Forums » Suggestions
National Contribution.
According to the backstory, there is a war between Itani and Serco, with UIT profiteering off both sides. However, ingame it seems like there is a general lack of war, a lack of profiteering, and in general, a lack of national identities. Back during Alpha, CtF helped polarize the three sides against each other. In the new universe, CtC served the same function for a short time, but was eventually abandoned for the most part.
{EDIT: I've been informed by Lemming that CtC may have died because it happened to often. I request this be taken into consideration if this suggestion is ever implemented.}
What I would like to put forward is a sort of National Contribution system, whereby Itani and Serco(And UIT, though mostly as a side-effect) are rewarded for earning honor or glory in the war. First, billboards would be posted in nation space at every station(See picture below) tallying points earned by a nation during a set period(A week, two weeks, a month maybe). Points would be scored according to a set of rules(Again, see below) and Things Would Happen at certain thresholds(Once more, below).
(Sign reads: "Nation Fight Credit 9,882")
Scoring rules:
[NOTE: Only Serco and Itani have counters, since they're the two nations at war]
Various ships give varying amount of points, for example:
Enemy EC class: 1 point
Enemy Behemoth: 5 points
Enemy Nation-specific ship: 10 points
...
Points are tallied whenever a player kills another player. Points go to whichever nation the player has higher standing with. For example:
Itani player, hated by Serco, admired by Itani kills a Serco Prom -- Itani counter goes up 10 points.
UIT player, +500 with Itani, +800 with Serco kills an Itani EC-89 -- Serco counter goes up 1 point.
Serco player, -1000 with Serco, +800 with Itani kills a Serco Behemoth -- Itani counter goes up 5 points.
UIT player, +800 with Serco, -200 with Itani kills a Serco EC-89 -- Serco counter goes *down* 1 point. (minimum is 0)
To prevent from abuse, players must have at least +400 with a nation to affect their contribution counter.
Things That Could Happen:
[Invasion]
All members of the opposing nation are sent the following message:
"Attention all pilots! The [enemy nation] have killed so many of our brethren that we have built a new [capital class ship] christened [name]. Due to this situation, it is highly likely that an enemy attack is on the way, please do your part in defending our new vessel!" [Messages can and should be tailored to fit the nation's character]
Members of the nation that reached the threshold are sent this one:
"Attention pilots! The [enemy nation], in their cowardice, has decided to build themselves a new[capital class ship] named [name]. Destroy the new ship, crush the enemy, and further the glory of the [nation]!" [Sounds a bit Serco, yes?]
Once the enemy's capital ship is destroyed, the attacking nation would receive a boost in their contribution points, and a few temporary status effects, such as:
-Increased experience gain
-Roids get overheated less quickly
-Higher drop rate of bot items
-Nationwide station discounts
-Access to special weapons(such as the NIII)
-[Not a status effect] A credit boost based on damage done to enemy ship
-[Not a status effect] A little news blurb naming those who did the most damage to the enemy ship, and those who got the most kills while protecting their ship
[CtF-like game]
All members of the opposing nation are sent the following message:
"The enemy has discovered our top-secret plans for [widget-x]. This [widget type] has been in development for months, and [number] credits have been invested into it. It's located in [station sector] and we cannot let it fall into enemy hands! Protect it well and we can put it into production in [time]! In addition, our researchers have installed a prototype security system designed to disable the turbo function of the engine of whoever's ship picks up the plans. Be warned!"
Members of the nation that reached the threshold are sent this one:
"According to our intel, the [enemy nation] have been developing plans for a [widget-x]. This [widget type] could be the [widget type] we need to sway the war's balance in our favor. We have managed to disable the [enemy nation]'s defense at the cost of our own, so we need all available pilots to assault [widget's sector] and bring the plans for [widget-x] to [Capital sector] for immediate production! Be warned- intel reports that your turbo will be disabled by the electronic package on [widget-x] once it's picked up. Good luck!"
Benefits would be similar to the ones above, except leaning more towards the secret widget production.
Also- the points would reset to 0 every tally period to provide some sort of marking point("Us Itani didn't do well last month, we'd better step it up if we want to stay in this war!").
{EDIT: I've been informed by Lemming that CtC may have died because it happened to often. I request this be taken into consideration if this suggestion is ever implemented.}
What I would like to put forward is a sort of National Contribution system, whereby Itani and Serco(And UIT, though mostly as a side-effect) are rewarded for earning honor or glory in the war. First, billboards would be posted in nation space at every station(See picture below) tallying points earned by a nation during a set period(A week, two weeks, a month maybe). Points would be scored according to a set of rules(Again, see below) and Things Would Happen at certain thresholds(Once more, below).
(Sign reads: "Nation Fight Credit 9,882")
Scoring rules:
[NOTE: Only Serco and Itani have counters, since they're the two nations at war]
Various ships give varying amount of points, for example:
Enemy EC class: 1 point
Enemy Behemoth: 5 points
Enemy Nation-specific ship: 10 points
...
Points are tallied whenever a player kills another player. Points go to whichever nation the player has higher standing with. For example:
Itani player, hated by Serco, admired by Itani kills a Serco Prom -- Itani counter goes up 10 points.
