Improve the zone

[Corey]

How would you, as a player improve the zone? What would you guys like to see be done to the zone? map wise? item wise? setting wise?

Anything. Just post some ideas here.

[Unix]

1) Get rid of ?flag

2) More items that can change game play

3) Allow privs to flag

4) Bring back ?changeteam

5) Improve items that are rarely ever used.

6) Disable bricks/fields OR have them as rechargeable items

7) Allow lanc to have rechargeable reps/bursts or even thors to get more people to want to "back" lanc, not rush lanc.

8 ) Have ?jackpot increase faster

9) Keep jackpot rewards relatively high

10) Medium base in center to allow flag games

11) More jackpot reward added for balling

 

That's all for now.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Unix

[Corey]

You have some good ideas, but I am looking at taking smaller steps, for now anyways.

[omni]

Most of those are pretty small steps. Any smaller and it will do nothing.

[Unix]

Some of them are relatively small - ie: Having ?jackpot increase faster.

 

From other sources, the rechargeable items module is pretty much ready.

[Unix]

As for items that could use boosts...

 

Oracle, Quad Core

 

Also... Get rid of nanoing in center - You can region it so that way only kills are counted in bases/HT. Deaths should still be counted in center though. This will push people to want to base.

 

Have a reverse engineered nano. Instead of kills, have it count more deaths than anything. If possible have a mix of deaths/kills needed to spawn it.

 

Fix website.

 

More active staff would also help.

 

Smods that can come on and keep a better chain of command.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Unix

[Jareth]

1) Get rid of ?flag

2) More items that can change game play

3) Allow privs to flag

4) Bring back ?changeteam

5) Improve items that are rarely ever used.

6) Disable bricks/fields OR have them as rechargeable items

7) Allow lanc to have rechargeable reps/bursts or even thors to get more people to want to "back" lanc, not rush lanc.

8 ) Have ?jackpot increase faster

9) Keep jackpot rewards relatively high

10) Medium base in center to allow flag games

11) More jackpot reward added for balling

 

That's all for now.

 

I would like to see most of these implemented, especially 6 and 8.

 

Having a jackpot boost based on a random base every game would be nice. Playing in the same two bases every game gets pretty boring.

[spidernl]

First of all, if you mean by 'setting changes' stuff like bulletdamage, ship speeds and the likes - I'd prefer if you don't touch that. The entire item set is based around the current settings.

 

Some of the changes Unix proposed are decent. Rechargable items should be for more than just lancs though - it would reduce item spam as a whole if people can't just die -> buy items -> rush + die -> buy items..

 

Jackpot increases over time are something I've been considering, and I can up the amount added by goals. The risky bit is that if you overdo changes like this, it brings back milking, which I (and Dr Brain) don't want. This would be because the winning freq is better off balling & letting the jackpot go up naturally than winning quickly.

 

Last thing:

I don't really see Quad Core getting buffed anytime soon.

[P Nut]

I support:

1,4 )Default freqs should be flagging. Bring back passworded privs. I do not think they should be able to flag, however.

6 ) Make Field Generator have a cooldown. Long enough for a lanc to recover, but short enough to clear his AD.

8 ) Make kills a part of the ?jackpot formula.

Edited July 3, 2011 by P Nut

[spidernl]

I support:

1,4 )Default freqs should be flagging. Bring back passworded privs. I do not think they should be able to flag, however.

6 ) Make Field Generator have a cooldown. Long enough for a lanc to recover, but short enough to clear his AD.

8 ) Make kills a part of the ?jackpot formula.

 

1, 4 and 6 all sound decent. Not sure if cooldown is the solution, a simple increase in price for fields might even do the trick.

As for 8.. I think they already are (very, very slightly), but this is particularly risky in terms of not-wanting-milking.

Edited July 3, 2011 by spidernl

[Unix]

?jackpot is increased extremely slightly due to kills.

 

I understand not wanting to milk, but at the same time, a 2 hour flag game should not be a meager 5k. (Prior to boosted jackpots). Whereas a 10 min flag game could potentially be over 10k. Notice the disparity? Neither was trying to milk, but if it's an even flag game, you shouldnt punish for that.

 

If you keep jackpot rewards relatively high, this will also deter people from wanting to milk as well. I'm not saying to make ?jackpot grow insanely fast either, but more than it is now at least.

