Oh, gosh. Some of these are gonna be obvious. Some of them, not so much.
I loved bases. I was in two SG's with great bases (the Earthguard on Champion and Iron... Phoenix? Ugh, I can't remember, Turg's SG, on Freedom), and me and my buddy Frost had our own base as well (Contest of Champions). Loved those bases.
I use to request this stuff on the regular... thought I'd suggest them here for the fun of it!
1. SG MISSIONS
We need 'em to work. This is where those final Task Forces in CoH should have been.
2. SIMPLE ROOM OPTIONS
Low cost no-effect rooms you can't put defenses or anchors in, from templates
a) bathrooms
b) kitchens
c) dormitory
3) COMPLEX ROOM OPTIONS
a) Security Room
A place where someone can watch what's happening in the base on monitors, that has a destroyable vault-like door.
b) Launch Bay
A room for those SG Missions. The SG picks a craft from several designs (sub, chopper, spaceship, minivan) and clicks on the driver/pilot to enter, much like the entrance to some of the PvP zones. The craft, naturally, will have the SG logo and base design defaults applied to it.
BASE RAIDS
a) Timing and Context.
I thought... in CoH... they were brought in too soon. Heroes raiding heroes bases didn't make much sense. I hope they will make it so that hero groups challenge hero groups in a friendly context, and villain groups in a less friendly context... and villains challenge villains in a murderous context.
b) Spawnpoint.
I also was not a big fan of the random spawnpoint. I feel like spawnpoint should be as fixed a point as the entrance... and deliberately impossible to camp. No weapons or defenses allowed to spawn around them... No ability to tuck it away to a choke point. What I thought would play really well was if the Spawnpoint was wall-mounted fixed point, In a room that is required to place before you can have base raids. The wall mount point would turn into a fissure, smoking hole, crumbling wall, melted steel door, etc. in the event of a base raid.-- the type of graphic representation would depend entirely on the decor in your room for the wall that the fixed point is attached to.
c) Purpose.
One possible grab from a non-friendly SG base raid-- a chance to attack the SG's vault and gain a random item within.
NPCs
I thought it would be great if as a mark of achieving certain amounts of (whatever is in place instead of Prestige), you could have permanent NPCs who serve functions in your SG base.
a) Custodian/Handyman
The SG Base Designer buys a door-- male, female, or robot-- and places that door on a wall texture in a room that allows it to be placed. The NPC that emerges' dress and design would depend on how the wall that the door has been placed on is textured. The SGBase Designer names the character, and picks from twenty archetypes. Depending on their choice, a base cleaner and fixer-upper will come out after a base raid to repair walls and broken or damaged equipment.
b) Purser
Like the Handyman, the Purser is a butler or Public Relations consultant. This person emerges anytime someone enters the SG base. Based on the settings and permissions the SG has already set, he/she answers stastics and member information when asked, and also explains the SG's style of play. The character has archetype options; a PR consultant acts like a street NPC in CoH, making a remark about the SG, or recently active members, every minute or two. The Butler dusts, and occasionally tut-tuts about members. If there's a senior member of the SG and the Base Designer has placed a bow display, the butler might wonder out loud if the Archer has remembered to purchase new bowstrings recently, or if there's a senior member with a Huge body type, will wonder allowed what kind of meal to make them tonight.
c) Store
A merchant option that lets players make consignments within the SG on rare items. Several different archetypes, including used car salesman and a vending machine (literally a cola machine).
d) Armorist
A 'Vault' system that puts a representation for what you're storing behind a forcefield. (this will make the 'Purpose' part of Base Raids much more fun.
e) Doctor
A doctor/medic with an assistant. Named by the designer. Greatly increases the regeneration rate on a spawner as long as they stay in his/her presence, and can cancel negative effects (takes time). If attacked, runs into their spawn door and does not return until the coast is cleared.
Whoa, a Hospy.
Were you thinking that a player could input the information the NPC provides, either as Q&A or the remarks they make? I think that would be quite neat, in any case. Blue Ox has put forth the idea of allowing other characters to be seen about the bases, to give them that lived-in feel, when the players are logged off ([url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/dont-let-sg-bases-look-ghost-towns]thread here[/url]). This could potentially work to provide some interaction such NPCs and the characters.
- - - - -
[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
I love the idea of logged-off presence, DF!
I was thinking that there could be a bit of a pulldown list of settings for what a supergroup is about, aims and goals, how often people participate, etc., and these things would feed into the scripted dialogue of the character (based on the personality archetype you pick). That sounds really complicated... let me try for an example...
'Hand of Atlas' is set up to be a medium-level interest supergroup (roughly 10 hours per week). Players are required to put all of their toons into the SG, however, and they ask that up until level 50, people keep earning Prestige. They like Base Raiding but only do it once per month.
