Hey everyone. I know i am new to this whole origin team, but i think this idea is definitely worth posting, and i figure its best to post here first, so those with a bit more experience and understanding of the game can comment on it so the idea can be refined (if its deemed good enough) before it goes to the next stage where we post so every random bob can read it.
Firstly, let me say, that ogame is a war game. There is no doubt about this, you can play as a miner, on your own, and ignore the rest of the entire universe, but for many, destruction is our goal. So a little back-story and information is required before i post my epic idea...
I have played for many years now, and the one thing that is truly missing are some good old proper wars. Yes, there is a "war system"...you declare war on the forum, post some CR's but essentially, its a giant waste of time. For the most part this game is about putting in time and effort, and at the end you want to see some progress, and even the most die hard hater will get bored bashing sats and defenses so he can get mocked for wasting his time. No war has truly ever achieved anything, i myself tried one once, and it ended in abject failure. the other ally dropped a few members for the duration (who promptly rejoined after), some v-moded, others just ran and hid for the duration, not fighting back, not doing anything. We hit some of their members, took a few out, had a jolly good time bashing sats, unattended cargos and defense, the TD to them was considerably higher than the TD/cost to us, but at the end of it it proved to be a boring part of the game.
Essentially, ogame is a community, split up into its own little universes (with some crossover obviously), and we all know that community is dwindling. While this is the topic for another thread, i will touch on it briefly, that the reason its dwindling so much is because the team-aspect of it is becoming unravelled. Its far too easy now to play as a miner on your own without interaction with others. You can happily merch your deut without a care, and so a large number of players are on the sidelines, and so the activity is low. What is needed to build back up the communities committment and pleasure, is some solid team activites that are going to get every man and his dog involved. Touched upon..briefly
So the one way for this to truly get solved is to have an overhaul of the "alliances". Make them more important than a ramshackle bunch of players who just want the same tag or to sit in the same alliance, but for them to serve some real and true purpose. With MSN/skype groups and buddylist, there is no real need for an alliance in ogame. You can acs with anyone you like, attack and defend (Assuming they add you to buddy), you can trade with anyone you like at any rates you like (within the ogame rules of course), and you can attack anyone you like (unless you are friends or they are covered by noob protection). You can talk with people in the msn/skype groups, plot scheme and put into action what you want, so what exactly is the "alliance" doing? The plain and simple answer is nothing.
So lets change it, and truly take ogame forward by introducing a change to the gameplay that will actually encourage people to be part of something that will use "peer pressure" to keep them playing a little bit longer. So many changes we see from gameforge are based on the sales of dark matter, or their naive ideas of how to keep people in the game, but none of them make much improvement in the gameplay experience for the most part.
I know ive waffled for quite a bit already and havent even told you what my idea is, so here goes. Its gonna look like quite a bit of programming from gameforge, but its nothing major really, just a few surface changes and basic interactions.
So the idea is basically an integrated clan/war system, where the game itself manages all the wars.
Instead of alliances, we will call them clans (this will become clear further down).
Each clan will operate similarly to how they do currently, recruitment, membership, but it will be an entity in itself, one that will interact with others.
The war system atm where you go on the forum and declare war is cumbersome and pointless, so now it will all be handled in-game.
Clans will declare war on each other, using certain settings that are given to the user at the time they declare war, rules you could say, that will define the type of war fought (example competition (which most will be) where the two clans will try to beat each other to the finish line), the types of hits that will be counted towards the war (total damage, hof only, only profitable hits etc), the duration of the war, the reasons for the war and the loser-consequences (ie disbandment, declaration of lost-wars, possibility of ally names being consigned to a "retired" list so they cannot be used again etc), and player movements during the war (players in/out etc).
Now you may ask what the purpose of all this would be, but, being in a war would actually be advantageous as it would bring in certain benefits
For example, hits that are specifically war hits would come under certain rules.
