea top secret research facilities responsible for constructing most notably Submarines and Carriers but may also construct all other types of Warships, Because Sea-Rigs produce ALL types of Warships they are arguably the most important. These facilities stand on massive legs rising high out of the ocean, some of the lower tiers like the Hangar where Warships are spawned and pull out to a peer where squad mates can load up will be vulnerable to incoming Warship fire, the upper levels and even the roof top however will not allow Warships a line-of-sight on the fighting. Sea-Rigs primarily will be infantry fights out at sea. The roof top will have landing pads and aircraft terminals that allow for ESF and Liberator construction.
Island Facilities - Island Facilities will most notably just be small single objective or three point objective fringe facilities, MAYBE a Tower, the Island landscape may vary, and this could potentially even be a chance to bring back the infamous Battle Islands of Planetside1. Making Islands fringe facilities they may not be able to produce MBT’s or even any vehicles at all. Attackers would have to spawn from there Warships, Some Island facilities might be placed on top of a mountain where Warships can’t get a angle, others may have a facility defense wall protecting from Warship fire, Some may have natural mountain barriers forcing invaders to land and climb over a hill to get into the Facility that’s nestled in a bay with a sand bar preventing Warships from driving into the harbor. Island Facilities could be anything but will not be as formidable of a fight as a Dry-Dock or Sea-Rig.
Other Main Facilities such as the Amp Station, Bio-lab, Tech Plant, or Interlink Facility I believe should be kept strictly to the mainland Continents for the purpose of variety in fighting locations. If you have everything out at sea then who would ever want to fight on land again?
Complications
Some players might be concerned that Naval Combat will be the end-all beat all, no one will ever go to land again, I assure you it will not be. Simply because there is a healthy amount of players who just don’t want to be stuck on a single boat, waiting for the action, In a game that has hundreds of players, Warships may only ever have as many as 7-8 weapon slots. The logistics of Naval Combat may also work on some players patience because they would rather be on land fighting for facilities, not organizing and working on the Warships. Just like with Tanks or Aircraft it will only appeal to those interested in that theater of combat.
The logistics required to work a Warship or even a fleet is where Outfit gameplay and organization will shine and to the players who simply don’t want to be waiting on a boat or having to taxi between the warship to the facility there fighting at, Most coastal facilities I would propose have long and extended docks or peers, some wide enough for even armor so that there’s plenty of room to be fighting across the peer to the naval facility: Have a Warship with a AMS pull right up to the facilities docks, because the peer is wide and has sparse cover for infantry (maybe a few boxes or cargo containers) the Warships cannons can be used to support your troops advance, Fighting on a peer would be somewhat similar to Bridge battles.
Naval Combat on a positive note will bring the end-game and logistics that a huge amount of the community are craving for over the simple Tank spam to win a facility. You cannot spam Warships and win, they will be picked off easily by Aircraft or opposing Warships that are properly manned with ease. By making a Warship have to work with a whole squad you limit the vehicle spam from 48+ Warships to just 6 or 9 working as a Fleet. Maybe more with larger outfits.
If you change the incentive to claim a Continent from a simple 10% Bonus to resources to something tangible like… Obvious a extreme here but a decent example of something real that players can play with… for example Own Hossin and Outfits can spawn a Bastion Airship Carrier, Not everyone can spawn a Bastion, only a Outfit Leader can so it limit’s the spam of such a powerful vessel to just one per Outfit, or Control Indar and your Empire can spawn BFR’s all across Auraxis, or control Essamire and get Orbital Strike, AGAIN this is just extreme examples but I hope I get the point across to give players incentive to capture a continent.
When Players have a incentive to capture a Continent, they have Incentive to get a functioning Navy going to control the supply lines and transport armies between Continents, get off there boats and conquer the world.
The topic of Artillery and Indirect fire comes to mind for some people when talk of Naval Combat comes out, Having a Battleship work in conjunction with a forward observer to land long ranged barrages against the enemy, I know a lot of players are just uninterested or find this completely unfair or un-fun to be hit by Indirect fire and to this I point out… Planetside2 to a heavy degree is a War Simulator, If it’s unintended or not Artillery/Indirect fire already exists in the game and is used to it’s full advantage by many Outfits.
