Station vs Station mode in detail

[BaneOfGiygas]

So, from my understanding, each station is on a completely separate Z-level from one another and has an on-board teleporter that they can use to teleport onto the other station, but only after a startup time has elapsed. There'd probably be a list of different locations you can teleport to on the other station, so as to keep people on their toes as to where the opposition will come in. There's still gotta be some kind of objective beyond "kill everyone" or "force an evacuation" though, because those two objectives are prone to not working out very well.

What if we turn this into capture the flag?

There's some kind of important item on each ship that the opposing team must acquire and bring to their station, and potentially bring it to a specific POINT on their station for extraction/collection/demolition/whatever. This would give a clear objective that can be guarded in a variety of different ways, but can't really be exploited or abused. Sort of like the nuke disk in the old nuke ops mode, only as if the syndies ALSO had a disk.

And don't get me wrong here, I am actually very intrigued about this idea and think that it could very well be the holy grail that modes like rev and spy were trying to achieve. Then again, I'm less trying to think of the mechanics behind this mode and more trying to think of what things will be like in this mode were it implemented, and perhaps due to experiences with those aforementioned notorious game modes, my expectations aren't very high. But hey, who knows. Maybe this thing could work out, and I'd be happy to contribute ideas.

[BlackPhoenix]

So, from my understanding, each station is on a completely separate Z-level from one another and has an on-board teleporter that they can use to teleport onto the other station, but only after a startup time has elapsed. There'd probably be a list of different locations you can teleport to on the other station, so as to keep people on their toes as to where the opposition will come in. There's still gotta be some kind of objective beyond "kill everyone" or "force an evacuation" though, because those two objectives are prone to not working out very well.

What if we turn this into capture the flag?

There's some kind of important item on each ship that the opposing team must acquire and bring to their station, and potentially bring it to a specific POINT on their station for extraction/collection/demolition/whatever. This would give a clear objective that can be guarded in a variety of different ways, but can't really be exploited or abused. Sort of like the nuke disk in the old nuke ops mode, only as if the syndies ALSO had a disk.

And don't get me wrong here, I am actually very intrigued about this idea and think that it could very well be the holy grail that modes like rev and spy were trying to achieve. Then again, I'm less trying to think of the mechanics behind this mode and more trying to think of what things will be like in this mode were it implemented, and perhaps due to experiences with those aforementioned notorious game modes, my expectations aren't very high. But hey, who knows. Maybe this thing could work out, and I'd be happy to contribute ideas.

Both stations have a nuclear authentication -code-. Each of the heads on the opposing station have one of the keys to the code. Multiple authentication disks. Once you've got all of the codes, you have to use your PTL to power up the other group's nuke, authorize it with the keys, and watch their station burn in a nuclear incident worthy of any cheesy sci-fi flick.

[VictorMAngoStein]

Ok, maybe I overemphasized the teleporter. It's not supposed to be that user friendly, it's just the regular telescience teleporter that occasonally gets used for traitoring. It would just be one of many possible ways to attack the station (in addition to cruiser fleets and disguised infiltrations via airlock)

[Zadeon]

QM should have an option to buy reinforcements after a certain amount of time has passed. This would basically respawn a ghost for your station. It would be VERY expensive so that it can't be abused and give incentive for people to help QM earn money. It would also let the round last longer and not be boring for people at the same time.

[pizzatiger]

so wait, Are we going to use the space crusiers to have two mobile stations or two static stations with randomly placed entrence points/z-levels which you use the station teleporter to teleport on

[VictorMAngoStein]

Two static stations with space cruisers attacking them.

[Waffles64]

I'd be in favor of a Station vs Station mode, if the entire objective was about attacking the other station. So even though the stations would be decked out with a medbay, science lab, and whatnot, they'd be mostly focused on making weapons for killing the other station.

Maybe make a win objective be to destroy the enemy's AI or something?

[OMJ]

or have everyone start up on the same basic station and 5-15 minutes into the round have half of the station inhabitants latently realize their syndicate status. Put an S above their heads to let them know who their syndicate teammates are and have them all go to a discreet warp portal to leave for the station (maybe a syndicate hand teleporter could work?)
Great idea, I love this concept

[A_Spoony_Bard]

I have no idea if this discussion was concluded, but I think the best way to combat the lack of players would be to make smaller stations.

Make jobs that normally have 3+ people (Like Scientists, Engineers, etc.) just have 1-2 per station. Combine Barman, Chef, and Botanist into one Caterer with a small hydroponic garden. Keep Engineering and Electronics separate, but cut them down to one guy each. Maybe combine Roboticist and Genetics access, or cut them altogether and give Medical Doctors access to those areas.

The only problem posed by these kinds of changes is that one shitty/afk/braindead player can really screw over the whole station, albeit a good Captain/HoP may be able to remedy it by swiftly giving out access to the lacking job. On the other hand, this would also make each crew member FAR more valuable to their station.

Extrapolating on this idea, you could even make a mode where there are several cruisers, with just heads running tiny versions of their department, albeit I doubt it would be anywhere near feasible to code.



Additionally, I'd like to add that I think the idea of having a 15-30 grace period at the beginning of the round where neither team can enter the other's z-level (maybe fluff it as their shields being up?) but both can enter the mining z-level is a great idea.

[atomic1fire]

Maybe the cogmap 2 development, with whatever that section thing is doing might make it easier to make condensed stations on the same map. Maybe throw one bigger asteroid in the middle so it becomes a scramble to steal and scavenge resources while not dying. In addition to blowing a hole into the other guy's station to steal their flag.