First I will apologize for my broken English. I’m not a native English people. If you do not understand some sentence, try to look into the German thread and translate it or ask me directly!
Here is the German counterpart. ->
AvA Karte lebendig machen – „Die Sieder von Cyrodiil“
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[TWS] What should i change in ESO – „The sweeping statement“
I think you can do a lot more with the map. There are still many dead points. The current update (4.2.) Is already going into the right direction, but that's not enough for me. Who does not like playing "Settlers of Catan"? I want to bring resources much more into the foreground and add new tactical possibilities. For this I introduce my change requests in the following step by step.
The new map of Cyrodiil – Keep-Resource Points should more spread out
I come later more into detail, why I want to spread out the resources. I hope you can follow me until then. Here first the map, how I would replace them.
Large Map (Zoom in)
Small Map (Zoom in)
Keep-Resource Points should be more fortified (Mine, Wood, Grains)
The current Keep-Resource Points are far too weak. For my project they should be stronger fortified.
For this i would change them:
- Add another floor (Third floor)
- The flag should be located into the tower on the 2nd floor (Old roof)
- The new flag room should not reached by siege from outside
- The new roof should also not reached by siege from outside
- Every tower is closed now and gets an entrance like Outposts side or Keep
That means you must either break the gate or shoot the tower down. The entrance should break faster than from the outposts, but give the defenders a chance to react.
Old tower structure
New tower structure
Earned Resources are physical
Next, it's about how earned resources are produced. Instead of upgrading the keep with "magic," resources are now "more realistic" and more tangible.
The Keep-Resource Points now produce two resources of the respective type every 15 minutes (Stone, Wood, Grain). However, these do not migrate by “magic” to the destination. They must be transported by a convoy. Now the new convoy system comes into play and why the Keep-Resource Points are further away from the Keep and should be more fortified.
Resources will be transported via „Convoy“ to endpoints
One endpoint is the Keep (Keep Convoy), and a second endpoint is a Campaign Delivery Point (Campaign Convoy; more on those later and therefore 2 Convoys). So there are 2 Convoys starts from the resource. These consist of 2 guards and a mule. In the following picture you can see the Keep-Resource Points and the ways of the Keep Convoys to the Keeps. The Keep Convoys tries to go the most direct way to the Keep.
Convoy routes to the Keeps Large Map (Zoom in)
Convoy routes to the Keeps Small Map (Zoom in)
Convoys can be attacked
Here comes the first step in the Convoy system. A Convoy can be ambushed on the way to the endpoint and the resource can be "captured". The attacked Convoy disappears and gives the opponent faction no bonuses. A successful attack of a Convoy also gives further rewards. The Campaign Convoy also gives a campaign victory point (more on that later).
- Defeating a „Campaign Convoy“ gives a campaign victory point (More on that later
- Defeating a "Keep Convoy" or “Campaign Convoy” gives the respective resource type into the Campaign Resource Pool (More on that later)
- Defeating a „Keep Convoy“ or „Campaign Convoy“ gives 1000 AP
The Keep Convoy and new „claiming“
If a Keep Convoy arrives at the endpoint (in this case, the keep), then the resource is credited to the Keep Resource Pool. With these collected resources, the "megastructure" can be upgraded. Not by the system automatically. The players must be upgrading it. Specifically, the guild that claimed the keep or one of the resources. If a guild does not buy upgrades in a given time (15 Minutes), the keep is free to reclaim. A guild can "claim" several structures from one "megastructure" at the same time. For example Faregyl and all resources of it.
The new keep upgrade and Keep-Resource Points upgrade system
Each upgrade costs resources. More precisely, the collected resources from Keep Resource Pool. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it will remain until the Keep is conquered! No meaningless "downgrades" anymore. Also the resources can be strengthened, in the same way as the Keeps.
- Upgrades for Keep with collected resources (Stone, Wood, Grain) from Keep Resource Pool (Upgrades need to purchase by the claiming Guild)
- Upgrades for Keep-Resource Points with collected resources (Stone, Wood, Grain) from Keep Resource Pool (Upgrades need to purchase by the claiming Guild)
The Campaign Convoy, which is going to the Campaign Delivery Point
The second aforementioned Convoy goes to a central “Campaign Delivery Point”. The Campaign Convoy do not go straight to the Keep. They go through the official trade routes in Cyrodiil (light blue arrows in the following picture). The Convoys from the enemy keeps will go in the opposite direction to the delivery point of the occupant (purple arrows and blue arrows opposite in the following picture). They will have a very long way through enemy territory. The Convoys from enemy territory depend that the bridge Alessia or the Mile Gates being repaired! If this is not the case, they despawn and give no points to anyone.
Convoy routes to Campaign Delivery Point Large Map (Zoom in)
Convoy routes to Campaign Delivery Point Small Map (Zoom in)
All Convoys need to pass the own central home keep to reach the Campaign Delivery Point. This increases the strategic importance of this keep. For example, one group can take the central keep in the backcountry and then intercept all Convoys (which gives victory points and campaign resources). A dominating faction, who has all keeps, receives a large amount of Convoys over it.
