Topic: Okay lets hear some feedback on this challenging ideal

[Skaren]

Now remember folks I am inexperienced but I have a ? 

Because I find 35 AI battles to flip an important hex overly time consuming and guess many of you also have the same issue (damn these families and job sh*t )  Has anyone ever hosted like a one night server with very low DV values.

If it was a one nighter then maybe we would also see a huge turnout, thereby causing many PVP battles.

I sorta feel like when server runs, and some folks play like 1500 battles, how can my small amount of input effect things.  I just don't have the time to play 100's of battles.  That in turn kinda turns me away.  With a one night server my input would then become important, really important.  Are there others out there that feel that way ?  I would think the majority of folks are in my phaser boat, and stuck with a small paddle.

We might also see a large turnout because of the reason mentioned above.  Some married dude can play a little here and there, so on night X he can jump in and really make difference.  His flying that night will directly help decide the fate of his nation and the server. 

When I play a few games on a two week server I do diddly and feel like that after several hours of playing AI hex flipping battles.  I walk away thinking were those hours well spent ?  I look over the roster and see that some other guy has played for like 5 days with 250 battles      I often feel I wasted my time.  I am not dissing the guy who can do that it is just that as an older gamer my restrictions on time impact me, and I suspect others out there are in similar situations, many others.

Hell if it was a one night server I for one may play all night and call in sick the next day.  Again I think others may agree and if they do I think they should voice it in support.

Now cause I have little experience maybe this ideal is full of holes that I am unaware of.  Maybe setting up a server is like 40 hours work for Bonk and is not worth one run.   I have no clue but would like to hear the views of others.  Maybe other folks have reasons why this would not work and I would like to hear em.

Again though think about it, with one night who wouldn't show up?  I know I would.   Getting on an empty server is just not that exciting.  Getting on a packed one knowing that my play time will directly effect my nation that night,.. sounds pretty damn cool.

Okay shoot me down now   

[Bonk]

Not a bad idea at all... it used to happen more in the past. But a major server still has not run since you showed up... (were you here for the opening nights of the Klingon Civil War?) We still do get a crowd from time to time...

I recall one night the KAT fleet swamped a TAG fleet server with stock DV shift settings (DV shifts of 5-35 per mission and a hex DV reset of 50%) and flipped pretty much the whole map cyan in one night. It was a lot of fun, the cheese was flying left and right. I recall pissing off groups of ISC battleships with a three MDC+ fleet... was mightily satifying to crunch multiple BB cheesers with a cheap solution, they eventually chased me off though, but not till I had knocked out a few battleships. Therein lies the problem though, such a setup can favour hex flippers in the extreme.

Though I think the idea is well worth considering, a lot of issues stem from excessively high hex DV values combined with single point DV shifts, people seem to forget this. If, as you suggest, a good well balanced crowd could be coordinated to show up for one night, such a setup could be a lot of fun.

Keep your eyes out for the next Slave Girls server, Dizzy is well aware of these factors and seems to balance them out well.

[Grim]

Sounds interesting but keep in mind there are some people who don't actually mind flying battles against ai, some would even argue that if you want to fly only ever against humans then there is GSA afterall. The concept of a one night server with low dv values sounds interesting and it would surely please the pvp crowd. I am sure you would get some interest in a fun type server like this, you won't please everyone but having a diverse range of servers where people get the choice to fly different types of servers is i believe better than having a constant stream of servers that are the same each time.

[Skaren]

No I missed opening night of KCW and also at the time did not understand the value of opening night or the slow down of later nights.

It just seems from my limited perspective that these servers favor the Obsessive/Compulsive SFB player on who can play for hours on end, day after day.  I worry that discourages players like myself who can only devote a smaller amount of time to the game.  I would love to be involved but have a nagging feeling that it is time not well spend for my nation.

If it were a one night server then I really would feel motivated to reserve that night to play and feel my contribution would be really important to my team.  That is the feeling that I want to feel when playing, that my fighting was of importance to my nation and my comrades.   Currently that feeling is lacking,. or at least not as strong as I feel it could be.

When I was younger I had time to burn, now I don't and I suspect many many other players face a similar situation.  It may be a way to draw numbers and bring out more players,.. cater to the masses and they will come.

Even though Dizzy is crazy, I have admired his thinking in my "Historical Study of his Personality", I would like to see his next server.  KaaChut and 762 are notably entertaining historical posters also.  I still have about 60 more pages of review to go  

[Grim]

It just seems from my limited perspective that these servers favor the Obsessive/Compulsive SFB player on who can play for hours on end, day after day.  I worry that discourages players like myself who can only devote a smaller amount of time to the game.  I would love to be involved but have a nagging feeling that it is time not well spend for my nation.

I agree but in the past it wasn't really the case as we had a larger playerbase. With a larger playerbase you had a mixture of "nutters" who were on more or less constantly, some players that played several hours a day, and finally those who could only dedicate a couple of hours per day. With this range of different players a casual player could dedicate some time knowing that they had the "nutter" and more active players would be there to balance it out. As the playerbase has reduced significantly over time the emphasis of dynaverse campaigns and their outcome has shifted more towards the teams who have the most players and who are the most active.

[Skaren]

Here is the issue with GSA,..

