Suggestions For Improving The Dark Sector/ Rail System

[StallordD]

So there have been a lot of complaints about the Dark Sector system recently, and while it's still in it's early stages, I thought of a few possible ideas to make it more interesting. Some ideas are better than others, but anything to spice it up would be welcome.

MAKE RAILS COST MONEY TO UPKEEP

First and foremost, the tax needs to have purpose. With everyone going 0, it seems pointless. If rails cost x amount of resources per x runs, then clans might have to start upping the tax to not only stay ahead, but make profit for the inevitable battle pay when the rail gets attacked.

Downsides: this tax would make it incredibly difficult for single clans to stay afloat, as the tax would likely need to be standardized to keep things balanced. However, I feel this works with DE's original concept for the Dark Sectors.

MAKE THE SPECTERS MORE INTERESTING

Currently the Specters kinda lose their charm after a few runs. I think that taking a random person currently running the opposing mission and mirroring their load out into your game would not only make battles difficult, but add some fame to certain Tenno. Alternatively, their could be several times during each mission where opposing runners could "invade" each others games ala Dark Souls. They could either appear when each team was on the same tile, or they could get warped to a semi duel arena for a short duration occasionally. If someone got downed, they would disappear from the other teams game. These invasions would happen rarely and would only last for a small duration, as if the opposing void energies overlapped briefly.

Downsides: increased difficulty could deter some players, and the invasion style system would need some failsafe to prevent lag, IE. immediately disconnecting the specters if a host was lost.

ADD MORE DROPS TO THE ACTUAL MISSION.

I see no reason as to why there can't be a smaller bonus to xp or credits in the missions. As if the towers were both utilizing the void energy, making rewards SMALLER, but not GONE. In addition, there should be some sort of heavy incentive to run them and KILL enemies. Maybe guaranteed rare resources from specters, rare mods for completion (akin to finding artifacts hidden in the towers) or some new resource or voucher system for completing a run. For example, completing a run for clan x would give you x affinity from that clan, making their dark sectors drop x% more resources, mods, or affinity. This would make fighting for a clan (or your own clan) beneficial over time.

Downsides: The affinity system might cause some players to swear allegiance to a specific clan and no other. I don't see this as an issue really, but it could cause serious balance shifts.

ADD MISSION VARIATION

Doing the same run over and over gets boring. Fast. It would be nice if there were random missions you could chose from to fulfill roles in the attack. Ie: defenders would have to complete x amount of defenses. Completing a defense would up difficulty for an attacker doing a survival, making life support drain faster, or completing spy missions could increase the chance of Grineer or Corpus raids, etc. etc. This could add a system of coordination to the mode, making clans actually plan strategies for bolstering defenses in certain modes and slowing progress. In addition, they could customize battle pay for certain missions to incentivize players to work on a certain goal within the mission requirements. Adding mission variation would also be nice for regular dark sector missions as well, but Defense and Survival tend to be the favorites so it's not a huge deal.

Downsides: Weighting certain missions could make others unplayable, or could halt tower progress without proper balancing

ADD A NEW TILESET

I really like the look of the few Tenno modified Orokin tiles. It's dark, foreboding, and really interesting. I wish the WHOLE tower was modified Orokin, as opposed to just rehashing the tower set. It would also be cool if the regular dark sectors had a new tile set as well, but again, not necessary.

Downsides: Not really any for us, but it would be a whole load of new work for the devs.

ADD A REASON TO NOT ATTACK RAILS

If the rails can just be deployed one after another, then the dark sectors are just going to be locked up in conflict for eternity. There should be a reason to avoid constant assaults. Owning clans could bribe other clans to retract their rail, giving them the aforementioned affinity points. In addition, players could run missions to increase the time needed for deploy a rail, allowing an owning clan to bribe players to slow down an advancing rail BEFORE the conflict actually arises.

Downsides: Many clans could demand exorbitant payment from other clans, or just not care, making the payoff system largely unsuccessful. In addition, the lockdown system could slow down the conflict system exponentially, especially if the affinity system is in place, making some clans have virtually no conflict and rule the system for extended periods of time.

These are just some of my ideas, but I'd love to hear any you guys have.

[Mickey1779]

You forgot one.

 

Set a maximum number of Solar Rails a Clan / Alliance can deploy.

 

Two sounds like a nice number, where you can have one and be contesting another at the same time.

[legendarysidekicksteve]

An idea I've had to deal with the fact that solar rails in conflict don't grant bonus XP and that as it is, it seems that most rails will be in conflict, is to add a time frame (perhaps 3 days) between conflicts in which no new solar rail can be set up to challenge the existing rail. This gives players time to collect resources to build and maintain their rails as well as for non alliance players to have access to the dark sectors bonus XP.

 

On a side note, everyone putting up a zero % tax is just a phenomenon of the free market when the competition between clans is high which drives teh tax to rock bottom levels.

 

Good post btw. I like how you put both the upsides and downsides to each suggestion.

[ValhaHazred]

MAKE RAILS COST MONEY TO UPKEEP

Yes! I think the tax should be low and proportionate to clan size. Just enough to encourage taxes

MAKE THE SPECTERS MORE INTERESTING

I'm not sure about this. A lot of weapons and frames are waaaay too powerful to be in enemy hands. I also really dislike the idea of player invasions. PvP can stay in the Concaive ghetto where it belongs.

ADD MORE DROPS TO THE ACTUAL MISSION.

So far the only reason I have to run these is for Tenno Specter scans. I don't care about who wins the invasions because it's all 0% tax towers.

ADD MISSION VARIATION

Probably too complex. I do like more variety though

ADD A NEW TILESET

I think this is coming to be honest. They just wanted the proof of concept out the door

ADD A REASON TO NOT ATTACK RAILS

Just a longer period of time between attacks would be fine. Make attacks last 24 hours and deployment 36 or something.

Edited April 14, 2014 by ValhaHazred

[StallordD]

You forgot one.

 

Set a maximum number of Solar Rails a Clan / Alliance can deploy.

 

Two sounds like a nice number, where you can have one and be contesting another at the same time.

I kinda like/don't like that idea. On one hand, I want to see my clan grown and control more nodes. On the other, I don't want other clans to control huge swaths (like eclipse).