Weekly Discussion 86: Base Building Wish List

[Sakura Tenshi]

there's so much stuff I'd like it's hard to know where to even begin? I think a lot of other people have covered the bulk of things though: some new walls, preferrably tintable, new stone stuff, smaller letters, etc.

 

A few things I'd like that I'm surprised we don't already have though are police cars and vans (was building a police station awhile ago and couldn't find cars) and monorail cars and rails. Some things I'd like I'm not sure would be so easily done (you know, assuming any of these are 'easily done) would be the living armor suits from the Midnight Club and similarly the icon tailor mannequins. (which, I can't tell if they're static world assets or if they're actually character models hard anchored to a spawn point and locked in a pose)

[Zepp]

A new, simplified, item selection menu would be nice. It is tough trying to remember what category specific items fit in.

[Shandirra]

C,C,P'd from another post of mine, begging for winter/Christmas items. I ~really~ want a winter wonderland IN my SG base... I've been good! Just ask Santa.

 

 

"Snow patches similar to the grass that can cover large sections of area. Complete with 'crunch' to mimic walking. Ice on water to mimic the frozen lakes in the NYE missions. Including the ability to 'ski' on them, along with sound effects. Mounds and hills to mimic snow piles.

Christmas trees with stars/angels on top, ornaments and multiple color lights. Available in differing sizes. Presents to go under the trees. Toys/dolls for under the trees. Garlands and wreaths for the walls. Sleighs that can be attached with reindeers.

Tables and chairs set for Christmas dinner. Turkey with gravy and dressing. Dishes filled with vegetables and sides for holidays. Table place settings for holidays.

The icicle lights from the Winter Chalet. 

Some folks want winter wonderlands in their bases. 😉

~ End winter/Christmas begging. ~

 

~ Cue random ideas... ~

Doors that can remain open or *be opened to allow access from both sides*.

Allow plates (particularly water and grass) to be seamless, but apply to all.

More glassware options. 

More interactable NPCs. Trainers, pets that follow you or react when you touch them, etc.

Allow EVERYTHING in bases to be color coordinated.

[Dacy]

15 hours ago, ForeverLaxx said:

It's things like this for why I suggested in my initial post on this topic that Bases need some kind of tutorial, even if it's just a manual to read through. Most of what you can do is unintuitive and explained nowhere inside the game, and many of the "secrets" aren't even widely known by the playerbase either.

I do have a series of videos out, pinned in the base building topic, done before the HC ban on videos and streaming. It would be interesting if we could do a series of missions that outline some basic base building information. I do wish I could redo some of my videos, there is stuff I'd like to add or change. But I've been told the videos are very helpful, and I do share many tips to help that aren't always well known.

 

-Dacy

[ZorkNemesis]

I'm no expert at making some of the crazy bases i've seen around here, but one thing I'd personally like to have: a practice target.  One that shows proper damage numbers scaling with your level so you can use it to practice attack chains and see if your build can hit things and/or deal enough damage without having to worry about dying.  Perhaps have options for the practice target to be up to four levels above or below you.

 

Practice targets might also be a good addition for people who might want to make a danger room style...room.  Something to actually fight in said danger room would add to the aesthetic.  On the subject of danger rooms, how about practice turrets that are invincible and can be activated to attack you with various damage types for testing defenses and resists.  Similar logic to the practice targets, just these ones attacking you instead of them.  If possible, maybe make their damage fake so you don't actually take damage from them but still show what the numbers would be if the damage was real, preventing the possibility of griefing if you aimed them all at your base entrance.

[GenesisMan]

1. The ability to add a NPC tied to your character. Whenever that character logs into the base, all instances of these doppelganger(s) would be hidden for the duration. Let's the base feel full of SG members, even when they're absent for a time.
2. Fixed pet/npc pathing in bases as they have a lot of trouble following at the moment.
3. Based on the above fix, it would be awesome to have wandering NPCs, likely on a set motion path.

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 1/28/2021 at 1:15 PM, Dacy said:

But I've been told the videos are very helpful

I literally could not have made any of my (handful of modest) bases without you. I always go back to your channel when I'm stumped on something.

 

You're awesome!

[Elltenia]

A lot of suggestions here that I would love to see implemented.
I have no clue how many of them are possible, but I can hope, right?

Customizable NPCs would be a huge plus for me. Along with more NPC models from different factions in game.

Larger base plots would always be a plus, too.

Some items I would love to see added to the base editor would be more weapons. We have some nice ones already, including some that don't appear anywhere else in game (as far as I know, anyway) but we have a ton of weapons in the character creator that I would also really like to see in the base editor. (Titan Weapons in particular come to mind...)

[Troo]

Surely someone has mentioned leveraging base building for player created content..

[Troo]

On 1/24/2021 at 8:29 AM, Shenanigunner said:

Base raiding: IMVHO, a good notion that never worked out and can't really be fit into the existing game.

Base raids worked. At least for Misfit Villains they did. Your mileage may have varied.. 🙂

[Soyuz]

On 1/24/2021 at 10:28 AM, ForeverLaxx said:

Something else to inform players about the "cheat codes" and methods to achieve specific things would be great too. I know some players still think they have to stack desks to get things above the floor, or don't know you can build outside the base, or don't know how to get outside the base in the first place, or don't know that power/control features aren't required for 99% of the objects any longer, etc.

