Backup Power for Offline AGT and Obelisk

[RadicalEdward2]

I've noticed that on maps with Power Plants and higher tier defenses, the towers tend to become useless once the Plants were destroyed and thought of a way to possibly give them some sort of value once the power went offline. Back in Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge, Tesla Coils could be reactivated if they were charged by two to three Tesla Troopers. The Coil would remain active so long as the two to three Tesla Troopers charged up the tower with their electricity.

Maybe something like this could be incorporated into the Obelisks or the AGTs. If Power Plants are destroyed, maybe the towers could be reactivated only if they're MCTs were charged by three engineers.

To keep the balance, there could be a difference depending on which units act as the tower's MCT backup power.

For example:

Offline AGTs/Obelisks of Light:

3+ Engineers = Online

2 Engineers = Offline

2+ Hotwires/Technicians = Online

1 Hotwire/Technician = Offline

1 Hotwire/Technician + 1 Engineer = Online

Now for my reason why this would still be consider balanced:

While a faction would be able to keep their tower online, it would be at the cost of how many players will be available to actually aid on the battlefield. Basically, a trade-off of offense for defense.

I chose three Engineers instead of two is because providing a backup power source for something as powerful as an AGT or an Obelisk shouldn't be a simple task; it should be something that requires some sacrifice of available resources. If one or two Engineers could restore power to an offline Obelisk/AGT, then the remaining teammates could still make an offensive without taking a noticeable blow to their reinforcements. However, if it took three Engineers to simultaneously re-power a tower defense, it would definitely take a toll on the number of troops actually available to fight back the enemy faction. Additionally, it would help as a fail-safe for when Hands of Nod or Barracks are destroyed; leaving no special units to re-mine structures.

On the other hand, it also shouldn't be as simple as assigning one lone Hotwire/Technician to restore power to the MCT. It should take at least one Hotwire/Technician and at least one Engineer. From what I've seen in-game, one Hotwire/Technician repair gun provides as much power as two Engineers.

With that being the case, a duo of one Hotwire/Technician and one Engineer should be enough to temporarily restore a tower's power.

For an extra counter-measure, maybe there could even be a 3-5 second delay period before the towers go Offline in the event that the MCT isn't receiving its minimum charge (ie one of the two Hotties/Techies or one of the three Engies leave or die).

This mechanic would definitely add a new challenge or strategy for maps like Under, Mesa, and Eyes.

I mean, it's an idea I thought I'd throw out there since the secondary armor for buildings wasn't originally in the game either.

[Mystic~]

I like this idea.

So long as engineers/adv engineers are actually charging it in real-time and not say allowed to charge it and then disappear. There'd probably need to be some sort of cool down between shots fired (ob lasers/agt missiles) and other things conceded... I would suggest making base defenses more sluggish. So for example slower (lock on times) less powerful (less damage inflicted) and decreased accuracy. This would mean infantry can still infiltrate a base without instant ob/agt death. Perhaps even make them blind to stealth units.

Otherwise 3 engineers / 2 hotys/techs is still easily a good trade off if it worked at its full performance.

[[TmX]Super-Kh]

LOVE THIS IDEA , though yes I agree with david , 3 engies/ 2 hotwires are not that much also a person can just type f5 startfire and stay in there afk the whole game.

maybe if 1 engie charges obelisk will take about 6 seconds to charge and agt can shoot only from one of it's celling turrets if 2 obe will take 5 seconds and agt can shoot 2 celling turrets if 3 obe will need 4 seconds to charge and agt can shoot 2 celling guns and a rocket that is slow reloading /all 4 celling turrets without rocket but if 6 obe and AGT will act normal again. also I was implying normal engies not hotwire/tech.

also maybe killing hon/bar can affect this because then the teams won't have advanced engies and they will need more chargers.

[RoundShades]

Not sure if a "manned bonus" is a good idea, but I always did like the idea of barely functioning base defenses in absence of power, just for the sake of it. Like if AGT only fired missile that does 80 damage instead of its normal guns, and Oblesk fires beam that only does 100 damage instead of it's normal beam. That alone would be worth it. Same animations and such, just little work on coding to make them not-useless if unpowered.

Or, as you might as well already, make it so if PP is destroyed, it is destroyed as well, because that is already pretty much the case, it doesn't ever keep a team alive and either gurantees a point-advantage if kept alive or is allowed to die intentionally to remove another surface that points may seep through to the enemy.

[Bananas]

Do people really want to stand inside powering a building?

Repairing is already boring enough. Most people just startfire and go afk lol.

[Mystic~]

Perhaps just go straight for a low-powered version of base defenses similar to the low tiered infantry/vehicles once destroyed.

[Ruud033]

I very much approve and like this idea!!!

Only 2+ hotwires isn't enough in my opinion though, I'd say 5 hotwires or 8 engineers, else there is no point of killing a building at all...

I'd also make this a server side option in case some server owners don't want to implement this everywhere

[RoundShades]

Do people really want to stand inside powering a building?

Repairing is already boring enough. Most people just startfire and go afk lol.

I won't lie. Unless literally threatened to be kicked for it, I would literally launch UDK 4 times and have 3 afk'd with startfire, and just play on 1 with semi-lag (still enough to defend buildings and repair tanks).

Which is why I just suggested scaling the damage to roughly half, where it prevents a single tank just sitting in an enemy base out in the open or infantry just walking around freely, but isn't lethal to infantry in 1 shot nor able to destroy 3 vehicles in a rush.

With 100 damage, obby would be lethal in 2 shots free infy and 3 shots paid infantry with moderate tank effectiveness but still not enough to 1-hit a humvee. With 80 rocket damage, it does even less damage to infantry (not that Nod tanks have any more armor than GDIs) but it does have the advantage of "instant-engagement" over the obby's charge.

I maybe could get off my duff and at least try to do a mutator for it. Just have to make a parallel obby shot and agt shot, and code the agt and obby to check for both it being alive and PP being dead to use it. If it's dead, no-go, and if PP is alive, no-go because it already uses the one it's scripted for. Can't be that hard from the perspective of coding...

[RadicalEdward2]

I very much approve and like this idea!!!

Only 2+ hotwires isn't enough in my opinion though, I'd say 5 hotwires or 8 engineers, else there is no point of killing a building at all...

I'd also make this a server side option in case some server owners don't want to implement this everywhere

I felt like more than the number I suggested would be a bit too much (especially considering the number of players that log on depending on the time of day). But, then again, I get how there would be concerns with how if players would ready dedicate time to sitting in a lone defense tower as life support.

In response to Bananas comment, the funny thing is, you would be surprised the lengths a team would go to keep their faction afloat if the match goes well into several hours but, if half a team can repair a dying Refinery MCT for hours on end, I wouldn't put it past them to stand around inside an AGT/Obelisk for long periods of time either.

Also, being able to temporarily reactivate the base defense is more of an option than a requirement but, it helps on maps like Mesa and Under where one second, everything is fine until the power plants shut down and then players either rage quit or stop caring because their fate was set. Having the opportunity to reactivate the Obelisk/AGT at the expense of available manpower feels like a better resort than having the crippled team deploy a mine field around a building that (ironically) can no longer even defend itself.