Water Buildings

[Roux Le Corps]

split from this thread viewtopic.php?f=33&t=5563

seriously, this is a good tactical advantage and would spice up the game with some much needed h2o action don't you think?

[JDW]

Yes, on good water maps, but which buildings are we talking about? All of the existing ones?

[JDW]

Looks like work has been going on since two years on naval units
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1960
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2022
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2176

So I guess Naval buildings will be the only logical next feature once the units are ready

[Emdek]

I'm not sure if this is good direction, maybe there should be only available things like repair stations for naval units (or these could be only repaired in special building located on coast?) or equivalent for tank traps, maybe kind of buoys?
And how these on water buildings should be built? By ordinary trucks on hover propulsion or by special unit produced by shipyard?
And in case of allowing to build structures that usually are placed on land maybe we should require to build kind of platform first (a bit similar to bridges, maybe these should be also neutral and could be destroyed optionally after destroying buildings placed on top of this)?

[JDW]

Agreed, not all buildings should be allowed at sea, just some special ones, like oil derricks, repair turrets.

If we have oil derricks at sea, we have something for naval units to fight over..

[Emdek]

If we have oil derricks at sea, we have something for naval units to fight over..

Yeah, having power resources placed in the middle of water would be good point for having naval units at all.
Those could be also harvested by special units that would behave like regular oil derricks except that being mobile (could be moved away in case of attack - avoid burning oil problem) but that would be a bit complex (especially if it could for example harvest only 1000 power units and then carry it like tanker to power generator in harbor).

[Dylan Hsu]

Then we have a big BP spill.

[Roux Le Corps]

i was thinking a few basic turrets, repair bays, not sure sure on the harvester idea but we'll come to that

not all buildings just specialized ones ^_^

[Corporal Punishment]

A "naval building" should naturally be something that floats. Oil rigs come to mind first, but there are several other breeds of floating structures out there.
Among what is commonly called oil rig there are three distinct types of structure. The first is a drilling unit that taps the oil well. This is either a ship or a self-propelled platform, in any case it's mobile and travels from drill site to drill site. The second is a harvesting platform, these take over the drill hole once it is prepared. The third is a storage or pumping platform. It receives the oil from the harvesting platform and either stores it for a ship to pick it up or pumps it ashore via a pipeline. The latter two have no own propulsion and are hauled to the drill site by tugs and then fixed by concrete anchors.
A highly specialized and by today little known one is the AA island, an armored platform constructed much in the way of an oil rig but smaller and armed with anti-aircraft weaponry. Several of those where deployed in the Channel by the british forces during WW2. The WZ universe could employ this concept not only for air defense but also against naval units, in this case armed with artillery or machine guns against hovers or whatever will be effective against ships once they're implemented.
Far better known is the floating dry-dock. Used for repairs on naval vehicles, this is basically a steel box open at the top and on one narrow side, fitted with cranes and whatever is needed on a dock. It can partially submerge itself by taking in water into ballast tanks, then a vessel can move or be moved into the dock. The ballast tanks are then evacuated and the structure resurfaces again, lifting the vessel inside above sea level.
The maritime analogy to tank traps would be submarine nets. During WW2 converted fishing nets suspended from buoys were employed to deny access to ports or bottlenecks to enemy subs. They were held in place by a number of concrete anchors and could be opened by tugs only on few "gates" to allow for the passage of own vessels. While called submarine nets, they were an efficient obstacle for any naval vehicle. For WZ purposes, they would need larger buoys and some sort of "fence" above water level to keep off hovers, of course.

[DTSX]

I feel that what would be extremely awesome is to take a chapter from RA3, Total Annihilation, and Supreme Commander (to some extent) is add a base making option on water entirely. Now I don't know if it is possible, but allow players to build platforms (which act as terrain once built) where players can construct buildings.

Though it would increase the number of techs by like 1.5x, forgo all the traditional ideas of naval units, but add units similar to that of cyborgs - specialized units. Battleships come in certain varieties, same with cruisers, and destroyers.
Build hydrofoils, and etc.

This would create a dynamic system for everything- naval constructors would be necessary of course, but I think that this would also allow for bridge building.

I would like entire platforms to be destroyable, but I don't know how you would do that. Perhaps you can force the platform to ignite on fire for the duration of the game in order to prevent players from rebuilding on the same chunk of land

[JDW]

If we have oil derricks at sea, we have something for naval units to fight over..

Yeah, having power resources placed in the middle of water would be good point for having naval units at all.
Those could be also harvested by special units that would behave like regular oil derricks except that being mobile (could be moved away in case of attack - avoid burning oil problem) but that would be a bit complex (especially if it could for example harvest only 1000 power units and then carry it like tanker to power generator in harbor).

Interesting idea. A unit that behaves like an oil derrick, and a limit of how much power it can hold so that it would have to deliver it to the power generator.

A bit complex, agreed. And a sort of additional micro-management. I wonder what the developers would think of this feature, because it's basically a new unit. But we could also argue as to why not just build a permanent oil rig there..