CQC Ultimate CQC Suggestion Page:

[Jaylem]

I wouldn't mind seeing everyone's ideas on what can be done to improve the CQC experience and critique these ideas as a community. and if we are lucky, perhaps someone in FDev will see our most wanted ideas/ suggestions and add them! (this is perhaps being too hopeful)


May as well start on my part, I will also use some current suggestions that I believe are worth noting


-'Join game in progress'- a lot of games I have seen with such a PvP system often use a join game in progress system. sure you will be at a disadvantage, but at least it will get you into the action sooner. (even with the current change of 2 player matches, it still took me 10 minutes to find a game.)

-Server browser/ Rent a Server- also seen in many games, allows individuals to see active servers and join accordingly, with suggestion above there should not be any issues with finding active matches. Rent a server would allow dedicated players to create their own circumstances (such as power-ups removed, one map type, etc) and also throw FDev some more money to play with!

-Game mode without powerups- recently suggested, and I agree whole heartedly with it. is the addition of game modes without the arcade powerups would create a level playing field for all players where the only dividing factor is a players' skill.

-SRV Combat- just an idea, would be pretty interesting.

-Racing game modes (fighter and SRV)- an interesting turn in playstyle, I do personally love racing games. seeing tunnels/ obstacles to fly and drive around would be pretty spectacular, weapons enabled for a more mature and epic Mario Kart-esque feel where players fight for first place.... this is CQC after all!

-Survival Game mode- players must team up against an endless horde of NPC enemies progressively getting stronger. ( Human ships, Engineered ships, Thargoids etc) although this most certainly won't entice PvPers, for PvE players we can expect some satisfaction, (especially with friends). This mode has no effect on CQC rank.

- More Maps- self explanatory.

-In Game reward- probably should of put this at the top of the list, more incentive for main game players to play such as; Decals, Unique weapons and modules, sufficient credits and Materials for main game.

-Leaderboard system/ rewards- Players are visually ranked. there is also a payout system weekly reflecting player ranks. top players may receive 10s of Millions of credits for participation which appear in main game. CQC never got more competitive!

that's it for what I have on my mind so far. love to hear your thoughts on this!


Take care!


CMDR Jaylem

 

[Ian Doncaster]

-'Join game in progress'- a lot of games I have seen with such a PvP system often use a join game in progress system. sure you will be at a disadvantage, but at least it will get you into the action sooner. (even with the current change of 2 player matches, it still took me 10 minutes to find a game.)

This is how it already works - unless the match has less than a minute on the clock, it'll throw you in straight away (if it has less than a minute, you'll end up on the matchmaking screen with a "match ends in 35 seconds" message). I've got into matches sometimes with another player on 650 points and not had time to throttle up before they got the final kill.

-Server browser/ Rent a Server- also seen in many games, allows individuals to see active servers and join accordingly, with suggestion above there should not be any issues with finding active matches.

Yes. Being able to see how many matches are on / people queueing is a big deal. Not being able to get into TDM because you're person 25 ... just wait a few minutes and someone will probably drop out. Not being able to get in because you're person 1 ... maybe try DM.

Also, it would provide a way to set up 4v4 TDMs between two specific squads, rather than just have two squads queue up and hope they end up in the same match as each other.

The regular suggestion of "ability to queue from the main game like multicrew" would be good, too - not so necessary for DM with the minimum of 2, but still important for TDM/CTF modes.

- More Maps- self explanatory.

Certainly I'd never say no to more maps - a "tunnel complex" one where it's all very cramped, very much based on ambushes and lines of sight, would give a very different feel. Something like the main building at Asteria Point for sizes of tunnels and chambers, perhaps?

 

[Jaylem]

This is how it already works - unless the match has less than a minute on the clock, it'll throw you in straight away (if it has less than a minute, you'll end up on the matchmaking screen with a "match ends in 35 seconds" message). I've got into matches sometimes with another player on 650 points and not had time to throttle up before they got the final kill.


Yes. Being able to see how many matches are on / people queueing is a big deal. Not being able to get into TDM because you're person 25 ... just wait a few minutes and someone will probably drop out. Not being able to get in because you're person 1 ... maybe try DM.

Also, it would provide a way to set up 4v4 TDMs between two specific squads, rather than just have two squads queue up and hope they end up in the same match as each other.

The regular suggestion of "ability to queue from the main game like multicrew" would be good, too - not so necessary for DM with the minimum of 2, but still important for TDM/CTF modes.


