New Construct Idea (And some discussion of Blackwood)

So with the recent IR some players are expecting a new construct to be announced soon. This got me thinking about past discussions about constructs and how many of us thought DM might be a new district, which then got me thinking about how Rarebit mentioned once about this plan they had to have control points or something like that in the city that orgs could take over, but it never would have worked.

Could this same idea work in a new construct though, albeit in a much simpler way.

What if there was a new construct set up much like the original ones, where each orgs spawns at their own spot and the centre is the most important part, where a boss would be located. In this new one however there could be something in the centre that could be triggered (not sure what, but if it was just something that needed to be selected and activated, possibly only if you kill the boss) that would claim the construct in the name of the org that activates it. When this happens, all the spawns would be allied with that group, and possibly a visible change could happen, like a particle effect in a certain colour, or a different kind of sky for each org. Other orgs would need to then kill the boss and activate what he drops while the org that currently "owns" the construct is on the defensive.

Thoughts?

To me this doesn't seem like it would be that hard to implement. Its mostly just a matter of controling the spawns right?

Also, I was curious as to how people picture Blackwood. Do people actually see it as a forest, or an abandonned city, or a secluded castle/dungeon, or a highly advanced prison? Personally I think it would be cool to see a heavily wooded area. Could be really cool.

Would be nice to have a Construct for all 3 servers, in other words, Syntax, Recursion and Vector could meet up and fight/help each other (depending on Org).  Obviously trades and recruitment to crews would have to be disabled here.

Though it will probably be very unlikely, if at all possible.

EDIT: Obviously I say obviously too much... obviously...

Hmm, then its probably possible. The thing you activate, like it it something get from killing the boss, would just activate a spawn of your org then. The boss could be hostile to everyone and which ever group kills him and loots him can spawn more npcs.

The only problem I see with that is a group going in there in non peak hours and just spawning and endless amount of NPCs for one org.

Is there a way to prevent that?

Hmm, then its probably possible. The thing you activate, like it it something get from killing the boss, would just activate a spawn of your org then. The boss could be hostile to everyone and which ever group kills him and loots him can spawn more npcs.

The only problem I see with that is a group going in there in non peak hours and just spawning and endless amount of NPCs for one org.

Is there a way to prevent that?

Balancing the advantage that you get is where some sort of test server would certainly come in handy but hey, if something like this ever comes up Rarebit will prolly implement it and the hotfix it as needed. You just want to make sure that you don't give the attacking team too hard of a time taking the place over.

Also, I was curious as to how people picture Blackwood. Do people actually see it as a forest, or an abandonned city, or a secluded castle/dungeon, or a highly advanced prison? Personally I think it would be cool to see a heavily wooded area. Could be really cool.

This seems like a really cool idea, it would be nice to see it implemented.  From what i've read I don't think it would be impossible to set up.  When activated the device would switch a variable and as long as that variable is set to the activators faction the correct NPC's and the correct particle effect would happen.
Once the device is activated the following things would happen:

1. Kill all of the NPC's in the construct
2. Spawn NPC's of the activator's faction
3. Put the boss on an XX minute respawn timer((probably a larger number so that the org that controls the area doesn't change every five minutes))
4. End the old particle effect/scenery thing and start the new one.

I had an idea to add into it aswell, perhaps it could be set up so that any players in the construct that belong to the controlling org would recieve a buff every so many minutes/seconds.  Like how the deccelerators work except it would span across the entire construct.  The buff could be what ever the current reward buff is for doing a live critical mission((currently it would be the IS Boost))  This would give people more of an incentive to go out and capture the place for their org.  Then again it might make the controlling side too powerful, idk tell me what you think.

This seems like a really cool idea, it would be nice to see it implemented.  From what i've read I don't think it would be impossible to set up.  When activated the device would switch a variable and as long as that variable is set to the activators faction the correct NPC's and the correct particle effect would happen.
Once the device is activated the following things would happen:

1. Kill all of the NPC's in the construct
2. Spawn NPC's of the activator's faction
3. Put the boss on an XX minute respawn timer((probably a larger number so that the org that controls the area doesn't change every five minutes))
4. End the old particle effect/scenery thing and start the new one.

I had an idea to add into it aswell, perhaps it could be set up so that any players in the construct that belong to the controlling org would recieve a buff every so many minutes/seconds.  Like how the deccelerators work except it would span across the entire construct.  The buff could be what ever the current reward buff is for doing a live critical mission((currently it would be the IS Boost))  This would give people more of an incentive to go out and capture the place for their org.  Then again it might make the controlling side too powerful, idk tell me what you think.

ohh..oh..I got an add to it...make it so if lowbies are like fighting an NPC the can't die from other players O_o

Wut?

 Constructs are pvp zones. And this one would have to be if you want to have any sense of urgency or conflict period. I envision it being done like DM.

Any other thoughts?

