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Taldrenites => Dynaverse II Experiences => Topic started by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 07:25:49 am

Title: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 07:25:49 am
Quote

11. Disengagement rule in place

12. No Alt/F4 out to save ship


Next couple on the list. Seem non contentious to me but lets see.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: C-Los on August 03, 2004, 07:53:23 am
IMHO.....I always thought the "Disengagement Rule" cut down on the PvP...

I remember the Battles fought long ago w/o the rule, made it harder for a race to take a hex, instead all you have to do is kill or run off the enemy and the hex is all yours, buy the time they can come back you have it raised to the max.

Lots of fun in the long ago battles, trying my best in a lite against a Heavy or a DN....LOL

OH WELL.....(The good old days !)

 :) :) :)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 03, 2004, 08:18:43 am
The Disengagement Rule.

Brought satisfaction to those who would chase around a weaker ship for an hour, only to see him run off when he ran out of "consumables". I can see how those who are frequently run off would feel dissappointed in not being allowed to get back in there and be run off again without waiting for a while.

This rule finished all my arguments about small ships tuned for AI missions. Either they stand and die, or they don't come back. I see no need to justify why a captain should be forced to withdraw from a hex other than that it adds balance to the game.

It should be simpler though. Should the time limit be the same for dying as running? Ambush missions which only draft one ship from one side are an issue. Otherwise if you get run off no matter if outnumbered or whatever, you have disengaged and should vacate the area.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 09:00:53 am
I'm with C-Los.  I usually can't afford to be a nutter so I cannot have any effect on significant territory anymore, I have to run willy nilly all over the map to find PvP matches.

And no I'm not the type to hold up a DN with a frigate in an hour long mission - we have a rule against that no? I either give him a whack and run away/die or just run away.

I am against the disengagement rule.

Big ships are to protect space, small ships are for taking it.   (I may add more to this)

here's more: if you lose repeatedly you get knocked down in ships and lose PP, (the disengagement rule is effectively built in but in a slower way...) you end up in a freighter and have no effect at all.  I'd rather be allowed to try than be continually relegated to insignificant areas because I don't have a DN.

Heres some more: the disengagement rule decreases the amount of PvP play on a server, it encourages AI battles (yawn). Not the reverse as advertised.

Quote
Brought satisfaction to those who would chase around a weaker ship for an hour, only to see him run off when he ran out of "consumables". I can see how those who are frequently run off would feel dissappointed in not being allowed to get back in there and be run off again without waiting for a while.

This rule finished all my arguments about small ships tuned for AI missions. Either they stand and die, or they don't come back. I see no need to justify why a captain should be forced to withdraw from a hex other than that it adds balance to the game.

So everyone should be in a DN?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 03, 2004, 09:36:06 am
Disengagement rule save Dyna2.  Without it the game would have died a silent death a long time ago cuz most players and techies would abandon the game.  Not to mention the Mirak would be subject to a continual flame roasts 24/7 due to their superior hex flipping ability. So, the Mirak players would run too.  It happened big time with some GFL Mirak players 2 years ago. They got sick of all the "hex flipping" flames and moved on to other games.

I guess if like playing on stock dynas with stock missions then not having the disengagement rule is for you.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Corbomite on August 03, 2004, 09:38:48 am
I would never play on any server without the Disengagement Rule. IMO it is the single best idea that has been implemented the whole time this game has been out.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:03:29 am
How come nobody ends up in freighters anymore like used to happen? It was funny, as long as it wasn't me, though I recall having to dig out of that hole once or twice...

The hex flipping issues would be irrelevant if the game werent always set up to be a PP banking race... ack!

I guess you see it one way or the other... I know the camp in favour of the disengagement rule will win so I guess I must resign myself to a game of PP banking to buy that all important big ship...

I thought it was PvP we wanted... not endless AI battles to bank PP...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:08:26 am
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 10:12:18 am


I thought it was PvP we wanted... not endless AI battles to bank PP...

Meaningful PvP, that actually counts for something is the part you are missing. Killing or driving off a DD classed hex flipper in a strategically important hex, only to have them come right back and attempt to run under you is foolish and was killing the D2. Before the disengagement rule, PvP was practically meaningless.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:15:55 am


I thought it was PvP we wanted... not endless AI battles to bank PP...

Meaningful PvP, that actually counts for something is the part you are missing. Killing or driving off a DD classed hex flipper in a strategically important hex, only to have them come right back and attempt to run under you is foolish and was killing the D2. Before the disengagement rule, PvP was practically meaningless.

So now PvP is only available and meaningful for nutters or those in assigned ships? Not acceptable.

Easy to prevent missions being run over the big ship:
Have him back up a hex, send in two small ships to defend, the big ship watches for the pesky enemy small ship to go into mission with the smaller defenders then returns to the hex to scare off any others that come along or to face any large ships that come along. SIMPLE! Think, people, think...

I can only accept the disengagement rule on a server if there is a "slot" like was used in RDSL.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:19:38 am
You also assume that any players in small ships are arseholes with no honour that will tie up a large ship in mission without engaging it... we had a rule against that. What happened to it? (not to mention I find it somewhat offensive)

here's the old SFC2.net rule:
Quote
When in a mission, fight or leave. Do not lead your opponents around the map wasting their time. There are many good run and chase strategies but staying in the map with no intentions of fighting is not one of them.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:27:50 am
Disengagement rule save Dyna2.  Without it the game would have died a silent death a long time ago cuz most players and techies would abandon the game.  Not to mention the Mirak would be subject to a continual flame roasts 24/7 due to their superior hex flipping ability. So, the Mirak players would run too.  It happened big time with some GFL Mirak players 2 years ago. They got sick of all the "hex flipping" flames and moved on to other games.

I guess if like playing on stock dynas with stock missions then not having the disengagement rule is for you.

So why do we have fewer players now?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Capt Jeff on August 03, 2004, 10:30:23 am
I for one think we are better off with it then without it,  but the rule is not perfect and has it's faults.


Say you are a skilled player, and have the PP and ship  to go with it.  You get into a damn nice fight, but you just get edged out and have to retreat.  You just KNOW you could of did better, but you'll never know as you can't fight them again for x amount of time.   You log off because if you can't be where the action is, then why play....

I hate adding rules, but what about something like this?

"If you disengage from a battle in PvP, you have the right to immediately ask for a rematch.  If you lose again, the disengagement rule applies.  If you win, it doesn't"

This way, the rule is still working the way it was intended.  The person trying to fly quick missions in a little ship will not challenge the rule.  
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: C-Los on August 03, 2004, 10:33:36 am
I always did my best in PvP w/o the rule, mostly got blown up...I didn't always come back in right away with another Frig either.

I'm sure the rule will stay, was only giving MHO, and recalling the good times... :)

After all the servers w/o the rule..."Great Ones" I might add, I didn't see the game going by the way side. The rule was implemented to slow the munchers basicly and they said increased PvP....I just don't see it !   ::)

Just my opinion, I will play no-matter what, because I get enjoyment from doing so !     ;D
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Capt Jeff on August 03, 2004, 10:37:15 am
What is meaningful PvP Kroma?

I know some people caught in a D5D, NCD, DF that can't PvP to save their life.  Their only purpose is to run fast missions and flip hexes.   I also know people in the same ships that can give people in larger ships a real go at it.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 10:41:04 am


So now PvP is only available and meaningful for nutters or those in assigned ships? Not acceptable.


Sorry Bonk, but I don't see how you can draw this conclusion. I have neither played nutter hours nor been assigned a ship and have benefited from the disengagement rule in that my PvP in inexpensive and unrestricted ships has been meaningful.

Yes if the hex is being guarded by an enemy DN you need to get a wingman to unseat him, as it should be. You are also not allowed the benefit of trying to get lucky and draw an AI only mission under him even if he has previously forced you to disengage or has killed you in that hex, which is alos as it should be. There is now a real consiquence to losing in PvP, as the lose of PP has never had much effect as ships are to cheap and PP to easy to come by to ever serve as much of a deterent.

Quote
Easy to prevent missions being run over the big ship:
Have him back up a hex, send in two small ships to defend, the big ship watches for the pesky enemy small ship to go into mission with the smaller defenders then returns to the hex to scare off any others that come along or to face any large ships that come along.



Your suggestion is simply not that easy and it depends on timing and unreliable drafting.

Even though it isn't perfect, I fail to see how the disengagement rule ruins the game for casual players (since I have been one over the last several servers). It's benefits clearly outweight any minor issues it introduces.

Luckily as you point out the camp in favor of the rule seems to be winning out, which is mainly because the majority of players and admins see it as more beneficial than detrimental to game play. As to having to reside yourself to PP farming for a big ship, I would also disagree and incourage you to look me up when you are online. If we are allied I would be happy to wing with you in cheap ships and give those nutters some hell.

Kroma,

PS, another thing that I think would alliviate some of the minor issues with the rule and casual players, would be to loosen up the restrictions on FM assignments. Allowing RMs to hand the FM slot out more freely, and at a momments notice. Maybe remove the VCs from them as well. (you could still have PvP VCs, just that the FM ship isn't worth anymore than any other ship kill). This would allow more casual players a chance behind the wheel of the big ships.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:41:41 am
Good suggestion Jeff, I like it.

Like C-Los, I'll play anyway because I like the game. If I have to run all over the map to find PvP then so be it. (similarly I will not repeatedly engage a DN in a frigate just to be a pain in the ass, you won't make any frieinds that way... I prefer to show honour and good humour in battle so others will want to fight more battles against me...)

Not all non-nutters are arseholes. Or are we by definition? That is the impression I get here. Because I have a small ship does that mean I'll be cheesy, cheap and a cheater?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 10:48:15 am
You also assume that any players in small ships are arseholes with no honour that will tie up a large ship in mission without engaging it... we had a rule against that. What happened to it? (not to mention I find it somewhat offensive)

here's the old SFC2.net rule:
Quote
When in a mission, fight or leave. Do not lead your opponents around the map wasting their time. There are many good run and chase strategies but staying in the map with no intentions of fighting is not one of them.

I have never assumed any such thing. You are confusing the issue of running someone around the map without engaging, with returning to the same hex you just got driven out of in the hope of getting lucky with an AI only mission, since you just learned that you couldn't beat the player guarding it. When I have seen this happen the player wasn't an arsehole leading me around, he was honorable and either flew straight off the map or straight in for a fight, but in both cases my PvP encounter was meaningless as he was back in the hex with in moments. Sometimes I picked him up again and sometimes I didn't. Eventually the times he didn't pick me up ladded up to me losing the hex, even though I had the strongest force (ie. ship/pilot skill) in the hex. I lost the hex to AI battles, and my PvP battles were rendered meaningless.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:49:00 am
Quote
Yes if the hex is being guarded by an enemy DN you need to get a wingman to unseat him, as it should be. You are also not allowed the benefit of trying to get lucky and draw an AI only mission under him even if he has previously forced you to disengage or has killed you in that hex, which is alos as it should be. There is now a real consiquence to losing in PvP, as the lose of PP has never had much effect as ships are to cheap and PP to easy to come by to ever serve as much of a deterent.

The problem there is that ships aren't cheap by my standards (when you have to play for 2-3 days to be able to afford another). The punishment of losing your ship should be enough... If you keep coming back then you'll just end up in a freighter with nowhere to go...

What is stopping smaller defending ships from running defensive missions over their DN guard?

What often happens, as I see it is the larger ship comes in to an area of an enemy offensive, bans a player from the hex and leaves it, then moves to the next important hex to ban more players from it. The rule is not being used as intended.

I think if a player has to leave a hex for an hour, then the victor has to stay in that same hex for an hour, to avoid this abuse of the rule.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 10:49:32 am

So why do we have fewer players now?

Because it is a 4 year old game.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:53:17 am

So why do we have fewer players now?

Because it is a 4 year old game.

Right, and most of us that remain will not leave because of a rule that is implemented or not. I think the disengagement rule is severely detrimental to the game (I play all races), but I remain.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 10:54:59 am
What is meaningful PvP Kroma?

I know some people caught in a D5D, NCD, DF that can't PvP to save their life.  Their only purpose is to run fast missions and flip hexes.   I also know people in the same ships that can give people in larger ships a real go at it.

Meaningful, means that it has some effect on the larger campaign than if you had simply played the match on GSA. A single DV shift for winning an PvP or the PP lose that is suffered when a ship is killed was never enough of an effect to influence anything. In the past PvP was little more than a side note to the unfolding of the campaign. With the disengagement rule it now has a greater effect on the outcome.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 10:57:13 am
Let me post this again so it is not missed:


I think if a losing player has to leave a hex for an hour, then the victor has to stay in that same hex for an hour, to avoid abuse of this rule.

I mean how can a ship defend a hex for multiple turns when it is not even there?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 11:02:45 am

So why do we have fewer players now?

Because it is a 4 year old game.

Right, and most of us that remain will not leave because of a rule that is implemented or not. I think the disengagement rule is severely detrimental to the game (I play all races), but I remain.

Wrong, you can not draw that conclusion logically from the supposition above. It may very well have happened that without the rule there wouldn't be anyone (or the necessary critical mass at least) left.

I also don't buy your agruement about the DN driving off every player from every hex. Never happens. One DN can only be in on place at a time. Both sides have DNs. Both sides have multiple players in smaller ships. The team that uses their resources in a coordinated fashion will win the hex. Nutters and non-nutters all have valid meaningful roles to fill.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 11:05:53 am
Let me post this again so it is not missed:


I think if a losing player has to leave a hex for an hour, then the victor has to stay in that same hex for an hour, to avoid abuse of this rule.

I mean how can a ship defend a hex for multiple turns when it is not even there?

Yeah I noticed that. It ain't a bad idea, although I think unnecessary and overly complicates things. The type of "abuse" you allude to is easily countered, if you have a big ship on the board at all for your team or if you have more than one small ship out there.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Capt Jeff on August 03, 2004, 11:12:04 am
Nice, civil debate guys  ;)

Made for some good thinking as well.

+ 1 karma for you both.

Hmm.. Karma for Kroma.... :rofl:
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-S'Cipio on August 03, 2004, 11:17:22 am
You also assume that any players in small ships are arseholes with no honour that will tie up a large ship in mission without engaging it... we had a rule against that.

That's not the problem being addressed by the disengagement rule.

Suppose the small ship *isn't* an areshole.  Suppose he sees the big ship and then honorably leaves immediately.  (Or charges in, does his best, and dies.)

Either way, he's back in the hex five seconds later running yet another mission. 

EDIT:  Jeez! a lot of posting happened in the few minutes since I started mine!  Never mind, this has been covered already.

-S'Cipio (the slow)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 11:21:39 am
Thanks Jeff, it is not that hard to debate such things calmly. (And of course the big lizard in a tutu is the picture of civility... hehe ;), really he is...)

Both sides have DNs. Both sides have multiple players in smaller ships. The team that uses their resources in a coordinated fashion will win the hex. Nutters and non-nutters all have valid meaningful roles to fill.

I can't really argue that, but I'm a bit biased by recent experiences on LB5, where there were few players on the defending team and a marked rarity of DNs. Leaves you pretty much neutered for any strategic defence, thus I gave up on strategy and started watching the news to hunt players, running all over the map looking for good matches regardless of strategic importance.  (I actually kind of like playing on the side of the underdog, it provides motivation...)

I like PvP on the D2 because it is easier to get a good match going than on GSA (no room politics etc...) you find and draft an enemy and he has no choice but to fight. There is little more disheartening than setting up a GSA room and sitting there for an hour or more trying to get people to play against you...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 11:22:22 am
You also assume that any players in small ships are arseholes with no honour that will tie up a large ship in mission without engaging it... we had a rule against that.

That's not the problem being addressed by the disengagement rule.

Suppose the small ship *isn't* an areshole.  Suppose he sees the big ship and then honorably leaves immediately.  (Or charges in, does his best, and dies.)

Either way, he's back in the hex five seconds later running yet another mission. 

EDIT:  Jeez! a lot of posting happened in the few minutes since I started mine!  Never mind, this has been covered already.

-S'Cipio (the slow)

You said it more succinctly though.

Yes I agree Jeff, good "Kroma" for everyone involved in the debate. Lucky there is enough of me to go around.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 11:23:51 am
Bonk. I am a casual player nowadays, and I've only ever had one assigned ship. Yet, I find that I can often have an effect even when flying a light cruiser.

For example, one evening on GW1, I logged on, in my CWLP, to find that the base captured by the Lyrans on the Kzinit border was under attack by 7 Kzinti players, and I was the only Lyran on. So, they drafted me in 1s and 2s, and I defeated every single one of them, some by chasing them off the map, some by destroying them and some were captured, thus securing the base for some time. In the end, the base was captured some time later (after I'd gone to bed). Prior to the disengagement rule, I'd have lost that base quickly despite defeating the opponents.

I still say that pvp needs more importance placed on it, by having a small number of VPs for destroying/capturing enemy players, a la RDSL. Perhaps impelementing this could allow for the removal of the disengagement rule?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Capt Jeff on August 03, 2004, 11:27:23 am


Yes I agree Jeff, good "Kroma" for everyone involved in the debate. Lucky there is enough of me to go around.

Thinks about what that could mean.....

<shudder>

 :brickwall:
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 11:34:51 am

I can't really argue that, but I'm a bit biased by recent experiences on LB5, where there were few players on the defending team and a marked rarity of DNs. Leaves you pretty much neutered for any strategic defence, thus I gave up on strategy and started watching the news to hunt players, running all over the map looking for good matches regardless of strategic importance.  (I actually kind of like playing on the side of the underdog, it provides motivation...)


I can see how that experience would turn one against the rule. However, LB5 sounds like the exception of servers that have used the rule. Lots of dumb stuff goes on when the numbers are that low or uneven.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 11:46:26 am


I still say that pvp needs more importance placed on it, by having a small number of VPs for destroying/capturing enemy players, a la RDSL. Perhaps impelementing this could allow for the removal of the disengagement rule?

Not unless you also get the VPs for driving them off.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 03, 2004, 11:50:23 am
Disengagement rule save Dyna2.  Without it the game would have died a silent death a long time ago cuz most players and techies would abandon the game.  Not to mention the Mirak would be subject to a continual flame roasts 24/7 due to their superior hex flipping ability. So, the Mirak players would run too.  It happened big time with some GFL Mirak players 2 years ago. They got sick of all the "hex flipping" flames and moved on to other games.

I guess if like playing on stock dynas with stock missions then not having the disengagement rule is for you.

So why do we have fewer players now?

3 major reasons:

1)  Not enough regular dynas of SS2/SG3 quality being run.  There was a dry spell after SS2 that lasted 6 months that really was a downer.  Simply put, there were way too many vicious flamewars of WT caliber going on in 2003 that really messed everything up.

which led to => #2

2)  Lack of cohesive direction in dyna tech.  Too many horses were pulling in way too many different directions.  When DIP was formed too many productive techies refused to participate in the organization for various reasons, one of which was the dubious signup requirements.  That last thing many techies are going to do is submit to an entrance vote by DIP members that don't do techie stuff. The fact they do techie stuff is more than good enough.  I think the community has figured that out by now after going through a few patches of little dyna campaign activity.  Bottom-line, it wasn't until SGODev started up again in conjuction with the GW dyna series that things started to move meaningfully in OP dynas.

