Could Someone Post This on Planetside Forums: Empire Leadership Proposal

[inigma]

Since I am not currently subscribed to Planetside (financial issues at this time - I'm preparing to move), I was wondering if someone could repost this for me on the Planetside Discussion forum on Sony's Planetside Community Forums for feedback and input. If someone could do this, could you reply in this thread if you have and where - I'd be eternally greatful. Thanks!

-inigmatus


(Part 1 of 3)

To the Planetside Community & Developers:



Please read below the following composed suggestion for enhancing gameplay, and feel free to respond with comments, suggestions, questions, approvals, and disapprovals:



Contents:



Prologue

Introduction

Composition & Selection

Senators

Supreme Commander

Planetary Commanders

Additional Ideas

Questions





[Prologue]



I propose an Empire leadership system based on the nomination and number of votes of the players currently online. This leadership would be responsible for leading the tactics of the Empire, and perhaps decide on formal relationships with other Empires that would affect all players.





[Introduction]



The Empire leadership would consist of a live Imperial Council made up of 9 Senators*, one of which is a Supreme Commander who can appoint Planetary Commanders to help him/her create, edit, and delete Empire waypoints, notes, and directions.



(*The titles could be Empire-specific, and the number of Senators can be suggested to change of course based on feedback to this idea, and the variability of potentially different gaming scenarios that may need more or less. I picked 9 because that is the total number of passenger seats on a Galaxy, not including a vehicle - making for one hot bird!)



Senators of the Imperial Council would bring a benefit to all friendly troops near their area, SOI, or planet, such as increased stamina, armor, health, respawn, etc; and such benefits could be stacked on top of each other when the number of Senators within the same applicable location increases. The presence of a Senator who is a Supreme Commander would bring an additional benefit to the area, SOI, or planet, on top of what they bring as a Senator.



Senators of the Imperial Council would gain a protective benefit such as increased health and armor, for the location of all members would be visible on the planetary maps to both friend and foe, as well as being visibly different from other players, creating a rallying point for friends, as well as becoming a target for foes. The Senator who is the Supreme Commander would be distinguishable from just a regular Senator, and would gain an additional protective benefit on top of their Senatorial benefit, for this reason.





[Composition & Selection]



The Imperial Council would be composed from the 9 most popular people currently online regardless of their rank or status, as votes are counted only from the players that are currently online.



A player can become a candidate for Senator by simply voting for themselves on the player�s ballot screen.



The Ballot Screen:

- A vote box to type in a name of the person you are currently voting for (put yourself in the box if you wish to become a candidate).

- Would list below the vote box the current person you are voting for and the current tally of their support

- Would have a scrolling list of the top 100 most popular online players with the current tally of their support, and if applicable, inaugural/ascension timers.*

- Would highlight from the top 100 list the names of players who are currently Senators (usually the top 9), and highlight which Senator (if any) is the Supreme Commander

- Would have a list of the current Senators in a separate window and their current selection for Supreme Commander

- A list of personal favorites is available to input up to 100 names in preferential order, that your vote will change to automatically whenever someone higher on your list logs on and makes themselves available for candidacy so the player does not have to keep accessing the ballot screen in the middle of an intense battle when a new friend logs on that they want to vote for.



(*inaugural timers are explained below)



(Currently with this setup, the player would have only one vote, however, it could be suggested to give players the ability to cast additional votes based on their subscription tenure, current battle rank, and current command ranks - however I disagree with this idea because larger outfits would only gain more power as they would be able to convince their members to vote for more than one of their chosen candidates for Senator. The Council as it is currently composed would be a better equalizer if every online player only had 1 vote.)



Inauguration / Ascension:

The inauguration/ascension of a Senator takes place in any of the following circumstances:

- When there is currently a vacancy on the Imperial Council

- When the popularity of a newcomer stays in the top 9 most popular for 15 minutes. Inaugural timers count down to inauguration and disappear anytime the player drops below 9th place in popularity.



