Lock and load, let's hit the road!...er Sky!!

Thank you all for your feedback. Work has begun implementing everything.

If you have ideas for potential faction abilities, do feel free to post them.

What about specific faction abilities? ie:

CoV- missions allocated for the recapture of the skyland give an
EO- *no idea*
AL- *I'm an embarrassment to the League T^T*
CA- Easier to take back skylands from HF if certain percentage of influence is gained after skyland was captured.
JH- Mission payouts have a small percentage more or traders wouldn't be disable for them.

I don't know for sure, but just a thought.

Oh man, so many ideas; brain buzzing.

First off, a Gonking big round of applause for the Devs who have outlined what looks to be the coolest event in the history of Skyrates.

I have both questions and suggestions:

Question: Just to clarify 100%, you are inclined to go with Sunrunner's suggestion that Trades and Combat still provide profit/bounties IN ADDITION to all the supply/workforce/influence architecture that the Hidden War will add? That seems simplest to me, and lets new players play the basic game until they feel like taking an active role in the War.
Related Suggestion: Players must choose between helping themselves, and contributing to the War effort. Each player has a slider (or text box just like the one that sets armor % for fleeing) on their Options page where they can set what % of their activity will reap the traditional rewards (money from trades, bounties from combats) and what % will result in War Effort related benefits for their faction (Supplies/Workforce). By default this would be set to 100% Personal Gain (ie. the status quo of normal Skyrates play). This way, players would have to opt in to start playing the Hidden War, and could even split their efforts between personal gain, and Faction goals.

I like the flavor of this, since players choose between War Profiteering, and supporting the War Effort. It also let's new, or uninterested players go about their business without having to think about the Hidden War. Finally, it leaves some room for players to make "gas Money" or to upgrade themselves while still taking part in the war.


Question: Will the use of some Abilities require to expenditure of Supplies/Workforce? That is, in addition to the time it takes to use the ability (based on distance), will there be an "activation cost"? I think this would be a good idea for some abilities (but maybe not all, eg. not for simple Workforce/Supplies -> influence). This would help make the use of abilities a more strategic decision (see next question) AND opens up space for special faction abilities that REDUCE these overhead costs (see below).

Related Question: Will there be a maximum number of simultaneous actions that can be taken from a single skyland by the controlling faction? Can the CA launch an Raid on Skyland A, and while that is on its way, take Defensive action on Skyland B, and Transfer Supplies to Skyland C? Again, I think a limit would be a good idea, but that limit should not be 1 action at a time. That way, certain factions could have a bonus of more simultaneous actions (which still may have activation costs).


Question: It seems that running Missions now produces three simultaneous effects, viz. Gaining Inf, Creating Workforce, and (potentially) raising defense/offense. Trade, meanwhile, serves the sole function of creating Supplies. To me this would seem to create a situation in which you need many fewer traders to accomplish your goals than Inf runners. Since there are all sorts of players (with all sorts of planes and playstyles), I have a...
Related Suggestion: First, take this imbalance into account when setting the Workforce/Supplies costs for various Abilities. In general, you should need more supplies than workforce. Second, add a per-day "upkeep" cost to controlling a Skyland. Each day, the controlling faction loses X Supplies to feeding the populace and general maintenance. If they come up short, Sklyand Defense and Offense suffer.
These two tweaks should mean that factions will still need a good fleet a traders and that those who only want to trade still have a valuable role to play.
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Suggestions!
I have a few thoughts for Faction Specific abilities, although I don't have a firm idea of which faction they should be assigned to in all cases.

Passive Abilities:
I think that each Faction should have one or more passive bonuses that no other faction has (or maybe some could be shared, but each faction only has the same number of bonuses). Some possibilities, with suggested Factions in brackets.

Command Structure: Faction can launch 1 additional simultaneous Ability from each controlled skyland. [CA/CoV]
Creative Accounting: More of Supplies/Workforce earned on non-controlled skylands goes to your own faction. E.g, the "tax" is reduced from 50% going to controlling faction to, say, 30% (meaning your faction gets 70% of your efforts when you don't control the skyland. [JH/EO]
Blockade Running: Abilities execute faster. The amount of time it takes for an ability to execute is reduced by a %. [AL]
Logistics: The Activation Cost (assuming there is one - see my suggestion above) of abilities is reduced. [CA/JH/EO] * Note: This could be broken down into specialized abilites that covered only certain actions (eg. one for Transferring, one for Arming, one for Raiding. Each faction could thus have a competitive advantage at doing certain tasks, which would make faction team-ups more fun and more likely.
Community Organizing: Defense and Offense stats are reduced at a slower rate, even when the skyland is under attack. (And maybe a bonus to the influence gain from "take back the skyland" refugee missions. [EO]
Finesse: Legendary Combats won take a bigger chunk out of overall NPC presence. [CoV].

