nwood#2177 posted (#post-938)

....That being said, we're also a bit hesitant about designing an attack/defend mode where the objective is to attack another team's assets. We feel that rush tactics would triumph over the kind of strategic planning that we see in a mode like Team Elimination.

I understand it's bad form to talk about another game. BUT I would like to point out something for it's game mechanic and not for how good or bad it may be or how crappy it looks when compared to Dreadnought. ;)

The game fractured space on steam is having a free weekend so i thought I would "scratch the itch" and try it. As far as a Capture and Hold Game Mode goes, they have done it fairly well. I did not understand from the screen shots how the mini map worked till I played the game. I will not sit here and discuss the mechanic or that game but would say to go and try it simply as research into the game mode.

I tried Fractured Space aswell (Which is another game about big Spaceships), and I was surprised by how they managed to make an original attack/defense mode.

I'll explain it :

Each team possess a Base, in order to win you have to capture the enemy base.
But you can't just pick the fatest ship, travel the space and be the first to the base, doing a "first to come is the winner". Why ? Simply because the map is divised in sectors, five to be precise. To travel beetwen each sector you need to use the warp jump, which take quite some times and make you vulnerable (you take more damage when you're jumping). You also have a cooldown to it so you can't constantly jump beetwen the sectors.

The map look like this :

You can only Warp to the enemy base by jumping first to one of the side sectors of the map AND only if you have captured all the nodes from that side (so you need A1 and A2, or B1 and B2). This system gives a good way to prevent Base rush and players have to think and work as a team using different tactics.

For Dreadnought, I suppose something similar can be used, but without the sectors part.
You can only attack the enemy base if you first have captured a number of nodes.
Something that come to my mind and that looks like that too is the Onslaught/Warfare mode from Unreal Tournament. You also have to capture nodes and create a link from your base to the enemy base in order to attack it.

I really think something like that can be applied to Dreadnought with some tweaks. Just need to discuss and explore the idea.

I'm sure Yager are doing thier research and have played all the competition.

I'm pleased they are trying new ideas with game modes like Team Elimination.

I tried FS today, and I have to say I'm not impressed. I know it's an Alpha, but the game feels way, way off. The more I played it, the less fun it got, especially with what looked like massive variation in damage, even between different ships of the same class.

I like what they're trying to do with the capture system up to a point. But I don't think their game can handle it.

@Darkloser

From the way you described it, it does seem as if a "Zerg" could still be a viable tactic(I use the term Tactic very...very....VERY loosely) to quickly suppress a side then rush to the core base. I personally think that while we are on the subject of other games in comparison(Just for ideas) I would like to recommend looking at World of Warcraft's Isle of Conquest Battleground. In this PVP match you must lay claim to different components such as a Siege Engine factory and Mines to strengthen your own resources. Or another comparison is Star Wars the Old Republic's Alderan Warzone. This set up has multiple nodes in which you must capture to give power to Turbo-Laser's which fire on the enemy flagship.

Personally I would see the Alderan situation being more viable in Dreadnought with the use of things such as Shipyards in which you need to capture distributed Shipyards littered about the area. These Shipyards then, while under a team's control, begin producing Bombers or similar AI-controlled ships which make an Assault Run on the enemy Flagship(Basically an unmoving AI ship/Planet/Station) and deal damage periodically the longer your team holds the Shipyard. This can be formulated with Cooldowns and a specific Damage for each Shipyard for example dealing 500 Damage every 10 seconds that you maintain control. HOWEVER, to prevent "Zerg" you could initiate a system where the Shipyard will not send out units if the Control Zone(a pre-programmed distance from the Shipyard) is Contested. This means your team would have to make sure no enemy is in the Control Zone. If a team "Zergs" in, the Shipyard will not begin assaulting the enemy Flagship/Station/etc until all enemy ships are out of the ordained Control Zone. This would prevent players from being able to Rush a target and cause them to strategically HOLD the position. For example a map could contain 3 separate Shipyards. To win a team must maintain the majority Control over 2 of the 3 Shipyards.

As I described in my hypothetical method of a Capture and Hold scenario you could exchange the "Shipyard" idea for ideas such as Experimental Super Laser Turrets or Solar Powered MegaCannon Satellites, or any number of similar methods. This I believe you could successfully achieve nwood. And as you may have noticed I do try to be thorough and explain my points XD Hope you don't mind the wall of texts I send your way XD

@Tetsu-Amada

You can't use any "Zerg" tactic, first because the time you need to capture a point or a side will let the team have more than enough time to put a defense in place, plus the time to travel beetwen points, and second because the Bases are inaccessibles/invincibles until you have captured the requested points.

Still seems like if you gather your entire team to one side you can push with the majority of your ships and use the remaining ones to cap, thus still Zerging.

If the enemy gather all the team on one side, well you can gather your team on the same side to defend ? Or even better, you only place 4 guys (on a 5v5 situation for exemple) which will play safely (honestly when you're defending and waiting for the enemy it's easier to trap them and have the first shot), and the last guy will just get all the unprotected side and rush to the base.
Then your enemy have to react and take countermeasures (except if they are incredibly dumb, which happens sometimes :D) giving your team some breathing space.