Building System Proposal (Again)

[gingerbear]

Here is the newest version of my relentless "Bring back the building system" campaign, the ideas tailored to the current game setup, of course. TL DR WARNING!

Building Materials
Either we could stick to the same minerals as modules and boosters are built from, or we could add a new kind of item set, specifically to the benefit of building.

• If we stay with the current materials: make their drop rate higher (sometimes from big/med turrets, and a lot more from mineral depos), and increase (a lot) the material requirement for modules, to balance things out.
• If we recieve a new kind of material (like "shards" were before), make it kind of a common drop from all turrets and immobile/fortified units.

Building Placement
Since the game has different playing aspects already, I guess each of them could get its own kind of building set:

• Cities would be an obvious choice to lay down buildings. What are the basic properties of cities? They grow as the area around them is cleared, they can be teleported to, they extend the range people can scout out. Based on these, we can make some restrictions on buildings / game mechanics to make it interesting, the main concept could be that buildings, game features would be unlocked as the city grows. Examples: a) Teleporting to the city has a cooldown of 45 seconds. Each level of the city removes 5 seconds, so it's completely free from level 9 - 10 (depending where we start). b) Same could work for tank switching, instead of cooldown it could be the recharged skills / shield delays. For example from lvl 1-3 you only get 2 triggers recharged, lvl 4-6 means 3 triggers, while lvl 7-9 means all the triggers. If a city hits level 12, then you will have your full shield too (it will not goo on cooldown like now). c) Features like modules and recipes are disabled, and are only available in cities that have reached certain levels (and may have appropriate buildings built). Squadrons could be also "localized" based on cities, also depending on their level. (see later)
• The wilderness is also a good place to build. Properties: full of enemies, could be connected or not, surrounded by normal or debuffed enemies, and will eventually become cleared area. The main idea as that it could host utility buildings: com link range increasers, party buffers / enemy debuffers. These things could be leveled up but should remain cheap, as they will quickly become useless as the area is cleared away.
• Convoy Routes are technically belong to wilderness, but they are still special regarding game mechanics. These lines could also hold a whole lot of utility buildings: early convoy spotters, buffers/debuffers, spawn quantity extenders, and so on.
• Squadron specific buildings can come into play with the introduction of the squadron system, which would make the gameplay more interesting, and would also make socializing a much more desired option. As for all of the ideas above, see details below.
• Personal buildings could be a thing, too. However, I'm somewhat opposed to buildings that grant benefit to a single person (that is what the tanks are for), so personal buildings could be decorative stuff, mainly for bragging rights. For example "statues" in cities with the name of the builder, or interesting shaped tiles in a personal garage, and so on.

Buildings vs Game Mechanics
From the above it can be seen that the primary purpose of the building system is to affect the gameplay. This could happen via enabling certain features, buffing / debuffing players or enemies, and could be connected to in-game events, even minigames.

There could be buildings that are pre-built on the map, or auto-built by the game, these could be "core" buildings to get the people used to the basic concepts, and making them want to build their own stuff.

Another motivation could be the introduction of the building system into the Highscore table. Individual buildings, and squadron efforts could be noted, and would remain visible for on the top list until someone decides to beat it...

If - in any point of the future - an achievement system is implemented, then of course there are tons of possiblities in connecting construction to them.

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Cities And City Buildings
City buildings can/will be built in connected cities, on the city landtiles.

• Teleport Pods: One per city, automatically built. Can only teleport a player once in a while. Levels up as the city levels up, cooldown reduced each time. Is basically a building aesthetic, will not really change the current game mechanics.
• Headquarters: At a certain level, a city could be chosen as a headquarter for an individual player, or for a squad (see squad hq). This would make that city the default respawn point and escape point, instead of Origin. New maps would reset this to origin, naturally. Building a HQ would be of minimal or no cost, but would be limited to change once in a while (maybe once per hour).
• Storage: A building built from materials by the player. Works the same way as the long term storage, but can only be used when the player is in the city. Can be leveled up, which grants additional slots. When the map resets, the items stored here will be dealt with the following way: If it has an offer on the market, it is sold. If it doesn't, it will move to the players long-term storage. If it cannot be moved there, it is destroyed. The amount of storages and their levels would be limited, and would base on player data, for example you cannot have more storage than the amount of tanks you unlocked / 6 and cannot be higher level than the city it resides in, etc.
• Production Facility: One per city, automatically built. It unlocks players the ability to meld materials into modules and temporary buffs. Different cities could have different facilities, thus people could search around on the maps in the hopes of finding ones to their liking. The type of facility could depend on the type of the sector, so people could make educated guesses on what to expect there. The facility system would also allow the introduction of a broad scale of modules and recipes, without cluttering the current solution - as one would only see 2-3 pages when clicking the icon, instead of dozens.
• Supply Station: One per city, automatically built. This levels up with the city, unlocking more features as it grows. Basic functionality: when the player switches tanks in the city, everything goes on cooldown (shields, triggers). The supply station turns off these hinderances one by one, slowly. Advanced feature: by spending the appropriate materials, players could hire "minions". Depending on price these could be destructible or indestructible, but will always be temporary (short or long). So kind of like a buff, but more visually appealing. Minions would have their own AI and would perform different tasks, based on their type: gather loot, attack, block bullets, maybe even provide buffs/debuffs.
• Central Coordinator Office: Players can visit these to unlock quests (mini games) in the area. These could vary from building stuff, escort cargo, destroy specific enemies, clear dungeons, WHATEVER MINI GAME this game will include later on. I will make another post about this in the future, be warned..