My best example would be High-Altitude Liberator Bombers, What is that? A High Altitude-Bomber would be a Liberator, with either a Dalton or Zephyr flying up to the Auraxis Ceiling (1000m altitude) Now ordinarily that high you can’t see anything on the ground, nothing renders, not even allies. But if a ground spotter were to paint up a target with Q spam, because that Liberator is technically still in the same zone he can see the hostile markers (red Doritos to some) even if the vehicle or infantry themselves aren’t rendered. The Liberator can then begin bombing. Ground forces on the receiving end don’t even get to see a explosion because of the render distance and travel time of the shell, all they see is that there taking damage from something. A keen eye may be smart enough to look up and see that spec of a High-Altitude bomber and ground based AA can do NOTHING against this, they require ESF’ to directly counter the High-Altitude bomber.
To a lesser degrees MBT’s can do this as well, acting as a artillery piece and hitting targets at extreme range. So my point is that regardless of if you like it or not, and regardless if it’s intended by the devs, Artillery and Indirect fire exists, players have found a way to make it work, it requires a lot of skill and coordination but it’s possible. So instead of shunning it, embrace it. Only skilled players who can coordinate will get it to work with any effectiveness, and if you embrace that it exists now you can already begin to form counter strategies to deal with it. Applying this to Warships it’s no different, Don’t have a Warship to counter the barrage? Use your air-power, even a Warship would be very vulnerable to a High-Altitude Bomber.
Faction Specific Warships and Weapons
There comes the argument of making Warships Common Pool stuff that all Empire’s will have access to or Empire Specific where each Empire may have specific faction advantages to different Warships. This stuff is even more farfetched imagination then Naval Combat itself at this point in time but here’s some ideas I’d like to have some fun with.
Carriers, Destroyers, Submarine and Frigates/Cruisers I feel should be common pool, there generic, easy enough for any Empire to produce, and each Warship brings a specialty to the battlefield.
Battleships be Empire Specific and bring unique options to the battlefield.
Battleships:
Terran Republic - True to Terran efficiency these Battleships boast the most barrels of any Battleships main cannon and can reload faster, when they drop anchor they are able to reload even faster.
New Conglomerate - These Rebel dreadnaughts have the most armor of any Battleship on the high seas and there cannons are the most fearsome in the game, dealing the greatest amount of damage. NC Battleships can likewise use a invulnerable shield making them a terrifying foe.
Vanu Sovereignty - True to Vanu’s technological advantage these Battleships because of there sheer size and weight cannot hover like traditional Vanu war-machines. Instead they Hydrofoil at the cost of armor, making Vanu Battleships difficult to target because of it’s speed and maneuverability.
Unique turret options for Warships should be relevant for broadsides in Ship-2-Ship action, and targeting smaller craft that the massive Warship main guns ordinarily would have difficulty tracking. Chain gun turrets and swarm missile pods for the TR turret options. Massive cannon like Shotguns and Remote controlled missiles for the NC, and Slow but incredibly powerful beam cannons for the VS.
The Justification
It is said that you can judge the might of a Empire by the size and strength of its Navy.
Planetside2 is a game themed around three Empires, each very different in tactics, politics, and technology competing with each other for absolute domination of the alien world known as Auraxis, but just how does Naval combat fit in to a game set in the future?
We know that the developers ultimate goal is a seamless transition between the continents and the eventual implementation of Naval Combat. What would Naval Combat bring to a game like Planetside2? It brings the end-game logistics and coordination players are starving for in the form of fleet coordination, each Warship type complimenting each other and offering Squad/Platoons or even Outfits new options to attack facilities. Warships are large vessels that no lonely captain could hope to man alone and thus requiring the teamwork of a Squad, even a Outfit.
Planetside2 already offers us a interesting army mechanic in the form of Infantry firefights and Tank battles, we see the air element in the form of ESF dogfights, Liberator bombing missions, and Galaxy Dropships carrying deadly compliments to distant battlefields, but if Planetside2 is to complete the notion of a true War experience then it needs to bring to the field the strategies and tactics of a Naval element. Planetside2 has a Army, and Airforce, and it now needs a Navy.
The Navy’s first and primary role is to serve as a deterrent. Massive warships usually require a lot of heavy ordinance to take down, likewise they carry the payloads to level entire cities, so when a Warship appears off your coast it’s safe to assume whoever is living in that coastal town will tread lightly in what they do or risk naval bombardment.