The campaigns I run are to frame and put in perspective the battles.  It gives meaning and reason to battles, it makes each battle part of a larger ideal.  That is what campaigns are about.

If I just wanted PVP I would invite the crew over and sit down at the LAN and play.  

This is part of my crew at my 6 station gaming room all playing SFC and resolving a mighty battle in the campaign

http://sfbuaw.com/photos/photo2.html  

We do plenty of PvP, but over the years we find that it is the larger campaign that brings more fun to each little battle.  Dyna one way to get that larger ideal that we love, much larger, and to just say if you want PvP goto GSA is ,...  um,.... disagreeable.  

I feel that in a one night server folks can still play against A.I. and you will have to in order to win space right ?  Also there seem to be servers that stay up long term for those folks, so they can still find their fun.  I am not looking to exclude anyone, just include another type of gamer, one with less time.  I suspect there are many folks that have this issue, and by including them you may find your loyal fan base grow.

Once again I am new to this and this is just a controversial ideal to get folks thinking.

[Bonk]

I'm hoping RogueJedi will follow through on this idea: The Arena -- Short, focused, PvP only mini campaigns. Sounds like just the thing to address these concerns. 

[Grim]

I wouldn't say your idea is controversial far from it, most people in the dynaverse community want a diverse range of dynaverse campaigns, the idea you suggested of a low dv high pvp server does sound interesting and would tie in with the idea of having different types of server. You would probably get a large amount of support from the community over this idea, as the playerbase has declined there has been more of a shift towards pvp centric campaigns, hence the recent discussion about disengagement rules for example and new ideas concerning dv shifts.

I just raised the point that you won't please everyone, despite the community being smaller there are still people who have different playing styles, different needs and wants from servers. That's why its beneficial to have a diverse range of servers allowing the players to decide what campaigns they choose to fly, and thats why i think your idea of a low dv high pvp one night fun server sounds interesting as it would be something differnt and would add to the diversity

[Skaren]

How can you have a PvP only game,.. ?

How do you change hex ownership?  I feel flipping a hex is very important to game and a neat feature,..  I like flipping hexs, there is a sense of I have accomplished something !   I just don't like having to spend 4 hours on one hex that still isn't flipped, when that is the amount of time I can spend doing this game for that week.

Now don't say it is just cause I suck as a flyer   

 

[Bonk]

This is part of my crew at my 6 station gaming room all playing SFC and resolving a mighty battle in the campaign

http://sfbuaw.com/photos/photo2.html 

      

That has got to be one of the most typical groups of SFB/SFC gamers.... hehe... only one of them has hair, and he has a ponytail!  No wonder you seem to fit right in here.

P.S. Excellent choice of server platform... FreeBSD rocks! 

EDIT: Good beer choices there too... that Sam Adams Cream Stout looks damn tasty!

[Bonk]

How can you have a PvP only game,.. ?

How do you change hex ownership?  I feel flipping a hex is very important to game and a neat feature,..  I like flipping hexs, there is a sense of I have accomplished something !   I just don't like having to spend 4 hours on one hex that still isn't flipped, when that is the amount of time I can spend doing this game for that week.

Now don't say it is just cause I suck as a flyer   

 

Here's how I described it to RogueJedi in the D2 Server Admin's forum:

...

It is however possible to create a PvP only server on the flatfile through missionmatching settings. I did so once (thoug I ran it on SQL). Nobody played on it. Everyone says they hate AI missions but will not play on a server without them. If you think it through there are a lot of complications.

I'll see if I can dig up the thread with the PvP only missions settings.

I don't want to discourage you at all though, so the idea is definitely worth exploring and modifying as necessary, it would be great to have another server on the way... 

EDIT: Ah here's the thread:

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163346125.0.html  (the website linked in that thread is no longer there, but The Forge Webmap is the latest incarnation of the same features)

and the settings (missionmatching.gf):

Code: [Select]

[ScreenForMatch]
BonusForNearbyForeignCharacters      =100
EnemyHexBonus                  =0   // bonus for a mission in enemy territory
NeutralHexBonus                  =0      // bonus chance in neutral hexes for a mission
ChanceMove                     =0      // (30) base chance for a mission on move (increase for more missions in home territory)
ChanceLogon                     =0

Though I commonly use a BonusForNearbyForeignCharacters = 500 now...

EDIT#2: hmmmm... there's a lot of good stuff in that thread...

With such settings the Dynaverse server will only offer missions if an enemy human is within the drafing radius, DV will shift and hexes will flip, but only if you have an enemy human to fight in the hex.

[Skaren]

That lack of hair comes from years of increased cranial activity.  It litterally burned it off until we learned to use advanced liquid cooling techniques.  Since then we always have ample supplies of cold beer or Laugavulin Scotch on hand should temperatures flare.   

We have also learned to liquid cool the smoke too       

I hope that device did not make it into the photo !

Well thanks for all the feedback, I look forward to opening night of something coming along, and hope that this dialogue has spurred some extra thought from the Admins.

Julian, who lives like two towns over,... your missing out on some wildly fun times,...  and excellent games !!!!

[Bonk]

We have also learned to liquid cool the smoke too       

I hope that device did not make it into the photo !

   I had the feeling that might be the case, I was looking for it... didn't see anything incriminating though.