We all know it when we see it, a good game. However game design is still in most cases a weird dish served with a lot of arms waving to make it digestible for the players.
How to make it interesting.
You need to design a system that can work for both groups, pvp and pve, and for a game like ED with a huge game world I only see one solution.
Sector control is the name of the game.
Systems can be split into sectors, they already are, it’s just not very well connected to the game world. Even moons and planets can be sectors, each sector connect to another and when to conquer a sector it generate a income for the fraction that got it, the income is evenly deposited into the group members account, where they can use it to purchase mining equipment, factories, carriers etc.
Sectors are connected and if you lose a sector it could impact the NPC movement and the logistic routes that connect them. All sectors are at the beginning populated with NPC’s and after a player group get the sector it will be populated with civil NPC’s only, all defenses must be players. If a sector is lost to a NPC fraction, the protection of the sector will be by NPC’s again.
How to conquer a sector.
All players must vote on a sector to be able to start an invasion, if there is no voting, the sector can not be conquered and the spawn of fresh forces will just continue matching what is used against them, however if there is a vote to attack a sector the pool of NPC forces will be set to a given number and when they are outnumbered they will lose the sector, whatever remaining forces there are will continue to fight even if the sector is turned, but they will now show up as resistance forces.
The element of AI and player controlled fractions is great as it will insure a dynamic game world where nothing stops because there is a lack of players, and for the pvpers it nice to have something to fight for when you have conquered a sector. In a situation with space legs this would be a fun way to give the players something to use the spacelegs for, and even if the player is not a great FPS playing the support roll or defender roll, intel, could add a lot of fun for the game. Power play is a kind of sector control gameplay, but in its current form it’s very convoluted and boring.
How to make it interesting.
You need to design a system that can work for both groups, pvp and pve, and for a game like ED with a huge game world I only see one solution.
Sector control is the name of the game.
Systems can be split into sectors, they already are, it’s just not very well connected to the game world. Even moons and planets can be sectors, each sector connect to another and when to conquer a sector it generate a income for the fraction that got it, the income is evenly deposited into the group members account, where they can use it to purchase mining equipment, factories, carriers etc.
Sectors are connected and if you lose a sector it could impact the NPC movement and the logistic routes that connect them. All sectors are at the beginning populated with NPC’s and after a player group get the sector it will be populated with civil NPC’s only, all defenses must be players. If a sector is lost to a NPC fraction, the protection of the sector will be by NPC’s again.
How to conquer a sector.
All players must vote on a sector to be able to start an invasion, if there is no voting, the sector can not be conquered and the spawn of fresh forces will just continue matching what is used against them, however if there is a vote to attack a sector the pool of NPC forces will be set to a given number and when they are outnumbered they will lose the sector, whatever remaining forces there are will continue to fight even if the sector is turned, but they will now show up as resistance forces.
The element of AI and player controlled fractions is great as it will insure a dynamic game world where nothing stops because there is a lack of players, and for the pvpers it nice to have something to fight for when you have conquered a sector. In a situation with space legs this would be a fun way to give the players something to use the spacelegs for, and even if the player is not a great FPS playing the support roll or defender roll, intel, could add a lot of fun for the game. Power play is a kind of sector control gameplay, but in its current form it’s very convoluted and boring.
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scb counts, and immaculate FAO flying making a conda more agile than an eagle.... hmmmm thats a harder fix.
