Lattice in Testing

Exilar · Mar 4, 2013

Titanis said: ↑

We wipe out armor zergs all the time. Hell last night we fell back to tarwich tower, knocked out an NC armor zerg, back capped the points they took and started a zerg of our own.

With a little bit more coordination you could effectively knock out an armor zerg in a few passes with libs. Lattice doesn't really resolve that anyway, since the side with more push is going to take the bases anyway.
Click to expand...

They didn't have enough armour.

lvloss · Mar 5, 2013

I think the new Lattice system will be good for one reason, it will force Zergs to split up to hold a warp gate. I'm very much a fan, I hope they introduce it on one cont or something and let us test it out before the sweeping change.

Phaedo · Mar 5, 2013

Okay, I'm sure everybody and their mother right now has seen this image;

That image was tweeted out recently by Matt Higby - Malorn and "XanderClauss"(I don't know this dev) are working on this.
Now, what is this image, to you?
It is the first stage to fixing this game. What you see here is a lattice-like system, made using the current Hex System, except with smaller Hexes(About 1/4 the size of current Hexes). The logic behind this system is to use neutral hexes(The uncoloured ones in this image) to split territories and remove adjacency. This concept was championed by Malorn during Beta and has been discussed since, and explained rather comprehensively by Nobel(Leader of Azure Twilight), in this video here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-yOT5EgYvU
Now, why you should love this system and how it will change this game.
Let us assume in this scenario, that the NC are attempting to continent lock the TR at their warpgate, seen here in the image. They would seize Tawrich Tech Plant and proceed to split up. One half goes to Blackshard Iridium Mine and split up further along the line at Feldspar Canyon, and the other half split up again and attack Redridge Communications and Arroyo Torre Station. In this situation, in order to secure a continent lock, the zerg has to split into four separate parts. If they do not, they will be forced to zerg down each path individually, doubling back repeatedly. This is a highly non-optimal method of assault, and heavily favours defenders.
So let's assume the zerg does split up, this allows smaller groups and outfits to be more effective at defending.
What can we gather from this? The new system favours defenders, especially an underpopulated defense.
Does this linearize strategy? Somewhat. This does not inherently limit strategy. Infact, by creating predictability to the approach you are encouraging strategy. Have you played a strategy game? I'm going to assume no. In an RTS strategies are created due to knowledge of the map and predictability of flow. Knowing the most likely paths your opponent can take allows you to work in that knowledge and be able to form a strategy around that. In the same manner, he can know your most likely response and can form his own response. In such manner are complex strategies are created.

This system actively encourages this kind of strategy. By funneling the zerg along paths, outfits and organized crews can respond accordingly to them. Take the picture - there are 4 paths. If the zerg goes up 1, you have 3 paths free game. Now, assume the zerg split up into 4 to go up the 4 paths, you have smaller forces that outfits can handle.

Now that we've gathered this does in fact foster not only large fights(As advertised when we all heard about the game...) but encourages strategy on very complex levels. It can be argued that as this is not an RTS game and the body of troops is not controled by one overmind, that this argument doesn't really apply. I have to disagree. What are platoons? What are outfits? They are, in general, large bodies of troops geared towards a set of objectives as outlined by their leader, the same way an RTS is.

To add to this, ghost capping will be significantly reduced, no longer will you be making a push to find that one guy has flown around in a Mosquito and set all the territories behind you to start capping again. Nobody who enjoys this game the way it is meant to be truly values ghost capping - it undermines the entire system. The devs have realized that and have started making adjustments accordingly.

Another reason you should love this system is changes to main facilities.

As you can see here, each satellite is now its own set of hexes. To advance into the territory you now need to own a satellite to acquire hex-adjacency. It should also be noted that you need adjacency to the satellite territory in order to capture it --- in order to capture the SE sat, you need Aorryo Torre or Redridge Comm., you wont be able to capture it if you just have Blackshard Iridium. However, you can capture the SW satellite if you own the NE satellite, as you now have adjacency.
This adds tactical flow, believe it or not. You'll be able to see on your map at a moments notice; Where are the enemy pushing from? Are the satellites contested? The enemy is capturing X facility, maybe we should set up at Y satellite and prepare for them. These are things you cannot do now, as a result of the staggering level of unpredictability the current hex system has.

This system is, more than anything, a stepping stone. And I shall end with that. The system is nothing but an improvement on what we already have, and there is no argument that can be made using logic, game knowledge and common sense that can make a solid case for the current hex system against this prototype we see.

Also, just to debunk a misconception certain people are having, if an area is uncoloured that does not mean it is out of bounds. You can still move freely in there. This preserves the vast majority of the sandboxy-ness of PlanetSide2.

tl;dr
This system will;
Foster fighting
Improve strategic depth
Significantly reduce ghost capping
Add flow to continental pushes
Focus defense
Add certain levels of tactical flow to main facilities
Click to expand...

it is explained perfectly here by Cyridius

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Lattice in Testing

Lattice in Testing

Discussion in 'PS2 Main' started by Ormadil, Mar 2, 2013.

Exilar .

lvloss .

Phaedo The Weeaboo Hunter

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Lattice in Testing

Lattice in Testing

Discussion in 'PS2 Main' started by Ormadil, Mar 2, 2013.

Exilar .

lvloss .

Phaedo The Weeaboo Hunter

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