Certainly I'd never say no to more maps - a "tunnel complex" one where it's all very cramped, very much based on ambushes and lines of sight, would give a very different feel. Something like the main building at Asteria Point for sizes of tunnels and chambers, perhaps?

It certainly takes a while to see any action with the current 'join game in progress' option, this is why I suggested it, I didn't even know it was working...


I have never been able to get a TDM game, and prefer more of the lone wolf aspect anyway, but yes certainly have some sort of squad function. I am surprised that it didn't.

'Tunnels' is my language! I sometimes can't help myself on Asteria Point just flying through tunneks max speed blowing up pylons last second.... then I kill the players

so yes.... MORE TUNNELS!!!!

 

[Sir Judas]

More modes would be very nice in principle, but would they attract more players or divide the small existing player base? For me, the main thing is getting into a match with enough people (even one is fine) that stick around for a bit. After that, the people dictate the nature of the game. In some matches, an implicit agreement seems to emerge, that 'dishonorable' s*** like powerups is to be ignored, and head-on engagements to be accepted; I like those best, they feel so much like comedy-western pub brawls, it's priceless. In others, there are players that like to use clever, sneaky tactics, and the fun bit is trying to deal with the 'monsters from the dark corners.' Back on track, if there was a powerup-free mode, or a racing mode for that matter, I would love that, as long as it wouldn't hurt the chances of having a match at all.

 

[Flimley]

Bring it into the main game. Each super power with its own unique arena. \o/
Park your ship outside in a custom CQC station and telepresence into the arena.

Flimley

 

[Jaylem]

More modes would be very nice in principle, but would they attract more players or divide the small existing player base? For me, the main thing is getting into a match with enough people (even one is fine) that stick around for a bit. After that, the people dictate the nature of the game. In some matches, an implicit agreement seems to emerge, that 'dishonorable' s*** like powerups is to be ignored, and head-on engagements to be accepted; I like those best, they feel so much like comedy-western pub brawls, it's priceless. In others, there are players that like to use clever, sneaky tactics, and the fun bit is trying to deal with the 'monsters from the dark corners.' Back on track, if there was a powerup-free mode, or a racing mode for that matter, I would love that, as long as it wouldn't hurt the chances of having a match at all.

Well, if it were released with In-game incentive there would be a greater influx of players, combine that with the ability to select servers I can't see why there would be any problems. arguably for me the reasn why I don't do CQC very often is lack of incentive.. just fun pew pew and that's it

And yes I agree, game modes without powerups should be added.

Bring it into the main game. Each super power with its own unique arena. \o/
Park your ship outside in a custom CQC station and telepresence into the arena.

Flimley

This is a great idea! and you are by far not the only one to suggest it. this would greatly satisfy RP players who don't like immersion breaks. also would be really cool like I stated above for in game reward to play a part, dock at the said station, participate and then hand in you CQC voucher

What would be even better (although asking for WAAAAY to much) is to be able to spectate at these locations, either by having real time presence parked outside the arena, monitors onboard your ship to view the action, or just a real-time leaderboard. EVEN better if you could bet on players! that ought to bring some attention to CQC!

 

[ATN]

Frontier should have open a CQC server open during updating the Elite servers. I believe it could bring more players to Arena gameplay.

 

[ZeroAi]

I wouldn't mind seeing everyone's ideas on what can be done to improve the CQC experience and critique these ideas as a community. and if we are lucky, perhaps someone in FDev will see our most wanted ideas/ suggestions and add them! (this is perhaps being too hopeful)


May as well start on my part, I will also use some current suggestions that I believe are worth noting


-'Join game in progress'- a lot of games I have seen with such a PvP system often use a join game in progress system. sure you will be at a disadvantage, but at least it will get you into the action sooner. (even with the current change of 2 player matches, it still took me 10 minutes to find a game.)

-Server browser/ Rent a Server- also seen in many games, allows individuals to see active servers and join accordingly, with suggestion above there should not be any issues with finding active matches. Rent a server would allow dedicated players to create their own circumstances (such as power-ups removed, one map type, etc) and also throw FDev some more money to play with!

-Game mode without powerups- recently suggested, and I agree whole heartedly with it. is the addition of game modes without the arcade powerups would create a level playing field for all players where the only dividing factor is a players' skill.

-SRV Combat- just an idea, would be pretty interesting.

-Racing game modes (fighter and SRV)- an interesting turn in playstyle, I do personally love racing games. seeing tunnels/ obstacles to fly and drive around would be pretty spectacular, weapons enabled for a more mature and epic Mario Kart-esque feel where players fight for first place.... this is CQC after all!