For example:
-war hits are always honourable, regardless of honour status or military points
-noob protection does not cover players of an alliance currently at war with another (noob protection would still be in place for all other players not in the enemy clan)
-the DF from hits could be enlarged by a certain bonus, (say 40% instead of 30% in normal unis), so that when you have 2 major clans with big fleeters its actually better for them to be officially at war.
-attacker loot from hits could be set always at 100% regardless of honourpts
As the clan is becoming more of an entity, clans could themselves be given honour points that work on all clan v clan hits (have no real impact on player honourpoints or loot in non-war hits, but would give an idea of how honourable a clan is etc), and this could have an impact on future things for the clan (though i have yet to really think of any hah)
Hits that meet the war rules criteria would be automatically added to the running tally of stats, a new page would have to be created, either under highscores or elsewhere so players (both involved and on the sidelines) can witness the progress of the war, and naturally big war hits would be posted on the forum regardless. Since the game already analyses hits (to process losses/resources/honourpts/damage) then it wouldnt be difficult to include these details in another page that keeps track of the wars. This also has the added bonus of wars not requiring time of the GO's and board moderators to monitor. Bashing rules etc again can be monitored by the system so players dont get banned, (and really, the game shouldnt need GO's to ban bashers, it should be done autoamtically because it really is an easy thing to pickup on)
Now you may think what is the point of this, players can just leave clans as they want and make a hit and leave again. Well, to stop this kind of "abuse of the system", there would be a clear "qualifying period" for players joining a clan. I would have suggested 48hours (since that is the trade period and resource settlement period), but perhaps 72hours would be better. A player joining a clan would not be able to make hits that qualify for the wars (or their bonuses) until after that period, but he could be hit by the enemy from the moment he joins. Naturally clans wouldnt let someone join just so they can be hit, so this would stop frivolous joining and leaving. Also, if a player leaves then he can no longer make hits that qualify, but he can still be hit for the same period and the hits can count. Players can see a count-down clock somewhere on overview or w/e that lets them know and other players can be given this info on galaxy screen via name colour or an icon to let them know a player is still under the war rule.
We would simply limit the total number of wars allowed to be declared by an alliance to say 2 at any one time (although any number could declare war on you), and this will stop everyone getting the war bonus in every hit. And being at war wouldnt always be a good thing because if you end up losing, the system could disband your alliance etc.
The next step would be to have official clan alliances/affiliates (this is why using the term alliance would get confusing). This would allow (if the rule was set in the war-setup) friendly clans to contribute to your wars. The terms for war bonus could be changed based on the settings (ie war bonus' only apply in players of the primary clans, but hits that involve affiliate clans and members of the primary clan (adding 1 probe would not count however) would still count towards the war statistics and end-result). Players would then be able to enlist help of another clan in the war (should it be allowed for example) and this could also pull together more clans to make the wars even more epic. In the case of one clan being friends with both warring parties, then they would be excluded from availability when setting up the war. OFficial clan partnerships/alliances would be listed on the clan page for all to see.
Wars could then be declared as multiple clans on multiple clans (Assuming all declarers agree) which could really see fireworks sparking.
Hits made from one clan on a player of an officially linked clan would always be dishonourable and loot set at 50% always regardless of player honour points, and (depending on the terms of the agreement between the 2 clans) lead to automatic cancelling of the agreement. Affilications would be limited again to 2 or 3 clans, so the system itself cannot be abused.
In the current system, you can declare a standard war (a war with no official end) and the enemy doesnt have to agree to anything, but the war itself has no real end or point. Competition wars can be declared but have to be agreed upon by both sides before beginning. IT would be unfair to change this too much, as a stronger clan could declare a competition war on a weaker clan, one which the weaker clan has no chance of wining, so there has to be an option to reject these wars. However, should such a thing happen, then we will setup a "standard war" which will be used in this case, one which has fair settings, but a viable end and winner can be declared. In this case, the clan who has been declared on essentially has a choice which war to accept. However, i think most of the time, the opposing leaders would actually have discussed previously the settings and come to some sort of agreement which suites them both.
