So Koromac and I were having a discussion, where a bunch of ideas were floated around on how to improve the sector conquest system. This idea was brought up and somewhat hashed out, as it offers a fix to many of the existing problems in the sector conquest system. This wouldn’t affect the battles themselves in terms of balance, gameplay, etc. Just the sector conquest and control part.
I look forward to your feedback and interest in this discussion. The devs have said they are interested in feedback on this, as the system is still very new. They have said they are open to change. Let’s get some support for this going and get them to take a look at what we have to offer them.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. This is an open discussion, though centralized on these ideas.
So.
This redesign would include the following:
Change the Corporation Assignment contracts to issue the following:
5 Iridium to corporation upon victory (this remains as normal)
1 Influence to corporation upon victory [or victory of a dreadnought battle, see below.] (this replaces the 20 iridium for 3 wins contract)
Now instead of permanent sector control with sector defense percent, sectors cannot be captured mid-holding. _ Instead, sectors across the galaxy automatically cycle back into neutral holding after a set number of ‘cycles’, like the old Sector Conquest. _
To go with this, Sector Conquest would be redesigned to have one of the following:
Option 1: Bidding
Go back to sectors having minimum bidding amounts, with VPs (or officers) able to bid. If so, corporations would now take their officer-hosted wings and their dreadnought into a ‘public’ queue, where they would be matched up against another dreadnought wing that was queued. Matchmaker would play no part, it would simply pair queued wings against each other randomly. This would be how corporations would get influence with which to bid. Rather than specific timezones, sector conquest would return to the previous ‘cycle’ system, and every 4 hours, players could wing up to queue into some number of battles. Note that this system would not go back to the old WX-# system. It would remain as-is with the galaxy map providing the sectors to capture.
This would solve the fake attack problem, but bidding on sectors removes some of the feel of taking a sector by force. It does, however, dramatically increase the number of dreadnought battles players get to participate in. I consider this a strong option, and better than Option 2, but not the best one.
Option 2: Neutral Tournaments
Once sectors become neutral at the end of their cycle count, attacking a sector would cost influence instead of iridium. This influence would be won through the current contract system, where 1 win of a PvP/PvE = 1 influence, replacing the 3 wins = 20 iridium contract. There would be no total limit to attacking a sector, but each corporation could only attack one sector per cycle and only launch one attack. All corporations would compete in the neutral tournament for sector control. The galaxy would still have timezones for attacks.
This would solve the fake attack problem and the no-show problem, but still restrict the number of dreadnought battles a corporation could play in. Tournaments may last a long time if there are too many corporations. It would also heavily favor the stronger corps, as they would likely win the average tournament far more often. Timezones would need to exist to allow multiple regions the ability to control sectors, but would therefore be subject to the current problems that system has. I consider this a good option, but not the best one.
Option 3: Tournament/Bidding Hybrid - Influence from PvP/PvE
This option is a fusion of the above two. Corporations would receive influence from regular PvP/PvE victory contracts, like in Option 2. Corporations would use that influence to bid on a sector, but rather than win the sector automatically, the top four bidders would be entered into a tournament to control the sector like in Option 2. If a corporation didn’t show, they’d simply be out the influence they spent to get there. This would solve the fake attack system, and also penalize corporations for not showing. However, it would still restrict the number of dreadnought battles a player could play to a very low amount.
I consider this a stronger option than Options 1 or 2, but not stronger than Option 4. It is very much one to consider, however.
Option 4: Tournament/Bidding Hybrid - Influence from Public Dreadnought Queue
This option is a variant of option 3, with the prime difference being that rather than get influence from PvP/PvE, corporations would have to wing up during sector conquest hours to get it using the previously mentioned dreadnought battle queue. Bidders would then use their influence to bid on a sector, and the top four corporations would be entered into a tournament.
This gives players the best chance to play in a large number of dreadnought battles every day, with far less on the line per game. In addition, sectors would have protection against fake attacks and have a penalty if corporations didn’t show to the tournament battles.
