NTU disscusions

[Sidewinder]

A lot of people are upset with the current system because NTU's run out of a base way too quickly if its under heavy assult. I slightly agree because its not fair that the enemy can simply take a tower and place an AMS and get infinite spawn without having to worry about NTU's. People on the beta boards are whining that ANT funs are too boring and that bases run out of energy TOO fast.

Read the beta thread here

Here are some of my suggestions for change.

A) Increase the spawn times and/or limit the amount of spawns that can occur at an AMS/tower (almost as if it had NTU's itself). The NTU's of the AMS/tower would slowly recharge over time thus slowing down the attack from the "zerg".

B) Take MAX's away from towers or limit 1 max per tower per assault per player.

C) Leave towers as they are (limiting MAX's still sounds like a good idea ) and tweak the NTU consumption rate so that bases last LONGER in big assaults. This would have to be tweaked VERY carefully because it could make bases TOO powerful and eliminate the "NTU siege". It could make life even harder for a squad(s) to take a base deep in the lattice system by making it go neutral. A good way to make this work would be to decrease the NTU consumption rate of SPAWNS AND PURCHASES but keep the "auto repair" of the generators/turrets/terminals the same.

D) Give more incentive to ANT drivers and the galaxy that flies them. I personally don't need an incentive because its part of the game and NEEDS to be done. Maybe up the amount of XP by double so more people are willing to do it. Also make sure that the galaxy pilot gets some XP if he isn't in the same squad as the ANT driver.

E) Kinda like idea (a) where towers/AMS's use NTU's but have it so that towers/ams's can be refilled by ANT's. This would require that squad leaders would have to have their squad-mates bring an ANT if they thought it would be a major siege.

[TimberWolf]

I like E which would make it more realistic in that they have to keep resupplying their troops. I would do ANT runs if there was no combat near the area that I have to travel, or a long line of AMS's so I can travel cloaked. That last one is impossible, just a thought.

[Malthus]

B is way to difficult to code, that won't happen before release.

I like A best, because I'm always in favor of higher spwan times, it makes people think before they charge blindly in.

I really feel though that this is something they should wait till after release to test. The last week or so the beta forums have change signifigantly, and are pretty much filled with the whine of the day. Let the people who are willing to pay for the game vote or suggest a major change like this after release, not the people who are just playing for free, with no interest in inproving the game and then going back to counter-strike.

[Spinning Hat]

Personally, I like the NTU system. Some nights, I'd rather fly around in a Galaxy with an ANT refilling silos, then dealing with TR zerg and having to respawn 150 times... besides, once the Galaxy Pilot Dies, the Galaxy becomes unbound and deconstrcuts. Eliminating that Asset from the squads' arsenal.

I've started to find things that work right now in galaxies, as far as long overland transprt, and not getting shot down over NME controoled bases, or over sieged bases and that opens up the ability and expediency of ANT runs. I mean really, if you measure the "fun" factor by how many kills per hour you get, you really need to go back to Counter Strike.

[Ghryphen]

I think that towers need a short 1-2 minute nutral hack time.

Not exactly NTU releated, but it would keep the zergs down a bit and bases NTU would last a bit longer by that.

[insaneferret]

i think NTU consumption is fine, as draining a base isnow such a valuable tactic, maybe they could lower it a slight bit

towers and AMS on the other hand need to be adressed, AMS need to have a finite amount of resources, enough to last a long time but still it must be finite, they should also be able to resupply the AMS with an ANT, it's easy to park an ANT in the cloak bubble

towers, no maxes sounds good, will make sieges much longer and nicer if the base defenders got a boost from maxes but attackers did'nt


'nother idea, kinda drastic but: give EVERYTHING finite resources and make a flying ANT

[SirDiesalot]

yeah... wtf is up with bases having finite resources? if NOTHING is used at all... and it's at 50 % forever... why won't it charge itself? yet an AMS can continue that junk forever..... something wrong there.

[Ghryphen]

The AMS should be like the ANT and you have to charge it at the warp gate and every spawn and purchase drains its power.

[SirDiesalot]