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Traitors. Rebels. Terrorists.

These are words often associated with the New Conglomerate, one of the three major powers fighting for supremacy on the battlefields of Auraxis in Planetside 2.

However, to many the New Conglomerate are something else entirely: Heroes. Freedom Fighters. Protectors.

The New Conglomerate value freedom above all else and see anything that encroaches upon freedom as an affront to their fundamental rights. Originally founded by some of the most powerful corporations on Earth as a political entity working against some of the restrictive policies of the Terran Republic the New Conglomerate’s “spirit of opposition” has only increased in the intervening centuries. Now an empire in their own right they are in total open war with both the Terran Republic and the Vanu Sovereignty, seeking to free humanity from the tyrannical grip of the former, and defend them from the fanatical alien influence of the later.

Since the start of hostilities, the unpredictable and ruthless tactics employed by the insurgent N.C. have allowed them to gain significant ground against the seemingly overwhelming T.R. military. Their methodology is to achieve victory by any means necessary and they are not afraid to use experimental weaponry, guerilla tactics or unconventional warfare if the need arises.

While they’re not blessed with the infinite resources of the Terran Republic, the N.C. have managed to build up enormous reserves of weapons, armor and vehicles which they keep well maintained. Their equipment might not be the prettiest on the battlefield, but the N.C. philosophy is that as long as it shoots straight or can take a pounding that’s what really counts. This gives them access to an incredibly diverse range of weapons and gadgets to help get the job done.

From a gameplay perspective, the Blue and Gold are built around hitting first, hitting hardest and taking a beating. Although their weapons might not have the most finesse (often having strong kick, long reload times, and slower firing rates) they do pack a hell of a punch. The empire specific vehicles, the Reaver attack fighter and Vanguard medium battle tank pack on more armaments and armor as well as abilities that allow them to stay in battle longer than the other empires equivalents. While the N.C. vehicles excel in durability and sheer firepower, their trade off is in mobility and speed.

Check back over the next couple weeks as we release new info about the New Conglomerate, their weapons, vehicles and more. As always, we’ll be answering your N.C. questions on Facebook and Twitter, so log on and hit us up, we can’t wait to hear from you!

Freedom from Tyranny!

And, as a personal note, I’d just like to say: NC 4 LIFE!!

-

Matthew Higby (@mhigby)

Creative Director – Planetside 2 (@Planetside2)

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11/11/massively-exclusive-planetside-2s-new-conglomerate-qanda/

Massively: As an introduction for new players, what's the philosophy behind the New Conglomerate?

Matt Higby: The New Conglomerate are an insurgent guerrilla force fighting against pretty stacked odds: an enormous military machine in the TR on one side and the vast technological superiority of the VS on the other. This forces the New Conglomerate to be adaptive, use creative tactics and take advantage of every possible opportunity they can to accomplish their goals. Their weapons run the gamut from conventional to experimental, and they're not willing to say no to anything that might give them an edge.

Has the NC changed from what we've seen in the original PlanetSide?

From a story perspective, the NC are probably the faction that's remained the most unchanged, although we're fleshing a lot of their motivations out in our weekly backstory releases. NC gameplay still revolves around quick strikes, burst damage and durability.

What type of player do you imagine being attracted to the NC as a faction?

Shooter players who really excel at fast twitch based gameplay will get a lot out of their bursty weapons. But anyone who wants a little bit more rough-and-tumble vibe to his gameplay will love the NC; their position as the "rebel/freedom fighter" is a lot of fun.

Do you see enough of a distinction among all factions to keep a balance of player-types? Or is this a concern?

Within each faction there are roles for any kind of shooter player, so it comes down to a stylistic difference at the end of the day -- which weapons do you like the feel of the most.

Do the NC have any unique tech available to them? Unique skills?

Each of the faction has a full range of completely unique weapons with their own feel and two unique vehicles. For the NC, the vehicles are the Vanguard medium tank, the most beastly of the tanks in the game, and the Reaver, a heavily armed and armored fighter jet, which makes up for its lack of mobility with sheer firepower.

Are there any cross-faction chat restrictions?

We're still working out details on that. We'd like to allow smacktalk.

Is character customization different for each faction? Will the NC have options specific to them?

Each faction will have piles of exclusive customization options to earn and unlock in the game for its armor, vehicles and weapons.

Thank you for talking with us!

On the Class System
The skill tree and classes go hand in hand, you can switch between roles as often as you want depending what is needed at the time. Things like weapon attachments will be based on the skill tree. Also you will be able to queue up 24 hours of skills to train so you can train your characters offline. However there will still be battle rank involved which will prevent you from training all skills unless you advance in battle rank. Skill training will also occur quicker when you are online.

On Resource Collection
On a continent you will have multiple regions that can be captured that have specific resources tied to them. Some areas may be more rich in rare resources some in common materials. Auraxium will be one of the rare resources that can be obtained. You will be able to unlock secondary weapons such as mortar cannons and AA guns on tanks. You will do this based on resources collected by your empire or outfit. Resources will make gameplay more strategic, for example denying resources to empires to gain an advantage.

On Outfit Customization
Outfits will have skill trees also that will be customizable. Outfits can spec specifically to increase certain aspects such as focusing on being an air cavalry outfit, or infiltry and max outfits.

