The Energon Pub

Okay, I was trying to get to sleep, I need sleep, but this idea popped in my head, and I know I won't sleep if I don't tell someone. I'll try and make this as brief as possible.


Last I knew, v2.0 is supposed to have a map of Cybertron/Seibertron, divided into sections with various resources. Autobots and Decepticons will fight for control of those territories and their resources etc.


But I thought, why not scale it up a little?


My brainstorm (wouldn't necessarily call it a suggestion yet) is this:

Set up a Galaxy Map, with as many majore planets from the past 24 years of Transformers as possible, and space routes connecting them. Some of those planets will have certain resources - Energon, Rheanimum, Nucleon, etc. and the Autobots and Decepticons will fight over them. Pretty much the same idea.

But here's where it gets different.

After choosing their allegiance, a player chooses a planet to start on. This planet must be held by their faction. Additionally, it may be a good idea to assign level ranges to planets, in which case, they would need to start on a level 0-1 planet or something.

From there they can relocate to another adjacent friendly planet (which would require 6hrs of transit for their entire team) help defend their planet (half the missions available to them) or help attack an adjacent planet (the other half of the available missions).

If their faction takes control of an adjacent enemy planet (determined on a monthly or biweekly basis by mission records), they can immediately move in and set up shop there, no 6 hour wait.

If they loose control of their planet, their team is routed to another, random adjacent friendly planet, and requires 12 hours to regroup.

Now, here's the kicker: THE AVAILABLE ALT MODE LIST WOULD VARY FROM PLANET TO PLANET.

Want a different alt? Going to have to planet hop to collect all the different ones you want. Want an enemy alt? Going to have to take an enemy planet.

The Alts would of course match the planet - Animatros would get most of the critter alts, especially the Dragons and Dinosaurs. Earth would get all terrestrial vehicles and everyday animals. Quintesson would get Sea Creature and other wierd Alts. Nebulon would get the Headmasters era Alts. Gigantion/Gigalonia(?) would get the huge Alts and some futuristic construction vehicles. Unicron would get Unicronian Alts. Cybertron would get War Within Alts. Gobotron would get Gobot Alts. Junkion would generate a random alt selection every week. Etc.

Hope I got everything important down. I don't imagine this is a flawless idea, it's a product of insomnia after all. But as to the spirit of the idea, what do you all think?

(As far as the interplanetary transit time, and planetary defense thing, it might be possible to upgrade that somehow with various resources or player actions, perhaps?)

I see one teeny tiny little problem.

We barely have enough players to "populate" one planet. Introducing others and having people spread out would make finding filled missions even harder.

Of course that doesn't factor in the potential influx of new players come July ...

Burn wrote:I see one teeny tiny little problem.

We barely have enough players to "populate" one planet. Introducing others and having people spread out would make finding filled missions even harder.

Of course that doesn't factor in the potential influx of new players come July ...

Which doesn't matter because the game will more than likely get shut down to save server resources for the rest of the site.

Just repeating things you have already said.

If you incorporated one (two) of my ideas then I can see it working perfectly.

Idea 1: Missions take varying times, up to 24 hours, and have (unlimited/very high) entry numbers.

Idea 2: Retreat when Damage = x%

Instead of fighting till 0%, players choose a % level at which they will 'flee' a fight - this can be set to 0%, but then if your team loses the battle, you end up a POW. (When a player flees, the opposition can take one shot at them, if they are quick enough).

When your base/(planet) is attacked, all tf available on the base/planet can contribute to the defence until they reach their % limit, then they will flee to the nearest plaent under their control. **This would be a check-box - like auto-cr, but auto-defend**

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So for example Autobots own Moonbase 1 and 2, both of which have direct links to Cybertron (decepticon owned) and each other.

A decepticon fleet (10 characters) attacks Moonbase 1, who have 7 characters at 100% (ready to fight), and 6 characters in CR with varying levels of damage (80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%)

Up until the 'mission start' time (up to a max of 24 hours time) those characters can choose any other mission to proceed to, however if they are on the planet at the time of the attack (either idle or in cr) then they will join the battle.