As for active abilities, I like the ones already suggested, so I will instead suggest a third class of actions that I think would add more strategic spice to the mix: Skyland Installations.

These would be structures/buildings that the controlling faction could build by expending a large amount of Supplies/Workforce over time. They would remain on the skyland once built, giving that skyland a passive bonus of some sort for WHOEVER controls it. They would not be destroyed upon the skyland changing hands, allowing certain skylands to be turned into more strategic and valuable assets as time went on. It might be interesting to give the controlling faction the CHOICE to demolish certain buildings (if they fear imminent takeover and want to keep them out of enemy hands).

Possible Installations:

Radio Tower: Increases the number of sklands that are considered "neighboring" for purposes of Abilities/Actions that affect "neighboring skylands" to some extent.
Anti Aircraft Guns (Ack Acks): Permanent (non reducible) bonus to Skyland Defense.
Hospital: Permanent bonus to Skyland Offense (healthcare makes the citizen's happier to support you).
Repair Hangar: Bonus of +X% condition (instant) to all planes passing through.
Staging Ground: Reduced Activation cost and/or increased effectiveness (for Raids, eg.) for Abilities launched from that skyland

Phew! There's more brewing in my noggin, but I have real work to get back to. I'll try posting additional thoughts and clarifications later.

-Fex

Yes!



Interesting idea. May not have a place in this event, but could be interesting for the future.



Yes. The intent was that most of the abilities would take Supplies/Workforce.



It was intended that Time & the Supply/Workforce cost would do this.

I'll read/reply to the rest of the stuff later!

As it happens, this is actually my first post here on the forums. Oh well, right to it then.

There has been some talk of faction-specific abilities, so I thought I'd pitch in. I don't really have any new ideas for abilities, I thought I'd just try my hand at fleshing them out with some flavor text. Apologies if my writing isn't that great. I am very tired.

Shock and Awe - [ATTACK] Presentation makes all the difference, even in combat. Using tactics and weaponry devised specifically to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, the Crimson Armada can make even seasoned veterans and aces flee in terror. A disorganized force is easy to defeat, and the Crimson Armada can take full advantage of this to deal a crippling blow to enemy forces, reducing hostile NPC Presence by x% (ex; 75%) on a single skyland.

Signals Intelligence - [ATTACK] A critical breach of security can turn the tide every bit as much as a decisive victory on the front. The Azure League knows this, and employs cryptanalysts, more commonly known as 'codebreakers', for the explicit purpose of disrupting and manipulating the flow of information. By jamming enemy communications, and listening in on encrypted transmissions, the Azure League reduces NPC Presence by x% (ex; 20%), and reveals NPC Aggression on a single skyland and its neighbors for y (ex; 24) hours. This information is visible to all factions.

Resistance Movement - [ATTACK] A functioning militia needs supplies, and supplies cost money. The Jade Hand has considerable stockpiles of both, and can use its vast resources to fund and maintain a small army of irregulars dedicated to defending their home. A resistance movement may only be started on a skyland under NPC control. When a resistance is started, a skyland's Offense and Defense scores are immediately boosted by x% (ex; 50%) (The increase could be proportional to the amount of Workforce on that skyland), and both scores decrease at the same rate as when controlled by a PC faction. Additionally, the number of available missions is increased by y (ex; 2).

Unity - [ATTACK] There is strength in religion. It unites people in the darkest of times, and cannot be crushed so easily. The Earthen Order promotes the importance of togetherness, a message shared by many and dismissed by none. A truly unified public cannot be subjugated or conquered by force alone, and NPC Presence will rise at x% (ex; 60%) of the normal rate. Additionally, the Order's message will spread, causing NPC Presence on all neighboring skylands to increase at y% (ex; 80%) of the normal rate. This effect lasts for z (ex; 24) hours.

Entertainment Boom - [ATTACK] Industrial and military production skyrockets during wartime, but the entertainment industry always keeps pace. People need a source of entertainment to keep spirits high, and the Court of Violets knows how to put on one {static} of a show. With an emphasis on personal improvement and charisma, it's no wonder that the Court of Violets has many famous actors, singers, musicians, and other performers among their ranks, and when a whole bunch of them get together for a show, everyone wants to be there. The skyland on which the show takes place gains x (ex; Workforce+Supplies) Skytopian Influence, and y (ex; [Workforce+Supplies]*0.75) Skytopian Influence is given to all neighboring skylands. However, the Court's Workforce and Supplies will each be cut by y% (ex; 10%).

