[GAME] Final Stages of Missions

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

Years ago there was some changes to final stages of missions, and a few tweaks here and there, but since then there really has no been much changes to even the mission system at all. A lot of these final missions are unfortunate in that they can funnel players in to a tunnel of gameplay where they really do not have much freedom to tackle the mission objectives how they wish to. Though I would much rather see a complete overhaul of the mission system which changes to a dynamic set of stages depending on the results of previous stages and players (which I might make a thread about for fun one day) that would require a complete redesign of that section of the game. However I believe if a focus was put on missions some change could be done at the benefit of variation and gameplay. Of course this would be quite low of the list of priorities for the game. Despite this I thought I would type up a few of the variants that were in my mind lately.

VIP Escort:
VIP has always been quite wonky balance wise. Unfair for the defenders when it is a 2v2 or 3v3, balanced when it is a 4v4, and unfair for the attackers when you get to higher numbers. Not to mention the entire stage devolves in to far too much turtling while the attackers have to just break holds and chase constantly (which really is not that fun gameplay wise for either team). A spin on VIP that could present as a better alternative is to add a VIP to either team as FC currently does though would be interesting to see how that plays in a missions district circumstance rather than the chaos that is Asylum. Another alternative is the idea of Escorting the VIP. The defending team would have a number of sequential points/holds that they must accompany the VIP player to while the attacker tries to stop them from getting through these points. 

This change would promote a more aggressive gameplay in line with the ideals of APB rather than the current holds. Though steps would need to be taken to not devolve the mission in to car surfing/running/chasing such as the points that would spawn being within building areas rather than on the streets. Where the challenge comes though for balancing such a mission is win conditions and the ratio between them. Lowering the current long VIP mission times to the standard 5-8 minutes would be one way of providing the attackers their win condition as to having to run down the clock which is currently not a viable strategy for either team. Of course the defenders win condition being that they have to get through all escort points. Another aspect to look at is whether or not VIP lives, and subsequently attack lives, is something to carry over. Doing so, or not, can provide slightly different gameplay adjustments to the mission and how players would approach the mission while also providing secondary win conditions. 

Vehicle delivery:
One mechanic of APB that is quite forgotten is the ability for enforcers to deliver stolen vehicles with little to contribute to that portion of a coherent experience. Of course we currently have single sided vehicle deliveries that provide a slight link to that mechanic and one facet of play in missions, but we do not have a more opposed variant of such a stage. A final stage where both enforcers and criminals are trying to steal and deliver a number of vehicles would be implemented. A number of vehicles would spawn, such as 3 at a time, that need to be retrieved and taken to the team's capture point like a flag would. When a vehicle is captured at a base the team would gain a point, it will despawn, and another will respawn. The first team to hit the point limit or most points at the end of the mission would be the winner. 

This implementation would provide players a split approach where they need to balance attacking and defending at certain times, something that not many final stages do. It would encourage more positive vehicle gameplay when compared to the only other final vehicle stage, 'the fast and the incarcerated', that only promotes running/chasing. The split attention and multiple objectives also allows more objective driven players to hunt down those unprotected and uncaptured vehicles to sneak unopposed points for their team. The issue of such a stage arises in smaller missions though where the number of vehicles would have to be tied to the number of players. And of course your usual point limits. One may also argue that just like other missions carsurfer seems to be a mandatory mod. However as stated previously due to other facets of gameplay, the dynamic changing of attack/defense, and the lack of consistent running/chasing the pressure to run carsurfer would be far less while still providing valuable gameplay for those that do not have it.

Constant Item Delivery :
An issue with current final item deliveries is once one sides gets the objectives to their base it just becomes another attack/defense point hold with sometimes not enough time to even switch sides. Though I am not saying that is grounds enough for it to be removed however an alternative would be to shift more of a focus on to the delivery portion of the mission rather than the end holds. One side is given defense while the other is given attack. The attacker team must retrieve items from a single location and bring them to their drop off point. The difference being that this must be done continuously throughout the mission as the items will continue to respawn at the first point. Therefore the attacking team will need to make journeys back and forth to retrieve and deliver enough items to reach the win condition before the time is up.

