CQC CQC Game Mode Suggestion Box.

[Armour]

From Reddit:

This is not an official post (obviously). It's just a chance to brainstorm and nit-pick ideas for alternative modes to enhance and widen the scope of the game-within-a-game that is CQC.

So, here are some to start off with:

Race: Pure racing, no weapons. A mix of courses, both straightforward races with straights and turns a plenty, and obstacle-laden routes with alternate paths and shortcuts all over the place. Loadouts would all concentrate on brute speed vs agility.

Death Race 3300: Racing with guns, what's not to like? A mixture of weapons (mines, missiles, power drain limpets) various other pickups. Not as quick as the pure race mode.

Destruction Derby: Racing, no weapons, no shields, strong hulls, tight spaces, much ramming (Oi! Keep your mind out of the gutter, please!)

(All racing modes could be individual or team events.)

Highlander: Deathmatch with no respawn - there can be only one.

Tag: Maze-like arenas. Twisty little passages, all alike. These would offer cover for agile targets, and plenty of chances to intersect.

Scanners would probably have to be rendered near useless in this mode (line of sight only). If not, knowing how to exploit silent running effectively would be useful in this context.

All craft would carry a projectile weapon with a slow firing rate and low speed projectiles. All players start with shields. The first player hit by a projectile loses their shield, and can only regain it by "tagging" another player with their weapon. All other players can only cause damage to the shieldless player. If that player is destroyed, the next player to get hit among the remaining players becomes the new target.

The winner is the one left standing, or the one with the target when the game timer elapses.

Hot Potato: All craft carry a bomb with a duration. Tagging a competitor steals seconds from them, until they can tag someone else - whereupon they stop bleeding seconds and start stealing them from their target.

Reach zero and you go boom.

The winner would be the one left at the end, or the one with the longest duration left when the normal game timer elapses.

If multiple survivors have equal durations, the game moves into overtime and becomes sudden death, first one to tag a competitor wins.

All decent suggestions, and the racing stuff seems like a no-brainer.

One thing about those suggestions, however, is that they seem to be focused on individual play. It might be good to get some suggestions for team-based play modes. Named team creation should probably be a thing, and having some attractive game modes to capitalise on the idea might persuade a dev to consider it down the line, who knows? I could see the team management aspect being fun to some people - having to recruit/pick players for specific team roles, and making decisions about team balance (i.e. defensive/offensive, speed/strength, etc) - it would add some depth to proceedings. Also, having your team's name up at the top of a league table couldn't be bad.

What do you think? Got any ideas?

(Please note: I would prefer to keep arguments about fragmentation and matchmaking wait times outside of the scope of this discussion. There are already plenty of threads for that stuff.)

 

[SuperNova15]

How about some horizons exclusive modes.

SRV Team Deathmatch/Solo Deathmatch/Capture the flag: Same as current modes. Probably best wait until more srv types are in the game though.

SRV King of the hill: Whoever can stay ontop of the hill in the center of a crater the longest wins. Players get 1 point per second, five minute match, 100 points to win.

Base Defenders: This is a longer game mode. Two teams each have their own planetary base with an effective anti-Ship gun. Each side has a limited supply of srvs and a very limited supply of Eagles(or something similar). The goal is for the teams to both strategically attack and defend at the same time. The ships need to give the srvs a lift over near the enemy base because its so far away(giving the other side an opening) and then continue to intercept enemy ships doing the same and defend their own base when they can. The srvs goal is to get inside the enemy base and disable the anti-aircraft gun(i know no air) long enough for the ships to fly in and do heavy damage to the base. The team who deals the most damage to the enemy base or destroys it wins.

SRV Races: Need I say more?

High gravity Ship Planetary Deathmatch: The high gravity and surface adds a new element to combat making some maneuvers deadly. Probably just a new map type added to the current modes for horizon players only.


Non Horizons modes.

Team Arena: A 2-8 wing of players with a single life each battle wave after wave of NPCs each wave stronger than the last. If they clear all 25 waves the whole team wins. The mvp and surviving players get a big bonus. Dead players are free to spectate others.
Another variant of this is that each player has three lives but the waves are harder and they can only respond when a wave is cleared(if it's cleared).
This game mode should have different levels of difficulty. The Ultra Elite mode should be impossible to clear without the best players using great teamwork.

Thats all I've got for now. But when "walking" comes, oh will I have ideas...

 

[MadDogMurdock]

System Survivor

Bring in supercruise and interdictors.
Interdiction always drops into an arena - themed based on location.
Buff hull and shield a bit and nerf weapons a bit.
Selected areas where hull repair is available.
Ironman.

 

[Armour]

Some decent suggestions. I was really interested in getting the thoughts of people on game modes that concentrate on team play, where different roles are essential - so that players aren't choosing ships/loadouts as a matter of personal preference, but more for what that particular combo offers the team as a whole, much like how a team sport like rugby has a range of different roles that suit certain body types over others.