Forums » Suggestions
CTF, why does it matter?
Right now CTC leaves me with a lot to be desired. Compared to the CTF of old, CTC lacks a very solid sense of victory/loss. Not only that, but the very fact that it spawns in a neutral area makes it modestly off the beaten path.
CTF USED to be incredibly fun and gratifying. Those main reasons were the solid teamwork necessary for it to be accomplished, the often constant conflicts along the returning path as well as the rather glorious sight to behold as a flag traveled back and forth between a warphole as lasers, mines and rockets were blasted without hesitance. BP does not give these same affects as it does not start and end at a given moment, nor does it have a resounding conflict across a much of the universe and it leaves UIT to choose sides.
This new universe has introduced some major conflicts to this closer to ideal universe. First the old CTF maintained a stronger distinction between friend and foe, as NT, Serco and Itani each had their respective flags. Second the universe was not filled with instantaneous warps which allow for easy travel and a chance to hide in a remote sector. Third, the monetary reward was substantial while the costs were hefty and frequent.
Now, this universe does offer solutions to make this new CTC just as fun. First mass offers a highly similar slowdown roughly equivalent to the loss of turbo. I believe sector warping should also be hindered for the cargo holder, however that is just a possibility. The other factor is that money is too easily gained in this game and there lacks any major 'sinks'. Raising ship prices and rewards from CTC would increase competition and gains and losses, possibly spurring trade and mining as well.
The final major issue is that UIT is left without an equal position. In neither BP or CTC do they hold a specific alignment. While this does comply with the storyline, there is no reason why that can not be amended with a current event ;). I don't have any better solution to that problem really. With the universe laid out as it is, UIT could still be a differing factor with a greater population at the current time, in addition to proximity to both other nations.
As for distributing the reward, I believe that was handled rather well when only one player received the sum and was left to redistribute it among comrades. For it does leave one to clearly discover their friends and foes and adds a nice fuzzy feeling after a solid round of teamwork.
Other potential reasons to spur efforts in CTC:
• Alterations in a nation's prices
• Products available at more/fewer of a nation's stations.
• Taxes?
• A better application of Samoflange :P
• Lowering trade and mining profitability
CTF USED to be incredibly fun and gratifying. Those main reasons were the solid teamwork necessary for it to be accomplished, the often constant conflicts along the returning path as well as the rather glorious sight to behold as a flag traveled back and forth between a warphole as lasers, mines and rockets were blasted without hesitance. BP does not give these same affects as it does not start and end at a given moment, nor does it have a resounding conflict across a much of the universe and it leaves UIT to choose sides.
This new universe has introduced some major conflicts to this closer to ideal universe. First the old CTF maintained a stronger distinction between friend and foe, as NT, Serco and Itani each had their respective flags. Second the universe was not filled with instantaneous warps which allow for easy travel and a chance to hide in a remote sector. Third, the monetary reward was substantial while the costs were hefty and frequent.
Now, this universe does offer solutions to make this new CTC just as fun. First mass offers a highly similar slowdown roughly equivalent to the loss of turbo. I believe sector warping should also be hindered for the cargo holder, however that is just a possibility. The other factor is that money is too easily gained in this game and there lacks any major 'sinks'. Raising ship prices and rewards from CTC would increase competition and gains and losses, possibly spurring trade and mining as well.
The final major issue is that UIT is left without an equal position. In neither BP or CTC do they hold a specific alignment. While this does comply with the storyline, there is no reason why that can not be amended with a current event ;). I don't have any better solution to that problem really. With the universe laid out as it is, UIT could still be a differing factor with a greater population at the current time, in addition to proximity to both other nations.
As for distributing the reward, I believe that was handled rather well when only one player received the sum and was left to redistribute it among comrades. For it does leave one to clearly discover their friends and foes and adds a nice fuzzy feeling after a solid round of teamwork.
Other potential reasons to spur efforts in CTC:
• Alterations in a nation's prices
• Products available at more/fewer of a nation's stations.
• Taxes?
• A better application of Samoflange :P
• Lowering trade and mining profitability
The big thing that keeps getting suggested, and that I think would help a lot, is to slow down the CtC transports, and beef up their armor. As it is now, it's essentially impossible to really DEFEND the transport, if someone is attacking, the transport is going to die more than 9 times out of 10. It's just a race to see who can grab the cargo first. See these threads, all asking for the transports to be slowed down & get more armor:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/11063
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/9571
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8496
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8339
For making winning CtC feel like a real victory, the things you list at the end of your post would be very nice, but might take some time to do. Something that would (maybe) be easier, would be to make the Neutron Blaster Mk3 better than it is now (it's pretty mediocre right now), and limit it so that players can't just stockpile thousands of them, either by deleting all N3s at the beginning of the week, or only letting players purchase a certain number each time they win.
