Post by tarbomb on Mar 1, 2014 14:57:40 GMT -5
One of the things I've been missing from recent grid12 builds (and something that I've seen a few people talking about on IRC) is a world-building metagame. Back in the early builds, players could change the game world not only by killing enemies, but also by constructing towns and structures by placing resources on specific points on the map. With the removal of the resonator/facility building system, and the shift from towns being leveled by gridshard deposits to towns being leveled by killing enemies and connecting them to origin, the game has become "flatter" in a sense. Everything in the game - affecting the environment, personal progression, even triggering endgame - revolves around one single theme: "kill the right enemies, and pick up their loot". Co-op is reduced to "TP over here, take some enemy fire from me, and give me some DPS". The execution of the "killing enemies" part of the game is well-executed and improving rapidly, but I think there is a lot of room for expansion in other parts of the game.
In this post, I'll lay out an proposal for bringing cooperative world-building elements back into the game, as well as a rework of other elements with the goal of providing a unifying theme in the game.
This post is partially structured around the concept of Grid12 taking place inside an environment where we, the player-controlled protagonists, are attempting to take back the map from evil antagonists who have overrun our territory. This isn't intended as a piece of lore, but rather as a mental framework a player can structure game elements around so the game doesn't seem like an amalgam of random elements. Just as RotMG is structured around the idea of fighting a central antagonist (Oryx) and his minions, and all gameplay revolves around that theme, I'll assume Grid12 is structured around a "reconquer the grid from evil invaders" theme.
First off: towns. Towns essentially act as a safe refuge for players, and a base from which players project force onto surrounding areas. Finding and leveling towns is essentially "developing" the map, expanding the area controlled by players.
Since towns are such valuable nexuses for activity, it's natural that they should take a lot of effort to build, and demand some effort to maintain. As such, I propose the following:
1) To construct a town, players must first clear an area around the town, and then either one of two things must happen: either players must clear a straight-line path hooking the town up origin or another leveled town (a laser based power distribution system, perhaps) to provide it with limitless power, or players must supply a significant amount of energy to fuel it. Towns that are not hooked up to the power grid will be battery-powered and run out of energy (more on energy later) after some amount of real-world time. The first method of leveling is similar to our current system; the second is similar to the old system with a timeout built in. The second method is intended to allow for the creation of "temporary bases" so a path may be cleared from multiple fronts, and to make scouting more interesting and cooperative - we could have a return of the scout and heavy clearer/resource carrier pair tactic.
2) Towns do not have all functions immediately. Teleporting must be added to a town by constructing the appropriate facility (more on facilities below); lower levels have a per-player recharge associated; higher levels allow instantaneous teleporting like current towns. Teleports require power - an unpowered town cannot be teleported to; that way, an isolated town will have to be connected or constantly refueled to maintain viability as a jumping-off point. Radar towers to detect convoys must also be constructed (with higher levels having higher range, and the highest level being able to detect a convoy's type) and perhaps energy relays if one wants to be able to hook up unleveled towns to a town.
3) Towns can be attacked and defended. Who would expect an enemy to leave valuable strategic points alone? Players can construct defense turrets using resources to defend a town against attackers; these defense turrets require energy as well. If an isolated town runs out of energy and nobody refuels it, the defense turrets will go dead and the town is going to be overrun by enemies at the next raid and be de-leveled into oblivion.
In order to avoid the issue of "forcing players to keep up with the game" (a complaint that occurred last time I proposed the idea of convoy raids), I propose the following: enemy attacks on towns will be led by enormous, slow-moving juggernauts. These juggernauts are equipped with heavy artillery that is incapable of attacking small, fast-moving player tanks and can only target structures; players can only attack their escorts, which do minimal damage to towns (but will distract defense turrets, so there is a benefit - albeit a tiny one - to helping with a city's defense). As a result, city defense will be a matter of how many defense turrets were constructed (and where they were located), rather than how many players are on to stop the attack.
