Zones/tags/missions/OW PvP mechanics

[Chug]

What seems to happen allot, is people go to an area to hunt players and have some OW pvp... fair enough... but more often than not, they then wait till a player starts a mission or a fight with open world Ai fleets outside the reinforcement zone then jump into that fight. This is "ganking" in my book. The call then goes up " i just got sunk while doing..." and then/IF people respond, they come out to hunt the hunters. Now with the current invisible/speed buff after you leave a fight, the chance of one or two of these players waiting outside to be in the right spot and the right ships to catch you is pretty remote. Even if they know the battles exact location. So you need/take allot more players (if you can) to have a bigger "net" and therefore a better chance to catch the aggressors.

The side affect of this play style is other people tend to spend allot of time in "reinforcement zones".

So now say you get caught by one of these "counter gankers" (who themselves have now become "gankers" in the others eyes) they happen to be in the right position and the right ships. (By luck or by planning it doesn't really matter). The remaining other "X" number of players who were also waiting in open world, then try to sail to join the fight.  This will usually take so long and have them join so far away that they will have no real chance of getting involved. Perhaps the lucky few guys who were close enough to be in the pull circle or join instantly can chase you in battle firing the odd chaser trying to reel you in while you fire back chasers trying to slow them down while you run, which can take a very long time. (most of us, if not all, have been in this situation)

It's not always that way, you can get good tags and have a few guys close enough to get some broadsides off or the enemy may turn and fight, but with the difference of Open world scale to Battle scale, it can mean a player right behind you in open world can be a long way off in the battle once you've joined. This can be be made worse by what you see in open world not always seeming to relate to your spawn position in battle. (I've pulled ships while i'm on their right and spawned on their left ( and no I was not in the smaller circle)).

 

Suggestions: 

1. Why not introduce a smaller tag circle after you escaped a fight for X mins. meaning enemy would have to be closer to you to pull you? and i do mean smaller not just 10%. This circle would then "grow" back to normal over time, but I'd also suggest combining that with a permanent scale change between open world and battle. So when you pull someone you start closer than you do now. If your two ship lengths away in open world when you pull someone and that is say, 8 lengths in battle, make it 4 or 6 lengths instead.

(Side note: join circles spawning in land is still an issue.)

2. Missions that are in a reinforce zone should say so when taken and offer a somewhat reduced reward. (perhaps not for new players for X days or X missions?)

3. Missions both in and outside of safe zones should NOT be joinable by enemy and be open for 10 mins on a "request to join" for friendlies (unless in same team/battle group/clan then you can just join in this time period). Markers should remain for missions outside the reinforce zone for a longer period (not forever) allowing hunters if they so wish to wait for a player/players to leave and attack them. (perhaps missions should not show exact numbers or BR but a range of numbers and BR) ( 1-4 players 150-450BR for e.g.)

4. Open world fleets "tagged" inside reinforce zones should  close instantly for enemy players (following same rules as missions above, request entry etc) while outside the zone they remain open for a time for anyone to join. If an enemy player does join the open world Ai fight then a timer for friendlies of the player who attacked the Ai fleet to join in would be extended. e.g. Open world Ai fleet is attacked by player, after 3 mins battle closes. Enemy player joins at 2:59, time for friendlies to join is extended by 3 mins. (also see  No.5)

5. Perhaps a Dynamic timer based on BR difference. The timer right now when a player attacks another player for others to then come help the attacked player seems to short. even if a player calls for help before the tag, in the majority of cases, people will not be able to get there and join in time before the battle closes. Change the open battle timer to a system where the higher the attackers BR compared to the defenders the longer the battle stays open for the defenders to join, and if more defenders then join than attackers, the attackers "open" timer increase's so they can get more help. in this way a battle could then "scale" up from a simple 1v1 to a 25v25 as the timer could get extended for each new joiner depending on who joins on which side and in what ships (BR). Just a thought. hope this is explained well enough for people to understand.

6. I also think that some nations ( GB is a prime example) have too big a reinforcement zone thanks to every port on Jamaica being "protected". Think Brits have 10 ports in total with zones, while other factions just have 2. seems unbalanced to me especially with no free ports (la Navasse for e.g.) no longer near Kingston.

7. wind changes to fast in battles at certain times. reduce to direction change or maybe increase the time it takes to complete the change in direction.

8.To me, the speed/invisibility "buff" you get after you leave a fight is fine but the increased turning circle while invisible after a fight is to much. Decrease turn time penalty or have it kick in after "X" seconds.

 

I really think suggestion 5 may be good but i'm just one of many.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

[SKurj]

22 minutes ago, Chug said:

 

6. I also think that some nations ( GB is a prime example) have too big a reinforcement zone thanks to every port on Jamaica being "protected". Think Brits have 10 ports in total with zones, while other factions just have 2. seems unbalanced to me especially with no free ports (la Navasse for e.g.) no longer near Kingston.

 

some nations have 2 ports protected?  Which? 

 

[Chug]

Well the Danes and the Swedes for sure. It even shows that on your  linked map SKurj. so not sure why you asked.

[victor]

1 hour ago, Chug said:

 

6. I also think that some nations ( GB is a prime example) have too big a reinforcement zone thanks to every port on Jamaica being "protected". Think Brits have 10 ports in total with zones, while other factions just have 2. seems unbalanced to me especially with no free ports (la Navasse for e.g.) no longer near Kingston.

 

GB, US and Spain are classified as "easy" nations (when you choose to create a char) that's the reason why they have big safe zones.

If you want an easier gameplay you choose one of them, if you want a difficult one you can chose others. It's a player choice not an unbalance of the game.

Edited February 10, 2018 by victor

[SKurj]

2 hours ago, Chug said:

Well the Danes and the Swedes for sure. It even shows that on your  linked map SKurj. so not sure why you asked.

Danes and swedes have more than 2 protected ports, though thats only due to proximity to the zones it looks like.  Though granted the zones overlap alot, France has at least 10 ports in safezone it looks like.  SPain 13...    11 for GB,   10 for US  hoping Iroquois map is accurate it looks like while dutch has 4...

I agree there are too many, perhaps all nations should be 2 each, just make the zones abit larger

 

 

 

 

[Hethwill]

Make those same ports unconquerable ( biggest issue was nations being one ported ). Return to the 1 Capital Zone ( was fairly large ). We are in the starting line again - 80% of the map is not used due to safety/comfort and ease of access. PvP is just for the sake of pvp. Conquest is only for progaganda purposes, with notable exceptions to build modules - not vital resources.

We did test it all, and, as players as whole, we abhorr anything that is not instantly available and that requires long term planning.

Spaceships mechanics in the age of sail.

[AeRoTR]

Keep the reinforcement zones, but more far away from ports, the more time it takes reinforcements to arrive. So if you do not play smart, you will lose your ship to attackers, if they dont play smart they will lose theirs

Joining open world battles, timer should be more, lets say 5 minutes. But the longer it passed from start of battle, the further your allies will spawn. So again you have to be smart, make it to your friends, or if you are attacking someone, their friends arrive, evaluate the situation, run away or stay. Now the hunter can be hunted if he is tagged. Just thinking.