 

Rechargeable items for lancs and rechargeable fields/bricks would both make the most sense. Field/Brick spamming are the two biggest issues that ruin flag games, and even if people have the capability to, many choose not to spam fields because of this reason. However, there are some who choose to just to be lame and attempt to win.

 

Rechargeable items for lancs would allow lancs to back lanc more reasonably and effectively. Allowing a rechargeable thor on lanc would also give them some entertainment while they back lanc as well. The point of rechargeable items is to deter more lancs from actually rushing. If players have a more dedicated back lanc, and want to back lanc now, wouldnt there be more flag games? Increasing the ?attach cost might also help. Instead of 5, 10 or even 15.

 

Rechargeable items for all ships would not be a good idea. Especially if there is a long delay, if there is a very short delay, then that could make sense, but having a long delay would kill basing completely. Hyperspace rushing "needs" rushers, unless you want us all to play like Cheese.

 

?flag has outlived its usefulness and is currently hurting the zone more than anything. Some of it's ideas are good, such as kicking people off who arent flagging. Keep some of the ideas, but automatically have people on flagging freqs once they enter.

 

As for privs, limit it to five, and allow them to flag. If they can flag, it would allow a base like mini or potentially a "medium" base in center to be used. If you are completely opposed to the idea of privs having full flagging privileges, limit it to center flagging only.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Unix

[spidernl]

First of all. Flagging privs is a no go. Period. It's just not going to happen. You wanting to get Oppressors full of AD (blink) rushers and dominating flaggames to make the zone no fun for all the 'pub flaggers' is not a 'good reason'.

 

I've said it before and I'm starting to get tired of saying it: making 2 hour flaggames reward proportionally more/as much than/as 20 minute flaggames will cause a lot of milking. Period. They will always have to reward significantly less to stimulate people to win. Also, when I flag the game generally ends quite quickly. If very long flaggames are very rare, what's the issue?

 

'Rechargable items' doesn't mean items that take 2 years to recharge. A simple 30 second recharge on repels (so if you have two defense mounts, that's 2 repels every 30 seconds) would allow plenty of rushing without making the game depend entirely on items.

 

The issue with automatic ?flag is that new players won't understand what's going on if they get kicked off into spec every minute.

Edited July 3, 2011 by spidernl

[P Nut]

The issue with automatic ?flag is that new players won't understand what's going on if they get kicked off into spec every minute.

This would encourage them to ask in chat what to do. It will set the pace required for HS' learning curve.

[Corey]

First of all, if you mean by 'setting changes' stuff like bulletdamage, ship speeds and the likes - I'd prefer if you don't touch that. The entire item set is based around the current settings.

Don't worry, I'm not going to touch your precious item sets. I was talking more like what I have done with the ball. I.e More friction has been added to make it a bit easier to ball.

I'd prefer if you don't jump to conclusions. thx ;P

[omni]

Corey finish those events yet?

[NuB KiNG]

Commence a Javelin and Warbird League

[Unix]

First of all. Flagging privs is a no go. Period. It's just not going to happen. You wanting to get Oppressors full of AD (blink) rushers and dominating flaggames to make the zone no fun for all the 'pub flaggers' is not a 'good reason'.

That wasnt my intention at all. If you also noticed, I said that only allow teams of five and only allow them to flag in center with mini/medium base. Last I checked there arent any more Oppressors left, and even if there were, if a team of five could dominate against pub teams, I would think there's something wrong with the settings/items more than anything.

 

I've said it before and I'm starting to get tired of saying it: making 2 hour flaggames reward proportionally more/as much than/as 20 minute flaggames will cause a lot of milking. Period. They will always have to reward significantly less to stimulate people to win. Also, when I flag the game generally ends quite quickly. If very long flaggames are very rare, what's the issue?

That's why you have to make it so there's no reason to milk. However, if it just so happens a hard fought flag game was two hours, so be it and have the jackpot show it. I doubt a team will try to milk a flag game for a few extra thousand if it only goes up 3k an hour at most.

 

'Rechargable items' doesn't mean items that take 2 years to recharge. A simple 30 second recharge on repels (so if you have two defense mounts, that's 2 repels every 30 seconds) would allow plenty of rushing without making the game depend entirely on items.

