SCHEDULED MASSIVE BATTLES: Capital fleets battle at PowerPlay expansions, players spawn in fighters, win rewards/accolades, change the bubble.

SCHEDULED MASSIVE BATTLES: Capital fleets battle at PowerPlay expansions, players spawn in fighters, win rewards/accolades, change the bubble.

PROPOSAL FOR ELITE 2.n: SCHEDULED MASSIVE BATTLES

OVERVIEW

The commanders of Elite: Dangerous often don’t see each other much, especially if the commander hasn’t joined up with a group that is community created and hosted (Fuel Rats, Mobius, etc.). This seems to be something that FDev has attempted to foster by way of CQC, PowerPlay, and Community Goals, but these haven’t yet – and likely may not – become cemented within the player community as essential parts of the game.

This proposal suggests that this problem can be solved by introducing scheduled, massive battles. A “massive battle” means one that involves many ships, mostly capital ships and fighters, as well as support ships, and player ships if they dare to bring them to the battle. Expect these battles to have many FPS elements, with domination, CTF, and similar gameplay styles offered to many participating players on two (or more) teams. Ranking, rewards, prestige, kits, and upgrades are all presented.

Essentially, take gameplay elements from the Battlefield / CoD series, as well as X-Wing / TIE Fighter, and incorporate them into Elite.

HOW BATTLES BEGIN: POWERPLAY

The existing Powerplay mechanics can be used to identify “fronts” in the bubble that are likely to experience expansion attempts and therefore combat. The powers involved in the conflict will, naturally, move resources into the area in preparation for battle, so the front “heating up” will be apparent and reported on GalNet, just as it is now.

During the warm-up period, players who wish to ally with a side can run supply missions, bringing war supplies to the power’s nearby stations to aid with logistics. Like community goals, these supply missions have certain tiers of success which determine what that power is able to field when the battle finally happens (extra capital ships, extra fighters, extra shield recharge stations, etc.). The power may reward the player with credits, rep, battlefield perks, etc.

72 hours from the end of the warm-up period, it becomes clear that the battle is imminent. Time, location, and relevant details of the battle are reported on GalNet.

JOINING A BATTLE

Option 1: Rallying Points (Realism)
Rallying points for each power are announced at the 72 hour mark. Commanders who present themselves at the rallying points just before and during the battle are eligible to be deployed into a fighter in the battle via a capital ship (I suggest a little bit of magic here, not unlike the way commanders return to their last port upon ship destruction). This is just a menu option at the station.

Option 2: Main Menu Matchmaker (Beginner-friendly, fun)
Instead of flying their ship to rallying points, players can simply select an Open Play variant along the lines of “Battle Recruiter,” which lists currently on-going massive battles and allows the player to spawn into a selected one.

BATTLE FREQUENCY

Depending on the details, it may make sense for battles to occur serially in the game universe, but more likely is that a single front sees only one battle at a time, but the bubble has a dozen or so fronts. Additionally, a given front may not be won with a single battle, but many battles in quick succession once it “heats up”; best 2 out of 3, 6 out of 11… or battles may win a team certain control points and continue back-to-back until one team is dominant.

HOW BATTLES WORK

I think it is best not to re-invent the wheel here and instead look at how the successful FPS franchises have created engaging, suspenseful mechanics for battle victory.

Battles could be in open space, or they could take place over existing stations or planets. The latter case is perhaps easier to imagine, as then key areas of the station or planet could serve as control points for a “domination” style game. Winning a control point could activate AI turrets that fight for your side, etc. A “station control protocol” or similar maguffin could serve as the “flag” for a CTF-style battle, where the winning team takes over control of that station.

Spawning takes place at capital ships. Destroying an enemy capital ship to prevent spawns is a risky, but viable strategy. Spawns may be limited to a certain count per team (ticketed), and this count could be influenced by supply & logistics success during the warmup period. Spawns are likely into a fighter hull of the player’s choice, though there may be a limited number of each hull available simultaneously to keep balance. Hull selection is akin to “kit” selection in FPSes, so there would be fighters, bombers, etc. These may be uniquely upgradable by a player who has earned a certain upgrade.

