This idea is just taking further ideas that have been floating around, and to a certain degree been implemented in the battlegroups system.
The whole idea is to make it casual to set up and join competitive battles in stead of having the random mayhem we have now.
One could look at it as good, even strat battles being played continuously by players all the time.
Casual to set up
It should be easy to set up a battle. Everyone starts with their standard gear.
Easy and quick to join
If there is a battle upcoming, one should be able to join it just like a normal crpg battle and be autoassigned to a team.
Competitive
Commanders, who can be anyone, are participating in a simple ladder system. Points, challenges etc, should be quite automatic.
In depth
We all love a good strat battle right? We all cry about more teamwork in the everyday battles.. This suggestion is about fixing that, making it possible to join a real commanded battle everyday, at any time, without all the hassle, planning and waiting of strat battles.
For the commander:
* Anyone should be able to sign up to be a commander and participate in the ladder system.
* One should be able to apply for flexible slots and if one doesn't show one automatically looses it, and the next person on the list gets his turn. Perhaps the server gets turned into normal battle in the meantime.
* One can use a system similar to the battlegroups system to set up battles.
* A commander can have a Wish List of players. If both commanders wishes the same player it is random or every second time who will get him.
* Every player has a COST which is the result of a formula based on (BetterBattles K:D ratio, Win:Loss ratio, and gear)
* Every commander has a limited number of points to buy players for in their wishlist.
In any case, autobalance will even the teams before the first round based on players previous performance in BetterBattles. The idea is to keep autobalance for actual player skills, and leave the result completely up to the commanders decisions, while at the same time having some degree of teamwork growing over time.
For example, everyone would WishList Phyrex or Chase, thus they would be randomly placed almost every round, (and priced according to their effectiveness) while it would be more clever to also WishList less known players that are still good, or have a good function i your plan.
Of course there is no guarantee any of those players would be on, but some degree of organizing could reward commanders in the long term.
* Since this game mode would require much more effort, the XP and Gold should be higher than normal battle.
* Perhaps even commanders should be given a special armor and riding skills if they so wish. Killing him making the battle a win.
* Perhaps the wishlist should have sliders deciding the composition of your army in cav, ranged and footsoldiers.
* Some reminder function if the time of your battle gets drastically changed. Send a PM or email if the battle is 2 battles away?
* Commanders should be able to setup welcome messages with i.ex TS info and basic strategies.
* 30 seconds prep time in front of every battle.
For the Player
* He would simply join the server, spectate until round end and be able to join.
* A loss would give less XP/gold than normal battle, but wins should give more. This would ensure that he is more likely to follow directions.
* The commander should be able to kick players if he thinks they are doing more damage than worth.
* In any case, if a player is a near useless peasant with a horrible performance history, his worth to the autobalance would also be near zero, thus it costs nothing to have him on your team either.
* There should be lists open to everyone, showing their effectiveness in BB. (perhaps optional on the player side. The autobalancer must know however)
A side idea to this:
3 more ladders going, where the gear is preselected by commanders. One could have one price group of 100k gold, one of 500k, and one of 1mill gold to spend on equipment. Here commanders can experiment with different ranges of equipment, and we would all be able to participate in crazy battles with "real" armies, planned out beforehand, only limited in their prices.
What you think?
Bring in your ideas!
