Forums » Suggestions
A few CtC improvements
I've been playing CtC for 8 hours a day all week. It's ranged from fun (epic chase all the way to the target sector) to boring (kill an unprotected convoy and deliver its cargo) to irritating (your convoy gets attacked, nobody tries to deliver as they're stockpiling the cargo in a bot). There are some pretty major issues with it that keep it from being consistently fun.
Problem: There are 24 convoys in a day. Attacking/defending all of them is basically a full-time job; on average you get about 20 minutes of spare time between convoys, and since it takes nearly five minutes to get from one launch point to the other (let alone from nationspace to a launch point), you must be homed in the area or stay in the area if you want to catch a convoy. As a result, even many "active" CtC players will only attack/defend two or three convoys per day before returning to normal play, and they won't all pick the same ones to attack/defend. Being online for a specific convoy requires a time committment of a bit more than an hour, since that convoy can launch at any time within the hour and can take up to another half hour to deal with. Relatedly, with many small convoys, it's possible for one sufficiently dedicated and crazy player to singlehandedly win CtC for one side by attacking every convoy.
Suggestion: Instead of 24 convoys per day launching at semirandom times carrying small amounts of cargo, launch 4-6 convoys per day at the same times (on both sides) carrying much more cargo. At more-peak times, some cargo should be carried on Tridents; the peakest peak convoy on Saturday should contain a Constellation. The total amount of cargo should be much larger; far larger than a single pilot could hope to capture on their own. This means that coordination and teamwork are required to capture any cargo, and capturing the entire convoy would be a major accomplishment. There's lots of headroom for groups both big and small to make a difference. To compensate for the additional difficulty of attacking a bigger convoy, the launch stations could be reversed, so the Itani convoy launches from Sedina L-2 and the Serco convoy from Bractus C-5.
Problem: Players can capture cargo, warp to an empty sector, and then wait--many hours if necessary--for the defenders to lose interest. Sometimes, a "bot" player who does nothing but sit in an empty sector with an XC (far outside the normal visibility range) accumulates a huge amount of cargo to be delivered off-peak. This was enough of a problem when the sector needed to be located by a labor-intensive exhaustive search; it's far worse now that such a search can be easily defeated.
Suggestion: Make purified xith slowly damage the carrying ship, something like 1 damage / second / unit. An undamaged Atlas X holding 30 units would then explode after about 5 minutes. The effect could be turned off when within radar range of a wormhole (the wormhole "stabilizes the xith"), and death could be prevented when within radar range of the delivery station (to prevent horrible anticlimaxes).
Problem: Transports are much too fast when they're in an unloaded sector.
Suggestion: Load sectors transports move through.
As usual, though I have no illusions as to the likelihood of being accepted, I volunteer my services in this matter.
(P.S. Still waiting for the source so I can finish the OpenGL 2.0 driver.)
Problem: There are 24 convoys in a day. Attacking/defending all of them is basically a full-time job; on average you get about 20 minutes of spare time between convoys, and since it takes nearly five minutes to get from one launch point to the other (let alone from nationspace to a launch point), you must be homed in the area or stay in the area if you want to catch a convoy. As a result, even many "active" CtC players will only attack/defend two or three convoys per day before returning to normal play, and they won't all pick the same ones to attack/defend. Being online for a specific convoy requires a time committment of a bit more than an hour, since that convoy can launch at any time within the hour and can take up to another half hour to deal with. Relatedly, with many small convoys, it's possible for one sufficiently dedicated and crazy player to singlehandedly win CtC for one side by attacking every convoy.
Suggestion: Instead of 24 convoys per day launching at semirandom times carrying small amounts of cargo, launch 4-6 convoys per day at the same times (on both sides) carrying much more cargo. At more-peak times, some cargo should be carried on Tridents; the peakest peak convoy on Saturday should contain a Constellation. The total amount of cargo should be much larger; far larger than a single pilot could hope to capture on their own. This means that coordination and teamwork are required to capture any cargo, and capturing the entire convoy would be a major accomplishment. There's lots of headroom for groups both big and small to make a difference. To compensate for the additional difficulty of attacking a bigger convoy, the launch stations could be reversed, so the Itani convoy launches from Sedina L-2 and the Serco convoy from Bractus C-5.
