Hostile Waters

[Galileus]

 

Idea:

Ports produce area of protection - affecting battles and free towns within. Friendliness / hostility of an area is determined and controlled by a sum of all ports areas of protection. These are reliant on port's class and upgrades.

 

Goal:

Enforcement of risk vs rewards mechanics. Strengthening of national waters and lowering the strategic value of deep-in-enemy-territory free ports.

 

Breakdown:

 

So there is how it works - every port produces an area of protection as it does now - with the reinforcements and stuff. Depending on port class - shallow / deep / regional / capital - and if nation keeps weekly maintenance on upgrades the area has a certain X value. These values can add up or negate themselves, thus deciding on how safe any specific area is. Ideally front lines are neutral and real hostile waters start far in enemy lands. Here are the different types of safety rating:

 

National waters - mostly next to capital, the "new guy safe heaven", otherwise clusters of well developed ports

Friendly waters - most of national territory bar the frontlines

Neutral waters - frontlines or open waters

Unsafe waters - enemy friendly waters

Enemy waters - enemy national waters

 

The rating just means the threshold - for example, Friendly Waters start at 100 influence and National Waters at 200 - but the real value can be anywhere inbetween. This is to make it possible to nudge the rating one way or another. Bonuses (and debuffs) should scale either with the exact number or with the threshold, depending on bonus in question.

 

As for the bonuses:

 

PvP XP and gold reward for attacking (the tagging side, or the side invading missions) increase in hostile waters - this is to reward brave souls willing to go far, far into enemy waters, despite the risks.

PvP Xp and gold reward for defending (joining the battle on the tagged side) increase in friendly waters - this is to promote defending and national coherency - answering and helping attacked captains.

AI Trader cargo buff in friendly and neutral waters - to promote spread away from capital of non-pvp oriented players. No cargo buff beyond neutral waters (as in - in enemy waters) because that's promoting AI hunting in enemy territory, and that is working against the nation coherency. People going into enemy waters should do so for PvP, not for farming compass wood...

Increase repair kits cost, repair cost and reduce dock size in enemy waters free towns - this is to limit the attractiveness of deep strike outposts and make waging hit and run tactics tedious and bothersome in long run. You can earn a lot unless you stay there too long... you should take your ship back to replenish repair kits in national waters from time to time.

Introduce a cooldown on repair kits in OW in enemy waters - this si to make battle scars hurt much more if you're in a deep strike. It's not enough to run out of  battle instance to regain full HP - you need to survive in OW too!

? Mess with in battle repairs in enemy waters ? - not sure if this sin't going too far.

Increase/decrease port defense according to area rating - this is solely to promote "influence wars" and introduce another strategic aspect to port battles - this time an overworld one.

Increase/decrease port production and maintenance costs according to area rating - war is exhausting and maybe it's time to make peace if you want that economy to flourish? You can also choose to attack a port of the enemy solely to mess up his economy by moving the frontlines

Add a m*****f****** jet engine powered flying Richelieu - just because french people are awesome

[BramtheDutch]

When the land sigthed patch comes in it maybe is an idea to have fort(s) reinforcing the friendly and national area's.

Just like in real life a nation would fortify it land in war zone's.

[Francis Tabernac]

I like this, there's a lot of potential there for expanding other types of gameplay besides pure combat. You could tie it in with InfiniteAmount's idea about expanding on trade and luxury commodities as well, and say that bringing in additional "consumed" materials to ports could expand their influence and therefore increase their port defenses (say as a reflection of their readiness state). Something to give people that want to focus more on trading something to do, and another potential money sink to combat hoarding of cash later one.

 

Reinforcement/improvement of a port could also result from the building of upgrade structures such as these mines and the like that're upcoming, to encourage people to build industry closer to the frontlines rather than focusing purely on national capitals. That or there could be other types of buildings constructed for those of us with no interest in investing in crafting. We could instead use those 'building slots' or what have you for signals, emplacement, bulwarks and barricades, garrison upgrades, who knows, and instead of getting a return on investment in the shape of raw materials it could be a small tax income for lending privately-owned buildings to the local government.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Francis Tabernac

[Galileus]

Could also affect AI aggro rate... Im tired of getting pulled away from my forum posting with sounds of cannon fire when deep in friendly territory ^^'

[Francis Tabernac]

Could also affect AI aggro rate... Im tired of getting pulled away from my forum posting with sounds of cannon fire when deep in friendly territory ^^'

 

It's tough being a national hero, but somebody's got to do it, Gal!

[Grim DeGrim]

Bump.  I like this idea.