08/30/2022 - Feedback Request - War System - Test Server
Hello everyone!
Updated 08/30/2022
I am updating this post to get the most current feedback on the upcoming War System. I believe the system currently on the Test Server is good enough for public play but we can test for one more month and hopefully I can release this system in early October.
Please review the system and let me know if anything is not functioning properly or if you'd like to see changes to the current system.
What's left to do:
1) Meshes for some destroyed building parts. These are mostly complete but I still need to finish some destroyed masonry walls.
2) Final time and damage variable settings. This is a quick adjustment that will take place right before I patch the system. For testing purposes times are accelerated.
What's been recently added:
1) Repairing destroyed building parts.
2) Automatic restoration of totems after a battle.
3) Cost of 1000 dollar bills to place a totem.
4) Regional buff applied to Tribe Allies
5) Region Info button removed. (I may bring it back later when I figure out what additional info would be helpful for players).
6) Sector crossing message removed. (This was just a message for the Test Server and is not currently needed).
7) Charged attacks do more damage, similar to regular combat.
8) Posts and other destructible parts updated.
9) Announcement system / conquest panel that displays the status of currently contested regions. I plan to adjust this to give a warning for when a region is about to become contested as well (maybe an hour or two in advance).
10) Conquest Totems can be named / labelled.
11) I checked the hit box on the totems and it seems fine to me. It's a box around the entire pole and top.
War System:
- Tribes are allowed control over an entire region. To control a region they must have their Tribe within the region and then place 3 control totems within the region. Regions are the natural underlying territories such as Zephyr, King Beach, Crystal, etc.
- Currently any Tribe can place control totems. Only the Tribe Leader can place the totems but all Tribe members can see the current state and location of these totems in the Tribe panel, Totems tab.
- Control totems claim a small plot of land, 30x30 meters. They must be placed under the following conditions:
-- Control totems must be in the same Region as the claiming Tribe.
-- Control totems must be X meters away from each other. (currently 50m for testing)
-- Control totems must be X meters away from all tribes. (currently 50m for testing)
-- All 3 totems must be placed within X minutes of the first totem being placed. If the final totem is not placed within the time limits, the totems expire and are removed.
- After 3 control totems are placed, the totems and their associated lands enter a Preparation phase. During this phase, the claiming Tribe can safely build walls to protect their totems.
- At the end of the Preparation phase, the control totems and their associated lands enter the first Claiming Contested phase. During this phase, enemy Tribes can attack and destroy control totems and any buildings on their associated lands. If any of the control totems survives this phase, the Region is claimed.
- Once or twice a week control totems become Contested for a certain period of time (an hour). The Tribe Leader will be able to specify the time when a totem becomes Contested. If the Tribe Leader does not specify a time within a week of the last Contested period, the totems will automatically become Contested one week from the previous period.
- While Contested, players from other tribes can attack the control totems and destroy them. The goal during a battle would be to kill off your enemy while your tribe mates remain alive to protect the control totems.
- If all three control totems are destroyed, the Region becomes unclaimed and the attacking Tribe or Tribes can try to place new control totems to claim the Region.
- If even one control totem remains intact after the Contested period, the controlling Tribe retains power over the Region.
- If you are within a Region that your Tribe controls, you receive a ‘In Tribal Region’ buff. This buff will also apply to your Tribe's Allies.
- Control of a Region gives the Tribe and its Allies resource bonuses. Tribe members and Allies get:
-- 2x amount of scavenged resources
-- + 10 bonus to quality level (but not exceeding the max quality)
-- Increased chance of finding rare materials
Potential Enhancements:
- Keeping control over a Region will require some form of upkeep resources. This will be done through the Town panel.
- I am thinking of setting Contested Regions to be full loot PvP to add additional risk to these battles.
- Controlled Regions will give a chance for extremely rare materials or resources that would only be found on controlled Regions.
- Allowing all players to build ramps and platforms (to get over walls) when control totems are Contested. (I’m not decided on this yet as you will be able to destroy buildings to get through them).
- Map displays region ownership.
Notes:
The things listed in 'enhancements' above are not set up yet and will be future improvements after I patch the current system.
I will consider other suggestions though some are a bit too complicated for now and I'd like to wrap up the initial release of this system then see how it can be further improved.
If there is anything else that I missed that would prevent this system from going live, please let me know.
Some buildings like floors or trusses should either have health, or be indestructible. Currently they can be destroyed in one hit, I'm sure that's for testing purposes, but what's also worse is that once destroyed, they can be built on top of without lower support, allowing for funny and also floating buildings. Wouldn't mean much though if the control totem is destroyed in the process.
A neat but unnecessary feature I think would be nice is that labeling your totems should also label the territory it holds, so that leaving or entering the combat zone would say "Entering Wooden Fort" instead of "Entering [Tribe] War Totem 1", just for that added atmosphere when getting ready to fight.
The broken walls being rebuildable is great, but I think adding a "Cancel build" button would help, incase things get so beyond repair you want to restart from square one.
I love the idea of controlled regions having an extremely rare chance for extremely rare resources. What it should be though I still haven't come up with anything. I think needing an upkeep for the region is also a good idea, it will need to be another important thing to manage like the tribe buffs. I think the downside of failing to meet upkeep could be that the totems will become unprotected while not paid for, allowing to be broken into even while safe. Either that, or make it so that the tribe loses control of the region after some time for not paying for it, to free it up for another tribe to fight over and not wait the whole safe period.
Maybe add some health to tents and canopies if you're going to allow them to be built on the war totem land. While they don't hold much defense value, they provide both decoration and storage to the camp. It could serve both a place to store say weapons and rations for defense, and also provide a point of interest for attackers, as destroying it completely destroys any containers inside, and having it instantly broken sorta makes it useless to place into, not that it might have much use anyway in terms of defense.
Broken walls still have the camera problems of seemingly being considered a full "block", and collide both inside and outside with the camera when walking in or near it, similar to the bug with roofs a few years ago.
A little idea I have is that of conquest infirmaries, buildings set just like normal buildings to directly benefit the defenders, and also provide a side/huge target for attackers. The main thing should be that cost should either be some items, or a lot of money, possibly within thousands, since the convenience of spawning back in ready to fight shouldn't be something that can be easily taken advantage of without proper cost. Plus, as long as it remains standing, it can provide a secondary target for attacking tribes to make it easier to take down the totem once both you and the infirmary are out of the picture.
Not sure if it's a bug, or it hasn't been added properly yet, but totems still don't come back after the remaining time ends.
Overall, loving the new system, and rewards that come with owning a region. Finally also gives more reason to come fight people, whether in good sport or spiteful conquest!