3) Last but not least: the game is old beyond belief.  If there was no disengagement rule the game would have died and D2.net may not have had a raison d'etre to exist.  The scripters would have no reason to make new missions or update the old ones.  Everyone would just hang out on GSA for weekend party IP games.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 11:54:26 am
For example, one evening on GW1, I logged on, in my CWLP, to find that the base captured by the Lyrans on the Kzinit border was under attack by 7 Kzinti players, and I was the only Lyran on. So, they drafted me in 1s and 2s, and I defeated every single one of them, some by chasing them off the map, some by destroying them and some were captured, thus securing the base for some time. In the end, the base was captured some time later (after I'd gone to bed). Prior to the disengagement rule, I'd have lost that base quickly despite defeating the opponents.

Good case to look at. What was preventing the other six Kzin from flipping the hex while you were in mission with the first one? Seems the boys are getting slow in their old age... hehe. ;) I do see the advantage and utility of the rule in such situations, but is it realistic that one light cruiser can hold off seven? (I know, its a game and realism can be iffy sometimes.). After you logged off and the hex was undefended, it is still somehow magically defended by a ship that is not there? Seems odd to me.

What if the first battle was against a DN and you had to run away or were destroyed and being the only Lyran on you had no DN for backup... so you have to go fly boring missions against the AI in some other hex that is not important? How does that encourage PvP? If there is seven enemies there is little to no chance that you will be repeatedly engaging a larger ship and running away... why can't you have another chance in the ship you've been knocked down to? Why not something like three strikes in a hex and you're out - your commander deems you unworthy of the front and sends you back home for training.

If we want that kind of thing then I'd be more for something that has been suggested: if you are destroyed or captured you must start a new account but can fight wherever you please... that would sufficiently discourage the "irritating-mosquito" factor...

What I object to is an ememy DN coming into a hex you have been working on for some time, running you off in one mission, then leaving the hex for his own hex-flippers to undo your work and you can do nothing about it, and are denied a fair match against a ship of your own class. The DN can move along the front repeating this again and again, making all smaller enemy ships effectively useless.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 12:07:37 pm
Disengagement rule save Dyna2.  Without it the game would have died a silent death a long time ago cuz most players and techies would abandon the game.  Not to mention the Mirak would be subject to a continual flame roasts 24/7 due to their superior hex flipping ability. So, the Mirak players would run too.  It happened big time with some GFL Mirak players 2 years ago. They got sick of all the "hex flipping" flames and moved on to other games.

I guess if like playing on stock dynas with stock missions then not having the disengagement rule is for you.

So why do we have fewer players now?

3 major reasons:

1)  Not enough regular dynas of SS2/SG3 quality being run.  There was a dry spell after SS2 that lasted 6 months that really was a downer.  Simply put, there were way too many vicious flamewars of WT caliber going on in 2003 that really messed everything up.

which led to => #2

2)  Lack of cohesive direction in dyna tech.  Too many horses were pulling in way too many different directions.  When DIP was formed too many productive techies refused to participate in the organization for various reasons, one of which was the dubious signup requirements.  That last thing many techies are going to do is submit to an entrance vote by DIP members that don't do techie stuff. The fact they do techie stuff is more than good enough.  I think the community has figured that out by now after going through a few patches of little dyna campaign activity.  Bottom-line, it wasn't until SGODev started up again in conjuction with the GW dyna series that things started to move meaningfully in OP dynas.

3) Last but not least: the game is old beyond belief.  If there was no disengagement rule the game would have died and D2.net may not have had a raison d'etre to exist.  The scripters would have no reason to make new missions or update the old ones.  Everyone would just hang out on GSA for weekend party IP games.

I can roughly accept this assesment, I just don't agree that the lack of a disengagement rule would have killed the D2. There are other solutions that actually encourage PvP, not discourage it. Also, as I have expressed, the D2 is a much better environment for PvP than GSA, it adds meaning and variability to the matches and avoids the politics that leave some players out in the cold on GSA. Simlilarly, allowing fleets would add additional variability and realism to the game in my view, and make much of the current rules issues moot. Unlike some claim, allowing fleets does not force everyone to fly them, there are times and places to fly a single ship or a fleet, each have their own advantages (but that is another issue, though not entirely unrelated).
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: C-Los on August 03, 2004, 12:15:21 pm
BTW....#12

I agree with completely.... ;)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 12:18:54 pm


I just don't agree that the lack of a disengagement rule would have killed the D2. There are other solutions that actually encourage PvP, not discourage it. Also, as I have expressed, the D2 is a much better environment for PvP than GSA, it adds meaning and variability to the matches and avoids the politics that leave some players out in the cold on GSA.

I feel that it is the disengagement rule that gives D2 PvP that very meaning now. In the past PvP in the D2 just seemed like a sideshow to me, although still a fun one as compaired to some of the PvP in GSA as you mention.

Quote
Simlilarly, allowing fleets would add additional variability and realism to the game in my view, and make much of the current rules issues moot. Unlike some claim, allowing fleets does not force everyone to fly them, there are times and places to fly a single ship or a fleet, each have their own advantages (but that is another issue, though not entirely unrelated).

I would love to see fleets back in vogue. With a GZ like PBR (patrol battle rules) even 3 ship fleets of CA or CL class ships and below would be perfectly OK to me.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 12:26:31 pm
BTW....#12

I agree with completely.... ;)

No arguement there! (unless the double-fire bug is at play...)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 12:29:05 pm
BTW....#12

I agree with completely.... ;)

No arguement there! (unless the double-fire bug is at play...)

Or your opponent is a starcastling tw*t.  :P
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 12:31:31 pm


I just don't agree that the lack of a disengagement rule would have killed the D2. There are other solutions that actually encourage PvP, not discourage it. Also, as I have expressed, the D2 is a much better environment for PvP than GSA, it adds meaning and variability to the matches and avoids the politics that leave some players out in the cold on GSA.

I feel that it is the disengagement rule that gives D2 PvP that very meaning now. In the past PvP in the D2 just seemed like a sideshow to me, although still a fun one as compaired to some of the PvP in GSA as you mention.

I can live with the disengagement rule, I just don't like it or agree with it's goals and implementation. I understand its significance from the Gorn perspective where it adds meaning to PvP, but I still think it discourages PvP overall and is way too open to abuse.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 12:35:19 pm
BTW....#12

I agree with completely.... ;)

No arguement there! (unless the double-fire bug is at play...)

Or your opponent is a starcastling tw*t.  :P

 :rofl: ...but a starcastling Fed facing a skilled Gorn is dead meat as I see it. (or have I misundersood?)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 12:44:33 pm
Good arguments for and against. I have to say I'm suprised. But given the choice I'd do without it, I think as does Bonk with the numbers, especially in off peak times, being driven off for an hour from a hot spot, when you only have an hour to play can be very off putting, especially if you don't fly the usual <insert heavy FOM for race X>.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 12:52:13 pm
BTW....#12

I agree with completely.... ;)

No arguement there! (unless the double-fire bug is at play...)

Or your opponent is a starcastling tw*t.  :P

 :rofl: ...but a starcastling Fed facing a skilled Gorn is dead meat as I see it. (or have I misundersood?)

Just something I was called while flying Hydran on GW2, just before my opponent broke rule number #12.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 12:56:17 pm
For example, one evening on GW1, I logged on, in my CWLP, to find that the base captured by the Lyrans on the Kzinit border was under attack by 7 Kzinti players, and I was the only Lyran on. So, they drafted me in 1s and 2s, and I defeated every single one of them, some by chasing them off the map, some by destroying them and some were captured, thus securing the base for some time. In the end, the base was captured some time later (after I'd gone to bed). Prior to the disengagement rule, I'd have lost that base quickly despite defeating the opponents.

Good case to look at. What was preventing the other six Kzin from flipping the hex while you were in mission with the first one? Seems the boys are getting slow in their old age... hehe. ;) I do see the advantage and utility of the rule in such situations, but is it realistic that one light cruiser can hold off seven? (I know, its a game and realism can be iffy sometimes.). After you logged off and the hex was undefended, it is still somehow magically defended by a ship that is not there? Seems odd to me.

What if the first battle was against a DN and you had to run away or were destroyed and being the only Lyran on you had no DN for backup... so you have to go fly boring missions against the AI in some other hex that is not important? How does that encourage PvP? If there is seven enemies there is little to no chance that you will be repeatedly engaging a larger ship and running away... why can't you have another chance in the ship you've been knocked down to? Why not something like three strikes in a hex and you're out - your commander deems you unworthy of the front and sends you back home for training.

If we want that kind of thing then I'd be more for something that has been suggested: if you are destroyed or captured you must start a new account but can fight wherever you please... that would sufficiently discourage the "irritating-mosquito" factor...

What I object to is an ememy DN coming into a hex you have been working on for some time, running you off in one mission, then leaving the hex for his own hex-flippers to undo your work and you can do nothing about it, and are denied a fair match against a ship of your own class. The DN can move along the front repeating this again and again, making all smaller enemy ships effectively useless.

First mission I was drafted by 2 Kzinti. One in a CVS, and one in a DF+. A convoy raid, I believe. I captured the DF+ (still don't know how Soreyes escaped to command another ship ;) ) and chased the CVS off. Meanwhile, the others would have been assaulting the base and possibly getting long missions. I am not sure, but all I know is that I was getting cussed to hell on their Teamspeak and I was having a ball, possibly my most enjoyable session ever.

As for how realistic it is for 1 ship to fend off seven, maybe I'm a legendary captain, a la Kosnett, Kumerian etc ? ;) Certainly, it could be said that my opponents were a bit intimidated by me and my ship, and thus weren't very aggressive in their battle plans (I hope this doesn't sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet - prolly does). If I'd faced all 7 at once, in the same mission, undoubtedly I would not have won, but because it was a series of engagements I had a chance, and I don't think that is unrealistic at all (consider that I was not the only defender of the sector - ai involved in the other missions).

Funny you should mention a DN. The last engagement found me in another convoy raid, facing a player CVS and an AI F-DN (what the Feds were doing there I still don't know to this day). I captured both ships in that one. As for facing a human DN, I'd most likely have been forced to disengage or die, but stranger things have happened (I felt very lucky that night).

I didn't log off straight away after driving them off. I ran missions to boost the defences back up, staying in the area to chase them away when they could return.

I do see your point about using a DN to secure several sectors in a short space of time, and think that you have a good point in that maybe the victor should stay in the hex they won in for a similar amount of time, but, if that hex is maxed out in DV, what would be the point - you'd have a player sat there twiddling his thumbs/claws.

As the one who suggested that if you lose your ship or are captured then you have to make a new character in one of Gook's other threads (easily done by changing the capitalisation of a character in your login email address), I'm glad to see someone else take notice of it and even approve of it. I'd like to see that tried in a campaign to see if it's a viable (and more realistic) alternative.  
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 01:47:36 pm
Mog is my hero! Captured a DF and chased off a CVS, in a Lyran CL! Probably rip-snortin stoned too!  ;D
(seriously, not being sarcastic here...) No harm in tooting your own horn, not like you're Dizzy or anything.. ;) (God love 'im)

I just don't see the disengagement rule as the cut-and-dried solution that many do. I'm glad to see someone else interested in exploring other solutions to the complicated issues involved, and acknowledge the potential problems of the curernt rule.

Thanks for the opportunity to ramble on this Gook.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 03, 2004, 02:20:16 pm
I have to agree with almost everything Kroma has said.  It is way too easy to avoid being drafted.  Once drafted, the disengagement rule makes the confrontation mean something as there is a definitive outcome.  Little hex flippers should not be able to dodge the heavy iron in a hex, but this is the consequence of the D2 system.  In the D3, you may choose whom you attack directly.  That was a significant improvement to me as you could see exactly who is in the hex and who is attacking whom.  D2 drafting is too much of a crapshoot.  The disengagement rule makes PvP count in a major way.  People can still run missions under you, but at least this one bloak won't be back.  Need we all be reminded of Gook's strategy manifesto that he posted that claimed PvP to be totally meaningless and useless.  The disengagement rule has changed that, not enough to my mind, but still it is better than it used to be.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 02:43:18 pm
Stoned? Moi? Never ;) For some reason, I fly much better in that state.

Digression aside, I'm trying to think of other alternatives without it getting too complex. Let's start by examining what the rule is/does.

Basically, the disengagement rule is akin to gaining air superiority so that the ground troops can work on overoming the defences. The defences, in this game, mostly being ai. What it does then is allow the side victorious in battle to fight ai relatively unmolested by the other side. It gives a more meaningful role to those races that don't excel at hex-flipping, but are more suited to pvp. It makes a campaign more about racial teamwork.

Hmm, perhaps what needs to be looked at is the time involved in the banning from the hex. Perhaps, an hour is too long. There again, I find myself going back to this:

"If we want that kind of thing then I'd be more for something that has been suggested: if you are destroyed or captured you must start a new account but can fight wherever you please... that would sufficiently discourage the "irritating-mosquito" factor..."

But, then again, that does nothing to prevent a fleeing opponent returning almost immediately and avoiding the defender(s) to out-mission them. Back to square one. (Hmm, think I'm rambling here, need a joint lol).

Back to the time question. Would half an hour be sufficient penalty? I guess, if we had more players online at any given time, the lack of pvp hexes would be moot.

Hmm, don't think much of the above makes much sense but after typing all that I'm not going to delete it and start again lol. Hopefully someone will make sense of it.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 02:55:03 pm


"If we want that kind of thing then I'd be more for something that has been suggested: if you are destroyed or captured you must start a new account but can fight wherever you please... that would sufficiently discourage the "irritating-mosquito" factor..."



Probably because I am not "currently" stoned, but I am having a hard time understanding 'what' exactly this would do about the irritating-mosquito" factor, since even with a brand new account the player can by another hex flipper right off the bat. This basically just makes the disengagement penalty a 5-10 minute one as the player creates a new account and orders a new ship.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 02:58:37 pm
Aye Kroma, I kinda came to that conclusion myself in the next paragraph, lol. I can't really see a viable alternative yet. All I can think of, to make it less of a game spoiler to the casual player who wants pvp, is to reduce the time penalty to say 30 minutes.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 03:10:23 pm
Aye Kroma, I kinda came to that conclusion myself in the next paragraph, lol. I can't really see a viable alternative yet. All I can think of, to make it less of a game spoiler to the casual player who wants pvp, is to reduce the time penalty to say 30 minutes.

Yeah, I saw that you came to that conclusion, was wondering what the original idea as to it's effect was though.

Going to 30 minutes might not be a bad idea. It even kind of simulates the stay and defend idea posted above. As the DN guarding the hex won't be able to stray since 30 minutes is barely 1 or 2 missions for some races.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 03:18:02 pm
..It is way too easy to avoid being drafted.  Once drafted, the disengagement rule makes the confrontation mean something as there is a definitive outcome.  Little hex flippers should not be able to dodge the heavy iron in a hex, but this is the consequence of the D2 system...

That is not my concern at all, my concern is being denied participation in anything significant because you do not have a big ship for whatever reason. As a player in a small ship I do not want to dodge drafts, I'm looking for them! I thought you were one of the people interested in seeing a decrease of AI battles... the disengagement rule only serves to discourage PvP and encourage endless AI battles to bank PP, or because you have been banned from all the active hexes...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 03:22:35 pm


"If we want that kind of thing then I'd be more for something that has been suggested: if you are destroyed or captured you must start a new account but can fight wherever you please... that would sufficiently discourage the "irritating-mosquito" factor..."



Probably because I am not "currently" stoned, but I am having a hard time understanding 'what' exactly this would do about the irritating-mosquito" factor, since even with a brand new account the player can by another hex flipper right off the bat. This basically just makes the disengagement penalty a 5-10 minute one as the player creates a new account and orders a new ship.

Not if you start in a frigate with 300PP...

If that is not good enough then how about a three-strikes disengagement rule?

I sill like the idea of requiring the victor to stay in the hex the other player was banned from, in order to enforce the idea of a large ship protecting a strategic hex instead of just running players off the map or server one hex at a time...  So what if the hex's DV is maxed out, he's there to defend it... but this is rarely the case usually the DN comes in just as you are about to flip their hex, bans you from it then moves on to do the same to more players in more hexes.... thrilling PvP there...  ::)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 03:25:11 pm
..It is way too easy to avoid being drafted.  Once drafted, the disengagement rule makes the confrontation mean something as there is a definitive outcome.  Little hex flippers should not be able to dodge the heavy iron in a hex, but this is the consequence of the D2 system...

That is not my concern at all, my concern is being denied participation in anything significant because you do not have a big ship for whatever reason. As a player in a small ship I do not want to dodge drafts, I'm looking for them! I thought you were one of the people interested in seeing a decrease of AI battles... the disengagement rule only serves to discourage PvP and encourage endless AI battles to bank PP, or because you have been banned from all the active hexes...

You are confusing "a decrease in AI battles" with "a decrease in the importance of AI battles on the outcome of the campaign".  The disengagement rule wasn't designed to increase the number of PvP battles, it was designed to increase their strategic importance. While I see the potential unintended consequences you outlined on a server like LB5 that was unbalanced, in reducing PvP for you in a small ship, it just hasn't been my experience flying a small ship on other servers with the disengagement rule. I have always been able to find another active hex to get kicked around in.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 03, 2004, 03:31:38 pm



Not if you start in a frigate with 300PP...

Wait a minute, aren't you the guy trying to make the game more accessible to casual players?

What do you think about lowering the time to 30 minutes. Starting to sound like a better idea to me. Thus by the time you get banned from the second active hex you are just about ready to come back to the first. Does require the DN to stay close to the hex he is defending, without the draw backs associated with having to remain in the hex only.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 03:39:29 pm
Still accessible to casual players; the nutters will have the same hill to climb regardless of the starting point, and destroying a large ship would have some meaning as the nutter with the 200K PP account is forced to start again, as opposed to just buying a new CVA, it can be argued that this does indeed favour the casual player!


in reply to the previous post:

I'll give you that, which means that balance is critical if the disengagement rule is to be used, but balance has been very difficult to achieve with all the fleet politics and all...

Bottom line for me is that I had way more fun and even PvP battles on the D2 before the disengagement rule that allows DNs to monopolize many hexes at once...

Insignificant hex munching and PP banking is OK I guess, but some players will have none of it.