 

I don't know if it's possible to put some kind of "tutorial" for building a base

Lots of great suggestions in this thread for things to add - objects, textures, NPC's that can walk around etc. - but as a novice base builder, some sort of walkthrough for the more "advanced" features is by far the most important thing for me. I know what I want to build, I just don't know how to achieve it.

 

As has been noted, some of the methods required feel like workarounds when they're explained to you. They're quite counterintuitive and not at all obvious to someone playing around with the editor for the first time. You'd probably never guess most of them on your own.

 

There are some truly fantastic bases out there, but it feels almost like they were built despite the editor, not because of it. Almost... because obviously no editor, no base.

[Myrmidon]

If there was a way to tie in base raiding, that would be fun. Perhaps being able to build a second linked base with restricted build capabilities that allows for raiding and sharing the Items of Power with the parent base.

[InfamousBrad]

I have three broad categories of requests, and then a thought about base PvP:

 

My first request feels to me like low-hanging fruit, like it ought to be easy. Go through the list of items that can be used as interact-able objectives in AE missions, all the boxes and safes and stuff. Make a list of the ones that don't have matching base items, and import them. It feels like this ought to be pretty easy because by definition they all have separate geometry files, right?

 

My second request is one I make every time, but especially after the last round of improvements to Winter Forest: we need more seasonal holiday decor! Halloween is sort of covered, with multiple jack-o-lantern models, plenty of existing spooky trees, all the creepy decor pieces from the Talons of Vengeance sets. But every year it astonishes me that we don't have a single Christmas tree, a single wreath, a single strand of holiday lights -- the only winter holiday decor we have in the game is a couple of menorah models. There are multiple 3D models in the game for wrapped Christmas presents (from the open zone event), how hard would it be to import those as base decor? And oh, how much I wish, every year, that we could place ice-skating patches in our bases. There's a Valentine's Day event, but no Valentine's Day decor, either.

 

My third request is that I'd like a whole re-think of all of the non-interact-able NPCs and their placement. Right now, each NPC in the base editor has one idle animation. You get a couple of NPCs holding torches, and only those NPCs can hold torches, and that's all those NPCs can do, and so on. What I'd like is to be able to place any combat or hostage NPC that can be used in AE (except for custom characters, for obvious reasons) and then, in the Object Info panel when that NPC is selected, have a pull-down menu of every possible stance or idle animation.

 

 - - - - -

 

As for base PvP, it's worth talking about why it never worked before we put any development resources into it. For one thing, CoH is a hard game to design PvP for -- you have the unhelpful combination of 80 MPH travel powers and long-activation combat powers that root the attacker. But base PvP was also super-punishing for anybody with pet or pseudo-pet powers, because bases don't get a map optimization pass like mission maps and city maps do, so there are no pre-calculated NPC paths for them to follow. For another, they create an inherent scheduling crisis: if both the attackers and the defenders don't show up at the same time, and in roughly equal forces, it's no fun for either or both side. I don't see any way to fix any of those problems.

 

I can only really think of one PvP add-on to bases that wouldn't create some intractable headache. You could, in theory, add another room type to the Add Room tab for PvP rooms of various sizes that would use, say, Warburg combat rules, where you can attack anybody who isn't on your team. But because the NPC pathing issues are never going to go away, you'd have to make it impossible to place objects in those rooms, they'd have to be just empty boxes -- skinnable with the usual textures, but empty. Otherwise, the engine just doesn't support it well enough.

Edited January 29, 2021 by InfamousBrad

[Skreamweaver]

Why only think about base pvp in a cost-free world? make "bases" still free, but use sg prestige to buy a limited set of pvp-tested placeable items for a seperate combat base, which uses a system something like AE misssions? No opponents enter the real base, but you can have combat, scoring, damage contests, etc. And prizes which you can only win by wagering like-value prizes of your own.

[QuiJon]

The only functional item that i would like to be able to put into my bases is a targeting dummy like they have in RWZ that you can actually attack. Not only for testing my toons, but also being i play ALOT of dominators it is nice to be able to log in and quickly build up my domination in like 30 seconds before i head out to play. 

 

So far as anything else i think there is already a ton of options, i do think they could be organized better and perhaps have better menus rather then that long scroll bar at the bottom of the screen. 

[Shandirra]

To the developers...

 

Please, for whatever you hold holy?

Do NOT allow base raiding PvP. Or, at the very least, the ability to permanently opt out of it. 
 

Not everyone enjoys PvP.
In ~any~ zone.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

A series of items in picture form!

 

Spoiler

Barrels!

 

Boxes!  And cargo crates.  And there's a small trolley to lift small boxes.

 

Garbage cans!

 

You might ask "well, what's the deal with this picture."  The pavement!  For parking lots!

 

There's the trolley, by the way.  And cardboard boxes.

 

Lock boxes!

 

Signs!

 

Smaller corkboards.

 

[Xeres]

I didn't read all the posts so forgive me if some are repeated.

 

Doors.  Not portals, just an openable, closeable door.

Curtains.  Preferably adjustable to open, drawn, partial.

An easier way to build over the base than we currently have.

Adjustable grid that overlays the floor, and a snap to it.  But visible.  Edit: And able to be raised so if there is something on the floor I can raise the grid over it.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Xeres

[GM ColdSpark]

Thanks all, write up to follow - may not be till tomorrow as got a few bits on today.