What am I hoping to achieve with this proposed town rework? I want to make towns interesting again, rather than make them some background game element players take for granted. There will also be something to guard against unchecked territory inflation (the necessity of constructing defense towers, and raids), as well as a sense of accomplishment when finding, leveling, and creating towns. A side effect of this is that the map develops quicker in its early stages (due to a smaller amount of territory to defend), which makes endgame less objectionable (right now nobody likes endgame because it means losing all chances at farming mazes and convoying; with the proposed system endgame just changes the optimal character progression path from farming mazes/convoys to building the map, assuming appropriate awards for constructing towns/facilities).
Edit: To clarify, Origin is a pre-leveled town that contains a power generator (a unique feature) that allows it to generate unlimited amounts of power. It is also indestructible due to a large number of defense turrets.
Notice that I mentioned resources quite a bit in my discussion of towns - they're required to construct everything. Where can one get resources? Instead of having them drop from all enemies (unsatisfying and grind-encouraging), I propose that mineral deposits be restructured to be a source of resources. Extracting resources will require standing near-motionless on a deposit for a significant amount of time (maybe requiring a mining module of some kind). Tanks loaded up with minerals will not be able to teleport under their own power; instead, they must teleport from a teleport-enabled town (invent up whatever lore you wish to make this happen - perhaps towns are equipped with "graviton projectors" that can slingshot tanks large distances); as a result, mineral farming acquires a risk/time tradeoff. Either one can rush to a mineral deposit, mine it, and take the risk in rushing back (and dying with the mineral load), or one can take the slower but safer method of clearing to the deposit, which provides a safe route back to a city.
A few other random ideas, not central to the world-building theme but rather intended to unify existing game elements with the framework I described above:
Maze regions will take on the role of enemy strongholds (the enemies in other locations can be considered "corrupted machinery" - they're enemies, but they're not The Enemy). Convoys travel between maze regions - convoy routes will be finite, not infinite, and may have twists and turns (straight lines are rather boring and make all convoys alike, and forcing scouts to travel along a convoy route to figure out where it leads makes for more interesting gameplay). Scouting along routes can locate valuable loot items that have fallen off convoys.
Escape flotillas are essentially enemy holdouts protected by strong defenses. Once the maze's power core has been destroyed, their defenses will gradually lose power before a flotilla filled with valuable equipment flees to another maze region (instead of away from origin).
Patrols (or doomvessels, as that's what they're being called now) are launched from set points on the map and can be detected with the appropriate radar tower upgrade.
In this post, I'll lay out an proposal for bringing cooperative world-building elements back into the game, as well as a rework of other elements with the goal of providing a unifying theme in the game.
This post is partially structured around the concept of Grid12 taking place inside an environment where we, the player-controlled protagonists, are attempting to take back the map from evil antagonists who have overrun our territory. This isn't intended as a piece of lore, but rather as a mental framework a player can structure game elements around so the game doesn't seem like an amalgam of random elements. Just as RotMG is structured around the idea of fighting a central antagonist (Oryx) and his minions, and all gameplay revolves around that theme, I'll assume Grid12 is structured around a "reconquer the grid from evil invaders" theme.
First off: towns. Towns essentially act as a safe refuge for players, and a base from which players project force onto surrounding areas. Finding and leveling towns is essentially "developing" the map, expanding the area controlled by players.
Since towns are such valuable nexuses for activity, it's natural that they should take a lot of effort to build, and demand some effort to maintain. As such, I propose the following:
1) To construct a town, players must first clear an area around the town, and then either one of two things must happen: either players must clear a straight-line path hooking the town up origin or another leveled town (a laser based power distribution system, perhaps) to provide it with limitless power, or players must supply a significant amount of energy to fuel it. Towns that are not hooked up to the power grid will be battery-powered and run out of energy (more on energy later) after some amount of real-world time. The first method of leveling is similar to our current system; the second is similar to the old system with a timeout built in. The second method is intended to allow for the creation of "temporary bases" so a path may be cleared from multiple fronts, and to make scouting more interesting and cooperative - we could have a return of the scout and heavy clearer/resource carrier pair tactic.