If I have to live with the disengagement rule I'd like to see one or more of the following implemented:
1) The victor must remain in the hex the defeated player is banned from for a length of time equal to the ban (or the disengagement rule is way too open to the kind of abuse I have observed)
2) Perhaps change it to a three-strikes disengagement rule.
3) Force player registration like the RT series.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 03:58:17 pm
Thing is, Bonk, 2 players in CLs can take out a DN. One occasion I remember is on IDSL, Doggy and I in D5Cs v Fluffy's obligatory CVA. If he hadn't dropped he'd have either died or been forced to disengage. I miss the Doggy amd Moggy show :(

I do like the idea of lose your ship, start from scratch but I seriously doubt it will have many fans (maybe just us 2 lol). It just doesn't make sense to me to have lost 20 odd ships and still be able to get into another biggy. Separate point though.

I think lowering the time penalty will make the disengagement rule more palatable for casual players, and, like Kroma said, will mean the opposition will need to keep their bigger ships in the area for longer, cutting down on the chance that they can do what you fear. Worth a try at least.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 03, 2004, 04:04:21 pm
..It is way too easy to avoid being drafted.  Once drafted, the disengagement rule makes the confrontation mean something as there is a definitive outcome.  Little hex flippers should not be able to dodge the heavy iron in a hex, but this is the consequence of the D2 system...

That is not my concern at all, my concern is being denied participation in anything significant because you do not have a big ship for whatever reason. As a player in a small ship I do not want to dodge drafts, I'm looking for them! I thought you were one of the people interested in seeing a decrease of AI battles... the disengagement rule only serves to discourage PvP and encourage endless AI battles to bank PP, or because you have been banned from all the active hexes...

While it certainly is my perception that the D2 is an endless parade of AI missions, it is not my impression that those AI battles are in pursuit of PP banks.  It's just what happens when one flies alot of missions on the D2.  It sounds more to me as if you want PvP but are in too small of a ship to be effective.  I hardly play on servers and I usually manage to get into a CA at least.  I also think starting ships are hardly frigates any more.  CLs and sometimes even CAs. 

I applaud your desire to be involved and I see your perspective on how the disengagement rule might reduce PvP of one kind, that kind being useless missions that tie folks up for no consequence.  The rule on the D2 is hex-flipping.  Most people would rather run missions under folks than encounter live prey.  The disengagement rule is a mere stop gap to the hex-flipppers.  I'm glad you want PvP.  Perhaps,we just need larger starting ships to get the causal players involved immediately in the goings-on.  That I have no problem with.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 04:09:59 pm
I have to say being busted to an FF is a good idea. Lose any ship IRL and you are unlikely to get another command, (unless its something truly heroic for a good reason). I have reservations about acceptance, however.

Shorter elimination periods would be better(than present), so would 3 strikes and out ( I quite like that).

What is the problem with having draft radius more than zero again? I forget.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 04:23:21 pm
What is the problem with having draft radius more than zero again? I forget.

Sick processor load on the server when lots of players on.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 04:29:00 pm
What is the problem with having draft radius more than zero again? I forget.

Sick processor load on the server when lots of players on.

Shame as with drfat radius of 1 hunting parties after DSers get real fun. So do hotspots, spent over an hour once on CW3 trying just to get out of what we called the "meatgrinder", kept getting drafted into multiple PvP missions, very hairy, but loadsa fun.

Question Bonk, why could we do it on EAW 3 years ago on dial up with much slower processors (smaller graphics cards and loads less memory) than we have now and much slower net connections and 10 times the people playing? Is it an OP thing?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 04:29:43 pm
Perhaps,we just need larger starting ships to get the causal players involved immediately in the goings-on.  That I have no problem with.

That might be an idea, hadn't occurred to me... I also like the "slot" concept to ameliorate the disengagement rule.

How about this one: standard hexes at a max DV of 1 !  Bases at 2 and planets at 5... the hex flippers would be able to take huge areas yes, but only make certain single hexes have any VC value... no more hex flipping/sniping issues... I'm sure this has been thought of but has it ever really been tested? It would change the dynamic of the game entirely and surely increase PvP.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 04:32:39 pm
What is the problem with having draft radius more than zero again? I forget.

Sick processor load on the server when lots of players on.

Question Bonk, why could we do it on EAW 3 years ago on dial up with much slower processors (smaller graphics cards and loads less memory) than we have now and much slower net connections and 10 times the people playing? Is it an OP thing?


No, no, its a server-side processor load issue, more likely to result in DB corruption. Mission matching in the serverkit will max out any processor (EAW on through to OP). A 1 or 2 hex draft radius can work but the db must be cleaned regularly, but will increase the likelyhood of server crashes... especially with >20 players on (and makes SQL hopeless altogether).

Quote
Shame as with drfat radius of 1 hunting parties after DSers get real fun. So do hotspots, spent over an hour once on CW3 trying just to get out of what we called the "meatgrinder", kept getting drafted into multiple PvP missions, very hairy, but loadsa fun.


I miss that too.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: SPQR Renegade on August 03, 2004, 04:45:35 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor before the barbarian races. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 03, 2004, 04:48:10 pm
What is the problem with having draft radius more than zero again? I forget.

Sick processor load on the server when lots of players on.

Question Bonk, why could we do it on EAW 3 years ago on dial up with much slower processors (smaller graphics cards and loads less memory) than we have now and much slower net connections and 10 times the people playing? Is it an OP thing?


No, no, its a server-side processor load issue, more likely to result in DB corruption. Mission matching in the serverkit will max out any processor (EAW on through to OP). A 1 or 2 hex draft radius can work but the db must be cleaned regularly, but will increase the likelyhood of server crashes... especially with >20 players on (and makes SQL hopeless altogether).

Quote
Shame as with drfat radius of 1 hunting parties after DSers get real fun. So do hotspots, spent over an hour once on CW3 trying just to get out of what we called the "meatgrinder", kept getting drafted into multiple PvP missions, very hairy, but loadsa fun.


I miss that too.



Still confused as to why we could do it 3 years ago with no DB cleaner, but can't now? Sorry I know I'm being dense and missing something, but we did do it.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-S'Cipio on August 03, 2004, 04:51:51 pm
Quote
No, no, its a server-side processor load issue, more likely to result in DB corruption. Mission matching in the serverkit will max out any processor (EAW on through to OP). A 1 or 2 hex draft radius can work but the db must be cleaned regularly, but will increase the likelyhood of server crashes... especially with >20 players on (and makes SQL hopeless altogether).

I've often wondered about this myself.  We used to have:

1)No DB cleaner
2)Massive maps
3)draft radius of 1
4)more players than the server could accept at once

And yet the servers like AF could run for weeks.

No we have
1) Cool DB cleaner
2) Smaller maps
3)draft radius of 1
4)fewer players throughout most of the day...

And yet if my server runs for more than a day without cleaning the DB, the whole thing goes to heck.

What's going on here?

-S'cipio
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 04:53:10 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?


Nope, that counts as giving your enemy the runaround as I see it, and should be defined as not fighting. In a D5D for example I'll make a good go of landing some drones on the nose of a careless player in a larger ship (in batches of 12) If he does it right and doesn't take any drones, then I run off if I can. The enemy has the opportunity to catch me in the act. If I get away, he wins the mission gets the PP and gets the DV shift. If he destroys me, the same result is the case, with the bonus of having destroyed my ship, costing me additional PP. If I'm foolish enough to come back and try again then I think I should be allowed to.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 04:54:16 pm
Quote
No, no, its a server-side processor load issue, more likely to result in DB corruption. Mission matching in the serverkit will max out any processor (EAW on through to OP). A 1 or 2 hex draft radius can work but the db must be cleaned regularly, but will increase the likelyhood of server crashes... especially with >20 players on (and makes SQL hopeless altogether).

I've often wondered about this myself.  We used to have:

1)No DB cleaner
2)Massive maps
3)draft radius of 1
4)more players than the server could accept at once

And yet the servers like AF could run for weeks.

No we have
1) Cool DB cleaner
2) Smaller maps
3)draft radius of 1
4)fewer players throughout most of the day...

And yet if my server runs for more than a day without cleaning the DB, the whole thing goes to heck.

What's going on here?

-S'cipio

Good question. I'm betting smartheap versions have something to do with it.

Edit: oh and I bet that the movement rate was left at a much longer time on the old servers, like the 15 second default, this is the single biggest factor in reducing serverload.

Edit: oh and shorter mission lists were a factor too, with triggering implemented by those who understood it but never documented it for us. (the original developers)

and there is also a tendency to foozle with the mission matching parameters in the gfs which I'm betting was not done in the past which may aggravate the serverload in missionmatching, particluarly with longer missionlists.

as well as the two layered map, effectively doubling the required calculations...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-S'Cipio on August 03, 2004, 05:00:48 pm

Edit: oh and I bet that the movement rate was left at a much longer time on the old servers, like the 15 second default, this is the single biggest factor in reducing serverload.

Aha!  Good thought there.  I wonder if people would be willing to put up with a 15 second move time again?  Once the DB starts coughing around a busy area it usually takes that long anyway, so increasing it back to 15 seconds may not even be a real inconveniance.

-S'Cipio
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 05:04:07 pm
I'd be game.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 03, 2004, 05:08:48 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?


Nope, that counts as giving your enemy the runaround as I see it, and should be defined as not fighting. In a D5D for example I'll make a good go of landing some drones on the nose of a careless player in a larger ship (in batches of 12) If he does it right and doesn't take any drones, then I run off if I can. The enemy has the opportunity to catch me in the act. If I get away, he wins the mission gets the PP and gets the DV shift. If he destroys me, the same result is the case, with the bonus of having destroyed my ship, costing me additional PP. If I'm foolish enough to come back and try again then I think I should be allowed to.

If you are a good player and do manage to score some hits you can successfully draw that battle out for quite a while, getting a few hits here and there. You are fighting, but you are also fighting a losing battle most likely, and have succeeded in tying up your opponent with no penalty to yourself. The hex DV is moving in your direction because similar ships to yours are killing AI by the number while you are in mission. All that happens to you is that you eventually expend all munitions and are forced to retire.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 05:11:48 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?


Nope, that counts as giving your enemy the runaround as I see it, and should be defined as not fighting. In a D5D for example I'll make a good go of landing some drones on the nose of a careless player in a larger ship (in batches of 12) If he does it right and doesn't take any drones, then I run off if I can. The enemy has the opportunity to catch me in the act. If I get away, he wins the mission gets the PP and gets the DV shift. If he destroys me, the same result is the case, with the bonus of having destroyed my ship, costing me additional PP. If I'm foolish enough to come back and try again then I think I should be allowed to.

If you are a good player and do manage to score some hits you can successfully draw that battle out for quite a while, getting a few hits here and there. You are fighting, but you are also fighting a losing battle most likely, and have succeeded in tying up your opponent with no penalty to yourself. The hex DV is moving in your direction because similar ships to yours are killing AI by the number while you are in mission. All that happens to you is that you eventually expend all munitions and are forced to retire.

Myself, I never take it to that point, I recognise a player who can handle drones immediately and cut my losses ASAP, what with current drone prices... either they fall for it or don't - no mucking about.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Commander Maxillius on August 03, 2004, 05:19:22 pm

Edit: oh and I bet that the movement rate was left at a much longer time on the old servers, like the 15 second default, this is the single biggest factor in reducing serverload.

Aha!  Good thought there.  I wonder if people would be willing to put up with a 15 second move time again?  Once the DB starts coughing around a busy area it usually takes that long anyway, so increasing it back to 15 seconds may not even be a real inconveniance.

-S'Cipio


Has anyone considered using movement time to slow down hex flipping?  Also, why can't different ships have different movement times?  Take the Z-DF for example.  She's small yet holds LOTS AND LOTS of missiles.  The space had to be taken from somewhere, so why not cut her warp speed down to reflect the lack of warp power?  Make the movement time for the DF be something like 20 seconds, where faster ships like the CLC or SPZ closer to 5 or 7 seconds?  Could that be done?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 03, 2004, 05:24:05 pm
No Max, it's a general setting for all.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-S'Cipio on August 03, 2004, 05:24:46 pm

Has anyone considered using movement time to slow down hex flipping? 
We might be doing that right now.  ;)

Quote
Also, why can't different ships have different movement times?  Take the Z-DF for example.  She's small yet holds LOTS AND LOTS of missiles.  The space had to be taken from somewhere, so why not cut her warp speed down to reflect the lack of warp power?  Make the movement time for the DF be something like 20 seconds, where faster ships like the CLC or SPZ closer to 5 or 7 seconds?  Could that be done?

No, that can't be done.  There is only one parameter in the gf files that controls how long it takes to move from one hex to another.  This parameter affects all ships equally, regardless of race or size.

Something loosely akin to what you suggest must have been considered at one point or another.  There is a parameter you can set for each hex that is supposed to determine how hard that hex is to move through.  The game code, however, doesn't make use of it.

-S'Cipio
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 03, 2004, 05:41:36 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?


Nope, that counts as giving your enemy the runaround as I see it, and should be defined as not fighting. In a D5D for example I'll make a good go of landing some drones on the nose of a careless player in a larger ship (in batches of 12) If he does it right and doesn't take any drones, then I run off if I can. The enemy has the opportunity to catch me in the act. If I get away, he wins the mission gets the PP and gets the DV shift. If he destroys me, the same result is the case, with the bonus of having destroyed my ship, costing me additional PP. If I'm foolish enough to come back and try again then I think I should be allowed to.

If you are a good player and do manage to score some hits you can successfully draw that battle out for quite a while, getting a few hits here and there. You are fighting, but you are also fighting a losing battle most likely, and have succeeded in tying up your opponent with no penalty to yourself. The hex DV is moving in your direction because similar ships to yours are killing AI by the number while you are in mission. All that happens to you is that you eventually expend all munitions and are forced to retire.

Myself, I never take it to that point, I recognise a player who can handle drones immediately and cut my losses ASAP, what with current drone prices... either they fall for it or don't - no mucking about.

Does this mean we have to get down to a rule for you and those you play like you, and a rule for those who cannot recognise other players abilities?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Corbomite on August 03, 2004, 09:03:57 pm
Quote
So now PvP is only available and meaningful for nutters or those in assigned ships? Not acceptable.


No it is meaningful for good pilots who want to add their skills to winning for their side. The ship is irrelevant.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: drb on August 03, 2004, 10:55:02 pm
Hoi Folks,

 Why not have the disengagement rule apply to "fleets" only, in the stead of individual players. In this way a single ship fleet would enter a hex encounter a foe too great, and leave. The single ship reports, the fleet command forbids that single ship fleet to re-enter the hex, unless in another fleet. Same rules apply to that fleet.

Clear as mud?

Take care

drb
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 03, 2004, 11:05:50 pm

Aha!  Good thought there.  I wonder if people would be willing to put up with a 15 second move time again?  Once the DB starts coughing around a busy area it usually takes that long anyway, so increasing it back to 15 seconds may not even be a real inconveniance.

-S'Cipio

Good Lord No!

P.S.  something that would piss me off more than a midserver change has now been found.
Rather have a DB clean every 6 hours than that!  It drives me nuts enough when it happens right before a db clean to make it every mission would likely leave me looking for another game.  I cannot state strongly enough how oppossed I am to this idea.  I like to roam about the map a bit do scouting etc, a setting like this would make such strategic actions a waste of time.

No No a million times No!

Chuut, the very emotionally distressed.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: drb on August 03, 2004, 11:10:37 pm
Hoi Folks,

What Chuut said, without being emotionally distressed. ;)

Take care

drb
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 03, 2004, 11:23:11 pm
I like to roam about the map a bit do scouting etc, a setting like this would make such strategic actions a waste of time.


Actually it sounds like a justification to do it. That scouting intelligence must be worth something and a more stable server would be an added bonus. Never did like the idea of people getting strategic advantages for free.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 11:23:55 pm
Doesn't anybody see how to prevent a small ship from tying up a larger one without a disengagement rule? I personally think a lot of dyna strategies have been lost or forgotten over the last year or two...

The disengagement rule has been needed since the days of AF, when the Fed player base overwhelmed their shipyard capacity. Romulan policy was to exploit the weak Fed shipyard by hunting down and destroying ANY ship NCL or larger, while ignoring the smaller ships. Fed counter-policy developed to use their superior numbers to draw the superior Rommie Kestrals into combat with the sole purpose of keeping them tied up while other players entered the hex to run missions safe from harm.
(Deny it if you will, but those were the Days of Deceit, when Romulans cared nothing of honor. This is fact)

Even after the "Fight or Leave" rule was implemented, the definition of fighting was always at issue. If a drone refit x-NCL(pick a race) throws 6 drones per turn at a BCH while running away at max speed, he may be fighting using the best tactic available to his skill with that ship. Yes, the heavy can shoot down all 6 drones with phaser fire every turn, but that leaves him short of power to close the distance.
When the Drone ship has spent 10-15 min firing the last of his 100+ drones and executes the better part of valor without scratching the paint of the BCH, does he deserve the right to return in 5 min to take another shot at it?


Nope, that counts as giving your enemy the runaround as I see it, and should be defined as not fighting. In a D5D for example I'll make a good go of landing some drones on the nose of a careless player in a larger ship (in batches of 12) If he does it right and doesn't take any drones, then I run off if I can. The enemy has the opportunity to catch me in the act. If I get away, he wins the mission gets the PP and gets the DV shift. If he destroys me, the same result is the case, with the bonus of having destroyed my ship, costing me additional PP. If I'm foolish enough to come back and try again then I think I should be allowed to.

If you are a good player and do manage to score some hits you can successfully draw that battle out for quite a while, getting a few hits here and there. You are fighting, but you are also fighting a losing battle most likely, and have succeeded in tying up your opponent with no penalty to yourself. The hex DV is moving in your direction because similar ships to yours are killing AI by the number while you are in mission. All that happens to you is that you eventually expend all munitions and are forced to retire.

Myself, I never take it to that point, I recognise a player who can handle drones immediately and cut my losses ASAP, what with current drone prices... either they fall for it or don't - no mucking about.

Does this mean we have to get down to a rule for you and those you play like you, and a rule for those who cannot recognise other players abilities?

For a moment I was worried and thought you werent making any sense, but I get what you're saying, and no, of course not. I imagine most players take a similarly realistic approach by now, so I consider the value of the disengagement rule overestimated... and of course we must still consider new players even at this point.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 03, 2004, 11:26:03 pm
I like to roam about the map a bit do scouting etc, a setting like this would make such strategic actions a waste of time.


Actually it sounds like a justification to do it. That scouting intelligence must be worth something and a more stable server would be an added bonus. Never did like the idea of people getting strategic advantages for free.

It doesen't have to go all the way back up to 15 seconds to reduce the serverload, 5-7 will do. I was thinking only of reducing serverload and not trying to impede movement. A change from 3 to 5 seconds can make a large difference in serverload and not affect movement much, the increase needn't be drastic.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 04, 2004, 12:06:39 am
I like to roam about the map a bit do scouting etc, a setting like this would make such strategic actions a waste of time.


Actually it sounds like a justification to do it. That scouting intelligence must be worth something and a more stable server would be an added bonus. Never did like the idea of people getting strategic advantages for free.