The Second role of the Navy is to establish supply line and provide a foothold for the army in a new land conquered. A Carrier off the coast of a Continent can be used quite effectively as a command center to begin and sustain a invasion but obviously a Carriers influence can only go so far inland. Carriers alone are very vulnerable targets and will require protection and support, just like a Sunderer in a facility attack, but out at sea.
The Logistics
Now let’s get off of the preliminary stuff trying to justify the existence of Naval Warfare in Planetside2, everyone want’s it so the issue isn’t trying to convince developers to add it, but rather how and when. So let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this hypothetical and actually discuss some practical ideas and methods of how to implement Naval Warfare.
Establishing a basis for the hypothetical’s of Naval Warfare is a good start. We know the Planetside2 Developers have ideas and intentions of eventually adding a seamless transition between all the continents of Auraxis, one massive sandbox, so instead of having to use a WarpGate as a teleporter between continents you have to work out the logistics of transportation and organization of a invasion force.
We also know that Warpgates in the future will have the ability to be locked, so whatever Empire conquerors a continent can lock there rivals out of the Continent thus bringing up the need to assemble your Invasion force at what was known in the original Planetside as “Sanctuary” these staging grounds essentially served as your Empires capital city and thus do we enter where a Navy serves a purpose!
The oceans between continents are vast, open, and offer little protection. Loading up your army onto conventional transports - Galaxy Dropships, Some sort of Aquatic variant of the Sunderer or some brand new nautical transport, would leave them as easy targets for air raids and combat patrols that defend a conquered continents borders so you would need large warships to transport these troops, potentially even serving as floating factories to produce war material (Tanks, Aircraft, Infantry Spawn) so here’s my proposed ideas for just the basics in what we should see in Naval Ships!
The Basic Ship Types
“Warship” will be a vehicle category all it’s own symbolizing the massive ships that require at least a full squad to operate. By requiring a Warship to have so many players man and operate them it will limit the “vehicle spam” out on the open ocean and encourage players to attempt to board ships to cripple it’s effectiveness or even destroy it as a viable strategy. ALL Warships driver player slot or “Captains” Slot should not be able to control any turret to encourage team-play and logistics, thus only controlling the movement of the ship and not it‘s guns, leaving the turrets and gun batteries to the rest of your squad.
Presuming physics work in the game by the time Naval Combat is conceived even more players beyond your squad, or even a platoon all congested on a single Warship should be able to run around on deck without having to be stationed in a vehicle slot or worry of being killed by the moving vessel or have the ship slide out from underneath them.
The Basic Warships for the beginning of Naval Combat in Planetside2, obviously more could be added later in future game updates, patches, or in a expansion.
*The Carrier - The largest of Naval ships, Carriers can serve as a mobile spawns by becoming stationary and dropping anchor. Able to transport multiple platoons across the ocean and conceivably spawn Aircraft on the flight deck. Likewise it’s conceivable that they could either transport or spawn tanks in the lower cargo hold to be loaded up onto smaller amphibious transports to carry the armored ground vehicles to the beach.
+7 Turrets Total
+6 AA Turrets (3 on Starboard, 3 on Portside)
+1 Deck mounted Phalanx Turret (Or some kind of Ship-2-Ship Cannon)
+Utility Slot: AMS Spawn (Possible Utility Slot upgrade?)
+Ground and Air Vehicle Spawn (Possible Utility slot upgrade?)
+Most Health of any unit In the game
-Largest, Slowest, and easiest to hit target on the sea
-No armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Has no significant defense against enemy Warships, purely AA
-Highly vulnerable to boarding action
*The Battleship - A veritable floating fortress, a Battleship is bristling with turrets on all sides, serving as a juggernaut of the high seas. Massive but slow targets, capable of soaking up tremendous amounts of damage and likewise dishing out the most amount of pain of any unit in the game.
+6 Turrets Total.
+4 AA (or Ship-2-Ship optional) turrets, 2 on Starboard, 2 on portside.
+2 Artillery Cannons, One on the Bow, the other in the aft section.
+Artillery Cannons deal the most damage of any Warship
+Most Armor of any unit in the game (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced Hull or Mine Guard)
+(Possible AMS Utility? Large ships need large crews, make for a great spawn)
-Slowest Ship on the waves
-Large target makes for easy kill (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Not properly crewed = Easy prey to enemy forces
-Not properly supported = Easy prey to enemy forces
-Artillery Cannons have a very long and slow reload, Also must have a wide spread shot making it difficult to hit smaller or faster moving targets = Great against Ships or clustered enemies, terrible against smaller and faster craft, also weak if the enemy gets under your arc of fire.
