Starting Up More Games

[Unix]

As of late, the zone has been pretty quiet. Whether it's for school or whatever other reason you can think of, the fact of the matter remains. Games just arent starting as easily or as often. So what can we do to help promote games getting started?

 

1) Change the jackpot formula.

Right now the formula is +?jackpot - For a quick fix, why not have the ?jackpot increase faster? This will also allow longer games to actually be worth more than quicker games, but not to the extreme that people will want to keep the game going forever. So this wont go against what Dr Brain wants in faster flag games.

 

1a) Change the jackpot rewards.

Increase the loss money to more along the lines of 1/3 or 1/2 of the winners cash, also increase the experience amount. 10 exp max is pretty small.

 

2) Fields and or Bricks

These things are a problem. It makes people rage, and not want to play. A few nights ago, we had a steady 5v5 and peaking at 7v7 for an hour or so straight, mainly because several of the players moderated their teams and had them do a few things to keep the flag game going. One of them being, no fields or bricks. Fields and bricks are fine if it's a larger game, but excessive and just stupid if they're relatively small games like 5v5 to 8v8 range.

 

3) Clearing Teams

Another thing we moderated ourselves was that the players made it so they didnt clear teams until they reached about the half way mark of the base. After that, all bets were off and you were able to clear the opposing team.

 

4) No one starting

No one is actually starting up games when there are plenty of priv freqs centering. People need to start taking the initiative or the zone needs to give some kind of incentive for players to start flagging.

 

Staff alone cant solve this problem, but it doesnt help that if they see many players centering, they dont even bother trying to start a game by boosting the jackpot. There need to be some players as well who are trusted and have the right sense to know how to "moderate" flag games so that players dont get abusive about their fields/bricks or tactics.

 

The first two points points are something the staff can do, while the last two points are something the players need to do or have staff assign extremely limited powers to certain players so that they can moderate flag games and just start them.

 

5) Hopping

There needs to be an anti hopping module or mechanism. This way it makes people want to play because they dont have the option to hop. The best option is probably to log IPs and have the IPs themselves locked into the team for the entire game in question. If you dont have the option to leave, players will be more likely to continue playing on their team. Especially if the losing team will receive more money/exp where point 1 comes into play.

[Jareth]

I can agree with most of these. The winning teams try too hard and make the other team suffer while the losing team just gives up.

 

I was on for the player moderation, and it worked pretty well. It only works in small games with certain people who listen though.

 

You can't really tell people how to play, but something needs to be changed. There has only been a few flag games over the past few days.

[Arry]

Forms of lameness by centering Levi (though not restricted to levis) name withheld to protect the guilty):

 

1) Safe Laming: I'd like to see center safe removed in favor of temporary invulnerability if possible.

 

2) Cloak Laming: Coming up behind someone when they are disadvantaged. Should cloaking be disabled in center?

 

3) Using PD in center: If you're going to let your items do the work, how much skill is that?

 

4) Relying on Huge splash damage. Not having to aim is lame.

 

*) The idea would be to try to eliminate all forms of laming except incidental laming (engaging someone who's already in a fight)

 

Solution A: Since Levi's are slow make them start in a base or something. The reward for actually getting to center is being able to lame. This sounds like only a half decent solution to me but I'm still posting it.

 

Solution B: Disable certain items in center

 

Solution C: Complete redesign of how ship works. Less lame.

 

X-Radar in flag games: X-radar is too easy to use. There should be sufficient risk of allowing a cloaker through. Trying to cloak through a base is one of the most fun things I've ever done in this zone. It has been taken away. and item like Oracle should cost at least 1 mil because it takes away this FUN aspect of the game.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Arry

[Arry]

1) Informed Laming: Tell players the experience and total item value of killed opponent. This would let players know how much the really pwn... or not. Sidenote: you might want to have rewards and avg based on both these factors as well.

 

2) Single Player Games: Keep players entertained while little or not population. This would help keep the zone from going dead and help population come up faster. Could use the powerball... could do other things.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Arry

[Cheese]

why not add a jackpot metric that adds to itself more immediately after flag games

to give people a reason to keep playing

 

 

would also need more frequent shuffles

 

also safelaming idiots make noone want to play = less people to start fg

 

 

and never forget that hopping idiots ruin more fgs than anything else you can think of

[omnomnom]

- Make it so you only get a percent of the reward money proportional to the time played on a freq until a point; say, 5 minutes, which is how long it currently takes to drop 4 flags + 100 seconds on the floor. Then, you would get 100% of the reward. It might help demotivate last minute hops.