Me either but I fail to see how its an advantage since anyone can do so, then again it requires 1/2 a brain at least disqualifying some...... ;D
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 04, 2004, 03:47:08 am
If you can have a draft radius of one, and it seems that is possible with a slight delay in movement time, then the argument for the disenagaement rule goes. The hunted player is almost always going to be able to be drafted by the hunters if they are alert, as he will have to move 2 hexes at a slower speed, and so should be caught.

With 1 hex draft radius in hotspots it is sometimes difficult to get out and resupply and fix battle damage which is good. Many times people fight in less than ideal shape, and people would have to weigh up whether the risks were worth taking before entering a hotspot.

The down side is the DN on a hex can be pulled off, allowing ships onto the now undefended hex. (CW5 was when it changed because of this)

On balance the PvP would be better, more players in PvP and multiple PvP. Kzin always used to hunt in packs and use numbers to counter bigger ships.

Can serious consideration be given by admins to this please.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 04, 2004, 06:31:50 am
Okay, I've got one reason why people may not want admins to consider an increased draft radius, and that is the difficulties of coordinating drafting of allies. I've fought with a draft radius of one and as long as the action is not too intense you can keep order, but once things get busy you can't control who is in drafting radius and who isn't.

That said, I don't accept that increasing the draft radius negates the need for a disengagement rule. In fact I can't see how you made that great leap of deduction because you still have small AI optimised ships running faster AI missions than heavier PvP capable ships.

 
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 04, 2004, 06:41:16 am
I always understod it that increasing the draft radius made it more likely players would drop in mission.  Is this true?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 04, 2004, 06:45:55 am
That was my thinking too, Chuut.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 04, 2004, 07:05:10 am
I always understod it that increasing the draft radius made it more likely players would drop in mission.  Is this true?

I don't think it should increase the likelyhood of any one individual dropping, but if you now have a greater number of players being drafted into missions I would guess there is now an increased number of unstable missions.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 04, 2004, 08:17:05 am
I always understod it that increasing the draft radius made it more likely players would drop in mission.  Is this true?

I don't think it should increase the likelyhood of any one individual dropping, but if you now have a greater number of players being drafted into missions I would guess there is now an increased number of unstable missions.

Yes there probably would be more unstable missions. But on the plus side there would be more PvP missions with more multiple players (in hot spots) and the odd drop from a game is like the fog of war, you never have complete control of the situation and don't know what you are going to get.

As for hunting DSers, Hunting parties in adjacent hexes as well athe hex under attack will be much more likely to pull the DSer as he has to move 2 hexes from where he was DSing to avoid the draft. When drafted he will meet probably more than one opponent. If he leaves he is likely to be drafted again and again until destroyed or chased from the area.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 04, 2004, 08:21:37 am
How is he going to be chased from the area? He can quite happily move repeatedly between two adjacent hexes, time and time again. In each hex he is drafted and chased off the map where upon he moves to the other hex, succesfully avoiding destruction but keeping a greater number of enemy players busy. 
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 04, 2004, 08:23:24 am
How is he going to be chased from the area? He can quite happily move repeatedly between two adjacent hexes, time and time again. In each hex he is drafted and chased off the map where upon he moves to the other hex, succesfully avoiding destruction but keeping a greater number of enemy players busy. 

Allways a possibility
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 04, 2004, 08:33:49 am
So what you're saying is that this really isn't an alternative at all.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 10:58:14 am


That said, I don't accept that increasing the draft radius negates the need for a disengagement rule. In fact I can't see how you made that great leap of deduction because you still have small AI optimised ships running faster AI missions than heavier PvP capable ships.

 

My thoughts exactly. I don't think Gook understands why we have the disengagement rule.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 04, 2004, 11:17:39 am
I understand that the main purpose of the disengagement rule is to give meaning to those hour long PvP missions right? (despite what may be happening in the hex while in that long mission)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 11:23:59 am
I understand that the main purpose of the disengagement rule is to give meaning to those hour long PvP missions right? (despite what may be happening in the hex while in that long mission)

Has nothing to do with whether the PvP is long or not. It is there because in the past the only thing you got for defeating a live human was a single DV shift, which basically meant that PvP was next to meaningless to the overall outcome of the campaign, since even if defeated a player in a cheap ship could be right back looking for AI only battles. This meant that due to game mechanics it was possible for an inferior force to command a hex.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 04, 2004, 11:31:26 am
But what if the superior force remains in the hex and keeps winning PP and DV shifts?

As I always understood it you shouldn't expect a hex to be invulnerable to enemy attack if you leave it after winning a mission in it.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 11:56:35 am
But what if the superior force remains in the hex and keeps winning PP and DV shifts?

As I always understood it you shouldn't expect a hex to be invulnerable to enemy attack if you leave it after winning a mission in it.

point is it doesn't necessarily matter if the winner hangs out in the hex as he still might not get drafted by a returning losing player due to game mechanics. The reality is that without the disengagement rule there is no real penalty (cost)  to losing a PvP match. Thus the balance of strategic power always went to the team that was able to fly the most effecient missions against the AI, when they do get into a PvP it is nothing more than minor inconvienence to be ended as quickly as possible so that they could get back to searching for AI only draws.

I actually had several pilot tell me that they were just going to fly off the map at the beginning of a PvP mission as they didn't want to waste time fighting me since it at best would only give them 1 DV shift, and that they could get 10 times that if they consentrated their efforts on AI only draws.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 04, 2004, 12:03:50 pm
... The reality is that without the disengagement rule there is no real penalty (cost)  to losing a PvP match.

Losing your ship is not a good enough penalty?

If not, then perhaps we can come up with some penalty other than removing the losing player from play?


Quote
I actually had several pilot tell me that they were just going to fly off the map at the beginning of a PvP mission as they didn't want to waste time fighting me since it at best would only give them 1 DV shift, and that they could get 10 times that if they consentrated their efforts on AI only draws.

Sounds to me like we need to get away from these maps with high DVs...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 12:10:55 pm
All of that said, I do see your points about some of the draw backs and unindended consequences to casual players in particular server environements (e.g. unbalanced or lightly populated). I also don't think the disengagement rule is likely to be dropped by most admins for those draw backs, as it seems that the majority of pilots think the rule does more good than harm. Being a very pragmatic type I would suggest that the issues you raised might be realisticly mitagated via a modification of the rule, as I think it unlikely there is enough support to scrap it altogether. That is why I think possibly lowering the ban time to 30-40 minutes for kills or disengagements would be a good thing to try.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 12:18:06 pm


Losing your ship is not a good enough penalty?


Exactly, the cost of another DF+ is inconsequencial to  even the casual player.

Quote

If not, then perhaps we can come up with some penalty other than removing the losing player from play?


They aren't removed from play though, just from that one hex, and your experience on LB5 aside, there are usually other hot hexes (NOT hot Hexxs) to go play in. Thus by lowering the ban time to 30-40 minutes, even if you then get banned from the second hex you will be about ready to re-enter the first.

Quote

Sounds to me like we need to get away from these maps with high DVs...

Maybe, but not over this issue, as a change as drastic as that would have other consequences for game play that would need to be closely examined.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 04, 2004, 12:33:56 pm
I'm definitely for reducing the time, or other modifications to the rule (like drb's suggestion?), or a three strikes deal... something to that effect.

I agree, making the map all low DV is drastic and would change the gameplay but I think it is worthy of exploration.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 04, 2004, 12:48:33 pm


That said, I don't accept that increasing the draft radius negates the need for a disengagement rule. In fact I can't see how you made that great leap of deduction because you still have small AI optimised ships running faster AI missions than heavier PvP capable ships.

 

My thoughts exactly. I don't think Gook understands why we have the disengagement rule.

I understand it perfectly, it allows those who only want to fly one big ship to joust the night away, with the luxury of not really having to do anything until such time as a "worthy" opponent turns up. Everybody else "can get outta Dodge" , or in this case the hex in question.

Again it's a question of whether you want to regulate or not. If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you. Disenagaement just allows you to be lazy in one ship all the time. Now some will say BORING (to counter flipping), but just sitting around for an hour waiting for another ship to turn up is boring to some to, some actually fly none command cruisers, nothing wrong with either way of playing, all legal and legit, but one player gets penalised for up to an hour for playing the legal way he wants, just to pander to another players preferences. That is not good.

As for draft radius being increased, I would have thought the "meaningful" PvP crowd would have liked it, but of course not, as that would interfere with the joust and the show must go on.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 04, 2004, 12:50:04 pm


Losing your ship is not a good enough penalty?


Exactly, the cost of another DF+ is inconsequencial to  even the casual player.


Hmmm, I'm looking at:

PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant   = -100
DeathShipBPVPenalty         = .75

in the Ship.gf in the serverkit and thinking evil thoughts like:

PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant   = -10000
DeathShipBPVPenalty         = .25

Can the kit handle a negative PP though or will it just go to zero? I may test this out to find out.


edit:
Quote
I understand it perfectly, it allows those who only want to fly one big ship to joust the night away, with the luxury of not really having to do anything until such time as a "worthy" opponent turns up. Everybody else "can get outta Dodge" , or in this case the hex in question.

I feel much the same way Gook.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 04, 2004, 01:03:01 pm



I understand it perfectly, it allows those who only want to fly one big ship to joust the night away, with the luxury of not really having to do anything until such time as a "worthy" opponent turns up. Everybody else "can get outta Dodge" , or in this case the hex in question.


Ahhhh...so you really don't understand it then.

Quote
Again it's a question of whether you want to regulate or not. If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you.

What Gorn hex flipper am I suppose to jump in to counter that drone destroyer again?

Quote
Disenagaement just allows you to be lazy in one ship all the time. Now some will say BORING (to counter flipping), but just sitting around for an hour waiting for another ship to turn up is boring to some to, some actually fly none command cruisers, nothing wrong with either way of playing, all legal and legit, but one player gets penalised for up to an hour for playing the legal way he wants, just to pander to another players preferences. That is not good.

He only gets penalised if he loses, as it should be.

Quote
As for draft radius being increased, I would have thought the "meaningful" PvP crowd would have liked it, but of course not, as that would interfere with the joust and the show must go on.

Once again I don't follow the logic of your conclusions or your premise that increasing the draft radius has any effect on the meaningfulness of the PvP encounter.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 04, 2004, 01:03:15 pm
Gook,

Your perspective is bizzare.  You expect everyone to play your hex-flipping game by saying things like that people can switch off ships and counter the hex-flippers action with their own boring repetitive mission running.  That is not what people who like PvP want to do.  They want to be in a decent PvP ship and to have that PvP mean something hence the disengagement rule.  You have absolutely no idea what people with command cruiser are doing on servers.  You just make sh** up that supports your position and from your addled memory of servers past.

Hex-flippers are not meant to set the standard of how the D2 is played yet you expect people to act as they act.  The disengagement rule gives people another option and makes player encounters meaningful.  I guarantee you that if you try to kill the disengagement rule you will see people quit this game en masse.  You continue to demonstrate that you have no idea what you are talking about and are only concerned with advancing your agenda at the peril of the community. :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: SPQR Renegade on August 04, 2004, 01:15:59 pm

If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you.

Damn, how silly of me not to think of that myself. I could always jump into a small hex flipper to counter the other guys hex flipper <smacks head>. Lets see, the SparrowHawk-J has tons of mojo for an NCL, lets try that! Oh man, that thing draws cruisers and doesn't have the power to even arm and get there in 3 min... Lets see... Oh the KE4R is a nice little ship, lets try that! Doh! 2 Plas-Fs aren't enough firepower to kill much of anything in one pass... Maybe a KE can do the job. Nope. Sea-L? Nope. KFR? Nope. ad nausium.

Don't you think we might have tried that? Short of PFs, there are no plasma based ships that have the damage/turn/BPV ratio of a drone based ship. Until there is one, the plasma races cannot fight fire with fire against the hex-flippers and MUST resort to other tactics or loose. Peroid.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 04, 2004, 01:34:55 pm
Gook, in case you missed it:

"Basically, the disengagement rule is akin to gaining air superiority so that the ground troops can work on overoming the defences. The defences, in this game, mostly being ai. What it does then is allow the side victorious in battle to fight ai relatively unmolested by the other side. It gives a more meaningful role to those races that don't excel at hex-flipping, but are more suited to pvp. It makes a campaign more about racial teamwork."

I am fed up to the back teeth of your snide jousting remarks, when it's been proven to you time and again that not all of us who believe in the rule a) fly the big ships, and b) believe that only equal sized opponents are worthy of engaging.

D2 nowadays has something for everyone. Pvpers and hex-flippers both have their place, working together. In the past, as you so clearly showed with Sockfoot's campaign guide, pvpers had no real place. In fact, according to that, we were a burden, as we weren't always killing ai.

By lowering the time penalty for losing a fight, I think that makes it even better than what it was before. Also, the reverse of this: "If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you." applies to the hex-flippers too.

You call us pvpers "lazy". Why are we lazy? I've done the death drag droner thing many , many times. It's mind-numbing. It's simple. A pvp battle, where a strategic target depends on you winning that battle requires intense concentration and cleverness. It is far from lazy. I take that as an insult. Thing is, both types of play are needed on the D2 nowadays. Can you accept that?


Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 04, 2004, 01:43:49 pm

If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you.

Damn, how silly of me not to think of that myself. I could always jump into a small hex flipper to counter the other guys hex flipper <smacks head>. Lets see, the SparrowHawk-J has tons of mojo for an NCL, lets try that! Oh man, that thing draws cruisers and doesn't have the power to even arm and get there in 3 min... Lets see... Oh the KE4R is a nice little ship, lets try that! Doh! 2 Plas-Fs aren't enough firepower to kill much of anything in one pass... Maybe a KE can do the job. Nope. Sea-L? Nope. KFR? Nope. ad nausium.

Don't you think we might have tried that? Short of PFs, there are no plasma based ships that have the damage/turn/BPV ratio of a drone based ship. Until there is one, the plasma races cannot fight fire with fire against the hex-flippers and MUST resort to other tactics or loose. Peroid.

Ren, Gook, sadly, is only looking at this from the Kzinti perspective. I would even hazard a guess that he isn't aware that non-drone using races don't have frigates that can put out 144 damage per turn without using power. Don't give me that "but drones are so eaily defeated in many ways" argument. When it comes to ai, that means bugger all and you know it, Gook. The ai in this game is so dumb when it comes to drones that it's a joke.

I suggested long ago, that a simple fix could be done to the ai to markedly improve their survivability. Limit the range that ai use phasers. Stop them firing phaser 3s and Gs outside of range 2, ph2s to no greater than range 5, and ph1s to max of range 8. I would suggest that if the source code does become available, this become a high priority for implementation.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Laflin on August 04, 2004, 02:25:13 pm
What is meaningful PvP Kroma?

I know some people caught in a D5D, NCD, DF that can't PvP to save their life.  Their only purpose is to run fast missions and flip hexes.   I also know people in the same ships that can give people in larger ships a real go at it.

You forgot the E4D  ;D
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Laflin on August 04, 2004, 02:30:44 pm
Bonk. I am a casual player nowadays, and I've only ever had one assigned ship. Yet, I find that I can often have an effect even when flying a light cruiser.

For example, one evening on GW1, I logged on, in my CWLP, to find that the base captured by the Lyrans on the Kzinit border was under attack by 7 Kzinti players, and I was the only Lyran on. So, they drafted me in 1s and 2s, and I defeated every single one of them, some by chasing them off the map, some by destroying them and some were captured, thus securing the base for some time. In the end, the base was captured some time later (after I'd gone to bed). Prior to the disengagement rule, I'd have lost that base quickly despite defeating the opponents.

I still say that pvp needs more importance placed on it, by having a small number of VPs for destroying/capturing enemy players, a la RDSL. Perhaps impelementing this could allow for the removal of the disengagement rule?

That is a very odd situation - with that number of opponents they should have been able to stagger missions against that hex while you were in pvp.  Very unlike the Kzirak to waste an opportunity like that...must have been free catnip night or something  :P
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 04, 2004, 04:31:17 pm
Gook, in case you missed it:

"Basically, the disengagement rule is akin to gaining air superiority so that the ground troops can work on overoming the defences. The defences, in this game, mostly being ai. What it does then is allow the side victorious in battle to fight ai relatively unmolested by the other side. It gives a more meaningful role to those races that don't excel at hex-flipping, but are more suited to pvp. It makes a campaign more about racial teamwork."

I am fed up to the back teeth of your snide jousting remarks, when it's been proven to you time and again that not all of us who believe in the rule a) fly the big ships, and b) believe that only equal sized opponents are worthy of engaging.

D2 nowadays has something for everyone. Pvpers and hex-flippers both have their place, working together. In the past, as you so clearly showed with Sockfoot's campaign guide, pvpers had no real place. In fact, according to that, we were a burden, as we weren't always killing ai.

By lowering the time penalty for losing a fight, I think that makes it even better than what it was before. Also, the reverse of this: "If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you." applies to the hex-flippers too.

You call us pvpers "lazy". Why are we lazy? I've done the death drag droner thing many , many times. It's mind-numbing. It's simple. A pvp battle, where a strategic target depends on you winning that battle requires intense concentration and cleverness. It is far from lazy. I take that as an insult. Thing is, both types of play are needed on the D2 nowadays. Can you accept that?




We all have an opinion, and I'm as tired of your line as you are of mine. That being said both are valid stances and the horns of the dilemma we face.

I get banned for an hour in a flipper so the jouster doesn't have to chase me about. Now that may seem equitable to you but it doesn't to me. It seems to favour one style of play over another, but again that's opinion.

I either change my style of play to suit yours, or I am marginalised in a potentially crucial area, may seem just to you, does not to me, but that's an opinion.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 04, 2004, 05:01:14 pm


That said, I don't accept that increasing the draft radius negates the need for a disengagement rule. In fact I can't see how you made that great leap of deduction because you still have small AI optimised ships running faster AI missions than heavier PvP capable ships.

 


My thoughts exactly. I don't think Gook understands why we have the disengagement rule.

I understand it perfectly, it allows those who only want to fly one big ship to joust the night away, with the luxury of not really having to do anything until such time as a "worthy" opponent turns up. Everybody else "can get outta Dodge" , or in this case the hex in question.

Again it's a question of whether you want to regulate or not. If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you. Disenagaement just allows you to be lazy in one ship all the time. Now some will say BORING (to counter flipping), but just sitting around for an hour waiting for another ship to turn up is boring to some to, some actually fly none command cruisers, nothing wrong with either way of playing, all legal and legit, but one player gets penalised for up to an hour for playing the legal way he wants, just to pander to another players preferences. That is not good.

As for draft radius being increased, I would have thought the "meaningful" PvP crowd would have liked it, but of course not, as that would interfere with the joust and the show must go on.


I have never heard such a stupid, out of touch with reality, suggestion. It's taken me 2 days to find a KRC in the shipyard so I can get out of a BH, and then you want me to just give it away so I can get a SNB? or a WE? or a KR? or another BH? Are you serious? Just where are you keeping your brains? Do tell, I'm keen to know?