-Because of The cannons wide spread, highly vulnerable to boarding action.
*The Destroyer - These ships are a medium sized vessel and serve as the MBT’ of the ocean, the most common type of ship of the sea they are versatile vessels. A Destroyers primary purpose is as a Sub-Hunter, The only Warship to carry Depth Charges to deal with enemy Submarines.
+4 Turrets Total
+1 AA (or Ship-2-Ship options) on both the Starboard and Portside of the ship
+2 Ship-2-Ship cannons (One on the Bow, the other on the aft)
+Unique Utility Slot Sonar: Allows the Destroyer to detect Submarines (Similar to Scout Radar)
+Depth Charges
-Medium Warship, not to much health, must play smart
-Medium Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Easy warship to focus fire and take down fast, can’t take a heavy beating like the Battleship or Carrier)
-Vulnerable to Air Raids because of the lack of AA capacity.
-Depth Charges: Depth Charges are AOE explosives a Destroyer can deploy near it’s aft section, To be effective against a Submarine with these, the Destroyer must be right on-top of the Submarine.
-Without a Destroyer in your Fleet you are left wide open to Submarines attacks.
*Frigate/Cruiser - These ships are specialized fleet support options. Technologically the most advanced warship on the high seas, these ships are vital to keep your fleet alive and specialize in AA deterrent.
+2 Turrets Total, One in the Bow, One in the aft. AA specialty Lock-On Rockets (but not limited to).
+Utility Slot: Sonar
+Defensive Slot: Ammo Dispenser
+Defensive Slot: Repair
+Utility Slot: Missile-Interceptor (When used it will launch a intercept weapon (Chain gun salvo for TR, Missile for NC, Laser for VS) That will intercept and destroy any lock-on missiles launched from aircraft or Infantry within a radius, So it not only protects itself from Lock-Ons, but allied vessels or aircraft as well, obviously far fetched but certainly a interesting option)
+Forward Weapon Slot: Mine Sweeper - Can detect Sea Mines with specialized optic and used specialized lock-on torpedoes that can only target sea mines)
+Rear Weapon Slot: Sea Mines - Can deploy 3-6 Sea Mines that lurk beneath the waves, magnetically attracted.
-Weakest Warship, Least amount of Health
-No Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-No effective Ship-2-Ship weaponry, must be supported
*The Submarine - The stealth hunters of the sea, a Submarine serves a variety of purposes such as scouting, intelligence, enemy harassment and if need be: Hunt and Destroy. Submarines are warships that can travel beneath the waves, hiding from enemy view and likewise conventional weapons. Stealthily sneaking up on high priority targets like the Carrier or Battleship and sinking them with some well placed Torpedoes, These ships require a lot of skill and coordination to use effectively.
+2 Turrets Total
+1 Bow torpedo launcher (Different torpedo weapons such as for example a spread shot, launching 3 weaker torpedoes to chance a hit on a maneuvering Warship)
+1 Deck mounted Turret (Can only be used on the surface, can be either a AA Flak Gun, or a Ship-2-ship cannon to deal with smaller transports
+Utility Slot: Cargo Hold - Takes away Torpedo and Turret offensive options for the option to transport 12 players stealthfully beneath enemy blockades to distant locations)
+Diving, can travel underwater where it cannot be spotted and conventional weapons cannot hit it. At a certain depth it cannot be picked up on Sonar, and Depth Charges cannot hit it.
-Weak health
-No Armor (Possible defensive slot: Reinforced hull or Mine guard?)
-Slow to Medium speeds
-Torpedoes cannot Lock-On (Even though it’s the future, Warships are slow and difficult to maneuver, Torpedoes are fast and will go in a straight line, Could possibly even be controlled by a periscope, Similar to the Engineers Anti-Vehicle MANA Turret, or remote controlled all together)
-Diving: Once under water there’s no camera to see where your going, you will depend entirely on your minimap to navigate, and Sonar to detect enemy Warships, Periscopes are only useful at a certain depth, Periscopes likewise can only be used by the Captain and torpedo gunner slots, Deck mounted turret is unusable while under water.
Lastly I would like to talk about smaller support craft or Inter-Warship transports for getting between ships fast. These support craft are not of the Warship classification and more or less serve in the transport capacity, some of these vessels could be conceived as just a sea-variant of the land based vehicles in the game.
