Diplomacy and Portbattle mechanics redesign - the elite dangerous version

[chappy]

So this is very much a hot topic at the moment and there have been some recent suggestion threads dealing with voting and how to assign votes and weight votes etc. 

 

I want to put forward an alternative method that relies somewhat on the elite dangerous mechanic for factions

I am going to do so in dot points and try to outline the basic principles it supports rather than present a 2 page tome on the subject. 

 

 

The principles:

- Good GUI that supports information and decision making for all players. outside of the clan interface and structure. 

- Active involvement in the game as the method to weight the vote or 'say' of the player (irrespective of clan membership)

- port capture mechanics linked to pve and pvp activity that generate vote points for future diplomacy shaping

- actions in game based on the diplomacy outcomes that further feed into the players ability to influence the direction of their nation - aka: support the current objectives in order to gain influence and thereby shape the future objects to your own viewpoint

- hardcode diplomacy outcomes that fall out of the actions of players in building up their loyalty and voting weight over time. ie: no actual vote clicking to make a clearcut yay or nay decision on a diplomacy outcome.

- clan blocs are naturally present simply by the organised voting of the members of clans together for objectives. no further hardcoding or emphasis is placed nor needed on the power of clans to shape policy. if they are large enough and active enough they will naturally have appropriate weight to shape policy over time. 

 

 

 

 

how it works;
 

 

-A new layer is added to the choices a player makes on joining the game. choose a nation, but also at any point, opt in or out of joining the admiralty. ie; contribute to war aims and abide by game hard coded NAPs.(non aggression pact) not being admiralty means the player is a private individual or privateer. as one wishes to label it. up for discussion.

 

-On joining admiralty, player has the ability to earn loyalty, rank, xp, vote points whatever you wish to call it by conducting pvp or pve against the current targets.(max points) or just against the current nations

shipping overall (some points but not as efficient)

 

-Targets are voted on once per x days. lets say 3 for arguments sake, adjust as balance requires. One must be in the admiralty to vote at all. 

 

-Targets are ports. Only x (lets say 2-3 for now) targets can be voted in each round. As a result  the targets chosen define which nations your side is at full war with for that round. 

 

- the round commences and the players proceed to attack the targets selected.

 

- under the new port conquest mechanic, the targets create zones around each port where pvp AND pve count towards a trigger point for the commencement of a port battle. PVP is worth more

 

- the intent is that it takes roughly 24-48 hours to build up enough points to trigger a port battle, depending on the activity of the defenders in counteracting it.

 

-The port battle can either be at the moment the trigger is reached or based on an improved port timer system that is it occurs x hours (set by the defenders) after a trigger has been reached. giving them warning and time to prepare. (open to discussion)

 

- players pvping and pveing in the zone earn points towards their status in their admiralty. both defensive and offensive play at the same time earns points towards the trigger for the port battle.

 

- defending nations players are earning points as well which offsets the attackers points. its a constant battle to advance the attackers points to the trigger. Balancing required to ensure there is a good mix of successful preventions and successful triggers. i suspect the attackers points would need to be weighted in their favour (ie worth more)

 

- players can still earn admiralty points overall by attacking shipping elsewhere that belongs to the nations currently at war with them pve and pvp. pvp worth more, these points wont contribute to the target triggers though.

 

- players can attack shipping of other nations provided the NAP mechanic has not been triggered for that nation

 

- the NAP mechanic involves a hardcoded prevention of attacking another nations shipping if the overall level of violence between those 2 nations has been at or below a certain trigger value in the previous 2 rounds.

 

- the NAP can be broken by the voting round where the target selected is a port owned by the nation currently holding a NAP due to low levels of violence previously. This is a national declaration of war. 

 

- nations that have a NAP enabled will be able to enter the battles in zones in support of that nation, both open  sea and port battle final events.

 

- voting weight is based on contribution in the round just finished.This means that while you may not agree with the previous rounds targets, if you assisted in prosecution you will have the greatest weight available to influence the next round. 

 

- there is nothing stopping clans or groups of clans from agreeing to vote on specific targets. indeed it makes sense to do so. 

 

 

 

additional optional balancing. 

 

successful voted targets: the targets may get more and more difficult to vote in based on the relative strengths (in numbers of ports) of the 2 nations. IE in order for the pirates to vote to attack the last british  town available, it will require nearly 90% say of the nations weighted votes to do so. alternatively it may only require a simple majority of votes to attack a port of the danes who are equal in numbers of ports.

what this does; it prevents voting blocs (clans)  from taking the nation to a total victory scenario unless the vast majority of the nation back this step. this models war weariness and willingness to negotiate the end of a war and helps to reduce natural imbalances that see nations subjugated and unable to come back into a position of economic stability.

Edited April 1, 2016 by chappy

[chappy]

hmm. got swamped by polls 

 

no one has comments?