Regarding UIT being "left without an equal position", I rather disagree with that. UIT are not engaged in the war, they are neutral. They can choose to help one side or the other, but as their own nation is neutral, they should not have their own, seperate victory condition. Already UIT players who deliver Purified Xithricite are payed more than Itani or Serco players are, but I could see that being increased even further, so that UIT could make a significant profit selling Purified Xithricite.
[edit]
Also, Serco need a station in Ukari A-10. Or the Itani station in Edras I-2 could be removed, but I'd rather see a new Serco station in Ukari A-10.
[/edit]
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/11063
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/9571
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8496
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8339
For making winning CtC feel like a real victory, the things you list at the end of your post would be very nice, but might take some time to do. Something that would (maybe) be easier, would be to make the Neutron Blaster Mk3 better than it is now (it's pretty mediocre right now), and limit it so that players can't just stockpile thousands of them, either by deleting all N3s at the beginning of the week, or only letting players purchase a certain number each time they win.
Regarding UIT being "left without an equal position", I rather disagree with that. UIT are not engaged in the war, they are neutral. They can choose to help one side or the other, but as their own nation is neutral, they should not have their own, seperate victory condition. Already UIT players who deliver Purified Xithricite are payed more than Itani or Serco players are, but I could see that being increased even further, so that UIT could make a significant profit selling Purified Xithricite.
[edit]
Also, Serco need a station in Ukari A-10. Or the Itani station in Edras I-2 could be removed, but I'd rather see a new Serco station in Ukari A-10.
[/edit]
First mass offers a highly similar slowdown roughly equivalent to the loss of turbo
Not necessarily true. Mass gives you more momentum.. or inertia... picking up a load of Xith at 200 m/s you will continue on at 200 m/s, and slow down a lot more gradually in fact.
I keep on saying this, but turbo should be disabled on all ships carrying purified Xith!
Not necessarily true. Mass gives you more momentum.. or inertia... picking up a load of Xith at 200 m/s you will continue on at 200 m/s, and slow down a lot more gradually in fact.
I keep on saying this, but turbo should be disabled on all ships carrying purified Xith!
eh, no need to disable turbo... but if someone is traveling and picks up cargo, its an inelastic collision, so their velocity SHOULD change.
so the new velocity should be (m/(m+M))v
where v is the old velocity, m is the mass of cargo, and M is the mass of the ship
so the new velocity should be (m/(m+M))v
where v is the old velocity, m is the mass of cargo, and M is the mass of the ship
The first change, to solve the issue of defendability...
I really believe the cargo be contained within the respective nation's capitals.
I came up with one potential scenario. Each major capital contains a major resource filled asteroid with respective mining station attached to it. A large mining bot, containing 50-100 units of cargo, shuttles back and forth from a crater to the station's dock. Other mining stations retrieve the same material in groups of 1-2 or 5-10 depending upon proximity to the capital.
The situation is loosely based as a mission, each nation's asteroids provide a unique resource which is even more valuable to the other nations. The mission gives a quota of 50 units, thus the mission can be completed up to two times in one go using a Behemoth.
Using a team assembled of fighters and freighters, their goal is to capture all 50-100 units and possibly some extra from outlying stations. Of course, nation defenses provide a natural defense (The faction system hinders this at the current time, but I am assuming that each nation shall appear Kill on Sight to the others).
A few Behemoths, Centurions, Valkyries, Prometheuses and Warthogs are lost in the struggle, but the cargo is successfully brought back to their capital, yielding 5,000,000 credits which the capturer distributes among the team. However, the ships come at a hefty price:
3 Centurions - 75,000c each
2 Behemoths - 300,000c each
2 Valkyries - 100,000c each
1 Prometheus - 100,000c
1 Warthog - 70,000c
-------
Total - 1,195,000c
Excluding ammo, that leaves a profit of 3,805,000c distributed among 20 team members, 190,250c for each one.
Losses on the opposing side amount similarly with roughly 2,000,000 in damages and of course 5,000,000 in cargo lost.
In this mock up of a higher stakes CTC, the losses are massive, but so are the rewards. Though I have taken little thought into the numbers right now, they can be altered as needed. The real issue is the difficulty and fun factor.
Infinite boost and quick sector jumping lessen the fun and challenge of this game however. I intend that an non-infinite turbo Behemoth gathers the highly massive ball of cargo, thus stuck traveling in the range of 50-100 m/s or so. As far as AI goes, requiring 2-4 players to distract the bots would be a fair requirement, possibly scaling depending on the number of people within the enemy nation.