Impeachment:

A Senator is removed from office when popularity for that Senator drops them to a place lower than 9th most popular player online for 15 minutes.



Selecting the Supreme Commander:

A Supreme Commander would be chosen by majority vote of the current Senators.

A Senator chooses, or becomes candidate for Supreme Commander by selecting the radio voting button next to their name on the Council List on the Ballot Screen (made available when they become a Senator). The selection shows up the Council List for all players to see.

Upon the instant the vote for a Senator garners a majority vote (5 votes � including his own), that Senator instantly assumes the powers and title of Supreme Commander.



Deposing the Supreme Commander:

-The Supreme Commander remains the Supreme Commander until only a different Senator manages to garner a new majority of the Council votes.



Succession after the Death of a Senator:

When a Senator dies, the following happens:

- The Senator respawns only at the Sanctuary.

- The Senator temporarily loses their status as a Senator for 15 minutes, forcing the immediate inauguration/ascension of the next available popular player (i.e. the player in 10th place).

- If the Senator is still in the top 9 most popular, a 15 minute augural timer counts down to their �re�-inauguration, and only as long as the player still remains in the top 9.



Succession after the Death of the Supreme Commander:

When a Supreme Commander Dies, the following happens:

- The same results take place as when a Senator dies (for the Supreme Commander is a Senator)

- The Supreme Commander position is immediately left vacant until the re-inauguration of the player as a Senator, or a new Senator garners a majority vote by the Council.



Succession on the Logout of a Senator:

The logout of a Senator forces a vacancy on the Council, and the immediate inauguration/ascension of the next available popular player.



Succession on the Logout of a Supreme Commander:

The logout of a Supreme Commander results in the position being vacant until a new Senator garners a new majority in the Senate. If the former Supreme Commander logs back on, and if support places them in the top 9, they must wait out the inaugural timer (15 minutes) to become a Senator again, and if the current Senators still have not yet decided on a new majority yet, the new Senator becomes the Supreme Commander again.



Final Word on Selection:

Player ballots for the Senators, and Senator ballots for the Supreme Commander should be allowed to be changed at anytime to meet needs, or changing attitudes and priorities


(End Part 1 of 3)

[inigma]

(Part 2 of 3)

[Senators]



Senators can be identified on the planetary map by friend or foe, identified on radar by friend only, and are visibly differentiated by a different uniform from other players, and have a very faint constant glow that can be seen by both friendly and enemy players.



Positive Effects of a Senator:

- Senators would bring a positive effect to troops within a sphere of influence that could either be centered on the Senator, or only as long as a Senator is at a base controlled by their Empire. This would provide an incentive for Senators to bring morale (and benefits) to the troops with their presence on the field such as increased stamina, health, armor, re-spawn, etc to those friendly troops near the Senator. Benefits could also be stacked up to a maximum based on how many senators are in the same location or sphere of influence � encouraging the �government� to move to the most needed and strategic locations together as a team.



Negative Effects of a Senator:

- The death of a Senator instantly removes the benefits that Senator brought to the area, and would bring an additional negative effect to troops within a sphere of influence, providing incentive for senators to not engage in direct combat, as well as add the element of guarding VIPs in Planetside as those troops around the Senator may choose to do so. Guarding a Senator would contribute to an Imperial Guard commendation track. A Senator can be revived by an advanced medic � see Negative Effects of a Supreme Commander below for ideas of consequences.



Benefits for a Senator:

- Senators themselves will have an increase in their own health, stamina, and armor for as long as they are alive once they have been selected a Senator, for increased survival in the field, as they will be identifiable with a soft glow of their Empire�s color, and visible on the Planetary map to friend and foe.



Disability of a Senator:

- This extra boost is essential as Senators will have the distinct inability to pilot any vehicle, and therefore would always require a ride and an escort to hot locations that could use the benefits a Senator would bring to the area. Senators can not pilot or drive vehicles, but can enter and exit gunner positions, passenger slots, etc.



