Chris
Active member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2019
- Messages
- 53
- Thread Author
- #1
I was thinking recently about how there are plans for the CPs to react to rebel activity be building forcefields in certain areas and placing Combine locks. Which is fine of course but my suggestion involves the inevitable pushback from the rebel side when they start complaining they are too confined from all the Combine infrastructure that was built with the express purpose of hindering them. At face value, the complaint seems a bit ironic but it actually highlights an issue which has plagued many a server when the Combine noose starts tightening on the rebel areas. That issue being, when is it time to remove these extra measures since the usual scenario is that as soon as they're removed something happens which would have been prevented had that extra measure been there and thus the cycle feeds into itself.
Considering how City Twenty Four has many alternate routes (and this might be enough to stop this problem on it's own) I had the idea that the civil protection faction should have some sort of requisition point system representing their allocated resources to control the district. They would receive enough requisition at a base level to place a couple of Combine systems in the city but for the most part they'd need to count on the officers in the field to keep the peace (which is realistic and encourages roleplay) this opens up the playing field for the resistance to worm it's way through the city exploiting the myriad of weaknesses in it's layout.
Various events could affect the amount of requisition Civil Protection would have to spend giving more or less depending upon the outcome. This allows for a more realistic model of a steadily growing control or slow ebb from power.
The map already has most of the critical infrastructure which is explicitly Combine only behind their own dedicated doors. However there are areas which hold this sort of middle ground where you are 100% going to be asked what the hell you're doing in that area but aren't by technicality doing anything illegal. A good example of what I mean is this corridor connecting the Ration hub to Willard street in front of the nexus. These are just regular doors and not Combine make.
This is the plaza and the corridor in the image above runs along the building on the left and bypasses that single doorway that leads into willard street. With this suggestion the Combine could either, close that corridor off with locks and leave the main path without a forcefield or have a forcefield in that doorway and leave the corridor exposed.
It's a good suggestion I feel since it will Encourage CPs to think together on what the best way is to use their limited resources to control the people, a sort of pseudo tower defence game against actual players. I find it much more interesting as a concept for CPs to say "Okay, I want patrols at X and Y since Z is covered by a forcefield." That sort of strategy creates patterns for people to notice and take advantage of.
Of course, the Resistance could always fight back against these measures by destroying them and CPs would need to wait for more requisition in order to replace that defence or come up with another strategy and allocate resources elsewhere. Ideally this would be a mechanic where the forcefield and locks (which already kind of have it) health and sufficient damage would turn it into a damaged variant which would act as a sort of "scorched Earth" where they can't just instantly rebuild it.
It would allow the resistance to see tangible progress against the Combine or vice versa. A cool minigame this map could support due to it's layout.
I should also add they should be able to build these items anywhere on the map, if they believe it to be a good idea. They could build a forcefield in the sewers if they wanted to try and stop people from entering or escaping from certain directions. Though they shouldn't be surprised if they don't last too long.
Assuming that all goes well for the Combine and let's say they would receive another requisition boost if anything had gone wrong. They suddenly wouldn't be able to build more defences since it's clear that the current measures in place are sufficient to control the population and thus, the district does not need more resources. This kind of ties into the levels of lockdown suggestion we had a while back and this might be a more tempered way to enact that without leaving people dead in the water.
Mechanically this could be accomplished by buildable similar to the Combine barricades that can actually be carried to their intended location and then assembled on site. It could take the form of a Combine Crate as a generic buildable and then "build mode" would let you place the object in the desired orientation and location they want (provided it is in range of the crate) Cameras and locks already can be destroyed from damage, so a forcefield damage mechanic that could work in a similar way would allow people to fight back with melee weapons.
Of course dev work can take a backseat and most of this could be accomplished through admins spawning these "combine crates" and having CPs roleplay assembling the item and this might be sufficient on it's own but it's up in the air.
So in summary:
- Civil Protection are able to "requisition" Combine Crates containing technology such as Cameras, Combine Locks and Forcefields. Incurring a Requisition cost dependent on what they brought in.
- Requisition points are limited resource, forcing planning and thought to decide on how to best use these valuable pieces of technology.
- Requisiton points do not stack up or rollover in the event no defences were damaged.
