[zenith]

Just thinking out loud here for additional gang options during (and only during) war. These would take some time to implement, so don't expect to see them immediately. They are merely in the ideas stage at the moment.

In an effort to give gang wars a little more flavor, I was thinking of implementing a gang option that would temporarily beef-up members in the gang at war at the cost of gang-bank cash. These options would not be available outside of war, and would only apply to the gang you target. Some of the options would include:

• Mercenary Hiring - Invoking this option would give a gang a 6-hour period of attack bonuses. If everyone in the gang is hospitalized at the same time, the mercenaries disband.
• Fortify Position - This option would increase the defenses of a gang in one particular district. Gang members entering another district while the fortification is up would lose this bonus, and slightly decrease the bonus for those still fortified until they return. This bonus would last 6 hours. If everyone in the gang is sent to the hospital (and/or jail) at the same time, the fortified area is eliminated.
• Call for Back-up - This short duration boost will increase the overall effectiveness of a gang in combat, but will only last until the first member of the gang falls in combat.
• Bum-Rush - This tactic would last until the next refresh (every 5 minutes), but everyone in the gang gets vastly improved attack ratings with a defense decrease.
• Gang Hero - This option sets one player up as a hero until the next refresh (every 5 minutes). This player's attack abilities are greatly increased, but only last a short period. All members must refrain from attacking while the hero is activated or else the hero bonuses disappear.
• Guerilla Tactics - This option keeps attackers on their toes. When a player gets attacked, any gang members in the same area are randomly sent to other areas of the city. This will require the attackers to hunt the players down for the next attack. This option would only move players to areas they can access however, so anyone in a gang must be at least level 3 to benefit. Lasts 6 hours.
• Medic - This option heals all gang members to 100% hit points.
• Doc - This option gets everyone in the gang out of the hospital and heals them to full hit points.
• Protection Racket - This option would protect another player from being attacked by surrounding them with bodyguards. This lasts up to 10 refreshes minus the amount of times they are attacked in that timespan by the warring gang. Only one gang member at a time can have this enabled, and they are not able to attack (or else the protection is eliminated). Attackers gain some experience from attacking and eliminated one of the protectors. This bonus has the ability to last an entire war (ends when one surrenders) or last a few minutes (as the other gang uses energy to eliminate all bodyguards).
  
  

All these options will cost gang cash to invoke, and most likely will need to be costly. Some might even cost respect points. The declaring gang most likely will see a slight increase in cost since they are the aggressor.

Again, these are just ideas, and not all of them would be implemented. Any ideas to add, or to criticize what is listed, are welcome.

[Guest]

Great idea, especially the healing ones, fortified zone and mercenaries.

On a side note, I noticed that in gang attack logs (personal logs too I think), you can see who won and lost but it never mentions the fights that ended in a stalemate. It would be cool to have those too so we could know who we can beat or who we just waste energy as it always ends in a stalemate.

[Guest]

I like most of these ideas. Here are my thoughts on each...

zenith Wrote:[*]Mercenary Hiring - Invoking this option would give a gang a 6-hour period of attack bonuses. If everyone in the gang is hospitalized at the same time, the mercenaries disband.

6 hours seems like a long time, but I like the idea. Maybe 3 hours would be better, I don't know.

zenith Wrote:[*]Fortify Position - This option would increase the defenses of a gang in one particular district. Gang members entering another district while the fortification is up would lose this bonus, and slightly decrease the bonus for those still fortified until they return. This bonus would last 6 hours. If everyone in the gang is sent to the hospital (and/or jail) at the same time, the fortified area is eliminated.

I also don't think the fortified gang should be able to attack. If you are fortifying your position you are being defensive, and shouldn't be allowed to be offensive. If anyone does attack, I think the fortification should be lost.

zenith Wrote:[*]Call for Back-up - This short duration boost will increase the overall effectiveness of a gang in combat, but will only last until the first member of the gang falls in combat.