So now which ship do I get in to do this "fast hex flipping" or are you speaking complete and utter BS because you can't be bothered to get drunk at the pub and speak BS to people who don't give a rat's about what you think. Because that's what we have here, a complete loss of touch with reality, disguised as some sort of care and concern. Well don't bother beating your gums (or keyboard) until you can get reconnected with reality or sober up.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Julin Eurthyr on August 04, 2004, 07:45:52 pm
Gook, in case you missed it:

"Basically, the disengagement rule is akin to gaining air superiority so that the ground troops can work on overoming the defences. The defences, in this game, mostly being ai. What it does then is allow the side victorious in battle to fight ai relatively unmolested by the other side. It gives a more meaningful role to those races that don't excel at hex-flipping, but are more suited to pvp. It makes a campaign more about racial teamwork."

I am fed up to the back teeth of your snide jousting remarks, when it's been proven to you time and again that not all of us who believe in the rule a) fly the big ships, and b) believe that only equal sized opponents are worthy of engaging.

D2 nowadays has something for everyone. Pvpers and hex-flippers both have their place, working together. In the past, as you so clearly showed with Sockfoot's campaign guide, pvpers had no real place. In fact, according to that, we were a burden, as we weren't always killing ai.

By lowering the time penalty for losing a fight, I think that makes it even better than what it was before. Also, the reverse of this: "If you really wanted to, you to could jump into a fast flipper and counter what the flipper was doing to you." applies to the hex-flippers too.

You call us pvpers "lazy". Why are we lazy? I've done the death drag droner thing many , many times. It's mind-numbing. It's simple. A pvp battle, where a strategic target depends on you winning that battle requires intense concentration and cleverness. It is far from lazy. I take that as an insult. Thing is, both types of play are needed on the D2 nowadays. Can you accept that?




We all have an opinion, and I'm as tired of your line as you are of mine. That being said both are valid stances and the horns of the dilemma we face.

I get banned for an hour in a flipper so the jouster doesn't have to chase me about. Now that may seem equitable to you but it doesn't to me. It seems to favour one style of play over another, but again that's opinion.

I either change my style of play to suit yours, or I am marginalised in a potentially crucial area, may seem just to you, does not to me, but that's an opinion.



:soap:

Don't like it when the shoe's on your foot, but you're willing to stuff it on someone elses?

While you're complaining about "being marginalized" by a "jousting" PvP player, you're also advocating that everyone should fly ships that have only one purpose on the server, which is to run missions in the shortest possible time to make the DV move in the player's favor the fastest.

:rant:
From the sounds of this comment, combined with the other comments made so far, you sound like you're not happy unless you're given free reign to run sub-2 minute missions in a hex repeatedly till it turns your color.  Anything which interrupts this holy quest, is a distraction.  If you are forced into PvP, you want to be able to completely annihilate, or at least seriously cripple, another player's ship in one salvo with a fleet solely under your control.  Especially if you're crippling a ship that costs 5 times the amount of money your entire fleet does.
:rant:

If I wanted to play that game, I'd be Mirak.  Guess what, I'm still ISC, after all the attempts by the "vocal droner" crowd, and the prior conditions, to marginalize me.

D2 is a "mission matching generator", or at least according to what was advertised lo so many years ago.  And these missions should be worth more than a 5-minute delay (after being drafted, getting into the run, taco-belling, and finally hex-hopping to try again.  They should be worth more than my 15k PP ship blowing up your 5k ship.  Too bad Taldren, in their haste to get the game to work, couldn't make it happen.
Or at least too bad for me, in my Plasma ship, as you get what you want.  The ability to make the "biggest" impact on what counts according to Taldren's released design, which is the fastest ability to move the DV in your direction.

I'll admit, the Disengagement rule was written to make these D2 "matched" missions worth something more than the original content.  And I view it as a bitter pill, while it makes plasma worth flying somewhat, it comes at the cost of affecting droners.  I saw the effect the attempts to make Plasma worth-while have had on the Mirak.  I recall the days when KAT and KOTH were a 30+ person fleet that was a force for any team to reckon with.  Too bad that at that same time we were lucky that the entire Plasma-contingent (Rommie, Gorn and ISC) were equal to the size of the Mirak.

Now, here's the deal.  These threads can be used to search out compromises that would allow both plasma and droner the ability to have fun on a server, with associated, and balanced, costs to both sides.

As long as both sides recognize that things do have to change, and are willing to take penalties along with the gains.

Be honest with me.  Are your 72 or 144 point of damage a turn Mirak DFs or DWs significantly (I mean more than 1 minute or 2 rounds) slown down against a DD or CL instead of a FF?  And, would your hex filp times change significantly (on the order of needing one additional pilot for a full hour), if your missions were increased by 30 seconds each but the requirement for resupply every mission or 2 in a "hot" area (where you need all your drones in case of a PvP) is removed?

After years of being on the short end of the stick, as it were, according to Taldren's "stock" design (ie, my race is not optimized to flip hexes the fastest, and even if I did engage and destroy the fastest hex-fliipper their loss is best termed Marginal, as they can be back in their original state within an hour or 2, while a loss of a ship that can even remotely compete on the hex-flip side often costs me close to a day's work) , I face a situation where my continued enjoyment, and willingness to stay here, nevermind reason for me to be here, is dependent on certain steps, not necessarily my steps, being taken to insure that I have a reason to be here, and that I play on the most level playing field we can provide within the limitations of the game, it's source, and what we can manipulate within it.  And I want these steps to preserve the core fundamentals of the ISC (ie, the biggest bunch of barbarian-ship @$$-whoppers in the game, that can find and engage in a combat that means something more than a short delay to the opponent), not make me a Mirak-clone in a blue hull saying "ribbit" instead of "meow".

I have been patient.  I am remaining patient as long as I humanly can.  Yet the fact that I am here on a soapbox ranting reminds me that, in the overall scheme of things, my patience is wearing quite thin.  I feel that I am still capable of comprimizing, and maintaining an overall (hopefully) fair sense of balance.  I realize that certain avenues won't accomplish my wishes, but can still "balance" the game.  If, when all is said and done, the game is balanced, but I cannot stand the balance, probably because I am not an ISC pilot anymore but something that only looks like an ISC pilot, then I will gladly, but solemnly, leave.

I still hold out hope that, when the dust settles, the (returned) KAT / KOTH fleets can still flip a hex unapposed in less than an hour, but if the resurgent Plasma forces do manage to catch some of these kitties, they're out a little more than 4 DV points and 2 hours of PP...  (losses figured as the DV point lost in the death mission, 2 un-run missions waiting for the replacement flipper to be purchased and outfitted, and the 1 mission run by the victor in the loser's absence.  At approx. 300 PP a mission, 5000 gross PP is earned in approx. 17 missions, which can be run on average (assuming a 2:00 mission) within 34 minutes, with additional time being spent travelling to resupply points, returning to the hex in question, and suffering through the briefing screen and load times.  It is theorized by me that 5000 net PP can be easily earned within this time if certain cost-saving measures (ie, relying more on stock reloads or cheaper munitions rather than buying expensive drones every mission, resupplying every 2nd or 3rd mission in quieter areas, being right on top of a supply point instead of a few hexes off, etc. are in use.)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 04, 2004, 08:43:24 pm
Quote
If I wanted to play that game, I'd be Mirak.  Guess what, I'm still ISC, after all the attempts by the "vocal droner" crowd, and the prior conditions, to marginalize me.

 :goodpost: :multi: What he said!!  :multi: :goodpost:

 :multi: I AM AN ISC PILOT :multi:

  Not an Frogo-Mirak >:( OR a Klingo-Mirak >:( OR a Fedo-Mirak  >:(  OR a Gorno-Mirak  >:(  OR a Rommie-o-Mirak >:( OR a Lyrano-Mirak >:( OR a Hydra-farto-Mirak  >:(  Pilot
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 12:10:52 am
Sorry Gook but I don't back you on this one.  I like the disengagement rule as long as there is a 0 draft radius.  If you can't field a ship that can compete wingmen are often available, and superior teamwork in 2 inferior ships can often prevail against 2 opponents in superior ships.  True it can be an uphill battle but all the more rewarding as such.

Hell I've managed to defeat 2 Klingons in D7C's in my lone CC in CW 1, likely I'll never pull it off again, but sometimes fate just smiles on ya when you fight long odds.

I will say as far as mission times however, although the Kzin have some of the fastest, they are not so far ahead of the pack as some would believe.  One of the reasons has been the Kzin willingness to fly the ship for the job, sometimes going big, sometimes going small.  Many of the other races, (Especially plasma chuckers in my experience )  have been more reluctant to switch out of their p v p hulls and thus often suffer for it in someways.  Some help for early era plasma chuckers may be warranted however, as they really do have limited options then.

Now on GW3 the map is small, and this will be to the liking of the p v p ers, well so be it.  It wont be the standard size map for all future servers, so don't sweat it too bad, its just 1 server.  Besides, as you and I both know, we will devise new ways to make use of the tools at hand even in a disadvantageous situation, always have always will.  Now should small maps and trench warfare become a majority of server setups, I'll be more willing to back you to a greater degree.

I also advocate a slot system to be considered for more future servers so we don't have to see those in BCHs and DNs driving all others off from 1 hex to the next in trench warfare.  I've heard this complained about by many.  Maybe even a fighter free area for Moggy who gets as wound up about figthers as you do about disengagement rules. 
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 01:07:32 am
... The reality is that without the disengagement rule there is no real penalty (cost)  to losing a PvP match.

Losing your ship is not a good enough penalty?

If not, then perhaps we can come up with some penalty other than removing the losing player from play?


I missed this earlier, so could you please explain how the fast AI optimised ship captain loses his ship? And even if he lost his ship it wouldn't be a penalty when you consider some of the prices those boats cost. Nope most of the time you see the situation you've already described for your own conduct. You'd have a go to see if you are facing a fool in a big ship, decide you are not and leave. You have lost nothing except a DV shift of one, which you can get back in 5 min or so.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Corbomite on August 05, 2004, 01:22:04 am
I'm curious Chuut. Just exactly which plasma ship (of any size) can put out 144 points of damage every turn to get "plasma chuckers" out of their "PvP" hulls? Plasma players must fly a CL at the lightest to get reasonable mission times and that is using every trick in the book to speed up the mission. Destroyers and Frigates just don't have the firepower and the charging speed to do fast missions on par with a six rack DF.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 01:52:25 am
I'm curious Chuut. Just exactly which plasma ship (of any size) can put out 144 points of damage every turn to get "plasma chuckers" out of their "PvP" hulls? Plasma players must fly a CL at the lightest to get reasonable mission times and that is using every trick in the book to speed up the mission. Destroyers and Frigates just don't have the firepower and the charging speed to do fast missions on par with a six rack DF.

Never said your mission times could be the same Corbo, just that you had ships that were lighter tht could run faster than your best p v p ships, as you yourself have often stated.  Not everyone is is quick as you are to use the right ship for the job however.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 05, 2004, 02:06:45 am
Corb, didn't you see Gook's post where he recommended a ship for the Roms, Gorn and ISC that are pretty fast at missions?

R-SphG, G-COM and I-CLG. Problem sorted.

Well, apart from the fact that commando ships have been restricted from play for quite some time now, for whatever reason (was it because of the D6G?).

Chuut, a fighter-free area sounds jubbly :)

I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 02:26:48 am
... The reality is that without the disengagement rule there is no real penalty (cost)  to losing a PvP match.

Losing your ship is not a good enough penalty?

If not, then perhaps we can come up with some penalty other than removing the losing player from play?


I missed this earlier, so could you please explain how the fast AI optimised ship captain loses his ship? And even if he lost his ship it wouldn't be a penalty when you consider some of the prices those boats cost. Nope most of the time you see the situation you've already described for your own conduct. You'd have a go to see if you are facing a fool in a big ship, decide you are not and leave. You have lost nothing except a DV shift of one, which you can get back in 5 min or so.

I've lost a hex flipper by trying to catch a DN pilot sleeping. If he's quick he'll not only not take the drones on the nose but give you a whack to slow you down and then chew off your warp in nice big bites as you run away, it can be funny... (most likely to happen in nebula, you need to get close...).

The big ship can raise the DV by one in less than 5 minutes too, he just needs a freindly small ship to draft him...

As you can see I'm exploring options other than the disengagement rule here, I just tested the:
PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant   = -10000
DeathShipBPVPenalty         = .25
lines in the ship.gf and the PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant has no effect at all...  :banghead: (damn undocumented, unused gf settings... arg! nothing like a black box to keep you guessing...). The DeathShipBPVPenalty does work however.

I'm looking for a way to duplicate the effect of the disengagement rule without removing players from play.All too often now I see players that just lost a PvP simply log off for an hour, never used to see that. Never see players beaten down to a freighter anymore either, that used to be pretty funny...

Have you any ideas to add meaning to PvP that do not require removing players from the game? (no SQL scripting yet...). Dig through those undocumented gfs and see what you can come up with, there has to be something...

Yet more AI battles and players logging off is just not an acceptable solution to me.


Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 02:35:52 am
I wonder if people who don't spend long streches of time on a server just don't see the punishment a losing player takes without a disengagement rule.. you can only afford to replace so many ships...

Setting most hexes to a max DV of one is the best solution I have come up with yet it seems, that way a DV shift of one is significant...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 03:13:58 am
Alright, I've read all the posts and would now like to interject a few thoughts of my own.

First, the disengagement rule is a good thing to me.   I believe there should be consequences from disengaging/being killed in a pvp match.    To me, being able to force the other team's pilots out of a particular hex is good.   Saying that I would like to talk about a few specific points brought up here about the current disengagement rule.

(1) DNs being used to force enemy pilots out of highly contested hexes.   Hey, I have no problem with this.   The DNs should be used in such a fashion.  Does anyone here think that the US will send their aircraft carriers to the areas of the world where they won't have the most impact?  There are ways around letting a DN take over a hex.  Killer packs, go around the hex, etc.  I do see a few ways that we might be able to reduce this complaint in future servers.

 Limit the DN (and DN equivalent ships)  more!!

I know we have limited these type ships to a degree, but I don't think we have done it enough.   Whether a server lets you get a DN on mere collection of PP or by a production schedule, we are still seeing a good number of these ships on the server.   Their impact can be devatasting when flown in packs.   This can be very frustrating for part time players when they see all the nutters in these large ships.  I like the idea of limiting each side (NOT EACH RACE) the number of these large ships that can be fielded.   For example, 2 x DNs, 3 x CV, 5 x BCH.  Hey, it's easy to check anytime on the server.

Secondly, make these DN (and equivalents) available to EVERYONE

Here, I'm talking about NOT assigning these type ships, and if possible, pricing these ships so low that even the casual player can jump into one anytime he feels like it.  I think we might all agree that usually the casual player gets screwed out of flying a large ship even if they are assigned.    Doing this, you'll always have the ability to fly up the limit of these DN type ships at any time of the day.   Completely better all the way around here.

(2)  I would like to see the disengagement time penalty reduced.  I think 30 minutes would be about right.  I really understood the point someone made above about "well, what happens if you get run out of a hex for an hour, and you only have an hour to play".  I think WE DO NEED a time penalty, but reducing the time here will help this complaint.  

Now, saying that, I DO THINK the time penalty need to be EQUAL for disengaging as well as being killed.   Sure, you also lose you ship if you get killed, but I have seen the "well, I'll just get killed" tactic used by pilots trying to get back into an important hex because the time penalty was not the same.    This is totally bogus.    Killing a pilot who is not even trying to put up a good fight is defeating my whole purpose of playing on these servers.  (whoa, don't want to get off on that rant, must focus)   Anyway, you get the point.

Again, I do think the disengagement rule is a nice addition.  To me, it gives the PvP pilot more to focus on, and hence, have fun..  Hell, there will always be ton's of ai crunching to do in servers.   If that's your thing, crunch away.   If not, take you ship and fly into the nearest hot zone.  The disengagement time penalty is just extra encouragement to fly well so you can take/defend that important hex.

Just my humble thoughts.  


Agave
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 03:21:26 am
Quote
Does anyone here think that the US will send their aircraft carriers to the areas of the world where they won't have the most impact?

But what happens once they leave? Is the area still magically protected?  (just to be a bugger ;))
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 03:25:34 am
As far as other races having ships that can "hex-flip" at times close to the Mirak.    Sure, the plasma races have 'em, but they are usually much bigger or armed with nasty fighters/PFs.   Until us "plasma chuckers" can get into these type ships the disengagement rule gives us a chance to attempt to force the Mirak on equal fighting terms.

Once we do get into larger ships, it is not our fault that you guys tend to prefer your small "hex-flipping" wonder frigates.   Moggy's BCH variant was certainly a step in the right direction towards giving you guys a very playable large ship.    But, even in the last few servers where that ship was available, I did notice that the majority of the Mirak pilots stayed in there small hex-flippers.

Agave
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 03:29:40 am
Yes, but how does the DN magically protect the hex after it usually immediately leaves after banning the player working on it from the hex?

P.S. I prefer a good CC or BCH but rarely can amass enough PP to buy one... I just go looking for PvP instead of banking PP...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 05, 2004, 03:31:12 am
Bonk, if the sector is that important, the "jousters" will stay there till it's secured.

Also, something else I see continually being focussed on in this thread is the idea that all the action is going on in one solitary hex. Is that often the case?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 03:35:21 am
Quote
Does anyone here think that the US will send their aircraft carriers to the areas of the world where they won't have the most impact?

But what happens once they leave? Is the area still magically protected?  (just to be a bugger ;))

No, lol.  It usually does take the potential enemy a period of time to either recover from getting bombed back into the stoneage, confirm that the carrier is not longer there, or have the balls to do anything anyway.   Then again, maybe they leave the Lucky Charms leprachaun there.   It's magically protected, Hah!

Silly bugger  :lol:

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 03:35:26 am
Bonk, if the sector is that important, the "jousters" will stay there till it's secured.

Also, something else I see continually being focussed on in this thread is the idea that all the action is going on in one solitary hex. Is that often the case?

That is not what I observe, often the hex is not that important, but the DN captain knows he can effectively stop enemy progress in just one mission and moves on.

No the action is not in one solitary hex, but because the DN is not required to continue protecting it he can just follow you from hex to hex, banning you from all strategically meaningful hexes.

(Remember someone asking why we were working on planets at the maps edge behind the empire on LB5?)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 03:37:55 am
It usually does take the potential enemy a period of time to either recover from getting bombed back into the stoneage, confirm that the carrier is not longer there, or have the balls to do anything anyway.

Good point.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 03:40:53 am
Bonk, if the sector is that important, the "jousters" will stay there till it's secured.

Also, something else I see continually being focussed on in this thread is the idea that all the action is going on in one solitary hex. Is that often the case?

Good point here Mog.   I've always thought that if there is a very conceived plan of attack being used that there will always be other important hexes you can put your efforts in.   Granted, if you're only interested in focusing on pvp matches, then you're kinda screwed.    But, I never really known anyone to be disappointed if they send out a pvp challenge and a hex number.  