This alternative would force more dynamic changes in the defense and even some splitting of team over two points in certain circumstances. It also shifts the focus more on the retrieval and delivery portion of gameplay. Defending teams are also given more of a choice when it comes to how they wish to handle defense, choosing to keep their team together in reaction or split roles over defense of the retrieval area, stopping those moving between points, and the delivery area.

A further variation on this can be switching it to two sided rather than attacking and defending. Each team would have their base while both must retrieve from the central point. Just as the other variant this promotes a differing in gameplay roles rather than a strict guidelines and areas during certain moments.

Three Point Hold (Item Variant):
There is a mission on enforcer side that requires a briefcase to be retrieved before bringing it to a number of points. However this is only in the description and gameplay wise the points act as nothing more than standard areas while the item can be disregarded until a later stage. Of course actually mandating the item be brought to those points for that particular mission would be nice. However a spin on the current three point could be done with this change in mind. A single item would spawn upon the middle of the three hold areas. This item would be required to be held in an area to capture that area for their team. Players are of course unable to capture points without this item. Both teams would have to contend over this item and use it to capture areas.

This change would create a more focused area of conflict as the item moved about, thus creating a tug of war/push and pull aspect to the three point hold. 

Moving Single Point Hold:
Currently single point holds can be subject to difficult spots, favoring the team to capture it first far too much. A solution to this problem could be a single point that moves between a number of places. It would still function the same as currently, however after a certain time or points awarded the area would change to another region.

This change would force re-positioning of currently defending teams and allow both teams to readjust to allow for closer matches rather than the unfortunate one side holds we sometimes currently see. It also promotes a more dynamic gameplay in final stages of missions with more quantity in the roles and gameplay facets that players will encounter.


Note: These are less suggestions and more putting ideas down on paper.



 

Edited August 31, 2018 by NotZombieBiscuit

[mongoose 30]

ok



 

 

Edited August 31, 2018 by sidezz

[vsb 6174]

too long didn’t read 

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

7 minutes ago, BXNNXD said:

too long didn’t read 

Didn't expect you to read it anyway.

[Kewlin 692]

I think I agree with most of your sentiments, and your suggestions are pretty good. Seeing as one of the biggest complaints about missions though is lack of variety, why not add these all as final stages instead of doing blanket replacements? That way we'd have. . .

For VIP:

• Classic VIP
• Dual VIP
• VIP Escort

For item hold:

• Item Hold
• Vehicle Hold
• Item Delivery

For cap points:

• Classic King of the Hill
• Rotating King of the Hill
• Three Cap Point
• Item Three Cap Point

APB has like five millions missions and only a few final stages, I see no reason you couldn't change the final stages of some missions to add these in. I'd still like to see the old ones kept though personally, 'cause I think the asymmetrical gameplay can be really fun in VIP, and have had lots of Item Hold, KotH, and 3CP matches play out like they were supposed to and be really fun.


As an addition, I'm kinda' sad that my favorite final stage was kinda' removed from the game. Back before Delivery was changed to holding items instead of just delivering, when you just had to deliver items, My, Gramma, how Young you Look used to be a hybrid of Item Delivery and Kills, and I feel like that should be brought back in some form. I think that Moving Target, Delivery, Bombing/Bomb Disposal, etc., could play out really well combined with Deathmatch or Take Over Deathmatch, though obviously you'd put the kill numbers higher than normal so that you'd have to pay attention to the main objective and lives / kills.

[CookiePuss 5382]

I came here expecting a shitpost.
Disappointed/10

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

On 9/9/2018 at 9:12 PM, CookiePuss said:

I came here expecting a shitpost.
Disappointed/10

Yeah well. Not everything I post is a shitpost.