Forums » Suggestions
After a number of lost buses, tiny cargo's, basically, worthless ship/cargo combinations to the players that, although they try to call themselves, "pirates" aren't really more than an annoyance.
Note to the Pirates who are actually guild members, or have fellow pirates. Your ok. You chat with everyone, let some small ships pass through so they'll have bigger cargo's later, and set up some very nice fights for all to join in on. Its the "I kill everything I see and sit at the sector 9 station 24 hours a day just cause its fun to shoot stuff" loner people I'm whining about.
Anyway, back tot he sugestion.
Levels of Experience. We already have a system that keeps track of a personal score, bounty depending on how many ships you attack and kill or be killed by. :) So lets use these numbers for something useful.
A permanent, level/experience bounty. Think of it this way. All the bounty you make, with some adjustments for the times your killed earning it, gets saved in a second place, as a sort of rating. The more ships you kill, with less damage, and less deaths, the more experience you get. As you progress upwards, the game starts to limit you to attacking ships/players within a certain number of experience of yourself.
Aka. If your a noob, struggling along to learn, flying your bus. Someone in a centaur, hornet, valkrie, with 50,000 hours of playing and 2,000,000 experience points, would not be allowed to fly up behind you and blast you out of existance just cause they felt like it. They would have to pick on someone their own size, keeping the fight fair.
You might include the option to turn off this feature, letting yourself be attacked by anyone if you want too. Which would probably be a good idea for experienced players making a new account for themselves?
If any of you play Diablo II, you'd be familiar with this sort of thing for teaming up. As the game lets you set a level difference limit between players, so super-players cant help/kill the regular or beginning players.
The only reason I suggest this is it seems it would make things more inviting for those who want to explore for a while, or maybe are terrible at it and just wanna run some cargo now and then. Would keep from frustrating the noobs :)
Note to the Pirates who are actually guild members, or have fellow pirates. Your ok. You chat with everyone, let some small ships pass through so they'll have bigger cargo's later, and set up some very nice fights for all to join in on. Its the "I kill everything I see and sit at the sector 9 station 24 hours a day just cause its fun to shoot stuff" loner people I'm whining about.
Anyway, back tot he sugestion.
Levels of Experience. We already have a system that keeps track of a personal score, bounty depending on how many ships you attack and kill or be killed by. :) So lets use these numbers for something useful.
A permanent, level/experience bounty. Think of it this way. All the bounty you make, with some adjustments for the times your killed earning it, gets saved in a second place, as a sort of rating. The more ships you kill, with less damage, and less deaths, the more experience you get. As you progress upwards, the game starts to limit you to attacking ships/players within a certain number of experience of yourself.
Aka. If your a noob, struggling along to learn, flying your bus. Someone in a centaur, hornet, valkrie, with 50,000 hours of playing and 2,000,000 experience points, would not be allowed to fly up behind you and blast you out of existance just cause they felt like it. They would have to pick on someone their own size, keeping the fight fair.
You might include the option to turn off this feature, letting yourself be attacked by anyone if you want too. Which would probably be a good idea for experienced players making a new account for themselves?
If any of you play Diablo II, you'd be familiar with this sort of thing for teaming up. As the game lets you set a level difference limit between players, so super-players cant help/kill the regular or beginning players.
The only reason I suggest this is it seems it would make things more inviting for those who want to explore for a while, or maybe are terrible at it and just wanna run some cargo now and then. Would keep from frustrating the noobs :)
I can't say I particularly like that idea as it stands, since it creates too many possible exploits. What I'd suggest is a ramped score thing, where you get more points for killing people with higher scores, and less for killing people with lower scores, all dependent on your score. For example, if I just start out and kill a bounty 75 bot, I'll get 75 points. If I'm an ace with a score in the millions, I might get something like 5 points, not even enough for me to bother killing it. This would also prevent botting, since they'd have to bot constantly for weeks to get a really high score. For this to work, the AI should be given actual scores, not just bounty. They could have both; you get the amount of cash listed as their bounty, and the score is used to calculate how much your score goes up. For example, that bounty 75 bot might have a score of 600. When ramped scoring comes into effect, the n00b might get 50 or 100 score points, while the ace gets 2 or 3.
Giving each player a score doesnt stop anyone though. Still lets everyone abuse the noobs, just don't get a reward for it.