One step further could be taken to the point where ACS would only be possible between clan members and players of the official affiliate clans. When two clans sign an alliance the same period of "qualification" would remain before players were able to act together.
At some point in the future, trading could also be incorperated into the agreement as well, though that can be left for the future
This does provide one drawback in that anyone cannot fly with anyone, or defend anyone, but while this may slightly reduce the number of possible random partnerships for the purposes of profit, it would encourage communication, coordination and teamwork between the clan members, to the point where a clan will settle on a good number of players (both weak and strong) and after a small period of time in the old unis, things will eventually settle down to good working order. In the new unis, this will probably be picked up a lot easier and more friendly, and make the early game certainly more entertaining.
The war system itself can then hold a record of all wars fought, and the statistics about them. The players (with links) involved, the settings, duration and final outcome. To a certain extent, the war system could have its own "hall of fame" with longest wars, biggest wars creating most TD, involving the most players, including the most hits etc) and these would remain for the duration of the universe, archived once a merge is completed. This could also provide a post-merge impetus and reason for playing, as there would be a whole host of new clans to war/affiliate with and alot of people would be playing for the pride/honour of their clan.
In realising these ideas, we therefore should gain twofold. We vastly improve a useless "feature" of ogame, or infact, create a whole new one that is horribly under-utilized, one that should bring together players and hopefully create a stronger bond between them that will keep them playing as a unit. Its too easy for players to quit, but if they become part of something then the aforementioned "peer pressure" could keep them going a bit longer. This would have a side-effect of hopefully making the community stronger, and slowing down the death of this game. All through some simple and bloody wars that will end up meaning a considerable amount to alot of players after a while.
I am sorry for such a long post, i truly am, but there is a lot to consider when making such a big change. The idea itself can be considered in its infancy because while there is a lot of information above, it is all subject to change and refinement
For those that made it this far, i would like to hear your thoughts
Cheers
Firstly, let me say, that ogame is a war game. There is no doubt about this, you can play as a miner, on your own, and ignore the rest of the entire universe, but for many, destruction is our goal. So a little back-story and information is required before i post my epic idea...
I have played for many years now, and the one thing that is truly missing are some good old proper wars. Yes, there is a "war system"...you declare war on the forum, post some CR's but essentially, its a giant waste of time. For the most part this game is about putting in time and effort, and at the end you want to see some progress, and even the most die hard hater will get bored bashing sats and defenses so he can get mocked for wasting his time. No war has truly ever achieved anything, i myself tried one once, and it ended in abject failure. the other ally dropped a few members for the duration (who promptly rejoined after), some v-moded, others just ran and hid for the duration, not fighting back, not doing anything. We hit some of their members, took a few out, had a jolly good time bashing sats, unattended cargos and defense, the TD to them was considerably higher than the TD/cost to us, but at the end of it it proved to be a boring part of the game.
Essentially, ogame is a community, split up into its own little universes (with some crossover obviously), and we all know that community is dwindling. While this is the topic for another thread, i will touch on it briefly, that the reason its dwindling so much is because the team-aspect of it is becoming unravelled. Its far too easy now to play as a miner on your own without interaction with others. You can happily merch your deut without a care, and so a large number of players are on the sidelines, and so the activity is low. What is needed to build back up the communities committment and pleasure, is some solid team activites that are going to get every man and his dog involved. Touched upon..briefly
So the one way for this to truly get solved is to have an overhaul of the "alliances". Make them more important than a ramshackle bunch of players who just want the same tag or to sit in the same alliance, but for them to serve some real and true purpose. With MSN/skype groups and buddylist, there is no real need for an alliance in ogame. You can acs with anyone you like, attack and defend (Assuming they add you to buddy), you can trade with anyone you like at any rates you like (within the ogame rules of course), and you can attack anyone you like (unless you are friends or they are covered by noob protection). You can talk with people in the msn/skype groups, plot scheme and put into action what you want, so what exactly is the "alliance" doing? The plain and simple answer is nothing.