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So every character would have two % figures.
1. Battle entry % (when our base is attacked, what % means you flee instantly)
2. Battle exit % (when allready in a battle, what % means you flee instantly)

Every 'planet' would need multiple bases - and TF can travel from one planet to another in a standard turn (60m) - so long as it's a direct line.

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Finally (this got long quick), the limitation of one char per battle is removed, ie you can enter all six/twelve!!! char's into one mission (but don't go crying if they all martyr themselves and get caught POW)

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ok, this time it IS the final point. (I'm going on a tangent now)

I see four different ways of earning xp or $

1. Simulation Arena - vs team-mate/faction-mate (xp, free cr, no $$$)
2. Championship Arena - similar current arena - tournament style (continue batling until reach battle exit damage %) New tournament every x hours (all in - $$$ increase every round)
3. Local Mission - like now - contributes to resources/armor/weapons.
4. Base/Planetary Attack/Defence - Maybe once a week, a 24 hour lead-in to battle. No limit to defence, or attack.


but then the game is getting very big, involved and complex.

...just the way i'd like it

*Disclaimer* I realise what I'm offering has as much chance of being implemented as me winning the megadraw in tattslotto this week (and I don't have a ticket)...but

Maybe the '24 hour' base invasions need to be coordinated by high-ranking members of the factions. Perhaps Decepticon HQ decide to invade moonbase 1 as described in the preivous post.

For 12 hours, Decepticons can send a bot to join the mission (remember no limit on char numbers). Then after 12 hours, the Autobots receive notification (and can enter the mission) to defend their base.

I've chosen 24 hours, as it means you catch pretty much everyone (regardless of time-zone), and if you make the pay-outs/rewards large enough, then many players will send characters in. (Make it the jewel in the crown if you will).

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And if you are on a planet which doesn't have a direct link to the planet which is under attack, you can use a 'game turn (1hr) to move closer to the target.

I think the initial idea in the post has merit. No idea if it'd actully work, but it sounds good.

Burn wrote:I see one teeny tiny little problem.

We barely have enough players to "populate" one planet. Introducing others and having people spread out would make finding filled missions even harder...

First problem that occurred to me last night, and I don't have a good answer yet.

Like Sharpshooter said, putting multiple bots from your team into a mission might help, but... seems iffy.

Another perspective to look at it from is that players could always move to planets where conflict was more intense - that, in fact, is the sort of dynamic that I think makes the idea interesting - so its possible that a sort of equilibrium would emerge.

Also, only planets adjacent to an enemy planet would have missions at all, so while there might be 12 planets total, only 3 in each faction might be on the edge of the conflict at any given time. That really hinges on how you make the map.

Finally, two friendly planets adjacent to the same enemy planet, could receive the same offensive missions - using the moonbase example, Autobots from Moonbase 1 and Moonbase 2 could fight together in missions attacking Decepticons on Cybertron.

On a metagaming level, there is another consideration - if your planet is adjacent to multiple enemy planets, half the possible missions would be attacking all those different planets. If we can get any sort of faction coordination going again though, Players could work out which adjacent planet to focus their attacks on, polarizing some of the missions into empty and full, as opposed to thin. Actually, I'd expect this to happen naturally anyway, without team work...

Crud, I'm running really late!

Thanks for your comments guys!


Edit: Another simple option I see is to increase the maximum on creatable and active characters.

If the number of characters in a mission shall be greatly above 6 - say, 36 as a rule, with exceptions from 12 to 60 - there would be no objections to sending all 6 characters into a single mission.

What do you say?

Personally, I play casually at work. Meaning, I throw whomever is availabe at that time into the fray.

Waiting 6, 12, or 24 hours to play is ridiculous for me. Let me say that one more time, in bold faced caps, waiting anything longer than 2 hours is RIDICULOUS for me. And would be so for many, many, many other players. I'd have to say that a majority of the players here, don't sit around and play the game 24/7--there might be a few that do this, but NOT a majority.

Those wait times are utterly horrendous.

Fix those, hope that we get enough players and this idea sounds STELLAR!

Word.

I don't think we'd have to worry too much about populating a large campaign map, because we could always narrow it down depending on how it worked, like start with Cybertron, its satellites, the Earth, Nebulos, Junkion, Char - you know, the basics. Although, I'd still like to see individual regions on Cybertron. I'd like to settle down in Vos or maybe Tarn...

