Yon Krum
The Knights Templar
R.A.G.E
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Posted - 2009.12.21 08:33:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Kuroshiro
One thought I was kicking around pre-Dominion sov was to have a large number of reinforcement timers but have the time between them be like an hour or two and only allow repping of one level each period. So, over the course of the day your attacker comes in and reinforces a station every few hours during their prime for like 5% damage each time. The longer they hold control, the longer they're able to do this. As your timezone wanes and the defenders regain control they can rep up to 5% every hour or two (whatever the reinforcement timer is). At the edges between the attackers and defenders you would get conflict as the attackers try to get "one more cycle" and the defenders try to regain control to start repping sooner.
As I was reading through other replies, I started drafting a thought so similar to Kuroshiro's post that I can just say "this".
More, however:
TZ wars suck, and Dominion has only made them worse. You've succeeded in reducing fights, rather than encouraging them. Volatility in timing leads to fights. Small targets leads to fights--sure you can blob them, but a smaller gang can also impact them. So how do you get volatility?
* Multiple smaller reinforcement cycles, including staged repping cycles.
* Greater variance in timers.
* Emphasis on resistances/sig radii for defense rather than raw HP.
* Development index input into volatility (permitting extended action by attackers to degrade system stability)
* Slower regen of HP, rather than instant-heals when an SBU pops (single points of failure for your attack are bad!)
So what could a better system look like, based on the current model?
1. Flag for pilots repairing damaged structures to prevent immediate redocking.
2. Inherent +/- 24 hour window variability for structure timers, reduced by 1 hour per development index, and by 1 hour per POS-module style "Structure Stasis Beacon" (SSB).
3. Reduce HP of system structures, increase resistances to balance. (Enable repping as viable tactic for offense/defense.)
4. SSB are: small sig radius (~120?), about 2% of base HP of the structure they are anchored with, reduce associated structure's HP by 5%, and when destroyed send structure and all other associated SSB into reinforced for a variable, short time(0.5-3 hours?). Multi-hour anchoring period.
5. System structures do not automatically heal when an SBU supporting an attack is destroyed, and instead remain at their damaged level until repaired--or if you wish may self-repair ~5% per day.
Net effect would be to provide viable means for the attacker to disrupt otherwise perfect TZ wars, while still providing the defender with tools to improve the situation when they do obtain local dominance. The SSB would be designed to be targets primarily for fleets of smaller ships, while capitals would still find shooting the main structure to be more attractive.
--Krum
--Krum |