Base Raiding

As recent blogs have discussed at great lengths, there are some exciting changes coming to the Exile building module, most notably the introduction of the concrete building materials and the changes to the armour ratings of these structures. This blog is going to introduce a few additions, expand upon these features and provide information on the much anticipated territory raiding system.

So let’s kick this blog off with the details of some new structures shall we? 

More Building Objects

As the new building module follows a tiered method of escalation of sorts, it is important to have some more basic structures for players to use creatively within their territories to provide either functional or aesthetically pleasing finishing touches. 

Nothing does this better than our old friend the Sandbag wall, introduced as both straight and cornered version, providing basic cover for fighting positions! 

Also, what better way to define your territory than setting it’s perimeters with an intimidating fence? Chain link fences or H-barriers are the perfect way to establish your boundaries and prevent basic access to areas of your base, keeping any curious Bambis from wandering into your turf!

To help with design and deployment, each of these materials will “snap” to other items that are the same, i.e.  Sandbags will snap to other sandbags, wire fences will snap to other wire fences. They won’t snap to other building objects however, such as walls due to sizing.

Base Raiding

While these new additions are great, they aren’t going to prevent or even challenge the more determined of base raiders…

In case you didn’t know, base raiding is set to feature more prominently in Exile in the coming update as there is now a custom built system to accommodate it.  This is something completely new and intended to challenge base building and improve its employment within the mod. 

Base raiding now has purpose - no longer is it pointless to just raid a base knowing full well its contents are likely to be protected by locked containers like safes.

Now players can attack a base to steal their flag!  Coupled with the introduction of a currency that physically needs storing now, this makes for a potentially lucrative challenge. 

The flag can be removed by the assaulting players and then sold at the trader for a specific amount relevant to the territory level, i.e. the higher the territory level the more it will reward.  

The process of removing the flag is triggered by interacting with the flag which triggers an animated process, much like the repairing of a vehicle, that takes a period of time to complete and must not be interrupted (or it restarts the process!).

This time varies depending upon the territory level, starting at 150 seconds for a basic level one territory, with a multipliers of 1.5 per level. In layman’s terms, it’s going to take up to sixteen minutes to take a level 10 territory.   

The base owner must then purchase the flag back from the Office trader and “Restore” their flag at their pole before they can repair or maintain their base, leaving it very vulnerable in the meantime! They have a time frame of 3 days by default to do this before the base is removed! Also, all safes and doors are unlocked one day before the base is being removed!

Explosives

One of the more subtle yet significant changes is the way explosives will work. First of all, a new damage system has been introduced that no longer relies on the inherent Arma 3 damage system. Destroying base objects is now a purely scripted process that means it is more precise and exact – you know exactly what is required to blow each item and don’t have to worry about things like where you’re placing explosives – if it’s placed it will work! 

Also, to make things a little more straightforward, and again with escalation in mind, each building material will require its own type explosive (and number required) to destroy it. Each type of explosive will take a dedicated amount of time to set with more powerful ones taking longer! 

Wood objects will require three "Breaching Charge (Wood)" explosives to breach and each explosive will take three minutes to plant. 
Metal fortified objects will require three "Breaching Charge (Metal)"  to breach and each explosive will take five minutes to plant. 
Concrete objects will require three "Breaching Charge (Big Momma)" explosives to breach and each explosive will take seven minutes to plant. 

This ultimately means that base raiding requires some planning and effort – a bit of reconnaissance may be required to get an idea of the amount of explosives required, what types and where they could be placed! This should sort the men from the boys and also filter instances of trolling base attacks.

Sever admins will have control over how easy or difficult it is to get access to these explosives,  so ultimately the power in their hands to design and control a balanced environment. 

Notification 

With the introduction of base raiding and opening the door to the potential for hostile territory take-overs, naturally comes some apprehension. Fear not though, this is the 21st century and we have technology at our disposal to help us defend our territories! 

We are well aware the majority of base attacks happen while the owners are offline. Rather than restricting base raiding to windows of activity around the owners activity or encouraging abuse of offline protection, we’ve looked at ways to tackle this more positively and to encourage in-game activity. 

With this in mind, players will be made aware of impending base attacks immediately upon the first attempts of gaining entry to the territory (remember those scripted explosive devices?). This will be done via a brand new Exile mobile app linked to their (real life!) mobile devices. 

This will immediately send a notification message to your mobile upon the assault initiating, meaning attackers must be extra vigilant as they KNOW that base everyone on the territory flag have been informed of their assault upon it initiating. With other changes and introductions, these base raids are now a fairly lengthy process that require planning and much effort, and who knows what may be waiting for them inside the base!

A more in-depth post about the XM8 Mobile app will be posted in the next few days. Please hold your questions until then