I'm a noob, and I have probably been killed by people a hundred times. I just started playing last week. People should not kill anyone that doesn't have a bounty of 500 or more. It is hard for me evento get to 150 bounty. I don't even knowhow to trade yetand I getblown up by a player every single time I try to kill a bot. Iknow I have gotten killed in my ownhome sectorat least 10 times. That dumb Kastian Thunderclaw is always just sitting there in sector 9 waiting for anyone to come by then he shoots them. What is his problem? I suck...someone needs to help me NOW!
Jeffro: Your problem is you suck. Time will fix that. Everyone sucks to one extent or another at some point.
As for the rest of it, bounty is another meaningless relic of Vendetta's FPS past. Directly relating your bounty to how many bots you've killed has no RPG meaning.
I find it very hard to believe that you've been killed 10 times in your own home sector. Home sectors (the ones numbered 1,2, and 3) are very dangerous places for people who don't belong there. It wouldn't take a whole lot for your to be able to flee in the direction of your local DEF bots and let them handle the intruder.
Sector 9 is not anyone's home sector. Maybe you should just avoid sector 9 until you've gotten a little more experience.? You have no real need to be there anyway.
"That dumb Kastian Thunderclaw is always just sitting there in sector 9 waiting for anyone to come by then he shoots them. What is his problem?"
If I had to guess, I'd guess that Mr. Thunderclaw's 'problem' is that he thinks he is playing a game, and you know what - he's right.
As for the rest of it, bounty is another meaningless relic of Vendetta's FPS past. Directly relating your bounty to how many bots you've killed has no RPG meaning.
I find it very hard to believe that you've been killed 10 times in your own home sector. Home sectors (the ones numbered 1,2, and 3) are very dangerous places for people who don't belong there. It wouldn't take a whole lot for your to be able to flee in the direction of your local DEF bots and let them handle the intruder.
Sector 9 is not anyone's home sector. Maybe you should just avoid sector 9 until you've gotten a little more experience.? You have no real need to be there anyway.
"That dumb Kastian Thunderclaw is always just sitting there in sector 9 waiting for anyone to come by then he shoots them. What is his problem?"
If I had to guess, I'd guess that Mr. Thunderclaw's 'problem' is that he thinks he is playing a game, and you know what - he's right.
A bounty of 500? Wow... I've only had that, like, twice and I've been playing for a year or more.
Celebrim: So what if he sucks? I suck? I get killed by Kastin 9 times out of 10 if he decides to attack me. It's those darned flares. I run for it in my efficient engine, but he closes and fires flares, which hit me even though I'm many meters away. And, sadly, the Atlas really -can't- evade. :(
Celebrim: So what if he sucks? I suck? I get killed by Kastin 9 times out of 10 if he decides to attack me. It's those darned flares. I run for it in my efficient engine, but he closes and fires flares, which hit me even though I'm many meters away. And, sadly, the Atlas really -can't- evade. :(
rogue, switch that efficient for a medium, it's the latest rage!
Yeah, but I do stuff like, you know, boost gate to gate. I also go 500km out from time to time, to test stuff. I've got a nice little spot 500km out in sector 9.
Well, a few people got the point, a few people didn't. Just trying to come up with ways to protect the noobs?
The only other thing I see here is a problem with attitude. The noobs are right to not want to be shot every time they try to explore someplace new. And the pirates are right to be able to shoot at ships. But after you shoot someone a couple times and they're shouting out in chat. "Hey just leave me alone I wanna explore." or, "Cmon, I just wanna make some money and get a little nicer ship".
Ya really need to lay off em. Its a game, yes.. for "ALL" of us, not just the few players that are good enough to shoot everything in site.
No one should have to stay out of a certain sector just because that sector has become pirate/sunflare central. Until the game advances to the point of having some sort of AI defense... enough players to escort the noobs around and show em how things work. Yyou really need to just let some of them have fun, or they really wont be here long.
And don't turn this into one of those.. "Well other games..." or "They don't do that on". Vendetta isnt one of those other games. Its a test game. Not everything is put together yet, so don't go comparing it to everything else and whining just because you don't think you can do a nice thing every now and then.
The only other thing I see here is a problem with attitude. The noobs are right to not want to be shot every time they try to explore someplace new. And the pirates are right to be able to shoot at ships. But after you shoot someone a couple times and they're shouting out in chat. "Hey just leave me alone I wanna explore." or, "Cmon, I just wanna make some money and get a little nicer ship".
Ya really need to lay off em. Its a game, yes.. for "ALL" of us, not just the few players that are good enough to shoot everything in site.