*Jet Ski- Similar to the Flash, these are 1-2 people transports, incredibly fast for getting from point A to B, can likewise be used to harass the crews on deck of some Warships.
*Attack Boat- Similar to the Dune Buggies or Jeeps, these are like the Jet Ski’ fast attack transports that can carry 4 or so players with maybe 2 turrets or just allowing players to use there infantry weapons.
*Amphibious Transport- These are larger transports comparable to a Sunderer or Galaxy, transporting a full squad of 12 and having 2-4 defensive support turrets, Likewise Amphibious Transports could carry land based armor like a MBT or a Sunderer from land to a Carrier and then Carrier to land for invasions, These craft will NOT have AMS.
Utility and Convenience
Utility options for Warships and Nautical transports may vary depending on a variety of things. For example the massive Warships like the Carrier or Battleship, it would be conceivable that they have the technology on such a large ship that players could spawn on it, For balance issues I would say they can only serve as Spawns when they “Drop Anchor”, where the medium or smaller sized Warships like the Destroyer, Frigate/Cruiser, or Submarine cannot carry a AMS. This would promote ships to travel together as a Fleet, in the event a crewman of say a Destroyer is lost in battle he would spawn on the nearby Carrier and have to take a jet ski to taxi back to his squads Destroyer.
Some Utility Slot options would be universal like Flares shot straight up into the sky to deal with Lock-On launchers that conceivably any Lock-On launcher could target a Warship, or Scout Radar, Sonar, or Nanite Regeneration.
For convenience sake I would also recommend Warships be able to spawn the smaller transports. Carriers being exclusive to spawn ALL heavy transports, including Galaxies, Sunderers, and Amphibious Transports. Battleships could Spawn Jet Ski’ and Attack Boats. Destroyers, Frigates/Cruisers, and Submarines could only spawn Jet Skis.
For reasons I don’t know but I would speculate for balance issues a Galaxy cannot carry and transport a armored vehicle or risk players getting them to unintended areas, for example a Sunderer into a Bio-labs dome, However a Amphibious Transport being able to carry a armored vehicle I wouldn’t see that as a problem, a Sunderers AMS or a MBT’s main cannon is useless and disabled while in transit, only useable after being offloaded on the coast or in a Carriers hangar bay.
Obviously Latter’s or cargo net does not exist in this game for infantry to climb, as cool as it may be I don’t foresee it coming into the game anytime soon. So to board a Warship you would need a ramp at maybe a cargo loading part of the ship. With a Carrier I would imagine the core of the ship hallowed out as a protected interior hangar with enough space for troops to spawn Vehicles, drive them to the rear of the ship where there’s a ramp that if your not careful you can drive right into the sea. Sunderer’ or MBT spawned inside the Carriers “Cargo Hold” could be loaded into Amphibious Transports to be carried from the Carrier to the Coast, Players seeking to board the Carrier could likewise just drive right up the ramp into the cargo hold.
Emulate this Ramp and Cargo hold with the Battleship, The Destroyer and Frigate/Cruiser obviously aren’t as big and thus cannot have a cargo hold, Instead put a small loading ramp in the rear of the ship.
To avoid players exploiting, armored ground vehicles should take progressive damage in deep water, this way MBT’s for example can’t just be spammed and hit the hull of a warship from under water. Infantry swim animations will have to be added to the game, For practical purposes I believe Infantry should have slow swim and sprint, just like on land, and should be able to use there weapons while swimming, However to prevent Platoons from simply swimming from Continent to Continent stamina should be added for swimming infantry, if you are in the water for X amount of time your trooper becomes fatigued and eventually takes damage until he drowns to death.
Given Purpose and Strategy
I believe there should be a “Sand Bar” along most coastal regions of a Continent, to prevent all Warships from simply driving right up onto the beach, Likewise if a Warship is foolish enough to beach his Warship on the Sandbar, so sad for that crew, there Warship just became a static target. This prevents Warships from overly harassing or even camping Coastal facilities and limits them to the support role of hammering other Warships to protect the invasion force, or hammering coastal defense cannons or MBT clusters.
A Amphibious Transport kind of acts like a hovercraft, able to drive right up onto the beach safely to deploy it’s cargo of 12 players or even deploy a MBT or a Sunderer, However the Amphibious Transport should suffer a penalty or take progressive damage if it wanders to far from the water. Because it hovers it can drive onto the beach, deploy it’s cargo, then return to the Carrier to pickup another tank for the Invasion, or another Squad all without worry of being beached.