The reason why UIT needs a side in the war is because it introduces a major difficulty in discerning friend and foe. The faction system is fine for non player interaction, but it is fun for neither UIT nor other nations when a player's alignment is always under question. UIT players are often engaged in the war; I see little reason for the overall nation to be considered at peace.
I don't think a weapon should be the prize of something such as CTC, the reason is because giving a superior weapon to the victor can then give a solid advantage to the current victor. Instead if the rewards were taxed, possibly 5% tax per victory and 5% tax reduction per loss to prevent one nation from becoming too wealthy and also applying a supply & demand scenario.
In addition a sucessful retrieval of the cargo (perhaps only if taken outside the nation to prevent exploitation) could amount to 50% of the potential yield.
I really believe the cargo be contained within the respective nation's capitals.
I came up with one potential scenario. Each major capital contains a major resource filled asteroid with respective mining station attached to it. A large mining bot, containing 50-100 units of cargo, shuttles back and forth from a crater to the station's dock. Other mining stations retrieve the same material in groups of 1-2 or 5-10 depending upon proximity to the capital.
The situation is loosely based as a mission, each nation's asteroids provide a unique resource which is even more valuable to the other nations. The mission gives a quota of 50 units, thus the mission can be completed up to two times in one go using a Behemoth.
Using a team assembled of fighters and freighters, their goal is to capture all 50-100 units and possibly some extra from outlying stations. Of course, nation defenses provide a natural defense (The faction system hinders this at the current time, but I am assuming that each nation shall appear Kill on Sight to the others).
A few Behemoths, Centurions, Valkyries, Prometheuses and Warthogs are lost in the struggle, but the cargo is successfully brought back to their capital, yielding 5,000,000 credits which the capturer distributes among the team. However, the ships come at a hefty price:
3 Centurions - 75,000c each
2 Behemoths - 300,000c each
2 Valkyries - 100,000c each
1 Prometheus - 100,000c
1 Warthog - 70,000c
-------
Total - 1,195,000c
Excluding ammo, that leaves a profit of 3,805,000c distributed among 20 team members, 190,250c for each one.
Losses on the opposing side amount similarly with roughly 2,000,000 in damages and of course 5,000,000 in cargo lost.
In this mock up of a higher stakes CTC, the losses are massive, but so are the rewards. Though I have taken little thought into the numbers right now, they can be altered as needed. The real issue is the difficulty and fun factor.
Infinite boost and quick sector jumping lessen the fun and challenge of this game however. I intend that an non-infinite turbo Behemoth gathers the highly massive ball of cargo, thus stuck traveling in the range of 50-100 m/s or so. As far as AI goes, requiring 2-4 players to distract the bots would be a fair requirement, possibly scaling depending on the number of people within the enemy nation.
The reason why UIT needs a side in the war is because it introduces a major difficulty in discerning friend and foe. The faction system is fine for non player interaction, but it is fun for neither UIT nor other nations when a player's alignment is always under question. UIT players are often engaged in the war; I see little reason for the overall nation to be considered at peace.
I don't think a weapon should be the prize of something such as CTC, the reason is because giving a superior weapon to the victor can then give a solid advantage to the current victor. Instead if the rewards were taxed, possibly 5% tax per victory and 5% tax reduction per loss to prevent one nation from becoming too wealthy and also applying a supply & demand scenario.
In addition a sucessful retrieval of the cargo (perhaps only if taken outside the nation to prevent exploitation) could amount to 50% of the potential yield.
How about taking something similar to the old flag from your nation space to a special station in grey space that allows your nation to capture that sector. CtS as you would, then the goal would be to eliminate enemy flag carriers and keep this so called sector that would of course carry some special reason to have it. It can be a flag like the old days because you would be "Planting your flag" on the station. and this station should not be homeable btw, that would be unfair and make defending way to easy.
* No turbo for carrier
* Flag would be in border systems on nation space because the long haul from dau, sol II and especially Itan would kill any bit of fun that this could be
* Capture station not homeable
* Some special feature for keeping this sector that you CAN NOT stockpile
* No SF's or NFZ's in the capture sector
* No turbo for carrier
* Flag would be in border systems on nation space because the long haul from dau, sol II and especially Itan would kill any bit of fun that this could be
* Capture station not homeable
* Some special feature for keeping this sector that you CAN NOT stockpile
* No SF's or NFZ's in the capture sector
Why do you need a mini-game to capture a system/sector. Simply being there in force and killing or forcing a retreat is enough to hold a location. We simply need more players on all sides to make it more fun.
Strike forces ruin all that fun that's why