Defending NPC fiefs

[Beat]

I have taken part in several sieges since the most recent start of Strategus and I feel like something needs to be done about the defenders representing the NPC villagers.  There is little to no organization, some people are spawning with no equipment, others are running off in random directions or straight toward the enemy and wasting tickets.  Half the defenders are yelling to stay in the village, the other half are yelling at everyone to charge and no one seems to have a good idea of how to successfully defend a fief.

I've seen a few instances of teamwork and cooperation but it usually doesn't last long enough to make much of a difference.  Perhaps we could assign someone trustworthy as a commander so we at least know who to listen to.  I'd also like to see more policing of the Strategus server during sieges so the people who don't care about the fief losing tickets can be ejected before they can do much harm.

We just can't let the NPC controlled fiefs go down so fast with such little cost to the attackers.  Unless of course that is intended...

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. 

[Bjarky]

i fully agree, these ticket wasting tactics are ridiculous and make the AI battles just a waste of time and no fun.
there should be an admin at the ready to let the banhammer loose!
btw. where is the old sticky with the strategus battle rules?
and don't give us this "common sense stuff", there is no such thing, specify the rules and follow through, don't want to see this strat to go glitch beserk again...

[Zaharist]

Do you remember Defenders of Calradia?

[Bjarky]

Do you remember Defenders of Calradia?

i do and that is a fine thing to have, but that dosn't fix ticket wasters or roster fillers from glitchers...

[Zaharist]

imo it's the only way to make AI battles better. I don't believe that it's possible to get rid of roster fillers and wasters anyway.

[Bjarky]

yes it is (mostly), by clearly making a ruleset (and updating it when needed) and punishing accordently.
rosters are always viewable, you just save the link, i have one from yaragar fx, with some nice fillers.
some people just don't understand if they don't get punished, that's all.

and when u have a proper ruleset to look into, u know what is allowed and what not, don't care about cute excuses.
but well until there is no sticky ruleset, everyone is free to act like they don't know what is fine and what not.

[Turkhammer]

I'm in full agreement with you Beat.  It is very frustrating.  I don't know how it can be policed however. 

Perhaps:

1. list a "defenders' TS channel in the battle announcement on the c-rpg page.
2. Require or strongly encourage having TS and getting on the channel 15 minutes before the battle.
3. Have a corps of Commanders, who are volunteers, like admins who take charge of the tactics.  They could be listed on the Battle page also.
    Give them voice over privelges on the TS server.
4. Perhaps the Commanders could have temporary admin priveleges for discipline and to kick the mutinous ticket wasters.

[Rikthor]

If you feel like someone is intentionally wasting tickets, go into irc or have someone go into irc and contact admins there. Most of them are more than happy to hop over and watch the person in question. The reason you see very little teamwork and cooperation is, that it doesn't really matter to most people. Look at the sign up lists, it is a random smattering of all types. Some just to do it to have fun, some sign up because they don't like the other clan, some want to see a strat battle for the first time, etc.

There is also very little incentive for defending and defending successfully neutral villages. If you are in a disputed area with another clan then yes, you might have a vest interest but 95% of the defenders do not. The experience you gain from strat battles is incredibly weak compared to just a regular round on the battle servers for instance. Also, the bug where you don't get paid is another incentive gone. That issue has been around since Strat 2.0 and still has not been fixed. So you get weak experience and no gold for defending, which will translate into a lot of people goofing or not caring about the results.

Personally, I think in the case of neutral villages, extra rewards should be given to defenders if they successfully defend from an attacking clan. Whether it's double experience or gold, if gold payout were working, it would do a lot to make more people care for example.

[Zaharist]

I agree with you, Bjarky
but
you are talking about admin work.

Our, players', duty is to ressurect Defenders of Calradia movement -)

[Bjarky]

of course, this thread is for suggestions, 1 could fx be a proper ruleset.
2. we as players try to organize better.
3. better exp ratings.
4. getting paid.
etc etc.

[Balton]

There really needs to be some sort of penalty if you sign up for a battle, get accepted, but fail to show up. Perhaps a 72 hour ban on strategus fights (unless you, personally, are being attacked), or something along those lines.

And the reward gained by the mercenaries whom have successfully defended a neutral fief, should be severely greater than the reward gained by those who failed. Such an addition would be a pulverizing incentive to work together and give it your all.

[Braeden]

There really needs to be some sort of penalty if you sign up for a battle, get accepted, but fail to show up. Perhaps a 72 hour ban on strategus fights (unless you, personally, are being attacked), or something along those lines.

Agreed.  Except for the unless.

And the reward gained by the mercenaries whom have successfully defended a neutral fief, should be severely greater than the reward gained by those who failed. Such an addition would be a pulverizing incentive to work together and give it your all.

At one point they only paid if you won.  The xp gained for defending was the only compensation if you lost.  I thought that worked fairly well, since generally people are willing to fight against other groups anyhow.

[Beat]

Great suggestions.

I agree that you should only be paid if you win at defending, that would create a lot of incentive.  However, it would do nothing about organization.  People can be motivated to achieve the same goal but have radically different ideas of how to accomplish it.  Having a TS available would be nice but we still need some kind of official leadership.  A handful of well known and trusted volunteers could be in a pool of commanders and each time an NPC fief is attacked, one or more of them would be called upon to lead the defense.

And as far as reporting people who waste tickets goes; that is often pretty difficult since by the time I see them running toward the enemy alone, they are too far away for me to see their name.  And apparently there is a bug where some people spawn without gear unintentionally.  I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I have heard some say when confronted about it.  Either way, we need better admin support in there, we needs eyes roaming the battlefield looking for people breaking the rules or not following the commander's instructions.

[mandible/splinteryourjaw]

People spawning w/o gear and totally naked should not run into insta-death, but rather wait for someone to die, harvest their weapons, and fight naked..................or they can simply become weapon harvesters and gather up all of the fallen weapons and bring them back to spawn until they are killed.  Even naked people have a use.

As far as pay, I believe the village should pay what it promises regardless.  Mercs are hired to fight and try to win.  Their pay isn't based on winning or losing, but participating.  If you want to add a win component to it then sell all the loot at regular buy price and split the proceeds among all the mercs with a positive K/D.  JMHO

I could really use my merc pay the village promised.

[Turkhammer]

I agree.  Why should a Merc fight at 1:3 odds, usually a guaranteed loss, if he won't get paid?  The xp stinks compared to just regular battle servers.

I've never spawned naked in a strat battle unless I neglected to select weapons.  Is it confirmed that you can spawn naked if you have selected weapons at the selection screen?

Acknowledged leaders are needed.  No military unit, even a Medieval one, can be run by a committee.

Every leader of an NPC defense should make a post in the Merc recruiting thread concerning details (TS, who is in command, general defense plan).  This is not too time consuming and would be very helpful.