First what we know:
now all of those points together generate an enviroment where the ONLY reason to play together, is to maximise the credit rewards or for PvP.
Every point up there is almost exactly the worst thing you can do in a multiplayer enviroment.
The Peer2peer nature of those instances is just the tip of the iceberg of sillyness.
Now - how about fixing all those reward things with a propper mutliplayer FRIENDLY system?
Step by step:
The NPC generation needs to respect the number of player in the same instance. But more player shouldn't mean more NPCs, because it would quickly result in more lag in it would ramp up the difficulty for individual player that are suddenly facing ganking npc pirates.
Multiple player working together usually results in a much higher kill-speed, which is often used in argumentations about the reward split,
but that never works in reality, because the game doesn't generate NPCs as fast as they are killed, for various reasons.
so - how to solve this?
simple: Quality over Quantity.
you ramp up the difficulty by increasing the hitpoints aka health of the targets proportionally to the number of player in the instance.
this can be done by spawning higher class ships and outftiting them with various hull reinforcements.
OFC there is a cap - given we have 9 ranks, i would scale that up to 10 times
at the same time, the rewards of those ships scale less steep.
using here a formula from another game:
but at the same time, they won't get overpowered, because up to now, we didn't touch the AI nor their DPS.
you get rewarded for playing in open, but you are not forced to actually play together or communicate
in numbers: 10 player in the same instance it will spawn npcs with 10x the hitpoints and 5 times the reward.
which leads us to step 2
first of all - if multiple player shoot the same target, the reward is split depending on the contribution to the kill if they are not in the same wing, but with a minimum share for every participating party.
a wing or multicrew ship counts as one party here.
then incentive for grouping up: (again, from another successfull game)
there the balance is between increased reward because of playing in multiplayer enviroment, and the increased killspeed from coordinated wing play.
as example: 4 equal player wing:
Multicrew will be treated 1:1 as a wing, because the Multicrew ship will have the higher TTK as a solo ship, and as only compensation the lower rebuy and faster turret rotation speed with higher accuracy
although, any multicrew participation needs to be counted towards community goals or powerplay if the crewmember has signed up for it.
they also need to get the same 5-10% interest share from missions the helm turns in as if he would turn in cargo
last but not least
these needs to be changed radiacally.
1. their XP reward is to be seperated from the pilots. There is no gameplay reason ever to treat them the same way as a human commander.
2. their wage needs to be deducted from the players wallet, NOT from the players income.*
point 2 is important, because currently having an hired npc deducts not only from your combat rank when you have him active - he also permanently lowers any income that would count towards your exploration or trading rank.
GAWD WAS THAT A LONG POST
*disclaimer: all % numbers are up for discussion*
as usual keep in mind: if you like it, comment it, clicking that +rep button will not make this more visible to the DEVs
even if you dont like it, comment it!
- playing in a wing credit rewards and astroid mining content is generated for every wing member that shot the target
- the Combat XP reward on the other hand is evenly shared between the participants, including NPC SLF pilots - in the worst case ech pilot will get 1/8th of the XP
- in Multicrew, even the credit rewards are split depending on the rank and position of the participants, worst case, the gunner gets 1/10th and may even have to give a share to his inactive npc
- in Multicrew, gunner/slf pilots will not get any progress towards a CG, even if they are signed up
- in Multicrew, asteroid mining content is same as solo
- the game doesn't care at all how many Player are in the same instance when it comes to spawning NPCs.
The only visible effect is the naming of Police/military/civil ships may be a mix of the client languages set by the players in the instance - oh, and if two player, not winged together shoot the same target,
- only one will get XP and Credits, totally independant of how much he actuall contributed
- all player will get the full penalty for murder, even if one had just landed a stray shot that didn't even register for a fine
now all of those points together generate an enviroment where the ONLY reason to play together, is to maximise the credit rewards or for PvP.
