• How to Nerf Clans: Bandit Raids
    4 replies, posted
Alright, this is NOT a simple fix, and what I'm going to suggest would take a good deal of work for the devs to pull off, but hear me out. The Big Idea: (ai) Bandit Raiders that target Clan Bases Make More Bandit Outposts Not the same size as THE bandit outpost. Smaller, and scattered throughout the map Design them to be poorly defended and occupied with only a few guarding bandits. Enough to be a threat, but not a serious one. Put in a good sized INACCESSIBLE building on one side of each and an open area in the middle (this will be important for the next part) Add "Packs" of Wandering Bandits Groups bandits who travel from bandit outpost to bandit outpost. Packs can come in 3 variants: small, med, and large, each containing a certain number of bandits. Only small and medium packs should wander from outpost to outpost. Packs are actively hostile to Scientists and any player in vision that's "visibly wealthy" or gets too close. When killed, Bandits in Packs drop NOTHING... by default. Enable Packs to loot the bodies of killed Scientists and Players The first ai enemies with an inventory Make a list of things they do and don't take, prioritizing value. Give the Bandits an inventory size of roughly 1/3 the players If killed, Bandits drop their gathered loot, like a player. Have Packs "drop off" loot at the outposts, generating crates in the center. Once a drop off has been made, a check is made to see how many bandits are in the pack If a few are missing, new bandits spawn inside the inaccessible building and walk out to join the pack. The Pack then loiters in the outpost for a moment and then heads out to walk to the next outpost. Have Large Packs target and harass Large Player Bases Have the server keep a record of Large bases through keeping track of the resource demands of TCs and who has building privilege. Multiple TCs with the same owner(s) and high collective resource demands = Possible Target After a certain threshold, the largest base on the map becomes THE target for the bandits. Large Packs occasionally spawn in outposts and head over to their target. Equipped with some kind of explosive weapons. Once the Pack is at the base, they begin attacking structures within the building privilege of the owner that prevent access to their targeted TC. Design Packs to attack for a set amount of time which resets if a structure is destroyed by them. If time passes and nothing is destroyed, they give up and wander back to their base until the next wave Allow Packs to place ladders purely so they can get over environmental hazards rig them to attempt a foundation wipe if they cannot get to the TC easily enough Rig the attack to have a max amount of damage that can be done before the bandits give up. Have this event happen about once or twice a day, slowly increasing in intensity each time the bandits travel to the same location. Any loot the bandits get is put in their inventory and is dropped off at the outpost if they make it back. Ideally, this should be balanced to soften up defenses for players to counter raid once the bandits leave, not wipe a base Obviously, the ai would have to be smart enough to not just parade into turret fire and be able to handle some pathing, but ya. How this balances the game! Large clan bases now have an increased resource strain and defense problem that small bases do not have to deal with The bandit rushes now are a way of pointing out who's the biggest fish in the server, making them a bigger target for a take down. Large and active Clans will no doubt kindof enjoy having to occasionally defend their base from an ai zerg wave, which doubles as a status symbol the bandit outposts will become constant sources of variable loot. people will go there to get stuff back or see if they can yoink anything. Wont this just incentivise clans to make villages instead of bases? Ya, but thats easier for players to raid, isnt it? What do you think? Flaws in this EXACT setup aside, could this potentially work for balancing clans v solos?
This won't fix any form of "large clans", the bandit raid idea wouldn't go down too well. The roaming bandit guards would most likely just increase the wealth of clans unless they were invincible. This same concept is already used by the Heli.... it's called taking your armour off....
mmm... good point... and increasing the abilities of the bandits would only just make clan play impossible. (Like, if the server just linked users with their TCs and bandits would seek out players of high wealth regardless of clothing) Still, i think there may be merit to the general idea of making clan play somewhat more dangerous and resource intensive.... I'll think it over The main issue with clans is 1. overwhelming power due to 2. overwhelming resource control and 3. numbers. Trying to nerf them without... "punishing" is hard. You could re-scale TC rates, but thats already been tried and worked around. ....What if the main bandit camp started demanding tribute from big players? Failure to comply results in a bandit camp raid? Simpler, less intensive... couuuld work with some tweeking....
You will never defeat groups in numbers, in any game
mm... you're right. Maybe the solution isnt nerfing groups, but buffing solos somehow Creating a mechanic or situation that on a fundamental level a clan cant do but solos can would be a solution... What that could be i dunno... You could make special base defense things that only respond to their maker and attack all others... That could be a way of buffing solos and nerfing clans because they couldnt really make use of it like solos could... but then that also hurts duos.... ugh. I think this is the right track tho. A clan has numbers and so could out perform and out gather any situation, so then the solution is to add things to the game a large group can't take advantage of like a solo can. A way to incentivize solo play to make it somewhat "viable" versus a clan... but what mechanics could be added that work like this?
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