Sub-ql200 Tower defense

[Nealandbob]

There needs to be more advantages for the defenders in low-lvl Tower battles, imho. As it is now, the advantage goes to the attackers based on the element of surprise; the attackers can gather/organize BEFORE attacking, wheras the defenders have to scramble to muster some sort of a defense while their towers are already being destroyed.

The defenders should ALWAYS have the advantage, imho. Attacking a base should have some very real penalties that you must suffer with/overcome to be successful.

How about an automatic -300(arbitrary number I picked out of thin air) to all inits for attackers? (scaled to player level, of course). This would be independant(read: stackable, if it applies) of any other hostile debuffs from the buff towers in the LC area. Fewer towers would be destroyed while the defenders are trying to organize, and the assault would be harder once the defenders show up. As it is now, the defenders need some help imho.......the defensive towers don't attack reliably in my experience. And as I've said, the attackers have the element of surprise to organize beforehand and do MAJOR damage to the base before the defenders have a chance to respond. And for griefers who arbitrarily attack bases "for fun"........the init penalties should last 24 hours(because you suck ). Just my 2 creds.

[_____________Losobal]

Yoikes. Stackable init debuffs is an evvvviiiil idea. Howabout a variation on the damage shield on the support towers. Not as nasty as the damage shield on a control tower, but large fields should require large forces to bring down. Not a group of 4 people ninjastealthkilling support towers.

Right now I believe the damage shield on a control tower is about 25 per support tower around ql 100-150 right? Maybe throw on a 5pt damage shield per tower on the support towers themselves. Or scalable, based on the ql of the field. Maybe 1 pt per tower on low level fields, up to the 5, maybe more on the higher ql fields.

[Aqua]

I myself think getting hit by the controller before ALL of the support towers are down should be down right lethal.

~aqua

[_______________Hypos]

Back before the heal/buff nerf went in, there was discussion of a few alternatives. One was an idea that would let the defender build towers that would restrict what nanos people could use in the area. So a fixer guild could build a tower that stopped nukes. An MA guild could build a tower that stopped snares and roots. That kind of thing. I think the idea still has merit. I believe this concept was first posted by Illith.

[Bionitrous]

Made a point regarding this on the beta forums. Installations need a quick-response mechanism that can hold off attackers for about 10 minutes. The game has become less enjoyable as of late because of Notum Wars and the tower griefing that goes on. Nary a night goes by when some jackass doesn't disable our shields and then head off into a mission. If we could send one person to see if there were indeed a force there, we could continue to enjoy the game. As it stands now, everybody has to run from the four corners at the slightest alarm because if you don't have defenders there in 10 minutes, yer screwed in the case of a real attack.

[_______________Hypos]

It's actually worse than that. Once you've gotten the warning and then determined that there is no real attack, you get no further warnings on the guild towers chat. So a force can then come along and knock down your towers and you may not know about it. The person who owns a tower does get a message the first time it's attacked. But after the first time, or if the person is offline, the guild has no way of knowing the attack is taking place.

I've seen a couple instances of people exploiting this intentionally. The person comes in, disables the shields and either leaves or hides. The defenders come in, stomp around for a few minutes, find no attackers and leave. Once the defenders are gone, the attacker starts tearing down the towers.

The only way to defend this is to station a sentry at you base any time the shields have been disabled. Needless to say, this is extremely boring. Also, it's not enough to just sit there and wait. You have to constantly move around to make sure you get the entire base within your perception radius.

[_____________Isoldei]

One issue for defenders is getting to the location, those in the org that owns towers have quick access but for many locations it requires a long trip often involving several zones in grid/whompa/area which to means lots of "I CRASHED" messages in chat. It seems reasonable that certain zones should be harder to get to and those generally have the higher level bases. FC gave fixers the team fixer grid option in all likelyhood it is intended that to be a class feature for base defense but honestly fixers are already being hounded for NCU buffs also requiring them to be in a team. The attackers have element of surprise so even with good organization, unless you have a defense force just sitting on their ass waiting to be deployed, timing conflicts make it difficult to expect everyone to get the free ride. Fixers (and really every class) are also key to the battle and leaving one waiting at the grid to give access is a waste. FC has made this in some ways too realistic in concept, as a real military force would have troops on alert and ready for immediate deployment, this is ridiculous in a game. Already hard enough to keep up interest in game especially high level.