Problem: Players can capture cargo, warp to an empty sector, and then wait--many hours if necessary--for the defenders to lose interest. Sometimes, a "bot" player who does nothing but sit in an empty sector with an XC (far outside the normal visibility range) accumulates a huge amount of cargo to be delivered off-peak. This was enough of a problem when the sector needed to be located by a labor-intensive exhaustive search; it's far worse now that such a search can be easily defeated.
Suggestion: Make purified xith slowly damage the carrying ship, something like 1 damage / second / unit. An undamaged Atlas X holding 30 units would then explode after about 5 minutes. The effect could be turned off when within radar range of a wormhole (the wormhole "stabilizes the xith"), and death could be prevented when within radar range of the delivery station (to prevent horrible anticlimaxes).
Problem: Transports are much too fast when they're in an unloaded sector.
Suggestion: Load sectors transports move through.
As usual, though I have no illusions as to the likelihood of being accepted, I volunteer my services in this matter.
(P.S. Still waiting for the source so I can finish the OpenGL 2.0 driver.)
Solra, I am glad you finally started CtC after building a cappy, but the real problem is that there's no motivation to do CtC (for both sides of the conflict)
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If it's made fun enough, it can be its own motivation.
If you swap the convoy start locations and they launch at the same time, wouldn't the convoys shoot each other when they cross paths? Maybe the launches should be staggered? That would also allow a player to alternate between defending their own convoy and attacking the enemy convoy.
I don't like the purified xith causing damage (or at least the rate of damage you are proposing seems a bit high). What if the player hits a storm or two? 5 minutes doesn't seem like very long...
A better solution would be to have the purified xith become regular xith if it isn't delivered by the time the next convoy launches. With the change to 4-6 convoys per day that should be plenty of time to make the delivery.
I don't like the purified xith causing damage (or at least the rate of damage you are proposing seems a bit high). What if the player hits a storm or two? 5 minutes doesn't seem like very long...
A better solution would be to have the purified xith become regular xith if it isn't delivered by the time the next convoy launches. With the change to 4-6 convoys per day that should be plenty of time to make the delivery.
I don't see the randomized convoy times as a problem. It means your team has to assemble quickly and be organized.
Good idea with starting up the sectors that the transports fly through though. That might make the blockades more effective.
Making purified xith damage the ship carrying it is RETARDED. It sometimes takes longer than 5 minutes just to make it back with the xith if you have to dodge people chasing you. It's already very heavy and effectively the only "contraband" that VO has... You can't dock anywhere with it.
"Hey, I'm winning so hard this week that it's not even funny but... uhh... NERF THEM PLZ!" Really dude?
Good idea with starting up the sectors that the transports fly through though. That might make the blockades more effective.
Making purified xith damage the ship carrying it is RETARDED. It sometimes takes longer than 5 minutes just to make it back with the xith if you have to dodge people chasing you. It's already very heavy and effectively the only "contraband" that VO has... You can't dock anywhere with it.
"Hey, I'm winning so hard this week that it's not even funny but... uhh... NERF THEM PLZ!" Really dude?
> A better solution would be to have the purified xith become regular xith if it isn't delivered by the time the next convoy launches. With the change to 4-6 convoys per day that should be plenty of time to make the delivery.
This works better.
> "Hey, I'm winning so hard this week that it's not even funny but... uhh... NERF THEM PLZ!" Really dude?
Do you know the difference between winning and having fun?
This works better.
> "Hey, I'm winning so hard this week that it's not even funny but... uhh... NERF THEM PLZ!" Really dude?
Do you know the difference between winning and having fun?
Yes I do know the difference. I went afk for an hour to handle some important things for work and when I come back there's a huge rage fest on ch100 about CtC. What gives?
If you check your timestamps, you'll find that this post was made some time before the "rage fest." In any event, the "rage fest" is irrelevant to this topic.
Sure, on with the topic...
Anyways, I don't think changing it from 4-6 convoys per day is a good idea. that would give a 4-6 hour delays between convoys and makes CtC inaccessible to players who don't have a lot of hours to burn on VO. There's plenty of times I've logged on, done a trade route, and hit one of the CtC voys in an hour then had to log off because real life trumps all.