So lets change it, and truly take ogame forward by introducing a change to the gameplay that will actually encourage people to be part of something that will use "peer pressure" to keep them playing a little bit longer. So many changes we see from gameforge are based on the sales of dark matter, or their naive ideas of how to keep people in the game, but none of them make much improvement in the gameplay experience for the most part.
I know ive waffled for quite a bit already and havent even told you what my idea is, so here goes. Its gonna look like quite a bit of programming from gameforge, but its nothing major really, just a few surface changes and basic interactions.
So the idea is basically an integrated clan/war system, where the game itself manages all the wars.
Instead of alliances, we will call them clans (this will become clear further down).
Each clan will operate similarly to how they do currently, recruitment, membership, but it will be an entity in itself, one that will interact with others.
The war system atm where you go on the forum and declare war is cumbersome and pointless, so now it will all be handled in-game.
Clans will declare war on each other, using certain settings that are given to the user at the time they declare war, rules you could say, that will define the type of war fought (example competition (which most will be) where the two clans will try to beat each other to the finish line), the types of hits that will be counted towards the war (total damage, hof only, only profitable hits etc), the duration of the war, the reasons for the war and the loser-consequences (ie disbandment, declaration of lost-wars, possibility of ally names being consigned to a "retired" list so they cannot be used again etc), and player movements during the war (players in/out etc).
Now you may ask what the purpose of all this would be, but, being in a war would actually be advantageous as it would bring in certain benefits
For example, hits that are specifically war hits would come under certain rules.
For example:
-war hits are always honourable, regardless of honour status or military points
-noob protection does not cover players of an alliance currently at war with another (noob protection would still be in place for all other players not in the enemy clan)
-the DF from hits could be enlarged by a certain bonus, (say 40% instead of 30% in normal unis), so that when you have 2 major clans with big fleeters its actually better for them to be officially at war.
-attacker loot from hits could be set always at 100% regardless of honourpts
As the clan is becoming more of an entity, clans could themselves be given honour points that work on all clan v clan hits (have no real impact on player honourpoints or loot in non-war hits, but would give an idea of how honourable a clan is etc), and this could have an impact on future things for the clan (though i have yet to really think of any hah)
Hits that meet the war rules criteria would be automatically added to the running tally of stats, a new page would have to be created, either under highscores or elsewhere so players (both involved and on the sidelines) can witness the progress of the war, and naturally big war hits would be posted on the forum regardless. Since the game already analyses hits (to process losses/resources/honourpts/damage) then it wouldnt be difficult to include these details in another page that keeps track of the wars. This also has the added bonus of wars not requiring time of the GO's and board moderators to monitor. Bashing rules etc again can be monitored by the system so players dont get banned, (and really, the game shouldnt need GO's to ban bashers, it should be done autoamtically because it really is an easy thing to pickup on)
Now you may think what is the point of this, players can just leave clans as they want and make a hit and leave again. Well, to stop this kind of "abuse of the system", there would be a clear "qualifying period" for players joining a clan. I would have suggested 48hours (since that is the trade period and resource settlement period), but perhaps 72hours would be better. A player joining a clan would not be able to make hits that qualify for the wars (or their bonuses) until after that period, but he could be hit by the enemy from the moment he joins. Naturally clans wouldnt let someone join just so they can be hit, so this would stop frivolous joining and leaving. Also, if a player leaves then he can no longer make hits that qualify, but he can still be hit for the same period and the hits can count. Players can see a count-down clock somewhere on overview or w/e that lets them know and other players can be given this info on galaxy screen via name colour or an icon to let them know a player is still under the war rule.
