Distension discussion

[roxxkatt]

DBot> MOLTENROCK has been promoted to COMMANDER for their commendable efforts!

is 100% correct, and only political idiots disagree

[DankNuggets]

I agree that the current queue set up sucks but I also think play time has to be considered when placing you in a queue. Maybe your number in line should be based on how long you've played that day and how long you've been waiting. Some kind of healthy meadium.

I was thinking earlier today about how the arena is always full with 5-20 people in the queue to play. This is do in large part to popularity and the excitement over it being out of beta, which will eventually wane, so I don't think another arena is the solution. What I was thinking, though, is that maybe we could have Dist run all the time and just have the RP bonuses be extremely small when it isn't the designated hosting times.

There are a few benefits to this. One is that lower ranked players, who have an easier time leveling, would be able to play the "off-peak distension" and gain upgrades while the higher ranked ships would have a harder time because the RP rewards are so small. This could give players who were discouraged by the utter rapage of their low level ships incentive to get higher ranks and therefore join the distension community. You'd probably want to make the cap on players smaller, maybe so that only the top base is ever used.

Another benefit is that it would presumably make the scheduled times less crowded, but probably not by much. The logic here is that people must have some sort of a life and won't play distension all day/every day. So, a player is able to log on and play distension whenever they want. While they may not get high RP, they would get some and they at least get the added playing experience and are more likely to log off before/during the hosted periods.

Or you could just make it so you can leave the arena when you're in line which would solve the waiting problem and maybe even breathe some life into the pub/subarenas.

The idea about the queue using playing time and wait time is spot-on. The problem comes in assigning weights to each and making a formula that's fair, at both the extreme # of playing time and extreme # of wait time. Could be done though, and it should.

FYI, even in beta distension had a pretty full arena with a long queue. It hasn't waned in popularity since it was scheduled properly again. It might eventually, but in that scenario, the second arena would just be unused, and it could be left alone or removed. People are going to want to play the packed arena for the most part though, so you probably won't see an even split between the two arenas. A benefit to this is that the less populated arena could be a haven for the lower rank ships, as the higher ranked ships will want the bigger bonuses awarded in the larger game.

I'm glad someone realizes that if ran 24/7, people will eventually play it a healthy amount, instead of assuming they'll all play non-stop until they eventually stop playing altogether.

[Vergilius]

DBot> MOLTENROCK has been promoted to COMMANDER for their commendable efforts!

English is just my 3rd language, but doesnt that have to be ... for his/her... ?

[Vehicle]

20 v 20 = 40
15 v 15 X 2 = 60
.....

I agree that the current queue set up sucks but I also think play time has to be considered when placing you in a queue. Maybe your number in line should be based on how long you've played that day and how long you've been waiting. Some kind of healthy meadium.

I was thinking earlier today about how the arena is always full with 5-20 people in the queue to play. This is do in large part to popularity and the excitement over it being out of beta, which will eventually wane, so I don't think another arena is the solution. What I was thinking, though, is that maybe we could have Dist run all the time and just have the RP bonuses be extremely small when it isn't the designated hosting times.

There are a few benefits to this. One is that lower ranked players, who have an easier time leveling, would be able to play the "off-peak distension" and gain upgrades while the higher ranked ships would have a harder time because the RP rewards are so small. This could give players who were discouraged by the utter rapage of their low level ships incentive to get higher ranks and therefore join the distension community. You'd probably want to make the cap on players smaller, maybe so that only the top base is ever used.

Another benefit is that it would presumably make the scheduled times less crowded, but probably not by much. The logic here is that people must have some sort of a life and won't play distension all day/every day. So, a player is able to log on and play distension whenever they want. While they may not get high RP, they would get some and they at least get the added playing experience and are more likely to log off before/during the hosted periods.

Or you could just make it so you can leave the arena when you're in line which would solve the waiting problem and maybe even breathe some life into the pub/subarenas.

