Once Upon a Time a Camper

[leander7777]

Alright, so after some thought about campers, I realized, that unlike most rts', bfme II is a game that really doesn't force you to expand. Simply, because resources don't run out and 6-10 farms don't take a whole lot of space and generally suffice to sponsor a large MG army. Consequently, it is no coincidence that most players choose to camp, patiently waiting for the correct moment for a counter-attack. In many ways this can be considered one of the easiest and most effective strategies, especially when rushing doesn't work out.
After determining the issue, I set about trying to discover possible solutions. The most logical solution would be to return to the vBFMEII system, where farms have a larger area, but this would cause all sorts of problems with unit costs and etc. Thus I came up with a far more original and effective method to force a player to expand. (I hope you'll like it, as I'm really proud of it  )
My concept is to focus on command point generation, as a motive to expand. Instead of building farms, I think command points should be generated by capturing strategically placed beacons. A captured beacon should level over time, providing more command points as it levels. In addition a beacon should take considerable time to capture, to avoid early game frustration. It should also take increasingly more time to capture beacons as it levels. For example, lvl 1 45s, lvl 2 90s, lvl 3 135s. Determining how many command points each beacon grants is easy. If a map is a 1vs1 map and each player can have a maximum of 1000 command points, then then all command points combined at level 3 should provide 2000 command points. The command point multiplier would be quite self-explanatory. (The rate and method at which they level is how factions could be differentiated)
Yes, it would be a lot of work to integrate in each map and fortress maps might be a potential problem, but think of the end effect? It would force players to rethink all their tactics and cause them to approach edain in a completely new way. AI wouldn't really be a problem as they aggressively capture buildings anyways
With this and all other edain improvements, I'd be willing to rename it Bfme III  
I truly believe this concept would revolutionize the core mechanics, making Edain a far more strategic game.
Please let me know what you think?

[TheMostBurning]

Maybe this should be discussed in the other thred,although it seems only a few are interested in speaking in this section at all 

I find the basic idea is nice,even though it would significantly change the game.
However,players would just build a sufficient economy in a little radius around the base,and then camp around the beacon sites.Addictionally,the times of capturing are too long,the enemy would never leave you 2 minutes doing what you want,the capture time should remain,i think,the same as now.
Not only,if you lose a beacon,you lose many precious command points,way more than the ones you'd lose losing a single building(if i understood well your proposal).
So,i propose a little change.
Every beacon increases the maximum commandpoint limit,but it offers no cp.RB's keep producing resources and granting cp,but the maximum cp you can have is related to the number of the beacons you captured.I mean,each level 1 RB keeps granting 30 cp,but if you haven't enough beacons,it won't.It is a little change,that however gives more stability than a simple beacon system.
I think it is a good idea,but i can't definitely say im substaining it,as it would change hte mecanics of the game,and changes like this must be pondered a lot.Anyway,i said what i'd change it your proposal would be applied.

[leander7777]

Perhaps you didn't completely understand. If you have played Company of Heroes or Dawn of War you'll know what I mean. To be honest, those games feel a lot more polished, as you'll never experience a stalemate and etc. However, it is hard to compare the two games as they value strategy and tactic differently. All in all, though I can confirm that people won't just camp out by these beacons, as there will be too many of them, for example in a 1vs1 map, you'd start with 200 each and there'd be a maximum of 1600 spread across the map. If there are 8 beacons then each one grants 200 after having attained lvl 3, lvl 2 could be 120 and lvl 1 60. This would force you to expand and fight over beacons. Camping would be impossible as there are simply too many.
In addition, I thought of a slight adjustment, which would make it very similar to capturing any other building in Edain, making an implementation far easier. Instead of having a beacon, it should be an indestructable Monument which has a capture-able flag. Once the monument is captured, it generates CP, but doesn't level. In order for it to level, you need to purchase an upgrade in each monument individually (cost around 400), which has the additional effect of covering the monument in a protective layer (magic for elves, ice for angmar, Numenorean stonework for Anor and Men, and etc). Once, this protective layer is purchased, it prevents the enemy from capturing the monument. The only way to recapture this beacon is to destroy this layer..

Side note: My ideas for the looks of the monuments and the protective layer is very basic and only serves to express my idea. I'm sure the Edain team can revise it so that it fits a lot better with the lord of the rings theme.

Every beacon increases the maximum commandpoint limit,but it offers no cp.RB's keep producing resources and granting cp,but the maximum cp you can have is related to the number of the beacons you captured.I mean,each level 1 RB keeps granting 30 cp,but if you haven't enough beacons,it won't.It is a little change,that however gives more stability than

Making them increase your maximum attainable CP would just over complicate matters.. :S
It'd also be somewhat flawed, because you could be dominating EG and build a lot of farms and then loose all beacons MG, it wouldn't really matter to you as you've already built a lot of farms. It'd also defeat the purpose of fighting over land after you've established your economy. So I'm sorry but your suggestion wouldn't be plausible.

[TheMostBurning]

Hm,i had understood.
Still,isengard would only need lumber mills in most maps,and mordor would lose the overseer system.

[leander7777]

yes, but whats the purpose of having resources and no command points?
But I suppose you make a good point, with no command points you can't win but you definitely can bunker up like mad.  
hmm... perhaps your system with the farms and monuments being complementary is neccesary... I just can't think of a simple way of combining them  
The overseers could still be included if you implement your suggestion.

Edit: There could be 3 values for the command point indicator. For example: 30:120:800, the value on the left indicating how many CP you are currently using, the one in the middle indicating how many you have at your disposal (increased by the current system), and the one on the right indicating how much the maximum is (increases with capture points). If the value on the right is, however, below the value in the middle, due to having lost a few capture points, you can only use that many. So basically, your maximum is determined by the lower value. I think that could work 

[TheMostBurning]

It's pretty much what i intended,but i don't think it is codable :|

What about a staff opinion 

[leander7777]

I think it's an awesome idea, thanks for the help   
I think it should be codable, but perhaps no directly like that, cause I'm not sure if you can change the interface. Perhaps the capture point command points can be indicated somewhere else, in game. I'm not a coder myself, so I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure with input, there'll be output