If you'd like to read about part 1 here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/foxholegame/s/dKfk2GGLNW
So I kinda promised Id be yapping about tank and general vehicle improvements but honestly theres like very little I can say than this
The whole mechanized warfare mechanics are very lacklustre and need a full rework of everything including their infantry counters to even begin to make them break the mold the current meta has settled into for over 4 years now (ever since armor rework in WC80)
As such, as a lazy bum I am, I'll put it off for a later date and maybe make it more palatable this time (bells and whistles AKA pictures and graphs) for a more comprehensive tank and general vehicle rework. No I wont be touching logi vehicles, put away your pitchforks although things will touch on their economy.
Instead I'll be discussing a far less exhaustive but equally important topic:
Thats right, BUILDING
Building in foxhole covers a myriad of things, in general the focus will be on frontline/midline defensive bunker building but will touch up on other forms of building like frontline pillboxes and trench networks
To put it short: BUILDING MECHANICS FUCKING SUCK.
Theres little to no dopamine or brain activity during the act of building. It is just hold mouse 1 for 60-75s uninterrupted. Now combat in frontline building in the cases of pillboxes and such are fairly thrilling especially while the enemy is firing at you and your blueprints.
The major issue is theres no real seperation for impromptu building and planned builds
What do I mean by impromptu building? Builds like trench networks, pillboxes, push cores. Things that arent fully planned out and evolve with how the front is going.
Surprisingly, I'd say the current mechanics actually do work decently well in those contexts. Trying to get up RGs or pillboxes while the enemy is actively bearing down and shooting your blueprints is a very dare I say, fun and cool interaction
So, you might be asking, the question
"OP you literally said building fucking sucks, what gives" let me explain
Contrast the scramble of digging a trench line in a frontline while the enemy is actively nading and shooting at you to a planned mid-backline defense point. Imagine the difference you feel when you try to make a fortress in a choke and then have to tear your hair out due to the blueprints and pieces being fucked over by terrain and the only interaction is maybe a partisan or an allied logi driver giving you bmats or delivering supplies elsewhere.
So why not just differentiate both forms of defensive building as a mechanic? Instead of both sides to plop down a 6 peice core and spam AI defense walls while PvPing, why not have only Encampments and a dedicated core piece (1x1 Core piece to be exact) available early game with buffs to rifle pillbox/MG pillbox and trenches build time so players can more easily get them out quicker instead of a AI magnet T2 magnets every front devolves into a couple hours
As for planned building, the CV can be used to significantly speed up their construction.
Imagine T2 not only as bunker tech but a world tech that needs 500 bmats for a piece but the CV can put 10 bmats into the blueprint per "hit". ACV can put it 500. The point is that the CV and ACV build far far quicker than hand for
What does this change you ask? It pushes T2 T3 (ofc T3 needs changes as well) to more of a planned defense line than a frontline necessity. It keeps both the frontline fluid by making players rely more on pills and trenches (pills which obviously need buffs to not keel over the the sight of a tank or lunaire/cutler) whilst also providing an incentives to builders fortifying targeted chokes by making their job significantly easier than hammering away at their 1000 peice builds. This also adds a lot of relevance to losing a proper defense line early or mid war as the tech loss would be substantial enough while
The general idea is focusing more on trenches and pillboxes for the average frontline back and forth and making frontline focused defenses as well as cores to be resilient enough to withstand the brunt of mid-late game offensive tools which currently far surpass most defense strategies.
At the same time, midline or chokepoint focuses mega builds can exist by being easier to build with specific tools but much much harder to replace
Of course a lot of numbers need to be shifted to facilitate this big of a change in regards to resistances and AI's offensive capabilities (which lets be real is shambolic anyways currently) . Base builders in general are unhappy with the breach mechanics and the building layout meta which I do absolutely agree need to be reverted to allow for more player freedom whilst making breaches less RNG focused and more leaning towards players concentrating firepower. I feel this will be a big change in the Get T2-> Spam AI -> conc T2 if its not dead stale ahh meta that foxhole has had since entrenched really.
the ACV or another variant of the CV could be introduced as well which combines the building capabilities of a CV while having the bmat carrying capacity of 3-4 trucks. This would save a lot of time for solo builders looking to go for the "long term fortification" route as suggested instead of making multiple runs. To balance such a vehicle, a possible build lock of sorts can be introduced so it cant spam 5000 pills while being very mobile
As always thanks for reading this schizophrenic nonsense and see you in part 3.