The group's base designer picks the Male Butler archetype, names him Rebootler, and places his 'door' on a Futuristic Science textured wall. He leaves edit mode, goes back into the SG base. Rebootler is there as he re-enters: a male android (think of a Praetorian Clockwork dressed up like a butler). He moves around the entrance room, and once a minute, he makes an observation about a recent mission the SG has done or Badge they have achieved. Occasionally, he stops at a piece of furniture, robotically pulls a spray can out of thin air, sprays and wipes, and then moves on. When the designer interacts with Jeeeves, he answers in a kind of code language.
The designer gets bored of this fast and decides visitors will, too. He enters edit mode, changes the wall texture to English Library, renames the Male Butler Jeeves, and re-enters. He behaves the same, with more fluid motions, but speaks very differently, worrying about repairing damage to costumes or proper decorum at the dinner table of one of the SG members. When interacted with, he is scripted to have a very formal tone, like a proper English Butler. The designer decides that, although he likes it, it doesn't fit with the style of the Supergroup, and enters edit mode.
This time, he picks Female PR and puts the door on a Modern Office textured wall, renaming the Purser as CindyLou Who, and goes back in. An attractive woman in a blazer with the supergroup's logo walks around the room, occasionally texting on her phone, occasionally speaking to someone on her phone about one of the SG members. Interacted with, she is very loqatious and offers lots of opinions on why Hand of Atlas is the best SG in the multiverse (with a few facts thrown in as well).
A pulldown list would be more user-friendly than a generic fill in the blank template, and could still provide a 'your SG in 50 words or less' space.
The one hook I see with this approach is that it would require the SG being comfortable with allowing anyone and everyone into their base. Hardly an insurmountable problem. This could be handled through permissions, allowing that first room to be publicly accessible while the remainder of the base remains off limits. Alternatively, SG bases could have a specific 'SG embassy' room set aside for this purpose. Any SG that is interested in recruiting creates an embassy, which could also serve as a natural meet and greet space.
I would also consider allowing SG members to lend their appearance (and name) to these NPCs, especially if they have one or more people who have taken on the PR role, e.g. HospyBot (or Mecha Fez, although that sort of makes me want to dress my character up to resemble a Gundam).
- - - - -
[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
I really love the vault with a destructible door. It immediately makes my mind race with ideas for base missions. I also like the butler idea.
Thanks, AJSB!
I had a thought on DF's issue with the base being something others can walk into: there could be a Blast Door (in various styles) that seals the Base Entrance room off from the rest of the base. (This actually might make for better zone compartmentalization during a raid.) Anyone can enter the Base Entrance room, but only members can enter their base (but they can invite people in with a 'guest-pass' feature-- something that SG's can buy with Prestige, or whatever works like Prestige in CoT). The Base Entrance is a mini-zone, like a Store, so in effect, a Supergroup has a base and they have a Base Entrance. The Base Entrances have peculiar shapes; they are meant to give Invading teams a defendable point within the SG when they raid.
When a SG is in Raid mode, their Base Entrance becomes part of the base, and is not enter-able by anyone but the Invaders. There is some sort of warning (Klaxon, warning lights, monitors flashing a 'Base Breach' screen, etc) in that room to heighten the tension for the raiders. To enter the room, the invaders have to assault whatever form the Blast Door takes: a safe door, a portal, a binding circle, a barricade, etc. How they damage the door will effect how 'breach' damage appears on the other side of the wall. The Base Entrance room they start in cannot be camped or trapped, since only the Invaders can enter the base that way. (SG members who enter through a base entrance are sent directly to the teleportation room.) In this way, neither the Invaders or the Defenders risk being camped.
I also did love the base-systems and used a lot of time and had my fun doing it in creating bases - I even created several characters, put them in teams just so I could build several bases.
So I definitely would like that wide perspective to be part of the new game again. The only thing I always did miss where doors and windows (which basically shouldn´t be any problem because it would be just like a picture on the wall).
BUT what I definitely would like to be different, is that I wouldn´t want the base concept to take ages - like it did with COH, where I had to wait and play with my team for month just to build the rooms I want to.
If necessary for some reason I would accept to pay for building a base but I don´t want to wait again playing for month hoping that my co-players make enough points until I can build the next room and then wait again for the next one and so on. Don´t know how you guys see it.
AND what I definitely would see as a great plus would be personal bases. Batman has his Batcave and Superman his Fortress of Solitude and there are several other examples - I don´t know if COH ever planned something like that and didn´t exist long enough or not but I do believe that this would be a great extra for the Character-System. So you could also create your base, appartment and things like that. And in that case I would also believe that it would make sense to combine that with the character lvl. As the character grows more experienced he improves his equipment.