The irregularity of it is part of what makes it fun. If they were timed the same every day, it would make it way too easy to always be there to camp the convoy as soon as it undocks and kill it every time. The way it is now, you have 5 minutes to scramble together a strike team to head off the convoy, kill it and any players defending and make off with the xith before they respawn and come back for it. It's fast-paced and exciting.
Anyways, I don't think changing it from 4-6 convoys per day is a good idea. that would give a 4-6 hour delays between convoys and makes CtC inaccessible to players who don't have a lot of hours to burn on VO. There's plenty of times I've logged on, done a trade route, and hit one of the CtC voys in an hour then had to log off because real life trumps all.
The irregularity of it is part of what makes it fun. If they were timed the same every day, it would make it way too easy to always be there to camp the convoy as soon as it undocks and kill it every time. The way it is now, you have 5 minutes to scramble together a strike team to head off the convoy, kill it and any players defending and make off with the xith before they respawn and come back for it. It's fast-paced and exciting.
ну цщтэе пуе фцфн акщь зшкфыеуы!
If the convoy is always at (roughly) the same times every day, someone who has virtually no time to burn on VO can still play CtC by choosing to burn it at the time a convoy launches. That way, many more of the people who go in for just one go will do so at the same time. More players at the same time = more fun.
I thought the stuff timed out even in a ships hold? I had 200cu stockpiled on an alt so I could sell it to some one the next day but when I logged in... it wasn't in my hold.
Purified Xithricite Ore is jettisoned into space if you logoff.
My votes goes to
* Make CtC voys a regular events, scheduled and regular. Even makes possible to hardcore players login, run a voy and log off.
-Make fewer convoys per day. From every hour to every 3 hours. 24 -> 8 voys/day. Weekends can offer more voys, as 12/day. Or less.
-Add a capship to convoy to enforce it to be slower. Ensure convoy keeps grouped, and sectors are activated prior convoys entering it. RP-wise, it is a reaction to increase convoy protection and increase delivered volume or purified Xith.
-Make all convoys depart, alternated, from same station in Odia. RP-wise, one stations produces it cheaper than elsewhere, wins competition as major provider. Also foster interactions.
-Make Purified Xith become highly radioactive, and become visible in SYSTEM maps, and infinite distance in radar/sector. Convoy ships and captured Xith appears as radioactive symbol in system maps.
* Make CtC voys a regular events, scheduled and regular. Even makes possible to hardcore players login, run a voy and log off.
-Make fewer convoys per day. From every hour to every 3 hours. 24 -> 8 voys/day. Weekends can offer more voys, as 12/day. Or less.
-Add a capship to convoy to enforce it to be slower. Ensure convoy keeps grouped, and sectors are activated prior convoys entering it. RP-wise, it is a reaction to increase convoy protection and increase delivered volume or purified Xith.
-Make all convoys depart, alternated, from same station in Odia. RP-wise, one stations produces it cheaper than elsewhere, wins competition as major provider. Also foster interactions.
-Make Purified Xith become highly radioactive, and become visible in SYSTEM maps, and infinite distance in radar/sector. Convoy ships and captured Xith appears as radioactive symbol in system maps.
If the convoy is always at (roughly) the same times every day, someone who has virtually no time to burn on VO can still play CtC by choosing to burn it at the time a convoy launches.
Not if they can't play at that time of day. How many people miss Nation War even though it only takes 15 minutes a week?
Anyways, CtC needs some better incentives to get more people into it. Neut3s are good, but they're too easy to get via NPC side-channels. All of the NPC vultures drop them when they die, so you can just kill Hive Skirmish bots or Convoy escorts to get them.
Not if they can't play at that time of day. How many people miss Nation War even though it only takes 15 minutes a week?
Anyways, CtC needs some better incentives to get more people into it. Neut3s are good, but they're too easy to get via NPC side-channels. All of the NPC vultures drop them when they die, so you can just kill Hive Skirmish bots or Convoy escorts to get them.
make pure Xith eat the player's liver, just like minin' should give ye a nasty s***** disease!
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