Forums » Suggestions
Increase VO groups limit and allow subgroups in main groups
I know, title sounds silly but hear me out.
After participating in some heated discussion over NW events and various tactics used in them I decided to dig up one of my old ideas.
Nation war situation is a perfect example how this could be put to a very good use.
1. BIGGER GROUPS ( 15-20 members)
All NW teams join a group.
VO groups are restricted to 8 members and with current limited radar blips we only have white, green and red dots. White being your group members, green players with your faction admire status and red your enemies (alas, red works only for Itani/serco).
If there are more players on your team than your group can take, mayhem starts.
Sure, you can make another group and have 2 groups but you also have all pos UITs and pirates from various nations that have your nation admire and are also green dots on your radar.
OK, you can use makefriends plug-in to turn some green dots to red but it wont work for tagging various nations pirates team.
Makefriends will solve things only if all players of your team are in the same group.
2. SUBGROUPS within a main group (2-3 members)
Now we come to some tactical value.
My teams tactics usually require a wingman and I want to be able to constantly keep an eye on my wingman and coordinate actions with him.
Simple solution is: creating a "wingman" teams/subgroups within the main group tagged with a different color.
Bigger groups and subgroups would allow for some very interesting tactics and gameplay especially if VO will one day be populated far better then it is now.
After participating in some heated discussion over NW events and various tactics used in them I decided to dig up one of my old ideas.
Nation war situation is a perfect example how this could be put to a very good use.
1. BIGGER GROUPS ( 15-20 members)
All NW teams join a group.
VO groups are restricted to 8 members and with current limited radar blips we only have white, green and red dots. White being your group members, green players with your faction admire status and red your enemies (alas, red works only for Itani/serco).
If there are more players on your team than your group can take, mayhem starts.
Sure, you can make another group and have 2 groups but you also have all pos UITs and pirates from various nations that have your nation admire and are also green dots on your radar.
OK, you can use makefriends plug-in to turn some green dots to red but it wont work for tagging various nations pirates team.
Makefriends will solve things only if all players of your team are in the same group.
2. SUBGROUPS within a main group (2-3 members)
Now we come to some tactical value.
My teams tactics usually require a wingman and I want to be able to constantly keep an eye on my wingman and coordinate actions with him.
Simple solution is: creating a "wingman" teams/subgroups within the main group tagged with a different color.
Bigger groups and subgroups would allow for some very interesting tactics and gameplay especially if VO will one day be populated far better then it is now.
YES PLEASE.
Subgroups are already a part of SwitchTarget. Granted, it's only for the purposes of SwitchTarget, and there is no colour difference, but that might be feasible as well. If you haven't checked it out yet, look at it, it might solve some of your problems. If you have, and it hasn't, then I'm sorry. :P
But yes, I absolutely agree with this. So much so that I tried to make a plugin that would incorporate some of the elements.
But yes, I absolutely agree with this. So much so that I tried to make a plugin that would incorporate some of the elements.
The past excuse for not making the group bigger was voice chat support and bandwidth.
I think most people would agree that it would be better to have an in game group where only the first 8 ships have Voice, than to not have groups larger than 8.
That way most people get the group function, and the server gets it's current bandwidth cap.
I think most people would agree that it would be better to have an in game group where only the first 8 ships have Voice, than to not have groups larger than 8.
That way most people get the group function, and the server gets it's current bandwidth cap.
I agree there needs to be an increase on group size but several issues arise from it. How many and which members to display comes to mind. I dont want 30 ship status displays crowding up my monitor. Then there is the voice chat issues of who connects to who.
Sub-groups raise even more issues like what to do when the leader of a sub-group logs... should thier be an auto promotion of some sort and how to decide which player gets that promotion. How big should sub-groups become and how to handle thier display are also major isses. What about sub-sub-groups? Should we seek a military structure which might be easier to learn or something more freestyle that can accomodate any need that may arise.
Group does need some love from the devs to be sure. PCC issues aside I would like to see a clear indication of who the group leader is perhaps by using a different color for the leaders name. I have also found that if you turn the group display off instead of getting the normal ship status display you just get a blank space....
.02
Sub-groups raise even more issues like what to do when the leader of a sub-group logs... should thier be an auto promotion of some sort and how to decide which player gets that promotion. How big should sub-groups become and how to handle thier display are also major isses. What about sub-sub-groups? Should we seek a military structure which might be easier to learn or something more freestyle that can accomodate any need that may arise.
Group does need some love from the devs to be sure. PCC issues aside I would like to see a clear indication of who the group leader is perhaps by using a different color for the leaders name. I have also found that if you turn the group display off instead of getting the normal ship status display you just get a blank space....
.02
Imho, developing groups and radar to something more useful takes precedence over voice chat abilities.
true Bojan. Bigger groups please
How about keeping the group size as is but allowing the leaders of different groups to 'link' the groups together via a command? Then members of any linked groups would appear on radar as if they were in the main group (but maybe use a grey dot instead of white to distinguish them from main group members?). Also have group chat communicate with linked groups as well.
Still keep it so the group status display on the HUD only shows members in your main group, and obviously voice chat would also only be with your main group members.
I can't think of any reason not to show linked group members in the group panel of the PDA (including their location and health if in the same sector). My only recommendation would be to list main group members first and then the linked members.
This would provide a mechanic for additional group members without having to worry about the voice chat bandwidth issues. It would also allow for subgroups since several 2-3 member groups could simply link up. There would obviously have to be some upper limit on the number of groups that can be linked together, but that would be best left to the discretion of the devs.
Still keep it so the group status display on the HUD only shows members in your main group, and obviously voice chat would also only be with your main group members.
I can't think of any reason not to show linked group members in the group panel of the PDA (including their location and health if in the same sector). My only recommendation would be to list main group members first and then the linked members.
This would provide a mechanic for additional group members without having to worry about the voice chat bandwidth issues. It would also allow for subgroups since several 2-3 member groups could simply link up. There would obviously have to be some upper limit on the number of groups that can be linked together, but that would be best left to the discretion of the devs.