That would in my book create the perfect universe for anybody from player to creator and everyone in between - and there people could for example store their stuff like formerly with COH in the vault.
I had built a 57-bed prison and would have loved to stock it with trapped NPCs.
[URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Gnurl/media/screenshot_121130-23-01-03_zps69c0f920.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/th_screenshot_121130-23-01-03_zps69c0f920.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Gnurl/media/screenshot_121130-23-00-56_zps040ebca9.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/th_screenshot_121130-23-00-56_zps040ebca9.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Gnurl/media/screenshot_121130-23-00-39_zps3da783b8.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/th_screenshot_121130-23-00-39_zps3da783b8.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Gnurl/media/screenshot_121130-23-00-29_zps6ebe3844.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/th_screenshot_121130-23-00-29_zps6ebe3844.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
It even had a 3rd floor weight room/contemplation garden!
[URL=http://s284.photobucket.com/user/Gnurl/media/screenshot_121130-23-00-16_zps13179bf9.jpg.html][IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/th_screenshot_121130-23-00-16_zps13179bf9.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
It's about 1/5 the reason I had 4000 placed items.
__________________
[IMG]http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/Gnurl/a72b7fba-8da2-4ac8-8e18-0f8453f7d3ee_zpscc5b27b5.jpg[/IMG]
The very existence of the taunting tank irritates, for it requires idiotic AI that obeys the taunt.
I would like the base raid system to be optional. My SG was heavy into RPing. Our base was the main stage for a lot of it. It was also nice that we could all hang out & go visit others in their bases. I hope we do not have the crazy block wide hallways & doorways going from room to room. That ate up alot of space if you wanted to make a large series of rooms. It would have been much better in our dear departed CoH had the mission generator system for making bases.
Deeds Not Words
I played a solo base with me and my alts only and that's the way I like it. I don't like having to hope that other people don't get stupid or hacked and destroy the base, steal items etc. All I want from a base is that I can do it ALONE, it has some value (like storage and telepads) and that I can pay upkeep (if any) in ADVANCE.
//////************************************************************************\\\\\\
This summarizes my hopes and dreams for CoT. Check it out if you'd like.
There's a [url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/single-player-bases]thread about single-player bases[/url]. Even has [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/32638#comment-32638]some[/url] [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/33291#comment-33291]responses[/url] from [url=http://cityoftitans.com/users/terlin]Developer Terlin[/url].
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
.
Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
I loved bases in CoX, and expect to love them again in Titan City.
This is an older discussion, but you might also find something of interest here: "http://cityoftitans.com/forum/base-building"
-
Terlin
[color=#ff0000]The Bullpen[/color]
[img]http://missingworldsmedia.com/images/favicon.ico[/img]
Thanks!
//////************************************************************************\\\\\\
This summarizes my hopes and dreams for CoT. Check it out if you'd like.
As far as Base Raids, I think City of Heroes had the right idea that the only way your base can be hacked is if you put in the items that allow you to Base Raid. In that way, ONLY Base Raiders can be raided. That's what I meant about creating a Blast Door in the original post... without that blast door, you can neither raid, nor be raided. BUT: if you raid, your base is then raidable for 6 hours. Meaning you can't raid another group, tuck an item into storage, and then be unraidable yourself.
I would hope raiding would involve both groups' SG bases at the same time... that would be the most fair!
Is there anything that speaks against having a kind of duel system for base raids, so people can engage in base raids without being forced to open their base up to raids in general?
- - - - -
[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
All we managed to have on live in CoH were the "instant raids" which were just such duels with no lasting damage. If the full on raid system had gone live, a SG would have needed an Item Of Power (IOP) from the Cathedral Of Pain trial to participate in that. So full on raids had additional gates on them beyond what was needed for the instant raids.
h4X!!1!!!!!11!!1!oneoneoneleventyone
That's bogus, as they say in Americaland. Run a trial/TF in order to obtain some base[color=red]*[/color] functionality? Luckily we're roughly a decade past that kind of idea finding traction with the player base.
[br]
[color=red]*[/color] Ugh. No pun intended. Unless I get bonus points for a double-entendre pun. Then I totally intended it.
- - - - -
[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
My interpretation was that the trial/IOP requirement was kind of like getting a group consensus for entering into the base raid system. A system which could actually get base items destroyed beyond hope of repair with all prestige spent on them lost. (And this was at the ORIGINAL prestige prices which were later much reduced.) That penalty sounded pretty severe and likely was. The devs probably felt something more than check, or mis-check, a box was required.
An unopposed raider could literally wreck everything in your base if they decided to. That's in addition to swiping your IOP which was a victory condition. Perhaps a 12-24 person trial may not have been an optimal gate, but I'm glad they intended to put it there. And again, if you neglected the trial, your SG could still do instant raids if your base was set up for it.