THQ's Homefront 2/Battle Commander Overview

Document Status: Yellow [Overview of HF1 BC with ideas for HF2 improvements. Requires a more detailed pass to flesh out the HF2 direction]
==Homefront 1 Battle Commander==
===What is Battle Commander?===
 
HF2BC1.png
*Homefront's take on a kill streak system
*A layer on top of existing game modes
*Design Purpose: “make large scale warfare personal and reward players for having vendettas”
*The Twist: The player became a bigger target with each killstreak reward they received
===How does it work?===
*The Battle Commander AI data mines player stats in real time.
*Players who build up consecutive kills (or marks for recon drones) without dying:
**Receive killstreak rewards (flak jacket boost, UAV sweep etc.)
**Are marked as priority threats by the Battle Commander using a star system (1 – 5 star).
*When a player is marked as a threat, players from the enemy team are sent a secondary objective to hunt him.
*The higher the player’s threat rating the better the killstreak rewards and the more enemy hunters are sent.
*Hunters receive additional BP rewards for taking out a target or nemesis.
 
HF2BC2.png
HF2BC3.jpeg
HF2BC4.jpeg
HF2BC5.jpeg
===Types of Killstreak===
*Infantry Killstreaks: Flak Jacket Boost, Faster Moevement etc.
*Vehicle Killstreaks: EMP Resistance, Auto-Repair etc.
*Recon Drone Killstreaks: UAV Sweep, Infinite Drone Battery etc.
*Assault Drone Killstreaks: Infinite Battery, Faster Drone Speed etc.
*Nemesis: Also a Battle Commander threat, but without any killstreak rewards.
===Killstreak Rewards===
INFANTRY KILLSTREAKS	INFANTRY KILLSTREAKS	INFANTRY KILLSTREAKS 	INFANTRY KILLSTREAKS	INFANTRY KILLSTREAKS
Star Level 	Kills 	Reward 	Hunters 	Bounty Reward
1 	3 Kills 	Flak Jacket Boost 	2 Hunters 	100
2 	5 Kills 	UAV Sweep 	4 Hunters 	250
3 	8 Kills 	Faster Movement 	6 Hunters 	500
4 	11 Kills 	Increased Primary Weapon DMG	8 Hunters 	750
5 	15 Kills 	All Enemies Marked 	12 Hunters 	1000
VEHICLE KILLSTREAKS	VEHICLE KILLSTREAKS	VEHICLE KILLSTREAKS 	VEHICLE KILLSTREAKS	VEHICLE KILLSTREAKS
Star Level 	Kills 	Reward 	Hunters 	Bounty Reward
1 	3 Kills 	EMP Resistance 	2 Hunters 	100
2 	7 Kills 	UAV Sweep 	4 Hunters 	250
3 	11 Kills 	Increased Weapon DMG	6 Hunters 	500
4 	15 Kills 	Auto-Repair 	8 Hunters 	750
5 	20 Kills 	All Enemies Marked 	12 Hunters 	1000
RECON DRONE KILLSTREAKS	RECON DRONE KILLSTREAKS	RECON DRONE KILLSTREAKS	RECON DRONE KILLSTREAKS	RECON DRONE KILLSTREAKS
Star Level 	Marks 	Reward 	Hunters 	Bounty Reward
1 	5 	UAV Sweep 	2 Hunters 	100
2 	15 	More Drone Health 	4 Hunters 	200
3 	25 	Faster Drone Speed 	6 Hunters 	300
4 	35 	Infinite Drone Battery 	8 Hunters 	500
5 	45 	All Enemies Marked 	12 Hunters 	750
ASSAULT DRONE KILLSTREAKS	ASSAULT DRONE KILLSTREAKS	ASSAULT DRONE KILLSTREAKS	ASSAULT DRONE KILLSTREAKS	ASSAULT DRONE KILLSTREAKS
Star Level 	Kills 	Reward 	Hunters 	Bounty Reward
1 	3 Kills 	UAV Sweep 	2 Hunters 	100
2 	4 Kills 	More Drone Health 	4 Hunters 	250
3 	7 Kills 	Infinite Drone Battery 	6 Hunters 	500
4 	10 Kills 	Faster Drone Speed 	8 Hunters 	500
5 	13 Kills 	All Enemies Marked 	12 Hunters 	750
=== Pros ===
* Nemesis system.
* Having meta-objectives alongside capturing bases in Ground Control.
* Battle Commander as an attempt at balancing dominating players with the rest of the game.
* Threat Rating also nicely balances the killstreak rewards.
* Threat Rating provides a sense of progression during a session.
* Killstreak rewards are relatively subtle and not majorly overpowering.
=== Cons ===
*Detracts from main objective of game mode.
* Possible to become a priority threat just for staying alive a long time and having a low kill per minute.
* Several similar systems running side-by-side:
** Killstreak rewards
** Battlepoint purchases
** Perks (from core progression)
* Presentation of killstreak rewards and who is benefitting from rewards is confusing.
* Some killstreak rewards are abstract (increased bullet damage, recharging vehicle health)
*Concept of killstreaks is generally unbalanced as it rewards already dominating players.
== Homefront 2 Improvements ==
* Points (rather than just kills) contribute towards your Threat Rating and Pointstreak Rewards.
* Points could be accrued by getting kills, securing objectives, assisting teammates etc.
* Based on performance per minute rather than kills / points without deaths.
* Threat Rating goes up and down over time (GTA-style)
* Pointstreak Rewards are specific to your playing style:
** Objective-based (E.g. secure objectives faster).
** Class-based (E.g. medic heal faster)
** Team / Squad-based (E.g. Auto squad healing)
* Battle Commander enhances the feeling of becoming a veteran as you progress through a session.
File:HF2BC7.png
=== Other Notes and Ideas ===
* Large Killstreak Rewards (airstrikes, artillery etc.) are fine as long as they’re less common.
** 2 or 3 times per game.
** Should feature heavy signposting that they’re about to hit.
** Probably work better if purchased with Battle Points.
** Some of COD’s Killstreak Rewards such as gunships worked well as they changed pace by forcing everybody inside.
* Purchase disposable equipment and tools that last for the remainder of the session.
* HF1 Killstreak Rewards and Equipment purchased with Battlepoints rather than received via Killstreaks
** Drones, UAV, Counter-Radar, Sentry Gun, Ammo Drop, Care Package etc.
* Anything you purchase with Battlepoints should be disposable and tangible:
** Should be vehicles, weapons and equipment.
** Shouldn’t be abstract things such as health and damage boosts.
* Smarter allocation of hunters
** Pair up top players to forge rivalries throughout the match
** Assigning the top players of one team to take out the top players of the other.
* Game mode objectives for squads (groups of players on a team)
** Directing individual squads to different objectives (e.g. Squad 1 hold objective A, Squad 2 hold objective B etc.)