IMPORTANT: REDDIT

JimmyNighthawk · Post by **JimmyNighthawk** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:53 am

Make Three (or perhaps Four w/ Private Lobby), but at least one for "all" on Twitter Streaming API - MAY U COMMENT THIS ALREADY!!!

CronoDroid · Post by **CronoDroid** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:22 pm

Elzam V. Branstein wrote:QUOTE (Elzam V. Branstein @ May 28 2012, 12:12 AM) If autocomm were implemented, you'd probably just see autocomm's drones being ordered around by subcomm player X and then it's a game of which team has a better subcomm.

Well this mode ideally wouldn't have any drones. Bases would already be placed and generate money that allows people to buy fancier ships.

Maybe an RPG style system where better parts cost money AND you get bounties for podding enemies so if you save up enough, you could roll around in uber ships or something.

Just an idea, but a no commander mode would be cool.

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:18 pm

Hmm. Perhaps a "No-commander" mode would be like semi-conquest in that you'd have to destroy your opponents' bases, but there'd be no drones. Instead, bases/sectors could have a "Respawn" timer linked to a number of things. If Team A's outpost is destroyed, then a new one might pop into that sector a few minutes later. If Team B's Expansion is destroyed, then a new techbase might appear in one of the systems near/controlled by that player that doesn't have a heavy enemy presence after a longer time than something like an outpost.

Post by **BackTrak** » Tue May 29, 2012 4:07 am

How about if you can hold a tech base for 10 minutes, you get all the mk2 tech. Hold it for another 10, you get all the mk3 tech. Same for shipyard, you'll get all the tech level by level until you get to the end game.

Bombers and HTTs become free. In the largest of the large scale, would it be the end of the world if some nubbin wants to fly a bomber on their first game? It probably won't hurt all that much.

What do you think about successful bombing doesn't destroy a base, just makes it neutral again? Or would that just stretch out games way too long?

CronoDroid · Post by **CronoDroid** » Tue May 29, 2012 9:34 am

BackTrak wrote:QUOTE (BackTrak @ May 28 2012, 09:07 PM) How about if you can hold a tech base for 10 minutes, you get all the mk2 tech. Hold it for another 10, you get all the mk3 tech. Same for shipyard, you'll get all the tech level by level until you get to the end game.

Bombers and HTTs become free. In the largest of the large scale, would it be the end of the world if some nubbin wants to fly a bomber on their first game? It probably won't hurt all that much.

What do you think about successful bombing doesn't destroy a base, just makes it neutral again? Or would that just stretch out games way too long?

I would prefer getting all the tech right away, so games become even faster paced. I would also rather capping instead of bombing, because it makes it too hard to respawn bases. On the other hand, you could just make all ABs Nerve Gas too, but with the same damage as an AB, which would dumb it down even further (I actually quite like that idea). This would be the Hold Strategic Point mode.

Another mode could be a Defence mode. In this one, ABs are Nerve Gas too, and one team controls all the sectors on the map besides one. The defending team would only have access to non base blowing up ships, while the attacking team have access to super bombers (with four turrets), nan scouts and escort ships (either ints or figs). The objective would be to kill/cap all the bases before a certain time has elapsed, like 15-30 mins depending on game settings. This could be simulated by the same system as "Reinforcement" mode, where you buy a tech, it takes X minutes to research and when you finish researching it, you win.

This would be an even faster paced game, you don't require a commander, and it is highly action oriented (and let's face it, it cuts out the first twenty minutes of the game in favor of the last part). No mines or probes though, because it makes things too easy. The element of strategy in this one is that at the start (say on a map like HiHigher), you could theoretically bomb four different sectors at the start. The you could bomb in a way that cuts off lone sectors so you can conduct multi-aleph bombing attempts.

Another mode I also considered was a miner hunting mode. In this, both teams have that Reinforcement tech. However, for one team, they have control of all sectors and miners, while the other only have one. Miners would give a bounty in this mode, and the defending team has four miners. Reinforcement tech costs a certain amount of money that can only be obtained by mining out a certain number of sectors. The attacking team would receive bounties for the miners so they can research their own Reinforcement tech.

