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Idea's on a Complete Overhaul of FW mechanics -- does not include timers!
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Botagar
Royal Institute of Mining and Manufacturing
#1 - 2012-07-14 12:56:38 UTC
I'm not sure if this is where i should be posting these, but here i go!

Overhaul Ideas for Faction Warfare...

FW as it is currently implemented is like a child which doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. It has no clear goals and overall, has no vision of how it see's itself in the future.

The use of timers to give soverienty changes and LP payouts is a real immersion breaking system, and needs to be overhauled.
So here are my ideas.

First, change the IHUB into a station for the faction which owns the space (amarr - 24th imperial crusade station).
Give bonus's to these stations for the faction. What these bonus's are others can debate over (I advocate better belt rats in upgraded systems).

Like the IHUB, make the station vulnerable to attack when system is vulnerable.
If the station is destroyed by straight pewing, system is lost and the other side can erect their own station in place. It takes 24 hours to erect a new station, and the system does not automatically reset back to 0%. The system, upon changing hands, will de-contest itself over 24 hours, the same time it take to erect a station.
If the system is re-contested before the station is erected, it can be fired up and immediately flipped back, where the faction who just re-flipped the system has to erect their station again.
However, a DUST 514 contract can be put out on a vulnerable system to take over the station 'peacefully', preserving whatever may have been stored in the station. This will 'instantly' decontest the system as the faction does not have to erect a new control station.

System Reinforcing. Allow level 5 upgraded systems to passively decontest its immediately neighboring systems over time, but not itself. Notice DECONTEST, not CONTEST. Players still need to actively contest enemy systems.

System sieging modules. Deployable structures which can increase the rate at which a system is contested, but reduces LP payout per site in the deployed system. Not stackable. Once deployed, shows up in everyones overview.

Move LP to rats like a bounty.
Give rats back EWAR, but balance the amount of ewar a room has on Sisi.
--> ALL = Warp Disrupters, Stasis Webifiers
--> Amarr = Tracking Disrupters, Engergy Neutralisers
--> Caldari = Electronic Counter Measures
--> Gallente = Sensor Dampners, Engergy Neutralisers(?)
--> Minmatar = Target Painters

Allow LP earned from kills to count towards % contested/decontested.
Like for instance if i (and a few buddies) kill a pimped up carrier in FW space, piloted by an enemy FW player, we could make a formula where % contested/decontested = some factor * LP payout. That way PVP can also affect system sov. A system where a certain faction can't stay in without getting out killed probably doesn't have claim to that system anymore.

Next, remove all FW timers. They don't have place in this game... at all!
Instead, introduce these new sites, or sites similar to these (Doesn't have to be what I'm putting in here, but sites which have some kind of lore associated with them):
Complex name -- % added to contesting system

OFFENSE SITES
*Minor station shield generator complex -- 0.1~0.3
Minor "faction" military compound -- 0.2~0.3
Minor "faction" research compound -- 0.1

Station shield reinforcing array -- 0.4~0.8
*"faction" military compound -- 0.3~0.6
"faction" experimental weapons lab -- 0.2
"faction" manufacturing complex -- 0.4

*Major system reinforcing complex -- 0.9~2
Major "faction" fleet staging point -- 0.9~1.2

DEFENSIVE SITES
*Besieged minor shield generator complex -- 0.1~0.3
Minor "faction" forward base -- 0.2~0.4