No one should have to stay out of a certain sector just because that sector has become pirate/sunflare central. Until the game advances to the point of having some sort of AI defense... enough players to escort the noobs around and show em how things work. Yyou really need to just let some of them have fun, or they really wont be here long.
And don't turn this into one of those.. "Well other games..." or "They don't do that on". Vendetta isnt one of those other games. Its a test game. Not everything is put together yet, so don't go comparing it to everything else and whining just because you don't think you can do a nice thing every now and then.
CeaddaCompy, because there is SO much money around (due to money bugs) newbs chances of flying around unmolested is at an all-time(?) low. After the reset it'll be better.
But to look at a different solution to the problem, how about a couple newb sectors that you couldn't go in if you score was too high, and that were non-pvp sectors that all new chars started in. This would be far less abusable than lvls, and also wouldn't devide the (already small) community up into segments.
But to look at a different solution to the problem, how about a couple newb sectors that you couldn't go in if you score was too high, and that were non-pvp sectors that all new chars started in. This would be far less abusable than lvls, and also wouldn't devide the (already small) community up into segments.
"If I had to guess, I'd guess that Mr. Thunderclaw's 'problem' is that he thinks he is playing a game, and you know what - he's right."
No he isnt, Celebrim, and neither are you- this is a TEST, and preventing people from flying around in 'free' space, stopping people trading, and generally driving new testers away isnt right.
No he isnt, Celebrim, and neither are you- this is a TEST, and preventing people from flying around in 'free' space, stopping people trading, and generally driving new testers away isnt right.
It is a test. Yes, I agree.
But when this 'test' becomes a 'game', Mr. Thunderclaw or someone like him will still be killing other players. Guess what, in the game that will be considered 'good' behavior. Guess what, in the test the developers have done nothing to suggest that they think player vs. player combat is anything but good behavior.
It is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS to suggest that you, simply by the act of logging into the game, have not given implicit permission to everyone else in the game to blow your ship up because frankly, if you don't want to be blown up you shouldn't be involved in Vendetta. Whether you want to call this a test or a game or both, it doesn't change the fact that this is a simulation of combat and you have no right to complain about it when it occurs.
Combat isn't a bad thing that occassionally spoils the game - it is the thing that people should be enjoying. It is the focus of and highlight of the game.
Frankly, the I think the people who have a moral problem aren't the people engaging in pvp combat but rather those that when they are destroyed start hurling indiginant and often rude appeals, rants, and insults over the chat channel, who come here to the boards and whine and drop names hoping I guess for some sort of retribution against a person who was only doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Concepts like 'free space' and 'nuetral station' and 'code of honor' and 'duels' and so forth, whatever value that they might have, are not part of the game, but inventions by some people playing the game. A person who doesn't respect those inventions, is not playing the game 'wrong'.
Lets be totally honest. The people ticked off by this have basically had thier kindegarden level sense of 'fairness' offended. Too bad. Like you said, it's a test. Fairness isn't important. Everyone has to go through a period where they don't have the equipment, knowledge, or skills of the more experienced players. That is never going to change. If you can't handle that, go play a solitare game. Everyone gets ambushed when they really don't want to fight. So what. That's part of the simulation. Last night, some player jumped me when I was only trying to show my wife some of the new graphics in the game since the last time she'd looked. It was annoying, because she was getting ready for bed, and gets motion sickness when she watches me fight. But so what. The guy jumping me was just playing the game. I handled it _by just playing the game_.
But when this 'test' becomes a 'game', Mr. Thunderclaw or someone like him will still be killing other players. Guess what, in the game that will be considered 'good' behavior. Guess what, in the test the developers have done nothing to suggest that they think player vs. player combat is anything but good behavior.
It is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS to suggest that you, simply by the act of logging into the game, have not given implicit permission to everyone else in the game to blow your ship up because frankly, if you don't want to be blown up you shouldn't be involved in Vendetta. Whether you want to call this a test or a game or both, it doesn't change the fact that this is a simulation of combat and you have no right to complain about it when it occurs.
Combat isn't a bad thing that occassionally spoils the game - it is the thing that people should be enjoying. It is the focus of and highlight of the game.
Frankly, the I think the people who have a moral problem aren't the people engaging in pvp combat but rather those that when they are destroyed start hurling indiginant and often rude appeals, rants, and insults over the chat channel, who come here to the boards and whine and drop names hoping I guess for some sort of retribution against a person who was only doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Concepts like 'free space' and 'nuetral station' and 'code of honor' and 'duels' and so forth, whatever value that they might have, are not part of the game, but inventions by some people playing the game. A person who doesn't respect those inventions, is not playing the game 'wrong'.