-Survival Game mode- players must team up against an endless horde of NPC enemies progressively getting stronger. ( Human ships, Engineered ships, Thargoids etc) although this most certainly won't entice PvPers, for PvE players we can expect some satisfaction, (especially with friends). This mode has no effect on CQC rank.

- More Maps- self explanatory.

-In Game reward- probably should of put this at the top of the list, more incentive for main game players to play such as; Decals, Unique weapons and modules, sufficient credits and Materials for main game.

-Leaderboard system/ rewards- Players are visually ranked. there is also a payout system weekly reflecting player ranks. top players may receive 10s of Millions of credits for participation which appear in main game. CQC never got more competitive!

that's it for what I have on my mind so far. love to hear your thoughts on this!


Take care!


CMDR Jaylem

+Rep

We've covered this in past years, and there are always a lot of good suggestions.

Mine are:

- 1: Co-op VS bots for two or more players

I own hundreds of games, and some of the most fun I've had since the Atari 2600 and Commodore Vic20 has been with co-op vs bots modes.

- 2: Pre-game matches

In the 21st century it's sad to make people sit in a lobby waiting for it to fill up.

But for decades the best practice in game design to alleviate this is to allow unranked games of any size OR allow prematch skirmishes (aka unranked pre-match) until the required number of players join.

o7

 

[Ian Doncaster]

- 2: Pre-game matches

In the 21st century it's sad to make people sit in a lobby waiting for it to fill up.

But for decades the best practice in game design to alleviate this is to allow unranked games of any size OR allow prematch skirmishes (aka unranked pre-match) until the required number of players join.

They've cut the minimum for Deathmatch to 2 players now, so unless you want a pre-match skirmish where you just lounge around the map seeing the sights (which would be pretty good!) that's about as far as it goes anyway.

 

[SushiCW]

I agree that some sort of co-op gauntlet or horde mode would be amazing.

 

[Jaylem]

+Rep

We've covered this in past years, and there are always a lot of good suggestions.

Mine are:

- 1: Co-op VS bots for two or more players

I own hundreds of games, and some of the most fun I've had since the Atari 2600 and Commodore Vic20 has been with co-op vs bots modes.

- 2: Pre-game matches

In the 21st century it's sad to make people sit in a lobby waiting for it to fill up.

But for decades the best practice in game design to alleviate this is to allow unranked games of any size OR allow prematch skirmishes (aka unranked pre-match) until the required number of players join.

o7

Agreed, a PvE survival mode would be very cool! Quite a fair few games I know of already have this, Call Of Duty Zombies, Halo's Spartan Ops (4) and Firefight (ODST and Reach), War Thunder released 'Assault' last year and even this over hyped game Fortnite has a PvE mode.

It can be quite fun doing these competitive team activities!

 

[Winterwalker]

I've been having a think about this lately as I think arcade versions of ED help a lot with accessibility to what is a relatively complicated maing game. My thinks;

1. Guardian fighters and Taipan add in, goes without question really.

2. Scored / weighted versions of the "Combat Scenarios" (already included in Training) that could maybe add CQC rank and a league table. Combat Scenarios (even SRV race) are surprisingly fun minigames, "training" I think undersells them.

3. An ED version of AG Racing (in fighters, ED assets) to flesh out the Arena as arcade with an alternative - dead easy - ship control. eg (a) solo mode (my slower net connection boots me from CQC matchmaking quite often) .. (b) fast pace, thought free (and mesmirising) reaction game. See youthful exuberance!

Spoiler

[video=youtube;f6V20V5K77w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6V20V5K77w[/video]

 

[Rodger Wilcon]

As it seems to be almost impossible to find an actual game of CQC just playing randomly, here are some of my suggestions;
1: Have a single player mode, like in the main game where there aren't any other players, just computer controlled ships.
2: Have a weekly or monthly, CQC exp Boost Day, to help draw in players, as the leveling would be temporarily easier.

 

[UFO Reality]

I wouldn't mind seeing everyone's ideas on what can be done to improve the CQC experience and critique these ideas as a community. and if we are lucky, perhaps someone in FDev will see our most wanted ideas/ suggestions and add them! (this is perhaps being too hopeful)


May as well start on my part, I will also use some current suggestions that I believe are worth noting


-'Join game in progress'- a lot of games I have seen with such a PvP system often use a join game in progress system. sure you will be at a disadvantage, but at least it will get you into the action sooner. (even with the current change of 2 player matches, it still took me 10 minutes to find a game.)