Each to their own preferences.  I just like the rule because I think it creates a nice balance between hex-flipping and pvp.

Agave
the balance nut
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 03:42:51 am
Bonk, if the sector is that important, the "jousters" will stay there till it's secured.

Also, something else I see continually being focussed on in this thread is the idea that all the action is going on in one solitary hex. Is that often the case?

Good point here Mog.   I've always thought that if there is a very conceived plan of attack being used that there will always be other important hexes you can put your efforts in.   Granted, if you're only interested in focusing on pvp matches, then you're kinda screwed.    But, I never really known anyone to be disappointed if they send out a pvp challenge and a hex number. 

Each to their own preferences.  I just like the rule because I think it creates a nice balance between hex-flipping and pvp.

Agave
the balance nut

The significance of this abuse of the rule cannot be ignored:
<quotes self repetitively>
Quote
That is not what I observe, often the hex is not that important, but the DN captain knows he can effectively stop enemy progress in just one mission and moves on.

No the action is not in one solitary hex, but because the DN is not required to continue protecting it he can just follow you from hex to hex, banning you from all strategically meaningful hexes.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 05, 2004, 03:52:05 am
I have no objection to the "jousters" having to stay in the hex for some time to continue to secure it. It's a good point about it being open to abuse, and if I didn't state agreement with it the first time, I do now.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 03:53:16 am
Quote
The significance of this abuse of the rule cannot be ignored:
<quotes self repetitively>
Quote
That is not what I observe, often the hex is not that important, but the DN captain knows he can effectively stop enemy progress in just one mission and moves on.

No the action is not in one solitary hex, but because the DN is not required to continue protecting it he can just follow you from hex to hex, banning you from all strategically meaningful hexes.


Yes, I understand you point completely.  I have been a victim of this tactic many times myself, usually at an off-hour when outnumbered.    That is why I suggested making large ships non-assigned and cheap, but limited.   This way, you can fight fire with fire and know that their will be only so many large ships who can counter you, and thus, be countered by.

Hell, if they want to follow me around, I attack an area of hexes.   If they sit rock on a hex and I can't defeat them, I hop around and let them try to guess where I'm gonna be working next.

Sorry, but the rule just makes strategic sense to me.  I do fly Gorn afterall, so hardheadedness just kinda comes with the persona.

Agave
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Holocat on August 05, 2004, 03:54:54 am
Well Non-contentious not quite.

Let's talk about the arena we live in.

First, all this talk of jousting.  It is true we live in a perpetual joust when it comes to player versus player;  After all, the arena doesn't support very many ships before stablity is a greater factor in success than prowess.  The DN/CV/BCH fest as many people, including myself, have called it.

Now.  The dynaverse, as mentioned, has been invented in such a manner as to make the primary issue of our imaginary war the issue of flipping hexes.  This is the mechanic of the game, and everyone needs to accept that.

Still, this is not how we want to play the game, entirely.  We can also engage one another in this game.  In joust.

But it matters nothing, this joust.  One person loses his ship, yes.  Perhaps even an expensive, rare ship that took some time and suffering to obtain.  

However, as we have all seen and all know, the balance lies heavily in favour of who can take territory in the most efficient manner.  As I have said, this is the game mechanic.  This, more than anything else, is what lies behind the droner arguments, the pft and fighter arguments, mission time arguments, and this argument.

This, I believe, is not an opinion.  It is a testable theory.  Can ten mirak prevail over ten romulans?  It seems likely, given how our universe is built.  By no means assured, but everyone feels the advantage.

The disengagement rule gives meaning to this joust.  Before, it was meaningless, or even worse, discouraging.  Given the nature of the dynaverse, it was counterproductive to what needed to be done.

Is it accurate?  No.  Indeed, it is a jousting sandbox.  However, what did we have before, really?  Before, it was only the destruction of those clones, AI, that mattered.  It was to take territory and that was all.  

I believe that it has added something to the game, this rule.  Now we can attack, and take that space, but what of the evil knight guarding the bridge inward?  Send one in to suffer the rule and stagger the others to effectively cut of his arms and legs perhaps.  Call it a draw.  Perhaps you should band together and throw him off his horse.

Before, it was only merry men.  We have knights and merry men now, but this is more than simply and only merry men.

We can abuse this rule, of course.  But we can abuse any rule, really, or even that arena with no rules other than what cannot be done.  We create new problems, but this is no reason to cease our progress and return to the old ones.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 05, 2004, 04:00:52 am
I for one think we are better off with it then without it,  but the rule is not perfect and has it's faults.


Say you are a skilled player, and have the PP and ship  to go with it.  You get into a damn nice fight, but you just get edged out and have to retreat.  You just KNOW you could of did better, but you'll never know as you can't fight them again for x amount of time.   You log off because if you can't be where the action is, then why play....

I hate adding rules, but what about something like this?

"If you disengage from a battle in PvP, you have the right to immediately ask for a rematch.  If you lose again, the disengagement rule applies.  If you win, it doesn't"

This way, the rule is still working the way it was intended.  The person trying to fly quick missions in a little ship will not challenge the rule.  

Sorry I missed this the first time. I like this idea, along with a shorter time.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 04:04:57 am
The big ship can raise the DV by one in less than 5 minutes too, he just needs a freindly small ship to draft him...

Oh come on, are you serious? In response to a claim that an AI optimised ship can drop a DV in less than 5min, you are saying that the other side should work in hi-lo drafting pairs so that they can drop the DV just as fast. Okay, I'll bite. How do you get that as an answer? To me it seems that your answer will simply be twice as slow since it would take two people to get the same rate of DV shift as one player using the AI optimised ship.



As you can see I'm exploring options other than the disengagement rule here, I just tested the:
PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant   = -10000
DeathShipBPVPenalty         = .25
lines in the ship.gf and the PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant has no effect at all...  :banghead: (damn undocumented, unused gf settings... arg! nothing like a black box to keep you guessing...). The DeathShipBPVPenalty does work however.

I'm looking for a way to duplicate the effect of the disengagement rule without removing players from play.All too often now I see players that just lost a PvP simply log off for an hour, never used to see that. Never see players beaten down to a freighter anymore either, that used to be pretty funny...

Have you any ideas to add meaning to PvP that do not require removing players from the game? (no SQL scripting yet...). Dig through those undocumented gfs and see what you can come up with, there has to be something...

Yet more AI battles and players logging off is just not an acceptable solution to me.


Regarding logging off after a PvP, yep that was me in the old days. I'd need to calm down after losing a 25000 PP heavy cruiser (because the 10% cloak pushed the BPV up into the level of BC's) to a player who was fielding about 4000 PP of ship loaded to the gunnels with disposable weapons.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 04:12:57 am
Quote
Oh come on, are you serious? In response to a claim that an AI optimised ship can drop a DV in less than 5min, you are saying that the other side should work in hi-lo drafting pairs so that they can drop the DV just as fast. Okay, I'll bite. How do you get that as an answer? To me it seems that your answer will simply be twice as slow since it would take two people to get the same rate of DV shift as one player using the AI optimised ship.

I realised that as I typed it, no it is not a valid comparison, I agree. It is an option, so I left the comment.

Quote
Regarding logging off after a PvP, yep that was me in the old days. I'd need to calm down after losing a 25000 PP heavy cruiser (because the 10% cloak pushed the BPV up into the level of BC's) to a player who was fielding about 4000 PP of ship loaded to the gunnels with disposable weapons.

Come on now, drones are pretty easy to deal with, just don't make any mistakes. (you know that as well as I).
How does this relate to people logging off because they no longer have anything useful to do? (Being chased off meaningful hexes by DNs)

Also please note my statement above that I would prefer a CC or BCH I just don't usually have the time to amass the necessary PP by running repetitive missions against the AI to bank PP, I usually just go right for the PvP and take my chances. (to counter your insinuation)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 05, 2004, 04:14:18 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.

As for my references to "Jousters", well if people take offence I'm sorry, but having been called a "cheesy droner" on and off for the past four years (despite the fact I am supposed to use them), and not complained once, I find the "Jousters" self righteousness somewhat amusing. So Like styles of play, insults (not that it was meant to be an insult just a short hand way of characterising a style of play), can only go one way.

I didn't really think this part of the thread would be contentious, I assumed (wrongly) everybody loved and cherished the rule, but it is obvious from the thread that is not so, it is not unanimously approved of.

With this string of threads I have asked certain questions and the replies have been most enlightening. What I was told when I came back about certain things just do not have the massive approval that some had lead me to believe. They certainly have the approval of a vocal few, but it's always the same few.

Anyhow, disenegaement is probably here to stay, whatever the reasons for its existance.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 04:16:52 am
As far as other races having ships that can "hex-flip" at times close to the Mirak.    Sure, the plasma races have 'em, but they are usually much bigger or armed with nasty fighters/PFs.   Until us "plasma chuckers" can get into these type ships the disengagement rule gives us a chance to attempt to force the Mirak on equal fighting terms.

Once we do get into larger ships, it is not our fault that you guys tend to prefer your small "hex-flipping" wonder frigates.   Moggy's BCH variant was certainly a step in the right direction towards giving you guys a very playable large ship.    But, even in the last few servers where that ship was available, I did notice that the majority of the Mirak pilots stayed in there small hex-flippers.

Agave

actually some of your smaller ships seem to run better mission times in my personal experience, at least before Pfs arrive and after early era.  Those Gorn :Medium cruisers have performed well for me as well as the R-SPZ.  Not mirak times but not that far off, and an escort will not slow you down at all.

I flew the Z-BCH quite a bit on the last server and the Z-BCH and the Z_DNH on GW1.  BTW Z_BCH doesn't come out untill 2280 so until then we are owned by the C7 for a few years when i do jump in a hex flipper.  Also a G-BCS with 4 plasma D fighters will quickly make me switch out of a p v p ship.  This was what happened on LB5, after I ran into Alfman.

And lets not forget its not only the Mirak, we see lots of D5Ds and NCDs as well.....

like Gorns with pfs, Roms with Kestrels, ISC with Caveats, Hydrans with hornets, Lyrans with LDR if available, everyone plays with what they thinks allows them the best chance at victory and complains about the other races tactics/ships/etc.  Each have their advantages and disadvantages.  I think the way to go is to preserve the racial flavor but to bring the advantages and disadvantages a bit closer to the middle.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 04:18:31 am
Quote
Does anyone here think that the US will send their aircraft carriers to the areas of the world where they won't have the most impact?

But what happens once they leave? Is the area still magically protected?  (just to be a bugger ;))

No, lol.  It usually does take the potential enemy a period of time to either recover from getting bombed back into the stoneage, confirm that the carrier is not longer there, or have the balls to do anything anyway.   Then again, maybe they leave the Lucky Charms leprachaun there.   It's magically protected, Hah!

Silly bugger  :lol:



or use guerilla warfare........
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 04:31:17 am
Bonk, if the sector is that important, the "jousters" will stay there till it's secured.

Also, something else I see continually being focussed on in this thread is the idea that all the action is going on in one solitary hex. Is that often the case?

That is not what I observe, often the hex is not that important, but the DN captain knows he can effectively stop enemy progress in just one mission and moves on.

No the action is not in one solitary hex, but because the DN is not required to continue protecting it he can just follow you from hex to hex, banning you from all strategically meaningful hexes.

(Remember someone asking why we were working on planets at the maps edge behind the empire on LB5?)

What you seem to be observing is a server with only two players, a DN and you. If there are only two players then what do you expect. If instead there are a few more enemy players and the DN has to drive each of them away for the popular hex then it can take 10-20 min for each one. So the DN has spent 45 min to get rid of three enemy, shifted the DV three in his favour and the enemy has shifted the DV 9 in their favour in that time, as well as another 9 DV in the next hot hex.

Sorry but I don't accept your arguements about being hard done by when facing a DN or BCH in a smaller ship.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 04:50:08 am
Quote
Regarding logging off after a PvP, yep that was me in the old days. I'd need to calm down after losing a 25000 PP heavy cruiser (because the 10% cloak pushed the BPV up into the level of BC's) to a player who was fielding about 4000 PP of ship loaded to the gunnels with disposable weapons.

Come on now, drones are pretty easy to deal with, just don't make any mistakes. (you know that as well as I).
How does this relate to people logging off because they no longer have anything useful to do? (Being chased off meaningful hexes by DNs)

Also please note my statement above that I would prefer a CC or BCH I just don't usually have the time to amass the necessary PP by running repetitive missions against the AI to bank PP, I usually just go right for the PvP and take my chances. (to counter your insinuation)

I must have missed the insinuation, what was it?

As for the "don't make any mistakes" business - now there's an insinuation.

Go up against 10 droners (or one droner 10 times assuming no disengagement rule) in 3 or so hours, chase 8 of them off, maybe kill one, make one mistake and get killed by the 10th. Tell me again about how that PP ratio works again. To me it looks like I'm worse off losing 25000 in exchange for a 4000 kill and say 500 PP for each winning mission. Now you can do an analysis for the margins faced by the drone based ship in those 3 or so hours and let me know how it comes out.

Frustration at pointless engagements, not a lack of usefulness is what causes people to log off after a defeat.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Mog on August 05, 2004, 04:57:04 am
Chuut, the Gorn Medium Cruisers are NCAs, they don't compare in cost and ai draw size to the drone using frigates and destroyers lol.

Gook, ah yes, I forgot about all the times I called you a cheesy droner, so yes it's perfectly justifiable of you to label us jousters. Two wrongs do make a right, after all  :P What about the "lazy" comment?

A vocal few. It's pretty rare to get the silent majority to post much on topics, especially game balance topics. Put a JYB type thread up and you'll get lots of them posting then. I notice you omit to mention that there is only a vocal few arguing against the rule.

Also, note that the pro vocal few are quite happy to adapt the rule so it is fairer to both sides. Re the rule making it so one play style is favoured over another, where in Sockfoot's campaign guide is the place for pvpers?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 05:25:55 am
Chuut, the Gorn Medium Cruisers are NCAs, they don't compare in cost and ai draw size to the drone using frigates and destroyers lol.

did I ever claim otherwise?  No.

all I claimed was #1 they could run faster mission times than most of the larger ships, and #2 that many plasma pilots were reluctant to move into them when Hex flipping might have been more useful than p v p so that mission time disparity isnt really as great as some would believe.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 05, 2004, 07:50:48 am
Mog,

Two wrongs don't make a right, but at least the point has been made. The barely concealed and in some cases unconcealed contempt which is shown by many to another significant number of players who play in a different manner to themselves needed to be highlighted. As for "lazy" well perhaps too strong a word, but again, its often "shock" tactics which get noticed. But it has been said in this thread when I get X ship I'm not changing, I waited too long etc etc, which is the prerogative of the player, but just because he wants to play in just one ship should the rules be skewed to favour that style or positive choice not to change to circumstances.

There are a vocal few on e both sides of this particular argument, but there are a number of people who are making significant points who do not usually, and overall in these threads there are even a number of "cross dressers" :) As far as I can see nothing is absoluletly clear cut one way or another, which is not the way things have been presented

There is always room for everybodies game, its just that when one side gains the ascendancy for whatever reason including sheer "bloody mindedness", this can have an adverse impact causing many in worst instances players to leave over the years.

All I have done in these threads is to show there are no sacred cows and those that thought there were, may be fooling themselves. Whatever the out comes are it ultimately comes down to the Admins as to what they put up, but I know from having run all manner of campaigns myself, that it is infinitely more satisfying to run something most people like rather than pander to the whims of a particular faction.

My opinion (and that's all it is) is that things may have gone too far in one direction. I will play with the rule, but given an OPTION, i'd probably vote against it and go for say the one hex draft instead (for example).


Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 08:05:42 am
But it has been said in this thread when I get X ship I'm not changing, I waited too long etc etc, which is the prerogative of the player, but just because he wants to play in just one ship should the rules be skewed to favour that style or positive choice not to change to circumstances.


If you are going to make reference to a post, make full reference: "When I get X ship I'm not changing for a worse ship"

If you can skew the rules to make it convincing for a player to change from a ship which is good at one thing, to a ship which is good at nothing then go right ahead. I'd like to see it explained.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 05, 2004, 08:15:35 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


Of course it does, it was designed to favor PvP, and act as a counter to the style of play you prefer as the game had previously been out of balance favoring the hex flippers exclusively.

You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 08:22:26 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


Of course it does, it was designed to favor PvP, and act as a counter to the style of play you prefer as the game had previously been out of balance favoring the hex flippers exclusively.

You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.

I think Kroma is right on here.  However Gook's point need be considered as well.  As expressed elsewhere the size of the map will impact the balance of this rules impact on play so that the time penalty for disengagement might need to be adjusted to preserve a relative balance, more time on a larger map perhaps and less on a smaller one.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 05, 2004, 08:24:27 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


Of course it does, it was designed to favor PvP, and act as a counter to the style of play you prefer as the game had previously been out of balance favoring the hex flippers exclusively.

You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.

I think Kroma is right on here.  However Gook's point need be considered as well.  As expressed elsewhere the size of the map will impact the balance of this rules impact on play so that the time penalty for disengagement might need to be adjusted to preserve a relative balance, more time on a larger map perhaps and less on a smaller one.

Since I have already suggested that numerous times I would have to agree.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 08:28:25 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


Of course it does, it was designed to favor PvP, and act as a counter to the style of play you prefer as the game had previously been out of balance favoring the hex flippers exclusively.

You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.

I think Kroma is right on here.  However Gook's point need be considered as well.  As expressed elsewhere the size of the map will impact the balance of this rules impact on play so that the time penalty for disengagement might need to be adjusted to preserve a relative balance, more time on a larger map perhaps and less on a smaller one.

Since I have already suggested that numerous times I would have to agree.

I'm just glad you can agree with me when I choose to agree with you..... ;D

Seriously though Kroma I didn't remember who had posted that idea on the other threads but I did at least mentioned that the idea had been expressed elsewhere.  So let me say  :thumbsup: for that idea now.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: GDA-Agave on August 05, 2004, 08:32:53 am
Quote
I think Kroma is right on here.  However Gook's point need be considered as well.  As expressed elsewhere the size of the map will impact the balance of this rules impact on play so that the time penalty for disengagement might need to be adjusted to preserve a relative balance, more time on a larger map perhaps and less on a smaller one.

I quite agree with this as well.   
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 05, 2004, 08:39:33 am
But it has been said in this thread when I get X ship I'm not changing, I waited too long etc etc, which is the prerogative of the player, but just because he wants to play in just one ship should the rules be skewed to favour that style or positive choice not to change to circumstances.


If you are going to make reference to a post, make full reference: "When I get X ship I'm not changing for a worse ship"

If you can skew the rules to make it convincing for a player to change from a ship which is good at one thing, to a ship which is good at nothing then go right ahead. I'd like to see it explained.