Powers of a Senator:

- All Senators would have the ability to access a separate Imperial Command chat window for their own communication and debate purposes with the Supreme Commander.

- If not a CR5, the Senator would automatically be given the powers and privileges of a CR5 including Orbital Strikes, and the Command Chats, regardless of their actual Command Rank.



Friendly Fire:

Killing a friendly Senator intentionally or accidentally would incur the greatest grief penalty available in the game.



Enemy Fire:

An enemy successful in killing a Senator should gain the equivalent amount of experience as taking two bases, as well as earning commendation points for a Diplomatic Assassin.



[Supreme Commander]



The Supreme Commander can be identified on the map by friend or foe, identified on radar by friend only, and is visibly differentiated by a different uniform from other players, and has a brighter glowing than Senators.



The election or death of a new Supreme Commander would be broadcast Empire-wide.



Positive Effects of a Supreme Commander:

-An additional effect of extra armor, health, etc, in greater quantity than a regular Senator, and/or in a greater area of effect (such as affecting all friendly troops on the planet rather than just the Sphere of Influence). The idea to provide area benefits from the SC and other Senators is to encourage their presence on the front lines to raise �morale� (stamina, health, armor, respawn, etc.)



Negative Effects of a Supreme Commander:

- The death of the Supreme Commander would be the same as a Senator but have greater effects on the troops such as more painfield-like gradual accumulation of grief points / health damage within the SOI/planet until either the Supreme Commander respawns or his avatar resuscitated by an advanced medic. This gives a negative effect on �morale� as troops in the area as they see their health going down little by little until the Supreme Commander respawns or is resuscitated. This gives incentive for troops to protect the Supreme Commander (and a merit track), and discourages the Supreme Commander from engaging in direct combat (as he/she SHOULD be spending their time commanding Imperial forces to victory).



Benefits for a Supreme Commander:

- Slightly more (perhaps double) than a Senator.



Disability of a Supreme Commander:

- Same disability as a Senator: can not pilot or drive vehicles, but can enter and exit gunner positions, passenger slots, etc. The idea is to provide this leader of the Empire with some worthwhile escort/guard before moving into unsecured territory.



Powers of the Supreme Commander:

- In addition to the privileges of being a Senator, the Supreme Commander would have the power to issue Imperial Alerts broadcast superimposed in a different section on the player screen other than the chat window (the option could be disabled by the individual player if they so chose of course)

- The Supreme Commander would have the ability to access a separate Imperial Command chat window for their own communication and debate purposes with the Imperial Council, as well as his/her Planetary Commanders.

- The Supreme Commander would have the ability to create, edit, and delete all Empire-specific waypoints, objectives, and other information on the Interstellar Map, and individual Planets.

- The Supreme Commander would be responsible for promoting and demoting online Planetary Commanders.

- The Supreme Commander would have the ability to edit and delete Planetary Commander waypoints, objectives, and other information.

- The Supreme Commander would have the same privileges and access as a CR5, including Orbital Strikes, and the Command Chats, regardless of their actual Command Rank.

- The death of the Supreme Commander would have a negative effect to the troops within a sphere of influence, greater than if their death were just one as a Senator. Protecting the SC would accrue more merit points than just protecting a Senator.

- Supreme Commanders have an additional personal stamina, armor, and health benefit on top of their Senator benefit, for increased survival on the field as like a Senator, they too can be identified on the planetary map and have a brighter colored glow than just a regular Senator.

- If a Supreme Commander logs off the system, the position of Supreme Commander remains vacant until a new Supreme Commander is chosen by a majority of the Senators.



Friendly Fire:

Killing a Supreme Commander would be just as serious and have the same consequences as killing a regular Senator (very serious). Since accidents can happen among troops that are making a point to guard the Senator, the grief should be high enough to affect their weapons, but not disable them. If they �accidentally� kill a Senator for a second time, they should be disabled from playing for at least 24 hours.



Enemy Fire:

Greater experience and commendation track than just killing a senator.





