suggested solar changes

[pbn4ever]

me and conri were talking on GA for a while, and we have come up with an idea

solars, lets admit arent really that strong at the moment, and people dieing on cols isnt really punished, as in theres no real punishment for people to suicide on a col 20 times then cap.

so we thought, why dont the soldiers on a colony get some sort of "morale" boost per kill? for example if somebody dies on you col, the solar on the col will shoot a %faster for 30-60mins. this isnt permant due to it being abused but its also not a very short boost so it wont really be noticed. this leaves cols being the defenders advantage. and obviously the effects should stack again due to mass suicide. this allows weaker cols to have a better defense, but also makes hard cols that little bit harder and make the invader actually tread carefully in not to die.

please suggest any ways to improve this if you can. ty

[Toonces]

Here's my opinion on this:

This idea is nicely creative and attempts to address what you think is a problem (ie solars not being strong enough).

I don't fully understand the thinking behind this though. I have a couple questions. First, are solars really not strong enough? Second, why is the punishment for dying not enough?

Finally, there is a large problem with this idea in that it is basically a whole new game element. A better approach is usually to fix existing elements rather than adding new ones. To clarify, if the problem is solars are too weak or punishment for dying is not enough, why not either make solars stronger, or make penalty for dying more?

[pbn4ever]

Here's my opinion on this:

This idea is nicely creative and attempts to address what you think is a problem (ie solars not being strong enough).

I don't fully understand the thinking behind this though. I have a couple questions. First, are solars really not strong enough? Second, why is the punishment for dying not enough?

Finally, there is a large problem with this idea in that it is basically a whole new game element. A better approach is usually to fix existing elements rather than adding new ones. To clarify, if the problem is solars are too weak or punishment for dying is not enough, why not either make solars stronger, or make penalty for dying more?

the punishement for dieing isnt a lot for people who do not care about exp, which is many people on permas which is why we need another approach to death on cols.

for solar not strong enough when you get multiple people on cols the solar AI is not good enough to cope with multiple people and needs to be improved. and in big groups they always have the person who is ready to suicide.

death on a col should be punished more than it is currently.

[Conri]

I think the death penalty is not enough on colonies because some players will bring friends over with 0 exp and get them to mass suicide on a colony that would otherwise be difficult to capture without dying. You simply cant make those people with 0 exp who suicide have a greater penalty by increasing exp lost for dying or something like that. However if you provide a bonus to the solar cannon for a short time, say an hour it will make people think twice about suiciding multiple times to get a colony easily.

[Conri]

The problem is death really isn't punishable at all for some. Some players bring over friends with 0 or little exp to suicide 20 times on a otherwise difficult colony to get it easily. So you can't make it punishable for those people who suicide by doing something like increasing exp or money lost when dying.

[Jeb]

Well, you know me, Toonces. But, yeah. Solars aren't strong enough. See, when people moaned about colonies that were too hard, they were probably looking at the severest end of the spectrum of solars. For example, a dd dragon tail domed perfectly with a 10/120. Yes, it's hard. Yes, people are going to die. No, it's not impossible and I've done it before. There's never been a truly "Impossible" colony. Every hard colony could have been (past tense -- before the updates) captured eventually through tactics and effort.

But the average Joe colony with a mid layout, not crap, but it'd need a good solar to not just be a simple nuke hog.... This is where it hits the hardest. The strip 5 or military tradition 5 (or whatever combination) colonies are still going to rape, before and after the updates, but now there's no hope for anything normal (e.g, without badass research) below 12k surviving a more than amateur attack.

[Jeb]

If you still for some damned reason don't believe me, my 5-8k pop cash cols used to balance with decent defense and some with better research (though not outstanding -- still cash cols) would even be clean.

Now the concept of a 5k cash col is laughable. On an earth or ocean you're lucky if you get the solar past 3/50. If you really think the average cash col's solar at 30% strength and 22% speed (0% at 30 bpm), and the decent ones averaging at around 50-70% strength and 40-70% speed... Then that's some direction you're taking this game.

[avitohol]

I think the problem with this solar issue is that all the ideas an posts haven't been combined into a bigger discussion. And there are way to many interesting idea floating around that aren't being redressed.

I like the idea that it should be easier for a solo invader and harder for a group invasion.

But again not to take this thread off topic. The difficulty of the solar is something that affects the dynamics of the game. My advice is to make a thread asking the community what kind of dynamic they want for the game. And maybe work around this.

Example. Harder solar means slower invasion, higher shield costs and reshipping. That i my view makes the game static. Which is see as one of the major problems that has been built up over the years.

Solution. Make solars easier. And return the game to the dynamic it used to have before the refinary patch, which allowed customization of resources mined on a colony.

Something along those lines.People should not try and force their views on others. Its something thats lead to the stagnation of the game. But i would also like to point out that if this is making some kind of profit and that is the goal of this game, then please continue.

The age old internet saying, RL before gaming. Can't go around messing with peoples incomes.

[Jeb]

avitohol that's a good point, but the same effect could be achieved by just making the planetary defense cap smaller.. EDIT* with regards to the making solars easier

[avitohol]

What i want to see everyone going to their colonies to defend them. And it seem ironically due to how easy they are to take. Conflict i see as the future and the past of this game