Well I'd have thought in context it was obvious, but if not, changing from a good PvP ship to a good flipper. That doesn't require a skew of the rules, just the willingness to change to circumstances. The rule we have means that player X (none specific not refering to any poster in particualr in case that is not clear) who is in his big fat <insert FOM CC/BCH> does not need to contemplate having to change to accomadate circumstances all he has to do is sit in hex Y (none specific hex purely for illustration and not related in any way to a similar sounding but differently spelt player), watch player Z (no relation to a Kzin but I can see why this may be confusing) see him in mission for 2 minutes while he flies off and know that the little varmint will be gone for an hour. That rule skews the game IMHO. In case you hadn't noticed I was discussing no rule, not implementing one.

BTW I'm reasonably sure I'm not drunk, but I wouldn't know, I'd have to consult you, who obviously know so much more about my mental health than I do, from half a world away. But that is getting personal so we should keep our Doctor/Patient chats off the boards

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 05, 2004, 08:41:21 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.

Curious on what do you base this?

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 08:54:04 am
But it has been said in this thread when I get X ship I'm not changing, I waited too long etc etc, which is the prerogative of the player, but just because he wants to play in just one ship should the rules be skewed to favour that style or positive choice not to change to circumstances.


If you are going to make reference to a post, make full reference: "When I get X ship I'm not changing for a worse ship"

If you can skew the rules to make it convincing for a player to change from a ship which is good at one thing, to a ship which is good at nothing then go right ahead. I'd like to see it explained.

Well I'd have thought in context it was obvious, but if not, changing from a good PvP ship to a good flipper. That doesn't require a skew of the rules, just the willingness to change to circumstances. The rule we have means that player X (none specific not refering to any poster in particualr in case that is not clear) who is in his big fat <insert FOM CC/BCH> does not need to contemplate having to change to accomadate circumstances all he has to do is sit in hex Y (none specific hex purely for illustration and not related in any way to a similar sounding but differently spelt player), watch player Z (no relation to a Kzin but I can see why this may be confusing) see him in mission for 2 minutes while he flies off and know that the little varmint will be gone for an hour. That rule skews the game IMHO. In case you hadn't noticed I was discussing no rule, not implementing one.

BTW I'm reasonably sure I'm not drunk, but I wouldn't know, I'd have to consult you, who obviously know so much more about my mental health than I do, from half a world away. But that is getting personal so we should keep our Doctor/Patient chats off the boards

So you are going to demonstrate your mental health by telling me it's a just a matter of "willingness" to change from a KRC to one of the following, K5R, KR, BH, WE, in order to flip hexes faster. Explain how this works and I'll believe you are not a nut or a drunk on a crusade to return us to the "good ol' days" just for your own benefit. That's all I want, an explanation of how it really works so that flying a KRC is actually worse than the other ships available for fighting AI and PvP.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Kroma BaSyl on August 05, 2004, 09:10:36 am
I can live with disengagement in most circumstances, but it has to be recognised that it favours one style of play over another.


You are right about a vocal few, except I believe it is those against the rule in the minority.

Curious on what do you base this?



Gut feel, but you had made the comment that it was a vocal few that wanted the rule so many times that I felt it was warrented to express that your gut feel isn't necessarily any more valid than mine. Having discussed this very issue on these boards as well as on TS and RW for a couple of years I think my Gut feel is more accurate than yours, but that's JMO.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 09:16:26 am


SPZ and basic pft fit here but dont come out till later, that sparrowhawk with the extra big torp is decent as well.  But what I'd like to see is the basic PFT and INTs come out year 1 or 2 and cover the early era where there is no hexflipper.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Corbomite on August 05, 2004, 09:18:07 am
I'm curious Chuut. Just exactly which plasma ship (of any size) can put out 144 points of damage every turn to get "plasma chuckers" out of their "PvP" hulls? Plasma players must fly a CL at the lightest to get reasonable mission times and that is using every trick in the book to speed up the mission. Destroyers and Frigates just don't have the firepower and the charging speed to do fast missions on par with a six rack DF.

Never said your mission times could be the same Corbo, just that you had ships that were lighter tht could run faster than your best p v p ships, as you yourself have often stated.  Not everyone is is quick as you are to use the right ship for the job however.


You must be getting senile Chuut because I have never, ever said that. All I have ever said is that I have no problem running reasonably fast missions in a plasma boat. Every ship I fly is a PvP ship and a hex flipper from my perspective. The right ship for the job is usually the ship I'm in at the time, whatever it is. I will stick to my previous statement, however, and still say that anything under a CL for plasma is hard pressed to do a mission in twice the time of a DF.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 10:35:57 am
Quote
Regarding logging off after a PvP, yep that was me in the old days. I'd need to calm down after losing a 25000 PP heavy cruiser (because the 10% cloak pushed the BPV up into the level of BC's) to a player who was fielding about 4000 PP of ship loaded to the gunnels with disposable weapons.

Come on now, drones are pretty easy to deal with, just don't make any mistakes. (you know that as well as I).
How does this relate to people logging off because they no longer have anything useful to do? (Being chased off meaningful hexes by DNs)

Also please note my statement above that I would prefer a CC or BCH I just don't usually have the time to amass the necessary PP by running repetitive missions against the AI to bank PP, I usually just go right for the PvP and take my chances. (to counter your insinuation)

I must have missed the insinuation, what was it?

As for the "don't make any mistakes" business - now there's an insinuation.

Go up against 10 droners (or one droner 10 times assuming no disengagement rule) in 3 or so hours, chase 8 of them off, maybe kill one, make one mistake and get killed by the 10th. Tell me again about how that PP ratio works again. To me it looks like I'm worse off losing 25000 in exchange for a 4000 kill and say 500 PP for each winning mission. Now you can do an analysis for the margins faced by the drone based ship in those 3 or so hours and let me know how it comes out.

Frustration at pointless engagements, not a lack of usefulness is what causes people to log off after a defeat.

As usual, you're right (dammit  ;D). I was over-reacting in a defensive knee-jerk style. Sorry if I offended you at all, I value your opinions and the clarity with which you express them.

I just happen to disagree about the cause of increased (in my perception) post PvP log-offs, no sense arguing it, as it is a subjective interpretation on both parts. It is still an issue worthy of note however.

Still, this has been a productive discussion that has raised some important points and led to some good ideas. (which refuses to die... I take a nap and there's another whole page!)

...none conentious!?!? Gook, you sure you're a lawyer? ;)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 11:46:51 am
Quote

You must be getting senile Chuut because I have never, ever said that. All I have ever said is that I have no problem running reasonably fast missions in a plasma boat.

I stand corrected then, kust looked up the old post and you are correct.  When you said you did 2:40-4:00 missions in plasma boats that others said couldn't be done in less than 5, I had assumed mistakenly you were in a smaller ship.  I generally have better times when flying ROM in smaller ships of the sparrowhawk class myself so thought this was what you were talking about.  My bad.  I trust you know the Rom ships better than I do so maybe i just suck at the larger ship tactics and get better times in the small birds.  But it does depend on the ai of the race I'm fighting.

 
Quote
Every ship I fly is a PvP ship and a hex flipper from my perspective. The right ship for the job is usually the ship I'm in at the time, whatever it is. I will stick to my previous statement, however, and still say that anything under a CL for plasma is hard pressed to do a mission in twice the time of a DF.

never claimed otherwise here but it is possible, though not easy.  The NSM does tend to wreck the smaller hulls nicely.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 05, 2004, 12:13:32 pm
But it has been said in this thread when I get X ship I'm not changing, I waited too long etc etc, which is the prerogative of the player, but just because he wants to play in just one ship should the rules be skewed to favour that style or positive choice not to change to circumstances.


If you are going to make reference to a post, make full reference: "When I get X ship I'm not changing for a worse ship"

If you can skew the rules to make it convincing for a player to change from a ship which is good at one thing, to a ship which is good at nothing then go right ahead. I'd like to see it explained.

Well I'd have thought in context it was obvious, but if not, changing from a good PvP ship to a good flipper. That doesn't require a skew of the rules, just the willingness to change to circumstances. The rule we have means that player X (none specific not refering to any poster in particualr in case that is not clear) who is in his big fat <insert FOM CC/BCH> does not need to contemplate having to change to accomadate circumstances all he has to do is sit in hex Y (none specific hex purely for illustration and not related in any way to a similar sounding but differently spelt player), watch player Z (no relation to a Kzin but I can see why this may be confusing) see him in mission for 2 minutes while he flies off and know that the little varmint will be gone for an hour. That rule skews the game IMHO. In case you hadn't noticed I was discussing no rule, not implementing one.

BTW I'm reasonably sure I'm not drunk, but I wouldn't know, I'd have to consult you, who obviously know so much more about my mental health than I do, from half a world away. But that is getting personal so we should keep our Doctor/Patient chats off the boards

So you are going to demonstrate your mental health by telling me it's a just a matter of "willingness" to change from a KRC to one of the following, K5R, KR, BH, WE, in order to flip hexes faster. Explain how this works and I'll believe you are not a nut or a drunk on a crusade to return us to the "good ol' days" just for your own benefit. That's all I want, an explanation of how it really works so that flying a KRC is actually worse than the other ships available for fighting AI and PvP.

Ouch, Cleaven and I agree.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 05, 2004, 12:17:05 pm
Quote from:
I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Without SQL, the missions can enforce mandatory mission times.  If you run out of enemy AI before min. mission time is up then more can be hurl at you to gourge on bonus PPs.

Only one problem:  when I suggested it, many in the community shot it down and took great offense.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 12:20:55 pm
How is the situation in year 5 and thereafter Cleaven?  once the SPA arrives?

Had pretty good luck with that one myself esp fighting Fed ships with low marine counts.  A NSM can sure wreck a small boat after a plasma alfa and a suicide shuttle.

You know em better than I however so what do you think here?

and I don't think anyone thinks that there is anything other than KRC in year 2.  Why I suggest allowing basic pfs and INTs out from year 1 or 2.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 05, 2004, 12:25:12 pm
Quote from:
I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Without SQL, the missions can enforce mandatory mission times.  If you run out of enemy AI before min. mission time is up then more can be hurl at you to gourge on bonus PPs.

Only one problem:  when I suggested it, many in the community shot it down and took great offense.

This still is a viable option if you ask me. As long as the mission doesn't leave you idle; keeps generating AI for you to kill for as long the mission runs.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 12:26:58 pm
Quote from:
I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Without SQL, the missions can enforce mandatory mission times.  If you run out of enemy AI before min. mission time is up then more can be hurl at you to gourge on bonus PPs.

Only one problem:  when I suggested it, many in the community shot it down and took great offense.

Picks up frog skeet shooting rifle again....... ;D

"Pull"

BANG
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 05, 2004, 12:46:58 pm
Gook, your whole "sacred cow" deal is so disingenuous.  You have continually advanced an agenda either explicitly or implicitly.  You don't challenge a perceived status quo unless you oppose it.  You have advanced your own opinions first and foremost and have advanced them as a sort of voice of the community based on false readings and/or distortions of public polls, playing on people's frustrations and dissatisfaction to push your own agenda.  Also, you have framed all the issues with your own agenda, in intent and in form, i.e. your little list which is your agenda indeed.  You have muddled issues by playing devil's advocate and twisting logic and sense to make your points into the realm of conjecture and speculation. To me, more often than not you have demonstrated that you have no idea how people actually play on the D2 and your presentation of it either demonstrates ignorance or purpose.  Your "service" to the community is complete now as town fool or transparent machiavellian.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: SPQR Renegade on August 05, 2004, 12:50:27 pm
Chuut, I'm not sure what you were drawing in your Sph-A, but the 80 odd points a Sph-A alpha (plas-G, 2 plas-F, 4 Ph-1s & 2 Ph-3s) will dish out is not going to pop a Fed or Gorn NCL. Going for the fast kill against the Gorn, your going to do little more than trade alphas with a tougher ship than your own.

For that matter, assuming server setting try to produce even AI matches, the 125 point BPV of the Sph-A is more likely to put you up against the beefier 125 BPV F-CA or 122 BPV G-CA than an F-NCL(118) or G-HDD(112). Can you win? Sure. Can you do it in 2-3 min, repeatably?  Show me.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 05, 2004, 04:46:26 pm
The main problem with the SPA is lack of Ph-1 to alpha with. Instead you have to kill with that Plas G (and two F's), which fires every three turns. If you want to take damage, close to closer than range 5 so you can use the Ph 3, but it's small recompense. Did I mention the FA for the G-torp so you have to always be positioning yourself for the next launch or you lose more and more time being chased and only being able to fire the F's.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 05, 2004, 05:04:19 pm
Quote from:
I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Without SQL, the missions can enforce mandatory mission times.  If you run out of enemy AI before min. mission time is up then more can be hurl at you to gourge on bonus PPs.

Only one problem:  when I suggested it, many in the community shot it down and took great offense.

Picks up frog skeet shooting rifle again....... ;D

"Pull"

BANG

You see!!  Everybody just L-O-V-E-S me now for mentioning it!!  Just look at all the happy smiling faces in Kzin Lounge.

Picks up Bad Ole Putty Tat skeet shooting rifle  ;D

"Pull"

BANG Back!! 

:P
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Holocat on August 05, 2004, 09:44:54 pm
Quote from:
I think there could be a way to remove the disengagement rule, without having the plasma races disadvantaged as of old. Cleaven first suggested this many moons ago. Give a greater DV shift for a pvp mission (SQL required?).

Without SQL, the missions can enforce mandatory mission times.  If you run out of enemy AI before min. mission time is up then more can be hurl at you to gourge on bonus PPs.

Only one problem:  when I suggested it, many in the community shot it down and took great offense.

Picks up frog skeet shooting rifle again....... ;D

"Pull"

BANG

You see!!  Everybody just L-O-V-E-S me now for mentioning it!!  Just look at all the happy smiling faces in Kzin Lounge.

Picks up Bad Ole Putty Tat skeet shooting rifle  ;D

"Pull"

BANG Back!! 

:P

Y'know, I kinda like the idea.  It has a campy feel that not everyone might like, but I could enjoy that.

You could make quite a few funny missions out of that;  Take something like that skeet shooting joke above me;  Put a base at one end of a map, and an anomoly that hatches out really bad ships at the other continually for X minutes, going only for the base.  Kill as many as you can, duck hunting style.  Complete the first round?  Send in another wave of somewhat hardier ships.

Lose the base and lose the mission, oh no!

It's an unrelated topic, mission scripts, I know, but I'm reeeeeeealy tired of the endless variations of "An AI ship(s) are going to try to blow you up.  Blow them up but good.  Dismissed."  I mean, a little bit of really off the wall stuff would be a nice change of pace. 

Mabey a mission where you have to hit waypoints and then a powerpoint before you can take on the ghosts enemy, or mabey some simple space invader action.  What about a mission that contained no combat at all, but was an intresting and complicated scripted away team mission on some distant planet?

I mean, patrols are nice, but hey, there's other stuff that can be done too, right?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 05, 2004, 10:30:34 pm
Chuut, I'm not sure what you were drawing in your Sph-A, but the 80 odd points a Sph-A alpha (plas-G, 2 plas-F, 4 Ph-1s & 2 Ph-3s) will dish out is not going to pop a Fed or Gorn NCL. Going for the fast kill against the Gorn, your going to do little more than trade alphas with a tougher ship than your own.

For that matter, assuming server setting try to produce even AI matches, the 125 point BPV of the Sph-A is more likely to put you up against the beefier 125 BPV F-CA or 122 BPV G-CA than an F-NCL(118) or G-HDD(112). Can you win? Sure. Can you do it in 2-3 min, repeatably?  Show me.

Oh I don't disagree but 3-4 is doable, and using a suicide shuttle and the NSM  will increase that altpa quite nicely.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 03:07:19 am
Well I'd have thought in context it was obvious, but if not, changing from a good PvP ship to a good flipper. That doesn't require a skew of the rules, just the willingness to change to circumstances. The rule we have means that player X (none specific not refering to any poster in particualr in case that is not clear) who is in his big fat <insert FOM CC/BCH> does not need to contemplate having to change to accomadate circumstances all he has to do is sit in hex Y (none specific hex purely for illustration and not related in any way to a similar sounding but differently spelt player), watch player Z (no relation to a Kzin but I can see why this may be confusing) see him in mission for 2 minutes while he flies off and know that the little varmint will be gone for an hour. That rule skews the game IMHO. In case you hadn't noticed I was discussing no rule, not implementing one.

BTW I'm reasonably sure I'm not drunk, but I wouldn't know, I'd have to consult you, who obviously know so much more about my mental health than I do, from half a world away. But that is getting personal so we should keep our Doctor/Patient chats off the boards

So you are going to demonstrate your mental health by telling me it's a just a matter of "willingness" to change from a KRC to one of the following, K5R, KR, BH, WE, in order to flip hexes faster. Explain how this works and I'll believe you are not a nut or a drunk on a crusade to return us to the "good ol' days" just for your own benefit. That's all I want, an explanation of how it really works so that flying a KRC is actually worse than the other ships available for fighting AI and PvP.

Still waiting for an explanation .....
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 03:38:53 am
Just curious as I have little personal experience in this matter, but how long does a mission usually take in the main Romulan ships in each era Cleaven, no need to mention the total dogs.  Just curious how it plays out by era.

My main experience has been with sparrowhawk hulls outside of GSA.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 04:04:46 am
Just to make sure I've got the question right, I'm choosing the best AI killer by era and estimating the mission time in a 1 Vs 1.

What I would rather do is choose the best AI killer progressively over time and make it more relavent to the more common multiship missions by estimating the effects of a useless AI ally Vs a Gorn pair and a Mirak pair. Is that reasonable or do you want to stick to the simplistic analysis (less assumptions - more hard stats)?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 06, 2004, 04:20:13 am
Well I'd have thought in context it was obvious, but if not, changing from a good PvP ship to a good flipper. That doesn't require a skew of the rules, just the willingness to change to circumstances. The rule we have means that player X (none specific not refering to any poster in particualr in case that is not clear) who is in his big fat <insert FOM CC/BCH> does not need to contemplate having to change to accomadate circumstances all he has to do is sit in hex Y (none specific hex purely for illustration and not related in any way to a similar sounding but differently spelt player), watch player Z (no relation to a Kzin but I can see why this may be confusing) see him in mission for 2 minutes while he flies off and know that the little varmint will be gone for an hour. That rule skews the game IMHO. In case you hadn't noticed I was discussing no rule, not implementing one.

BTW I'm reasonably sure I'm not drunk, but I wouldn't know, I'd have to consult you, who obviously know so much more about my mental health than I do, from half a world away. But that is getting personal so we should keep our Doctor/Patient chats off the boards

So you are going to demonstrate your mental health by telling me it's a just a matter of "willingness" to change from a KRC to one of the following, K5R, KR, BH, WE, in order to flip hexes faster. Explain how this works and I'll believe you are not a nut or a drunk on a crusade to return us to the "good ol' days" just for your own benefit. That's all I want, an explanation of how it really works so that flying a KRC is actually worse than the other ships available for fighting AI and PvP.

