Mission Thoughts

[NapalmEnima]

So it sounds like there will be "attack" and "defend" missions automatically generated by the system. Folks accepting these missions will be placed into squads, and off they'll go.

But with the loss of the Sanctuary and the increase in gameplay speed, we're not going to see Big Hordes of vehicles and aircraft assembling and Going Forth to Kick Ass. Which would be a shame. That's epic.

To Address This Issue, I suggest an "Assemble Here with This Stuff at This Time" mission. Anyone within say 50 meters of the assembly point at the appointed time with the correct gear/vehicle gets the EXP. Anyone who's late, or ill-equipped doesn't.

This would mesh nicely with PS-Now's squad cert requirements. If half your squad is required to have Armored Assault II (or whatever the PS2 equivalent turns out to be), then you can expect 5 MBTs at the designated location at the designated time.

For Extra Epicness, the mission might designate particular spots for each squad member. Show up on your mark, in a Salute Pose, for Even More XP. An "autodrive/pose" feature would be nice to get everyone in nice neat lines. You'd want to let anyone break out of the pose with a move.

The same "autodrive into the gal/loadstar" logic could be used to get vehicles On Their Mark.

Give platoon/outfit leaders some extra alignment tools to get everyone in Epic Ranks, ready to deploy.

Bonus 1: Screen Shot Epicness.
Bonus 2: Assemble your troops, ready to rock.

Someone arriving early will know they have X minutes to go grab a drink or hit the head, and folks who aren't there yet should get a countdown display.

So:
In the right area: some XP
Properly Equipped: some XP
On Your Mark: some XP.

(You might want to make them all indepentent, though On Your Mark clearly assumes In The Area. If someone has the right gear but isn't there yet (but at least on the right continent?), they might get something... or you could require folks to be In The Area to get anything. Judgement call.)

Simple addition should be fine. 1/3 each, also fine. Total XP? Some flat amount + some fraction of the value of killing someone using the Required Gear (summed and averaged over the squad). You wouldn't want the gear to make up more than half of the total XP award. You want to encourage folks to be specific, but don't want to penalize cloakers vs tankers (for instance).


What you DONT want is to turn this into a free XP fountain. Several dials to tweak to control that:
1) Successive assembly orders give less XP, down to zero after a few.
2) Only allow N assembly orders over a given period of time. Say 2-3 an hour. TRAINABLE SKILL.

[DashRev]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

But with the loss of the Sanctuary and the increase in gameplay speed, we're not going to see Big Hordes of vehicles and aircraft assembling and Going Forth to Kick Ass. Which would be a shame. That's epic.

I don't know that I would say this is true. Just because they want to lower TTK and allow players to get into existing conflict faster, doesn't necessarily mean that you won't see coordinated attacks.

If you have a handful of players gradually trickling into an enemy facility, it gives your opponent the opportunity to do the same. With each continent being host to unconquerable bases, I think you'll see outfits and maybe even entire empires (provided they're under the instruction of a competent command-specced player) gathering up larger forces before heading out to a facility to secure it as quickly as possible.

And of course, when it comes to facility fights in general, regardless of whether it's the attacker or defender that prevails, you always see players pulling vehicles en masse to move on to the next target or battlefield.

That isn't to say that your ideas are bad, I'm just hesitant to say that they'll be a requirement.

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by DashRev

That isn't to say that your ideas are bad, I'm just hesitant to say that they'll be a requirement.

Fair point. OTOH, just because the base cannot be captured doesn't mean it cannot be continuously shelled, or that there will be a safe place to assemble a Large Force.

Though that particular argument works against my idea as well. I still think it would be epic... hardly a required feature at launch though.

None the less: Do Want.

[DashRev]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

Fair point. OTOH, just because the base cannot be captured doesn't mean it cannot be continuously shelled, or that there will be a safe place to assemble a Large Force.

Though that particular argument works against my idea as well. I still think it would be epic... hardly a required feature at launch though.

None the less: Do Want.