-Server browser/ Rent a Server- also seen in many games, allows individuals to see active servers and join accordingly, with suggestion above there should not be any issues with finding active matches. Rent a server would allow dedicated players to create their own circumstances (such as power-ups removed, one map type, etc) and also throw FDev some more money to play with!

-Game mode without powerups- recently suggested, and I agree whole heartedly with it. is the addition of game modes without the arcade powerups would create a level playing field for all players where the only dividing factor is a players' skill.

-SRV Combat- just an idea, would be pretty interesting.

-Racing game modes (fighter and SRV)- an interesting turn in playstyle, I do personally love racing games. seeing tunnels/ obstacles to fly and drive around would be pretty spectacular, weapons enabled for a more mature and epic Mario Kart-esque feel where players fight for first place.... this is CQC after all!

-Survival Game mode- players must team up against an endless horde of NPC enemies progressively getting stronger. ( Human ships, Engineered ships, Thargoids etc) although this most certainly won't entice PvPers, for PvE players we can expect some satisfaction, (especially with friends). This mode has no effect on CQC rank.

- More Maps- self explanatory.

-In Game reward- probably should of put this at the top of the list, more incentive for main game players to play such as; Decals, Unique weapons and modules, sufficient credits and Materials for main game.

-Leaderboard system/ rewards- Players are visually ranked. there is also a payout system weekly reflecting player ranks. top players may receive 10s of Millions of credits for participation which appear in main game. CQC never got more competitive!

that's it for what I have on my mind so far. love to hear your thoughts on this!


Take care!


CMDR Jaylem

More options always work and even though this is an old post I totally agree with getting rid of power-ups or have a DM option without it,

Exp pilots know the maps and go for em just to make it even more unbalanced.

Another one is that the matchmaking system is horrible when online numbers are low.

Addressing difference in balancing issues that arise from 4v4 and a 1v1 game has been vastly overlooked.

It shouldn't match or avoid as much as possible a match where a level 1 will 1v1 against a level 32 every time.

It results in a completely unbalanced and pointless game similar to a helpless sidewinder going against a deadly engineered Fer-de-Lance.

It is not fun getting walked all over again and again.

Having no chance of winning due to not having any other options but to play against someone who outclasses you is definitely not fun and may leave most players unhappy just trying out the arena section.

There are also other issues like different controllers and VR users but mostly, I think that by not addressing minor balancing issues for CQC has contributed vastly to its failure to make it fun for all.

Most gamers that try something new and gets no joy usually just quits and may try it again but if the result is the same, then the gamer will write it off as a bad experience and call it a rubbish game and leave it for good.

The devs have dropped the ball on this one and have not thought enough about the results of increased efforts to properly balancing an arena match so as to entice better outcomes for new and experienced cqc pilots.

It may have worked initially back when there were lots of interest and 4v4 death matches were always available but now when it is mostly 1v1 the game becomes a different type of game.

Comparable to a basketball match vs a tennis match.

I always wondered why CQC was a failure and this is consensual PvP.

 

[Eminor]

Linking to this thread, which is similar - and also has good suggestions:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/456353-Tannik-s-CQC-Patchnotes-Wishlist

 

[TheMegaTurnip]

A MODE WITH NO BLOODY POWERUPS.


Gimmicky powerups in a twitch based flight game does not entertainment make.

 

[gingervegeta]

My ideas for CQC

1. There needs to be some sort of incentive to get all 4 elite badges, I think the inclusion of a triple elite award has only made matters worse as it has made CQC look less important.

2. CQC should be used occasionally for the community goals, something simple like total kills.

3. If they cannot add a launcher from inside the game world they should at least have adverts outside stations showing the weeks best players and add this kind of information to galnet news.

4. All fighters should be added to CQC.

5. More maps

6. Possible planet based games using SRVs

7. Bring back CQC as a stand alone but as occasional special offer for free

I think there is alot of things they could do to help make CQC more popular and alot of it is about awareness. They really must bring it to the attention of the player base and by making CQC free to play (on occasion if not permanently) they could pick up alot more new elite players who either have never heard of it or didn't realise they would enjoy it.

 

[M1Hammer]

I know bots have already been mentioned, and I suppose it's obvious, but a one-player vs bots mode would help complete the "fun" potential of CQC -- making it into a true instant arcade experience.

Since the combat training missions already have a moderate form of enemy AI, that means the base ingredients already exist.