Because Warships are limited in there capacity to impact land-based units I.E. only hitting coastal targets, I suggest Land based forces only be able to deal limited amount of damage to a Warship, again as a example: Lock-On Rocket Launchers like the Annihilator, these would deal very trivial next to no damage, even when a Squad or Platoon of Heavy Assaults are focus firing, However MBT’s or Liberators would do moderate damage against these Warships, Even the creation of a new facility turret type the “Coastal Defense Cannon” that deals exceptional damage against Warships, directing the flow of combat around these weapons. Defenders would have to keep these cannons alive and invaders would have to destroy them to sustain there invasion.
There’s a growing rivalry between the Navy and Air-force, with the use of Aircraft that can do so many things and fly across the ocean with such ease, what use is the Navy? Similarly in my experience it’s been that Pilots have great difficulty in dealing with Air-2-Ground targets because of the huge amount of AA weapon varieties, instead held in reserve more specifically for Air-2-Air fights.
By adding the Naval Combat element to the game you give Pilots another purpose, as a competent counter to Naval Warships, at the end of the day other Warships will be the hard counter to Warships but Pilots have a very effective use. ESF pilots using there A2G weapons like Rocket pods to destroy invasion landing craft and strafe the crew on deck, I’m sure pilots would risk the chance of a Warships Flak barrage to chance destroying a Amphibious Transport carrying a squad of 12 and a Sunderer all in one go, Liberators will enjoy dueling with Warship Flak cannons as I believe Warship Flak Cannons should be powerful and hard hitting, arguably the most hard hitting AA in the game, but extremely inaccurate, having a wider cone-of-fire then ever before. Similarly AA turrets if they will be so powerful on Warships they should pivot slower and will only be able to rotate 180 degrees, Forcing Warships to maneuver to keep there Turrets in a Line of Sight, Once again promoting team play.
Another viable tactic that I’m sure some players will enjoy is the chance of boarding a enemy Warship, as a example: a Galaxy Dropship races in and drops it’s cargo onto a enemy Battleship, because the Battleship might have a AMS equipped this boarding party must be quick to cripple the ship, C4 explosives can’t be placed just anywhere, Similar to how MBT’s have armor values based on the angle of attack - Heavy armor in the front, medium on the side, none in the rear, it would be the same with a Warship. Heavy Armor in the hull and reinforced control towers and structures on the Battleship, but a shot landed on the deck in the middle of the ship would do significant damage, Aircraft would have to be clever about hitting this sweet spot because the Warships towers and scaffolding between Towers would make the shot difficult.
A boarding party could conceivable carry the C4 to this weak spot, or even drop it in a (possible?) corridor inside the ship, C4 detonated from inside the ship would do extra damage.
New Facilities & The Flow of Battle
Warships and Naval Combat as fun as it is cannot exist without land based assets and just like how a MBT cannot be produced without a Tech Plant, it should be the same with a Warships. To make Naval Combat work you would have to create new facility types out at sea, Different facilities allow for different types of Warships to be constructed. Island hopping campaigns will be a precursor to Continent Invasions. It may also be a stretch but conceivably if we are going to have Continent Bonuses, Controlling the Island or facility Chain between Continents could allow/deny the Continent bonus or even Continent supply lines, for example: Essamire gives Tank Bonuses, if the TR controlled Essamire and then moved to fight on Indar, they would have the Tank Bonus and all the resource supplies of Essamire, BUT, if the island supply chain linking Essamire and Indar together is disrupted or cut off, the TR may still control Essamire, but the Invading forces on Indar will not receive that Essamire bonus.
A new resource type would have to be implemented to purchase Warships and Naval Transports, Once again emphasizing Vehicle spam control - Make the Warships expensive, or make there cool down when the Warship is lost a significantly large CD, a hour at minimum.
Following my proposed facility types it would control and direct the flow of battle. A Sanctuary will not have access to a Dry Dock or Sea Rig, Forces would have to be flown via Galaxy to take control of a facility to gain access to Warships. Likewise starting from example: Indar, you take control of a Dry Dock near Indar Excavation Site, use that Dry Dock to construct a Battleship, take your Squad or Platoon on that battleship and fight your way to a nearby Sea Rig, drop anchor so troops can spawn, load up the transports and invade the Sea-Rig, If you take the Sea Rig you can spawn a Carrier and use that to launch a stronger invasion of the surrounding Island Chains and eventually invade a Continent.
