Squad Home Base
Implemented April 8, 2005 with version 3.5.4.
Squad Home Base
Squad Home Bases are intended to strengthen group cohesion at the Squad and Platoon levels. The primary functions of the system includes:
- Squad or Platoon Leaders can view Squad member bind locations.
- Squad or Platoon Leaders can set a friendly facility as their Sqad/Platoon's Home Base for easy binding.
- Request that Squad/Platoon members matrix to their self-bind points.
- Request that Squad/Platoon members recall to Sanctuary.
A Commander may use a facility's Main Console to designate it as the Squad's Home Base. The home base will be designated on the planetary and overhead proximity maps by a recognizable waypoint marker (This waypoint is toggleable, just like other waypoints). When a Squad/Platoon Member enters the facility's SOI, they will be asked if they would like to bind to it. This bind will replace the soldier's bind point with a new bind point to the Home Base.
When a Commander wants to recall his troops to the home facility, he must go to a friendly facility and issue the Command from that base's Main Console. When a rematrix order is issued, followers who are bound to the home base will receive a pop up box indicating that their commander has issued the order, where they will recall to if they accept the order and a dialog asking if they wish to follow this order. Soldiers who are not bound to the home base will not receive this option but will be notified that their leader has issued the command.
Followers will have 60 seconds to accept the recall order and must exit any vehicles before they can. If they accept, all implants will be deactivated and weapons holstered and soldiers will begin the countdown to rematrix to the spawn tubes of that location.
Similar to a recall to Sanctuary, if a follower takes damage or takes any action other than typing or viewing the map, the recall countdown will be cancelled. If they are still inside of the 60 second response window, the "Follow Order" button will become active again for them to restart their recall. If they are not in the 60 second answer window, the Commander who issued the command will receive a message that the soldier did not respond to the command.
If the respawn ability at the Soldier's Bind location becomes unavailable (tubes blown, generator down, base hack goes through and becomes enemy base, etc.) the order will cancel and both the soldier and the leader will receive notification.
If a Squad or Platoon's Home Base is captured by an enemy, the waypoint will disappear. If that facility was the soldier's bind location, it will be set to "none" and they will receive a message in a center print and chat menu letting them know that their Home Base has been lost. There is a 60 second lock out timer between issuing orders to allow them to be resolved before new orders are passed down.
Command Tools
There are two different means by which a Leader can activate these features. Major functionality will be accessed through a facility's Main Console. To use the Main Console, a facility has to be secure (unhacked) and fully powered (generator online), have at least one functioning spawn tube and be in the control of the command leader's Empire. In order to interact with the Main Console, it must be repaired beyond 50% just like any other Console in the game. Also, the main Console cannot be hacked by enemies to gain access to its functionality. An Advanced Hacker can hack the main Console of a friendly facility that has been hacked by an enemy Empire, as long as it is powered and has at least one functional spawn tube.
Soldiers over Command Rank 2 have access to the Command Uplink Device (CUD) to upload orders and receive information from Empire systems. The Uplink Device does not have the necessary connection to set a base as a "Home Base" or to issue a squad rematrix order. However, they can be used to recall the squad or Platoon to Sanctuary and Commanders will be able to receive information on the timers for these abilities. The CUD is able to issue a Recall to Sanctuary order while in the Sanctuary, but other functionality of the CUD is not available (such as firing an Orbital Strike on a Sanctuary).
The Squad List has two columns: One displays which facility each Squad member is bound to, and the other is a checkbox that indicates if that Squad member is bound to their Home Base.