Faction Invasions would bring a whole new meaning to taking over cities and defending them.
Let's start with defending a city you have already claimed. Cities now have a Defense Level of 0, 1, 2 or 3, and each tier makes a big difference. Defense Level is improved by donating armor or shields to a special Faction NPC General within the city. Exceptional and magical armor provide more defense points, with higher tiers of magical bonuses providing even more. Exceptional and slayer items should provide big bonuses too to reward crafters. Defense levels decay frequently over time, however, and must be kept up with.
But what good is defense without someone to attack that defense? Factions also now have an Offense Level, of 0, 1, 2, or 3. Offense Level is improved by donating weapons and potions to a special Faction NPC General at your Faction's home base. Again, exceptional, magical, and slayer items provide more points toward Offense Level.
At any time, with a level 1, 2, or 3 Offense Level, a Faction Leader may employ troops to attack a city claimed by another Faction. When this happens, NPCs for both the attacking and defending Faction will spawn in the city and do battle, with their strength based upon the attacker's Offense Level and defender's Defense Level. The objective here is to kill all of the opposing Faction's NPCs, and the first Faction to do so will claim the city. The losing Faction is immediately guard-whacked and corpses turned to bones.
While it may sound like there is a lot of PVE involved here, keep in mind how important it will be to defeat the players who are causing the NPCs to die much faster. It would be best if both Factions were alerted to the Invasion to bring more players into the battle. There should also be an Event Score gump that displays the remaining NPCs for both Factions as well.
Here are some questions that I can't make up my mind about:
1. What should happen to Offense and Defense levels after a battle? At first I thought they should be lowered to 0... but really there are a lot of options and scenarios here. Should an attacker who wins have their Offense Level converted to the newly claimed city's Defense Level, or should it just keep the old Defense Level? If a Level 2 Offense beats a Level 3 Defense, do the winners get to keep the Level 3 Defense or does it just convert to Level 2? Shouldn't Offense and Defense Levels lower 1 or 2 tiers after a battle, I mean casualties of war, right? If levels lower afterwards, an outside Faction would have an easier time with a Level 3 Offense sitting there if they immediately attack after an Invasion - this can be seen as both good (fun and strategic) and bad (annoying and imbalanced).
2. By the law of the land, the Faction who claimed the city ARE the true leaders of it - does this mean that the attacking Faction players and NPCs within the defending city are flagged so that ANYONE may attack them, and that anyone NOT in the attacking Faction is flagged to the attackers? This could potentially involve more people in Factions which is what the staff wanted, not to mention another way to get Event Points (Faction members should also be rewarded with silver. If scrolls are to be given, give 3 to any 3 winning Factioners and 1 to any non-Factioner).
3. Should more than one Faction be allowed to attack a city at a time? While I think this sounds fun (and strategic!), it could be very complicated and possibly imbalanced.
4. Should a Faction be able to choose to help DEFEND an opposing Faction's city? Their Offense Level could be converted to Defense Level and spawn their NPCs in the defending city as well. The allied Factions would have to be green to each other while in the city during this. Again I think this could be interesting, but very complicated.
5. Does this replace the sigil system? Probably, yes. I honestly think the sigil system is kind of weak... I like that it gives thieves a purpose in Factions but meh. Thieves thrive on chaos - the city invasions would benefit them much better IMO. It's not just about the thieves, though. I think the sigil system is very anti-climactic and doesn't really FEEL like you're taking over anything.
Lastly, I think the city sigil buffs could be buffier, but only if this Invasion system is included. As it stands now, it's not that big of a deal to take a city, but the Invasion system would make it a much bigger deal and thus I think the buffs should increase to compensate. Plus stronger buffs could taunt folks into joining Factions.
I also have an idea for summoning Faction Champions which I will post later.
Let's start with defending a city you have already claimed. Cities now have a Defense Level of 0, 1, 2 or 3, and each tier makes a big difference. Defense Level is improved by donating armor or shields to a special Faction NPC General within the city. Exceptional and magical armor provide more defense points, with higher tiers of magical bonuses providing even more. Exceptional and slayer items should provide big bonuses too to reward crafters. Defense levels decay frequently over time, however, and must be kept up with.
But what good is defense without someone to attack that defense? Factions also now have an Offense Level, of 0, 1, 2, or 3. Offense Level is improved by donating weapons and potions to a special Faction NPC General at your Faction's home base. Again, exceptional, magical, and slayer items provide more points toward Offense Level.
At any time, with a level 1, 2, or 3 Offense Level, a Faction Leader may employ troops to attack a city claimed by another Faction. When this happens, NPCs for both the attacking and defending Faction will spawn in the city and do battle, with their strength based upon the attacker's Offense Level and defender's Defense Level. The objective here is to kill all of the opposing Faction's NPCs, and the first Faction to do so will claim the city. The losing Faction is immediately guard-whacked and corpses turned to bones.
While it may sound like there is a lot of PVE involved here, keep in mind how important it will be to defeat the players who are causing the NPCs to die much faster. It would be best if both Factions were alerted to the Invasion to bring more players into the battle. There should also be an Event Score gump that displays the remaining NPCs for both Factions as well.
Here are some questions that I can't make up my mind about:
1. What should happen to Offense and Defense levels after a battle? At first I thought they should be lowered to 0... but really there are a lot of options and scenarios here. Should an attacker who wins have their Offense Level converted to the newly claimed city's Defense Level, or should it just keep the old Defense Level? If a Level 2 Offense beats a Level 3 Defense, do the winners get to keep the Level 3 Defense or does it just convert to Level 2? Shouldn't Offense and Defense Levels lower 1 or 2 tiers after a battle, I mean casualties of war, right? If levels lower afterwards, an outside Faction would have an easier time with a Level 3 Offense sitting there if they immediately attack after an Invasion - this can be seen as both good (fun and strategic) and bad (annoying and imbalanced).
2. By the law of the land, the Faction who claimed the city ARE the true leaders of it - does this mean that the attacking Faction players and NPCs within the defending city are flagged so that ANYONE may attack them, and that anyone NOT in the attacking Faction is flagged to the attackers? This could potentially involve more people in Factions which is what the staff wanted, not to mention another way to get Event Points (Faction members should also be rewarded with silver. If scrolls are to be given, give 3 to any 3 winning Factioners and 1 to any non-Factioner).
3. Should more than one Faction be allowed to attack a city at a time? While I think this sounds fun (and strategic!), it could be very complicated and possibly imbalanced.
4. Should a Faction be able to choose to help DEFEND an opposing Faction's city? Their Offense Level could be converted to Defense Level and spawn their NPCs in the defending city as well. The allied Factions would have to be green to each other while in the city during this. Again I think this could be interesting, but very complicated.
5. Does this replace the sigil system? Probably, yes. I honestly think the sigil system is kind of weak... I like that it gives thieves a purpose in Factions but meh. Thieves thrive on chaos - the city invasions would benefit them much better IMO. It's not just about the thieves, though. I think the sigil system is very anti-climactic and doesn't really FEEL like you're taking over anything.
Lastly, I think the city sigil buffs could be buffier, but only if this Invasion system is included. As it stands now, it's not that big of a deal to take a city, but the Invasion system would make it a much bigger deal and thus I think the buffs should increase to compensate. Plus stronger buffs could taunt folks into joining Factions.
I also have an idea for summoning Faction Champions which I will post later.