5 replies to this topic

[Anarcho]

Like, the way it is now, defenders can reclaim territories, pushing the attackers advance back. But this system make all the efforts from previous hours useless, since if in the last hour before ceasefire, if there is not enough attackers, the planet can be easily defended, making all the effort from previous matches useless.

Why not a points cap? Like, I don't know how many matches usually are necessary for a capture, but lets high ball 1000 points to CAP and 1000 points to DEF, who ever reaches the score first conquest or keep the planet. Points are cumulative. The score is then reset after the ceasefire period. 10, 20, 30 points per match? depends on an average of matches.

So this way, every match counts. Unfortunately, ghost wins would still be a problem.

[Peiper]

Yes, I think ghost wins are the primary problem. A smaller faction that wins every defensive drop will still lose planets to larger factions. They don't even have a chance. Ghost drops shouldn't count toward community warfare, but then, what do you do with those guys who have waited 15-25 minutes in the queue with nothing to show for it.

I think the 7.5 hour attack windows will help mitigate the "I fought really hard an hour ago and now my work has been erased" issues a little bit. I do believe the ghost drops are a bigger problem overall, though. Normally, in threads like these I like to offer a solution, so I apologize that in this case, I'm simply going to elaborate on what I think is a bigger problem.

To stop ghost drops, perhaps there should be a cap of maybe five teams in the queue for any given time. Even smaller factions, I hope, can field 5 12 mans (even if many of them are pug groups).

[Joseph Mallan]

Peiper, on 09 January 2015 - 09:25 PM, said:

Yes, I think ghost wins are the primary problem. A smaller faction that wins every defensive drop will still lose planets to larger factions. They don't even have a chance. Ghost drops shouldn't count toward community warfare, but then, what do you do with those guys who have waited 15-25 minutes in the queue with nothing to show for it.

I think the 7.5 hour attack windows will help mitigate the "I fought really hard an hour ago and now my work has been erased" issues a little bit. I do believe the ghost drops are a bigger problem overall, though. Normally, in threads like these I like to offer a solution, so I apologize that in this case, I'm simply going to elaborate on what I think is a bigger problem.

To stop ghost drops, perhaps there should be a cap of maybe five teams in the queue for any given time. Even smaller factions, I hope, can field 5 12 mans (even if many of them are pug groups).

You do know sometimes the enemy isn't where we expect them to be! or they abandon a position... So don't "completely" remove the free match, but regulate it... No more than 2 gimme matches per cycle. Nobody should be able to retake a planet from lack of opposition once they have all but lost it. At least in a game.

[Peiper]

What about a percentage system that only rates completed 12 v 12 matches and ignores the no-contest/ghost drops?

Joseph Mallan, on 10 January 2015 - 06:08 AM, said:

You do know sometimes the enemy isn't where we expect them to be! or they abandon a position... So don't "completely" remove the free match, but regulate it... No more than 2 gimme matches per cycle. Nobody should be able to retake a planet from lack of opposition once they have all but lost it. At least in a game.

I understand that you don't want to make a no-contest match mean nothing. You could simply just give guys a stipend and a few loyalty points for every 10 or 15 minutes in the queue without a drop, rather than even drop them when there's no opponent. That way, at least guys aren't losing out if there are no opponents.

I guess there is another problem with that system, though. Let's say Clan Hells Horses is being attacked by the Magestry of Canopis. The Magestry outnumbers Hells Horses 10 to 1. So, Hells Horses simply does not allocate troops to defend that border, preventing progress from happening on that planet.

Just thinking/typing out loud here.

Oh, shizzle, Joseph, I just figured out what you're saying. So, there are a number of no-contest drops that can be factored in if there is no defense at all. So, someone HAS to defend, but if they do not even try, they'll lose it. If they DO defend, they have a chance. And it's a little more uphill (up to two extra wins per cycle) if one faction outnumbers the other. I kinda like that! Means the smaller faction has to win a couple extra to completely wipe out their opponent.

It could be a different number of ghost drops counted depending on whether a faction is attacking or defending a planet, perhaps? Good discussion. Thoughts?

[Mystere]

Anarcho, on 09 January 2015 - 08:52 PM, said:

Like, the way it is now, defenders can reclaim territories, pushing the attackers advance back. But this system make all the efforts from previous hours useless, since if in the last hour before ceasefire, if there is not enough attackers, the planet can be easily defended, making all the effort from previous matches useless.

Why not a points cap? Like, I don't know how many matches usually are necessary for a capture, but lets high ball 1000 points to CAP and 1000 points to DEF, who ever reaches the score first conquest or keep the planet. Points are cumulative. The score is then reset after the ceasefire period. 10, 20, 30 points per match? depends on an average of matches.

So this way, every match counts. Unfortunately, ghost wins would still be a problem.

Wars are eventually won by taking and/or holding territory, not accumulating points. As such, I'd rather PGI create something a little more complex than the currently simplistic attack/counterattack scheme we have now.

[Harathan]

Joseph Mallan, on 10 January 2015 - 06:08 AM, said:

Nobody should be able to retake a planet from lack of opposition once they have all but lost it. At least in a game.

Yes they should be able to. Why not? If Davion gets a Marik planet up to 90% and then vanishes for the evening, Marik should absolutely be able to take that planet back thru some mechanism regardless of whether Davion comes back to hold it. Attacking or defending a planet should never depend entirely on opponents showing up. Otherwise it's not Warfare, it's just a very slow matchmaker with only 2 maps.