Lets be totally honest. The people ticked off by this have basically had thier kindegarden level sense of 'fairness' offended. Too bad. Like you said, it's a test. Fairness isn't important. Everyone has to go through a period where they don't have the equipment, knowledge, or skills of the more experienced players. That is never going to change. If you can't handle that, go play a solitare game. Everyone gets ambushed when they really don't want to fight. So what. That's part of the simulation. Last night, some player jumped me when I was only trying to show my wife some of the new graphics in the game since the last time she'd looked. It was annoying, because she was getting ready for bed, and gets motion sickness when she watches me fight. But so what. The guy jumping me was just playing the game. I handled it _by just playing the game_.
"It is a test. Yes, I agree.
But when this 'test' becomes a 'game', Mr. Thunderclaw or someone like him will still be killing other players. Guess what, in the game that will be considered 'good' behavior. Guess what, in the test the developers have done nothing to suggest that they think player vs. player combat is anything but good behavior.
It is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS to suggest that you, simply by the act of logging into the game, have not given implicit permission to everyone else in the game to blow your ship up because frankly, if you don't want to be blown up you shouldn't be involved in Vendetta. Whether you want to call this a test or a game or both, it doesn't change the fact that this is a simulation of combat and you have no right to complain about it when it occurs."
Look, Im not saying that we should all live in some sort or teletubbyland when logged on to Vendetta. What I AM saying, is that excessive taunting after being attacked from behind for no apparent reason will drive people away before they even get a foothold.
This is a combat simulation, yes. I wouldnt call being bombarded by sunflares and dying without having a chance to react "combat". Sure, if you dont enjoy the actual fighting, youre in the wrong place- but not getting even the chance to train, gain a foothold and learn how to fight because somebody keeps coming along and killing you should not happen. I think people have every right to complain if thats happening.
"Frankly, the I think the people who have a moral problem aren't the people engaging in pvp combat but rather those that when they are destroyed start hurling indiginant and often rude appeals, rants, and insults over the chat channel, who come here to the boards and whine and drop names hoping I guess for some sort of retribution against a person who was only doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Concepts like 'free space' and 'nuetral station' and 'code of honor' and 'duels' and so forth, whatever value that they might have, are not part of the game, but inventions by some people playing the game. A person who doesn't respect those inventions, is not playing the game 'wrong'."
Whining is just annoying. Asking for help from your team-mates is not. Saying in public chat who killed you, once, is a good way of finding out who is with you and who is against you, and you can work from there. I never said anybody was playing the game "wrong", but at the moment, the Test is turning into SpaceQuake. It is because there are people coming up and adhering to made-up codes of honor that this game will slowly morph into an MMORPG.
"Lets be totally honest. The people ticked off by this have basically had thier kindegarden level sense of 'fairness' offended. Too bad. Like you said, it's a test. Fairness isn't important. Everyone has to go through a period where they don't have the equipment, knowledge, or skills of the more experienced players. That is never going to change. If you can't handle that, go play a solitare game. Everyone gets ambushed when they really don't want to fight. So what. That's part of the simulation. Last night, some player jumped me when I was only trying to show my wife some of the new graphics in the game since the last time she'd looked. It was annoying, because she was getting ready for bed, and gets motion sickness when she watches me fight. But so what. The guy jumping me was just playing the game. I handled it _by just playing the game_."
And if you were a new player? First time out, you crash into the station at full speed and die. Second time, you get wasted in the space of half a second. Third time, you get wasted in the space of half a second. You would be confused, disorientated and unlikely to think that testing Vendetta would be any fun at all. So the playerbase gets stale. Not good.
There is no imposed difficulty curve, the main factor in determining how tricky it is to get started is the attitudes of other players. Pirating, fine. Bounty hunting, fine. Killing newbies for the sake of killing newbies is not, and the ones getting wasted time and time again will get sick of it, since they arent getting any opportunity to learn how to participate- only a large whoosh, bang, and bound death taunt in the chat to make them feel small. And THEY KNOW there is nothing they can do about it. Theres the problem.
But when this 'test' becomes a 'game', Mr. Thunderclaw or someone like him will still be killing other players. Guess what, in the game that will be considered 'good' behavior. Guess what, in the test the developers have done nothing to suggest that they think player vs. player combat is anything but good behavior.