Dry-docks - This is the first of the new Main Facilities. Dry Docks are large coastal facilities dominated by 3 large hangars, These hangars are where Warships are spawned, they come out of the Hangar and stop along the edge of a dock that extends decently far out, this puts friendly squads within walking distance to jump from the dock to the Warship and then out to sea. 3 large Hangars gives you 3 different spawn points to prevent Warship pile ups. Dry Docks on the side facing inland will be walled off, save for only a single Energy gate guarded by two Bunkers. The shield generator controlling the gate will be in the court yard, the SCU will be inside the main facility itself.
Dry-docks will allow basic vehicle transports from the court yard such as Flash, Sunderer, or the new Buggies. The hangar themselves will produce All warship types except Submarine and Carrier.
Fighting within a Dry-Dock with the exception of the court yard will be primarily within the main complex that leads into the Hangars, this means corridor and hallway fighting free of vehicle harassment. Alternate routes to attack the facility may include but not limited to attackers trying to invade in through the Hangar via sea transport or Galaxy, maybe a ventilation or skylight entrance on the roof for Light Assaults to drop into the main lobby of the complex, or a service entrance on the side of the facility that only infantry can get in at.
Sea Rigs - Imagine a Bio-Lab combined with a Tower and you have a Sea-Rig (Inspiration comes from Oil-Rig design). Sea-Rigs are deep sea top secret research facilities responsible for constructing most notably Submarines and Carriers but may also construct all other types of Warships, Because Sea-Rigs produce ALL types of Warships they are arguably the most important. These facilities stand on massive legs rising high out of the ocean, some of the lower tiers like the Hangar where Warships are spawned and pull out to a peer where squad mates can load up will be vulnerable to incoming Warship fire, the upper levels and even the roof top however will not allow Warships a line-of-sight on the fighting. Sea-Rigs primarily will be infantry fights out at sea. The roof top will have landing pads and aircraft terminals that allow for ESF and Liberator construction.
Island Facilities - Island Facilities will most notably just be small single objective or three point objective fringe facilities, MAYBE a Tower, the Island landscape may vary, and this could potentially even be a chance to bring back the infamous Battle Islands of Planetside1. Making Islands fringe facilities they may not be able to produce MBT’s or even any vehicles at all. Attackers would have to spawn from there Warships, Some Island facilities might be placed on top of a mountain where Warships can’t get a angle, others may have a facility defense wall protecting from Warship fire, Some may have natural mountain barriers forcing invaders to land and climb over a hill to get into the Facility that’s nestled in a bay with a sand bar preventing Warships from driving into the harbor. Island Facilities could be anything but will not be as formidable of a fight as a Dry-Dock or Sea-Rig.
Other Main Facilities such as the Amp Station, Bio-lab, Tech Plant, or Interlink Facility I believe should be kept strictly to the mainland Continents for the purpose of variety in fighting locations. If you have everything out at sea then who would ever want to fight on land again?
Complications
Some players might be concerned that Naval Combat will be the end-all beat all, no one will ever go to land again, I assure you it will not be. Simply because there is a healthy amount of players who just don’t want to be stuck on a single boat, waiting for the action, In a game that has hundreds of players, Warships may only ever have as many as 7-8 weapon slots. The logistics of Naval Combat may also work on some players patience because they would rather be on land fighting for facilities, not organizing and working on the Warships. Just like with Tanks or Aircraft it will only appeal to those interested in that theater of combat.
The logistics required to work a Warship or even a fleet is where Outfit gameplay and organization will shine and to the players who simply don’t want to be waiting on a boat or having to taxi between the warship to the facility there fighting at, Most coastal facilities I would propose have long and extended docks or peers, some wide enough for even armor so that there’s plenty of room to be fighting across the peer to the naval facility: Have a Warship with a AMS pull right up to the facilities docks, because the peer is wide and has sparse cover for infantry (maybe a few boxes or cargo containers) the Warships cannons can be used to support your troops advance, Fighting on a peer would be somewhat similar to Bridge battles.