[Planetary Commanders]



Planetary Commanders can be identified on the planetary map by friend or foe, identified on radar by friend only, and are visibly differentiated only by a different and larger uniform from other players, but no glowing (after all, we don�t want them to be an obvious glowing walking target on the frontline do we?)



The promotion, demotion, or death of a new Planetary Commander would be broadcast to friendly troops planet-wide.



Selection of Planetary Commanders:

Planetary Commanders would be chosen by the Supreme Commander at any time and retain their status until either demoted, resigned, or logged off the system, even in the event of the death, logout, or vacancy of the Supreme Commander, and until a new Supreme Commander demotes them.



Positive Effects of and Benefits for a Planetary Commander:

- Planetary Commanders would bring a small stamina benefit to troops within a sphere of influence as well as have a personal armor benefit for themselves.



Powers of a Planetary Commander:

- The Planetary Commander would have the ability to access a separate Imperial Command chat window for their own communication purposes with the Supreme Commander.

- Planetary Commanders would have the ability to create, edit, and delete Planetary Commander waypoints of the planet they have been assigned to.

- Planetary Commanders would have the same privileges and access as a CR4, including Orbital Strikes, and Command Chats.

- Planetary Commanders usually would coordinate the platoons on a planet using a platoon or squad chat channel now In Concept by Planetside Developers.





Disability of a Planetary Commander:

- None. Since Planetary Commanders are supposed to be in hot zones to bring benefits to friendly troops, and be the ones leading the attack on enemy positions, there should be no restrictions on them in driving or piloting vehicles.



Death of a Planetary Commander:

- The death of Planetary Commanders would only have the Planetary Commander temporarily lose their Planetary Commander status (and troop area benefits) for 15 minutes, but allowed to respawn anywhere normally.



Friendly Fire & Enemy Fire:

No penalty except standard grief for killing a friendly Planetary Commander, and no extra experience for killing an enemy one. The PC is just a normal player on the front lines.


Other:

- A Senator obviously could not be a Planetary Commander because of a conflict in powers and disability.


(End Part 2 of 3)

[inigma]

(Part 3 of 3)



[Additional Ideas]



(Relations between Empires)

In order for Relations to occur, communication needs to be allowed between the Empires. This could be limited only to communication between Ambassadors.



- The Ambassadors would be chosen by majority vote in the Senate to be any online player in the Empire (could also be a senator themselves).

- The Ambassador would only be able to communicate to the other two ambassadors from the other empires if they have designated them. The Ambassador would have to have access to the Imperial Command chat used by the Council in order to relay from the Council offers and agreements to and from other Empires.



The Imperial Council of each Empire could by majority vote be allowed to declare their relationship with the other Empires:

- The senators should have the power to declare by majority vote (at least 5 votes in favor of) War, Peace, or Neutrality with any other Empire it chooses, and only when that other Empire does the same, does the new relationship take effect.

- The Peace relationship lasts only as long as a majority is held by both Empires in both Councils in favor of the relationship.

- Default relationship is Neutral.

- The War relationship is declared when any Imperial Council votes in majority favor for it, even if the other Empire wants something else.



The Relationships and Benefits could be

War - Current gameplay. Enemy names appear red.



Neutrality - Damage incurred on neutrals is less than if attacking war-declared enemies. Neutral names appear yellow.



Peace - Damage incurred on peaceful troops is less than attacking neutrals, and personal grief is incurred if players attack peaceful troops, however, the grief incurred is less than killing your own empire�s troops. Players in both Empires can share vehicles, and have access to each other�s weapons. Peaceful-controlled installations can not be hacked.



- The current official relationship status and the relationships offered from one Empire to another would be visible on the Ballot Screen to all players from all Empires.



- Could the world be at peace? Yes, but I don�t see how it could be for very long. Since the Peace relationship requires majority agreement in all Empires at Peace, it would only take the blood-thirsty population to vote out of office the Senators that supported the relationship. And since people play Planetside to fight� :)



(Provisional Capital Benefit)

If a majority of Senators are located in a single base SOI, the base is declared a Provisional Imperial Capital:

- Respawn would greatly decrease at the base and/or planet.