 

[dwengo]

I posted this on the main suggestions, but perhaps it was too wordy, Please show some love, what you like dislike about the idea and why. I really want to make CQCing a viable career path for the main game. It would make for a great new play style that casual gamers can hope in and out of without

We can integrate CQC into the main ED universe by making it a flavour like Community goals. (called CCQ for short in this post).
Like Community goals, CCQ is something that only occurs in one location for a set period.**

So let me give you an overview:
You rock up to an orbital station and drift through the mission’s menu, you spot community goals, but you also spot a call to arms for close combat fighter pilots for your (or a) given faction, the pay looks good, just head on over to [specific station] and sign on up

Spoiler

**My friends mentioned it would be cool to be able to matchmake from anywhere by integrating it into a ship panel.
You sign up, head on over to the station to meet your specified quarter master and volunteer your services as a *ahem* combat ace *ahem

Spoiler

You sign up and the ‘quartermaster’ finds a squadron to put you in so you can get straight to the action.

Spoiler

Once a match is found, its pretty much CQC (perhaps with objectives like those mentioned below).
So, in more details:
Conditions:

• User must be in a station ‘on the frontline’ (like community goal, it’s a station that has been designated for creating/accepting/rewarding War CCQ missions)
• User must select and accept the ‘fighter pilot volunteers needed’/’ace pilots needed’/’your emperor needs you’ * CCQ mission
  • Multiple mission scenarios to meet different CCQ mission needs, similar to CG but the missions are personal goals. from simple, (destroy 10 enemy fighters) to more difficult (destroy capital ship/force capital ship to jump) to desperate (defend station till help arrives (n minutes). These are scenarios found in an instance of CQC

CQC Mission types:
The types of missions one can expect to find at a CCQ

• Team Death match style (lore would be destroy x enemy fighters/ control the skies over planet X).
• Offensive Objective based (multiple lore, examples include target an enemy capital ship/base).
• Defensive Objective based (multiple lore, examples include defend capital ship/base).
• *** not sure if CQC could have maps for the following, but chucking them in anway --- Atmospheric CQC battles/bombing runs/Anti bomber fighter wings

Technical:
A look at the technical aspect of this new feature, the aim is to keep the mechanics of the current CQC (assuming there’s not technical debt with the current CQC implementation), we just wrap it in some nice lore and incentivisation with direct access from an in game menu. I guess the brunt of the work would be implementing an entry point from the ingame station menu, but looking at how multicrew works, I’m hoping there’s reusable functionality.

• Users would sign up for the mission, then when they select next the mechanics will be largely the same as current CQC. They will be waiting in matchmaking mode:
  Spoiler

  
• They will be paired up in matchmaking with and against players, with AI added for dramatic battle scale effect*.
• They will then be taken out of the game and loaded into the CQC map. The map will be based on the scenario.
• When the CQC battle is finished (incl the exp gained and all that jazz) the user is taken back to their own ship on the station where they can redeem their war bonds based on the CQC points they got or do it all again by re entering the queue.
• Users should be allowed to join CCQ from Elite Dangerous: Arena, this would reduce pure CQC wait times but changes the ‘end of match’ mechanics where users wait in a lobby for the next game to start (as CCQ users would be taken back to the main game).

Rewards:

• A Military rank that can be prepended to your name **outlandish but I thought I’d chuck it in. (So instead of CMDR Dwengo, it would read CPT Dwengo, ADML Dwengo, 1^stLT Dwengo)
• Military campaign medals that can be viewed by other players that scan you. The medals will show what Community Close Quarter Combat Campain you took part in.
• Spoiler

  
• Other normal rewards (money, items, rep)

Benefits:

• Expose users to CQC by making it a more integral part of the ED experience.
• Provide pilots with a refreshing gameplay alternative if they’ve not tried cqc before
• Incentivise playing CQC
• Reduce CQC wait times.
• Allow for ‘quick and dirty’ fun (I play CQC mainly to have a quick bit of fun when I don’t have time for a long running mission).
• Allow users to join CQC matches from ED: ARENA

Unknowns:
This section defines loose ends and areas that I haven’t investigated:

• Should users’ pick a side?
  • CCQ is essentially CQC wrapped in a nice bit of lore and incentivisation (and accessible from the main game). As such there are two sides, should the two sides be fixed or should the user be able to pick a side when entering? (IE the game keeps the two sides evenly balanced by only allowing CCQ missions for the side with less active players).
• Should the rewards be straight up cash or ‘war bonds’ keeping CCQ similar to combat bonds/bounty hunting, CG ect).

Conclusion:
It would be really nice to integrate more CQC into the Elite Dangerous Universe. I love playing it for a quick bit of fun. making it a viable career path would open up all sorts of possibilities as well as potentially attracting new audiences what with Ace Combat showing that there is a market for such things