[roxxkatt]

Okay, there's something really messed up with the queue system. There are a bunch of people that can't even get in the game. I've been sitting here for the past 3 hours, and this is what happens every single time the game ends:

DBot> A slot has opened up. Sending you to your army...
(DBot)>Commander STABWOUND authorized as a pilot of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Returning you to HQ.
DBot> Another player wishes to enter the battle; you have been removed to allow them to play.
(DBot)>STABWOUND leaving hangars of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Time played today: 147 min.

It's let me into the game and immediately removed me about 7-8 times in a row now. A bunch of other people are having the same issue, too. I played 2 1/2 hours earlier in the day, but I don't see why that should keep me from playing for the rest of the day. I've played longer than that in a single day before, and it never completely kept me out of the game...

I think it should just be put back to a first in, first out queue system again. Either that, or maybe there's something broken with this one that should be fixed?

i played in the morning

this prevented me from playing the night round, 100%, every round

I think we just need multiple distension arenas

also, this
70 ppl in the distension arena tonight...
20v20 is a little laggy, and 2 arenas with 15v15 would be perfect

[Static Burn]

Okay, there's something really messed up with the queue system.

I think we just need multiple distension arenas

[Stabwound]

Okay, there's something really messed up with the queue system. There are a bunch of people that can't even get in the game. I've been sitting here for the past 3 hours, and this is what happens every single time the game ends:

DBot> A slot has opened up. Sending you to your army...
(DBot)>Commander STABWOUND authorized as a pilot of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Returning you to HQ.
DBot> Another player wishes to enter the battle; you have been removed to allow them to play.
(DBot)>STABWOUND leaving hangars of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Time played today: 147 min.

It's let me into the game and immediately removed me about 7-8 times in a row now. A bunch of other people are having the same issue, too. I played 2 1/2 hours earlier in the day, but I don't see why that should keep me from playing for the rest of the day. I've played longer than that in a single day before, and it never completely kept me out of the game...

I think it should just be put back to a first in, first out queue system again. Either that, or maybe there's something broken with this one that should be fixed?

[Viruk]

Another thing: the ball game rewards seem too high. Often one team is dominating the game which results in them getting about 6 goals during one game. I personally get about 322RP / goal that is more RP you get from most flag games (and all this in 5 minutes). The ball game is supposed to be just for fun but currently it's more important than the flagging.

For my level 25ish spider seems about 160 RP for a goal. A 2 minute round victory got me around 200 RP. Killing someone my own rank gets me about 20RP. 8 kills worth for a goal is too much.

[Mjollnir]

The Weasel is currently very strong, so it could easily be an assault ship. It is a ship that has gone through a lot of changes, sometimes being too powerful and then getting nerfed to nothing. It got much stronger at the end of the beta period and it shows. Maybe some slight adjustments would be in place?

Another thing: the ball game rewards seem too high. Often one team is dominating the game, which results in them getting about 6 goals during one game. I personally get about 322RP / goal, so when you combine all the goals, it is more RP than you get from most flag games (and you get all of it in 5 minutes). The ball game is supposed to be just for fun but currently it's more important than the flagging. I do enjoy the fast RP but it's silly how much you get in comparison to the flag game. I guess you could always increase the flag game rewards!

[Vehicle]

Weasel is definately an assault ship. And please make it so it has to wait at least a full second before it can fire again.

[dako]

My FR and flag doors 80% of the time only last 2 seconds, I'm pretty sure this was a problem in beta too. And I'm pretty sure my doors are supposed to last a lot longer than what they do...

[Viruk]

To get mouths salivating and to make sure avarice works properly, I'll have the bot tell you what your bonus would have been if avarice didn't fire. That should boil some blood. I've checked it over several times and am fairly certain it's set up properly. Also, the average explanation Verg gave is exactly on: support ships receive more.

And speaking of support ships, the way the Weasel's playing it looks as though it could do with going back to assault... objections?

Weasels don't look as if they need profit sharing or a high victory award but you should be able to switch to weasel to sneak into base and take flag without losing your participation.

Re: Prestige ships and resets

I am sure I never want to see godlike ships, ships with unlimited upgrades or level 75 ships impersonating level 50 ships. I am not even sure whether special upgrades only available to 'prestige' ships is a good idea when some ships are already short of upgrades.

