The Conquest. Part 2. ATTACK ON THE REGION

[Koltes]

The Conquest. Part 2. The Attack on the Region.

This is a Part 2 of The Conquest mechanics that covers the attack on the region, how Port Battles are set and what happens prior the battle. Please refer to Part 1. Port Battle Mechanics for more information on what happens inside the actual Port Battle.

 

There is one thing that most of us agree on is that the RvR part of the game has one of the strongest impacts on players. The RvR is the culmination of the Player vs Player engagement as it implies the use of combined effort of individuals, reshapes the virtual living world and affects how players go about doing things during and after the results of RvR engagements.
One of the biggest complains about current hostility mechanics is that it removed the dynamics of sudden attacks making current RvR more inert and PVE oriented.

Good RvR mechanic would employ the following:
- Bring instant action;
- Will be based solely around PVP rather than PVE action;
- Prevent night flips when nation is most vulnerable;
- Prolong the conquest so taking the entire region is harder, thus gives defenders more permanence in owning territories;
- Conquering the region becomes bigger achievement;
- Allowing smaller nations to participate and be competitive;
- Intend to have equally balanced PB fights leaving randomness and uncertainty to the expanses of the Open Seas.

The proposed mechanic is easy to implement without much re-coding required as most of it has already been done and just need the re-organization.

 

• Hostility by killing AI is removed and replaced by the Blockade battles which generate Hostility
• Hostility percentage gain is removed and replaced with Hostility points
• Screening outside PB is removed and integrated as a defensive response to the Blockade
• Flags returned and integrated into Blockade mechanics
• Major towns introduced
• Capturing Major Town gives access to set final PB for the Capital

 

 

The Blockade
The sole purpose of Blockade Battles (BB) is to generate hostility points in order to set port battle time.
Blockade Battles are essentially battles with 3 Circles similar to what we have in PB today with an exception that both team starts in Bravo and Charlie circles with Alpha circle in between and the wind blowing beam reach for both teams much like in Combat Orders. There is also no land in Blockade Battles.

 

In order to start the Blockade players must pull a flag from a nearby friendly port and plant it within 1 hour anywhere in the attacked region. Purchasing the flag will trigger global notification. There are no lord protectors or a time frame when this cannot be done. The Blockade battles can be pulled anytime that suits the attacking team.

The moment flag is planted it opens Blockade Battle that will start 15 minutes after flag is planted. Blockade Battle instance location immediately appears on the map for everyone to see.

There are 3 sizes of Blockade Battles - Shallow, Deep and SoL. They are varying in maximum allowed BR and cannot be larger than the size of the capital battle, e.g. if it’s a Deep water (4^th rate) capital battle than only Shallow or Deep BBs can be started. Size of the circle on the map reveals its type.

Shallow – 350 BR
Deep – 1250 BR
SoL – 3000BR

It is completely up to players how they choose to fill in the BR.

 

Winners of the battle generate or reduce hostility points according to the size of the battle. For example if attackers won a Larger BB they will raise hostility by 3000 points.
In order to trigger port battle Blockaders need to generate:
1,750 hostility points for Shallow
6,250 hostility points for Deep
15,000 hostility points for SoL

When Flag is planted apart from the Blockade Battle instance it also creates the protection zones for the attackers (blockaders) and defenders (screeners) in the OW with 3 circles. Inner circle is a center of the flag and is the protection zone of the Blockaders. While they are in the inner circle they cannot be attacked or pulled in. Second circle is a buffer between attackers and defenders. 3^rd circle is the protection zone of the Screeners. Ships can only join the Blockade Battle instance from within those circles.




Attacking team may simultaneously run up to 5 Blockade Battles at the same time in order to generate hostility points faster and screeners may join any or all of them.


Port Battles
(!) The owners of the region (defenders) may set 6 hour window when this particular region cannot be attacked, thus preventing night flips when clans/nations are most vulnerable due to difference in Time Zones.
Each region has number of ports with one capital and one major city. In order to claim the entire region both Major and Capital ports must be taken. Each PB is set with minimum 24 hour timer.

After Blockaders have successfully generated hostility they may set time for the PB in the Major City. Minimum 24 hour time is given as long as it does not fall during 6 hour Lord Protector’s window. Otherwise the PB time needs to be set after 6 hour window.

