| Author |
Switching Factions in the Metaverse Game |
Aragorn
Cadet
Joined: January 08, 2004
Posts: 168
From: Vancouver, Canada
|  Posted: 2004-04-15 14:13
Hi,
I am sure this topic has come up before but it's new to me.
I am dedicated player to the story line of Darkspace which is very well thought out and should not be forgotten in the game.
In light of that it is disturbing that players in the Metaverse can switch factions easily and frequently. Without nameing names I am tracking at least two players with I will see playing ICC, then UGTO, then ICC; all within the same period of time that I am on. This concerns me that they are sharing my fleets information.
Admittedly, it's a game and people are here to have fun; however, like football, hockey or any other game, we take our fun seriously. We don't see hockey players swithcing benches in game. The team work that we all need to succeed in Darkspace is jeapordized by players that switch back and forth depending on their moods and where they think they can earn more pres. ( Again - a am refering to the Metaverse game cause thats where it all counts. )
The same goes for ICC players who then play Kluth just so that they can harass the UGTO on more than one front without needing to use diplomacy - which in itself could be another more developed and interesting element to this game. Darkspace is already more than just a tactical combat game. Its more than shooting things up... thats just the fun bit!!! The teamwork and cooperation on here is amazing. I am sure the Kluth teams and the ICC have their own examples too of UGTO players doing the same to them, or maybe they don't.
I am saying that the teamwork aspects of Darkspace are jeopordized by allowing players to switch factions easily to share information about other factions tactics, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
My suggestion is to let them try out the different fleets in the other servers but in the Metaverse, they have to chose one faction at a time and joining a new one erases all prestige etc.
If factions and fleets are to gel as a working concept, then that only makes sence to me. Otherwise all unaffiliated players will be suspect and if your always watching over your shoulder for spys and saboteurs, it takes away from the game itself.
Tell me what you think.
..... OH, and P.S.
In order for diplomacy and truces to work better, that would mean we would need to have a way to communicate these to all players. Some suggestions are:
1.
When you log in, have a screen that pops up before you select your ship and spawning ( ugh hate that word, it's so Kluth ) area that tells you of any truces or cooperative treaties in effect and in what systems or teams. Truces could be only system wide, or they coud be faction wide.... development can flesh it out.
2.
Other factions ships that agree to a truce could show up as a different marker colour such as grey or neutral yellow. If they break the truce by fireing on your faction they would revert to red. In order then to prevent truces from being broken by accidental fire, that might mean reverting to read only takes place after signigicant damage done to one of your own factions ship, not just a few shots.
Again, anyone interested in development?
Thanks for reading this far.
You are awarded the Aragorn Medal of Long Windedness
Aragorn
"There is only one Earth" = UGTO
"There is only one Earth" = UGTO
[ This Message was edited by: Aragorn on 2004-04-15 14:27 ]
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Dempster
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003
Posts: 668
| Posted: 2004-04-15 14:23
yeah as pj said in another post, i think it should cost something, credits or pres to switch factions
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Antdizzle
Joined: February 07, 2003
Posts: 860
| Posted: 2004-04-15 15:02
press would be stupid..
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Smith
Fleet Admiral
Joined: October 13, 2002
Posts: 320
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2004-04-15 15:45
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:02, Sarge -Baileys- wrote:
press would be stupid..
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actually no its not if u think about it... if it costs u pres to switch, it would stop people from jumping back and forth from factions thus stopping the spying...
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Antdizzle
Joined: February 07, 2003
Posts: 860
| Posted: 2004-04-15 15:53
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:45, Smith wrote:
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:02, Sarge -Baileys- wrote:
press would be stupid..
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actually no its not if u think about it... if it costs u pres to switch, it would stop people from jumping back and forth from factions thus stopping the spying...
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depends on the amount... and say a person was new and needed to try the different factions went on the newbie server but could only get scouts and frigates so went to the mv tried kluth didn't like it went to icc or ugto...the guy would have negative press
so a limit... could be set so you can't lose more after you hit 0
new reason:
just say the person was no longer liking the kluth and moved to icc then he would lose pres b/c he stopped liking a faction? maybe a time limit for a move... like an hour?
