Topic: Is DOE fizzling out?

[Lepton1]

I haven't seen much DOE banter on the boards and whenever I am on the server, it seems the Romulans are dominating the player population. So, I am wondering if the enthusiasm for DOE is less than was expected.  

For my own experience, I have found the mission repetition a little prohibitive, but I may just be burnt out on campaigns as I played the TNZ mod campaign for SFC3 more than anyone should.  Also this is my first D2 campaign so I may just not be getting it eventhough I have played SFC for years.  I have never been one for commanding multiple ships or letting fighters do the work for me, so that may be a significant aspect of this opportunity that I am missing.

It actually seems a shame that the server is coming down so soon as it may be difficult for a definitive "winner" to emerge or to be apparent.  Anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but the high dv values on enemy space made it hard to make any progress.   I believe having dv's lowered by 5 or so for a completed mission was mentioned but I am not confident that it was implemented.   I originally thought HerrBurt wanted things to move pretty fast, but those dv's don't make it easy.

Be that as it may, I am not sure that the D2 environment is exactly right for a campaign, as most of the action seems AI-related.  Again, I am just speaking from my limited experience here, but the TIGC campaigns and the General War campaigns offered slightly more of a satisfying strategic experience mixed with PvP play.  Of course all those were carried out on GSA and only once a week or so, so we are really talking apples and oranges here.  I just wish the functionality of the D3 (fleeting, map scanning, more direct PvP play) could somehow be imported into the D2.

This is in no way meant as a criticism of those who have worked so very hard to implement these upcoming D2 campaigns.  Those folks are certainly more capable and dedicated than I am in any regard. I guess I will just have to accustomize myself to the D2 environment and hope that a campaign comes up that goes on long enough for the strategic play to come forward.

Please feel free to share your D2 experiences with campaigns if nothing else to convince me that I don't know what the hell I am talking about.  Thanks

[gornrule]

   As sorry as I am for my Gorn brethren, you should be thanking your lucky stars.  The entire tide of war would have turned had I not had the accussed 'real life committments'.  Count yourselves among the living.  I would have been happy to plasmify you.  Time and place. Unfortunately, neither here nor now.  Another day you live.

Gwarlock the Missing

[SSCFPatterson]

Since there was a slight change in the mission and ship list, I've have bit of a problem logging into the server. Problem for me seems to be the fighter list. Plus the usual, mortgage, kids, wife especially the wife  . I kinda owe her some time after AOTK. I think all of us with spouses can relate to that.  
But to pat Burt of the back, I enjoyed everything so far on the DOE server.  

[Cocomoe]

 Tthe player base for EAW and OP gets smaller by the day.  Not to many players left.
 

[Fluf]

Basically, DOE has turned into a AI shooting contest because of the lack of players.  The low Fed/Gorn turnout has hurt the server.  These specialized type servers usually dont have the turnout of a major campaign because some people dont like to fly anything but the race they are acustomed to.  Once you get into some of the larger campaigns, with all the races involved, you will see alot more PvP and such.  The last major campaign, AOTK put up by SFC2.net was a PvP fest, with hexes being decided by fierce battles over 1 or 2 hexes each night.

However the D2 is probably more of a long term campaign type game compared to the D3., where most campaigns can go 5 to 6 weeks on a large map, with alot of strategy and tactical planning and play involved.  The D3 is more of a large battlefest on GSA.  I have fun on both games, and they are drastically different in playing style.

But Cocomoe is right, both the D2 and D3 are starting to lose numbers quickly.  There will always be alot of us vets around still playing the game we love, but the glory days are probably gone now.

[KBF-Dogmatix]

Yes..the Flufbot speaks the truth.  I wouldn't use DoE as any sort of measuring stick for how thing would be in a "major campaign."  As has been said, I don't think these specialized server draw any more than the most hardcore players, and even they these people play less than they would normally.  I've only been on a few times (same story here, RL is keeping me busier than I would like).


This isn't to say that DoE isn't a great idea.  It's a very cool idea and pretty nicely rendered from what I have seen.  Even though the PvP has been lacking due to a dearth of targets, the AI matchups usually challenging and, at times, downright frightening.  From what I've seen and heard, many vets are on occasion getting their butts handed to them by the AI.


Better turnout from the Alliance would be nice.  I'm surprised so few have been around.  THe matchups are evenly hard for everyone.  There are few if any 2-minute missions to be had here.  Perhaps that's why so many have stayed away.



 

[klink]

as a complete newbie, i can attest to there being atleast SOME new blood coming into this mod.

unfourtanetly i was not aware that the Romulan territory was so overpopulated. out of the 15 ppl logged on last night, 12 or 13 were romulan. Gorn ships are what I typically perfer so maybe if i could recreate..

the mod is seriously tough. granted, i've not much clue about what i'm doing but i was pillaged and burned by the gorn fleet over and over last night. certainly indicated that i need to practice my tactics more.

fun MOD. hope to hang around the community while it lasts  

[Laflin]

Lepton1 I would wait for a later campaign before deciding whether the D2 is worth it - DOE is set up for a relatively small number of specialized players.  There are only 3 races available, and many of us are sitting out until we can regain our regular race.  SG3 and especially the SFC2.Net servers will be coming out, eventually.