Wilderness Buildings
Wilderness buildings are small, and require a small/medium sized clear spot anywhere on the map, so players have to kill an enemy tower to be able to place them.

• Comlink Station: Extends the area where players can move without being recalled. Can be leveled up to extend the effective range. Optional final upgrade: allow teleport to it.
• Portal Gates: Can be built only in pairs, and allows instant teleport from location A to location B, when driving over it. Building limitation could be maximum effective range, or possibly the rule that they must be on places that are "connected" to the main hub.
• Refill Station: Provides health / trigger / shield recharge, based on which materials it is built with. Vulnerable to enemy attacks so people won't spam it everywhere or at least has to make an effort to keep it alive. Can be upgraded/universified with the addition of further materials.
• Defense Systems and Inhibitors: Buildings that shoot down incoming enemy minions and/or projectiles, or debuffing them in a way. They won't be able to move or attack buildings, their main purpose is to provide some kind of defense if things get rough or players just need a somewhat safer spot to be able to fall back to.
• Abandoned Buildings: Prebuilt buildings on the map. Upon discovering/connecting them, the players could recieve minor buffs, presents, etc. They could be also sources of mini-games, like entraces to dungeons, or could give quests to the players like the CCO in the city.

Convoy Route Buildings
Same as wilderness buildings, but with some additions. The speciality of these buildings that they are dependent and uniquely connected to active convoy routes, and cannot be placed anywhere else. There is already a reward for clearing Convoy Waypoints. Maybe these waypoints could be marked on the map, and could be unique locations to build convoy route buildings? Or just buff them?

• Scouting Station: Checks the map for a convoy (or a patrol) on the track, within range. Can be upgraded for bigger range. Basic functionality is the same as the city spotters: shows the convoy symbol on the map. Players can spend individually (or in squadrons) more materials into it for extended features: Ping the map when a convoy gets in range, or announce it on the screen / chat. This would be visible only for those who are involved in the upgrade. (Anyone can upgrade for the feature for self, regardless of how many people did it already.)
• Barricades: slows down the convoy units that pass over.
• Accelerators: speeds up players for a short time that pass over.

Squadron Buildings
These buildings can be built within the squadron HQ. There can be any amount of "decorative" stuff, like the colorful tiles, the possibilities are endless, depends only on the developers. There could be also some functional buildings, which can be placed either into the HQ, or directly on the map, maybe in connection to the building that represents the Squadron HQ. Squadron buildings are "permanent", they will not get lost on map reset, thus their price could be higher, and there is ample space for upgrading and feature addition.

• Squadron HQ: Same functionality as the basic HQ: players can make it default respawning/escape point. An additional function can be that members of the squadron can get into their own HQ by driving over the entrace. Aesthetics could be pimped: the building could feature whatever logo the squadron has.
• Squad Paint Depo: Built for/by the squadron. For a minimal price, it recolors the current tank or adds the clan logo on it. The mark is removed if the specific tank is destroyed, but remains if it's switched out, but will stay on the "original" tank. So if we want all our tanks painted, we have to paint them all one by one. I would like a feature to be able to switch between "basic" skin, "squad" skin and "custom" skin for each tank. Squad paints should be unique for the squad and shouldn't be copied by other squads. (They could still mimic it on their "custom" palette or choose similar colors). Painting would define colors for hull, main turret, aux turrets, main weapon color, auc weapon color. The paint depo could be leveled up. Additional levels could make individual costumizations/ fine tunings available.
• Squad Storage: A long-term storage for the squadron. Size can be increased by upgrading. The Squad Leader can manage the rights of access: creates member groups that could either put in or take out items, or both.
• Squad Announcement Board: To store in-squadron messages.
• Squadron Mission Board: Similar to the city's CCO, with a twist: The squadron sets the goal and offers the prize from its own resources, so it is basically a player driven questing system. The owner who makes the mission could set the game type, time limit, prize offered, and could also set whether the task is squad-only, global, or squad-excluded (for the public). It could create a nice interaction among squads and players, as I'm sure some squads would want the reputation of being the "generous" or "creative mission" task givers.
  

There could be of course more buildings, ideas will come as soon as the aim and functionality of squadrons will be more fleshed out.

This post is already longer than I originally wanted, and I'm sure there are many good ideas I left out. I appretiate comments!

[Duco]

Are you one of those people that write wikipedia?

A serious comment: I don't like your minion idea. It either makes the game boring or adds more powerful enemies to the game.

* No level-appropriate zones -- there are no zones, just a single world which players fight to expand. Newbies and veterans must fight shoulder-to-shoulder.