Hey! Hope all is going well, I know balancing has been a big focus lately, as well as attempts to get people out of their bases, and I wanted to toss out a few ideas I've had about it.
In my experience, one of the hardest things to combat about basing is the fact that you almost always need somebody on defense, primarily just for lookout. It's something that's made me essentially turn all of the pro printers who base with me into human cameras. It's unfortunate, because alot of the time players really do want to get out and rp, and don't want to just sit in base, but the cameras on the server are so laggy, and raiding can be so quick, that it's just necessary to always have at least one person on lookout.
I want to propose some camera addons and ideas, as well as a counter option, that might help add to rp and the depth raiding.
Unfortunately, the addon that I remember seeing in the past that inspired this idea, I couldn't find. Both of the camera addons that I'll be linking below require you to place monitors to view them, but the one I remember let you have an actual window on your screen, similar to the chatbox, ui, toolbar in the context menu, etc. You could place a camera, select one to stay on your screen, and walk around the map while always being able to easily keep an eye on your base. Again, unfortunately, I couldn't find it, but that would be my absolute favorite version of these. If that didn't make sense, sorry, you're welcome to ask for a further explanation and I'll try my best.
Anyways, here were two addons for cameras that I found:
www.gmodstore.com
www.gmodstore.com
These would let multiple people view the same cameras, allow for surveillance and/or surveillance networks across the map, and I could even see security/PD/CP teams linking in to several cameras, potentially across multiple bases or districts, to basically create an in-game version of ADT security. Or, even in some situations, finding out the frequencies to cameras in enemy bases and being able to keep a secret eye on them.
This would also let people be more comfortable leaving their base, as they can always tap into their cameras and take a look at the entrance and/or inside of their base. I know you already can do this with regular cameras, but its only for the person who owns it. Imagine some of my bases, and which would be more reasonable, having 15 players place individual cameras, or one camera and all the players can quickly buy a screen and link into it. That point is more for the entity limit than anything.
To help counter this, I found this and thought this was also a super interesting addon, not sure if it would work with the addons I linked previously however.
www.gmodstore.com
This addon is intended to allow raiders to kill the signals of all cameras within a certain range. Of course, when you see your cameras go offline that's probably a telltale sign you're being raided, but could definitely be useful, immersive, and fun in certain situations, like temporarily disabling the CP's or a defendant's cameras during a pd/bank/regular raid, so they can't see your exact moves or preparations. The ECM jammers are also intended to mess with keypads, but I'm absolutely not a fan of that part. Pretty sure it won't work with the keypads we use anyways, but if so I think it'd be a bit too op.
Anyways, sorry this got a bit long, want to get your opinions on the idea, as I think it'd be a pretty decent way to add to the balancing changes we've seen lately. I'm a bit worried that stuff like this would affect our entity usage, but I think it'd only be a few extra cameras and screens per base, and would immensely help rp. Can't imagine it adding more than 2-10 entities per base, but I could see CP going a bit crazy with it. Regardless, much love if you actually took the time to read this whole thing and give it some consideration, take care <3
In my experience, one of the hardest things to combat about basing is the fact that you almost always need somebody on defense, primarily just for lookout. It's something that's made me essentially turn all of the pro printers who base with me into human cameras. It's unfortunate, because alot of the time players really do want to get out and rp, and don't want to just sit in base, but the cameras on the server are so laggy, and raiding can be so quick, that it's just necessary to always have at least one person on lookout.
I want to propose some camera addons and ideas, as well as a counter option, that might help add to rp and the depth raiding.
Unfortunately, the addon that I remember seeing in the past that inspired this idea, I couldn't find. Both of the camera addons that I'll be linking below require you to place monitors to view them, but the one I remember let you have an actual window on your screen, similar to the chatbox, ui, toolbar in the context menu, etc. You could place a camera, select one to stay on your screen, and walk around the map while always being able to easily keep an eye on your base. Again, unfortunately, I couldn't find it, but that would be my absolute favorite version of these. If that didn't make sense, sorry, you're welcome to ask for a further explanation and I'll try my best.
Anyways, here were two addons for cameras that I found:
CCTV System (Camera/Surveillance system)
This addon adds in a CCTV system that can be used to increase the security and awareness around players properties. A job called "Security technician" is added in with this addon, these engineers can purchase CCTV systems and install and provide service for their customers.
www.gmodstore.com
SH Cameras
www.gmodstore.com
These would let multiple people view the same cameras, allow for surveillance and/or surveillance networks across the map, and I could even see security/PD/CP teams linking in to several cameras, potentially across multiple bases or districts, to basically create an in-game version of ADT security. Or, even in some situations, finding out the frequencies to cameras in enemy bases and being able to keep a secret eye on them.
This would also let people be more comfortable leaving their base, as they can always tap into their cameras and take a look at the entrance and/or inside of their base. I know you already can do this with regular cameras, but its only for the person who owns it. Imagine some of my bases, and which would be more reasonable, having 15 players place individual cameras, or one camera and all the players can quickly buy a screen and link into it. That point is more for the entity limit than anything.
To help counter this, I found this and thought this was also a super interesting addon, not sure if it would work with the addons I linked previously however.
ECM Jammer (For Cameras and Keypads)
www.gmodstore.com
This addon is intended to allow raiders to kill the signals of all cameras within a certain range. Of course, when you see your cameras go offline that's probably a telltale sign you're being raided, but could definitely be useful, immersive, and fun in certain situations, like temporarily disabling the CP's or a defendant's cameras during a pd/bank/regular raid, so they can't see your exact moves or preparations. The ECM jammers are also intended to mess with keypads, but I'm absolutely not a fan of that part. Pretty sure it won't work with the keypads we use anyways, but if so I think it'd be a bit too op.
Anyways, sorry this got a bit long, want to get your opinions on the idea, as I think it'd be a pretty decent way to add to the balancing changes we've seen lately. I'm a bit worried that stuff like this would affect our entity usage, but I think it'd only be a few extra cameras and screens per base, and would immensely help rp. Can't imagine it adding more than 2-10 entities per base, but I could see CP going a bit crazy with it. Regardless, much love if you actually took the time to read this whole thing and give it some consideration, take care <3
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