Season #2
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what's behaviour when Rampart is placed ontop of decoder ?
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@gadjung Decoders will be placed in walls similarly to controllers, so ramparts on top of decoders are not allowed. Although you can build ramparts around it of course.
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I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this concept... which I guess is a good thing? Maybe?
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I like the hebrew-esq alphabet. I also like that cooperation is strongly encouraged but not totally required, since you can also just bust through enemy rooms to drop off resources. Any thoughts on having caravans also contain the resources, or even a protoresource that can be redeemed at any decoder?
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I think lowering the difficulty to get some score on the board is nice for newer players, but I'm pretty sure this isn't going to solve players getting wiped.
With the rule set proposed like this, I would definitely team up with 1 or 2 other players which ranked top 20 this round and still wipe all the smaller players in between. I would really urge to implement a mechanic which was proposed multiple times in the feedback topic to cluster the top 10 ambitious players together in the map center.
If you would just include that controllers in the sectors near the map center give you 10x the score, the sector sector at range 10-20 rooms 3x score and rooms further away 1x score I think you would perfectly solve this issue.
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@qzarstb I am not sure top players would like to cooperate with each other. It is probably safer for them to have relationships with smaller players than with someone who competes for the same rating.
By the way, if you only cooperate with 1 or 2 players, you will not be able to score all resources.
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@artch Top players will definitely work together unless they're competing for the same spot in the ranking during the later stage of the season.
If you work together with 1 other player you can fully control 6 sectors together if you just wipe all smaller players. You'll each have 10 rooms so if you pick those carefully you can together process 90% of everything spawning in those 6 sectors.
Compare that to working with 4 or 5 small players, it'll be a chaotic mess. It's true that you'll be able to process probably every type which gives you potentially a higher total score but you'll loose much more due to score which those other small players capture and "waste".
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@qzarstb said in Season #2 concept:
I would really urge to implement a mechanic which was proposed multiple times in the feedback topic to cluster the top 10 ambitious players together in the map center. If you would just include that controllers in the sectors near the map center give you 10x the score, the sector sector at range 10-20 rooms 3x score and rooms further away 1x score I think you would perfectly solve this issue.
With this approach (top player cluster and distance-graded decoders) there's no point in entering since top10 can easily dominate all 8 sectors closest to center (while still wiping anything outside of it) and i'm really not sure if combat there would be 'worth their time'. It would end up more as a CK3 diplomacy and intrigue at top of a ranking instead.
I'd say that the map should be made BIG on purpouse, so in order to win, ppl would need to clump together
@artch said in Season #2 concept:
By the way, if you only cooperate with 1 or 2 players, you will not be able to score all resources.
Almost yes if all of them are at GCL7 (for 3 players cooperation)
2 another questions @artch :
- how the rewards ladder will look like
- do decoders have capacity/cooldown
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@qzarstb You can only use decoders in owned rooms. Wiping the sector does not benefit you directly, since with your own rooms you can decode as many symbols as your GCL is.
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@gadjung said in Season #2 concept:
Almost yes if all of them are at GCL7 (for 3 players cooperation)
But you will take GCL 7 only after a month. That means you will lose a lot during the first month.
2 another questions @artch :
how the rewards ladder will look like
do decoders have capacity/cooldown
Yet to be decided.
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@artch said in Season #2 concept:
@qzarstb You can only use decoders in owned rooms. Wiping the sector does not benefit you directly, since you can decode as many symbols as your GCL is.
So if i decoded TAW,SIN,RES,PE and have GCL4 i cannot decode AYIN in someone elses owned room ?
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@gadjung You can, but that someone should be alive and not wiped
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@artch Yes but the score spawn in would still be similar as the current season right?
Let's assume I have 1 room myself and cleared my sector: I can gather all the score for 1 type and process it.
Let's assume I let my neighbours live and work together with 4 other players in my sector: We can process 5 types in total, but since we work together on AVG we only get 1/5 of each of those 5 types.
Both scenarios would give me the same amount of score.
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@qzarstb Exactly. That means there is no direct benefit in killing them. You will simply waste resources on war. And if they happen to be not just dummies, you may waste a lot. You will only be inclined to allocate resources to that if they are your close competitors in ranking.
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@artch You see it as no incentive to kill players, I see it as no incentive to keep them around. The amount of "dummies" which cost a minimal war investment to wipe them (at least pre-RCL8) is about 50% of the userbase. But we'll see, I don't expect Tigga/Geir/Rob etc to become good samaritans all of a sudden and it's just a small group of players responsible for like 90% of the players being wiped this round.
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@qzarstb I think we will just create a bigger world this time and allow people to choose locations outside their reach, but at the same time close to each other to team up.
Also, no portals probably.
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@artch Did you already decide on the duration of the second season?
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@murphlaw The same, two months.
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This concept is perfect. It give the co op that so many of us asked for, while also providing some nice natural ways for the lesser players to still have fun & score.
I am always in favor of smaller maps, as it gives more meaning to controlling territory. In a large map the question is not how to secure a given bit of score, but to spread as wide as possible and avoid all combat. The cost/benefit of fighting for what you know vs just spreading in the other direction is too far towards 'just spread'. In a large map, fighting just means both you and your sparring partner drop in the rankings, so you avoid fights. In a small map, everyone has to fight, and you have to figure out how to fight well. A good economic bot should get you in the top 100. Your combat code should determine top 10.
A smaller map benefits smaller players. In a large map, a top-10 player is only able to indirectly compete on the leaderboard by exerting total dominance over their holdings to maximize gains. They must maximize these gains better than their other top-10 counterparts, as that is the only path to victory. However, if portals and map size make them neighbors with their true competitors, then they can compete via directly fighting over rooms and score.
Finally, I think that when you allow lower players to score, even if they get wiped often, they will still enjoy the season. This mechanic will give them the option to be taken under the wing of a bigger player if they want a higher degree of safety. Even if you think a larger map makes smaller players not in an alliance less likely to get wiped, it's not necessary.
Also, an increased amount of score spawning will make it rapidly apparent that you need access to as many symbols as possible to be competitive. Alliances of larger players can hope to negotiate amongst themselves who places how high and wipe all the small players near them, but that won't remotely cut those players off from spawning elsewhere near more amenable players, which is all that matters. Seeing the wipes of this season, and thinking it apply under this new mechanic, is at best misguided. The incentive structure is completely different.
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