No, it make everyone play like Cheese. Who would wait 30 seconds to rush when instead they can just sit back and wait for someone to come by every 30 secs while at the same time they recharge their own reps as well?

 

We had an instance when there were very limited rushing and everyone just stood back and did pretty much anything. In the beginning of this item set that was how it was pretty much. No one enjoyed basing like that. And defenders had an extremely high advantage.

 

The issue with automatic ?flag is that new players won't understand what's going on if they get kicked off into spec every minute.

Then they'll ask like they do when there's no one on their team and they're alone in center.

 

The difference is, it'll encourage the players who do know what they're doing to actually flag, rather than to center and wait for a flag game.

[Dr Brain]

I understand not wanting to milk, but at the same time, a 2 hour flag game should not be a meager 5k. (Prior to boosted jackpots). Whereas a 10 min flag game could potentially be over 10k. Notice the disparity? Neither was trying to milk, but if it's an even flag game, you shouldnt punish for that.

 

There's no punishment for it. There's just no reward.

[Corey]

The issue with automatic ?flag is that new players won't understand what's going on if they get kicked off into spec every minute.

Then they'll ask like they do when there's no one on their team and they're alone in center.

 

The difference is, it'll encourage the players who do know what they're doing to actually flag, rather than to center and wait for a flag game.

With this, we could possibly have a message saying something along the lines of "You have been specced for not being in a sector, try using ?lancs or switching to a non-flagging freq"

[Unix]

I understand not wanting to milk, but at the same time, a 2 hour flag game should not be a meager 5k. (Prior to boosted jackpots). Whereas a 10 min flag game could potentially be over 10k. Notice the disparity? Neither was trying to milk, but if it's an even flag game, you shouldnt punish for that.

 

There's no punishment for it. There's just no reward.

Perhaps its not a punishment, but there be some kind of compensation for a long hard fought flag game.

[Corey]

So what I've done, thanks to some help from unix...

Changed the formula that adds bounty kills to the jackpot from 33 to 120.

What this means is that say you have 1000 bounty (riiiighhht) it will add 120 to the jackpot. Now, this seems very minor, but with kills happening all the time in a flag game it will add quite a bit.

Also with 20 bounty it adds 2 to the jackpot.

 

Spidernl, if you find this too much, or would like to make a change in the next few day, use ?quickfix jackpot

But how about we give it a few 'big' flag games before we go changing it back.

[Hinanawi]

Remove/increase the limit of XP gained from killing other people? Although a small change, it could help motivating players who start in the middle of a reset.

[spidernl]

So what I've done, thanks to some help from unix...

Changed the formula that adds bounty kills to the jackpot from 33 to 120.

What this means is that say you have 1000 bounty (riiiighhht) it will add 120 to the jackpot. Now, this seems very minor, but with kills happening all the time in a flag game it will add quite a bit.

Also with 20 bounty it adds 2 to the jackpot.

 

Spidernl, if you find this too much, or would like to make a change in the next few day, use ?quickfix jackpot

But how about we give it a few 'big' flag games before we go changing it back.

 

You could've just asked me. I saw the jackpotpercent long ago. 120 might be a bit of a big change, but we'll see.

In big flaggames there are easily 100 kills per minute -> that'd be a jackpot increase of a minimum of $200 per minute (which adds up rather quickly).

 

But yeah, we'll wait and see.

 

Remove/increase the limit of XP gained from killing other people? Although a small change, it could help motivating players who start in the middle of a reset.

 

That's a possibility. I think the main issue for 'new' players isn't so much the rate of experience gain, but more the fact that they're used to an even fight in whatever other zones they've played, and now suddenly they have to fight in settings they're not used to, against players with far more powerful ships.

Edited July 4, 2011 by spidernl

[omni]

Corey finish those events yet?

Edited July 4, 2011 by omni

[toxic_intruder]

for the medium sized base idea, would it be possible to make one or two really long bases out of some of the empty unused corridors that are between bases? aka "rabbit zone" places that typically aren't accessible. maybe add a 1-way safe zone teleporter like the corner ports in center that warps you to the beginning of the corridor base to make it easier to get to, or something.

 

Make ball rewards higher (not significantly, maybe to 1.5 or 2k), make ball goals easier to get to w/o increasing rewards, OR allow summoning of smalls with the ball so freqs can flag and ball, if summoning with the ball is even possible in theory (again, w/o increasing rewards).