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Some of you may have noticed that I've recently added an LT Hunter freq in Pub (freq =99).
This is a recent collaborative change made with Azov, who LTs a bit himself. In the past, most Levi changes have been aimed at weakening the Levi or restricting it in some way. This one is focused on incentivizing the hunting of LTs, with the idea being that if we can increase hunting in response to LTs, we can also remove some of the penalties that have been imposed on them in the past. In this fashion, it would even itself out naturally, as it should in the best of circumstances, rather than simply trying to pen LTs into a very small cage and blame them for ruining the basing game.
After all, they're a big part of pub. Always have been, always will be. Theoretically, a healthy TW pub should always have LTs going.
The only real issue is that the sophistication of hunting has not kept pace with the advancement of LT tactics. At their most powerful and most organized, LTs are close to unkillable (without a dedicated group of people to hunt them). Once you have 2+ Levis and 1 or more Sharks + a gunner, you can roll over just about anyone, so long as your Terr is capable.
So rather than make them less (and less (and less)) powerful until nobody even wants to LT anymore -- and after all, reducing pub population by restriction instead of by letting LTs run wild is probably even more likely to create bitter feelings in the community -- why not give hunters a little edge in tracking them down?
LT Hunter Freq attributes:
At one point I also had it giving positions of any active LTs, but this was considered a bit excessive. Perhaps we might see this come back if there's a chance to think it over and LTs get something quite good in return (L3?). Or perhaps a very vague indicator could work instead, such as one of the following: "in base" / "in space" / "in spawn" / "in safe"
Ideally, this could result in 4 main freqs during high-population times: the two public freqs which are either basing or spawnkilling, an LT freq, and an LT Hunter freq. It remains to see if the rewards are significant enough to make this happen, but I think we do know already that there are quite a few Levi haters out there, as well as people who enjoy LTing who also happen to enjoy hunting. It may also take some of the guilt/blame off of LTs... i.e., "You say we're ruining basing? Quit whining, get on the Hunter Freq and kill us!"
Interested to hear what people have to say about this, especially LTs. Remember, the idea is to relax some of the less enjoyable restrictions placed on LTs (or ones that may not target them specifically, but are for the most part based on limiting them).
In response to this addition, I've already done the following:
Again, if we can incentivize hunting sufficiently well, perhaps we could always see the Hunter freq active. This means much less of a need to restrict LTs. And, yes, we might even be able to bring back L3. It's something worth trying for, no?
If you're an LTer, you might even think about doing some hunting when the LT freq gets too big. It's a fun time for both hunters and LTs, it keeps the LT from being able to stifle the base game, and it makes you a good bit of spacedollars to boot.
Let me know what you think.
This is a recent collaborative change made with Azov, who LTs a bit himself. In the past, most Levi changes have been aimed at weakening the Levi or restricting it in some way. This one is focused on incentivizing the hunting of LTs, with the idea being that if we can increase hunting in response to LTs, we can also remove some of the penalties that have been imposed on them in the past. In this fashion, it would even itself out naturally, as it should in the best of circumstances, rather than simply trying to pen LTs into a very small cage and blame them for ruining the basing game.
After all, they're a big part of pub. Always have been, always will be. Theoretically, a healthy TW pub should always have LTs going.
The only real issue is that the sophistication of hunting has not kept pace with the advancement of LT tactics. At their most powerful and most organized, LTs are close to unkillable (without a dedicated group of people to hunt them). Once you have 2+ Levis and 1 or more Sharks + a gunner, you can roll over just about anyone, so long as your Terr is capable.
So rather than make them less (and less (and less)) powerful until nobody even wants to LT anymore -- and after all, reducing pub population by restriction instead of by letting LTs run wild is probably even more likely to create bitter feelings in the community -- why not give hunters a little edge in tracking them down?
LT Hunter Freq attributes:
+ All LT kill bonuses are shared among the entire freq (or, more specifically, among those actively hunting).
+ Solo Terrs on Hunter Freq receive the same bonus that Terrs on public freqs receive as long as there are active LeviTerrs.
+ $15 more per Levi kill, regardless of whether they are attached to a Terr or not.
- No award for winning base game.
- No extra money earned while holding flag or for being in base.
- Can't be Levi.
+ Solo Terrs on Hunter Freq receive the same bonus that Terrs on public freqs receive as long as there are active LeviTerrs.
+ $15 more per Levi kill, regardless of whether they are attached to a Terr or not.
- No award for winning base game.
- No extra money earned while holding flag or for being in base.
- Can't be Levi.
At one point I also had it giving positions of any active LTs, but this was considered a bit excessive. Perhaps we might see this come back if there's a chance to think it over and LTs get something quite good in return (L3?). Or perhaps a very vague indicator could work instead, such as one of the following: "in base" / "in space" / "in spawn" / "in safe"
Ideally, this could result in 4 main freqs during high-population times: the two public freqs which are either basing or spawnkilling, an LT freq, and an LT Hunter freq. It remains to see if the rewards are significant enough to make this happen, but I think we do know already that there are quite a few Levi haters out there, as well as people who enjoy LTing who also happen to enjoy hunting. It may also take some of the guilt/blame off of LTs... i.e., "You say we're ruining basing? Quit whining, get on the Hunter Freq and kill us!"
Interested to hear what people have to say about this, especially LTs. Remember, the idea is to relax some of the less enjoyable restrictions placed on LTs (or ones that may not target them specifically, but are for the most part based on limiting them).
In response to this addition, I've already done the following:
- Increased private freq cap vs current size of public freqs. (We might be able to remove this altogether if there is consistent hunting going on.)
- Reduced cooldown time between detaching from an LT and being able to !buy from 30 to 15 seconds. (Another one we could remove entirely, along with LTs not being able to !buy while attached.)
- Increased price of PurePub from $50K to $60K and SortaPurePub (Levis only on pub freqs) to $40K. (These could still be raised further.)
- (Older change) Reduced PurePub and SortaPurePub length from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.
- (Older change) Made !buy purepub allow Levis to stay on their freq and keep bounty as long as they make no kills during this time.
- BUGFIX: ThePAP and I (and testers Johnno and 9th <ZH>) have fixed the issue where the bot would tell you "LTs can't buy outside of safe," even if you had no Levis attached.
Again, if we can incentivize hunting sufficiently well, perhaps we could always see the Hunter freq active. This means much less of a need to restrict LTs. And, yes, we might even be able to bring back L3. It's something worth trying for, no?
If you're an LTer, you might even think about doing some hunting when the LT freq gets too big. It's a fun time for both hunters and LTs, it keeps the LT from being able to stifle the base game, and it makes you a good bit of spacedollars to boot.
Let me know what you think.
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