(!) The clan that generated most hostility receives the permit to start PB fleet group (25 ships). The Fleet permit is received 1 hour prior the start of the PB. Ships that are in the PB Fleet cannot attack other ships or be attacked in return.

It is possible to claim the region within 50 or so hours (little over 2 days) providing that lots of force were used in Blockading Battles running them simultaneously and that the attackers won all battles. However it is very much possible for the defenders to screen Blockades for 7 days and defend their territory without letting the enemy to flip the PB. If defenders win any of the the two PBs for the region the region is counted as defended.
If the region has not been taken within 7 days from the first pulled flag the attack on the region is failed and the region receives immunity for further 7 days.
After the final PB is fought no matter on the outcome the region also receives 7 days immunity.
 

 

 

Any one nation may only have 2 region wars going in any one time.
(!) There is minimum 3 hour window between PBs that is set by or set against one nation so any one nation will never have to face 2 PB at the same time.
 

Edited June 27, 2017 by koltes

[Jarlath Morrow]

There were good parts about the old conquest system that used assault flags, and there are good aspects of the current hostility system.

It looks like your proposal combines a lot of the good parts from both.

[Rick Astley]

Some aspects was well thought out and I like the blockade idea.

But allowing the defender to chose the PB time would kill the aspect of global we enjoy. 

We don't want restrictions on planning a port battle as EU server already has restrictions in place.

[Koltes]

5 hours ago, Rick Astley said:

Some aspects was well thought out and I like the blockade idea.

But allowing the defender to chose the PB time would kill the aspect of global we enjoy. 

We don't want restrictions on planning a port battle as EU server already has restrictions in place.

Defenders dont get to choose when attackers can attack them. They only choose 6 hourse when they cannot be attacked. Attackers still have another 18 hours out of 24 to attack.

Before defenders were able to choose very narrow window of 2 hours when their ports could have been attacked. This is not what is proposed.

[Rick Astley]

6 hours is still a problem for us Aussie guys... what nation is going to allow us to compete in port battles..... answer 0! 

Such restrictions should remain on the EU server (PVE). 

Global should allow players from all over the world to enjoy every aspect of the game.

[Koltes]

1 hour ago, Rick Astley said:

6 hours is still a problem for us Aussie guys... what nation is going to allow us to compete in port battles..... answer 0! 

Such restrictions should remain on the EU server (PVE). 

Global should allow players from all over the world to enjoy every aspect of the game.

With 6 hour window you will in fact have more experiences than without.
In rare cases when some ports will be blocked for your time zone 6pm to midnight you could still make an effort and be there earlier or after. It is still sensible time for a gamer to participate in conquest with some preparation before hand. Most time zones will give your timezone more time before or more time after the window anyway.
Without 6 hour window most of the fights on Global will happen when you are not online. You are already missing out when you cant participate in defending your region.
I live in NZ and know for a fact what it means to live in your time zone. 6 hour window will give you more fights and participation.
I dont know if this has been tried yet. Not in my 1,5 year of playing. We can always test and tune.
Also Blockades have time restriction so you can participate whenever you like

Edited June 27, 2017 by koltes

[Doug Maoz]

I really like this idea. It rewards the nation willing to go out and risk their ships, either to defend the port or attack. I also like the decrease in randomness vs finding and killing AI fleets (they are really fast!).

Beyond that, everyone will be vulnerable to attack the entire time they are out there. This eliminates the problem of player fleets "passing in the night" by hitting different AI fleets, sealing them into different instances.

[Ser_Slack]

It's a sound idea just alittle complicated. Honestly I miss the flag system. Simple and fun. Was in need of some tweaking but was a source of rvr and probably biggest in terms of O.W. pvp.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

creating arenas ( why ? )... and creating time constraints... 

... no, thank you.

As a european I came to Global for a very strong reason. Can play whatever aspect of the game at any time.

[Koltes]

6 hour protection window is just a proposition. This would help smaller nations that dont have population to cover all timezones.

Whether this is done or not it does not affect blockade mechanic offered.

[CaptVonGunn]

Without a fix to the tag tag tag and revenge fleet issues new RvR rules are just so much cool code