Hello all,
So one problem that's become apparent in the monthly tournaments is that cosmoteer's current game modes (deathmatch and arena) aren't ideal for a competitive setting. Matches can be won or lost by guesses on the ship select screen ("rock paper scissors"), and battles frequently stall until the RoD closes. Fighters/bombers don't have much of a role, and free-for-alls often encourage running rather than trading.
With all that in mind, I would like to propose a new, objective-based game mode centered around capturing control points. Here's how it could work:
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Map and Objectives:
The map consists of multiple control points - a big control point in the middle, and one smaller control point for each player. The smaller control points each contain a small, indestructable, and immovable asteroid (rotatable though), which will block weapons fire. The central control point has no terrain, but visually contains the map's background gas giant.
Players each start in control of one small control point. The large central control point starts neutral. Players are eliminated when all of their control points are captured and they are not currently capturing/contesting a control point. This happens even if the player still has functioning ships.
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Capturing Control Points:
Control points have 3 states - neutral, captured, and contested. Each player starts out with 1 captured control point, and the central large control point starts out neutral. Capturing a control point is instant - just move a ship with a control room onto the point. The point then stays captured until an enemy ship enters it, even if the capturing ship leaves. When a point has ships belonging to multiple different players, it is contested and no player claims ownership.
Captured control points provide income to whoever owns them. Contested and neutral points provide no income to anyone.
Small control points have a limited amount of resources, and by default will stop providing income after a few minutes of continual harvesting (those asteroids only have so many minerals).
The large central control point never runs out of resources, and by default provides 50% extra income (it's a huge gas giant with valuable vespene gas).
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Buying Ships:
Players do not have to start with any ships. Instead, players start with a pool of money and can use it to purchase ships from their library. Players can choose where their ship warps in (similar UI as creative mode?), but cannot place ships within 500 meters of any ship or any control point.
Hopefully in the future, when blink drive is added and leads to new FTL mechanics, ships will be able to warp in anywhere, but subject to the same new mechanics and balancing of blink drive (instead of instant and unstoppable like it is now).
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Tournament Example Numbers:
Settings for a 1v1 tournament match could look something like this:
2 small control points, 1 large control point
$1,000,000 starting credits per player
Small control point asteroids provide $5,000 per second (@ 1x), and deplete after $750,000 total provided (2 1/2 min @ 1x).
Large control point provides $7,500 per second (@ 1x)
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Pros and Cons:
Some improvements over the current tournament format:
since players buy ships in-game at their own pace, games can no longer be decided based on blind predictions and blind counterpicks.
unlike arena, if you start off by buying a fighter that money is not wasted. You can continue using that fighter alongside other ships, instead of needing to respawn and losing points.
small support ships become more useful. They can be useful for flanking and capturing/defending points, and are also a good way to use income (buying a small ship now instead of waiting a long time for a large ship).
battles won't stall very often, because even if the main ships are avoiding each other, smaller ships can keep poking at control points. Income is also very likely to be uneven, giving one side an incentive to fight.
FFAs are (slightly) less unbalanced, since there's now a benefit to fighting - you can capture a player's control points and take their income.
depending on the starting options, this game mode could play very differently. This allows for lots of flexibility and customization, in case the default settings are unbalanced.
Some concerns:
sumo ships may be too strong. Players could contest a point (and block income) with a giant block of armor and a control room, provided they have enough engines to get (and keep) the ship on the point.
buying/warping ships in anywhere might be too strong. The alternative to this could be to have ships spawn at a fixed location (either a capture point or the edge of the map), but I'm hoping that allowing ships to warp in anywhere will 1) allow for more flanking and 2) encourage players to actually defend their control points, instead of balling up their whole army in one spot.
it still needs a name!
What are your thoughts? I'm hoping we can develop a new competitive game mode in time for the March tournament.