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The new BIG map:pro and cons |
Delando Marshal
Joined: May 04, 2007 Posts: 260
| Posted: 2008-11-17 18:18  
To simply put it: it seems too big for the player base right now.
It's hard to find anyone else when there less than 8 peep on the server.
i will say this in it's defense, it does seem much more realistic now, jump fuel consumption is mad, especially for dreads. very easy to get stranded.
so maybe it would encourage more players to field smaller ships?
(though a stations reload may negate that effect)
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Fattierob Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003 Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2008-11-17 18:25  
No stars. No Jumpgates. 3 Planets only
Final Destination.
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Jim Starluck Marshal Templar Knights
Joined: October 22, 2001 Posts: 2232 From: Cincinnati, OH
| Posted: 2008-11-18 02:06  
Honestly? At this point we just don't have enough players, period. Seems there was a flurry of activity just after 1.5 was released, but now it's dropped off a bit. When I first started playing again we could get 20+ in the MV on a busy night, but now we're lucky if we beat 10.
What we really need is a nice, long free-trial period to get people interested. The Midshipman ships currently aren't much fun to fly, so new players who are trying it out before paying are going to figure it isn't worth it and just leave.
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Ceriodaphnia * | * Zer0 Vice Admiral
Joined: October 20, 2008 Posts: 41 From: Sweden
| Posted: 2008-11-18 04:39  
About the prob with new players:
Actually, its kinda hard to even get prestige atm.
There isn't really a good way to get prestige.
Building? Not many planets around which isn't already built by experienced players, and there isn't a really good how-to guide about building either, therefor new guys planets becomes a mess and easy capping.
Bombing? in a bomber frigate? (hope you got a supply ship around you)
It can work if your lucky no one from the other faction is online otherwise BAM! a dread Point-Jumps you and destroys you in a blink of an eye.
Ofc a dread should be able to destroy a midshipman ship easy and quickly, no question about that.
But my point being is that it's really hard to get prestige around here cause the most players are "Old-schoolers".
so when you get your awesome frig as a "newbie" you get hunted by dreads in a sec and even worse, stations =D
You can forget getting combat badges as a new guy. It's nearly impossible to get any Hull damage on such big ships as dreads. (Kinda stupid to have a Combat Badge requirement on a dessie don't you think?)
Then again, there is the newbie server. It will be alot more used when there will be more people around but right now its kinda boring being there.
The max rank you can get in there is Captain(I believe?)
Yes, its alot better than being a midshipman in the prim MV but still won't make any diffrence if there isn't some other new guys(which we are aiming for right?) around aswell so you can fight them.
Tho the more experienced players usually go and kicks the smaller ships back to wherever they came from cause they are easy to destroy and it will increase their Kills & prestige.
Then again, you can't just forbid the "old-schoolers" from killing "newbies".
That's like saying to Obama. Yes, your the president but your not allowed to change the taxes nor make any decision about warfare.(Bad example? yeah i know xD )
You could make it that if a, let's say, Fleet Admiral kills a Commander it won't increase his kills nor his prestige as its not a accomplishment enough to be rewarded for, but I don't really think that will stop them for go big time Bam Bam on the "newbies".(Maybe its already like this? I donno)
I can't tell you what should be done or what so ever. I just wanted to point some stuff out from pretty much a new guy's point of view.
To the topic of the thread:
I like it as it is, yes it's big and there isnt much people playing(14 tops on a good day, tho its always abit unbalanced)
But still. If we would make it smaller it will be alot less planets. Less planets = Less bombing = Less Building = Less Prestige.
"But it will be alot more fighting and there will be more to supply aswell!"
Yes probably but tell that to the guy with Captain rank fighting a Siphon..
"But the lower ranks can supply the ones with fighting capable ships!"
Oh yes, the lovely art of supplying, it sure is fun.. I wouldn't like to be a supply ship all the time I log in(it will take a while until I get a good ship if I go supplying people)
Btw, less building, bombing, capping etc means alot slower badges, making it more harder than it is to get badges for the requirements of ships.
Not to mention it, If I would go to a enemy planet and start making bomb clouds I would probably be jumped in a second(if there's anyone online)
Just as I mentioned before, it will become even harder to bomb, cap or whatever for a low ranked guy.
And I don't think being destroyed by a dread or station as soon as you try get some prestige is a very good idea for getting more players.
Det är bara mina 2 öre xD
Sorry If my english is abit unreadable. I hope it works
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AdmiralChaos Chief Marshal
Joined: October 08, 2008 Posts: 274
| Posted: 2008-11-18 05:59  
You pretty much summed it up. The game is perfect for players with experiance and prestige to back it up ...when people are playing.
Newbie MV sounded like a good idea, but I think it should be smaller, and reset every few days.
