duplex
08-31-2009, 12:07 PM
Closed Beta Report
Part 25
This is a special development update, because I'm going to introduce new game features that
even the Closed Beta players haven't had the chance to test, yet. The feature in question
is a revision of the final battle system from the ground up.
Final Battles
To all those who are not yet familiar with the topic, final battles decide which faction will
takeover a world after triggering enough military to challenge the current world owner. Obviously,
final battles can also take place if the world is currently not owned by a faction. I will
not go into too much detail about how a final battle is triggered, because a few mechanics are
still undecided there, and will rather concentrate on how the final battle itself will take place.
Before
The current situation is this. When a final battle starts, access to all security barriers are reset
and the two opposing factions have to hack them to reach the world's control station (Colony Control Terminal).
The goal is to hold the control station for one hour. Once it is captured, a one hour timeout starts.
This timeout will be reset if the opponent manages to capture it, and so on.
A rather simple approach that could be more exciting and tactical. It's basically all about getting
to one spot at the world, the usually heavily secured control station, and fortify that location to block the
enemy from getting too close and capturing the control station.
After
From Face of Mankind - Rebirth, we had a few concepts that have now been revived for this revision of
final battles. All worlds will get eight (8) new interactive objects in addition to the already existing
control station. 6 of them are Energy Nodes and 2 Power Plants.
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_001_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_001.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_002_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_002.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_003_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_003.jpg)
The control station will remain, but only one of it on each colony. Hence, the second control station
currently present in Tokyo will probably be replaced by a power plant.
All these objects can be hacked, including the control station. Control Stations and Energy Nodes are
low security and Power Plants are medium security.
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_004_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_004.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_005_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_005.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_006_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_006.jpg)
When the final battle starts, access to all objects and security barriers is reset. Both opponents
must hack them to capture them for a limited time (30 real minutes). An object can be captured
by one faction only. So, if you manage to capture a Power Plant and then leave it unprotected, the enemy
can easily take it back.
Also, when the battle starts, a takeover progress bar starts for both opponents automatically. This
progress bar advances depending on how many takeover points you have. Each captured object gives
you takeover points:
Energy Node (6 existing) - 4
Power Plant (2 existing) - 12
Control Station (1 existing) - 24
To win the battle, you will need to collect 100,000 points. The sum of your takeover points will add to
your progress every second (real time). If you do the math, you will find out that a takeover would
take close to 70 minutes if you hold the Control Station only. But if you capture more objects, the takeover process
will go much faster.
Once an object is captured, you can access the control window from it. Not just by accessing the Control
Station, but Energy Nodes and Power Plants as well. During a final battle, you will be able to see the battle statistics
on the window, takeover progress bars for both factions, and which objects have been captured by either
faction. (see screenshot below).
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_007_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_007.jpg)
The battle ends when one of the bars reaches 100%. All these changes will be patched later this week.
The testing ground for this new system was Pegasi 51. We're still adding all the objects to the other
worlds, making sure they are placed tactically and make good use of the entire world space.
This is particularly challenging in DeMorgan's Castle. The 'public' area is very limited there. Currently, it
would never hold all the 8 new objects in so few corridors; especially for the significantly large Power Plants,
there is not enough room. This led to another decision - namely, to open up large parts of the prison to
expand the public area, and on the other hand reduce the space available for prisoners.
Opened up will be the corridors called "Glimpse of Freedom", linked hallways, the old mining and production
halls and the entire deep mines. Prisoners will not be able to access these areas anymore. The transition
will not be very painful; the teleporter down to the mines will be removed, and the passage through "Ripley's Pass"
from the prisoner cafeteria will be closed.
I'm very much looking forward to how these new mechanics work out, especially how much more interesting
final battles will hopefully become.
-duplex
You can discuss this update here: http://forum.fomportal.com/showthread.php?t=15421
Part 25
This is a special development update, because I'm going to introduce new game features that
even the Closed Beta players haven't had the chance to test, yet. The feature in question
is a revision of the final battle system from the ground up.
Final Battles
To all those who are not yet familiar with the topic, final battles decide which faction will
takeover a world after triggering enough military to challenge the current world owner. Obviously,
final battles can also take place if the world is currently not owned by a faction. I will
not go into too much detail about how a final battle is triggered, because a few mechanics are
still undecided there, and will rather concentrate on how the final battle itself will take place.
Before
The current situation is this. When a final battle starts, access to all security barriers are reset
and the two opposing factions have to hack them to reach the world's control station (Colony Control Terminal).
The goal is to hold the control station for one hour. Once it is captured, a one hour timeout starts.
This timeout will be reset if the opponent manages to capture it, and so on.
A rather simple approach that could be more exciting and tactical. It's basically all about getting
to one spot at the world, the usually heavily secured control station, and fortify that location to block the
enemy from getting too close and capturing the control station.
After
From Face of Mankind - Rebirth, we had a few concepts that have now been revived for this revision of
final battles. All worlds will get eight (8) new interactive objects in addition to the already existing
control station. 6 of them are Energy Nodes and 2 Power Plants.
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_001_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_001.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_002_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_002.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_003_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_003.jpg)
The control station will remain, but only one of it on each colony. Hence, the second control station
currently present in Tokyo will probably be replaced by a power plant.
All these objects can be hacked, including the control station. Control Stations and Energy Nodes are
low security and Power Plants are medium security.
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_004_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_004.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_005_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_005.jpg) http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_006_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_006.jpg)
When the final battle starts, access to all objects and security barriers is reset. Both opponents
must hack them to capture them for a limited time (30 real minutes). An object can be captured
by one faction only. So, if you manage to capture a Power Plant and then leave it unprotected, the enemy
can easily take it back.
Also, when the battle starts, a takeover progress bar starts for both opponents automatically. This
progress bar advances depending on how many takeover points you have. Each captured object gives
you takeover points:
Energy Node (6 existing) - 4
Power Plant (2 existing) - 12
Control Station (1 existing) - 24
To win the battle, you will need to collect 100,000 points. The sum of your takeover points will add to
your progress every second (real time). If you do the math, you will find out that a takeover would
take close to 70 minutes if you hold the Control Station only. But if you capture more objects, the takeover process
will go much faster.
Once an object is captured, you can access the control window from it. Not just by accessing the Control
Station, but Energy Nodes and Power Plants as well. During a final battle, you will be able to see the battle statistics
on the window, takeover progress bars for both factions, and which objects have been captured by either
faction. (see screenshot below).
http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_007_tb.jpg (http://www.fomportal.com/downloads/fomscr_cb25_007.jpg)
The battle ends when one of the bars reaches 100%. All these changes will be patched later this week.
The testing ground for this new system was Pegasi 51. We're still adding all the objects to the other
worlds, making sure they are placed tactically and make good use of the entire world space.
This is particularly challenging in DeMorgan's Castle. The 'public' area is very limited there. Currently, it
would never hold all the 8 new objects in so few corridors; especially for the significantly large Power Plants,
there is not enough room. This led to another decision - namely, to open up large parts of the prison to
expand the public area, and on the other hand reduce the space available for prisoners.
Opened up will be the corridors called "Glimpse of Freedom", linked hallways, the old mining and production
halls and the entire deep mines. Prisoners will not be able to access these areas anymore. The transition
will not be very painful; the teleporter down to the mines will be removed, and the passage through "Ripley's Pass"
from the prisoner cafeteria will be closed.
I'm very much looking forward to how these new mechanics work out, especially how much more interesting
final battles will hopefully become.
-duplex
You can discuss this update here: http://forum.fomportal.com/showthread.php?t=15421