Weekly request for CQC Queue inside of Solo/Open/Private modes
TL;DR:
We as a community would love the ability to queue up for CQC while doing other activities such as mining, hauling, exploring, etc. The CMDR would press a button to find a match, and when enough players are found, they all get a notification that expires after 60 seconds. If all the commanders accept, they are sent to CQC, and returned on completion. If one declines, the rest are put back into queue to look for a replacement.
Link to Reddit Thread with better formatting: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/a6zb6j/weekly_request_for_cqc_queue_inside_of/?
[Still a WIP, if anyone has anything to add, please say so in the comments]
Table of contents
This is a community post, built from the ideas of many commanders. Past Stage One, many will argue on the order of the stages. If you have any idea's to add, please do in the comments.
Stage One
CQC already exists as a standalone mode. This means that all the Dev's need to focus on is implementing the transfer between the Solo/Open/Private (SOP) modes to the CQC. The goal of stage one is getting the players into the mode as seamlessly and quickly as possible.
The first task is to add a CQC tab to the Systems panel.
The tab will have three buttons, one for each of the CQC modes
Pressing on one of the modes will join the CMDR into a queue for that mode
This window will update with the time in queue, and a cancel button
The next task is to add a notification for when a match is found
When a match is found, a notification will appear that will direct the CMDR to the CQC tab of the systems panel.
A count down timer that started at 60 seconds from when the match was found will be displayed on the CQC tab.
Underneath the timer are two buttons, 'Accept' and 'Decline'
After this, handling what happens when the user clicks either button
If the user accepts, the timer will be replaced with a message saying, 'waiting for other commanders to accept.'
If all of the commanders accept, they will transferred to the CQC game mode. When the match completes, they will be returned to the mode and location that they left from.
In the event the user declines, they will continue on with their SOP mode. The other CMDR's will be returned to queue until the next match is found. The remaining CMDR's will have a higher priority for finding a match.
In the event the timer expires, it will be as if the CMDR pressed decline.
If in any scenario the CMDR declines the match (either from button press, or time expiration) they will have a brief period of 60 seconds in which they can not re-queue (to prevent spamming)
Finally, we have to handle the cases in which a user can not join a match
If a user is unable to join a match for one of the following reasons, a message will be displayed showing them how to fix the issue.
A CMDR must not be in Super cruise.
A CMDR must have weapons stowed.
A CMDR must not be under attack.
A CMDR must not be in Glide Mode.
A CMDR must not be in a Wing (this functionality will be added in a later stage).
If all the above conditions are met, the CMDR will be able to hit Accept.
Engaging in one of these activities will auto-decline the match for them, and a notification will alert them of such.
Stage Two
We did it, players can join matches more easily, and an entire mode is now available that was previously almost impossible to use. This stage is about preparing for the future of the CQC as a core part of Elite Dangerous. It will introduce the ability to join games with your friends, as well as adding bots for the times when the game modes are slow.
Step one is to update the CQC Tab in the Panels.
In the the CQC Panel, game types will now display the number of active players from the past hour.
A new slider will be added to the bottom of the panel. This will reflect if the commander would like to join a game in progress or not (more on this later).
If a commander finds a game for a game currently in progress (because a player left), they will be notified before they click accept to join.
A commander will earn extra rewards for joining a game thats already in progress.
The next step is to implement bots for the game modes.
The primary goal of the bot is to take the place of a commander who leaves or disconnects from a match.
The AI from the base game will be brought into CQC.
When a CMDR comes to take the place of a bot, they will have a delay of 30 seconds, or until the bot is destroyed. If after 30 second the bot is not destroyed, the bot will self destruct.
Adding bots to fill matches faster from queue.
If a match has not been found within 5 minutes of starting the queue, the current players in queue will be prompted with a notification asking them if they would like the match to be filled with bots.
If a player accepts, they will be sent to the match with the other players that accepted, the empty spaces being filled with bots.
If a player declined, they will be returned to a no-bot queue that will look for other players who have selected no bots, and for other players in queue.
This is for players who are not in a rush to get a game, and prefer playing against other people.
Finally, adding the ability to bring Wingmates to CQC
When one member of a Wing goes to join the CQC queue, the other members are notified. The first member is not joined until 30 seconds after, or until all Wingmates respond.