It is utterly and completely RIDICULOUS to suggest that you, simply by the act of logging into the game, have not given implicit permission to everyone else in the game to blow your ship up because frankly, if you don't want to be blown up you shouldn't be involved in Vendetta. Whether you want to call this a test or a game or both, it doesn't change the fact that this is a simulation of combat and you have no right to complain about it when it occurs."
Look, Im not saying that we should all live in some sort or teletubbyland when logged on to Vendetta. What I AM saying, is that excessive taunting after being attacked from behind for no apparent reason will drive people away before they even get a foothold.
This is a combat simulation, yes. I wouldnt call being bombarded by sunflares and dying without having a chance to react "combat". Sure, if you dont enjoy the actual fighting, youre in the wrong place- but not getting even the chance to train, gain a foothold and learn how to fight because somebody keeps coming along and killing you should not happen. I think people have every right to complain if thats happening.
"Frankly, the I think the people who have a moral problem aren't the people engaging in pvp combat but rather those that when they are destroyed start hurling indiginant and often rude appeals, rants, and insults over the chat channel, who come here to the boards and whine and drop names hoping I guess for some sort of retribution against a person who was only doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Concepts like 'free space' and 'nuetral station' and 'code of honor' and 'duels' and so forth, whatever value that they might have, are not part of the game, but inventions by some people playing the game. A person who doesn't respect those inventions, is not playing the game 'wrong'."
Whining is just annoying. Asking for help from your team-mates is not. Saying in public chat who killed you, once, is a good way of finding out who is with you and who is against you, and you can work from there. I never said anybody was playing the game "wrong", but at the moment, the Test is turning into SpaceQuake. It is because there are people coming up and adhering to made-up codes of honor that this game will slowly morph into an MMORPG.
"Lets be totally honest. The people ticked off by this have basically had thier kindegarden level sense of 'fairness' offended. Too bad. Like you said, it's a test. Fairness isn't important. Everyone has to go through a period where they don't have the equipment, knowledge, or skills of the more experienced players. That is never going to change. If you can't handle that, go play a solitare game. Everyone gets ambushed when they really don't want to fight. So what. That's part of the simulation. Last night, some player jumped me when I was only trying to show my wife some of the new graphics in the game since the last time she'd looked. It was annoying, because she was getting ready for bed, and gets motion sickness when she watches me fight. But so what. The guy jumping me was just playing the game. I handled it _by just playing the game_."
And if you were a new player? First time out, you crash into the station at full speed and die. Second time, you get wasted in the space of half a second. Third time, you get wasted in the space of half a second. You would be confused, disorientated and unlikely to think that testing Vendetta would be any fun at all. So the playerbase gets stale. Not good.
There is no imposed difficulty curve, the main factor in determining how tricky it is to get started is the attitudes of other players. Pirating, fine. Bounty hunting, fine. Killing newbies for the sake of killing newbies is not, and the ones getting wasted time and time again will get sick of it, since they arent getting any opportunity to learn how to participate- only a large whoosh, bang, and bound death taunt in the chat to make them feel small. And THEY KNOW there is nothing they can do about it. Theres the problem.
/me congratulates UncleDave. :) As he once again proves he's one of the few with an actual brain :)
Good job imagineing yourself in the position of a newb UD.
The sort of behavior that has been mentioned does nothing more than drive away newbs/convince them to sink to that level.
This is a problem with all MMO games and thus the Vendetta test is also subject to it. What needs to be done is either A. prevent it or B. eliminate that hoplessness by giving newbs some options.
The sort of behavior that has been mentioned does nothing more than drive away newbs/convince them to sink to that level.
This is a problem with all MMO games and thus the Vendetta test is also subject to it. What needs to be done is either A. prevent it or B. eliminate that hoplessness by giving newbs some options.
Err...maybe I'm a little confused here, but weren't we all n00bs once? I don't have to put myself in a n00bs shoes, I've been a n00b! It might have been a year ago or so, but I'm not yet so senile as I can't remember what it was like.
