Pilot Archive
Thread: A flawed dueling mechanic
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quadpers0n
Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:24 am
#1
I think the current way dueling is set up in space is flawed. Dueling is a great mechanic to hone skills in PVP and currently I don't think dueling is encouraged because of:
A. decay from death in zones other than DS
B. timesinks associated with destroying your /duel opponent.
Furthermore, I believe that the current duel mechanic is perhaps preventing us from adequately pursuing a system that results in no decay from PVP death.
So how should the system work?
The system should calculate damage delt by each hit, store that damage appropriately (and make modifications based on shield stunts) then declare a winner when the appropriate amount of damage is dealt. Whether or not a visible indication can be added to the ship window (Shield/Amor bar) is a secondary concern to implementing the mechanic. Basically what I am saying is, you duel, when someone wins everyone is at full strength still, all their droid commands still, and nobody is blown to pieces and sent 16km away.
So why? Well first off as I stated above, it sucks to duel your friends, blow up, then have to go repair, redo your droid commands, fly back to wherever, and duel again. It's not condusive to practicing or dueling at all. Yes, you can put weak guns on your ship and fly around in circles blasting each other, but that doesn't help you practice for PVP much at all. Yes you can equip light guns and set rules like "first shot wins" but that doesnt help much either as many players nowadays survive 2 or 3 hits.
Furthermore it just reinforces negativity, players who die from duels may or may not have alot to lose. I hate accepting duels in decay zones because of the time sink involved and because of the possibility of decay/grief from targetted engines.
Implement a mechanic like the one proposed and players have nothing to lose but pride. I think a change to the mechanic would encourage people to fight much more, encourage much more discourse as to the state of PVP, and help everyone hone tactics. Not to mention it would be a fun way to pass the time in space. When you think about it, it's not instant death on the ground, players have the option to /end. Players can heal themselves right there on the spot and be none the worse for wear, why can't the mechanic be modified to be so fluid for space as well?
Message Edited by quadpers0n on 07-08-2005 11:27 AM
SheenaBrelya
Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:37 am
#2
I woulnd't balk at a change in the system, as you describe, but I would like to note that my main use of /duel is to get a group vs group attacks together (faction irrelevant, hence the /duels). Each person on one side /duels each person on the other side, then the other team's pilots accept the /duels. The teams move to a certain distance away and some way of saying ''Go'' is used to start the fight. I think the /duel system has to continue to allow something along that lines or I'll be a bit miffed. *shrug*
Shona
Shona
quadpers0n
Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:41 am
#3
Oh I definately think that kind of thing should continue. But a mechanic that simply booted the loser out of the duel (/end)without blowing them to smithereens would still allow multiperson dueling. People just wouldn't die at the end. So in the scenario you describe, right after the last 2 pilots stopped fighting everyone would be able to just go 2km apart and start over again.
Hey and maybe people absolutely love dueling to the death? That's fine too, just have a /deathduel option for those circumstances. The point is to have a mechanic that encourages people to duke it out and practice without the unneeded (and frankly poorly thought out) downside of dying and resetting everything.
macnider123123
Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:17 am
#4
I'd be all for something like this. Alot of people are too timid to try PvP right now and I think this would be a good way to fix that, especially for non-Aces that don't have the decay-free option of Deep Space open to them.
Coran_Sienar
Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:25 am
#5
I wholly agree. Multiple person engagements are much more fun and interesting than 1 vs 1. And Deep Space (while eliminating component decay) necessitates that you incur wounds, battle fatigue, and take out 4 minutes or so to load your droid progrrams again. Plus, Deep Space is only available to Aces.
Message Edited by Coran_Sienar on 07-08-2005 01:25 PM
psikobunny
Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:59 am
#6
Only for another week or so, don't bother using that as an argument
Coran_Sienar wrote:
And Deep Space necessitates that you incur wounds, battle fatigue,
Alyxian
Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:08 am
#7
I agree it would be nice to have a friendly duel option, but on point number 2 from the original poster, I REALLY think they should just drop the time sink of overload wait times.
Even with a relativly fast DI (14 seconds) it still takes over5 minutes to run all overloads and be ready for a shunt. 5 minutes where I sit around reading or surfing, or hypering from zone to zone to do it as that is marginally faster.
Just get rid of the waits on Overloads
KinjiruSpleen
Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:28 pm
#8
SheenaBrelya wrote:
I woulnd't balk at a change in the system, as you describe, but I would like to note that my main use of /duel is to get a group vs group attacks together (faction irrelevant, hence the /duels). Each person on one side /duels each person on the other side, then the other team's pilots accept the /duels. The teams move to a certain distance away and some way of saying ''Go'' is used to start the fight. I think the /duel system has to continue to allow something along that lines or I'll be a bit miffed. *shrug*
Shona
Sheena, what server are you on?? I'd love to get in on this! It sounds like a blast. I'm on Bloodfin, I've never seen any more than a 1 on 1 PvP.
SheenaBrelya
Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:35 pm
#9
I'm on Valcyn, and we're running the initial preparation for a large tourney, highlighting group vs group combat (with faction irrelevant). There are at least of couple of quality groups of pilots that are putting effort to make space combat interesting in our galaxy. When we have more info on our upcoming tourney, I'm sure I'll get the jist of it onto the Pilot Forums.
Rather than let my hijack be my post....
Yeah, I think a ''lightening up'' of the /duel system would be great, but maybe something like a 30-120 second pause where your ship is ''disabled'' as if you were out of reactor power. When the 'disabled timer' expires (like an incap timer?) you would be back to normal with all ship systems intact and droid programs still running. *shrug* It's a thought.
Too much pause is no fun, but a simple inconvience compared to death. Too little pause and you could run into issues with my usage of /duel in group vs group combat.
Shona
Rather than let my hijack be my post....
Yeah, I think a ''lightening up'' of the /duel system would be great, but maybe something like a 30-120 second pause where your ship is ''disabled'' as if you were out of reactor power. When the 'disabled timer' expires (like an incap timer?) you would be back to normal with all ship systems intact and droid programs still running. *shrug* It's a thought.
Too much pause is no fun, but a simple inconvience compared to death. Too little pause and you could run into issues with my usage of /duel in group vs group combat.
Shona
Kryxal
Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:48 pm
#10
I'd rather see you not a valid target (possibly for /duel only, overts are still fair game both ways) instead ... or all /duels automatically lapse, and would have to be redone.
Coran_Sienar
Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:33 am
#11
psikobunny wrote:
Only for another week or so, don't bother using that as an argument
Coran_Sienar wrote:
And Deep Space necessitates that you incur wounds, battle fatigue,
COOL!
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