The other members have the option to join the same CQC game type, or decline.
The members of the Wing that have accepted will be joined to the queue together.
When a match is found, if any of them Wingmates in queue decline or doesn't respond, it will auto decline for the other Wingmates as well.
Stage Three
Now that we have players easily able to join matches, it's time to give them a reason to keep playing (aside from it being fun). Missions, and subsequently rewards) are an important aspect of Elite Dangerous, and they should exist in all aspects of the world. This stage can only be implemented once the effects of Stage One are seen. Queue times need to be short enough that CMDR's will reasonably have the ability to complete the missions.
Playing a match should reward your time spent
For playing a match, you should receive X number of credits.
For playing a match, you should receive a few random grade 1 materials.
For winning a match, you should receive an extra Y number of credits.
For winning a match, you should receive an extra few random grade 3-4 materials.
It is important to note, that these number need to be balanced around the rest of the game. Elite is what you make of it, so if your way of traversing the galaxy is fighting for your credits, and gaining materials to engineer your ships that way, then you should be able to. It just can't be the 'best' way to do that. Every way should be the 'best' way.
Adding missions to stations
In addition to the rewards for playing, CMDR's can now pick up missions like any other.
These missions will grant reputation and rewards similar to bounty hunting. This is because in bounty hunting missions, you also have the ability to gain credits and materials.
New mission type: Get X number of kills or assists
New mission type: Capture X number of flags
It is important to make the missions achievable solo, and not rely on other parties. An example of a bad mission would be: Destroy X number of flag carriers. This is bad because it requires you to wait for the enemy to grab your flag.
Community goals
The Community goals will now have missions relating to CQC.
These missions will be the same as the ones for the station, but will have higher base values to achieve.
Updating the CQC tab in the Systems panel
The CQC will now have 2 sub-tabs
The first and default sub-tab will be the screen for joining a match
The second tab will display all of the CMDR's current missions associated with CQC.
Faction wars
[WIP] Playing CQC will contribute to your faction progress.
Stage Four
Player can easily enter matches, and have a reason to do so. This stage is about bringing you Elite Dangerous career into CQC to test not just your skill, but your strategies as well. This stage will add modes into CQC, so it is important to know we have enough players to support this stage. There will now be two game type options: Casual and Social.
Casual will be the current CQC. You will get default ships to fly, and everyone will be on equal footing in terms of ships.
Social you will choose from your fleet from the rest of your Elite Dangerous Career. The ship you fly will be the ship you put your blood sweat, credits and engineering materials into. This will be the mode to fly the way you really want to.
Task number one is to update the CQC tab in the panel.
Inside the CQC Tab, in sub-tab number one that shows the matchmaking, will be a slider at the top.
The slider will have 2 options, Casual as the default, and Social.
Each option of the slider will change the options of the game modes below them.
The next task is implementing the 'Social' modes.
Before starting a match a screen (much like the ship transfer screen) will display.
A CMDR will be able to choose their ship, and the rest of the match will continue on like normal.
Stage Five
Commanders can now bring their hard work into CQC and show it off risk free. More than that, they can have fun doing it, and earn a few credits on the side. This stage is about adding more fun ways to play. New game types such as Racing, plant the bomb, juggernaut, VIP, and more.
Stage Six
Finally this stage is about adding a truly competitive side to CQC. Ranked. Much like social, this will be played only with your own personal ships.
Why we want this
Elite is an amazing an expansive game with a lot to do already. However, many tasks in Elite are long and arduous. Having the ability to quickly jump into a CQC match would ease the strain of tasks that take long swaths of time.
On top of this, there is this huge portion of Elite that isn't being played. Not even just CQC, good PVP matches can be hard to come by. Add on the removed risk of rebuy and we have a comprehensive system for letting off steam and having fun.
What this will do for Elite
Elite Dangerous has one of the most comprehensive and fun flight systems in the space sim industry. The issue is that often there is no way to express our mastery of flying. Adding pvp combat in an easily accessible way would bring new life into the game. It would bring it many knew players who look for the competitive side of gaming, as well as bring back many commanders.
