[conquest] conquest etiquette part 2 - suggestions

[Jon Trulson]

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, Almighty Tallest Cataboligne wrote:

[...]

> However I have noticed some players taking advantage of the ability to
> play multiple ships.  This could seem a trifle unfair and I have
> thought of the following:
>

 	Oh man, Wintermute is very good flying 4 ships ;-) Coupled with 
SlingShot, the only way to survive is to do the same thing.  Which is why 
SlingShot is now disabled on the main server.

[...]

 	Multiple ships is a kind of tricky thing.  On one hand, I feel if 
you can actually handle multiple ships you should be given the chance to 
do so.  Though in the last game, when dave and I took the rom planets, WM 
kept sending ship after ship to rom.  After about 20 minutes of this I was 
tired and just left.

>
> Using multiples to *unfairly* increase your stats.
>
> My personal feelings:
>

 	I think what will be needed here is a new 'max clients per ip' 
option that an CO can specify.  This option would only allow the 
configured number of client from a single IP to connect.  Maybe the 
default is 1 or 2.

 	Adding complicated logic to determine when to allow it and when 
not too I think is not waranted.  It should apply to everyone under all 
circumstances.

 	The current problem with multiples is that aginast a player who is 
good at it, you really have no choice but to do the same or you're 
screwed.

> If everyone isnt running multiple ships (or at least agrees with
> it...) I dont think anyone should - just out of respect and fairness.
> Yes this makes  conquest harder, and bots more troublesome...but hey -
> why play if it isnt a challenge?
>
> You dont kill a dummy 100 or more times (even if you are alone on a

 	Ahem.  I believe I've seen you do this :)

> public server) just to crank your efficiency up.  Or play a user one
> time and get the high skill score then never play again.  Bomb armies
> and fight bots the hard way.  It is possible to make a conquest with
> only 1 ship.  And if you want the high score you need to play often
> enough to risk lowering the score and being killed by players, bots,
> armies, suns, etc...
>
> If you block a bot to avoid the bot attack with a home planet that has
> like 100 armies - stop blocking around 35 - 45 and fight the bot
> fairly for the planet.  Same goes for the genocide.  2 or more ppl on
> the same team should not be blocking bots either.  Besides its fun for
> a player at peace to tow a bot while the other takes the system - then
> you put the bot in a sun (Muh-hah-hah-hah-hah...ahem, sorry.)
>

 	These would have to be enforced by the game.  Expecting players to 
subscribe here and read this thread and then play by these recomendations 
isn't realistic.  I do not believe WM is subscribed here for example.

> If you do have multiples and someone keeps killing the ones you arent
> paying close attention to, you dont chase down their ship with
> everything you have just for revenge...same with taking your team
> planets.
>

 	Revenge is a dish best served on a bed of torpedos.

> The same person having different user accounts is also abuse-able.
> Its one thing to have a dummy account (doodie anyone?), an account to
> mess with (backup), and one for serious play (cat)...its quite another
> to make a new user just to harass another player, or interfere with
> their stats.

 	Again, due to the nature of network play, there is not much that 
can be done in this regard.  I think a new IP limiting capability is the 
way to go here.  For my server, I'd probably set the limit at 2 per IP 
addr.

>
> If I tell you something is cheating, the above is why I think it so.
>

 	Well, technically they are not really cheating.  If the game 
permits it, you can't really call that a cheat.  The game should simply 
not permit more than a specified number of clients from the same IP to 
connect.

>
> Some things are fair (alls fair in love and war?) by the established
> rules, but are considered (at least by me) to be dishonorable.
> Tormenting an opponent with overheated weps, or no fuel...endlessly
> hounding an opponent with no team or friendly  planets for
> refueling...going to war just to take recently conquered planets -
> just because you know they have low army counts...

 	Hey, that's part of the game.  I did that to you I believe in the 
last game.  I followed you around, zipped in and out getting you to waste 
fuel and heat (while you were attacking my Orion planets), knowing you had 
no friendly planets nearby to fuel on, then I blew up your ship when you 
were sufficiently weak and had to run away.  That's a perfectly valid way 
to play.  Conquest is as much about strategy as it is about aiming right. 
:)  Next time don't mess with my planets unless you want to tangle, and 
have a viable exit strategy :)


> I'm not saying anyone should change thier play style or anything.
>
> I just think if there are more than 2 players on a server, especially
> 2 on 1 team that multiple ships should be limited to 2 or not used at
> all.  (And no creating *fake* identites to get around it either -
> thats still cheating.)


 	Should be limited by IP.  I'll think about an implementation for 
the next dev release.  It may need to wait until after 8.1 is released... 
Not sure yet.

>
> Besides - you are a much better player if you only have one ship to
> focus on.  Multiple ships usually just lead to easier kills...and we
> dont want that.

 	Well... :)

-- 
Jon Trulson    mailto:jon at radscan.com
ID: 1A9A2B09, FP: C23F328A721264E7 B6188192EC733962
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