I don't know what the answer to this issue may be; maybe offering an access point to controller menu for side only defenders that opens only when a base in under attack. Maybe could be worked out so that if teamed with someone from defending org the grid point to controller would allow for access to that base, allowing guild members who may not be of level to aid in defense, either too high or low, to provide access. Really I do not know. Only other way is offering grid access to all playfields at all times, maybe with 3rd tier grid comp lit reqs so it is still access requiring some skill. But currently with server and client instability combined with simple fact that defenders are already generally occupied elsewhere gathering a strong defense is difficult.

Oh, also is good point Hypos about notification of attacks being way too inadequate, late messages are a big issue as well as only notifying top position in guild of "all towers" attacks. I feel all members of one side should have option to be alerted if any bases on their side of conflict are threatened, in the state of technology suggested in this game that would be most likely to occur. Maybe leave notification of leaders only about all actions offensive and defensive since that would make sense that everyone would not necessarily know of them.

[______________Insida]

One thing Im gonna add to all this is that if a base is PvP enabled for 4(5)hours, it should atleast take a good 2-3 hours to take down. Ruining a guild of their Org bonus and tower buff shouldnt be something easily done. Ql250 towers are good example. They take a very long time to take down and its not something you can easily do, you have to organize yourself, make a plan and have the some free time. So far, every tower defending Ive been assiting beside ql250 have been the same. By the time the defender are fully prepaired, the attackers are already bashing on the CT and no turret are left to defend the players. Worst thing about this is when all the attackers are on the controller and they are being protected by the CC so you cant attack them. Taking down a Turret should take a good 10minute each for a group of 20-30 ppl and the controller should have a 5k damage sheild untill ALL the turret/guardian are destroyed.

[______________Serath]

Insida taking down a qlvl 250 base is almost impossible... They shouldent be any harder too take down..

The problem is qlvl 150 bases, With a group of 20 people u can take down almost all towers before Defenders arrive..

There should be an easier way of getting off guild people too the battle.. Like if 1 guilder are teaming with 5 off guilders he should be able too grid the team too the base..

*Qlvl 120-180 Towers should have about 15-20% more HP
*Attacking a base should PvP flag everyone for 1 hour

[______________Insida]

They are not near impossible to take down, but they are long and you see that 4 hours 25% is enough. Oh and I like that 1hour PvP flag hehe ^^

[______________Serath]

Only 1 qlvl 250 base has been taken down yet, And that was DSA's base in PW... Clanners had attacked that base for 1 week everyday... The last day they had 60+ clanners and only like 10 OT defending... OT had given up that base.... It took anyway about 4-5 hours too take down the base...

[________________Crin]

The problem is that surprise attacks favor the attacker too much. It is a nice strategy but really doesn’t work in MMORPGs where people can’t just stand around waiting for an attack. I don’t favor debuffs of any kind as a solution. Players should be able to play their characters like they were meant to be played. Reducing options or effectiveness only make the game more boring and tedious.

The solution is to make surprise attacks much more difficult. The shield neutralizer should have special properties such that a person carrying one can’t fly or grid. They should have a time limit place on them before they self destruct and only be movable when equipped like a vehicle. Attacking a base would involve first acquiring a shield neutralizer then transporting it to the base you want to attack over land in full view of everyone.

If you can get it to the base undetected then you’ve earned the right for a surprise attack, otherwise someone will spot you and sound the alarm. The defenders then will have time to mobilize. The neutralizer should have to be protected by the attackers just as the towers have to be guarded by the defenders. For the attackers, it should be like a “protect the convoy” mission.

Even after the neutralizer is use to take down the shield, it should still have to be guarded. That would add strategy to the conflict as well as spreading it out and hopefully reduce some of the lag issues.