![[Veteran_Tuurn Wolfe]](https://forums.dust514.com/themes/ccpDust514/dust-avatar-128.png "[Veteran_Tuurn Wolfe]")
[Veteran_Tuurn Wolfe]
0
   |
Posted - 2012.06.18 10:12:00 -
[1] - Quote
Sometimes, doing the right thing sucks. That's real war. You get an order to hold an objective that no one comes for, or you are set out on a scouting mission and have no intel to report back. In a video game, no one wants to do this. But at the end of the day, it's the people who can take an order and follow it that win the battle.
While I'm not proposing to give points to players who sit at an unopposed objective the whole game, I do think that players deserve a reward for defending the objective from attackers.
The way it would work:
There are two spheres around every objective. A "holding range" and an "assaulting range". These are both marked on the tactical map. When a player is within holding range of an objective that their team is defending, they are considered to be "holding" that objective. A holding player will receive points at a slow rate (possibly 3 points every 5 seconds) when an enemy enters the assaulting range, which would be significantly further out. The points would not start until the enemy has been within range for at least 5 seconds, meaning he has held of the enemy for that long.
In addition to the holding score when enemies are assaulting, a holding player also gets a small % bonus (likely 10%, possibly with an additional 2% per leadership skill point, making the maximum points per kill 60) to all points that he/she accumulates while holding, whether there are assaulting enemies or not.
On the other side of the coin, any holding player gives the same % bonus to any player that kills him/her. As well as the point bonus, any assaulting player gains points over time in the same way a holding player does so long as there is a holding player to oppose them. Differing from a holding player, the assaulting players gain their first points as soon as they enter assaulting range, whereas holding players must wait for one cycle to complete.
To make this a balanced system, the points over time would work by filling up a bar. That bar is not visible to the player, but fills up every 5 seconds that the player is in the holding or assaulting range. The bar simply pauses when the player leaves the range or kills all enemies in the corresponding range. On death, the bar is reset to 0.
How it would benefit the game:
This would not exactly encourage players to use any type of play style, but it would keep those who did from being punished for guarding an objective. You can still rack up more points by going out and joining the fray, but it would at least give the player who sits back on guard duty some kind of reward for his/her patience.
When an enemy assaults an objective, and there is one player already at the objective shooting the approaching enemy and one player 50 meters behind him just trying to catch up, the one already there would get more points for the kill than the one chasing the enemy. In a defending scenario, a good soldier is ahead of the enemy, not behind them.
Also, at a glance on the tactical map, you could be told how many players are holding an objective. This number would be displayed to the right side of the objective letter. To the left in red would be the number of known assaulting enemies. This would help players make more educated decisions on where to spawn or move to.
Possible downsides:
A downside to this would be that there are few ways that it could benefit players on offence. While a system to give points for players as soon as they reach Assaulting Range when there is a player inside the Holding Range would be a way to balance it out, it wouldn't give any benefit for a tactical approach to the game for the assaulters.
It may encourage behavior akin to "camping". Although camping is not an appropriate term to describe defending an objective, some would see it that way.
Kill steals. I understand how frustrating it is already when you take an enemies armor down to nothing and someone else shoots him once and you only get a Kill Assist for it. It would be even more frustrating if that other person got more points than you for that kill.
How it would affect balance:
Points would likely favor the defending team.
However, even the attacking team has to defend objectives, which is what makes this game so well designed. But all-in-all, I would bet that the defending team would spend more time in the holding range than the attacking team. Depending on the map, of course, this could be beneficial or detrimental to the defending team. Remember that killing a holding player is worth more points, as well.
Possible ways it could be abused:
I have not thought of any, but please let me know if you can come up with anything.
If anyone can think of any benefits, downsides, balance effects, or ways to abuse the system, please post it below. Let me know what you think of the system in general. Do you think it would help or hurt the game, or would it even make a significant impact on the way people play? I'm interested in hearing feedback on this. |