Greetings Good Developers,
I will write you a longer post at a later time telling you how great a job you guys(and gals?) are doing but for now I just want to bring to your attention the most problematic thing I have discovered in The Game and wanted to know if you were aware of it and were planning on doing anything to fix it.
I’m a writer of sorts, so I will tell you what happened in story form.
It started as just any other arcade game. It turned out to be combat reconnaissance. It turned out I was designated Captain, so I naturally chose my most survivable ship of the 3 I had. The battle ensued and I pulled away from the front lines a ways like any good captain would. In the process of shooting up the enemies that made it past the front lines, I was among the most effective members of my team. With a good number of enemy ships destroyed for the time being, the battle moved toward the opponent’s territory, and I moved back to my defensive location( near starship debris to fly around in case of enemy missiles. I then closely monitored the action with the assistance of the tab key. Staying vigilant, so that if an enemy appeared near my location I would not be caught off-guard, Empire interceptors and good strategic players can relatively easily bypass a dog-fighting mob to kill the captain as you well know. However the game mechanics did not interpret my actions this way and instead kicked me from the game due to inactivity. The game let me rejoin the match almost instantly; however by the time I was back The Game had given my captainship to another player, a skilled interceptor pilot who had just respawned. I doubt he realized he was the captain, for he micro-warped to the enemy captain and engaged him. He managed to take down the enemy captains’ shields and damage his hull, but alas in the end our substitute captain perished in the attempt. I managed to kill the opposing captain and subsequently 2 or 3 more enemy players before literally being killed between a rock and a hard place (4 players locked onto me). When the dust had settled I had the comforting knowledge that I was the MVP for my side, but I also had the nagging feeling that was the 1st game I had lost due to The Game and by extension the programmers. :smoke:
If I beloved I lost the match due to my stupidity or that of my teammates, or the superior skills, gear or teamwork of our opponents I would not complain. These things are a part of the experience.
However this is a case where what caused me to lose was none of those things, but the instead the programmed machinations of the game. Machinations which you have control of.
I would ask that you create bright flashing warning signs (similar to the low health warnings but with bigger letters) to let a player know for 15 to 30 secs before they are kicked due to inactivity that they are about to be kicked and the reason. I would also ask you to consider removing the inactivity timeout for Captains.
Thanks in advance for your consideration, and thank you also for making a truly great game. I honestly don’t think I’ve had this much fun since 2001 and Star Wars: Starfighter. :lol:
Sincerely,
Black Captain :salute:
