Bones McGavins
TacoCat Industries
621
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Posted - 2014.03.27 17:17:00 -
[1] - Quote
PC is the one thing that DUST has that really can set it apart from other games. But right now, its connection to EVE is almost non existent and it is this rare, elitist game type that only a very small fraction of the player base can participate in.
We need to open up PC to be a viable game type. Proto stomping squads need a place to go where the stakes are higher and the rewards greater. Smaller corps need a way to get their hat in the PC ring as well. EVE corps need a way to influence and get ownership of PC as well (including a reason to do so, but thats not what this post is about).
The solution to all this is to make PC matches far more frequent. Battles for districts should be waging constantly, not just once a day between the same small group of players.
So how do we do this? Simple, with a contract system.
Every attack on a district should create a contract for attack and defense of that district. Depending on the distance from the attacking district to the defending one, the contract is scheduled out in 15 minute intervals. Next door? The attack is 15 minutes later. Across the universe, a few days.
CEOs of the corps involved can set the contract to be one of 4 settings, Corporation, Alliance, Private, Public.
- Corporation means only players in the corp can participate.
- Alliance means only players in the alliance can participate.
- Private means only players/corps with private defense/attack contracts with the corp can participate.
- Public means open to all players who have not been specifically black listed by the corp.
For each of these teirs, the CEO sets defending and attacking contract values so any merc taking that contract will get that payout. The exception being private, where the CEO has previously defined private contracts with individual mercs or entire corps and set the payout there.
Now, attacks can happen much more frequently because the time to prepare for a single match isnt as high. A CEO (or other high level corp member) can tweak the contract level to open up the contract for more mercs if they are failing to put together a full team to attack/defend. Absolutely desperate corps could open it up to public.
Smaller, elite corps can participate in PC by negotiating private contracts with various corps involved in attacks and defense. Individuals can develop good relationships with corps and be able to participate in their matches. Smaller corps could participate in PC and respond to short notice defense by contracting out the fight. This also solves the timezone issue, as private contracts with corps around the globe will allow for trusted defense and attacks at all timezones. EVE corps with little or no DUST precense could participate in PC via the contract system completely. Own, defend and attack planets by paying DUST mercs to do the dirty work.
No locking needed. More fights. More participation. PC becomes an actual gametype that is constantly being played instead of this elite minority fighting every once in a while.
As a regular Dust merc. I look for active PC contracts, specific to each type, with the ISK payout listed and the start time. I can only accept contracts that will launch in the next 15 minutes. Once I accept, I enter the warbridge and coordinate with the fellow mercs accepting that contract.
CEOs and other CORP leaders would need to be able to review each corp battle with ease, at both an overview level which we have now at the end of a match, and a specific merc (who he killed, and hwo killed him and where these events occured. Hacks, assists, damage done, healing done. total isk spent/destroyed etc) to allow them to determine if the player should be allowed in PC for them in the future again, and adjust the contracts. Overviews of a specific private contract would be reviewed in the same way, able to view the historical break down of each battle like this, as well as totals.
This is the DUST I imagined wed be getting by now, not just lobby matches, some of which are played once a day by elite players. |