- There would be a benefit of a tech plant for all bases on the planet controlled by the Empire.

- Vehicle armor would increase, and MAX charge rate increase for MAXes and Vehicles spawned at the Provisional Imperial Capital.



(Stacking Benefits)

As previously mentioned in this proposal, a combination of area benefits from Senators and the Supreme Commander could stack on top of each other to achieve a maximum benefit of armor, stamina, and health based on their locations relative to each other. For example: all located in the same area, base, or planet, with the greatest benefits available to all troops in the area when the entire Imperial Council is located in the same base that really is a planetary capital, and the least benefit being when a single Senator is walking in the middle of nowhere with a single bodyguard reaping a small benefit from the Senator�s presence.





[Questions]

(Why not a Popular Vote for Supreme Commander?)

Why should the Imperial Council decide who becomes Supreme Commander - why not a popular direct vote?



- Although it would be nice to have the most popular person be the Supreme Commander at the whim of the populace, a problem would occur if the popular race was so close as to be a continual tie. Having a Supreme Commander installed and removed and then installed again in a matter of seconds as people log off and on as their preferences get counted and recounted would render the position near-useless except for short-term command action if at all.



A more stable online group of 9 people communicating with one another is easier to persuade to support a Supreme Commander, than say a population of several hundred who may be too busy fighting to care anything at all about politics. This is the benefit of the representative government system - the easy and emotional sway of hundreds of players is too unpredictable to maintain stability if there was a close tie for the Supreme Commander position. Since the Supreme Commander stays Commander even when Senators log off and new Senators are elected, until at least 5 of the 9 Senators agree on one of them being the new Supreme Commander does the change take effect. Of course this will mean a vacancy of the Supreme Commander position from time to time as Senators vie for the spot, but it is reasonable to believe 9 Senators are easier for the masses to convince than for the masses to convince the masses.



This system of 'government' is also a check and balance on the membership power of the largest outfits. Even if an outfit is in fact more than half the online population, it would be reasonable to assume even then they could only install 4 or 5 of the Senators because it would take a lot of people to support the installation of just one Senator (and they would have to split up their members� votes to get multiple senators in on the Council). This system would make the relative population conditions on the ground be represented in the current makeup of the Council.



A possible problem might occur in that the constant login-logout activity of players could render the Imperial Council itself useless in its function of selecting a Supreme Commander. (such as close ties for 9th place).

- This could be addressed by introducing a waiting time (15 minutes) for Senators to enter and exit the position as has already been introduced in this proposal. This gives a relative stability to the Council as 15 minutes is enough time for a Senator to help select a new majority for Supreme Commander, or decide on appointing an Ambassador or declaring a new Empire relationship, as well as forces the incoming candidate to stay popular long enough to take over as a Senator.




(Why not have multiple Planetary Commanders per planet, or each outfit appoint a Planetary Commander rather than the Supreme Commander?)


There should only be 1 Planetary Commander appointed/assigned per planet due to potential planetary map spam issues, force concentration issues (better united than severely divided), and the idea that we don't want a Supreme Commander appointing a super army of unlimited Planetary Commanders with a bunch of personal benefits to themselves and other players.


In reality, I see a Supreme Commander will be only needing 2 maybe 3 Planetary Commanders to direct forces on the front lines of three target planets. There could be more (obviously to watch over the other planets in the Empire's control), but any more than 3, I think, the Empire probably will have a problem concentrating forces.




(Could you further explain the how Planetary Commanders would work?)

- The general idea for Planetary Commanders is to coordinate the platoon activity of those platoons and squads chosing to report for duty via the squad/platoon chat channels now In Concept at Sony's Planetside forums (Can someone do me a favor and mention this thread in that particular discussion - I dont have access to do so unfortunately).

