Systems: Player set Bounty support for enemies and territories

RageMasterUK · 2012-06-15, 08:21 AM

Raymac's pst had some interesting on it and thats here. I thought it worthy of another thread considering that we know alot more about PS2 now.
http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=37653

It differs from Raymac's original idea slightly. Players would not need to directly accept a bounty mission. Rewards get given out in the background to whoever makes or supports the killing blow. This thread expands on suggesting a territory bounty concept.

This is obviously an unnecessary feature for release. The idea does appeal to me however. It would serve to add to the social aspect I believe, encouraging interactions with players inside and outside each empire. Contract placers. Participants. And targets. Getting to know one an other.

So after thinking for a while this is how I'd like to see it. This merely represents my own meandering thoughts on the matter.

BOUNTY SUPPORT

Plug:

So you have defended your base for a solid hour and that enemy deployed Galaxy still hasnt been destroyed? That TeamSpeak synchro-sniping hitsquad on the ridge taken you out one too many times? Maybe you've got lots of spare resources and you've just seen the top killer on your server through your scope? You just cant believe that dual-flamer max unit is still holding point C ;-)?

This is for you...

Spot the vehicle or troop, or select your killers from the killcam screen, or leverage your resources against a territory capture/defend event and up the incentive for the rest of your empire via way of a resource bounty. If its tasty enough, friendly players may act in your favour. You may actually create interest in your empire large enough to cap that territory right outside your enemies warpgate if multiple large outfits pool together and throwdown on one base.

The bounty system is essentially a donation based system. When someone places a bounty they get nothing back in return if its completed. Exept the satisfaction ofcourse. The GUI element would need to be optional for those who dont want to know about bounties. No-one could exempt themselves from being a target however. They could only disable the GUI (ignorance is bliss).

Overview:
Allow players through resource bounties to incentivise the action personally. Support player controlled bounties on enemy players, vehicles, and capture event outcomes.

Functionality Ideas:
Select by spotting, or crosshair over troops or vehicles and hit B and a small window pops up where you get sliders on the 3 resources. You can also get to this window when using the map in order to select territories, and in the killcam window when you click on your killers weapon icons.

You set the bounty in the window and hit OK if you're happy. There would be a rather large minimum spend. You could have a repeat option on the players and vehicles. Bounties are registered instantly. Bounties placed upon territory capture/defend events would have to have a timer, user set (Capture this territory within X minutes for X resources. Defend for X to get X). The resources you fronted up get put in limbo so you cant spend it while the contract is active.

When you send the bounty, other friendly players in the vicinity (that want to participate) hear a CHICHING sound and a HUD element pops up the bounty value, name of target and paperdoll. You get CHICHING when any close players add to any target, multiple players could stack bounty into a single target. The minimum spend would be so we couldnt all spam chiching all day long without bankrupcy. Bounties placed on territory capture/defend events will be shown when you mousover the territory in map view.

The target of the bounty, or those within a bountied territory get quick messages up on their HUD to say "Well done you're so ace the enemy hate you THIS much" with the current bounty value or something of that ilk. They get pepped coz they know they're psyching out the enemy. Territory bounty would not be paid out to enemy factions. That would constitute wagering, which itself a whole other very interesting topic which deserves its own thread.

Enemy players with bounties show up slightly differently on the HUD when they are spotted or come into view. Some sort of eye catching feature when the 3D player mark appears onscreen (i.e a small $ sign that floats with the 3D enemy mark on the hud), so you know that theres a wedge to be made if you want to take on the challenge. Those who do not participate in the Bounty hunting GUI still get the reward if they kill a target or get involved in a sucessful cap. They get told about it too on their HUD, so they know they just cashed in on a bounty they weren't even aware of. Players may be more inclined to activate bounty mode if they land 200 units of auraxium in their account randomly.

Whoever spots, or participates in a kill gets the reward resources split on completion.

The accumulative reward on base cap/defend event outcomes would be thrown on top of the standard stockpile amount of resources recieved when a cap is made, split amongst all participants. These players get their normal resources for the cap, plus a share of the total bounty. If the bounty fails for any reason such as player log-out or base cap/defend fail, the bounty drops out of limbo and back into the bounty-setters pockets.

Other thoughts:
Lastly there could be bounty hunter squad and outfit support (bounty resources trickle down to the whole squad, or outfit), within the cert system allow access to a device/HUD screen which lists current targets paperdolls, proximity, and the geographic location. The location would be the position of the player who placed the bounty, when they placed it, not the target.

You could have clan bounty support but I havent thought about that at all.

The whole shindig could be rounded off with apt stat screens that show how productive bounty hunting has been for you, who the most bountied players are on the server etc. See where the player predjudice is really at!

Pros

Gives players choice with regards to resource spend options and serves to redistribute wealth.
Gives the ragers another method of venting on their killers.
Allows players to highlight for their empire what they consider to be high-value targets.
Entirely optional element.
Creates rivalries, your enemies can make themselves known. Connects players of opposite factions.
Distinguishes with prestiege those recieving the bounties. Your faction will know that you are upsetting the enemy!!!
Gives players a direct method to influence which territories become more appealing for their empire to attack next.
No extra resources are generated. Resources are only transferred within the empire.
Fundamenal gameplay mechanics remain entirely unaffected. This system "bolts-on".

Cons

Good players may not like being designated as a prime target.
Multiple accounts could give rise to resource harvesting particularly with offline resource gain, with a view to influencing battle movements via bounty. You could kill this by cancelling bounties of players who are not online.
Makes the GUI slightly busier for participating players.

I tried to flesh it out as much as possible for your reading and consideration.
Give us your thoughts please! Ty

-RageMasterUK

NivexQ · 2012-06-15, 08:42 AM

Quick! Change all mention of bounty to "Priority Target" before everyone says no without reading!

RageMasterUK · 2012-06-15, 08:46 AM

NivexQ Im glad you mentioned that. People do seem to gloss over the concept based on the use of the words. I would like readers to consider that what the idea is called is largely irellevant to the concept. We could wrap any name around it.

That said NivexQ what do you think of the fleshy bits?

-RageMasterUK