|
|
| Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 0 post(s) |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
432
   |
Posted - 2013.12.05 15:06:00 -
[1] - Quote
Scope and Goal
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FW needs a new game mode. It needs to get people involved in their faction, have a useful connection with EVE, and feel bigger and more exciting than public matches. A new game mode should utilize existing game mechanics creatively to deliver on the above goal without needing extensive code rewrites.
Proposal
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For each contested District create four "linked" 16 vs 16 matches. Each match is hosted on it's own battle node and operates like a normal Skirmish match. Your goal is still to capture the Null Cannons. However the big change comes from the fact that the MCC is now a "global" object and that all four Skirmish matches Null Cannons damage it. The match would begin with all objectives in control of the defenders and progress in stages.
Stage 1 (15 minutes):
The MCC has not yet arrived in the District. The Null Cannons are not active and do not yet have a contested timer (they flip instantly).
Stage 2 (30 minutes):
The MCC arrives in the district. The Null Cannons activate and begin firing (if controlled by the defender) at the MCC. Null Cannons now have their normal contested timer.
Stage 3 (15 minutes):
The MCC docks at the District Control Tower and begins hacking it to disable the District's defenses. Every 60 seconds a random Null Cannon in one of the matches is disabled.
Victory:
If all of the District's defenses are disabled by the MCC the attackers win. If the MCC is destroyed the defenders win.
Enhancement 1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Each individual match would start as a 16 v 16 but would have an upper limit of 24 vs 24. Squads would have the ability to redeploy between the four matches. This allows for vital areas to be reinforced by up to 24 players and would cause a more dynamic / changing battlefield as squads moved around to capture lightly defended areas. To help keep this organized squads would be exactly 4 players so that you don't run into problems where a 5 player squad wants to redeploy but there are only 4 open slots.
Enhancement 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Special "Support Objectives" would exist on maps that aid allies. These would range from Skyfire Batteries to Artillery to Jammer Stations. Each would allow specific Off Map Support to be used by allied squads on any map. This means that an squad on map A could call in an Artillery Strike from the Artillery Battery on map B. To counter this the enemy force on map A (who are being decimated by artillery fire) would need to either contact the forces on map B and request that they disable to artillery or send a squad to map B to disable it themselves.
Summary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Four 16 vs 16 matches that are "Linked" for a total of 64 vs 64
- Attacker / Defender have unlimited (or extremely high amount of) clones
- All Null Cannons, Turrets and Objectives start in defender control
- Attacker has large floating Mobile Command Center (MCC) that is moving towards the District Control Tower (DCT)
- 15 minutes until MCC arrives in District
- 30 minutes for MCC to dock at DCT
- 15 minutes while MCC hacks DCT defenses (Upon docking disable 1 random Null Cannon)
- Disables 1 random Null Cannon per minute
- Upon completion - defenses disabled (Attacker Victory)
- 16 Null Cannons spread among the 4 maps. (5/5/5/1 or 5/5/4/2 or 5/5/3/3 or 5/4/4/3 or 4/4/4/4)
- Null Cannon RoF is 6 shots per minute
- 3600 total Null Cannon shots per match (2880 for first 30 minutes, then 720 for last 15 minutes due to Null Cannons being disabled one by one)
- Null Cannons will destroy MCC after 1800 shots (exactly 50% of total possible shots fired during a match)
- MCC is destroyed (Defender Victory)
- Enhancement: Squads can redeploy between maps if room is available
- Max of 24 vs 24 per map
- Mandatory squad size of 4
- Upon redeploy all 4 squad members die (disconnect from that clone) with message "Redeploying"
- Enhancement: Additional support objectives in maps with less Null Cannons (These don't all have to be released at once)
- Skyfire Batteries (Anti EVE while active - targets and destroys enemy connected ships every X minutes)
- Ground Artillery (Allows for artillery strikes every X minutes - inaccurate strike that hits a large area)
- Missile Sites (Allows for missile strikes every X minutes - precise strike that can target moving vehicles)
- Shield Generators (Deploys shield over map while active - no OB, artillery or missile strikes possible)
- Scan Center (Allows for scanner sweeps every X minutes - reveals all enemies on map for Y seconds)
- Jamming Station (Allows for EM pulses every X minutes - disrupts radar, HUD, vision and targeting for Y seconds)
- Perhaps have a squad cooldown for using these so that they can have shorter cooldowns without a single squad spamming them every X seconds.
Continued below... |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
432
|
Posted - 2013.12.05 15:06:00 -
[2] - Quote
Benefits:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. Makes FW feel bigger.
Right now districts can be captured by 16 people in 15 minutes, that makes them seem tiny. With this system it takes 64 people an hour to capture a district. Plus, capturing the support objectives on your map will help your allies on the other maps. It's no longer 4 16 vs 16 matches, its one huge 64 vs 64 match across 4 battlefields. Also, for special districts it could be scaled up to be 5, 6, 7 or 8 connected 16 vs 16 matches that take multiple hours. That would allow for 100+ vs 100+ players without killing a single battle server.