Optionally, we could allow players to bring their own ship to the battle, though they would risk a re-buy if destroyed. This may not be a good idea, however, as it could disrupt the "level playing field" of all players being in fighters. Allowing players to observe from their ships is probably fine, but I think if they wade into battle they should expect a lot of discouraging incoming fire.

In general, players in battles are trying to destroy other players’ fighters (or capital ships, or support ships). Kills are worth points, and a positive K/D ratio generally makes for an effective pilot. Additionally, non-kill goals such as point capture, resource destruction, capital/support ship destruction, healing, etc. offer creative ways to contribute to victory and win points. This is where existing FPS game mechanics should simply be cribbed and adapted.

BALANCING

Balancing would be achieved one of two ways. There could be an auto-balancing algorithm that distributes pilot skill evenly across teams. However, if players have a stake in one team or another they aren’t really fungible across teams. So then, AI players of various skill levels could be introduced to balance the game if one team is underrepresented.

COMBATANTS

Combatants could vary. It could simply be two rival powers, fighting for control of a certain point. It’s possible that more than two powers could be in the mix, though that may complicate the game.

What’s especially interesting, though, is the idea that the combatants could also include Thargoids. Perhaps players could fly as ‘Oids, or perhaps such battles would be entirely cooperative against AI – a nice feature for the folks who prefer PvE.

I’d love to be a part of cooperative capital ship battles with aliens.

WHAT SPOILS FOR THE VICTORS?

Of course, to really make this interesting, players should have some skin in the game. I have a number of suggestions here and will break them up accordingly:

“Intangibles”
  • Citations / medals from the power
  • Achievements, visible in player profile
  • Rank, perhaps in-line with or replacing CQC rank

“Tangibles”
  • Credit rewards from power
  • Ship or commodity discounts
  • Higher access to an allied engineer
  • Prestige allowing preference in future battles
  • Unique items or equipment

Additionally, it would be interesting to consider battles as a viable way to profit from battles, especially for beginning players. Powers could offer battle-focused combat bonds (with a different reward schedule appropriate for this context). Or, combatants can pay some kind of bond themselves, and the losing team forfeits their bonds to the winning team (essentially a wager).

WHY DO THIS

I think Elite is in dire need of a gameplay “hook.” Something players can “sink their teeth into.” The simulator is beautifully executed and well-balanced, now it needs to be applied to something compelling.

I think CQC and PowerPlay are actually good ideas, but they each suffer from a weakness. CQC doesn’t have enough relation to the game universe; it is essentially free-standing. PowerPlay has impact on the universe, but that impact isn’t very significant and the way it plays out isn’t very dramatic or decisive. The idea here is to replace or supplement CQC with these battles, and integrate the setting and outcome of the battle into PowerPlay. That way, there is a participatory, decisive way of playing out the various moves for expansion among the powers.

Additionally, this should foster community. It gives commanders a chance to “level the playing field” by getting out of their Anacondas and into fighters, and flying shoulder to shoulder with other players of different skill levels. It also gives specific rallying times and places for the community to come together to work with/against each other to decide a battle.

I think that is something people can sink their teeth into, and it doesn’t require constant rich content generation from FDev. Just one-time development and upkeep.
 
I made some kind of similar idea here (PowerPlay Commuity Goal for financing PowerPlay Armada. Strategic Armadas positioning. Military Capital).

Indeed we need a refoundation of Power Play with more Epic Battles.
 
Oh, cool. Glad I'm not alone in thinking the game needs something like this. I like the idea of financing, perhaps even stock trading in these corporations. You can be a trader without all that pesky space trucking! :)
 
> Expect these battles to have many FPS elements

I worded this poorly. It should perhaps say "FPS scoring elements." Not actual FPS (spacelegs) gameplay in this context. Just matches scored the way FPSes often are.
 
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