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[TWS] Living AvA Map – „Settlers of Cyrodiil“

Taonnor
Taonnor
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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“
Back to the Main Thread -> [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)
03_01_CyrodiilNewObjectivesLargeMap.png

Small Map (Zoom in)
03_02_CyrodiilNewObjectivesSmallMap.png

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
04_01_OldTower.PNG

New tower structure
04_02_NewTowerSimple.png
04_03_NewTower.PNG

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)
05_01_ResourceRoutesKeepLargeMap.png

Convoy routes to the Keeps Small Map (Zoom in)
05_02_ResourceRoutesKeepSmallMap.png

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)
06_03_ResourceRoutesCampaignLargeMap.png

Convoy routes to Campaign Delivery Point Small Map (Zoom in)
06_04_ResourceRoutesCampaignSmallMap.png

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?
Edited by Taonnor on October 14, 2018 8:53PM
Guild

Gildenleiter von Lux Dei (EU/AD). Offizieller Gildenspotlight für ESOTU!
Guild leader of Lux Dei (EU/AD). Official Guild Spotlight for ESOTU!

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ESOUI Author Portal: Taonnor
Addons: Taos AP Session, Taos Group Tools

Myth AoE Cap: DE Mythos AoE Cap // EN Myth AoE Cap

What should i change in ESO: DE [DGR] Was würde ich an ESO verändern - "Der große Rundumschlag" // EN [TWS] What should i change in ESO – „The sweeping statement“

Charakters

Taonnor Annare, Sorcerer
Thao Annare, Nightblade
  • Checkmath
    Checkmath
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    Well I see good points in there, but I also see potential problems with your new system.

    It looks like a lot of convoys will be moving at all the time somehow, which need protection from players. But the problem I see there, is that convoys may be neglected very fast. Maybe during a short time after the implementation of the convoys people will actually care about them, escort them to their targets. But I think that the interest in doing so will fade very fast, meaning people are escorting convoys and see, that there is actually only a small chance being assaulted, since the other factions probably are more interest to take the keeps. Also the fewer the escorts, the more popular is it for gankers to take on the escorts. So escorting convoys will be neglected very fast, since you can not hold a convoy solo due to gankers and groups rather tend to attack instead of protect, where they most likely will not be assaulted at all. So the incentive of protecting convoys will fade very fast, because the interest of the players to protect convoys is not given, if they happen too frequently. Convoys really need to be a huge profit for the alliance and maybe only should happen at an interval of 30 minutes or once an hour, otherwise it will be too common to be interesting. The same goes for the numbers of convoys. It would be of interest, if there are only maybe two convoys at the same time, so people know, that there will be action around the convoys. This will not be the case, if there are too many convoys at the same time from every keep you actually posses.

    Basically this new feature is very dependent on the interest of the players. Players want to PvP in cyrodiil, so making up content without actual confrontation is meaningless. It is unlikely to meet any enemies, if there are 5-10 convoys to protect all 15 minutes, since it is spread out too much. Therefore it is important to make sure those escort missions are really targets of confrontations between alliances.

    I see the same problem with the convoys from the resources to the belonging keeps. I do not think there is much of interest in escorting or assaulting such convoys. The only interest in those convoys will come from the guild claiming a keep and its substructures. And that interest probably is already met, if one person makes sure to upgrade the keep after the convoys arrived (assuming convoys also moves when no players are escorting it).

    The main problem in your idea is the interest of players. Normally players head from battles to battles. Either only PvP scared PvElers will take part into escort missions, if they happen too frequently, because then those escorts are a rather safe content. Or those convoys do not happen too frequently and are places of battles, where people really want to go. Most people will only participate in such content, if there really is an encounter with enemies guaranteed. If not, they will rather head for the next keep. At the moment the big fights happen around the keeps and big groups either move to attack a keep or move to defend one, which is under attack, because either they will face a guaranteed battle or at least some safe alliance points. Especially guild groups like your own have actually no interest in small convoys from resources to keeps or unprotected convoys. You guys run to the big battle crosses on the map or you take outposts to attract the enemies.

    So as a small summary: convoys from resources to keeps most probably will only be of interest for a guild to upgrade their own keep. Those convoys will most likely not be escorted at all.