2. Creates a constantly changing battle.
With 64 players moving around 94 battlefield slots some areas will be heavily defended while others are lightly defended, or not defended at all. Teams will need to redeploy their forces to reinforce, attack opportunistic targets or defend. Also as the MCC moves through the District the game will change. Early on it will be a mad dash to claim the Cannons before they activate. Then it will be defending your claimed Cannons while taking them from the enemy. Finally it will be a mad dash as the Cannons slowly go offline and the defenders frantically try to keep applying damage to the MCC.
3. Helps balance vehicles.
Vehicle balance is hard right now because, in current 16 vs 16 matches with 3 - 4 objectives, calling in a single HAV can dictate who wins or loses. However, when the battle is scaled up to 64 vs 64 across 4 battlefields with 16 objectives, that single HAV is not nearly as powerful. It can't power project to all 4 battlefields and keep all 16 Null Cannons under control. Vehicles would be more for support, helping 3 squads take an objective held by 4 enemy squads or ensuring that the Skyfire Battery is well defended so it can continue obliterating the enemy in space.
4. More EVE involvement.
With 4x battlefields and a myriad of objectives the 3 minute firing time between OB's could be reduced to 30 or 60 seconds. The cooldown on the EVE guns could still be 3 minutes, but by bringing more ships fitted with OB guns a side could fire off more OB's per match. Everyone loves OB's; they look awesome, they're powerful, and they highlight one of DUST's strongest marketing points - the EVE / DUST link. I hope that eventually EVE pilots can choose where they fire instead of relying on DUST mercs to provide coordinates because that would be awesome.
5. Off map support.
If support objectives are added then it will be important for teams to capture and defend them. This leads to situations where squad leaders will request that support objectives be captured by off map squads. "This is Alpha Squad, we need that Artillery Battery taken down ASAP!" or "This is fleet, that Skyfire Battery just took down another Commerant! If we lose another then we will have to bug out."
TL/DR: Read the summary. |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
432
|
Posted - 2013.12.05 15:07:00 -
[3] - Quote
Reserved |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
432
|
Posted - 2013.12.05 15:08:00 -
[4] - Quote
Reserved |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
440
|
Posted - 2013.12.06 14:47:00 -
[5] - Quote
Makuta Miserix wrote:1+
Don't see anything like this happening for a long while though. Probably, but my hope and goal when designing it was to make something that would have limited rewrites of existing code and only some basic expansions. DUST needs something to take it out of the 16 vs 16 lobby and into something big.
Everyone loves Planetside 2 because of the huge battles, and much of EVE's marketing is from the huge null sec 1000 vs 1000 fleet fights. So I figured, why not take one of DUST technical constraints (battle nodes only handling 16 vs 16 or possibly 24 vs 24 matches) and using some creative mechanics turn it into an awesome feature. We don't need 100+ vs 100+ player matches with everyone fighting on the same map. We could break it apart into several smaller matches that are all linked together with objectives where the actions of players in one map affect the players on other maps.
Because isn't that why we all love DUST? Because we know that, at some point in the future, it will be a game where 100+ players work together to defeat 100+ players on a planet's surface with EVE players firing at us from space and that, at the end of these huge chaotic matches that could take hours, one side will win control of the planet. And then we can point at that battle and say:
"I helped take (Planet X) for my Alliance. We fought for 4 days, lost billions of ISK worth of gear, and billions more in orbiting ships. It all came down to this one District. They wouldn't give up. So after fighting for 5 hours and getting nowhere we made the decision to warp in a Titan and nuke the entire District from orbit. Everything was destroyed and now it will cost us another few billion ISK to rebuild it all, but we took it. And now we finally own this sector of space...
So tell me again, how did your cute little match in CoD go..?" |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
446
|
Posted - 2013.12.06 22:20:00 -
[6] - Quote
Samoset Detrium wrote:The problem with the time now is that some people just DONT have that time, I don't get to get on that much myself because of my busy lifestyle, I manage to sign in yes and maybe play one match every day, that's that. If we could replace squad members at will that would be something to look forward to, have the squad lead replace a member if not himself with a fresh man, get some new blood on the field instead of wearing out the old ragged bones. That would definitely make this something worthwhile when you can replace the leaving members of a match with well rested "benchers" as ill call them. Yeah, time is a problem but this is FW. I just think that conquering entire planetary districts should be more than a single 15 - 20 minute match involving 32 people. Hell, to me an hour involving 64 people is still too small. But I understand that there is a currently limited playerbase and people don't want to play unending matches.
I often see FW matches full to the brim and have to often wait for new ones to spawn up. And with the new LP / Standings / Faction gear coming in 1.7 more people will flock to FW thus rising the number of participants. |
Severus Smith
Caldari State
453
|
Posted - 2013.12.08 16:11:00 -
[7] - Quote
Bump for awesome new game mode! |
|
|
| |
|