Outfit Rivalry Discussion

[Neurotoxin]

Greetings PSU Community!

A couple days ago, we had a great conversation going on Twitter regarding Outfit Rivalry. A lot of great ideas came out of it, and Matt Higby was jotting them down, but I feel like we can expand on the subject even further.

Outfit Rivalry is a way for outfits to declare sworn enemies and arch-rivals, and have it mean something within the context of gameplay aside from selectively targeting those rivals. There are a few different elements to it, which I think we can explore and expand upon. Rivalry Formation, Number of Rivalries, Objectives, Effects on Gameplay, and Rewards are different subjects that we can look at and explore.

Below are questions for each of the different elements of Outfit Rivalry, along with some possible solutions. Please reply with more solutions, discussions about current solutions, any any other questions that should be asked.



A) Rivalry Formation - How does the rivalry Begin?

- Outfits select other outfits and "Declare War" on them, either indefinitely or for a specified period of time.

- Outfits that constantly battle each other build up "rivalry" points. When an outfit is over 100 or 250 or 1000 Rivalry Points with another outfit, they may be chosen as a rival.

- Outfits are automatically assigned a rival based on the amount of combat and interaction they have with another outfit, or based on outfit size and activity.

- Outfits declare that they are "accepting new rivals" and will be matched against another outfit that is also declared as accepting new rivals.

- Individual members within an outfit put in bids towards rivalry with another outfit. The outfit with the most bids against it is the rival.

- Triumvirate Rivalry - One outfit from all 3 empires fight each other for a sustained hour or longer, and are declared rivals for the next 24 hours. If at least 4 hours of rival combat go on during that day, it extends to a week. If 20 hours of rival combat occur during that week, it gets extended to a month. If 100 hours of rival combat are engaged during that month, they become permanent rivalries.



B) Number of rivalries - How many is too many?

- Limit rivalries based on Outfit Level (if applicable), allowing an equal amount of rivalries from both factions.

- Limit rivalries based on Outfit Certifications (if applicable) so getting the bonus of more rivalries comes after cert points have been spent on allowing rivalries.

- Limit rivalries based on Outfit longevity. After1 month, they may have 1 rivalry per faction. After 3 months, this opens up to 2. After 6 months, they get 3 rivalries per faction. After a year, 4. Every 6 months opens up another spot on the list for rivalries.

- Limit rivalries based on in-game interaction. This could be similar to the Triumvirate Rivalry listed above, and happens automatically when outfits clash for a long time.

- Limit rivalries based on voting. Outfits may or may not have a limit, just that they need a majority vote from the members.

- No limit - have as many rivalries as you want, but it provides no bonuses and is purely a system for bragging rights.



C) Rivalry Objectives - We have rivals, and now what?

- Track and defeat the rival outfit at every opportunity.

- When the rival outfit has a mission, disrupt it, foil it however you can.

- Contest a heated area, or even a mostly-cold area, where rivals are battling.

- Specifically try to break down the opposing faction by crippling the efforts of the rival outfit.

- Outperform rivals on the battlefield, show them up in battle and on the leaderboards

- Defend your faction's gains by repelling the enemy outfit, and focus on driving the enemy out of owned hexes.

- Take over bases being held by rivals.



D) Effects on Gameplay - How does the rivalry support combat?

- Spotting priority - rivals will have a higher spotting priority than other soldiers, making their nametags the most apparent and pulling them to the front where there is overlapping.

- Rival action indicators - When a rival outfit is on the move, working on holding a specific base, etc, and friendlies detect it, a blip appears on the minimap to indicate rival presence.

- Cross-rival missions - When missions are assigned or generated, both sides of a rivalry are notified. Outfit A is set to take Tower X, and Outfit B goes to defend Tower X. Of rivalries are 3-way, Outfit C will get a mission to "Disrupt Outfits A and B at Tower X"

- Nametag indicators - Nametags will glow specially, have an outline around them, display the rival outfit's logo (or a generic "Rival Outfit" logo), or some other way to indicate rivals over regular enemies.

- Respawn Options - Spawn Near Rival Activity could be added. This would allow combatants to respawn by pod-dropping right into the action, or respawning at a nearby friendly-owned facility.



Rivalry Rewards - What are the benefits?

- Rival Kill Bonus - Defeating rivals, and / or destroying their vehicles, gets a slight bonus to experience or resources accumulated.

- Overcome / Disrupt Rival Activity - Being able to drive an outfit out of a hex or a hot battle area, or taking over a facility they hold, will give extra bonuses. As well, being entrenched in an area and resisting a rival's attempts to take over the area will give extra bonuses.

- Complete Rivalry Mission - Upon completing a Rivalry mission that was assigned or generated, winning participants get an additional bonus.

- Taunt-On-Camera - If you complete a successful taunt within the Kill Cam viewing radius of a fallen rival, it gives one "Style" point. After 100, 250, and 1000 of these, a special beret is granted to the player.

- Rivalry Store - Rivalry activity produces Rival Points. Those could be used for various things that the outfit may otherwise be able to purchase with SC or Auraxium, or give access to exclusive items that cannot be bought with SC or Auraxium. These could be special camo items, custom logo placement settings, or Rivalry-specific items (rivalry experience boosters?)



Please reply with additional questions, options, comments, concerns, feedback, etc. I'm looking forward to what we explore and come up with regarding Outfit Rivalries!


*Note - this would have gone in the ideas section, but after the twitter / live stream discussion about rivalries, it seems like it is reasonable to expect that Outfit Rivalries won't be an "if" but instead a "when" for PS2