For example of how Supreme and/or Planetary Commanders would work, read on:

The Supreme and/or Planetary Commander (hereforth: Commander) sets up waypoints on a planet along with a short text of instruction for each waypoint, information which is seen on every players screen for that Empire (toggleable of course).

Platoon and squad leaders can report to the Commander via the (In Concept) platoon/squad leader chat channel saying they will take on one or more of the waypoint missions

When the Commander has accepted the platoon or squad leader's availability for the mission, the Commander only has to go edit the text near the Commander's waypoint with the name of the platoon or squad leader so people in that area can join up together to better enhance the success of that team.




(Why not have everyone see all platoons, squads, and their waypoints?)

Three words: map confusion, and spies. And I don't think the Devs would want the increase in server load - but the idea would be nice if they were toggleable and it didn't affect server stability and gameplay.

Really all a player needs to see is a Planetary waypoint with instructions, and the name of the platoon or squad leader responsible for that waypoint. All the player needs to do then is join up with that specific platoon or squad, and gain access to the additional need-to-know information.

This kind of restriction of seeing only your current platoon locations and waypoints on the planetary map is also good in order to limit the amount of information available to spies. Only the Commanders, if anyone really, should be able to see where all individual platoons/squads and waypoints are on a planet, if even that information could be made available to them.




(End Part 3 of 3)


So, what do you think?


- inigmatus

[Rbstr]

wow i'll get to reading

EDIT: Done, i like, it seems quite nice, and hard to truely exploit, except for planetary comanders, why not just promote everyone? i would say that every outfit gets one commander and no more apointed.

[inigma]

Thank you very much Rbstr.

I also wanted to add the following:

- Senators should not be Planetary Commanders.

- And I choose 9 Senators because I think that is the total number of passenger slots on a Galaxy not including a vehicle (talk about one hot bird!).

I also forgot the Examples section, but I think they are pretty easy to think of if one reads through the whole proposal.

In response to your suggestion to have every outfit have a planetary commander... that would certainly increase the amount of spam on the maps if you have a hundred commanders with the ability to edit them. With the Proposal, it would be evisioned as the Supreme Commander limited to appointing/assigning a single Planetary Commander per planet, and in reality having maybe no more than 2, at most maybe 3 so as to have a unified attack and not multiple split up fronts (not to mention stopping the spam-on-the-maps problem).

Also, if the Supreme Commander could appoint as many Planetary Commanders as he/she wanted, you'd have just as many players 'blessed' with benefit ability, a super-army if you will, and that's definately not a good idea. Imagine appointing a hundreds of planetary commanders at the click of the mouse, and they each brought a benefit to troops in the area (as well as for themselves). It'd turn into a giant click-match between Empire Supreme Commanders.

The appointments for Planetary Commander would also be better controlled by a single Supreme Commander who would obviously want someone supporting their tactics to follow through on the details to meet his/her goals. That's just my two cents.

[EDIT]
I've added these responses to your post in Empire Leadership Proposal (in Part 2, and 3) because I forgot to mention them, and would like them included whenever someone can help me mirror this proposal on Planetside's forums (since I don't have access - see next EDIT).

[EDIT] Could someone post this proposal on Planetside's discussion forums? I don't have an active subscription to Planetside, and one is needed to be able to post on the Sony's Planetside forums. If someone does, could they post a link to it here in this thread? I really want Dev feedback on it if possible, but right now I just don't have the money to start my subscription back up again and regain the right to post in Planetside's forums.

[FatalLight]

I would but when ever I post something it gets 2 replies and then dies =/

[Hamorad]

It's a nice idea, but the problem is that the devs probably wouldn't ever do something like this.

[FatalLight]

I'm not sure that they've ever done anything that was posted on the OF.... have they?

[inigma]

Ah, I went ahead and poney-up'd the dough. I posted this on Planetside's Discussion forum here:

http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/message?board.id=psdiscussion&message.id=519350

Feel free to add your comments/support.