This is what it was like for me to be a n00b. I created my first character. I left the station. I could barely control my ship. I spent about 5 minutes just flying around the station in loops trying to get the hang of all the controls. I went and configured my controls. I reconfigured my controls. I went flying around the ice crystals for a while. I got banged up after bouncing off a few corners. It took me about 3 minutes to figure out how to get back in the station. I probably spent an hour total playing with the controls and learning to fly. I never left sector 1, because I was pretty terrified that I'd make a fool of myself if I had to fight anything. Finally, I got up the nerve to go to sector 4. I went and fought one of the old '40' bots. It nearly killed me. This was back when you'd start with a Centurian. I went and got repaired. This was also back in the day when ships didn't drop scrap metal when you destroyed them. I killed more '40' bots. Eventually I got too cocky and the '40' bots killed me. I fought some more. I died some more. I finally managed to get enough money from bounty to start trading blue widgets for mining widgets (1 to 4). It took alot of trips to make just a few 100cr's. I finally got enough money to buy a blue laser. Things were looking up. About that time, the word 'Assbandit' flashed on the bottom of my screen and I suddenly blew up. The next few weeks basically worked that way. I almost never left sector 4. I'd literally played for 30 hours before I'd ever been to sector 7. Sector 9 seemed utterly remote the first time I visted it ... and this was back with the 9 sector map. And this was back before n00b sectors had angry Defence bots that would destroy intruders. I'd scrimp to save up for a decent ship, then Private Pile, Khral, Assbandit, Panda, or someone would come along and blow me up. Eventually I got good enough that I could afford to save enough money for several ships between getting blown up by an Ace. I was frequently broke and forced to use red lasers. I also got better. I'd been scrimping by buying medium engines and batteries, making me look worse than I actual was. Eventually I got good enough that I though I could challenge one of the Aces so I invested in the top equipment - and lost. And lost again. And lost again. Eventually though, I got where I could get one of them maybe one time in three. After that, they stopped hunting me so often, but I did get in alot of long and very enjoyable duels when they did.
I didn't get sick of it. I figured it was part of the learning curve. No one starts out good. No one should expect that an unfinished game is going to be much more than a free for all shoot 'em up, and heck I found the free for all shoot 'em up pretty fun.
The only thing I can agree with you on is the taunting. It shouldn't happen. Moderators if present should stop it. I find it every bit as unsporting as the whining. But lets not ignore the fact that alot of the time the n00b brings the taunting on himself by exploding into a tantrum after being destroyed. That doesn't excuse the taunting, but it is something to consider in its causes.
There are alot of things that can be done to help the n00bs adjust in a finished game, but for now the n00bs are just going to have to grow a tougher hide.
This is what it was like for me to be a n00b. I created my first character. I left the station. I could barely control my ship. I spent about 5 minutes just flying around the station in loops trying to get the hang of all the controls. I went and configured my controls. I reconfigured my controls. I went flying around the ice crystals for a while. I got banged up after bouncing off a few corners. It took me about 3 minutes to figure out how to get back in the station. I probably spent an hour total playing with the controls and learning to fly. I never left sector 1, because I was pretty terrified that I'd make a fool of myself if I had to fight anything. Finally, I got up the nerve to go to sector 4. I went and fought one of the old '40' bots. It nearly killed me. This was back when you'd start with a Centurian. I went and got repaired. This was also back in the day when ships didn't drop scrap metal when you destroyed them. I killed more '40' bots. Eventually I got too cocky and the '40' bots killed me. I fought some more. I died some more. I finally managed to get enough money from bounty to start trading blue widgets for mining widgets (1 to 4). It took alot of trips to make just a few 100cr's. I finally got enough money to buy a blue laser. Things were looking up. About that time, the word 'Assbandit' flashed on the bottom of my screen and I suddenly blew up. The next few weeks basically worked that way. I almost never left sector 4. I'd literally played for 30 hours before I'd ever been to sector 7. Sector 9 seemed utterly remote the first time I visted it ... and this was back with the 9 sector map. And this was back before n00b sectors had angry Defence bots that would destroy intruders. I'd scrimp to save up for a decent ship, then Private Pile, Khral, Assbandit, Panda, or someone would come along and blow me up. Eventually I got good enough that I could afford to save enough money for several ships between getting blown up by an Ace. I was frequently broke and forced to use red lasers. I also got better. I'd been scrimping by buying medium engines and batteries, making me look worse than I actual was. Eventually I got good enough that I though I could challenge one of the Aces so I invested in the top equipment - and lost. And lost again. And lost again. Eventually though, I got where I could get one of them maybe one time in three. After that, they stopped hunting me so often, but I did get in alot of long and very enjoyable duels when they did.
I didn't get sick of it. I figured it was part of the learning curve. No one starts out good. No one should expect that an unfinished game is going to be much more than a free for all shoot 'em up, and heck I found the free for all shoot 'em up pretty fun.