*Besieged station shield reinforcing array -- 0.4~0.8
"faction" deployed resupply bunker -- 0.4~0.6
Ok... defense ones are harder to think of...
NOTE: '*' means will always spawn
Botagar
Royal Institute of Mining and Manufacturing
#2 - 2012-07-14 12:56:51 UTC  |  Edited by: Botagar
Let me breakdown what each of my site ideas are:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minor station shield generator complex...
[LORE: These supply the shields of the station, keeping it from being able to be damaged]
Ship restrictions: Frigate hulls, Shuttles
Number of Rooms per site: 1 to 3
-- Room 1 --
Number of Entry Points: 1~3
Objects in space: Shield Generators [1000LP per], Acceleration Gate (conditional)
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~600 LP per, small chance of faction module drop]
Objective: Destroy 'Shield Generator'
Description: First room would have 1 'Shield Generator', rats and a locked warp gate. Upon destroying the 'Shield Generator', the warp gate will unlock. Warp gate leads to second room if there is one. If the site has only 1 room, there will be no warp gate.
-- Rooms 2,3 --
Number of Entry Points: 1
Objects in space: Shield Generators [1000LP per]
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~600 LP per, small chance of faction module drop]
Objective: Destroy 'Shield Generator'
Description: Same as Room 1, with final room having no warp gate.
Upon clearing all rooms, site is considered complete. LP is paid and % contested gets added to system total.
NOTE: This is the direct replacement for the current minor complex's.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minor "faction" military compound -- "Minor Minmatar military compound"
[LORE: An enemy base has been located, destroy!]
Ship restrictions: Destroyer hulls, Frigate hulls, Shuttles
Number of Rooms per site: 1
-- Room 1 --
Number of Entry Points: 1
Objects in space: Ship Hangers [1000LP per], Maintenance Bays [1000LP per]
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~1000 LP per, small chance of faction module drop]
Objective: Destroy all 'Ship Hangers' and 'Maintenance Bays'
Description: Upon warp-in, rats should spawn to 'defend' their base. Around 3-4 waves of rats in total, starting from low LP rats (200~300LP per rat) to harder rats (800~1000LP per rat). Waves spawn after the previous one has been wiped out, or all waves spawn at once if Objects are destroyed before rats are destroyed.
NOTE: A side group PVE activity which counts towards flipping the system. Not intended to be able to be solo'd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minor "faction" research compound -- "Minor Minmatar research compound"
[LORE: Hinder the oppositions efforts to conduct research]
Ship restrictions: Destroyer hulls, Frigate hulls, Shuttles
Number of Rooms per site: 1
-- Room 1 --
Number of Entry Points: 1
Objects in space: Research Facility [0LP per]
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~400 LP per]
Objective: Hack into the Research Facilities and steal their research.
Description: This is more of a mini professions site. A few weak rats guarding Research Facilities. Once the Research Facilities are hacked, items such as datacores, BPC's or Pass cards can be looted.
NOTE: Side mini profession which counts towards flipping the system.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Station shield reinforcing array
[LORE: These are responsible for making a station shields unpenetrable. Take them out to destabilise the station shields.]
Ship restrictions: Battle cruiser hulls, Cruiser hulls, Destroyer hulls, Frigate hulls, Shuttles
Number of Rooms per site: 2 to 4
-- Room 1 --
Number of Entry Points: 1~4
Objects in space: Shield Battery [1500LP per], Shield Transfer Unit [1500LP per], Acceleration Gate
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~400 LP per], destroyer class [500~600 LP per], cruiser class [600~1000LP per]
Objective: Destroy all 'Shield Batteries' and 'Shield Transfer Units'
Description: Acceleration gate is unlocked allowing players to bypass the room. Objective in room still needs to be completed however to complete site.
-- Middle Rooms (Conditional) --
Number of Entry Points: 1
Objects in space: Shield Battery [1500LP per], Shield Transfer Unit [1500LP per], Acceleration Gate
NPC's in space: frigate class [200~400 LP per], destroyer class [500~600 LP per], cruiser class [600~1000LP per]
Objective: Destroy all 'Shield Batteries' and 'Shield Transfer Units'
Description: Similar to the first room, only that there is 1 entry point, rather than multiple.
-- Final Room --
Number of Entry Points: 1
Objects in space: Shield Reinforcing Array [5000LP per]
NPC's in space: cruiser class [600~1000LP per], battlecruiser class [2500LP]
Objective: Destroy the 'Shield Reinforcing Array'
Description: Guarded by a single Battle Cruiser rat with LP payout of 2500LP, with a better than usual, but still small chance of dropping a faction module along with tags. Room should contain extra goodies to promote people to linger around and explore the site, such as lootable cans, wrecks and other structures which can be destroyed for commodities or RP purposes.
NOTE: Direct replacement for current medium sized FW complexes. These sites will always spawn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think the rest of them are quite self explanatory from their titles. They are mostly bigger versions of the Minor ones i explained. The idea for the pass cards looted from the minor hacking sites was that they were required to activate the gate for the manufacturing complex.
Gah I'm not a game designer, let them think of fun and challenging sites....
The one thing that must be noted is that rat DPS must be low, otherwise buffer ships will not be able to effectively complete some sites.

yes i got lazy and tired the more i wrote....
Botagar
Royal Institute of Mining and Manufacturing
#3 - 2012-07-14 12:57:07 UTC
reserved
Abannan
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#4 - 2012-07-14 14:36:15 UTC
In theory these are great ideas to implement, but I feel as if they make plexing "too PvE", since plexes aren't meant to be PvE encounters like mission running, incursions etc, they're meant to be there to encite PvP, limited by ship size etc, If you're in a ship designed for a certain plex, (example, a cruiser in a medium) it is not at all difficult to remove all of the rats from the field, especially if you have a drone bay.
Great ideas though
Botagar
Royal Institute of Mining and Manufacturing
#5 - 2012-07-14 22:46:42 UTC
I too thought i was leaning a too pve'ish whilst writing this up. I was however trying to strike a balance between making these sites pvp friendly and maintaining lore. It doesn't make sense for military installations to go unguarded.
Also currently, people mostly only undock in frigates to take out FW plex's, and making the person actually shoot structures corresponding with equivalent EHP of the ship class expected to run these plex's should see more people undock in cruisers, battlecruisers and maybe even battleships to do FW plex's, rather than only pulling out those ships for roams or camps.
In other words, gunless frigates would be completely curb stomped with this kind of system. People will have to pay attention when running these plex's.

Rats could be removed if it feels to pve'ish, but then towers would need to take their place. Plex's shouldn't just be walked over like they were nothing.

If people are flying more than frigates to take these plex's, we may see more diverse ship types roaming the systems, rather than the usual mix of thrashers and dramiels.
Milton Middleson
Rifterlings
#6 - 2012-07-15 00:21:23 UTC  |  Edited by: Milton Middleson
I'm not thrilled with the idea of tying sovereignty to PVE, but I do like the idea of having FW-specific not-terrible PVE (missions can diaf). I'm also not enthralled by have kills directly affect sovereignty, because it effectively punishes people for trying to defend their space or attack enemy space. I'd much rather make the objectives meaningful enough that failure to achieve them is punishment enough. Also, there is the possibility of abuse via killing alts over and over again (admittedly, a pricey way of taking a system, but considering the the current $$$ in being the winning militia...)

What might be a cool use for these sites is as a way of attacking enemy upgrades directly. As you upgrade the systems, complexes associated with the various upgrades (this is of course predicated on the addition of more and useful upgrades) appear. Completing one of these sites would reduce/disable the corresponding upgrade for a few hours and chip away at the overall system upgrade level.

So, for example, in a system with level 2 upgrades, attacking the Minor Minmatar Research Compound would disable bonus research slots or somesuch, and carve a chunk off the LP buffer keeping the system at level 2 upgrades. (A bigger chunk than if you just ran a minor plex).

Also +1 on turning the ihub into a militia fort that's only for friendly militia. Especially if the fort is destructible.