Problem: Many players are being turned off to the game as a result of recent XP changes from AI kills. For the record, I was against the changes (not the need for a change, but specifically the changes presented/implemented) and did point out what would happen ahead of time Two main problems: -High level players find the most lucrative source of income (XP/progression) to be to hunt any, I mean ANY straggler/noob/player ship they can find because AI is worthless for the long fight now OR they get bored and quit -New players/players with low tier ships are in a major bind and being turned off to the game because of the above high level players preying on them for lack of anything better to do (at least at times) Secondary problem: -As a result of how the AI XP reduction works, being linked to captain rank, a strategy of creating a new account and 'feeding' yourself or a friend high class AI XP before the rank-penalty really kicks in is being adopted by some players (Yes, I've watched you shoot up to a new C7 in the matter of a day). Losing the ship = repeat the process on new account or delete captain and go again. Simple Solution: XP cap on AI kills Do not change the VALUE (or value system) of an AI target(s), but rather cap how much a player can earn from ANY one AI kill regardless of class or the player's captain rank. This will allow for each player to earn a limit of XP per kill, evenly divided shares, etc, etc. (Get rid of the last-hit double share! I guess it won't matter vs AI anymore if you are limiting out). As a result, players will be incentivized to work together as a team in order to spawn and kill more AI faster (and capture territory) vs previous excessive XP gain rates (told you playing on a populated server wouldn't stop me!) and the desire to play solo. This will also shift veterans away from the need to hunt noobs, avoiding turning said noobs off to the game! A noob C3 is worth around 200 xp total depending on which ship/faction and which zone you defend against them in. Not a bad drop in the bucket for 1 or 2 turns then done, especially compared to 10 turns of banging away on a C8 for half that XP, all the while making yourself vulnerable. If the AI XP limit is set to 200 (which is not much higher than what I can do right now with the current system, but still enough to make it a worthwhile compared to hunting C3/4 players, yet not a TOO lucrative option), then players can group together to hunt AI when no PvP is available. So a particular AI target is worth 2000 XP. With a 200 AI XP limit/cap, you could have up to 10 players in the fight share in those kills and limit out at 200 xp/kill. Bonuses such as Sol Leadership or Swordfish hull perk should be applied to the 200 limit, possibly resulting in as much as 280 xp for the kill (3 ranks leadership + Swordfish = 40% more xp). Warning: We may eventually run into the situation where very organized groups can farm down AI pretty fast, stacking up their 200 xp limits. The trouble is if you reduce this cap to combat this scenario, then you are right back to sticking the AI into the 'not worth the time/effort category' and away go the pro's (literally away, not playing or... banging out noobs left and right). So not without it's faults, but I think the above design change could do the game a lot of good. Remove the Captain-Rank AI xp stacking reduction penalties. Put on this AI XP cap system. Fair for noobs and veteran accounts Fair for high and low class ships Excessive XP gain should still be kept in check, can easily modify cap if needed Need for hunting noobs reduced/eliminated (hopefully) Need for creating alt accounts to bypass the rank-based penalties reduced/eliminated And *send* [Edited] PS Forewarning for all to see: Removing permadeath and other upcoming game system changes will favor teams with more players/player activity. Death was the great equalizer. Even if one team had 50% 100% 300% more members than the other (which Sol has/had over Gen since the start), it's not as much of an issue so long as the smaller team can field just ONE elite force (player limits per map size) and kill the big team's ships. Those defeated are gone for good, the smaller team can later kill more ships and set their opponents back further, especially in the case of morale failures (quitting the game, but that's kind of a bad thing for the community as a whole even if a good thing for your team's immediate war effort!).
Take note that I wrote a ticket that AI ships should be capped/limited on defense and not overwhelm like they do now.
If I'm not mistaken. Xp reduction for ai was introduced because people complained about farming techniques....... which on a aggressive populated server would not be a problem. On a fully populated server, working out who is new is impractical. Working out who we should listen to is more practical. If the ai gave xp relative to how hard they are to kill,,,, and everyone was on the offensive except for critical zones? Does not the sector cap now take care of the bully techniques..... And the difficult or yet more aggressive ai also giving better xp solve the desire for players. In my observations, the need to develop ship's to a level to test, has combined with ego, to make for some situations and behaviour that has left lower levels behind......... the top must continue to become ridiculously powerful so that the top gets tested.... the lower levels MUST be left alone by the top.... BECAUSE NO FURTHER testing of the lower level is required by the top level players...... the top level.players have already been through there....... the lower level players are and should be allowed to enjoy all the hard work done by top...... SO??????? Top level players..... go keep up the hard hard work of testing the upper levels and don't worry about who is winning..... I don't know.... but maybe more aggressive ai could be worth more. Because now..... the opinion and observations of low level development must be.provided by low levels players who are given room to test by the top. I can't test much because I don't have the mind for it..... but I can observe human behaviour and occasionally find a little glitch here or there..... oh and been destroyed.... I'm very good at been destroyed. But I need more xp from ai so I can go into maps with my IV V and may I dream of a VI and give lower level captains a proper challenge with out then been slaved back to threes..... ???? Maybe I don't know..