We would simply limit the total number of wars allowed to be declared by an alliance to say 2 at any one time (although any number could declare war on you), and this will stop everyone getting the war bonus in every hit. And being at war wouldnt always be a good thing because if you end up losing, the system could disband your alliance etc.
The next step would be to have official clan alliances/affiliates (this is why using the term alliance would get confusing). This would allow (if the rule was set in the war-setup) friendly clans to contribute to your wars. The terms for war bonus could be changed based on the settings (ie war bonus' only apply in players of the primary clans, but hits that involve affiliate clans and members of the primary clan (adding 1 probe would not count however) would still count towards the war statistics and end-result). Players would then be able to enlist help of another clan in the war (should it be allowed for example) and this could also pull together more clans to make the wars even more epic. In the case of one clan being friends with both warring parties, then they would be excluded from availability when setting up the war. OFficial clan partnerships/alliances would be listed on the clan page for all to see.
Wars could then be declared as multiple clans on multiple clans (Assuming all declarers agree) which could really see fireworks sparking.
Hits made from one clan on a player of an officially linked clan would always be dishonourable and loot set at 50% always regardless of player honour points, and (depending on the terms of the agreement between the 2 clans) lead to automatic cancelling of the agreement. Affilications would be limited again to 2 or 3 clans, so the system itself cannot be abused.
In the current system, you can declare a standard war (a war with no official end) and the enemy doesnt have to agree to anything, but the war itself has no real end or point. Competition wars can be declared but have to be agreed upon by both sides before beginning. IT would be unfair to change this too much, as a stronger clan could declare a competition war on a weaker clan, one which the weaker clan has no chance of wining, so there has to be an option to reject these wars. However, should such a thing happen, then we will setup a "standard war" which will be used in this case, one which has fair settings, but a viable end and winner can be declared. In this case, the clan who has been declared on essentially has a choice which war to accept. However, i think most of the time, the opposing leaders would actually have discussed previously the settings and come to some sort of agreement which suites them both.
One step further could be taken to the point where ACS would only be possible between clan members and players of the official affiliate clans. When two clans sign an alliance the same period of "qualification" would remain before players were able to act together.
At some point in the future, trading could also be incorperated into the agreement as well, though that can be left for the future
This does provide one drawback in that anyone cannot fly with anyone, or defend anyone, but while this may slightly reduce the number of possible random partnerships for the purposes of profit, it would encourage communication, coordination and teamwork between the clan members, to the point where a clan will settle on a good number of players (both weak and strong) and after a small period of time in the old unis, things will eventually settle down to good working order. In the new unis, this will probably be picked up a lot easier and more friendly, and make the early game certainly more entertaining.
The war system itself can then hold a record of all wars fought, and the statistics about them. The players (with links) involved, the settings, duration and final outcome. To a certain extent, the war system could have its own "hall of fame" with longest wars, biggest wars creating most TD, involving the most players, including the most hits etc) and these would remain for the duration of the universe, archived once a merge is completed. This could also provide a post-merge impetus and reason for playing, as there would be a whole host of new clans to war/affiliate with and alot of people would be playing for the pride/honour of their clan.
In realising these ideas, we therefore should gain twofold. We vastly improve a useless "feature" of ogame, or infact, create a whole new one that is horribly under-utilized, one that should bring together players and hopefully create a stronger bond between them that will keep them playing as a unit. Its too easy for players to quit, but if they become part of something then the aforementioned "peer pressure" could keep them going a bit longer. This would have a side-effect of hopefully making the community stronger, and slowing down the death of this game. All through some simple and bloody wars that will end up meaning a considerable amount to alot of players after a while.
I am sorry for such a long post, i truly am, but there is a lot to consider when making such a big change. The idea itself can be considered in its infancy because while there is a lot of information above, it is all subject to change and refinement
For those that made it this far, i would like to hear your thoughts
Cheers
