Reduce Number of Legions?

[Arch]

I understand this may come across as blasphemy - but I feel it needs to be thrown out there and discussed in any event. TVS for the longest time has supported four legions and it has always added dynamics to the game. I feel currently though that this setup is more a hindrance to the game then added benefit.

Each round it seems as of late there is always that black sheep legion. They might make a few bad decisions during the Roids battle, maybe have their fallback sector jumped early, maybe no one wants to set up to LC, maybe the randomized legions gave them a few more inactives at the start than the others. Regardless, it seems a legion just sputters into, for lack of a better word, worthlessness within the first 50 ticks of round. This affects the game two-fold - obviously pilots on that legion are not having fun and may leave the game for good; also, it affects the current game since legion will opt to pick on them or their HW for the easy points.

I could type for hours on the Pros I see of TRYING a 3-legion game and what it may bring to TVS. Ideallym new player retention is higher with the larger legions and we can continue to grow the playerbase until we can support 4 legions. Anyway, this is just a start to my thoughts on the topic, I understand there are Cons to the change as well as possibly game-code related issues that may make it impossible to do so. At the very least, I think the idea should be entertained and if we decide to continue down this route we at least gave a change some consideration.

Thoughts from others?

[Islander]

I think the easiest solution would be to bring back Self-Destruct?

Otherwise, you'd probably need to change the map? Not really sure how that would impact the code.
Keeping the same map might put the legion in the middle at a disadvantage?

[Arch]

I don't think Self Destruct is the answer because by the time the legion fizzles out, its already too late - they've been farmed and people have went inactive due to being on the lame legion.

[mgblst267]

i dont like using three. if it is going to be reduced it should be to two. You can keep the same map. And each beta you just alternate which legions will be playable. You'll have teams of any where from 25-35 actives. It wont be as easy to have bombing runs on the others HW and should create better battles and war of attrition. Ship stats might need to be tweaked a little bit making it harder to kill a higher lvl ship seeing each legion would be able to kill whoever they wanted cause of having so many ships. Maybe increases stats by 10 or 15 per lvl compared to 5 or just double ships stats. And maybe 20 points to put towards pilot,combat instead of 10 which in effect is doubling but instead of having 10/10 people can choose what to do with the points. That makes higher ships more powerful so would then limit them to attacking ships only one level lower instead of two and if they kill a ship two or more levels lower they regress one level and have points reset to the points needed to achieve regressed lvl ie( was lvl 5 killed lvl 3 so regress to lvl 4 and 16000 points). Just some thoughts.

[Steak]

another option could be to give rewards for sector domination so armies with a few inactive players have other options than keeping to a weak blob - could give more dimension to the game, encouraging the spread of armies.

[Pharaoh]

Not quite sure I see why reducing to three legions actually solves the problem you brought up. With three legions there is the exact same chance one of the three wont do as well and thus fall behind early on becoming a lame duck legion while the dynamics are changed drastically.

Furthermore, with four legions even a lame duck legion can through diplomacy at least assist another legion without making the galactic battle too one-sided. Whereas with three legions whoever the third legion joins wins...end of game.

[Anakin]

Get rid of the frigging arrow jumps and get back Scan Towers. Once destroyed, you have no scans and have to rely on scouting ... not this crap with arrows and instantly knowing who is moving and where.

[iceblink]

I completely agree that currently the game is boring for reasons mentioned by Arch. Although i also believe people give up too easy. (Maybe there are ways to prevent that?)
Reducing to 3 legions might work, but unless the map is changed one legion will be in the middle like Mgblst says.
Reducing to 2 will probably also be boring? One team gets to win the first battle, game over (unless the other team hides in their HW, stalemate).
Bringing fog of war back will help, In my opinion. Currently the sucky legion doesnt stand a chance because all moves on the playing field are very clear. And it's an easy fix. Having scans as they are now, combined with autopilot, leaves no room for any surprising tactics.

[KiLLeRKoRN]

agreed on the scan towers, OR is pretty pointless without them...

[calundra]

Bringing fog of war back will help, In my opinion. Currently the sucky legion doesnt stand a chance because all moves on the playing field are very clear. And it's an easy fix. Having scans as they are now, combined with autopilot, leaves no room for any surprising tactics.

Scans have now been changed! I'm expecting to hear some complaints, can people remember to mention what they do like too.