The only thing I can agree with you on is the taunting. It shouldn't happen. Moderators if present should stop it. I find it every bit as unsporting as the whining. But lets not ignore the fact that alot of the time the n00b brings the taunting on himself by exploding into a tantrum after being destroyed. That doesn't excuse the taunting, but it is something to consider in its causes.
There are alot of things that can be done to help the n00bs adjust in a finished game, but for now the n00bs are just going to have to grow a tougher hide.
Celebrim describes pretty much what i experienced as a n00b. It took me about 30 mins of flying around Sector 1 to figure out the controls and how to jump! I stayed in sector 4 for a few days, trying to kill bots and scraping together enough money to buy the odd ion cannon. I did not want to venture too far cos i knew i had complete lack of skill, and would just look silly, as every now and then a Gold "ace" would venture into 4 and kill us all anyway! I decided to join GOld... had to start all over again... trying to kill bots for a few hours, getting money togther... After a few more days i found i could take out the bots easily, so started exploring, and got trading the profitable routes. When i had amassed 20-30k i started getting cocky and fighting players in 7. I fought FiReMaGe quite a few times, and got killed everytime, so i tried to figure out how he dodged and aimed so well... I can't remember quite when, but soon after a player called Phoenix came along, and somehow we got into a fight... that was the beginning of days, maybe weeks, of having absolutley no money.. As sooon as Phoenix or me had money we would be flying across the sectors to hunt the one another down... We really had a "vendetta" against each other! We had the one goal to bankrupt the other person! FUN! HUH! Fortunately we both discovered that we had got rather good at dogfighting, declared a (shortlasting) truce and generally killed everything that moved...
That is an extremely compressed version, as i missed out all the other great players at the time; StarFreeze, Sam II, Pile, Takumi, Venthir, Tillek (badger hunter)... Also the great effort that went into caps... Don't know why, but flag capping now isn't what it used to be!
Looking back now, it is so much easier to gain money, i have litle sympathy for n00bs that play for 10 mins, get given a million credits, and start trying to kill everyone, then complain when they die. I say, good luck to Mr. Thunderclaw!
That is an extremely compressed version, as i missed out all the other great players at the time; StarFreeze, Sam II, Pile, Takumi, Venthir, Tillek (badger hunter)... Also the great effort that went into caps... Don't know why, but flag capping now isn't what it used to be!
Looking back now, it is so much easier to gain money, i have litle sympathy for n00bs that play for 10 mins, get given a million credits, and start trying to kill everyone, then complain when they die. I say, good luck to Mr. Thunderclaw!
celebrim,
you are on a scale of 100, the only one that is left from that generation. What I wanted to say with this is that from 100 newbies signing up only 5% do what you were saying, the other 95% just wont invest their precious time into getting shot for no apparant reason.
And the reason is, why would I invest time in a game if people arent even willing to cut me a little slack, it gives the community a bad name and in the end will destroy the community. If you want an example, just look at counterstrike, or any other FPS.
If not for morals then no one would even play this game/ test or whatever name you can devise in your little head to try to circumvent this point.
It doesnt mean that as a vet you have a blanc checque to do whatever you feel like. As a vet you should set the example for the good of the community not for the bad. Because in the end even the vet wont have fun anymore.
cheers
EDIT: Icarus, Im against the nobs getting millions, it will only make it worse for them. What I wouldlike to see is giving those newbies 10k and let them start working their way up, with a little bit better cargo,a few lessons here and there about what is what and how to go left and right and ... . Just showing them some of the ropes so that they will continue to play in stead of destructive behavious of just shooting them out of the sky just because they looked funny
A good teacher invests time in his students not money.
PS: Nice to see you back ic :D
you are on a scale of 100, the only one that is left from that generation. What I wanted to say with this is that from 100 newbies signing up only 5% do what you were saying, the other 95% just wont invest their precious time into getting shot for no apparant reason.
And the reason is, why would I invest time in a game if people arent even willing to cut me a little slack, it gives the community a bad name and in the end will destroy the community. If you want an example, just look at counterstrike, or any other FPS.
If not for morals then no one would even play this game/ test or whatever name you can devise in your little head to try to circumvent this point.
It doesnt mean that as a vet you have a blanc checque to do whatever you feel like. As a vet you should set the example for the good of the community not for the bad. Because in the end even the vet wont have fun anymore.
cheers
EDIT: Icarus, Im against the nobs getting millions, it will only make it worse for them. What I wouldlike to see is giving those newbies 10k and let them start working their way up, with a little bit better cargo,a few lessons here and there about what is what and how to go left and right and ... . Just showing them some of the ropes so that they will continue to play in stead of destructive behavious of just shooting them out of the sky just because they looked funny
A good teacher invests time in his students not money.