 

- Also, losers could get a time played on freq bonus, as well as the losing reward. Something small at first but piles up, say 1% of the winner's reward money per minute?

[Cheese]

its called 'participation' in distension

[Arry]

its called 'participation' in distension

 

What were you quoting? something or everything?

 

nvm figured it out

Edited April 22, 2011 by Arry

[Arry]

Another thing I just thought of: rewards for kills should be based on the avg (ave). I've got a decent avg but players don't want to fight me because I give no experience or money. This shouldn't be. I just kick ass with a low level ship. People should be given incentive to fight me.

 

And I should be given the opportunity to make money and experience faster because of my skill. I mean exponentially faster.

Edited April 21, 2011 by Arry

[Cheese]

that means 1 tk means you get $0 per kill for the rest of the fg

[Unix]

Arry, if you are experienced/skilled enough, you will know how to make experience faster. And there is a reason why people will fight you, for an easy kill, which raises their bnty, which in turn lets them get more kill money overall.

[Arry]

Arry, if you are experienced/skilled enough, you will know how to make experience faster. And there is a reason why people will fight you, for an easy kill, which raises their bnty, which in turn lets them get more kill money overall.

 

While it's true I do know how to make money faster I don't think that should preclude trying out the idea. My real problem is that I don't like to grind.... any form of making money that involves grinding is not worth my time. If no developement is going to be put into Hyperspace to provide alternatives to grinding, then I will take my lazy ass to Final Fantasy XIV where I've found out how to play the game without grinding despite grinding being forced into many aspects of the game.

 

I like centering because it's not grindful. I don't see why I should have to invest a ton of time in hyperspace in order to enjoy it.

 

By the way I responded like I did because experience is just another form of currency, and has nothing to do with true "experience". In a word, the term is bogus.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Arry

[Arry]

And there is a reason why people will fight you, for an easy kill, which raises their bnty, which in turn lets them get more kill money overall.

And they'll win because they have a lamer ship build than me which they could afford because they did some grinding on their own which I refuse to do.

 

Hyperspacers, should this be? Money + Experience Allows lamer ship builds? your reward for grinding is getting to build a lame ship. Congratulations.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Arry

[Unix]

It's not grinding if you know how to get it fast/easy. Which you allegedly said you could and were aware of doing.

[omnomnom]

One way to promote games would be to make the zone better. I get different ideas thinking different ways, this time this would be what I'd do if I copied Hyperspace but as my own zone:

 

- EXP ≠ better items. They would simply be a way to get different items. That means at the start, your starting money and/or items would allow you make at least 1 decently equipped ship.

 

• Newbie items obviously worse than other items (Fission Reactor, Alpha Drive, etc.) dropped
  
• Next items up (Fusion Reactor, Beta Drive) the new newbie items
  
• In the mounts category Protect Mount removed, Defense Mount would be the newbie item
  

 

I would also remove signatures. Such items would be rebalanced to fit as a normal item (or just removed). ... Or you could get one of the signature items on your ship until you can get others, maybe something like System Optimizer.

 

Parasite-like items removed, unless there was something to fit in the same slot you could immediately buy. The power strip could be moved to there.

 

FTL I'd leave as it is, except for Summoner. Antideath I'd slide too. The 5m alien tech signatures would already be removed.

 

Some item based changes:

 

• Deflector Shield the newbie item or remade without +rep
  
• Capacity Items removed or buyable quite a bit sooner (like when you make your first ship kind of soon)
  
• Combo Mount is either another newbie signature item or it gets named in its category a Repel and Thor Mount
  
• Summoner would not take such a price... it be more like a newbie item
  

 

I might have a "Startup Shop" where people can easy find the 0 exp items. Or put most of these on their ship to begin with. People may start with more money to afford these items too... unless newbie items get really cheap I suppose...

 

- The Shark would either get Stat Buff or better item choice, including sigs.

 

- Consumable items like Bricks/Fields need to made sure people with money to spare don't get too much advantage from item spamming them. For instance, limit the amount of bricks/fields that can be placed by one team... or nerf them.

[Arry]

It's not grinding if you know how to get it fast/easy. Which you allegedly said you could and were aware of doing.