- The resistance can damage these pieces of technology in order to open up the paths CPs locked off, CPs being unable to replace them either immediately or unless they pay the requisition cost (which they would have already spent) in order to replace it.
- Combine technology can be built anywhere on the map, including the sewers (provided they go down there and assemble it)
Maybe it's a bad idea but I think it could add some really interesting dynamics to the server's environment. Feel free to discuss.
Considering how City Twenty Four has many alternate routes (and this might be enough to stop this problem on it's own) I had the idea that the civil protection faction should have some sort of requisition point system representing their allocated resources to control the district. They would receive enough requisition at a base level to place a couple of Combine systems in the city but for the most part they'd need to count on the officers in the field to keep the peace (which is realistic and encourages roleplay) this opens up the playing field for the resistance to worm it's way through the city exploiting the myriad of weaknesses in it's layout.
Various events could affect the amount of requisition Civil Protection would have to spend giving more or less depending upon the outcome. This allows for a more realistic model of a steadily growing control or slow ebb from power.
The map already has most of the critical infrastructure which is explicitly Combine only behind their own dedicated doors. However there are areas which hold this sort of middle ground where you are 100% going to be asked what the hell you're doing in that area but aren't by technicality doing anything illegal. A good example of what I mean is this corridor connecting the Ration hub to Willard street in front of the nexus. These are just regular doors and not Combine make.
This is the plaza and the corridor in the image above runs along the building on the left and bypasses that single doorway that leads into willard street. With this suggestion the Combine could either, close that corridor off with locks and leave the main path without a forcefield or have a forcefield in that doorway and leave the corridor exposed.
It's a good suggestion I feel since it will Encourage CPs to think together on what the best way is to use their limited resources to control the people, a sort of pseudo tower defence game against actual players. I find it much more interesting as a concept for CPs to say "Okay, I want patrols at X and Y since Z is covered by a forcefield." That sort of strategy creates patterns for people to notice and take advantage of.
Of course, the Resistance could always fight back against these measures by destroying them and CPs would need to wait for more requisition in order to replace that defence or come up with another strategy and allocate resources elsewhere. Ideally this would be a mechanic where the forcefield and locks (which already kind of have it) health and sufficient damage would turn it into a damaged variant which would act as a sort of "scorched Earth" where they can't just instantly rebuild it.
It would allow the resistance to see tangible progress against the Combine or vice versa. A cool minigame this map could support due to it's layout.
I should also add they should be able to build these items anywhere on the map, if they believe it to be a good idea. They could build a forcefield in the sewers if they wanted to try and stop people from entering or escaping from certain directions. Though they shouldn't be surprised if they don't last too long.
Assuming that all goes well for the Combine and let's say they would receive another requisition boost if anything had gone wrong. They suddenly wouldn't be able to build more defences since it's clear that the current measures in place are sufficient to control the population and thus, the district does not need more resources. This kind of ties into the levels of lockdown suggestion we had a while back and this might be a more tempered way to enact that without leaving people dead in the water.
Mechanically this could be accomplished by buildable similar to the Combine barricades that can actually be carried to their intended location and then assembled on site. It could take the form of a Combine Crate as a generic buildable and then "build mode" would let you place the object in the desired orientation and location they want (provided it is in range of the crate) Cameras and locks already can be destroyed from damage, so a forcefield damage mechanic that could work in a similar way would allow people to fight back with melee weapons.
Of course dev work can take a backseat and most of this could be accomplished through admins spawning these "combine crates" and having CPs roleplay assembling the item and this might be sufficient on it's own but it's up in the air.
So in summary:
- Civil Protection are able to "requisition" Combine Crates containing technology such as Cameras, Combine Locks and Forcefields. Incurring a Requisition cost dependent on what they brought in.
- Requisition points are limited resource, forcing planning and thought to decide on how to best use these valuable pieces of technology.
- Requisiton points do not stack up or rollover in the event no defences were damaged.
- The resistance can damage these pieces of technology in order to open up the paths CPs locked off, CPs being unable to replace them either immediately or unless they pay the requisition cost (which they would have already spent) in order to replace it.
- Combine technology can be built anywhere on the map, including the sewers (provided they go down there and assemble it)
Maybe it's a bad idea but I think it could add some really interesting dynamics to the server's environment. Feel free to discuss.
