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1: NC

2: NC and TR

3: NC, TR and Vanu

[Sonlirain]

words

The artifact running might work IF and only IF the faction vault is guarder by NPC guards competent enough to hold small-medium attacks off for long enough for actual players to arrive in greater numbers to defend.
This would create another chokepoint for players to fight over.

[Toaster]

Or automated turrets that send off warnings to command chat when attacked, or broadcasted to the whole continent when destroyed.


I think something more akin to cont locking is much more likely to occur here, with perhaps more interesting bonuses as more continents are added.  If they bring back the caverns maybe we'll see something different for them.

Also, LLU bases.

[palsch]

Just a silly idea for a wider metagame without changing much and focusing on adding extra motivation to the current gameplay.

My motivations here;

1) Don't make it so a casual player can be screwed over by the meta. Forcing people play in a certain way during certain times of day or granting one side a massive advantage would be just ugly.

2) Make it so the meta grants rewards to everyone, encouraging people to take an interest. An XP boost for everyone, even the casual player who might not be invested yet, is the best way I can think of to encourage people to become invested. Obviously this might need to be changed for more involved players, but at that stage the meta often becomes its own reward.

3) Make day-to-day gameplay matter. Having the meta focus around events that only make up a tiny and unrepresentative fraction of actual gameplay, or that require large scale coordination that disqualifies a substantial chunk of the player-base from taking part (or worse, means anyone not on the A-team for their faction is hurting by trying to take part) is bad. Good meta play should look like good everyday play.


The only new mechanic I would add is a continent/faction wide point system. Each time you gain resources from a base you also gain CCP (Continent Control Points) based on the size of the base and distance from your warpgate. I'm thinking the shortest distance along the new chain system times the base size (so double for medium, 4x for large facilities). Completely capping the continent grants a one time bonus of <substantial number goes here> CCP.

There is a fixed CCP cap. Once one faction reaches it for a continent an announcement goes out and there are lots of graphical indicators for all factions. A timer is also started.

After *X hours* there is another announcement and new indicators, and a new *Y hour* countdown starts. If the faction who reached the CCP cap can cap the continent during that period they gain a continent wide XP bonus (I'm thinking 50%) for the next three days, during which time they don't gain any CCP on that continent. During the period the other two factions gain boosted defensive XP (think double defensive bonuses) and increased CCP gain.

Tweak the numbers so that you have each faction hitting the CCP cap on a continent every 2 weeks to a month, leaning towards the long end. There are enough continents and factions that's already multiple events a week, on average.

As far as the capture timer goes, I'd say that 6-8 hours over peak times for that server would be right, with the prior countdown adjusted so it always starts at the right time. Also allows for staggering for different continents and factions reaching the CCP cap at the same time.

[PTTG??]

How about this: "seasons" of combat. It starts with all three sides in equal strength. It is possible- though incredibly difficult- to capture a warpgate; without a warpgate, you can only deploy very infrequently, from drop pods, to some specific location. It is possible to capture a territory, but requires coordination. Through this, you can eventually retake a warpgate.

The season is over after three months to a year, or when one side has captured all the warpgates.

At that point, time resets, though players keep their unlocks, plus a big reward for the entire winning team.

Notably, resource gain could increase over time to ramp up the war as time progresses.

[PTTG??]

Well, the important thing is that there's a long-term story of one side gradually taking over the continent, eventually reaching completion and beginning a new season.

[kaian-a-coel]

I agree. The best thing would be to make official campaigns. For example, a website where SOE use stats coming from all the servers to determine the completion of various objectives. Said objectives are announced at regular intervals. Say monthly for big ones, weekly or bi-weekly for minor ones).
Every completed objective earn points for the faction toward a final success. _{Kinda like Hogwarts point system, now that I think about it...}
And now the great idea... Updates partly depends on ingame events.
Depending on which faction won which campaign, completed which objectives, the updates will vary. It can determine the look of the terrain (Vanu structures littering a VS-dominated Esamir for example), weapon or vehicles changes...

[palsch]

2x XP weekend.
2x SC weekend.
New PS2 app.
And global stats.