On long term plans.
There will be a three year plan for PlanetSide 2 for all of the players to review and and provide feedback. Based on feedback the plan could be changed or moved around.

On Game Focus
It's about giving back to the players, SOE wants to make PlanetSide 2 for the players who have stuck to the game for years, and the hardcore players who participate day in and day out.

On the scale of gameplay
There will be multiple continents in the game just as with the original PlanetSide. Down the road there will even be multiple worlds.

On gameplay systems
There will be an extensive mission system in PlanetSide 2 to assist in coordinating PlanetSide 2 combat on a much larger scale than seen in PlanetSide 1.

On the Territorial Control Systems
Due to the structure of the systems there will be a large variety of heavily contested areas such as large forests. Large and open areas could be conquered entirely with vehicles, this goes for air and ground vehicles. Much of the territorial control system will be based similarly on bases where if you capture a base or structure you own the territory. There will be bonuses to capturing territories that are connected. It will also add more vertical gameplay to the game.

On the pace of Gameplay
Moment to moment pacing for PlanetSide 2 is much faster than PlanetSIde 1.

On external access to data
Most data will be accessible from outside so webapps can b built on top of the game. Services such as signature generators and statistic pages could be built around the data feeds.

On urban combat.
There will be "Urban Like" combat in PlanetSide 2.

On the Flight Model
They want skill based vehicle driving to play a much larger role in PlanetSide 2. There will be much more advanced flight mechanics with barrel roles and flips. Real skill will be required to fly vehicles so quality pilots will be in demand.

Community Q&A

Below are some of your questions direct from the Ask the Dev's question submission! Questions below were answered by Matt Higby, Creative Director for PlanetSide 2.

Part 2

When is beta?
Beta will ready when we feel the game is ready for people to play and test in. There is no solid date at this time.

What are you most excited about in Planetside 2?
I am most excited about the world system and the territorial control system, for example being able to capture a ridge or a river bend. Also the engine is capable of things volumetric clouds where vehicles could fly in and hide in the clouds.

Can you tell us if 3rd person will play a role in PlanetSide 2?
There will only be a 3rd person view for certain air vehicles, infantry will not have a third person view at all. There may be things like cameras that an infiltrator can throw on a wall to monitor who is coming up the stairs or around a corner.

Can we expect more varied base layouts?
Currently we are coming up with a way on how interiors are going to work, we are working on predictability vs randomness and we are leaning towards more standard base layouts rather than random. But this time around combat will be less centralized on bases. There will not be specific purpose built facilities such as drop ship etc (ie you won't require a dropship center to build dropships)

Are there any plans for a larger variety in towers?
Right now there are two types of towers and we hope to have more variety in towers.

Are there any plans for more in-depth character creation, like what was done from EQ to EQ2?
There will not be a large variety of character creation due to the large scale of the game.

Game Appearance - How will weapon-customization be implemented into the game?
There will be weapon customization in the game. The customization will be very sensitive to player gaining to much power. An upgrade may allow you to unlock different variants that are less accurate but do more damage. There will be a 15% to 20% maximum difference between players who are new compared to experienced.

Will base names remain similar in PlanetSide 2?
Hope to use similar base names as well as continents, there was a new continent featured in the teaser trailer and we are currently working on Searhus.

Will wreckage remain on the battlefield?
Wreckage will stay around on the battlefield for a period of time, hopefully minutes but it is still up for balance.

Are you currently planning to make an expansion pack or periodically add content?
There will be large scale content releases rather than expansion packs in PlanetSide 2.

What are your plans for the storyline? Will it be expanded upon?
The PlanetSide 2 story is the re-imaging of PlanetSide, you are still in Auraxis and allot of the story from PlanetSide will be re-examined in PlanetSide 2

Part 3

Will there be more of a detailed hitbox in PlanetSide 2? For example will we see Headshots this time around?
There will be headshots in the game as well as locational damage on Vehicles.

Can the terrain be altered (destructable terrain)?
At this stage of development this is still up in the air.

Do we still have a sanctuary? Or is it replaced with something else?
The sanctuaries and shuttle system do not exist in PlanetSide 2 since they slow down the gameplay. You will be able to spawn directly on squad mates based on skills, squad spawning can only happen outside since squad spawning actually drops a capsule from the sky. Additionally you will be able to spawn in Galaxies.

What changes will we see in the command system in Planetside 2?
There will be squad level command systems that allow tagging of targets as well as outfit based command. There will also be orbital strikes in the game, all of these abilities will be based on the skill system in the game.

What kind of new features can we expect for Outfits?
Later on down the road (likley not at release) we hope to provide a skin system to allow outfits to customize their armors so the will be more recognizable on the battlefield. This type of system would be approved by the PlanetSide Team to cut down on inappropriate submissions.

Will there be a merit system?
Yes we hope to have a merit system in PlanetSide 2

I want to punch them all in the face.

Very sweet

Would it be possible to hook up with you guys again in Planetside 2 when that puppy goes live?

Please do, with our new Faction State system, you can joing a specific game and formal KGB membership is optional.

Ship jumpers need not apply.