I tried to match the attack abilities based on that faction's overall character. First, I came up with explanations for each ability. I then went back and fine-tuned them to each faction. The way I have them set up now, Blue can help Red prioritize targets by revealing which skylands are threatened, Brown and Purple can use both their abilities on the same skyland to basically provide one big Area of Effect attack, and Green is pretty much a 'get out of jail free' card if a skyland is taken. I'm not sure how balanced this is, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Also, it'd be nice if we got a theme music power up whenever we use an ability. Kinda like this. I know it won't happen, but it's good to dream.

Fex and Leonore, Props to both of you for your ideas very well done!

If you'd like to play your own bits of theme music powerups, there's an older thread about appropriate musics here.

I'd be in favor of one action per skyland per day (not counting simple transfers of supplies/workforce). This ensures the game remains sporadic, and makes it easier to involve non-leader players in strategic decisions.

As a leader, I am diametrically opposed to that idea. I think it's silly. I think if you have the resources, you should be able to make as many decisions as you need to. The big picture strategy isn't going to be determined by a vote that lasts a week and a half; it'll be needed, often as not, (especially playing against Taft, that bugger) to be made on the fly. Limiting that capacity in any way, on the basis of 'sporadic gameplay' is a fundamentally bad idea.

I'm with Markus on this. I reckon the situation will change fast enough on the fly that one action a day just won't be enough.

If the actions are somehow continuous-valued instead of discrete, then it's possible to allow multiple actions in a day to simply divide the value between them.

I was imagining something like 3 per day per skyland, (or 4 for factions with Command Structure). But Taft's take also works, take as many actions as you like, provided you have the Supplies and Workforce to do so. Might actually be more elegant to do it this way, since it reduces the number of stats to keep track of, and most focus is already on gaining/losing Workforce and Supplies anyway.

This brings me to another thought; its an idea that I had a while back for regular gameplay, but I think makes even more sense in the Hidden War context. The idea is to inflict the economies of various skylands with sporadic shortages of goods, and to announce such shortages in an RP fashion, either on the loading screen and/or on a special News radio tab (Radio Free Skytopia, broadcasting live from Islo Tower ). This would break up the monotony of predictible trade routes as well as giving a "war time scarcity" feel to the whole event. It would work something like this:

I sign in and see a news item: "Massive food shortages on Aluet are taking their toll as residents of the skyland struggle to get by! The Skytopian Wartime Relief Organization estimates that 5000 crates of food are needed." I would check the map and find that Aluet had indeed gone red for food. Ideally this would be a deep red (maybe not at the level of infrared, but a good strong demand hole that takes a lot of deliveries to fill, or one that keeps consuming for X hours or days until the crisis is "over".

In addition to providing cool RP flavor and a little spice to the trade game, I would add a few Hidden War effects to the Shortage events as well. For instance, Faction controlled skylands hit with a shortage would start to lose Workforce/Offense/Defense/and-or Influence until the crisis was solved by the delivery of the requisite number of goods of to correct type. Additionally, the factions whose pilots helped end the shortage could receive a bonus of influence or workforce proportional to their contribution at the conclusion of the crisis.

The above example is simple, and since it would take a little active input on the part of the Devs, they may want to have fewer such events, but make the larger (more units, multiple types of goods). Alternatively, I could imagine automating it and making it semi random, similar to the old Luxury Drops (only you would be dropping demand instead of supply).

One final thought in support of this idea is that it creates a purpose for the ability (suggested by Taft) to "Drop a load of goods onto a target skyland." I'm not sure if this ability was intended to simply let the Leaders play with economy by dumping supply next to demand, but it would be neat if a shortage could be broken either by Faction level action (officially dropping 4000 tools onto the afflicted sklyand) or by the efforts of individual skyrates (or both). If the skyland were Faction controlled, factions would have the option of dropping goods directly onto the afflicted skyland to help end the shortage. If the afflicted skyland were Enemy controlled, supplies could be dropped at one or more neighboring skylands, giving smugglers ready access to the good so that they could run it to the occupied skyland (and help earn influence towards taking it back in the process, by winning the hearts of the occupied people).

That's it for now. Taft, what did you think of Leonore and my suggestions for specific abilities?

-Fex

What about governorships?

Will they continue on untouched? Will they still exist as a concept but be zeroed out? Will there not be governorships at all during the Hidden War? And if so, will they be restored to their former owners after the Hidden War is over?

Martial law, maybe? I'd imagine that influence will continue to work the same way it does now, but the devs may decide to freeze the current influence counts and restore them at the conclusion of the event. Still, Kippei, I don't think you're going to lose New Hovlund, seeing as you yourself have 3 times more influence there than the League, the Order and the Court combined, and account for more than half of the Hand's presence there.