The Third Empire - Page 3

CutterJohn · 2011-02-14, 10:01 AM

Kill farming? How could that work? Switch and let a buddy shoot you? Was that ever an issue in PS?

Who cares if the population switches between the 2 lesser populated empires, so long as none gets a major advantage? If TR has 40%, and NC and VS keep swapping back and forth and stick around 30%, nothing really changes. And I'm not necessarily saying NO timer. There could be one, but I don't feel its necessary.

If there are subscription free accounts, or free trials, spying will just be a fact of life. Practice some opsec. Besides.. How much can a spy mess up in a game like this? You should see what happens in eve. Months or years of work has been lost/stolen by spies. In PS you lose what.. A few minutes?

Tactics are secret up until they get used against someone who can recognize what they are seeing, which will not take long. It won't take very long for those tactics to spread. Plus, since the empires have different weapons, they aren't directly applicable anyway, and may not even be possible.

All a pvp game needs to foster is friendly competition. Its a game played by peers for fun, not a war. If you love RPing your empire and sticking up for them, by all means, do so. Don't expect me to play along.

Oh, and what's the problem with no cooldown? Its just a game, nobody should mind what faction you want to play with :P

I SandRock · 2011-02-14, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Kill farming? How could that work? Switch and let a buddy shoot you? Was that ever an issue in PS?

Who cares if the population switches between the 2 lesser populated empires, so long as none gets a major advantage? If TR has 40%, and NC and VS keep swapping back and forth and stick around 30%, nothing really changes. And I'm not necessarily saying NO timer. There could be one, but I don't feel its necessary.

If there are subscription free accounts, or free trials, spying will just be a fact of life. Practice some opsec. Besides.. How much can a spy mess up in a game like this? You should see what happens in eve. Months or years of work has been lost/stolen by spies. In PS you lose what.. A few minutes?

Tactics are secret up until they get used against someone who can recognize what they are seeing, which will not take long. It won't take very long for those tactics to spread. Plus, since the empires have different weapons, they aren't directly applicable anyway, and may not even be possible.

All a pvp game needs to foster is friendly competition. Its a game played by peers for fun, not a war. If you love RPing your empire and sticking up for them, by all means, do so. Don't expect me to play along.

Oh, and what's the problem with no cooldown? Its just a game, nobody should mind what faction you want to play with :P

It's not just a game! ITS PLANETSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

I guess you see PS more casual where you all sit around a campfire singing kumbaya with friends and foes, i take it more serious. I don't want to RP... I want to KKND

Firefly · 2011-02-14, 01:12 PM

Get rid of Fourth Empires (again) and keep out that stupid fucking Black Ops bullshit. Leave the three empires. Fighting the same empire over and over is yawni-yawnson boring. One of the things that drew me to the game was the possibility of a double-team whether I was on the receiving end or the giving end. Can you tell I worked in porn?

Hamma · 2011-02-14, 07:33 PM

The only thing cross empire tells was ever used for was talking smack. I'm not a fan of talking smack

[Tell] pwnsaucer2: OMG I OWNED YOU ON THE INTERNETS HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH

Tool · 2011-02-14, 07:44 PM

To be honest, I remember empire populations were pretty much a non-issue when the games entire population was very healthy. When it dipped below that nominal level where poplocks could happen on multiple continents, population imbalances became more apparent.

My assumption is the idea behind the three empires didn't take in the long term issues of dwindling populations and the effects of overpopulation wasn't apparent as it is now. Simply a design oversight.

Warruz · 2011-02-14, 08:20 PM

I just wish it was locked per server. Having pride in ones faction helps make the game more interesting making that long drawn out fight that you won feel even greater with no worries of people hoping sides.

Iv tried all the factions and hated VR, was ok with NG, but became attached to TR. And will forever remain TR!

Hamma · 2011-02-15, 09:38 AM

Likewise

CutterJohn · 2011-02-15, 09:50 AM

I wish I could care. Then it wouldn't seem like an arbitrary limitation for no good reason. :/

I SandRock · 2011-02-15, 11:46 AM

And this is why cross comm sucks:
We said in sanctuary broadcast to load up gals and go for cery, took maybe 5-10mins, we come out of the warp gate and TR airplanes are there waiting for us...

>_<

Canaris · 2011-02-15, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by I SandRock

And this is why cross comm sucks:
We said in sanctuary broadcast to load up gals and go for cery, took maybe 5-10mins, we come out of the warp gate and TR airplanes are there waiting for us...

>_<

Ah you broke the first rule of counter intelligence, never shout out where your going, shout out where your not really going and at the last few moments before take off have the CR5 leaders or whatever switch the destination to the true place and launch for it. Keep em guessing

Aractain · 2011-02-15, 01:40 PM

Yeah, I was often part of a invasion zerg but we wern't told where we were going until we launched.

I SandRock · 2011-02-15, 03:43 PM

Yeah that was the usual tactic. This wasn't really well organized, just 2-3 gals of people in sanctuary who got themselves organized ( i just jumped aboard) and decided to go somewhere :P

But it's still reason for me not to have cross empire comms.

LordReaver · 2011-02-17, 09:06 AM

The reason stalemates are bad, is because it means people start doing the exact same things and see the exact same things. This, leads to boredom. Have you never logged on and thought, "Damn it!, it's the same battle I was in last night!!"? That's exactly what I want to get rid of. There doesn't need to be "win" conditions in order to not have a stalemate. The battle just needs to keep changing location is really all that's needed.

If there are too many people on one side, you have an incentive problem. That problem can be over powered weapons, or something as simple as a cooler look. For example, the reason people jump to the "winning" empire, is because there is no real incentive to defend, but you do get rewarded for conquering. That also has a amplification effect, where the more one sided it gets, the more people want to go to that one side. Meaning, it's an entirely different problem that needs to be dealt with.

It doesn't really matter what the VS do, they don't have an opposing belief system to the TR or NC. I was not wrong calling it technology, every single advantage they have is technologically superior. That's not a core philosophy, they are just smarter. I suppose if the VS were re-imagined with emphasis on being the middle of the two extreme it would work. This would however, make them pretty much generic. Currently they are just too different from the others. None of this changes the fact that the number 3 is terrible.

That being said, the third empire is obviously not likely to go away.

If RPS is such a boring game, why is it one of the most popular games in history?

No cross empire communication doesn't change anything for the better, it just desocializes the game. I can't see limited cross coms as bad though. Like a comall timer to prevent abusive people.

Canaris · 2011-02-17, 10:19 AM

I've been booting your theory around my head for the past few days and I've come to a conclusion I think removal of the third faction would create more stalemates by just having two sides go head to head.

The third faction creates a chaos factor that works well. The NC and TR are at a salemate on a certain Cont, the VS shows up and requires one side the other or both to commit troops to fight them off breaking the stalemate.

The VS are dominating the world map, requiring the TR and NC have to show a little wisdom and link arms however temporary in order to affect a shift in beating back the dominating side.

We've seen it and it does work.

I SandRock · 2011-02-17, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by LordReaver

None of this changes the fact that the number 3 is terrible.
.

And this is where you are utterly wrong. 3 IS the magic number