I think this should be something a player can do. For instance, say a weaker player wants to hit a stronger player in another gang. They can call for backup (at a cost, of course) and it will increase their stats for that combat.

zenith Wrote:[*]Bum-Rush - This tactic would last until the next refresh (every 5 minutes), but everyone in the gang gets vastly improved attack ratings with a defense decrease.

I like this one. This would be great for a gang who can really organize it's members and organize some attacks.

zenith Wrote:[*]Gang Hero - This option sets one player up as a hero until the next refresh (every 5 minutes). This player's attack abilities are greatly increased, but only last a short period. All members must refrain from attacking while the hero is activated or else the hero bonuses disappear.

Seems like a good idea but I am not sure how much of a benefit it would really be.

zenith Wrote:[*]Guerilla Tactics - This option keeps attackers on their toes. When a player gets attacked, any gang members in the same area are randomly sent to other areas of the city. This will require the attackers to hunt the players down for the next attack. This option would only move players to areas they can access however, so anyone in a gang must be at least level 3 to benefit. Lasts 6 hours.

6 hours of guys get randomly moved for free doesn't seem fair to me. The attacking gang will need to spend thousands to find them, while the defending gang gets to move for free. I guess this would have to be really, really expensive to make it fair. Also, how often will they get moved?

zenith Wrote:[*]Medic - This option heals all gang members to 100% hit points.

Like It

zenith Wrote:[*]Doc - This option gets everyone in the gang out of the hospital and heals them to full hit points.

Like It

zenith Wrote:[*]Protection Racket - This option would protect another player from being attacked by surrounding them with bodyguards. This lasts up to 10 refreshes minus the amount of times they are attacked in that timespan by the warring gang. Only one gang member at a time can have this enabled, and they are not able to attack (or else the protection is eliminated). Attackers gain some experience from attacking and eliminated one of the protectors. This bonus has the ability to last an entire war (ends when one surrenders) or last a few minutes (as the other gang uses energy to eliminate all bodyguards).

Hmm, not sure I understand this. So if a guy has a 10 bodyguards, let's say, does someone have to beat him 11 times just to get 1 respect? Basically beat the 10 bodyguards then the guy?

[zenith]

The "Call for Back-Up" option could be used in other areas of the game, but in this case it's just a gang-modifier. Perhaps a lot of these options could be targeted to individual players in the future, but in this case it's focus is gang warfare.

A "Gang Hero" option would make one member (doesn't need to be the strongest either) a force. For a really short period of time he will have the ability to really unleash some punishment on perhaps an untouchable, or even take out a few strong members if they have it in them. Think of this option as everyone in the gang sacrificing their actions so one member can beat back the enemy. Once his hero status is gone, the others can perhaps take on what's left.

The "Guerilla Tactics" option most likely would be hardest to implement fairly because of the cost. It will have to take into account the areas all players can go and the the currect price. Cost won't necessarily need to be equal to the price attackers pay to hunt them down, but it will be pricey. I imagine that in a long war this would deter attackers from spending cash and thus slow down the losses for the weaker gang. The entire intent is to make the attackers (who are most likely more powerful) work together to hunt the other gang down. If a weaker gang has no chance to win, and has some cash, they can make deletion of their gang expensive to the attackers. And believe me, the cost for this ability would definitely NOT seem like you get to travel the city for free. None of these options will be cheap.

The "Protection Racket" option basically gives one player the ability to play the game as if they aren't in war for as long as the protection lasts. I imagine an attacker would use energy to hit this player and get a "you can't manage to get through your target's bodyguards, but you manage to take one out" message. These bodyguards don't last forever though, since each refresh 1 leaves. So if a gang of 10 all attack this member once, his protection is gone and things resume as usual. If no one attacks this member, then it's of course a waste... but they have the assurance that they can play the game as usual until the time is up (or they attack).

Use of the Doc and Medic might not even be useful, since who wants to speed up the loss of gang respect lol. But combined with the other options it could make for some interesting tactics.

[Guest]

wow, some great ideas zenith. i like them (and some of chris' suggestions) a lot

[Druchii]

yeah i like Hero Ability alot and most of the others are pretty darn decent too

[Guest]

I like it. lets gangs who can organize well do some real damage against somewhat stronger opponents.