No, I think Datamine will be our only FFAPVP zone, people were asking for a FFA zone not long before it happened.  The new construct will follow normal PVP rules I think.

What all the constructs need are real methods to get into them, they are the places that should be used as PVP fighting areas, but because it is such a pain to get to no one bothers and the only way to get people in is organize a War in Zero One that is occasionally done on Syntax.

I was thinking the idea that DM is open to all lvls, not the fact that it is ffapvp. That kind of mayhem wouldn't really work for the above idea.

I think you are right though about entering archives. It would be cool if there was a way to do it through hardlines. Maybe a rundown looking phone in the constructs that can be tagged. The archivist only would be needed to get there the first time, or at least until you tag this hardline. Hardlines might not work so well in DM though, because then you will have people who just sit there and kill whoever comes through.

But with what you said about the need to organize something to have a good time, thats what this idea is for. Its something to fight over right? A territory that can be claimed by any org at anytime. I'm not sure about some sort of awesome loot in this case though...how it could be handled. Anyones thoughts on that?

What could be cool (but will never happen because we don't have a PVP leaderboard and the server staus thing is a static picture) would be to have the control status of the construct displayed somewhere on the website.

 Hardlines might not work so well in DM though, because then you will have people who just sit there and kill whoever comes through.

Steelle wrote:

 Hardlines might not work so well in DM though, because then you will have people who just sit there and kill whoever comes through.

Since we don't tend to spawn near a archivist anyway, I think leaving them as the way out of the construct is fine. I do think it would be cool to make it so we can get into the construct from rundown hardlines in the megacity, or perhaps even old phones from within buildings (kinda like the old lines we are tracking in the current Zion critical missions, like the in building hardines featured in the movie).

Perhaps these old hardlines could have some nasty risks involved, say having them randomly spawn you in a heavily populated area (like Mara C) flagged up as PVP, or in the middle of an exile gang of your level or higher... heh... having some indoor, or faulty hardlines (for getting into costructs) could be a bit of fun.

So with the recent IR some players are expecting a new construct to be announced soon. This got me thinking about past discussions about constructs and how many of us thought DM might be a new district, which then got me thinking about how Rarebit mentioned once about this plan they had to have control points or something like that in the city that orgs could take over, but it never would have worked.

Could this same idea work in a new construct though, albeit in a much simpler way.

What if there was a new construct set up much like the original ones, where each orgs spawns at their own spot and the centre is the most important part, where a boss would be located. In this new one however there could be something in the centre that could be triggered (not sure what, but if it was just something that needed to be selected and activated, possibly only if you kill the boss) that would claim the construct in the name of the org that activates it. When this happens, all the spawns would be allied with that group, and possibly a visible change could happen, like a particle effect in a certain colour, or a different kind of sky for each org. Other orgs would need to then kill the boss and activate what he drops while the org that currently "owns" the construct is on the defensive.

Thoughts?

To me this doesn't seem like it would be that hard to implement. Its mostly just a matter of controling the spawns right?

Also, I was curious as to how people picture Blackwood. Do people actually see it as a forest, or an abandonned city, or a secluded castle/dungeon, or a highly advanced prison? Personally I think it would be cool to see a heavily wooded area. Could be really cool.

I know a thing or two about the game's coding[...]

There is only one thing known about the game's coding, and that is it is so locked up tight it may aswell be in Blackwood

And I think Org spawns would be possible, we know Org Aligned NPCs exist (Construct Sentries) and all Rarebit or Dracomet have to do it set up so when a 'trigger is pulled', NPCs spawn matching the Org that 'pulled the trigger'.  This could be Tapping an Access Node (30-60 seconds to tap it to make it risky to open yourself up), killing a Specific NPC (Level 60-70) or whatever.

Also, Liasons are getting NPC spawning tools (or have them) so it is possible to give players the ability to spawn things.  So I think it is very possible.

ZETAX101 wrote:

I know a thing or two about the game's coding[...]

There is only one thing known about the game's coding, and that is it is so locked up tight it may aswell be in Blackwood " width="15" height="15" />

And I think Org spawns would be possible, we know Org Aligned NPCs exist (Construct Sentries) and all Rarebit or Dracomet have to do it set up so when a 'trigger is pulled', NPCs spawn matching the Org that 'pulled the trigger'.  This could be Tapping an Access Node (30-60 seconds to tap it to make it risky to open yourself up), killing a Specific NPC (Level 60-70) or whatever.

Also, Liasons are getting NPC spawning tools (or have them) so it is possible to give players the ability to spawn things.  So I think it is very possible.

Also, was there ever a reason given for the construct section under hardlines? What was the plan there?

Steelle wrote:

Also, was there ever a reason given for the construct section under hardlines? What was the plan there?

I remember pre-beta on the website or forums that they wanted to have faction constructs available (either 'player made' or dev made) and you could compile a list of them.  So your faction could do their business there, but other warring factions could also break into your construct.  It might have gotten scrapped.