Naval Combat on a positive note will bring the end-game and logistics that a huge amount of the community are craving for over the simple Tank spam to win a facility. You cannot spam Warships and win, they will be picked off easily by Aircraft or opposing Warships that are properly manned with ease. By making a Warship have to work with a whole squad you limit the vehicle spam from 48+ Warships to just 6 or 9 working as a Fleet. Maybe more with larger outfits.
If you change the incentive to claim a Continent from a simple 10% Bonus to resources to something tangible like… Obvious a extreme here but a decent example of something real that players can play with… for example Own Hossin and Outfits can spawn a Bastion Airship Carrier, Not everyone can spawn a Bastion, only a Outfit Leader can so it limit’s the spam of such a powerful vessel to just one per Outfit, or Control Indar and your Empire can spawn BFR’s all across Auraxis, or control Essamire and get Orbital Strike, AGAIN this is just extreme examples but I hope I get the point across to give players incentive to capture a continent.
When Players have a incentive to capture a Continent, they have Incentive to get a functioning Navy going to control the supply lines and transport armies between Continents, get off there boats and conquer the world.
The topic of Artillery and Indirect fire comes to mind for some people when talk of Naval Combat comes out, Having a Battleship work in conjunction with a forward observer to land long ranged barrages against the enemy, I know a lot of players are just uninterested or find this completely unfair or un-fun to be hit by Indirect fire and to this I point out… Planetside2 to a heavy degree is a War Simulator, If it’s unintended or not Artillery/Indirect fire already exists in the game and is used to it’s full advantage by many Outfits.
My best example would be High-Altitude Liberator Bombers, What is that? A High Altitude-Bomber would be a Liberator, with either a Dalton or Zephyr flying up to the Auraxis Ceiling (1000m altitude) Now ordinarily that high you can’t see anything on the ground, nothing renders, not even allies. But if a ground spotter were to paint up a target with Q spam, because that Liberator is technically still in the same zone he can see the hostile markers (red Doritos to some) even if the vehicle or infantry themselves aren’t rendered. The Liberator can then begin bombing. Ground forces on the receiving end don’t even get to see a explosion because of the render distance and travel time of the shell, all they see is that there taking damage from something. A keen eye may be smart enough to look up and see that spec of a High-Altitude bomber and ground based AA can do NOTHING against this, they require ESF’ to directly counter the High-Altitude bomber.
To a lesser degrees MBT’s can do this as well, acting as a artillery piece and hitting targets at extreme range. So my point is that regardless of if you like it or not, and regardless if it’s intended by the devs, Artillery and Indirect fire exists, players have found a way to make it work, it requires a lot of skill and coordination but it’s possible. So instead of shunning it, embrace it. Only skilled players who can coordinate will get it to work with any effectiveness, and if you embrace that it exists now you can already begin to form counter strategies to deal with it. Applying this to Warships it’s no different, Don’t have a Warship to counter the barrage? Use your air-power, even a Warship would be very vulnerable to a High-Altitude Bomber.
Faction Specific Warships and Weapons
There comes the argument of making Warships Common Pool stuff that all Empire’s will have access to or Empire Specific where each Empire may have specific faction advantages to different Warships. This stuff is even more farfetched imagination then Naval Combat itself at this point in time but here’s some ideas I’d like to have some fun with.
Carriers, Destroyers, Submarine and Frigates/Cruisers I feel should be common pool, there generic, easy enough for any Empire to produce, and each Warship brings a specialty to the battlefield.
Battleships be Empire Specific and bring unique options to the battlefield.
Battleships:
Terran Republic - True to Terran efficiency these Battleships boast the most barrels of any Battleships main cannon and can reload faster, when they drop anchor they are able to reload even faster.
New Conglomerate - These Rebel dreadnaughts have the most armor of any Battleship on the high seas and there cannons are the most fearsome in the game, dealing the greatest amount of damage. NC Battleships can likewise use a invulnerable shield making them a terrifying foe.
Vanu Sovereignty - True to Vanu’s technological advantage these Battleships because of there sheer size and weight cannot hover like traditional Vanu war-machines. Instead they Hydrofoil at the cost of armor, making Vanu Battleships difficult to target because of it’s speed and maneuverability.
Unique turret options for Warships should be relevant for broadsides in Ship-2-Ship action, and targeting smaller craft that the massive Warship main guns ordinarily would have difficulty tracking. Chain gun turrets and swarm missile pods for the TR turret options. Massive cannon like Shotguns and Remote controlled missiles for the NC, and Slow but incredibly powerful beam cannons for the VS.