TL;DR:
We as a community would love the ability to queue up for CQC while doing other activities such as mining, hauling, exploring, etc. The CMDR would press a button to find a match, and when enough players are found, they all get a notification that expires after 60 seconds. If all the commanders accept, they are sent to CQC, and returned on completion. If one declines, the rest are put back into queue to look for a replacement.
Link to Reddit Thread with better formatting: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/a6zb6j/weekly_request_for_cqc_queue_inside_of/?
[Still a WIP, if anyone has anything to add, please say so in the comments]
Table of contents
- Stage One
- Stage Two
- Stage Three
- Stage Four
- Stage Five
- Stage Six
- Why we want this
- What this will do for Elite Dangerous
This is a community post, built from the ideas of many commanders. Past Stage One, many will argue on the order of the stages. If you have any idea's to add, please do in the comments.
Stage One
CQC already exists as a standalone mode. This means that all the Dev's need to focus on is implementing the transfer between the Solo/Open/Private (SOP) modes to the CQC. The goal of stage one is getting the players into the mode as seamlessly and quickly as possible.
The first task is to add a CQC tab to the Systems panel.
The tab will have three buttons, one for each of the CQC modes
Pressing on one of the modes will join the CMDR into a queue for that mode
This window will update with the time in queue, and a cancel button
The next task is to add a notification for when a match is found
When a match is found, a notification will appear that will direct the CMDR to the CQC tab of the systems panel.
A count down timer that started at 60 seconds from when the match was found will be displayed on the CQC tab.
Underneath the timer are two buttons, 'Accept' and 'Decline'
After this, handling what happens when the user clicks either button
If the user accepts, the timer will be replaced with a message saying, 'waiting for other commanders to accept.'
If all of the commanders accept, they will transferred to the CQC game mode. When the match completes, they will be returned to the mode and location that they left from.
In the event the user declines, they will continue on with their SOP mode. The other CMDR's will be returned to queue until the next match is found. The remaining CMDR's will have a higher priority for finding a match.
In the event the timer expires, it will be as if the CMDR pressed decline.
If in any scenario the CMDR declines the match (either from button press, or time expiration) they will have a brief period of 60 seconds in which they can not re-queue (to prevent spamming)
Finally, we have to handle the cases in which a user can not join a match
If a user is unable to join a match for one of the following reasons, a message will be displayed showing them how to fix the issue.
A CMDR must not be in Super cruise.
A CMDR must have weapons stowed.
A CMDR must not be under attack.
A CMDR must not be in Glide Mode.
A CMDR must not be in a Wing (this functionality will be added in a later stage).
If all the above conditions are met, the CMDR will be able to hit Accept.
Engaging in one of these activities will auto-decline the match for them, and a notification will alert them of such.
Stage Two
We did it, players can join matches more easily, and an entire mode is now available that was previously almost impossible to use. This stage is about preparing for the future of the CQC as a core part of Elite Dangerous. It will introduce the ability to join games with your friends, as well as adding bots for the times when the game modes are slow.
Step one is to update the CQC Tab in the Panels.
In the the CQC Panel, game types will now display the number of active players from the past hour.
A new slider will be added to the bottom of the panel. This will reflect if the commander would like to join a game in progress or not (more on this later).
If a commander finds a game for a game currently in progress (because a player left), they will be notified before they click accept to join.
A commander will earn extra rewards for joining a game thats already in progress.
The next step is to implement bots for the game modes.
The primary goal of the bot is to take the place of a commander who leaves or disconnects from a match.
The AI from the base game will be brought into CQC.
When a CMDR comes to take the place of a bot, they will have a delay of 30 seconds, or until the bot is destroyed. If after 30 second the bot is not destroyed, the bot will self destruct.
Adding bots to fill matches faster from queue.
If a match has not been found within 5 minutes of starting the queue, the current players in queue will be prompted with a notification asking them if they would like the match to be filled with bots.
If a player accepts, they will be sent to the match with the other players that accepted, the empty spaces being filled with bots.
If a player declined, they will be returned to a no-bot queue that will look for other players who have selected no bots, and for other players in queue.
This is for players who are not in a rush to get a game, and prefer playing against other people.