2) Towns do not have all functions immediately. Teleporting must be added to a town by constructing the appropriate facility (more on facilities below); lower levels have a per-player recharge associated; higher levels allow instantaneous teleporting like current towns. Teleports require power - an unpowered town cannot be teleported to; that way, an isolated town will have to be connected or constantly refueled to maintain viability as a jumping-off point. Radar towers to detect convoys must also be constructed (with higher levels having higher range, and the highest level being able to detect a convoy's type) and perhaps energy relays if one wants to be able to hook up unleveled towns to a town.
3) Towns can be attacked and defended. Who would expect an enemy to leave valuable strategic points alone? Players can construct defense turrets using resources to defend a town against attackers; these defense turrets require energy as well. If an isolated town runs out of energy and nobody refuels it, the defense turrets will go dead and the town is going to be overrun by enemies at the next raid and be de-leveled into oblivion.
In order to avoid the issue of "forcing players to keep up with the game" (a complaint that occurred last time I proposed the idea of convoy raids), I propose the following: enemy attacks on towns will be led by enormous, slow-moving juggernauts. These juggernauts are equipped with heavy artillery that is incapable of attacking small, fast-moving player tanks and can only target structures; players can only attack their escorts, which do minimal damage to towns (but will distract defense turrets, so there is a benefit - albeit a tiny one - to helping with a city's defense). As a result, city defense will be a matter of how many defense turrets were constructed (and where they were located), rather than how many players are on to stop the attack.
What am I hoping to achieve with this proposed town rework? I want to make towns interesting again, rather than make them some background game element players take for granted. There will also be something to guard against unchecked territory inflation (the necessity of constructing defense towers, and raids), as well as a sense of accomplishment when finding, leveling, and creating towns. A side effect of this is that the map develops quicker in its early stages (due to a smaller amount of territory to defend), which makes endgame less objectionable (right now nobody likes endgame because it means losing all chances at farming mazes and convoying; with the proposed system endgame just changes the optimal character progression path from farming mazes/convoys to building the map, assuming appropriate awards for constructing towns/facilities).
Edit: To clarify, Origin is a pre-leveled town that contains a power generator (a unique feature) that allows it to generate unlimited amounts of power. It is also indestructible due to a large number of defense turrets.
Notice that I mentioned resources quite a bit in my discussion of towns - they're required to construct everything. Where can one get resources? Instead of having them drop from all enemies (unsatisfying and grind-encouraging), I propose that mineral deposits be restructured to be a source of resources. Extracting resources will require standing near-motionless on a deposit for a significant amount of time (maybe requiring a mining module of some kind). Tanks loaded up with minerals will not be able to teleport under their own power; instead, they must teleport from a teleport-enabled town (invent up whatever lore you wish to make this happen - perhaps towns are equipped with "graviton projectors" that can slingshot tanks large distances); as a result, mineral farming acquires a risk/time tradeoff. Either one can rush to a mineral deposit, mine it, and take the risk in rushing back (and dying with the mineral load), or one can take the slower but safer method of clearing to the deposit, which provides a safe route back to a city.
A few other random ideas, not central to the world-building theme but rather intended to unify existing game elements with the framework I described above:
Maze regions will take on the role of enemy strongholds (the enemies in other locations can be considered "corrupted machinery" - they're enemies, but they're not The Enemy). Convoys travel between maze regions - convoy routes will be finite, not infinite, and may have twists and turns (straight lines are rather boring and make all convoys alike, and forcing scouts to travel along a convoy route to figure out where it leads makes for more interesting gameplay). Scouting along routes can locate valuable loot items that have fallen off convoys.
Escape flotillas are essentially enemy holdouts protected by strong defenses. Once the maze's power core has been destroyed, their defenses will gradually lose power before a flotilla filled with valuable equipment flees to another maze region (instead of away from origin).
Patrols (or doomvessels, as that's what they're being called now) are launched from set points on the map and can be detected with the appropriate radar tower upgrade.
♥.