Every point up there is almost exactly the worst thing you can do in a multiplayer enviroment.
The Peer2peer nature of those instances is just the tip of the iceberg of sillyness.
Now - how about fixing all those reward things with a propper mutliplayer FRIENDLY system?
Step by step:
NPC Generation in a Multiplayer Enviroment
The NPC generation needs to respect the number of player in the same instance. But more player shouldn't mean more NPCs, because it would quickly result in more lag in it would ramp up the difficulty for individual player that are suddenly facing ganking npc pirates.
Multiple player working together usually results in a much higher kill-speed, which is often used in argumentations about the reward split,
but that never works in reality, because the game doesn't generate NPCs as fast as they are killed, for various reasons.
so - how to solve this?
simple: Quality over Quantity.
you ramp up the difficulty by increasing the hitpoints aka health of the targets proportionally to the number of player in the instance.
this can be done by spawning higher class ships and outftiting them with various hull reinforcements.
OFC there is a cap - given we have 9 ranks, i would scale that up to 10 times
NPC total Hitpoint = X * n
X = reference Hitpoint
n = # of players in the instance
X = reference Hitpoint
n = # of players in the instance
at the same time, the rewards of those ships scale less steep.
using here a formula from another game:
Reward = X * (n + 1) / 2
X = reference Reward
n = # of players in the instance
the net result of both things together, is that you get harder to kill, but higher rewarding NPCs as compensation for having more player in the same instance, X = reference Reward
n = # of players in the instance
but at the same time, they won't get overpowered, because up to now, we didn't touch the AI nor their DPS.
you get rewarded for playing in open, but you are not forced to actually play together or communicate
in numbers: 10 player in the same instance it will spawn npcs with 10x the hitpoints and 5 times the reward.
which leads us to step 2
Reward Distribution in a Multiplayer Enviroment
first of all - if multiple player shoot the same target, the reward is split depending on the contribution to the kill if they are not in the same wing, but with a minimum share for every participating party.
a wing or multicrew ship counts as one party here.
then incentive for grouping up: (again, from another successfull game)
- Wing/Multicrew XP rewards are increased by 35% upfront if at least one other wingmember is in the same instance as the killer
- Credit related rewards are split evenly between the participants, excluding NPC Crew
- XP Rewards are split based on the combat rank of the participants:
- Total reward / (summ of ranks) * rank of the recieving commander
- the individual XP reward is then modified by the rank difference between the commanders rank and the npcs rank as usual
there the balance is between increased reward because of playing in multiplayer enviroment, and the increased killspeed from coordinated wing play.
as example: 4 equal player wing:
- NPCs with average 400% hitpoints (ttk roughly same as solo because 4*player DPS)
- 200% credit reward: everyone gets 50% of the solo reward in credits, even though they are 4 commanders (compared 25% multicrew or 100% Wing now)
- 270% XP, if all have equal rank everyone gets 67.5% (compared to 25% now)
Multicrew will be treated 1:1 as a wing, because the Multicrew ship will have the higher TTK as a solo ship, and as only compensation the lower rebuy and faster turret rotation speed with higher accuracy
although, any multicrew participation needs to be counted towards community goals or powerplay if the crewmember has signed up for it.
they also need to get the same 5-10% interest share from missions the helm turns in as if he would turn in cargo
last but not least
NPC Crew
these needs to be changed radiacally.
1. their XP reward is to be seperated from the pilots. There is no gameplay reason ever to treat them the same way as a human commander.
2. their wage needs to be deducted from the players wallet, NOT from the players income.*
point 2 is important, because currently having an hired npc deducts not only from your combat rank when you have him active - he also permanently lowers any income that would count towards your exploration or trading rank.
GAWD WAS THAT A LONG POST
*disclaimer: all % numbers are up for discussion*
as usual keep in mind: if you like it, comment it, clicking that +rep button will not make this more visible to the DEVs
even if you dont like it, comment it!
