Hey MHigby, here are some command/mission ideas

[Sardus]

Hey Matt, it sounds like you and the team are working towards a system that encourages good leaders to succeed while trying to minimizing the "popularity" contest thing.

I had a few ideas and perhaps some of the other people here on these forums would like to chip in too.

What about a 3 tiered mission system?

One designed in such a way that following your squad leader gives the largest bonus, followed by outfit leaders giving a lower bonus, and then ultimately followed by "empire commanders" giving relatively the least. (I.E, 100 xp for completing squad mission, 50 xp for completing outfit commander mission, 25 xp for completing empire mission). If these missions align and you actually get credit for multiple missions at once, why not? you should be rewarded for synergy and working together. This encourages you to work as closely as possible with the people directly playing with you, but it also encourages you on a more "macro" scale to contribute to the greater war effort.. and not just leave your squad mates to die as you race off to get that empire cap (everyone remember the glory days of base capping in planetside 1? you know, where you abandoned everyone to get get that base cap for EXP?)

I'm not so sure about the idea of "the more people currently following your mission, the more xp rewarded to the followers" since this would only encourage people to flock to a few commanders and not allows others a chance.

Instead, maybe consider a system where players are able to give you a "thumbs up" (and perhaps even a "thumbs down") after completing your missions (or failing to complete).

The more followers, the more command tools that are unlocked. As a new commander you'd start off by gaining followers by squad leading people, running outfits, and eventually you'll have enough to start creating empire wide missions. Basically, the more thumbs up you get, the bigger missions you can give to larger groups of players.. and the larger the missions.. the more people out there with the potential to give you a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". You'll slowly "grow" as a commander. Some nights might be good, others not so good. But the point being- you'll be constantly working to improve your skills and your reputation.

Any player can give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to any other player you wish, but you have to complete (or possibly fail) one of their missions for the option to pop up (still thinking about this comment though).

And how about this for an idea: your powers would be determined by how many people online have given you a "thumbs up". So if there are 100 TR online tonight, and 80 of them have given me a "thumbs up", then I have 80% approval rating that night, and I should have all of the goodes and powers unlocked in line with that approval rating. But this could fluctuate tremendously and that's good! This would encourage you to remain active and not "slump off". Like, "oh hey.. i just got the /comall ability! I better not fuck up now and /comall lame stuff that pisses people off! "

Examples (just throwing out some random numbers):

5% approval - new commander, first access to empire missions
80% approval - supreme commander, can do huge empire impacting missions, use /comall, etc. etc.

It generally follows the same concept as PS1... in that people listen to the commanders (CR5s) and outfit leaders that did a good job and treated their people well. It was pretty clear when someone logged in that he or she was worth listening to and it was time to get to work.

What do people think?