If you're being beaten all the way back to your foothold on a continent and they're continuously shelling, fair odds say that your empire has lost the continent. At that point, its time to move on.

There are always going to be other continents to form up on. If for some reason your empire is dead set on regaining control of that foothold, you can always form up elsewhere and presumably warp in as an organized group.

While seeing a massive force assemble and roll out as an organized unit is certainly cool, I'd like to know that it is absolutely necessary to reward it with experience. A developer would have to continually reevaluate a system like this, asking himself:

1) Is the experience granted for assembling as a cohesive unit too high or too low?
2) Is this an effective method, or is it the most effective method to coerce players into doing this?
3) Do players even understand why they're receiving experience for this?
4) What is to prevent players from forming up as a group to get free experience then immediately parting ways once they've gotten the bonus?
5) Does this promote zerging? Is the individual player or small squad at a disadvantage because of this?
6) Does this slow down our desire for a more fast-paced, instant action type gameplay?

[NapalmEnima]

Originally Posted by DashRev

While seeing a massive force assemble and roll out as an organized unit is certainly cool, I'd like to know that it is absolutely necessary to reward it with experience. A developer would have to continually reevaluate a system like this, asking himself:

1) Is the experience granted for assembling as a cohesive unit too high or too low?
2) Is this an effective method, or is it the most effective method to coerce players into doing this?
3) Do players even understand why they're receiving experience for this?
4) What is to prevent players from forming up as a group to get free experience then immediately parting ways once they've gotten the bonus?
5) Does this promote zerging? Is the individual player or small squad at a disadvantage because of this?
6) Does this slow down our desire for a more fast-paced, instant action type gameplay?

One way to speed up something like this would be to make it effect spawning. You spawn on your mark with the requisite gear/vehicle all ready to go.

To speed up spawning, you could dynamically move players around between squads. One could be "forming" made up of the folks that just died, while others where out on the field.

If you were further to replace "Recall to Sanctuary" with "Assemble", that would make assembly Really Fast. 1 click + continent load time + maybe a spawn timer. There's some fast-paced action for ya.

At that point it's not a mission any more, it's just a Cool Feature (no XP for you). Maybe one that only works at your uncappable base in an underground cavern or something. You all spawn, already loaded for bear in your Bang Bus/Gal/Lightnings/Reavers/etc/etc, ready to rock.

[opticalshadow]

you wont see less co ordinated attacks, but its the invasions you will likly not see.

what i mean is, without sanctuary you cant have a 100 man invasion set to go, because wel have uncapped bases, the enemy will see us coming the whole time, we wont be able to suddenly storm a cont with all lights green, open fire and the bombing bays.

likly now a scout or someone will see a large group of armor or troops, call out the gathering forces, and the major war will take place at the uncap base, rather then in the open or at a base that has value.

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by opticalshadow

you wont see less co ordinated attacks, but its the invasions you will likly not see.

what i mean is, without sanctuary you cant have a 100 man invasion set to go, because wel have uncapped bases, the enemy will see us coming the whole time, we wont be able to suddenly storm a cont with all lights green, open fire and the bombing bays.

likly now a scout or someone will see a large group of armor or troops, call out the gathering forces, and the major war will take place at the uncap base, rather then in the open or at a base that has value.

This may or may not be possible, we have no idea the structure of the uncapables.

[opticalshadow]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

This may or may not be possible, we have no idea the structure of the uncapables.

true, but unless conts are significally larger i doubt they will be big, seeings is how the cont would have to have three equal area bases, which if are not bigger then a regular base, inhibit the creation of such a force, and if are big enough with a much larger map, would shrink the play area by alot.

[Aractain]

Thats a good point is there going to be a good rally point?

[NapalmEnima]

Other mission-related thoughts:

Given a "take that base" order for a platoon, is it possible to create submissions? Kill that wall turret, sweep the deployables from this area, etc?


How will XP rewards be handled? Lump on completion? Or will things like a "defend the base" mission give a multiplier to anything done to assist that mission while it's active? Both? A lump "defend" mission payout would be tough. "Defend for the next N minutes" is more doable...