I would like to revive this thread, so I will what I understand from all comments so far:
* It is easier to wipe player than to take single room (and thus big players are de-facto immortal)
* It should be easier to take single room than to wipe player
* 2 week holding by attackers is not fair against insta-reset by defenders
* It shouldn't be more complicated
* One 'correct way' of waging war shouldn't be enforced
* Rooms shouldn't be steamrolled (even against 'few hours a week' player)
* Is screeps fully PvP-based strategic game with conquests (part of community) or semi PvP-based sandbox game with PvP arena fights (Artem)?
Also from another thread about SWW1 we have learned that there are various playstyles, where "Culture is a lighthearted civilized collection of city states (Greek), TK is a barbarian horde (Germanic) and SUN is a militaristic empire (Roman)". And of course each of these playstyles would prefer different attacker-defender balance. I personally advocate for...
* more dynamic wars and against immortality, where single rooms change hands casually but players respawn rarely. For me this is the first beauty of screeps - survival in diverse universe.
* perseverance of player diversity. For me this is the second beauty of screeps - survival in diverse universe.
* simplicity. I think it is critical to ease automation and make everyone better at survival in screeps universe.
* wider strategic and tactical options. I think it is critical to make screeps universe more diverse.
I think that root controller won't solve this. I really liked the idea by @Dissi that creates more fixed points in times on which people can act (fun), and by @tedivm that attacks mean something (simple, easier to take single room). Here is my combined proposal that tries to take the best of both:
const DECAY_OFFSET = 1500; // Some ticks to wait since last upgrade to start decay controllerconst DECAY_AMOUNT = 50; // Some amount at which controller loses points per tickconst DECAY_THRESHOLD = 0.25; // Some percent at which decay doesn't decay at decayAmount rate but drops to 0 and lowers RCL.const CONTROLLER_LEVELS.8 = 32805000; // some amount RCL 8 controller continues to accumulate points
Example #1: Attacker wants to conquer fully filled RCL 8 room and destroys everything in it. Defender retaliates DECAY_OFFSET/2 ticks later, kills attackers, puts 1 energy into controller and DECAY_OFFSET is reset, no controller points are lost. Attacker successfully attacks again before defender builds defenses. The rest of defender raids with intention to reset DECAY_OFFSET are unsuccessful so he prepares for a big battle several days later just before DECAY_THRESHOLD will be reached. Defender successfully kills attackers, and starts building both defenses and upgrading controller to buy time. Attacker is aware of opportunity to burn DECAY_THRESHOLD amount of controller points, so he calls in friends, kills defenders, waits until DECAY_THRESHOLD is reached and room drops to fully filled RCL 7. --- From that point on, everything repeats but with shorter periods. Both sides are motivated to fight for the room and are rewarded for that. Simpler, more balanced and motivating, and taking a room becomes easier than wiping a player.
Example #2: Underdog is up to bite a big player. He watches one room that just turned RCL 7. Underdog prepares a high burst army and waits until that RCL 7 gets just below DECAY_THRESHOLD controller points. Then he launches the attack, luckily gets through and after DECAY_OFFSET instantly burns all constroller points and drops room to RCL 6. Big player soon after gets army together and easily regains room. --- Well timed attack can cause big costs so that even underdogs can at least hinder big players. More fun.
Extra ideas:
* Make controller to drop energy at DECAY_DROP rate as it loses controller points, and drop a proportional pile when threshold is triggered. Could also be intentionally used by defender as "emergency funds" in case he runs out of energy under siege.
* Make creep.attackController part to fasten the process.
* In case of respawn don't release ownership of rooms but transfer ownership to dummy player, so respawns don't free up rooms instantly. Probably with -1 RCL penalty to prevent respawn spam.
What do you think about this?