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Aragorn
Cadet
Joined: January 08, 2004
Posts: 168
From: Vancouver, Canada
| Posted: 2004-04-15 15:59
Anyhoo, for those who are determined to spy they can always log on with different IP addresses on different computers and play with different handles right..... so if you feel the need to act like that your gunna find your ways..... but I think it would be good not to ENCOURAGE it because as I said, it detracts from the teamwork aspect of the game.
You can have 8 or 9 players playing really well togeather and then one guy being an ass and ruining their hard work.
Palestar can't stop spying and saboteurs but they can make it more difficult.
Aragorn
"There is only one Earth" = UGTO
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Dempster
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003
Posts: 668
| Posted: 2004-04-15 16:01
if ur new and need to try different faction u go to newbie, or ga simple..
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Aragorn
Cadet
Joined: January 08, 2004
Posts: 168
From: Vancouver, Canada
| Posted: 2004-04-15 16:03
Can't you also get bigger ships in the admiral server?
You don't have to use Noobie Server
They might want to add a server just for checking out the differect factions to make the Metaverse not the place where noobies experiment.
Aragorn
"There is only one Earth" = UGTO
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2004-04-15 16:45
1 swap per week...sorted
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Wyke {ThorsHammer}
Cadet
Joined: February 22, 2003
Posts: 416
| Posted: 2004-04-15 16:47
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:53, Sarge -Baileys- wrote:
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:45, Smith wrote:
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 15:02, Sarge -Baileys- wrote:
press would be stupid..
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actually no its not if u think about it... if it costs u pres to switch, it would stop people from jumping back and forth from factions thus stopping the spying...
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depends on the amount... and say a person was new and needed to try the different factions went on the newbie server but could only get scouts and frigates so went to the mv tried kluth didn't like it went to icc or ugto...the guy would have negative press
so a limit... could be set so you can't lose more after you hit 0
new reason:
just say the person was no longer liking the kluth and moved to icc then he would lose pres b/c he stopped liking a faction? maybe a time limit for a move... like an hour?
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Well I dont think it's stupid, but entirely reasonable.
I think it should be percentage based, around 30% seems fair, one defection would drop most players to the previous rank, which would not be to much of a handicap for players doing it once, but would be for people that do it repeatedly. It would also be more costly in absolute prestige points for more senior players.
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Lupino
Cadet
Joined: March 23, 2002
Posts: 359
| Posted: 2004-04-15 17:17
Well, we could always take a page from WWII Online and divide your account into the three factions or a log-in timer
Basically, say you played ICC only and got to the rank of Grand Admiral. You're bored playing ICC and want to switch to the K'luth. So you switch over, and find that you're just a Midshipman in the K'luth navy because you only played ICC and therefor earned points under the ICC. This would help make people loyal to whatever faction they joined, cause that's where they get to play with all the cool toys 
Or you could just go with a simple timer that forces you to wait (for example) 30 min before you switch factions. That way any info you're bringing over would be 30 min old and probably worthless.
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\"Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!\"
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Fatal Command (CO)
Marshal
Fatal Squadron
Joined: November 27, 2002
Posts: 1158
From: over here in New York noticing some ppl are like canoes.....they need to be paddled.
| Posted: 2004-04-15 17:33
actually.......any info gained in 30 min is not worthless...if I am icc and see that 4 backsys planets are stripped of inf.....I can simply rebuild the planet a lil.....change factions......come back and cap em.should be a MAJOR cost to faction changing.and min timefrane would be good as well.
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2004-04-15 17:41
1 swap a week MAX......basicly if you swap this week, you cant swap back until 7 days have passed....
stops any exploiting ...
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Lupino
Cadet
Joined: March 23, 2002
Posts: 359
| Posted: 2004-04-15 18:49
30 min was just an example, though once a week seems a bit draconian (sp?). Maybe once a day?
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\"Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!\"
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