UIT player, +500 with Itani, +800 with Serco kills an Itani EC-89 -- Serco counter goes up 1 point.
Serco player, -1000 with Serco, +800 with Itani kills a Serco Behemoth -- Itani counter goes up 5 points.
UIT player, +800 with Serco, -200 with Itani kills a Serco EC-89 -- Serco counter goes *down* 1 point. (minimum is 0)
To prevent from abuse, players must have at least +400 with a nation to affect their contribution counter.
Things That Could Happen:
[Invasion]
All members of the opposing nation are sent the following message:
"Attention all pilots! The [enemy nation] have killed so many of our brethren that we have built a new [capital class ship] christened [name]. Due to this situation, it is highly likely that an enemy attack is on the way, please do your part in defending our new vessel!" [Messages can and should be tailored to fit the nation's character]
Members of the nation that reached the threshold are sent this one:
"Attention pilots! The [enemy nation], in their cowardice, has decided to build themselves a new[capital class ship] named [name]. Destroy the new ship, crush the enemy, and further the glory of the [nation]!" [Sounds a bit Serco, yes?]
Once the enemy's capital ship is destroyed, the attacking nation would receive a boost in their contribution points, and a few temporary status effects, such as:
-Increased experience gain
-Roids get overheated less quickly
-Higher drop rate of bot items
-Nationwide station discounts
-Access to special weapons(such as the NIII)
-[Not a status effect] A credit boost based on damage done to enemy ship
-[Not a status effect] A little news blurb naming those who did the most damage to the enemy ship, and those who got the most kills while protecting their ship
[CtF-like game]
All members of the opposing nation are sent the following message:
"The enemy has discovered our top-secret plans for [widget-x]. This [widget type] has been in development for months, and [number] credits have been invested into it. It's located in [station sector] and we cannot let it fall into enemy hands! Protect it well and we can put it into production in [time]! In addition, our researchers have installed a prototype security system designed to disable the turbo function of the engine of whoever's ship picks up the plans. Be warned!"
Members of the nation that reached the threshold are sent this one:
"According to our intel, the [enemy nation] have been developing plans for a [widget-x]. This [widget type] could be the [widget type] we need to sway the war's balance in our favor. We have managed to disable the [enemy nation]'s defense at the cost of our own, so we need all available pilots to assault [widget's sector] and bring the plans for [widget-x] to [Capital sector] for immediate production! Be warned- intel reports that your turbo will be disabled by the electronic package on [widget-x] once it's picked up. Good luck!"
Benefits would be similar to the ones above, except leaning more towards the secret widget production.
Also- the points would reset to 0 every tally period to provide some sort of marking point("Us Itani didn't do well last month, we'd better step it up if we want to stay in this war!").
Me likey.
Nice thread.
I argee there needs to be some way to keep track of progress in the border war, and I really, really like that neon sign idea. There are probably many other possibilities for that idea as well; stations could flash advertisements for low prices, wanted posters, or items in need.
As far as actual rewards go, I'm sure the devs have something in mind. I think the reward for doing well in the border war would ideally be embedded in the game system rather than imposed on the system. What I mean is, pretend the Serco take over Deneb; Serco nation would then have more space and more resources at their disposal, which would temporarily lead to reduced prices and increased production of goods.
I am hoping that one day this would be an emergent behavior of the universe, rather than an imposed benefit (like in CtC).
I argee there needs to be some way to keep track of progress in the border war, and I really, really like that neon sign idea. There are probably many other possibilities for that idea as well; stations could flash advertisements for low prices, wanted posters, or items in need.
As far as actual rewards go, I'm sure the devs have something in mind. I think the reward for doing well in the border war would ideally be embedded in the game system rather than imposed on the system. What I mean is, pretend the Serco take over Deneb; Serco nation would then have more space and more resources at their disposal, which would temporarily lead to reduced prices and increased production of goods.
I am hoping that one day this would be an emergent behavior of the universe, rather than an imposed benefit (like in CtC).
Lack of war for sure :/
Part of the reasoning behind the signs has a lot to do with immersion in the game. Right now, the neon signs we have may have information on it, but none of it is really useful. However, if signs started having information on them that people needed to know(All in GTS of course) it should motivate people to learn to read GTS and figure out what all the different signs mean. This way, all the GTS on signs won't go completely to waste like it is(for the most part) now.
Well, regarding the signs not having anything useful on them, I would expect that sometime in the distant future (somewhere after Soon™) the companies referred to on the signs would be actual companies that could be interacted with, bartered with, etc. etc.
We need captions, then.
The problem, M'haru, is that the signs don't have anything worth reading -now-. They don't help out immersion much -now-. And, while I'm against making it absolutely necessary to learn to read GTS(Say the tutorial was in GTS, or you could only chat in it), I am wholeheartedly for putting some useful and mostly optional information up there. Since, honestly, you don't need to know what your nation's points are at to fly your ships anywhere, to buy goods, chat with other players, or do a variety of other things in the universe. But, the information would be there and even could be useful to some people if they would be willing to learn to read it.
Also, having small bits of information (numbers and single words) means needing to learn small bits at a time, where each bit is useful in its own right, and no pieces are necessary. Maybe a couple billboards could be product displays?