QuietStorm wrote:Personally, I play casually at work. Meaning, I throw whomever is availabe at that time into the fray.

Waiting 6, 12, or 24 hours to play is ridiculous for me. Let me say that one more time, in bold faced caps, waiting anything longer than 2 hours is RIDICULOUS for me. And would be so for many, many, many other players. I'd have to say that a majority of the players here, don't sit around and play the game 24/7--there might be a few that do this, but NOT a majority.

Those wait times are utterly horrendous.

Fix those, hope that we get enough players and this idea sounds STELLAR!

Word.

The only lengthy wait times I'm suggesting is:
1) Traveling from friendly planet to friendly planet to friendly planet - The lengthy wait time is so that players can't simply relocate to another planet at a whim; hopefully that will force a more realistic battle style, and some strategy. Additionally, I think that the factions should be able to build space bridges between their planets, allowing instantaneous travel.
2) If the force is routed and has to regroup, something that would only be an issue once or twice a month, when territory shifted.

Also, I have some thoughts on a simpler POW system, but I shall reserve those for later.

As a player who has to fit HMW around an unreliable and sometimes hectic work scheule i hvae to say those wait times for travel would be a problem. However I do really like the sound of this idea, and am actively interested in HMW V2.

Either way, damn good thinking Caelus, Me like much

Caelus wrote:The only lengthy wait times I'm suggesting is:
1) Traveling from friendly planet to friendly planet to friendly planet - The lengthy wait time is so that players can't simply relocate to another planet at a whim; hopefully that will force a more realistic battle style, and some strategy. Additionally, I think that the factions should be able to build space bridges between their planets, allowing instantaneous travel.
2) If the force is routed and has to regroup, something that would only be an issue once or twice a month, when territory shifted.

Also, I have some thoughts on a simpler POW system, but I shall reserve those for later.

Well, I can handle waiting an hour, maybe even 6 for installing armor. But travelling from planet to proposed planet is just not something I'd be willing to do. Even if there was the fancy schmancy strafing Velociraptor alt over on the Jungle Planet. I'm sorry, make it more casual player friendly and manageable and then this would work.

And we've had this type of a discussion before concerning tournaments and such. Burn pointed out that just because something is easy doesn't always make it worthwhile. Well, in this case, I think that making this a bit more reasonable--6 hours travelling time tops--is worthwhile.

Mind you, I like the concept and the idea. I just think that it needs to be tweaked for the casual player as much as the hardKore 24/7 player as well. Anyone that disagrees with that is free to, so let's discuss....

Word.

Might be noteworthy that this particular idea may be horrendously difficult to code. So maybe starting with strictly Seibertron and the Moon bases might be essential. And after that, if possible move it to the grandscheme of Galaxy size.

QuietStorm wrote:And we've had this type of a discussion before concerning tournaments and such. Burn pointed out that just because something is easy doesn't always make it worthwhile. Well, in this case, I think that making this a bit more reasonable--6 hours travelling time tops--is worthwhile.

The time's I put down were ultimately arbitrary - balancing a game is out of my depth. But you're right, 6 hours is the optimal choice for one very good reason - most people sleep 6 to 8 hours. With a 12 hour trip, you could put them in when you go to bed, and they'd still be travelling late the next morning. With a six hour trip, they'll have just made planet fall when you log on in the morning.

I presume you either misread what I wrote, or I just didn't state it very well (more likely).

What I meant was not that the mission itself had a 24 hour wait (ie mission length), but the chance to enter it ran for 24 hours.

So those people that play 24/7 could probably put their bots into a few (or many!) missions first, whilst those (like yourself) that only log-on occassionaly don't miss out.

I can't actually see how this would make it harder to take part from a time perspective - so one of us has our wires crossed somewhere.

Oh.

Having read the rest of the posts, I think I now know what you were on about.

Perhaps if you could choose a 'start' and 'destination', and the game tells you how long it will take to get there. But I think 1 hour is plenty to travel to adjacent planets. Which means you could cross the galaxy in one six hour period.

Is that what you mean?

Caelus I love your idea. This would make the game require a lot more thinking on the players behalf, plus would up the game playability, something i feel would make it a heck of a lot more fun!