 

Is playing the zone without grinding only for the "elite"? This seems to be the kind of newb-unfriendly thinking that pervades this zone.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Arry

[omnomnom]

If devs played their zone, but tried to make sure that they had fun playing it, you could say it'd be like a self-fixing formula, right?

[PlayWolf]

I like array's points.

[Arry]

that means 1 tk means you get $0 per kill for the rest of the fg

Not a problem for me, I don't bomb in flag games.

 

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I hope this thread isn't ignored because it's not in the dev catagory. Some really good stuff here.... not just my own ideas but everyone who's posted so far.

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Edited May 2, 2011 by Arry

[Arry]

duplicate post, please remove. Edited May 2, 2011 by Arry

[Arry]

5) Hopping

...

The best option is probably to log IPs and have the IPs themselves locked into the team for the entire game in question...

Due to the fact that multiple players (say roommates or siblings) could be playing on the same IP (Due to Network Address Translation) and they could be playing in the same flag game on different sides.... not sure how valid tracking IPs is.

 

It would be better to track the machineID (I believe that's what it's called in subspace). I think that ID is tied to your hard drive or something if I remember right. That one would be better than IP.

[Arry]

If devs played their zone, but tried to make sure that they had fun playing it, you could say it'd be like a self-fixing formula, right?

 

This post is not to put down your idea omnomnom... just voicing my thoughts here:

 

Devs have a right to do with their time as they please. I respect their time and respect them for donating their time to the zone. I am grateful for everyone who has put time into coding this zone. I have gotten to know many of the devs here, past and present and I seriously enjoy both their work and their personalities (even the contrary ones).

 

If they don't get time, or want to play... It's up to us players to inform the devs... just as we are doing in this thread. If we have good ideas, we won't be ignored. We just have to be patient.... They work for free and own their own time-table.... and I'd like to keep it that way because coding the zone should be fun, just like playing the zone is fun. When something becomes a job, when you can't do it at a relaxed pace or are being harped on about it, it quickly loses its "fun-factor".

[Cheese]

correct

 

 

why double post u huge newb

Edited May 2, 2011 by Cheese

[Arry]

why double post u huge newb

 

I was rereading the thread multiple times. I posted as I came up with responses. I guess I could have edited one post. I am newb, sorry. So used to posting over at the crap system of advice.eharmony.com

Edited May 2, 2011 by Arry

[spidernl]

• Newbie items obviously worse than other items (Fission Reactor, Alpha Drive, etc.) dropped
  
• Next items up (Fusion Reactor, Beta Drive) the new newbie items
  
• In the mounts category Protect Mount removed, Defense Mount would be the newbie item
  

 

Those ideas aren't too bad.

 

I would also remove signatures. Such items would be rebalanced to fit as a normal item (or just removed). ... Or you could get one of the signature items on your ship until you can get others, maybe something like System Optimizer.

 

Remember the good old days where every lanc had PD? I think Signatures are a step in the right direction, getting rid of them without a replacement system is a step back.

 

Parasite-like items removed, unless there was something to fit in the same slot you could immediately buy. The power strip could be moved to there.

 

I don't see why you'd want to remove fun features that don't hurt anyone honestly..

 

FTL I'd leave as it is, except for Summoner. Antideath I'd slide too. The 5m alien tech signatures would already be removed.

 

Some item based changes:

 

• Deflector Shield the newbie item or remade without +rep
  
• Capacity Items removed or buyable quite a bit sooner (like when you make your first ship kind of soon)
  
• Combo Mount is either another newbie signature item or it gets named in its category a Repel and Thor Mount
  
• Summoner would not take such a price... it be more like a newbie item
  

 

I might have a "Startup Shop" where people can easy find the 0 exp items. Or put most of these on their ship to begin with. People may start with more money to afford these items too... unless newbie items get really cheap I suppose...

 

Uh.. okay.

 

- The Shark would either get Stat Buff or better item choice, including sigs.

 

Neither is a solution. The Shark is currently quite powerful. I suggest you try to 1v1 a Shark with your Warbird. You'll most likely lose.

Giving them signatures would surely bring their power level over 9000.

 

- Consumable items like Bricks/Fields need to made sure people with money to spare don't get too much advantage from item spamming them. For instance, limit the amount of bricks/fields that can be placed by one team... or nerf them.

 

A limit to bricks/fields sounds fine to me. Go write a module to implement it.