But like Jim said, when I started playing again (Yeah, oops.) MV was pretty active and there was always something going on, and it kinda just went downhill from there, and mostly just unbalanced play if any is going on.
As for the size of the map, I enjoy it. I just kinda wish you couldn't spawn from gates, but I can understand why you can and such. Just bothersome trying to hold a point, and being hit from somewhere your not exactly expecting, or someone just coming into your 'home' server without you really having a way to know.
Bombing is still cake, takes a little longer, but sitting in a station spamming N is almost laughable, and afterawhile you just get bored with how easy it is.
The bugs arn't too bad right now, I haven't crashed any stations lately into the planet spawning it from, desync is still an issue, and I don't know what planet to click on it to fix it on this new map
Uhm, what else can I say.. Well.. I look forward to the whole AI thing F is doing, then at least I can log on and find something to do besides previously said bombing.
Rawr, thats all I got.
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Dempster Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003 Posts: 668
| Posted: 2008-11-18 06:17  
My only complaint is not being able to see whats going on in the other systems, the other *servers*
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Eledore Massis [R33] Grand Admiral Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002 Posts: 2695 From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2008-11-18 07:14  
Quote:
| On 2008-11-17 18:25, His Awesome Excellency, Beta Fro It wrote:
No stars. No Jumpgates. 3 Planets only
Final Destination. |
| No stars? you trying to make DarkSpace even more Darker?? still would be awesome with the color splash effects.
Quote:
| On 2008-11-18 06:17, Dempster wrote:
My only complaint is not being able to see whats going on in the other systems, the other *servers* |
| I partially agree, while its nice to be able to get in dept information of other systems that are located in the other servers.
Thinking back to 1.480 (yes i know we can't go back, and what i'm suggesting is hard/impossible to do with the current server setup. but), it would be nice to be able to see the other star systems locations in Nav and there population.
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Dempster Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003 Posts: 668
| Posted: 2008-11-18 07:41  
one thing that would help with that, could they simply give wormholes back some range? so we can just easily go check? I'm still confused as to why they were nerfed? You may as well remove them completely at this point as they are utterly useless
to use a wh effectively, you have to get really really really lucky and exit the wh at the same angle as the gate... (its never happened far as i know LOL) and then u gotta ninja across the what, 2000 gu that you end up away from the gate?.... i'm no genius but somehow that strikes me as "wrong" when you can use the JD and manouver that same distance in a fraction of the time
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Fatal Command (CO) Chief Marshal Fatal Squadron
Joined: November 27, 2002 Posts: 1159 From: Back in Texas and noticing some ppl are like canoes.....they need to be paddled.
| Posted: 2008-11-18 08:34  
as far as WHs go,they suck,they ruin any chance of GOOD combat and pretty much eliminate front lines.as far as JDs/HMAs you DO know you can pass thru them while in jump (not always a good idea tho...unless you're running/heading to home ) simply by clicking on jg then go past it by a couple thou GUs.Make sure you have a solid red line thru GJ and there ya go,no driving to the jg.you will however have to wait for JD to recharge immediately after you pop out the gate,so,send a buddy in combat thru first before you bring that station with a big bullseye painted on it.
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Dempster Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003 Posts: 668
| Posted: 2008-11-18 08:41  
Quote:
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On 2008-11-18 08:34, Fatal Command*CO* wrote:
as far as WHs go,they suck,they ruin any chance of GOOD combat and pretty much eliminate front lines.as far as JDs/HMAs you DO know you can pass thru them while in jump (not always a good idea tho...unless you're running/heading to home ) simply by clicking on jg then go past it by a couple thou GUs.Make sure you have a solid red line thru GJ and there ya go,no driving to the jg.you will however have to wait for JD to recharge immediately after you pop out the gate,so,send a buddy in combat thru first before you bring that station with a big bullseye painted on it.
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the last few times ive done that with JD i tend to go right through it without travelling to the next system... =(
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Delando Marshal
Joined: May 04, 2007 Posts: 260
| Posted: 2008-11-18 08:52  
One the topic for new player finding it hard to gain presg. I would recomend ur gain preg by building platforms. u still get pres, and it greatly helps ur faction.
Load up some resources in ur cargo bay, and u can build any where. u can build offensively by building weapons plats near enemy planets and jumpgates.
Suppy, especially ugto suppy, are great. so long as ur quick on the jump, u wont get killed or run out of jump fuel.
So how about lowering the rank requirements for it? I personally wouldnt mind having a few more suppies out there, hostile or friendly
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Ceriodaphnia * | * Zer0 Vice Admiral
Joined: October 20, 2008 Posts: 41 From: Sweden
| Posted: 2008-11-18 10:13  
Quote:
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On 2008-11-18 08:52, Delando wrote:
One the topic for new player finding it hard to gain presg. I would recomend ur gain preg by building platforms. u still get pres, and it greatly helps ur faction.
