Vrain Matari
Mikramurka Shock Troop
Minmatar Republic
2306
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Posted - 2014.11.12 18:28:00 -
[1] - Quote
When we have Discussions about redline mechanics we have three separate topics that all get lumped under 'redline':
Enemy Redline Mechanics
Meant to stop enemy camping friendly back spawn point. Proposed fix: Ghost Kaiser's works perfectly: Friendly MCC starts bombarding the enemy when they encroach into the redline. Would also like to add to this several small, medium and large hardened AV and AI high-scan-precision medium-range turrets meant to protect the deeper redline. Maybe turrets with permanent auto-repair built in.
The bombardment would be a low-to-medium damage wide area effect meant to make life uncomfortable and shortish for enemy mercs pressing into the redline, but such that a fast scout could still go deep if they were set up for it, say maybe 30 hp/s. Also include the Mass Driver shaking effect to kitten up peeps aiming. With the right fit this bombardment damage could be tanked, but aiming would still be problematic, and for fast tanky mercs or vehicles going going deeper they'd have the turrets waiting to greet them.
Ghost Kaiser make a good point, immersion is important. Both the bombardment and turret mechanics maintain immersion and are hot-fixable. They are actually the kind of thing the MMC Commander would have done.
Friendly Redline Mechanics
Meant to encourage mercs' participation in battles. Many other systems influence a player's decision to stay in the redline(matchmaking, tiers, ISK payouts, WP payouts, passive sp dole, etc.). These systems are not good or bad - the ultimate answer here is how do we make the game more enjoyable/rewarding/addictive to play so that players don't hide behind the redline's skirts? Carrot and stick mechanics will work for this if we can't come up with a brilliant piece of game design. Rattai has already taken the first crude steps by doubling WP payouts and halving the passive in-match sp dole(that the CCP mommy-state imposed on us without consultation and which has done untold damage to this game).
However, sniping at range can be a viable tactical choice for infantry or vehicle and can also contribute to a win when done right so we have to be careful.
My proposed answer is a danger-pay bonus: mercs fighting outside of the redline get bonuses to their WP and ISK payouts. Redline fighters still get rewarded for their kills, but mercs doing mid and close range work get rewarded more. If that sniper wants the bigger payout he has to come out of the redline. Let that redline sniping tank have 50 WP for a kill, but give the tank supporting infantry at a point 75 WP. I would actually like to see a more sophisticated mechanic than this but we're hotfixing here so this'll have to do.
One other small tweak: no passive sp for mercs in the redline. On the battlefield yes, ok, include some passive but in the redline absolutely nothing. This means if you're in the redline you earn your keep by killing or you earn nothing at all.
Camped Redline Exit Mechanics
For experienced mercs it can be difficult and expensive to get out of the redline but we can do it: a cloaked damped uplink scout plus some patience and luck will get the job done, but it might take so long that there's no hope of turning the match around. Also wrt getting out of redline using a cloaked uplinked scout: it sure is nice having 50 million sp, maxxed cores and proto suit skills: this scenario is not especially realistic for a new player, so what can they do? Spawn an expensive LAV and head out on a suicide run?
I'd really like to see a 'glider suit' option for exiting the MMC and covering ground - prolly basic light frame only and with significant drawbacks(e.g. side arm only, ehp, fitting capacity) but with a mandatory pre-fitted uplink and codebreaker and enough glide range/control to give a redlined noob merc a viable but risky option and maybe the added bonus of forcefeeding them the concept of uplink deployment.
Another feature that would really allow players to turn a redline match around quickly: the ability to hack uplinks. Not sure if hot fixable - prolly not.
PSN: RationalSpark
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