Convoy blocade hostility missions

[Baptiste Gallouédec]

Hi, just a kind of raw idea that came to my mind of a sort of alternative hostility mission type i could enjoy.

 

->I don't like the forced pve mirror fleet fight + the ia side kept open for enemy to join up to a 10 bots + 10 players vs 10 players situation. Usually forcing the hostility fleet to run away as the battle is now unfair (moreover with the new ia firepower + hostility penalties for loosing a ship in such missions) 

->This result mostly in sneaky flip in multiple simultaneous hostility missions done in 1st rate = the 100% host is reached before the defending nation can even get alerted if no one is scouting around. 

  This mean a successfull flip is done without pvp , but if pvp happen it's strongly biased against the attackers + rewards are very poor in such missions.

 

My suggestion:

 

Make hostility missions alternatively an indiaman convoy interception where indiamans appear at distance from the the attacker's spawn and must be intercepted before reaching the port's safe zone.

- When attacker enter the mission, an icon is displayed for the defending & attacking nation on the map.

- for each attacker entering, one indiaman appear at far distance from the attacking spawn (in such way it takes at least 10/30 mn for a cappedspeed ship to close-in and 1h for the convoy to reach port's safe zone.) Late attackers joining the mission make indiaman spawn with the convoy, not at the initial convoy spawn to prevent abuse like spearhead simply positionning themselves to intercept the second wave.

- The time for attacker to join the convoy & time for the convoy to reach safe zone let some time for defenders players to join in and try to protect the indiamans.

- If defenders join-in, they spawn at the port's safe zone and have to sail up to the indiamans to cover them.

-Ai Indiamans receive the usual firepower & boarding  strong boost & fight instead of running if a smaller target comes in range. Also defending players could give some orders to them via minimap.

- If defenders players don't sink & every indiaman reach port's safe zone, hostility is reduced, but for each indiaman & defender sunk/captured, the hostility is raised like now.

 

What is the point ? What does it solve ?

 

- Both sides can find uses in mixed fleets, some fast enough frigates to catch the indiamans fast and slow them down for the more heavy one to gain on the convoy for the attackers, same for defenders that can send fast frigs 1st against the spearhead, the time for the heavier ship to catch on the convoy.

- AI convoy is not much a balance factor if 10 defenders joins vs the 10 attackers, then if defenders come, mission can still be disputed and won for both sides.

- Indiamans could drop doubloons guns & repairs to incitate people in lauching hostility missions more even alone & create more activity around frontlines (if frontlines are here to stay), if not intercepted, they could drop repairs in the port's shop too.

- If defenders players don't show during the whole mission duration, it's like a convoy-hunt / race, but if fortifications are build inside the port, those can assists the convoy and be a danger for  attackers. (make it so forts can't be destroyed if not in port battle anyway.)

- If defender is powerfull enough, it can still protect the convoy in instance + screen any attacker reinforcement, but as missions spawns close to the targetted port, defenders can jump out of the port and join the mission without behing screened so they still benefit from some advantage.. so weaker nation can still try to conter hostility in instances.

 

I don't know if my idea is clear enough, but what do you think of it ? I think it could be more interesting than the missions we have right now.

 

 

 

 

[derekticus]

Could be good, but could open up a whole new can of worms through bugs, and untested exploits.  If the game is to be released soon, there isn't sufficient time to properly implement.