Resources in Campaign Resource Pool and their meaning
Every Campaign Convoy that reaches the Campaign Delivery Point will deliver a resource of that type (Stone, Wood, Grain) into the Campaign Resource Pool. When a certain amount of resources has been collected, there is a faction-wide buff and campaign victory points credited.
The faction wide Campaign Resource Buff
When 12 resources of all types have been collected, they are removed from the Campaign Resource Pool and a faction-wide buff is given.
Buff: 12x all 3 -> 10% AP, XP & Gold for 30 Minutes
Why 12? If I calculate correct, with 6 home keeps held, the buff should be consistently UP. But once a Convoy has been attacked, that is no longer guaranteed! In counter, you can have the buff UP faster by invading foreign Convoys.
Campaign victory points via resources
Delivering resources to the Campaign Delivery Point also gives campaign victory points. Only the delivered over the Campaign Delivery Point, not the captured from foreign Convoys! How quickly campaign victory points are generated from accumulated resources depends on the number of controlled keeps. It is always the same number of each resource to collect (For example 1S:1W:1G). The resources will not be removed from Campaign Resource Pool, after earning a Campaign Victory Point. Only the delivering of resources is important here.
- Homekeeps or smaller 1:1
- 8 Keeps 1:2
- 10 Keeps 1:3
- 12 Keeps 1:4
- 14 Keeps 1:5
- 16 Keeps 1:6
- 18 Keeps 1:7
Keeps can change very fast. How does work it with the diminishing return on resources?
Ultimately, the faction must always finish the current victory point cycle. If a faction holds 14 Keeps and drops back to 6 keeps, it has to collect the 5x all 3 resources first. Then there is a victory point generated and then the current number of keeps is valid for the next cycle.
This should especially bring the strong faction to not go too much on Keeps. But more keeps give more resources, so that compensates it a little bit. However, if the faction wants to win a campaign and they need Elder Scrolls for it, they have to take on opposing keeps and accept a slower victory point generation over the resources. Tactical sensitivity is needed here.
Further Campaign Victory Points
As mentioned before, Elder Scrolls also give victory points. But not only Elder Scrolls, also "killed enemies" give victory points.
- Holding of an Elder Scroll generates 5 Campaign Victory Points every 30 Minutes
- Killing of 100 enemies (faction-wide) generates 1 Campaign Victory Point
Why I introduced these 2 things to generate Campaign Victory Points?
Basically, the superior faction usually takes everything in the morning or at night. In order for this not to be completely without reward, held Elder Scrolls (Own and opposing) give each 5 points every 30 minutes.
Killing 100 players is good for all successful factions. But the underdog faction will collect more here. Especially in the mornings or in the weak campaign times, where a Superior faction has 3 bars and fights against few opponents, the underdog faction will make more "kills" and generate more victory points. On the other side, the superior faction has the resources and Elder Scrolls points.
In summary, all possibilities for generating Campaign Victory Points
Here again all victory points according to my concept.
- Defeating a „Campaign Convoy“ generates 1 Campaign Victory Point
- Gathering of Campaign Resources generates Campaign Victory Points
- Holding of an Elder Scroll generates 5 Campaign Victory Points every 30 Minutes
- Killing of 100 enemies (faction-wide) generates 1 Campaign Victory Point
In summary, we see that there is always a scaling counterpart to the underdog and superior faction. For example, an underdog faction has many more opportunities to attack "Convoys" directly and generate Campaign Victory Points. Guerilla tactics between the central keeps and the delivery points are possible and promise quick success. Whereas the superior faction gets the points from holding Elder Scrolls and the delivered "Convoys". However, with the resources needed to increase for each enemy keep, it is no longer attractive to capture all opposing keeps. The focus here is much more on Elder Scrolls and other active parts like attacking “Convoys” or killing players.
My hope with „Settlers of Cyrodiil“
I hope that with my resource oriented system I bring much more excitement to the battlefield and open up new tactical possibilities. Keyword Guerilla tactics. Especially for smaller groups, there is the possibility in the field with attacking the enemy "Convoys" to bring direct influence on the campaign victory.
The Superior faction is forced to split, because in fact they have to "guard" everything and the more it owns (more keeps), the more they have to "guard". The Convoys must come home safely. Everywhere the opponents can attack the Convoys. Small skirmishes over the entire routes on the whole map are possible.
I also feel the resource system a little more realistic and coherent. Just the point with upgrading of the Keeps. Pointless "downgrades" punishments do not exist with me. Team spirit and interaction should be promoted and this should be rewarded with a strong Keep, which does not suddenly become weaker by magic when defending (WTF).
What do you say to that? Who does not like playing "Settlers of Catan"? Uh, Cyrodiil?