I've noticed abandoned vehicles, like tanks and APCs, a lot more in this mode.

Also, I got 400 RP for blowing the radar tower on Vigil Island which seems like a lot for this mode.

Very easy to abuse the system with persistent RP. Like Vigil Island, get the blow-able resource bonuses and capture points then leave the server - defending the airfield not profitable. Then return a few minutes later for more RP earning. I should have lots of RP for the session later today to whip some noob asses!

From what I've heard so far, 100% of players that have commented on persistent RP have viewed it as detrimental rather than beneficial to this mode. So I'd recommend that you keep an open mind and give consideration to player feedback.

Have been dipping in and out of Beerdrinkers for an hour or so. It's always Vigil Island, so either this map doesn't have a 30 minute timer or it's bugged and is repeating the map.

I'm pretty sure the map is stuck again. When DocStone answered me this afternoon, he also wrote that it need to be restarted manually. But as I saw it is stuck at the map 8 after he did that.

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As for the changes in PVP mode: I like my current stats/stash content , but it's true that this is noob unfriendly with these new settings.

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"Ad cogitandum et agendum homo natus es"

I work quickly, cheaply and qualitatively. You can choose only two of the three options.

It moved on from Vigil Island, although JackMayol said the server hadn't been reset.

Then it was Bootleg Islands. After all the bases had been captured, there were no "Starting in X seconds..." notifiers. Nothing. Until it then restarted the exact same Bootleg Islands level. This time there was no timer showing. When the round finished it then started the Bootleg Islands level yet again.

Also, I found the map display a little unclear at times:

- dark grey is uncapturable territory
- light grey is capturable territory
- grey is the Greycollars' colour
- on top of that, the map display uses various shades of grey for the underlying terrain features

Rather unclear.

I think that, at the very least, the capturable territory area should be a different colour. I think off-white/cream/vanilla has the desired neutrality, while at the same time being distinct from the greys, greens and browns being used already.

e.g.:

https://www.hpponline.co.uk/imagehandle ... eight=1000
https://www.wallyspartyfactory.com/asse ... napkin.png

More thoughts on the new format having played some more:

- the ten bases on Moorland Trenches was way too many and it also had a bottleneck at West Trenches.

- more agreement on the dislike of persistent RP/stash. There was another example of why it doesn't work: it was me and another guy against Dio and Halp, who are both very good players, on Vigil Island. I went from 500 RP to 100 RP (my bonanza of 400 RP from blowing the radar tower gone). There was a few minutes of play left but I decided to stop attacking as I was just wasting my RP fast. So I stopped playing for the final few minutes.

- having lots of bases meant that with the few players playing, we often didn't see each other very much.

- I quite like the size of the four base format, and have had good games with it, but there is also a problem that sometimes occurs leading to extremely short battles. One team will very, very quickly capture the two middle bases and then are attacking the enemy's final base in no time.

I have noticed at the start of games a very low friendly bot count, like one or two bots. This makes it easy for players to quickly run and capture the two middle bases.

I feel this issue might diminish if there was a base full of bots at the start. The friendly bots should immediately start attacking the primary target (as I think they are programmed to do anyway).

If there were bots streaming in to the primary target from the start it would not be so easy for the players to run in and quick capture both middle bases.

In a four base format, with two middle bases, ideally the base the AI attack as the primary target should not be fixed, but instead random each game. The enemy AI should be set to attack the other middle base, so each team would quickly have bots controlling each of the middle bases.

- also what is the overall bot count for this? Same level as co-op or reduced?

- I still have a feeling that four bases might be a good size. I feel that more than six is too much. Four bases is a small enough arena for low player numbers to find each other. It's yet to be seen how it will fare with higher player numbers. I think it would need some tweaking to the bot numbers and to their primary target attack plan before it can really be judged.

- I think having an option of three bases to attack at one time is also too much, especially for low player numbers.

The amount of abandoned tanks and APCs in this mode is bizarre. Doesn't happen so much in the regular game, so I don't know what is causing it. Also, I'm not sure if one gets any XP or RP for being the driver of a tank/APC when the gunner makes kills, unlike the regular game.

The reward split is 50-50, and a bot kill is 1 XP in Dominance. I believe even 0.5 XP rewards are in fact counted, but they don't show in the HUD as it shows the integer part and tries to avoid showing +0 XP.

If going for something like six bases, then I think that there should only be two forward connections from a base. So, in this example, using Bootleg Islands, the set-up would be narrower (by not including Diving School or Bridge).



It was unfortunate that, for technical reasons, we were unable to play-test the new maps with a bunch of players last PvP session.

The single-base capture format in use previously was good for low player numbers, and ideal for 1v1 PvP play (except for being too long by using all the bases). But it got bogged down with higher player numbers.

Conversely, I would imagine that the "all bases capturable" system used in the regular game/co-op would work much better with high player numbers in PvP. However, it wouldn't work well with low player numbers, especially 1v1.

So I'm not sure there's a "one size fits all" way of doing it.

One possibility, although I'm not sure how feasible it would be, would be to have it as single capture when there's one player vs one player. Then if there are more people playing (perhaps two or more players each side), then it would automatically switch to multi-capture. It would be a way of trying to get the best of both worlds, so to speak.