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We got a lot of topics on this with everyone going back and forth to either buff or de-buff the ganker/gankee. Some even change their minds as they go from gankee to ganker or vica versa. For those there is for example the thread: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14485-hiding-in-battle-screens-solved I just want to toss out a suggestion and see how it flies without any side pollution. So lets do a simple yes or no to: People coming onto Open World either out of Port of Battle Screen must all have a 30 second no attack timer and a 120 second no join timer.The goals: Promote folks who come out. Anybody visible on OW can join the fray, nobody else. [edit 2016-06-25] added "open world entry" tag

The definitive Battle Screen Ganking Guide First of all we establish our main strategy here. It basically boils down to Guerre de Course. Although we won't limit ourselves to simple traders, but rather anything that is an economical target. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_strategy#Introduction_of_the_guerre_de_course We also ensure that we have the upper hand continously. Defeat in detail works both ways, so we must always keep the initiative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeat_in_detail Current mechanic of entering open world: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14536-to-gank-or-be-ganked-that-is-the-question/ Fleet composition: A couple of fast interceptors, for example Rattlesnakes. Anything grey that can keep up. From a profit/loss perspective this makes losing the ship irrelevant. Or, bring a gold escorted by a fast grey with the same wind profile. The grey will be your getaway ship after you TP back the gold. To set up the initial battle screen there are a number of options:Tag a friendly smuggler. Doesn't matter what class of ship. Tag any form of enemy AI ship, so as to not give away our position. Not ideal, but coming out of a previous gank. To ensure visibility to the outside world keep a fast interceptor out of the battle instance. Victims lovingly refer to him as the bait ship.To deal with a revenge fleet, a scout is always send out first or called in from staging area. If the area is clear come out and prepare for the next gank, otherwise use the escape ship or log-off and boot up your alt. Dealing with potential future mechanics: Invisibility. Use this to direct the gank fleet invisibly onto the victim. Perfect. Choosing your own spawn-in (/invisibility) be used to pass any blockade. Log-off timer or open world kick timer. Log-off immediately, log back on when the command comes over TS. BS waiting will become Shard waiting. Pop where you are. Setup gank just at visibility of coast, sail to coast and gank when trader comes past. Once the tag on a victim starts, enter open world and gank away.Please let me know if I missed anything. [edit] Added pop where you are. [edit] how-to bypass blockades

Well, we have hit the pivoting point on http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14627-where-is-the-action/?mode=show We went from Nah to Yeah. So here I am to write up the patch proposal. I'll ensure that this top post will be kept up to date. Note that the final proposal may not (and probably won't) reflect the first (or even the final) implementation as everything is subject to admins discretion in terms of wanted functionality and technical complexity. Keep an open mind and exploit test everything. Goals of the battle screen: Provide a scoreboard. Provide the opportunity for a player to take a break of indefinite time. What is NOT part of this topic:Pre-battle screen / battle instance affairs. (For example surrendering mechanics.) Entry into Open World. See http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14536-to-gank-or-be-ganked-that-is-the-question/ Mechanics dealing with logged off players. (For example drifting.) Goals:Promote folks who come out of battle screen. Reduce the amount of time wasting for people waiting to continue the fight (/multi battle engagement). Proposal:Players are tossed into the battle screen after the game considers a battle to be finished. The battle screen should show a timer running down 15 minutes and an Log-off button to properly signify player options. The player is then entitled to a 5 minute penalty free break. After those 5 minutes the game will generate an inaccurate red circle on the map. There will be no visual indication on Open World. The circle will slowly fade in and shrink until it identifies the exact location with a bright red spot. When 10 more minutes have passed the player is booted from the game for being inactive. Once all players have logged off or entered Open World, the spot will fade away. Players logging back on into the battle screen will face a 10:10 timer. (10 seconds before marker fade-in.) Potential abuse is simply doing an early log-off and waiting a determinate amount of time to login again. This should be dealt with any "offline out of port" mechanic, which is not part of this topic. References: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14627-where-is-the-action/ http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/15428-log-off-at-after-battle-screen-lose-your-battle-rewards-and-ship-dura-restored-to-those-that-did-not-log-off-and-those-waiting-outside/ http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/15565-revenge-fleet-outside-bs-camping-abuse/ Please let me know if I missed anything.

[edit] I broke the questionnaire. I need to redo this topic. Please hold your votes. How about having (dense) fog where people are on their battlescreen? Coming out of http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14485-hiding-in-battle-screens-solved/?p=271155 and http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14485-hiding-in-battle-screens-solved/?p=271532. Somebody who is in a battlescreen can get an outside view via external means. (Calling in a scout.) Somebody sailing on Open World can not get an inside view of the battlescreen with any means. So, the balance is broken. For enticing people to come out (from the battlescreen) and play, I amended http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14627-where-is-the-action. This, however, does not address the above statements. It does not need to be exactly centered on the battle, nor does it need to replace existing fog banks. It can work in addition to the red dots or on its own. Ships will no longer magically appear on Open World, but turn up through the fog. Yes, it might be extremely close, but then again you sailed into a fog bank. You have been warned that you are taking a potential risk. People will just have to sit on the tip of their chairs sailing through fog. :evilgrin: (We might need to add a 30 second timer for mandatory sitting in battlescreen, so the fog bank can come up.) Likewise the anti-gank will have a hard time as it'll need to be coordinated while the fog slowly lifts. [edit] June 14th 2016, changed the poll to allow for negative choices.

Great game, thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. A minor thing: Although amusing, in the battle intro screens, I think the allusions to contemporary movie quotes, such as "May the wind force be with you." and such, are immersion breakers. The game is too good to be going for a cheap laugh.