    The convoys from keeps to the central resource delivery station only will be a good feature, if they do not happen too frequently and not too many at the same time. In my opinion there should be around 2 convoys per alliance all 30 minutes (maybe only one if an alliance does not have many keeps, but which grants the doubled prize). The keep where they start from will be chosen randomly and they will move along the normal trading routes. Those convoys will be shown on the map, but will not be shown as under attack similar to keeps. This would allow a faction to split up on those two convoys and also dividing the forces into attackers and defenders. Enemies will probably concentrate their forces on one convoy then and battle crosses will show, where the actions is going on. This also would allow strategic gameplay by attacking the different convoys at different time points, so that maybe enemy forces will neglect one convoy, when the other one seems to be in difficulties.
  • Taonnor
    Taonnor
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    @Checkmath your toughs are very good. Especially the arguments with the too high spawn of Convoys. I think this is a good adjustment to make them more a "global and random" event. As i said in another thread my Suggestions follow an idea behind. Further adjustments to the details are welcomed. I hope I encourage with my Suggestions also to new ideas.

    So dont stop to discuss!
    Edited by Taonnor on October 16, 2018 9:09AM
    Guild

    Gildenleiter von Lux Dei (EU/AD). Offizieller Gildenspotlight für ESOTU!
    Guild leader of Lux Dei (EU/AD). Official Guild Spotlight for ESOTU!

    Addons & Guides

    ESOUI Author Portal: Taonnor
    Addons: Taos AP Session, Taos Group Tools

    Myth AoE Cap: DE Mythos AoE Cap // EN Myth AoE Cap

    What should i change in ESO: DE [DGR] Was würde ich an ESO verändern - "Der große Rundumschlag" // EN [TWS] What should i change in ESO – „The sweeping statement“

    Charakters

    Taonnor Annare, Sorcerer
    Thao Annare, Nightblade
  • Checkmath
    Checkmath
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Maybe it would be a good idea to make the convoys from the keeps to the resource station spawn at the keep, which is the furthest away from your station. So if DC has its home keeps plus bleakers and chalman, then the convoy will spawn at chalman, the keep furthest aways DC posses. This would lead to a high chance of facing enemies due the escort, since the convoy spawns not too far away from the enemies. Imagine DC has half the maps and the convoy would start at ales or even glade, there would be no chance of getting there in time. So making the spawn point near enemy lines, will increase the chance of it being assaulted and therefore increases the need of an actual escort force.

    Recently somebody else brought up the idea of convoys, which are connected to special missions, you can get from the quest boards. Maybe adding that idea to yours would even make the convoys more interesting. But only with the need of staying near the convoy to fullfill the quest. But I think this also would be given by providing alliance points, when the convoy arrives at the resource station and you are in the area of the station (similar to the range you get an offtick from a keep).

    Additionally I saw the idea of capture and holding a flag, which spawns somewhere on the map. This would be similar to the battleground mode. Those flags would spawn between or near the front lines of the factions. Probably best would be, if it does not spawn on the main routes between keeps, but a bit more "countryside". Maybe convoys and flags could alternate and both need to count towards the faction leaderboard.
  • killahsin
    killahsin
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    vertical flags while looking good will be hilarious to cap/mitigate the amount of liquid falling on you. Especially one 3 floors up. You would have to make good usage of RR's like in the old TF days.
    Edited by killahsin on October 17, 2018 11:24AM
  • ATomiX96
    ATomiX96
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    dont try to make this game a budget Guild Wars 2 AvAvA lmao.
  • Alagras
    Alagras
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    Taonnor I share your ideas for the most. Many other people want convoys even if they didn t post here to say so. In my dreamed Cyrodil the mines, farms etc were built by players in ressource-rich locations, then moved by convoys. Your solution is more realistic as buildings are not modified (much), just convoys added.

    A system like "Cyrodil Tel Var stones" could also fit well into that, but it s another topic.

    And I agree with you there should be 2 sorts of convoys. Small ones constantly popping, and large ones leading to larger fights.

    About small ones (keep convoys as you name them):
    :

    Checkmath is right to say no one would escort small ones, but to me it wouldn t work this way. They would pop all the time and attacking one wouldn t bring you much, you would have to keep plundering them for a time to make a good reward. And it would end up attracting attention with those little dots on the map.
    So we would never escort them, only say "ok time to smash those trolls here" when we see our caravan traffic badly disrupted. And as convoy attackers with a Tel Var system we could be like: "should I go bank my stones or attack a few more at the risk of being killed and looted"?

    About large convoys (alliance delivery point) I mostly agree with you:only a few of them, taking a long tricky trip across the map.

    Any system would take a few patches to adjust well the rewards, the spawn rate etc... but to me convoys are the best way, and simplest to code in, to spice up and renew Cyrodil gameplay



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