Finally, adding the ability to bring Wingmates to CQC
When one member of a Wing goes to join the CQC queue, the other members are notified. The first member is not joined until 30 seconds after, or until all Wingmates respond.
The other members have the option to join the same CQC game type, or decline.
The members of the Wing that have accepted will be joined to the queue together.
When a match is found, if any of them Wingmates in queue decline or doesn't respond, it will auto decline for the other Wingmates as well.
Stage Three
Now that we have players easily able to join matches, it's time to give them a reason to keep playing (aside from it being fun). Missions, and subsequently rewards) are an important aspect of Elite Dangerous, and they should exist in all aspects of the world. This stage can only be implemented once the effects of Stage One are seen. Queue times need to be short enough that CMDR's will reasonably have the ability to complete the missions.
Playing a match should reward your time spent
For playing a match, you should receive X number of credits.
For playing a match, you should receive a few random grade 1 materials.
For winning a match, you should receive an extra Y number of credits.
For winning a match, you should receive an extra few random grade 3-4 materials.
It is important to note, that these number need to be balanced around the rest of the game. Elite is what you make of it, so if your way of traversing the galaxy is fighting for your credits, and gaining materials to engineer your ships that way, then you should be able to. It just can't be the 'best' way to do that. Every way should be the 'best' way.
Adding missions to stations
In addition to the rewards for playing, CMDR's can now pick up missions like any other.
These missions will grant reputation and rewards similar to bounty hunting. This is because in bounty hunting missions, you also have the ability to gain credits and materials.
New mission type: Get X number of kills or assists
New mission type: Capture X number of flags
It is important to make the missions achievable solo, and not rely on other parties. An example of a bad mission would be: Destroy X number of flag carriers. This is bad because it requires you to wait for the enemy to grab your flag.
Community goals
The Community goals will now have missions relating to CQC.
These missions will be the same as the ones for the station, but will have higher base values to achieve.
Updating the CQC tab in the Systems panel
The CQC will now have 2 sub-tabs
The first and default sub-tab will be the screen for joining a match
The second tab will display all of the CMDR's current missions associated with CQC.
Faction wars
[WIP] Playing CQC will contribute to your faction progress.
Stage Four
Player can easily enter matches, and have a reason to do so. This stage is about bringing you Elite Dangerous career into CQC to test not just your skill, but your strategies as well. This stage will add modes into CQC, so it is important to know we have enough players to support this stage. There will now be two game type options: Casual and Social.
Casual will be the current CQC. You will get default ships to fly, and everyone will be on equal footing in terms of ships.
Social you will choose from your fleet from the rest of your Elite Dangerous Career. The ship you fly will be the ship you put your blood sweat, credits and engineering materials into. This will be the mode to fly the way you really want to.
Task number one is to update the CQC tab in the panel.
Inside the CQC Tab, in sub-tab number one that shows the matchmaking, will be a slider at the top.
The slider will have 2 options, Casual as the default, and Social.
Each option of the slider will change the options of the game modes below them.
The next task is implementing the 'Social' modes.
Before starting a match a screen (much like the ship transfer screen) will display.
A CMDR will be able to choose their ship, and the rest of the match will continue on like normal.
Stage Five
Commanders can now bring their hard work into CQC and show it off risk free. More than that, they can have fun doing it, and earn a few credits on the side. This stage is about adding more fun ways to play. New game types such as Racing, plant the bomb, juggernaut, VIP, and more.
Stage Six
Finally this stage is about adding a truly competitive side to CQC. Ranked. Much like social, this will be played only with your own personal ships.
Why we want this
Elite is an amazing an expansive game with a lot to do already. However, many tasks in Elite are long and arduous. Having the ability to quickly jump into a CQC match would ease the strain of tasks that take long swaths of time.
On top of this, there is this huge portion of Elite that isn't being played. Not even just CQC, good PVP matches can be hard to come by. Add on the removed risk of rebuy and we have a comprehensive system for letting off steam and having fun.
What this will do for Elite
Elite Dangerous has one of the most comprehensive and fun flight systems in the space sim industry. The issue is that often there is no way to express our mastery of flying. Adding pvp combat in an easily accessible way would bring new life into the game. It would bring it many knew players who look for the competitive side of gaming, as well as bring back many commanders.