I do have some ideas for more modest prestige bonuses

Prestige points could be earned by achieving ship levels at resets or if a player chooses to reincarnate their ship (back to level 1) and could be tied to each ship and carry over resets and reincarnations.
For example:

• Level 50 = Bronze award = 1 Prestige Point
• Level 60 = Silver award = 2 Prestige Points
• Level 70 = Gold award = 4 Prestige Points
• Level 80 = Platinum award = 8 Prestige Points

Players could also be awarded a prestige points for being highest in each shipclass and being in the top 5 or top 10 for each shipclass every reset.

Perhaps each of the following could cost 1 prestige point and each bonus could only be bought twice for each ship which would give even the top players plenty to collect. Most will be limited to a total 10% improvement which should be useful but not overpowering:

• [Shiptype]-killer bonus: gives extra 5% to the total kill bonus when you kill that type of ship
• Enhanced support bonus: gives extra 5% to your profit sharing awards
• Enhanced victory bonus: gives extra 5% to your victory awards
• Consolation bonus: gives extra 5% to your consolation and stalemate awards
• Mercenary bonus: gives extra 10% to all assist awards and -10% to any defection costs.
• Tactical bonus: gives extra 5% kill bonus for baseterrier kills, flag hold kills and extra 10% to holds and breaks awards
• Streaker bonus: gives extra 10% to streak awards and effective -10% to your rank when calculating whether too low rank for streaks
• Goal bonus: gives extra 5% for your goal rewards and 5% extra to the total team reward if you score
• Spawnkiller bonus: Outside Base penalty -10%
• Shiptype bonus: - 5% to the Swarm and Pall penalties and + 5% to the Solo ship bonus and Unplayed ship bonus
• Standard upgrade bonus: 5% UP discount on all rotation, speed, thrust and manual energy and recharge upgrades
• Special upgrade bonus: 5% UP discount on all manual upgrades other than rotation, speed, thrust, energy and recharge.
• Auto upgrades bonus: 1 extra UP for every automatic energy or recharge upgrade
• Early upgrade bonus: -5% to the required level of any manual upgrade
• Rearm bonus: +5% chance of spawning with priority rearm
• Prizing bonus: Your chances of prizing any specials during play are increased by 5%
• Duration bonus: Any special with variable duration lasts an extra 10% longer
• Chaos bonus: +5% chance of spawning prized as if one or more of your upgrade slots were that of a different shiptype
• Longplay bonus: -10% effective playing time when calculating speccing and queueing.
• Specialize bonus: -10% total RP cost when specializing. +10% to max level for free experimental specialization. 1 extra free specialization after experimental period ends.

Perhaps also your officer rank could carry over when you reset and we could invent a whole bunch of ridiculously grandiose high rank titles. Perhaps you should also get a modest RP bonus to all ships (even those not unlocked) every time you achieve a new rank. If officer rank carried over this could eventually help brand new players compete with prestige ships since they would be ranking faster.

Incidentally I think that without the beta multiplier it should take more than Officer to get Tac Ops as I don't see how anyone can achieve rank 20 in all ships without getting way past Ensign anyway. You get a Command notice at Lt Commander IIRC so perhaps this would make more sense.

[roxxkatt]

• the weasel is only powerful early, expect complaints
• i like having the balance of 4 support, 4 assault
• can make 1% profits or less, almost 0
• as time goes by, notice less complaints over time.

[gdugwyler]

To get mouths salivating and to make sure avarice works properly, I'll have the bot tell you what your bonus would have been if avarice didn't fire. That should boil some blood. I've checked it over several times and am fairly certain it's set up properly. Also, the average explanation Verg gave is exactly on: support ships receive more.

And speaking of support ships, the way the Weasel's playing it looks as though it could do with going back to assault... objections?

[Vergilius]

I was under the impression that terrs and sharks ALWAYS get more RP at round ends, win or loss, avarice or not. simply because its not a ship that grants u the fun of tons of kills or huge teamfers, and because they are after all the ships that are the most important in a team. Without them there simply is NO chance for a game for a whole team, its not more than normal that they deserve more RP than 'normal' ships.

And the avarice works; without avarice their RP bonus would be higher, too.