    The battles have been grueling since the war began last November and there doesn't appear to be any sign of peace in the near future. In February alone there were 102,366,951 casualties on Auraxian soil. Other February statistics include:

        42.31 deaths per second
        7.2 billion shots fired; 2.3 billion shots hit
        2,960 shots per second
        140 countries participating
        43 thousand outfits; 4,810 active Outfits per server
        152 thousand squads
        1.2 million base flips
        New Conglomerate: 399 thousand
        Vanu Sovereignty: 375 thousand
        Terran Republic: 389 thousand
        5 thousand hours spent healing
        4.76 years spent repairing

[Toaster]

Double SC?  Looks like they're going to get some more of my money.

[Silfurdreki]

Double SC?  Looks like they're going to get some more of my money.

This. So many things to buy...

[Toaster]

New patch notes for the weekend are up.

    The deconstruct button has been removed from the vehicle info panel on the HUD
    Vehicle kill assist XP values adjusted to appropriately scale with the recent XP bump for destroying a vehicle
    The NS-11C has been added to the Depot for all Empires
    Adjustments have been made to the Lancer VS22:
        Damage falloff now starts at 500m and ends at 700m.
        Projectile speed now changes based on charge level. Level 1 = 600 m/s. Level 2 = 700 m/s. Level 3 = 800 m/s.
        Fire delay removed from ALL charge levels.
        Now takes 1.5 seconds to reach charge level 2 (used to be 2 seconds). Level 3 remains at 3 seconds. You can now hold the charge for 5 full seconds before it will auto-fire (up from 4).
        The charge animation on the reticle is now more precise/accurate
    Adjustments have been made to the NC15 Phoenix:
        Should now do more damage against air targets (same damage as default launcher)
        Reduced reload time by 5700 ms, down to 5200 MS.
        Fixed a projectile speed irregularity, this was causing the rocket to go much further than it should have before the player gained control of it. (Related to latency)
        Reduced phoenix speed by 10 kph (~2.7 m/sec)
        Adjusted the camera to be more in line with the collision model of the rocket
    Air to Air lock on tones should now be working correctly for all empires
    Server performance improvements

Lancer gets a buff, but what's this?  The Phoenix gets buffed as well?  The VS and TR tears- they are delicious!


Really, though, this is totally fair.  The Phoenix already is the slowest refire due to the nature of the weapon, so the hate on the AI use is a bit unfounded.  Given the range limitation, if you want to pick off infantry, you should be using a sniper rifle.  The Lancer needed the love, and from what I hear, the Striker is fine as is.

Still hoping for it to not despawn after 300m, though.  Missing a tank by three feet because the rocket vanished is aggravating.

[darkrider2]

Its spring break and my desktop is still in my dorm. WHY DOES SOE DO ALL THESE THINGS THIS WEEK.

I crave........

[bluejello]

I am not seeing the buff, besides one vs aircraft and some minor tweaks to it, moves a bit slower too...

[Toaster]

Lines three and five are significant.  Even if it was more fix than buff, it's still better off than before.  Slower projectile does mean it'll be a bit easier to turn, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

Given, though, the screams for it to be nerfed and it instead gets this, though... the tears are delicious.

[kaian-a-coel]

I still haven't played PS2 since these new launcher came out, so I cant say anything from experience, but it seems that phoenix fireteams would be weak against snipers. And the projectiles can be shot down by burster maxes apparently.
So let people try out counters and adapt before nerfing. _{lazy whiners...}

[Toaster]

I've been in several Phoenix squads.  Usually we have a medic+engy or two plus a couple burster maxes, and go gal drop on a ridge somewhere.  The maxes deter air, snipers get LMG fire (or a Phoenix if in range/visible), and any armor gets a full volley of PHOENIX FREEDOM.  A tank driving right on us or a Lib near flight ceiling can wreck us, but oddly we rarely attract smart libs shooting us- usually they come in low and get Phoenixed.

The ridge north of Tawrich is an excellent spot, especially if the enemy zerg is pushing from there to Broken Ridge.