Hi there

After playing this game yesterday i came up with the idea of some sort of metagame.

There could be a World map that is devided into countries or even smaller. At start a Team is randomly choosen as to what country should be attacked. Similar to RISK somehow. Either the Host chooses the country that should be attacked or it is decided through Team Voting. Only Territories that are adjanced to a territory under a teams control can be attacked.

After a battle the other team gets to decide what country should be attacked.

To spice it all up some maps could have things like airfields, tank factories and whatever we come up with.
While in such a country you could use those things. If you own such a country and are fighting somewhere else you can order those things like tanks that take some time to deliver or call in air support that acts like an artillery but costs resources and time until it arrives.

I suppose this would make things interessting and could present a bunch of different maps that range from rather small to very large.

The Worldmap wouldn't need to be a representation of "real" Earth but could be a fictional Earthlike planet.

Such a Metagame could be very well be used for Multiplayer Matches or even for some sort of Singleplayer Campaign with story (if you like to have some sort of story).

Imho it would add some basic foundation that could be expanded upon. Also it would make clear why in some Areas you just have no airfield or even the possibility to get you a tank because the fight could be inside a city and you have to order support.

It's just a friendly suggestion for the future

What do you think of it?

This is actually a pretty cool idea, I don't care if it's overdone these days, i'd totally play a campaign like the one you just suggested.

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I could see some kind of metagame, be it implemented like suggested here or another way, very well suited for single player gaming, but I'm currently not too sure how well it would fit multiplayer with players on opposing factions given the way the maps have been implemented so far.

My biggest concern is that usually matches are rather long, anything from 30min to 60min or more. I suppose an hour, max two, would seem like a good total time for the whole game campaign, or how do you see it? If playing through a multiplayer campaign would take several hours, to me it would imply that multiplayer sessions then span over several days through use of savegames as it's likely the players can't keep playing for several hours in sequence. If it would be arranged like this, organizing a whole campaign to be played with another clan might become quite difficult so that most players are present throughout the whole campaign in all matches that take place. Also, obviously, the official servers could not be really reserved for this kind of multi-day rivalry between just two specific groups of players.

The other choice then, in which a multiplayer campaign takes an hour or so, seems a bit off too. You can already end up playing an hour in a single map in a multiplayer match if you play until the whole map is occupied by one team -- this doesn't leave much room for a metagame, as the whole "game time" is reached directly on field.

For single player the multi-day campaign fits awesomely well, making it feel like you're actually playing a 10h game session with progression, rather than just several separate matches. A campaign doesn't need any coordination with other players as it's just you and your schedule.

Can you elaborate the way this metagame would work in multiplayer, in practice? What's the use-case, kind of?

Actually, a metagame could be technically made even as an add-on, or mod if you like, but the game wouldn't actually need any modification.

The metagame could be running in a completely separate application to RWR, which just launches RWR with proper parameters right into the match. When the match ends, RWR would write out a file with information about the outcome of the match. For convenience, RWR could be made into a mode which makes it exit automatically once the match ends. That's basically the amount of extension support work RWR itself as a map-level match engine would require, the input parameters/file and output file.

The metagame itself could be implemented as another desktop application, or even as a web application as the graphical requirements of the world map might not have to be all that complex. Server based web application might make it easier to handle the communication with multiple players too, should multiplayer be involved in the campaign.

I haven't played World of Tanks at all, but to my understanding Clan Wars works in some way similar to this.

In Multiplayer in could be used in many ways. Maybe it could be set by the host.
For fairness i would just save the Map progression what country belongs to whom.

1.) One of it being a 24h Server where you join and play for pure fun with others until the Map is reset or completly conquered.
This also acts like a bigger social thing. Such a server would need atleast one human player for the fight to continue. Then also the AI can choose countries to attack.

2.) Second usage could be for smaller Groups that gather on predetermined timeframes and play one or two maps and pick up with their progress the next time they gather. Mostly focused for smaller LAN/COOP Groups.

3.) would be a pick a map and play option like it is currently for quick games.

I thought that all maps that would be made for some kind of world map would also perfectly work for any kind of quick battle.
This game has the major advantage that it's "nearly" nothing that changes. Only things that would be added in a Metagame would be stuff like Air Support or some kind of Unit Order and delivery mechanic if you own a country that belongs to you and has some sort of Airfield, Tank Factory, ....
Only decision here would be if those production buildings would be capturable while playing such a map or if those serve only as map modifier without being represented as buildings. Hope you understand what i mean.

There are also a couple of mechanics how you would like to handle reinforcements. Either through a cooldown, a limited amount with the maximum usage being the amount of factories/airfields you hold in all your countries or a resource system where you "buy" airstrikes or vehicle delivery. Resources could be gathered per soldier kill or per country you hold after a "turn". It could also be a mix of everything together.

The Metagame is turn based where every team chooses after a match what map is going to be played. First one team and after the fight the other team get's the choice to choose.

I would add a save feature that after you are finished with a map the progress of country possession is saved. If due to time constrains a map fight isn't finished then the progress is like bevor the fight. Atleast a minimum of 1 human player is needed to count the map fight into the overall progress.

The host could also get the option to let players join a side as they wish or that it should be automaticly be evened out.

With a good system you would have the ability to go any way you like. I think that it adds even more "war" feeling that can expand any way you wish without changing the super cool core gameplay this game allready has.

It's true that Maps can take a decent amount of time to play. Clans maybe will only choose the option to play a single map, others will rather choose the Worldmap option. Either way it's a choice. I would see it as additional customization option for the game to go the way you like. Every map than can be played in such a Metagame would still be fully functional and usable in a Quick fight for clans or people with the desire to play just one map because the maps themselves won't change in any way. It's just the modifiers in a Worldmap campaign and the Area progression that isn't there. Nothing is really lost or nerved or anything.

Maps that are made for a Worldmap also can range from rather small to verly large where those people who like to fight Quickbattles get even the option to play on either a small or large map depending on how much time they have. Also the Maps would look very unique because you maybe would build a city map or a river map with bridge or one that looks maybe like a second omaha beach.
If you'd like you could even let both sides start with a fixed amount of maximum units and increase the maximumm slightly for every map that is captured that has/is a city. Just a little bit of idea spreading

It's also your choice if you'd make desert maps, island maps, jungle maps. Or even add water based transport/battleship artillery units...there are many many possibilities.

That's why i came up with this idea in the first place. I tried to imagine some kind of overlay that changes nothing and let's everything fully funtional as it is, while giving another option that is fun to play and can be used for many ideas and has the potential to pull in a bigger playerbase because of more options that could satisfy many tastes.

This would be a very cool way to support user-made storylines, too -- something I'd like to see.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a Metal Gear Solid storyline, where each battlefield mission is separated by a cutscene. Of course the core game is not designed to be at all like Metal Gear Solid, but with an open data format it could be customized to do anything us gonzo players want.

So +1 vote from me.

Blazes

Brilliant idea u suggested sir, this would be nice change if possible approve,
+1 for this,

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