Load up some resources in ur cargo bay, and u can build any where. u can build offensively by building weapons plats near enemy planets and jumpgates.
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That won't work, cause people will start whining about Platform spamming...
I just don't like the spamming IF you put them too close to each other, cause if a enemy ship is close and they start to fire they usually do FF and as you all know, AI does distress signals.
Not funny when 40 platforms spams "IM UNDER ATTACK".
And the WH thing. I actually enjoy this even more. Cause here you can make a "front line" as mentioned before and fight the enemy off before they reach your planet clusters. But with a WH they can jump your "home system" in Sarg MV and cap it quickly(if enough ships).
Not much you can do with tactical thinking against something like that.
I do believe we get some new players BUT they won't stay for long, why?
Cause its way to hard especially with all the experienced players around.
So, the free-trial period thingy you were talking about, it will just bring freeloaders(spelling?) and won't make any big diffrence...
So what can you do?
You all can probably come up with some idea's so can I. But I feel that my idea's won't do much of a change.
q|*-*|p
Hmm. The tutorial server we had before, you remember?
Create such tutorials but for every aspect of the game. And maybe alittle more in depth?
And really give the new players a warning that MV Sarg ain't for little boys & girls, rather direct them to Newbie server.
And as Pitiful said, make the Newbie server a little smaller and reset it after 24 hours or something, like a admiral..
(yes i know its not 24h on a admiral)
"Will this bring more people to the game?"
That's advertisement. But to be able to keep the player's and make them subscribe, there has to be a good way to learn how to play.
And as you all know, telling newbies "READ THE MANUAL" won't really work
And I don't really know how much time and effort you need to use to make a tutorial(s) but if it's for more players then i really think you should put the most effort into it.
(maybe bugs first xD Still waiting on bugged planets to be fixed so I can bomb heh)
Quote:
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On 2008-11-18 05:59 Pitiful Wrote:
Bombing is still cake, takes a little longer, but sitting in a station spamming N is almost laughable, and afterawhile you just get bored with how easy it is.
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I guess it is, in a station.(Which, I can't wait to be able to rIdE) But for the new player's and the "middle new" players it sucks.(Aswell with the planet bug, where bombs don't do any damage)
LOVE!
[ This Message was edited by: Ceriodaphnia * | * ZeR0 * on 2008-11-18 10:21 ]
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Fattierob Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003 Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2008-11-18 10:25  
Quote:
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On 2008-11-18 07:41, Dempster wrote:
one thing that would help with that, could they simply give wormholes back some range? so we can just easily go check? I'm still confused as to why they were nerfed? You may as well remove them completely at this point as they are utterly useless
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if I remember correctly, the idea was they were supposed to be used for quick fleet movement in systems. The problem in 483 was that it was being used to destroy the notation of "the front lines"
I personally think wormholes should last 200-300% longer, but thats just an opinion.
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Pakhos[+R] Chief Marshal Pitch Black
Joined: May 31, 2002 Posts: 1352 From: Clean room lab
| Posted: 2008-11-18 11:16  
I was thinking to quote some of your post but i will keep this short and simple.
If I were a developer in this project, because my personal ideas, I would suggest the good 1.5 to be mixed with old 1.480.
Reason : Ds is very predictable. I see an EAD i know what he carries. I see a SS i know it has fighter b-27 or a-24(?). Nothing to be suprised about.
But in the old versions of ds(1.480), (old schooler will remember), we could personalize anyship we want but 3 faction's special device(flux,shield,cloak). Rest was could be modded on anyship. So we could give a good chance for lower rank players to mod their ship in the best way they can play. This could be freaky assault cruiser full of torps or mines no shield but just armor, or a claw only full of heavy beams , or a freaking ugto supplys with 5 flux waves (leave you death if ur hull is breached).Or anything had build drone could switch it to repair drone.
So the same story. Lower ranks know they will get killed easy because ds is very predictable.
Sadly in this case, u wont only not have new players ,also lose ones you have already . As an old school player, I want to be SUPRISED once again.
pak is out..
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Bardiche Chief Marshal
Joined: November 16, 2006 Posts: 1247
| Posted: 2008-11-18 11:23  
Might help if older players went, "Huh, my enemy has two Destroyers and a Cruiser. I have three Stations and two Dreadnoughts on my side. Hmmmmmmm... maybe if I grab a Destroyer as well, convince the Stations and Dreadnoughts to do so as well, we'll still vastly outnumber them but we'd have a more level playing field. Or maybe... I'm Fleetless, I could switch sides and fly a Destroyer on their side so we have a four against four match-up.
Gee, this way combat would last since Destroyer pilots wouldn't get discouraged by the fact they can't hurt our Stations. Brilliant."
Otherwise I quite like the big maps. They're cozy in their own way.
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