Still waiting for an explanation .....

Not sure I can be bothered, but as you are the Doc, can you run an AI standard patrol in 2 minutes in a KRC? If so, there is no problem and I am utterly wrong. If you cannot, then the KRC is a worse ship for AI missions than ones I know can.

This has strayed from this thread back onto another, but as they are linked in that the rule under  question is a direct result of fast flipping, it is relevant here. If the argument is that the SPHG is a commando ship and will be "R"'d out then its time to ask for at least the plasma races to get them back, as I can do the missions in approaching that time and I am useless with plasma ships. Yes the Commando ships are not so good PVP, but that's what your KRC is for you have to switch ships for the job in hand. (no you don't "have" to, but it is more effcient)

For the record (again) I think Plasma ships suffer from SFB BPV problems, when fighting tournies (as I did many years ago) plasma boats ruled and BPV was high for launchers in that game(SFB). They are not so effective (boards are bigger so no hard edges to pin peeps against) in this game. The Rommies are particulary hard hit because of the 25% bump (or whatever it is) they get from cloak which is not that effective (in this game). I may be wrong but if I were Rommie I take a 25% reduction in BPV over a cloak anyday (just an opinion). So I still think plasma races should have an accross the board reduction in BPV to help flipping, and there is an argument that that the Rommies should receive more on account of the relative usefullness of the cloak. Now this strays into another thread, but again related, because if you equalise the times people flip in then again the disengaement rule becomes less "required". Again just opinion.

As for personal agendas I have stated my position more than once, people are free to accept or reject that as they want. It is also not a question of "old" or "new" it is a question of freedom of choice, reduction in rules, and equalisation of a long vexed question, from the time the words "cheesy droner" were first used by the ISC following CW3, of the inequality of mission times; a question of playing in more than one way and accepting the validity of alternative gamestyles. I'll repeat again I am more than willing to give up the Kzin if all other drones are removed, if that will solve the problem.

Now that lot probably strays well off the question, but it's all related.

I do not actually enjoy hex flipping that much I do enjoy PvP more, but we have differing views on what "meaningfu"l PvP is. Most of all I enjoy the strategy, which in my view  is skewed by a tendency to guide people by rules or public humiliation to a certain way of playing.

I know I have said all that before, and I expect it to be dismissed as more deranged ramblings, but that's the readers freedom of choice.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 04:49:46 am
Either analysis is fine Cleaven as its your time.

I agree about allowing the Commando variants back in, the Sparrowhawk commando ship is a nice hex flipper vs ai with a minimum marine loadout.  It is also little threat to p v p so I think Gook has an excellent point here.  It also is a helluva PP farmer.



Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 05:09:07 am

Not sure I can be bothered, but as you are the Doc, can you run an AI standard patrol in 2 minutes in a KRC? If so, there is no problem and I am utterly wrong. If you cannot, then the KRC is a worse ship for AI missions than ones I know can.

I know it's a trick question so I will give it to you again. Please explain which of the available ships (K5R, BH, WE, KR, and eveb the WB+) is better than the KRC at doing quick AI missions. Now you are about to tell me which of those ships is able to "run a standard AI patrol in 2 minutes".

Go right ahead and tell me. Don't keep it to yourself because I am ever so keen to hear. It's quite simple - put up or shut up, and stop prattling on about "ones I know that can", because I think you are getting nuttier by the post.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 05:22:38 am
Either analysis is fine Cleaven as its your time.

I agree about allowing the Commando variants back in, the Sparrowhawk commando ship is a nice hex flipper vs ai with a minimum marine loadout.  It is also little threat to p v p so I think Gook has an excellent point here.  It also is a helluva PP farmer.


Aye, but when was the last time you saw minumum marine loadout? Wasn't this all part of the quest to stop one group from sitting in their rear area running "harvest" missions to get those DN's (translate to BC now)?

Isn't it a tad rich to tell one side to use an AI only ship which  comes out 3 years after the KRC?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 05:24:14 am
I think Gook was referring to being able to in the SPG as a hexflipping ship, which it is the combination of the alpha and boarding action being enough to take out many ships without waiting for the plasma to recharge.  Doesn't help in early era however.  I still think the way to go is to have a basic pftender and INTs available at the start.  A chickenhawk with 3 INTs shouldn't threaten anyone too badly.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 05:30:26 am
Quote
Aye, but when was the last time you saw minumum marine loadout.

Quite recently actually Litterbox 5 I think.  If not minimum sure was damn low.  We haven't had many maxed out marine counts in the last year of servers if any.

Quote
Wasn't this all part of the quest to stop one group from sitting in their rear area running "harvest" missions to get those DN's (translate to BC now)?

Never had a big problem with farming, and any server with an OOB should make this a non-issue for that server.

Quote
Isn't it a tad rich to tell one side to use an AI only ship which  comes out 3 years after the KRC?

Well it kinda depends on the starting year, if the server starts with this ship out then it isn't.   I've already agreed with Gook that it should be unrestricted.  If the server starts before it is out release the Chicken hawk and INTs from day 1 or at least some form of light PFT and INTs.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 05:48:27 am
I think Gook was referring to being able to in the SPG as a hexflipping ship, which it is the combination of the alpha and boarding action being enough to take out many ships without waiting for the plasma to recharge.  Doesn't help in early era however.  I still think the way to go is to have a basic pftender and INTs available at the start.  A chickenhawk with 3 INTs shouldn't threaten anyone too badly.

Ahh so he avoids reality, such as it is, by going off into la la land, telling me I'm just not "willing enough" when he's not even talking about a ship that is available at the time. Like I said - nutty.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 06:00:22 am
I figure Gook just didn't know that the commado ships had been restricted out of the list on many recent servers as he wasn't around for most of them, his "nuttiness" being the result of not being aware of the fact.

Anyhow, what do you think about the PFT/INT suggestion Cleaven?  Would this fit the bill to even the hexflipping a bit so we wouldn't have to listen to the mission times complaint so much?

did not say it wasn't a valid concern mind you.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 06:09:46 am
Cleaven ponders my suggestion........hehe

(http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~amilstei/fark/balok.jpg)
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 06, 2004, 07:24:56 am

Not sure I can be bothered, but as you are the Doc, can you run an AI standard patrol in 2 minutes in a KRC? If so, there is no problem and I am utterly wrong. If you cannot, then the KRC is a worse ship for AI missions than ones I know can.

I know it's a trick question so I will give it to you again. Please explain which of the available ships (K5R, BH, WE, KR, and eveb the WB+) is better than the KRC at doing quick AI missions. Now you are about to tell me which of those ships is able to "run a standard AI patrol in 2 minutes".

Go right ahead and tell me. Don't keep it to yourself because I am ever so keen to hear. It's quite simple - put up or shut up, and stop prattling on about "ones I know that can", because I think you are getting nuttier by the post.

No, its pointeless, if you can't work out what I have said that's your problem.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 07:25:46 am
At start of game the fastest missions are generally run by the KR, by virtue of it's phaser's and transporters, but depending on the front (Gorn or ISC) the BH would be a better choice since it is more survivable against plasma hits.

Technically mid era starts pretty quick and the KRC turns up soon after. Better shields, more transporters, and more plasma and swivel mounts (plus the extra phasers make for crippling alphas).

SPF comes out next, and against non drone AI is a good choice. Some skill is required if you are going to battle drone AI because you have to deal with them every turn. BUT you have to be careful all the time because you become a sitting duck while recharging.

Slide on into the SPF+ when it comes out 6 years later. Perhaps upgrade to a CH when they come out, but only if you don't have to pay for your PF's through the nose.

Once the AI get X-ships pack up and go home.

Times - assuming a useless AI who's only contribution is to tie up one of the AI for 2 turns. When driving a small ship it is most likely to get another small ally ship and therefore usually unable to move and charge properly - drone bait. With the KRC the enemy will be larger but it's pretty simple to alpha cripple one and get the other to chase you while slinging plasma to the rear. After 5-7 min both should be crippled and able to be captured, UNLESS the odds are such that you draw DNE's - pack up and go home. 8 min missions?

For the small maulers, it's a matter of risk and how fast you want to go. Force the AI to weasel, get behind him and pound away, but with no phasers (needed for PD) no ECM, and no reinforced shields. Dangerous but deadly if the allied AI dies quickly - too many drones come at you and you are moving dead slow. 4-5 minutes if all goes well.

Against a plasma opponent, it's easier but slower because you have to wait for the plasma to be fired, then get in and pound away before they can reload. Your AI helper will probably stay alive a little longer so life is not as dangerous. 5-6 minutes simply because of the timing issues.

But I also think that half the time your AI ally is going to be a dud and do nothing useful at all, and then there will be the 15 min horrors where both enemy ships come after you and your ally dissappears in a quick ball of flame. This is one thing you will not get with the KRC/S because you win when they chase you. 10 min even when it's two against one.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 07:31:41 am

Not sure I can be bothered, but as you are the Doc, can you run an AI standard patrol in 2 minutes in a KRC? If so, there is no problem and I am utterly wrong. If you cannot, then the KRC is a worse ship for AI missions than ones I know can.

I know it's a trick question so I will give it to you again. Please explain which of the available ships (K5R, BH, WE, KR, and eveb the WB+) is better than the KRC at doing quick AI missions. Now you are about to tell me which of those ships is able to "run a standard AI patrol in 2 minutes".

Go right ahead and tell me. Don't keep it to yourself because I am ever so keen to hear. It's quite simple - put up or shut up, and stop prattling on about "ones I know that can", because I think you are getting nuttier by the post.

No, its pointless, if you can't work out what I have said that's your problem.



That's just it, you haven't said anything except that you know how to do 2 min missions in an early Romulan ship and you are not telling. Well what is the purpose in that except malicious nuisance. What am I supposed to do, because you just can't do what you say you can.

2 min early Rom missions, hah, I can feel a new signature coming on.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 07:41:17 am


Anyhow, what do you think about the PFT/INT suggestion Cleaven?  Would this fit the bill to even the hexflipping a bit so we wouldn't have to listen to the mission times complaint so much?


The fastest missions I have ever had were a series of ambushes with a KDP. Less than 2 minutes. If it wasn't for the pricing of the PF's and their tendancy to die easilly in high density AI missions I would have kept doing it.

So I would be wary of a CH with INT's against drone equiped ships. Once the PF's are gone you have to run away.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Cleaven on August 06, 2004, 07:45:24 am
Cleaven ponders my suggestion........hehe


Nothing to ponder in your suggestions. What's next, fart jokes?

Ahh shove it - go play with Gook's drone fleets. I've got better things to do.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: FPF-DieHard on August 06, 2004, 08:01:00 am
There is little more disheartening than setting up a GSA room and sitting there for an hour or more trying to get people to play against you...

Then show up to our training sessions.   5 hours of straight IP games with D2 loadouts.  More fun than actual D2.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 06, 2004, 08:38:09 am
There is little more disheartening than setting up a GSA room and sitting there for an hour or more trying to get people to play against you...

Then show up to our training sessions.   5 hours of straight IP games with D2 loadouts.  More fun than actual D2.

Sounds like fun. I used to play a lot of direct tcp/ip games, but not so much lately, and have been missing that style of play. I just may come check it out if that's cool, (I don't know about the whole "frickin good guys" thing tho.. ;) - I'm flying klingon on GW3).
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 08:44:23 am


Anyhow, what do you think about the PFT/INT suggestion Cleaven?  Would this fit the bill to even the hexflipping a bit so we wouldn't have to listen to the mission times complaint so much?


The fastest missions I have ever had were a series of ambushes with a KDP. Less than 2 minutes. If it wasn't for the pricing of the PF's and their tendancy to die easilly in high density AI missions I would have kept doing it.

So I would be wary of a CH with INT's against drone equiped ships. Once the PF's are gone you have to run away.

Good point about the Chickenhawk in multiple ai missions, however would likely do nicely for 1 v 1 vs slow drones in early, and perhaps in mid as well with many missions that use slow drones for ai loadout.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 08:48:05 am
Cleaven ponders my suggestion........hehe


Nothing to ponder in your suggestions. What's next, fart jokes?

Ahh shove it - go play with Gook's drone fleets. I've got better things to do.

Pon´der
v. t. 1. [imp. & p. p. Pondered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Pondering.]
 1. To weigh.
 2. To weigh in the mind; to view with deliberation; to examine carefully; to consider attentively.


Actually you did ponder and gave a good answer.  And don't plan on making Hydran jokes here...... ;D

As far as shoving it did I miss something? 

As for playing with drone fleets, I have always been in favor of a CnC fleet control and even then when that is allowed have flown multiple ships perhaps 1% of my time on such servers where they are allowed, so I think you can politely shove that response.

Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Bonk on August 06, 2004, 09:46:18 am

...I just tested the:
PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant   = -10000
DeathShipBPVPenalty         = .25
lines in the ship.gf and the PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant has no effect at all...  :banghead: (damn undocumented, unused gf settings... arg! nothing like a black box to keep you guessing...). The DeathShipBPVPenalty does work however.


I just noticed that the PrestigeModiferOnShipGrant applies to lifetime prestige not current prestige so it does do something, a demotion of sorts on shiploss anyway...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: KAT Chuut-Ritt on August 06, 2004, 09:48:11 am
Can you explain this in layman's terms Bonk?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: el-Karnak on August 06, 2004, 11:11:19 am
There is little more disheartening than setting up a GSA room and sitting there for an hour or more trying to get people to play against you...

Then show up to our training sessions.   5 hours of straight IP games with D2 loadouts.  More fun than actual D2.

Sounds like fun. I used to play a lot of direct tcp/ip games, but not so much lately, and have been missing that style of play. I just may come check it out if that's cool, (I don't know about the whole "frickin good guys" thing tho.. ;) - I'm flying klingon on GW3).

Yeah, it's a blast.  Have not had this much fun in SFC ever before by playing IP games.  Too many times on the dyna there are techie P-R-O-B-L-E-M-S, and player I-S-S-U-E-S, and nobody helps you, and you don't get much PvP action going at all.  Playing IP games is pretty reminiscient of the Age of Sail games I did before SFC.  There would be fleet challenges and the battles over bases were resolved in IP games. So, it's all PvP action with sometimes mixed AI thrown in.  I have had more fun "training" than in playing the dynas itself.  For example, for the past two weeks I've played 95% of the time Klingon ships.  It would probably take me 3 or 4 dyna camps. to get in the amount of Klingon PvP I've done in the last 14 days.  Now, I'm playing with Fed ships. Maybe, I will get bored with the GW3 dyna starts cuz we don't "train" no more, hehe. :P

I think Max's GW campaign is going to be a hit. :D
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Lepton on August 06, 2004, 01:57:25 pm
I'll repeat again I am more than willing to give up the Kzin if all other drones are removed, if that will solve the problem.

Sold!!  Yank'em!!  No droner variants of any kind for other races.  Problem solved.
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: FPF-DieHard on August 06, 2004, 02:24:54 pm
I'll repeat again I am more than willing to give up the Kzin if all other drones are removed, if that will solve the problem.

Sold!!  Yank'em!!  No droner variants of any kind for other races.  Problem solved.

In a serious, non-snide note . . .   Anyone else notice that 90% of the issue in D2/SFC are from Specialty ships that were suppsed to be very rare?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Gook on August 06, 2004, 02:41:18 pm

Not sure I can be bothered, but as you are the Doc, can you run an AI standard patrol in 2 minutes in a KRC? If so, there is no problem and I am utterly wrong. If you cannot, then the KRC is a worse ship for AI missions than ones I know can.

I know it's a trick question so I will give it to you again. Please explain which of the available ships (K5R, BH, WE, KR, and eveb the WB+) is better than the KRC at doing quick AI missions. Now you are about to tell me which of those ships is able to "run a standard AI patrol in 2 minutes".

Go right ahead and tell me. Don't keep it to yourself because I am ever so keen to hear. It's quite simple - put up or shut up, and stop prattling on about "ones I know that can", because I think you are getting nuttier by the post.

No, its pointless, if you can't work out what I have said that's your problem.



That's just it, you haven't said anything except that you know how to do 2 min missions in an early Romulan ship and you are not telling. Well what is the purpose in that except malicious nuisance. What am I supposed to do, because you just can't do what you say you can.

2 min early Rom missions, hah, I can feel a new signature coming on.

<sighs>

Just shows how utterly you have missed the point, I can't do a 2 minute mission in any of the ships you mentioned, THAT is the point, the discrepancy. It is possible to do reasonably fast missions in 2268 ships, one happens to be restricted (SPG) SPF, can do 3-4 minutes and a KD4 around 4 minutes, even managed to do 4.30 in a FAL, but it's still slower than a droner, hence the waffle on plasma BPVs. Now I am no plasma captain and I expect others can do better than I, but still not fast enough. Now drop the BPV some and the times improve. (All missions run against FED oponents of aprox 110% BPV of Rom ship).

The question remains if there were such a ship(s) (Rommie/ISC/Gorn) would it be used if it were a good flipper but crap PvP ship? That is a mind set change.

Tell me Cleaven do you think the cloak is good value/worth the cost for a Rommie?
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: Julin Eurthyr on August 06, 2004, 02:54:41 pm
I'll repeat again I am more than willing to give up the Kzin if all other drones are removed, if that will solve the problem.

Sold!!  Yank'em!!  No droner variants of any kind for other races.  Problem solved.

In a serious, non-snide note . . .   Anyone else notice that 90% of the issue in D2/SFC are from Specialty ships that were suppsed to be very rare?


Actually, as far as I remember, the only flamed ship in my study of the D2 that is not limited production / conjectural / bears shock / affected by S8 patrol rules / or otherwise limited in SFB with limits that do not exist here in SFC is the I-CCZ.

Yet when people wonder why I hound conjectural ships or 3xDB ship fleets (when the limit is 1 DB per 3 ship squadron, not to exceed 3 DBs in a 9+ ship fleet), or non-escorted fleets of 3 tenders / carriers (at least until all races get PFs, as Taldren gave the PF races tenders instead of carriers), and I tell them that in years of lurking I haven't seen any other line ships besides the I-CCZ getting flamed, but I can find a SFB limit for every other flamed ship, they ignore me, or cite the fact that a 3-page patrol rule, along with the listing of all conjectural / limited / shock carrying ships is too much to worry about, or complain Taldren should have limited them in the game's code, and since they didn't Taldren intened them to be freely used.  Just not against them...

DH, wanna talk about this further sometimes???  I've got some ideas I would like to maybe one day stick into a server.  Yes, I've been batting around building a server of my own for a year or 2 now...
Title: Re: 11 & 12 none contentious ?
Post by: FPF-DieHard on August 06, 2004, 03:08:44 pm


DH, wanna talk about this further sometimes???  I've got some ideas I would like to maybe one day stick into a server.  Yes, I've been batting around building a server of my own for a year or 2 now...

I would love to, BS with me on TS while we kill Klinks.