After fighting in the battle for Lugh (go Feds!) for the last few days, it struck me how Conflict Zones could be easily improved with a few small additions.
- The waves of ships that jump in are very disorganised. It's like they jump in, then their AI drives them to interact in a very repetitive fashion (ie. fight nearest ship or attack cap ship's heatsinks). Perhaps some ships could jump in and intentionally operate in tandem/groups/Wings? Say 5 ships jump in, 2 peel off to engage their own individual enemy ships, 3 form up and group-attack the cap ship's heat sink (or alternatively, move to defend the heat sinks if they're on the side of the cap ship) and so on. They could jump in in formations, rather than haphazardly. I can't help but think when an enemy Eagle jumps in and attacks the cap ship by itself that well, that wasn't a great idea, little fella. When your allied cap ship is under attack, your ship's AI could give you a warning to suit. "Allied capital ship under attack," and allied NPC ships scramble to assist. It would give the combat zones a more ebb and flow effect; some structure that is currently lacking, and a bit of extra pressure to attack ships attacking the cap ship. It could even be further developed to add some extra tension - "Allied capital ship - starboard heat relay at 50% integrity" and so on.
- The ships that jump in are seemingly random. Perhaps, after 3 waves, there could be a small chance that a special ship jumps in. For example, an Elite Dropship, perhaps with a named General piloting the ship. His loadout has some crazy stuff that you don't normally see on Dropship NPC - maybe a bunch of railguns, missile racks etc. Something that makes him stand out from the crowd, and he has a larger combat bond to suit. And maybe a slick paint job, too. For the Empire, it could be a Clipper. He/she could also be in a Wing whose function is to protect him. Alternatively, it could be a named Wing. For example, a Wing of 3 Vultures jumps in, and there's comms chatter from your cap ship - "The "Empire's Sons" have jumped in; take them out, pilots!".
- Again, every now and then, a ship could be piloted by a named pilot who has more skill than others of the same type. His paint job could be a bit different, and the bond could be increased, but then that doesn't necessarily need to happen. The reward would be having a greater challenge in the conflict zone. Perhaps the game could keep track of how many named pilots the player has killed in combat zones (maybe they could be "aces"), and you could see it in your pilot stats. "Number of combat zone aces killed: 54" etc.
- There could be a small chance that another type of ship jumps in - maybe a Type-9 or something, and they start deploying mines. Again, it'd have an escort. This would be a great way to break up the repetitiveness of the same types of ships jumping in over and over again, and it could have consequences if it goes ignored for too long.
Really enjoying the combat zones, and Lugh has been great so far - especially with the new mission types. However with a few small tweaks I think combat zones could be much more enjoyable.
- The waves of ships that jump in are very disorganised. It's like they jump in, then their AI drives them to interact in a very repetitive fashion (ie. fight nearest ship or attack cap ship's heatsinks). Perhaps some ships could jump in and intentionally operate in tandem/groups/Wings? Say 5 ships jump in, 2 peel off to engage their own individual enemy ships, 3 form up and group-attack the cap ship's heat sink (or alternatively, move to defend the heat sinks if they're on the side of the cap ship) and so on. They could jump in in formations, rather than haphazardly. I can't help but think when an enemy Eagle jumps in and attacks the cap ship by itself that well, that wasn't a great idea, little fella. When your allied cap ship is under attack, your ship's AI could give you a warning to suit. "Allied capital ship under attack," and allied NPC ships scramble to assist. It would give the combat zones a more ebb and flow effect; some structure that is currently lacking, and a bit of extra pressure to attack ships attacking the cap ship. It could even be further developed to add some extra tension - "Allied capital ship - starboard heat relay at 50% integrity" and so on.
- The ships that jump in are seemingly random. Perhaps, after 3 waves, there could be a small chance that a special ship jumps in. For example, an Elite Dropship, perhaps with a named General piloting the ship. His loadout has some crazy stuff that you don't normally see on Dropship NPC - maybe a bunch of railguns, missile racks etc. Something that makes him stand out from the crowd, and he has a larger combat bond to suit. And maybe a slick paint job, too. For the Empire, it could be a Clipper. He/she could also be in a Wing whose function is to protect him. Alternatively, it could be a named Wing. For example, a Wing of 3 Vultures jumps in, and there's comms chatter from your cap ship - "The "Empire's Sons" have jumped in; take them out, pilots!".
- Again, every now and then, a ship could be piloted by a named pilot who has more skill than others of the same type. His paint job could be a bit different, and the bond could be increased, but then that doesn't necessarily need to happen. The reward would be having a greater challenge in the conflict zone. Perhaps the game could keep track of how many named pilots the player has killed in combat zones (maybe they could be "aces"), and you could see it in your pilot stats. "Number of combat zone aces killed: 54" etc.
- There could be a small chance that another type of ship jumps in - maybe a Type-9 or something, and they start deploying mines. Again, it'd have an escort. This would be a great way to break up the repetitiveness of the same types of ships jumping in over and over again, and it could have consequences if it goes ignored for too long.
Really enjoying the combat zones, and Lugh has been great so far - especially with the new mission types. However with a few small tweaks I think combat zones could be much more enjoyable.