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Devlin · 18 Mar 2009, 18:39

The Problem

As it stands now, alliances need dedicated scanners to be competitive. This requires (or all but requires) a person to buy an account, sit around on IRC many hours a day, and build strictly amps and scan for other people. In summary, this requires a person to pay money to NOT play, so they can help other people play.

I've heard the argument that this is just another way that one alliance can be better than another, which may be true. Sure, this can mean the difference between a win for CT or Asc if one of them can get more people to scan and do it actively, however, how difficult do you think it would be for an alliance like Hells Fury or OPA to convince someone to stay active on IRC and be a dedicated scanner? And how fun do you think it would be to be a new player trying the game without an alliance to be unable to attack most planets or figure out what to leave home against an inc?

Without dedicated scanners an ally is forced to leave some planets uncovered in galraids, and renders them unable to defend against distwhores properly. It also requires players to recall attacks or roll the dice if they are unable to find a scanner to do a jgp. This is supposed to be a war game so I don't see the point in a game mechanic that allows you to avoid combat in such a manor and requires people to play the game not as a war, but as a service industry.

The Solution

Return to a scan system similar to the one we had pre-PaX. Leave amps and dists as constructions like they are now, but allow someone with 10 amps scan someone with 20 dists. It should just take them many attempts and multiple chunks of resources to accomplish it. For example it should take roughly 15 attempts to scan someone with 2x more dists than your amps, 30 tries to scan someone with 4x etc.

Also, notify the person being scanned to a failed scan attempt. This way, it is still beneficial for an alliance to have scanners so as to avoid wasting tons of res or notifying a galaxy of impending incs, but not a requirement. This makes it possible for smaller alliances to organize proper raids and makes it possible for DCs to at least attempt to cover every call.

Concerns

I'm sure some people will be worried that this will render faking useless, which is a viable strategy in the game. I've considered this too, and my potential solution is to simply allow dists to function as they currently do for inc scans

The Result

Players would no longer have to sacrifice their round to help out people who are actually playing the game properly
Smaller start-up alliances would be more feasible
Dist whores would no longer be able to potentially land without resistance because DCs can't get an AU
Players would no longer have to recall from dist whores because they can't find a dedicated scanner to do a jgp

18 Mar 2009, 18:39	#1
Devlin Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 126	New scanning system The Problem As it stands now, alliances need dedicated scanners to be competitive. This requires (or all but requires) a person to buy an account, sit around on IRC many hours a day, and build strictly amps and scan for other people. In summary, this requires a person to pay money to NOT play, so they can help other people play. I've heard the argument that this is just another way that one alliance can be better than another, which may be true. Sure, this can mean the difference between a win for CT or Asc if one of them can get more people to scan and do it actively, however, how difficult do you think it would be for an alliance like Hells Fury or OPA to convince someone to stay active on IRC and be a dedicated scanner? And how fun do you think it would be to be a new player trying the game without an alliance to be unable to attack most planets or figure out what to leave home against an inc? Without dedicated scanners an ally is forced to leave some planets uncovered in galraids, and renders them unable to defend against distwhores properly. It also requires players to recall attacks or roll the dice if they are unable to find a scanner to do a jgp. This is supposed to be a war game so I don't see the point in a game mechanic that allows you to avoid combat in such a manor and requires people to play the game not as a war, but as a service industry. The Solution Return to a scan system similar to the one we had pre-PaX. Leave amps and dists as constructions like they are now, but allow someone with 10 amps scan someone with 20 dists. It should just take them many attempts and multiple chunks of resources to accomplish it. For example it should take roughly 15 attempts to scan someone with 2x more dists than your amps, 30 tries to scan someone with 4x etc. Also, notify the person being scanned to a failed scan attempt. This way, it is still beneficial for an alliance to have scanners so as to avoid wasting tons of res or notifying a galaxy of impending incs, but not a requirement. This makes it possible for smaller alliances to organize proper raids and makes it possible for DCs to at least attempt to cover every call. Concerns I'm sure some people will be worried that this will render faking useless, which is a viable strategy in the game. I've considered this too, and my potential solution is to simply allow dists to function as they currently do for inc scans The Result Players would no longer have to sacrifice their round to help out people who are actually playing the game properly Smaller start-up alliances would be more feasible Dist whores would no longer be able to potentially land without resistance because DCs can't get an AU Players would no longer have to recall from dist whores because they can't find a dedicated scanner to do a jgp Last edited by Devlin; 18 Mar 2009 at 18:56.