Forums » Suggestions
Hive skirmish suggestions
Increase the death rate during 'simulated' skirmishes. Once a skirmish sector times out it takes a lot longer to finish than while the sector is active. Missions disappear from the mission board when they are about to end. So central or critical missions are often not visible for very long times (up to hours). Alternatively only increase the death rate while a mission is unposted.. so that they stay on the board most of the time.
Some indicator that all critical skirmishes are gone. In grey space it's really hard to tell for sure and the above issue makes it worse. I'd suggest to spawn a special type of bot in the stronghold while the critcals are down.. like furies or a fancy helman. Alternatively the fact could be mentioned in the mission description.. but that's not as subtle. :P
Turn down the respawn rate for hive bots in the central skirmishes. Botting there doesn't seem to make much of a dent in the bot count. Would be nice if it was actually possible to suppress the bots with enough people.
Keep a few small skirmishes around while the levi is dead. Cause right now killing it cuts a lot of people off from their grinding grounds.
Some indicator that all critical skirmishes are gone. In grey space it's really hard to tell for sure and the above issue makes it worse. I'd suggest to spawn a special type of bot in the stronghold while the critcals are down.. like furies or a fancy helman. Alternatively the fact could be mentioned in the mission description.. but that's not as subtle. :P
Turn down the respawn rate for hive bots in the central skirmishes. Botting there doesn't seem to make much of a dent in the bot count. Would be nice if it was actually possible to suppress the bots with enough people.
Keep a few small skirmishes around while the levi is dead. Cause right now killing it cuts a lot of people off from their grinding grounds.
I have been looking at the HS situation lately myself due to all the Levi hunting going on. With all the Levis dead it ruins HS for several hours.
I was also looking at the static hives as well such as queens in Dau and so on.
Proposed Distribution/setup:
Main Capitol Sytems:
Static Hive with Collectors and a few overseers but no Queens
Overseers respond to attacks after a few minutes delay for travel...
Non Capitol Systems:
Semi-Dynamic Hive with Medium Level hive bots and Static Queens with a 15 -20 minute spawn rate per system except Capitols
(AI same as full Dynamic but no Levi and faster respawn)
Full Dynamic:
No change
Also the Larger HS missions tend to finish way too fast - Reducing the number of non-grouped npcs when players take a mission would help.
I was also looking at the static hives as well such as queens in Dau and so on.
Proposed Distribution/setup:
Main Capitol Sytems:
Static Hive with Collectors and a few overseers but no Queens
Overseers respond to attacks after a few minutes delay for travel...
Non Capitol Systems:
Semi-Dynamic Hive with Medium Level hive bots and Static Queens with a 15 -20 minute spawn rate per system except Capitols
(AI same as full Dynamic but no Levi and faster respawn)
Full Dynamic:
No change
Also the Larger HS missions tend to finish way too fast - Reducing the number of non-grouped npcs when players take a mission would help.
PaKettle makes several good points.
The removal of queens in capitol systems is especially important. Any hive presence at all in capitol systems is realistically unlikely, but can be justified because noobs need something to practice against. I would argue that the hive in capital systems now should remain exactly the same except for the removal of the queens (and their escorts). Instead of warping to the queen's sector, collector bots can either try to deliver their ore to a queen in an adjacent system, or simply warp to nowhere.
Now that the queen escort AI is fixed, I have no qualms with the queens' respawn rate in non-capitol static systems from a gameplay perspective, but killing them would seem more worthwhile if they took longer to respawn. There should be a "Find and kill the queen" mission offered in each system. The mission should explain that the pilot needs to find collector bots and follow them to the queen, and then give a reward (100k or so, plus some combat exp) for killing her. This would allow the static queen-toppling system to remain essentially unchanged, but it would make it feel less like grinding, especially to newbies.
Killing the queen (with the mission or otherwise) should also cause the assault and guardian bots to either disappear or become less aggressive during the time that the queen is dead, which would give miners a way to mine high-value asteroids in bot-infested sectors.
The removal of queens in capitol systems is especially important. Any hive presence at all in capitol systems is realistically unlikely, but can be justified because noobs need something to practice against. I would argue that the hive in capital systems now should remain exactly the same except for the removal of the queens (and their escorts). Instead of warping to the queen's sector, collector bots can either try to deliver their ore to a queen in an adjacent system, or simply warp to nowhere.
Now that the queen escort AI is fixed, I have no qualms with the queens' respawn rate in non-capitol static systems from a gameplay perspective, but killing them would seem more worthwhile if they took longer to respawn. There should be a "Find and kill the queen" mission offered in each system. The mission should explain that the pilot needs to find collector bots and follow them to the queen, and then give a reward (100k or so, plus some combat exp) for killing her. This would allow the static queen-toppling system to remain essentially unchanged, but it would make it feel less like grinding, especially to newbies.
Killing the queen (with the mission or otherwise) should also cause the assault and guardian bots to either disappear or become less aggressive during the time that the queen is dead, which would give miners a way to mine high-value asteroids in bot-infested sectors.
What is the objection to having static queens in capitol systems exactly? I know they are a favored spot to go queen hunting, which I assume is because there are no storms there. Personally, I enjoy static queening in capitol systems because of the high likelihood of encountering newbs to invite to the hunt.
I don't like the idea of having a spawn rate for static queens. Hunting static queens used to be one of my favorite activities (not so much now with them being broken and all), but the worst (and most boring) part of the hunt is waiting for the collectors in order to follow them back to the queen. I'd hate for the wait time between queens to be longer than it already is.
I'd propose implementing PaKettle's semi-dynamic hive ideas in grey space only. Since there aren't any collectors in grey anyway, the only way to find static queens there is to explore each and every sector. This would at least add a better means to find them.
I don't like the idea of having a spawn rate for static queens. Hunting static queens used to be one of my favorite activities (not so much now with them being broken and all), but the worst (and most boring) part of the hunt is waiting for the collectors in order to follow them back to the queen. I'd hate for the wait time between queens to be longer than it already is.
I'd propose implementing PaKettle's semi-dynamic hive ideas in grey space only. Since there aren't any collectors in grey anyway, the only way to find static queens there is to explore each and every sector. This would at least add a better means to find them.
What is the objection to having static queens in capitol systems exactly?
a) it doesn't make any sense for the hive to have a strong presence in capitol systems
b) we need to encourage people to get the hell out of nationspace, especially capitols, and interact.
a) it doesn't make any sense for the hive to have a strong presence in capitol systems
b) we need to encourage people to get the hell out of nationspace, especially capitols, and interact.
And you can still hunt the queens almost continuosly simply by jumping from system to system...
But PaKettle, that would require people to FLY SPACESHIPS! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to undock and plot courses through multiple sectors?