Again, no probes or mines.

These three modes would teach vital Allegiance skills in a controlled setting, namely bombing and miner hunting. I'm not sure what it'd take to code these though, but I suspect they would boost appeal to a degree.

Post by **BackTrak** » Tue May 29, 2012 7:27 pm

Hmm... I disagree with getting all the tech right away. You eliminate the back and forth of having to hold what you take for a set bit of time before you get the benefit of it. Imagine if team A caps a base, and then pops right out in heavy ints, it pretty much seals up that base with the other team not having any chance to take it back. How about if you take a base, you get instant mk2 tech, and 10 mins later, you get mk3 tech which you can use to potentially end the game? Even here I think that's too fast. The bases are replacing miners as the things that need to be fought over.

The "scenario" game modes are interesting ideas tho!

CronoDroid · Post by **CronoDroid** » Wed May 30, 2012 6:25 am

BackTrak wrote:QUOTE (BackTrak @ May 29 2012, 12:27 PM) Hmm... I disagree with getting all the tech right away. You eliminate the back and forth of having to hold what you take for a set bit of time before you get the benefit of it. Imagine if team A caps a base, and then pops right out in heavy ints, it pretty much seals up that base with the other team not having any chance to take it back. How about if you take a base, you get instant mk2 tech, and 10 mins later, you get mk3 tech which you can use to potentially end the game? Even here I think that's too fast. The bases are replacing miners as the things that need to be fought over.

The "scenario" game modes are interesting ideas tho!

Oh I didn't mention I would probably prefer it to all be MK2 tech, I wouldn't want to see Hvy Ints off the bat no, because they're too powerful. I guess the ten minute idea would work too, it would also make teams decide whether to defend their tech sectors to get better tech or hold onto the strategic points to get closer to winning.

Of course, this is still a pipe dream. I can't code and I don't know of many others who could so...yeah.

fuzzylunkin1 · Post by **fuzzylunkin1** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:04 am

No-commander mode could actually work out really well. Make the game insta-playable (like just log-in and you're playing) and that would help with the wait issue, too.

raumvogel · Post by **raumvogel** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:43 am

Thank, Fuzzy. This is ,my entire point! It keeps people in the game until we can get two good commanders, thje they can switch cores and go back to "normal"!

MonAG · Post by **MonAG** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:59 am

Commanding for newbies is tough, because basically you are overwhelmed with too many activities at the same time.

Since programming an AI to manage is out of the question (due to the complexity), the answer would be to strip away some activities/pressure from the commander role, without ruining the game.

We must also find a solution that doesn´t require a complete re-engineering of the game, and can be quickly implemented (don´t think the game can resist the bleeding away of players for too long).

I find the "get all the tech" option quite interesting option. I mean... NOT maxing out all the tech (otherwise ships would become too powerful, and make combat quite boring), but have a fixed tech (and eliminate the research paths). Tech will be unlocked by capturing/building the adequate bases, and no further research, time or investment is needed after that.

This will mean several changes in gameplay (doesn´t mean that they are all good...):

- Commander won´t be harassed with "research this!! research that!!". Just needs to get the adequate base.
- Being all tech pre-defined from the beginning, commanding won´t require extensive knowledge in techpaths.
- Game will cease to be a tech-race, and strategy will be more combat oriented (therefore a bit more dependent on team/pilot skills, than commander skills).
- Treasures (other than money) are of no relevance.
- This will ruin certain factions, and will certainly require a rebalance of weapons/tech-paths in the "newbie mode". For balance sake (and simplicity), it will probably be better to make available a single faction when playing in this mode.
- Game will become less money dependent.

Since the commander doesn´t need the money for research, money will be used for buying ships/drones/special weapons. To take even more responsibility from the commander, maybe we can use a split economy: part of the money goes to the commander, and part of the money to each pilot. Of course, the commander can still give money to the pilots, and vice versa. This way, commanders will have enough money to buy constructors and stuff, and pilots will have money to buy toys (without depending on that newbie comm to purchase them what they need

).

I know this strips away much of the "richness" of the game, but we can´t have it all...