PS: Nice to see you back ic :D
Icarus: Man, I'd almost forget about Tillek and Venthir. I went round and round with them. Venthir and myself had this vendetta were we'd sneak up behind each other when botting and blast each other out of existance with a swarm of rockets. That's how I learned to watch my 6 and still fight. I'd be fighting one of the old '80' bots in 8, and all the sudden there'd be this cloud of yellow behind me. Good times. Some of the most memorable fights I've had were against Venthir in the Ice Maze with rockets detonating everywhere - anyone of which would have been enough to end the fight.
If you've never killed anyone with rockets that you didn't have los on, you just don't know what you are missing.
Renegade: All I'm saying is that the game has gotten incredibly _less_ frustrating for a n00b than it was when I started it. If anything, I think that alot of the current crop of n00bs is exhibiting 'spoiled' behavior. Noone really is getting 'bankrupted' the way you could be in 3.1. The n00b zones are comparitively safe. The best Ace out there can't camp sector 4 and kill blue n00bs at will, because eventually 'the cops' are going to be on his tail. And if you happen to be on during a successful cap, you'll get more money than as a n00b you really need.
Am I excusing being rude? No, I'm not.
Of 100 n00bs that sign up, the number that get bored because thier isn't enough to do far exceeds the number that will frustrated because someone is blowing them up repeatively. I think the fact that the DEF bots have become virtually unfightable due to instantaneous spawning and access to unbalanced tech (like the frigate guns) has done far more to drive n00bs away than the fact that there are and always will be a few griefers in the community. Why? Because organized and relatively intense combat is becoming increasingly rare. Teams are falling apart for lack of anything interesting to do. Current cap 'tactics' take an enormously high ammount of skill to do something relatively boring. The kind of n00bs we want to keep log on, learn to kill 75 bots, learn to kill 150 bots, do some exploring, maybe get in a few brief fights and learn that the rockes are unbalanced, and then get bored and leave.
The lack of morals doesn't kill a game. The lack of gameplay kills a game.
And you are the one that started quibbling over the word 'game', so don't try to pass that off as my attempt to circumvent the point.
If you've never killed anyone with rockets that you didn't have los on, you just don't know what you are missing.
Renegade: All I'm saying is that the game has gotten incredibly _less_ frustrating for a n00b than it was when I started it. If anything, I think that alot of the current crop of n00bs is exhibiting 'spoiled' behavior. Noone really is getting 'bankrupted' the way you could be in 3.1. The n00b zones are comparitively safe. The best Ace out there can't camp sector 4 and kill blue n00bs at will, because eventually 'the cops' are going to be on his tail. And if you happen to be on during a successful cap, you'll get more money than as a n00b you really need.
Am I excusing being rude? No, I'm not.
Of 100 n00bs that sign up, the number that get bored because thier isn't enough to do far exceeds the number that will frustrated because someone is blowing them up repeatively. I think the fact that the DEF bots have become virtually unfightable due to instantaneous spawning and access to unbalanced tech (like the frigate guns) has done far more to drive n00bs away than the fact that there are and always will be a few griefers in the community. Why? Because organized and relatively intense combat is becoming increasingly rare. Teams are falling apart for lack of anything interesting to do. Current cap 'tactics' take an enormously high ammount of skill to do something relatively boring. The kind of n00bs we want to keep log on, learn to kill 75 bots, learn to kill 150 bots, do some exploring, maybe get in a few brief fights and learn that the rockes are unbalanced, and then get bored and leave.
The lack of morals doesn't kill a game. The lack of gameplay kills a game.
And you are the one that started quibbling over the word 'game', so don't try to pass that off as my attempt to circumvent the point.
CeaddaCompy, if you really want to stay safe just stay inside the home sectors. The defence bots are protecting you there, and very few greifers and enemys are able to withstand those bots long enough to attack you.
I remember back in the days of 3.1, you had to constanly watch your tail even in home sectors because greifers would come in and destroy all the newbies botting in the home sectors.
Thanks devs for incorporating the defence bots!
I remember back in the days of 3.1, you had to constanly watch your tail even in home sectors because greifers would come in and destroy all the newbies botting in the home sectors.
Thanks devs for incorporating the defence bots!