[TENTATIVE] Guard / Escort feature

[Captain Jack]

This is something that has been debated in the past. Add the ability to escort, protect etc.

Initially the fleets could support 1 ship only. Therefore this has been ignored till we moved to 5 ship fleets. This debate calmed down momentarily but was then again brought up.

Here are two suggested FLEET ORDERS:
a)Guard
b)Escort

Description:
1)User selects a stationed fleet, lets stay Strike Force fleet (we all tend to leave our strike force sitting on a port , right ? )
2)User selects a PORT if it is GUARD or a FLEET if it is escort.
3)User selects one of the two options (Stop engaging after X amount of engaging times or after X loss times)
4)Users then selects guard or escort.

If it is an escort, the Strike Force fleet will escort the target fleet anywhere it goes. If someones attempt to engage the target fleet, then the Strike Force will emerge and the attacking fleet will engage strike force instead.

If it is a guard order, then the Strike Force fleet will guard a said port and will defend any of the player owned fleets that are attempted to be attacked in the vinicity of the selected port.

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Notes:
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-Danger will count normally for all engaging fleets.
-The fleet on guard/escort will engage as many times set by player.
-The attacking fleet will be like attacking the guard/escort fleet in terms of gameplay. Danger will be given normally to attacking fleet and deducted normally from defending fleet(the guard/escort in the case it interferes).
-If attacking fleet beats the escort fleet, then the battle will end. Attacking player will be able to repair and attack again if it wishes. He will be only able to finally attack the original target when the escort/patrol fleet will exhaust the number set or will become fully damaged.
-An escort/guard fleet will automatically stop helping if it becomes nearly fully damaged to prevent easy losses (as there will be no danger protection for an active escort/patrol fleet).
-There should be no limitations; if one player want 10 escort or guard fleets, it is fine.
-Escort/guard will be a full order. It means thatif for example it follows a trade route, only the trade route ships will trade. The escort fleet will wait (just as it would normally happen).
-Escort/guard fleets will mention it in assault page

Perhaps this can be the perfect strategy and what the game will need right after the voodoo which are expected to weaken the strength of the trade routes. This way we will space to the merchants to also expand in military force while always letting the needed space for piracy open.

[Captain Jack]

This is one of the systems that we will be developing soon in order to give weapons to the hands of the "traders". With voodoo cards, the "Traders" class became more vulnerable. Something really needed.

However we need to keep to realism as in piracy times, the merchants were able to PAY for protection. This objective can be accomplished with this feature here.

We might need to change the naming of the existing Patrol feature though so people are not confused. Any ideas are welcome.

[Captain Jack]

Renamed this forthcoming feature to Guard / Escort (Previously patrol/escort) to avoid confusion with NPC and PC patrol.

This feature will be followed by PC patrol feature viewtopic.php?p=2978#p2978

[R0nnie]

That's an awesome idea....that way the trade fleets would b a lot safer....n obviously PG wud b more fun

[Captain Jack]

Additional slightly different details on idea for fleets on escort/guard mode (for future reference):

1)
Attacker gets optional check to AVOID the fleet on escort/guard mode.
The check is presented to him with 2 options:
a)Attempt to avoid the escort/guard fleet b)Engage the escort guard fleet

2)
-If attacker chooses option b) then the player on escort/guard feature (defender) does not lose ANY fame if the battle is lost. Attacker loses fame normally. (if attacker wins and engages the trade fleet, normal rules apply)
-If attacker chooses option a) the following happen:
a)No fame loss for any of the players (for the first battle, if attacker wins, normal rules apply)
b)Ship speed + attributes + future special attributes + a roll define the check result. If attacker wins the roll, then he engages the merchant fleet right away. If defender wins the roll, battle takes place.

In an even set of fleets, the roll will favour the defender a bit. Special attributes (future implementations) will turn this in favour of the attacker.

[Most Lee Harmless]

some quick thoughts, as CJ suggests re-opening this thread.

if the attacker defeats the escort, then there should not be an automatic step to hit the trade fleet ; chance of the second attack should be randomised as, during the battle, the trade fleet would attempt to slip away from the area, by scattering or making off in t'other direction.

re: Escort : I dont see this giving much value as proposed : tying down a whole war fleet to protect one trade fleet is poor economy. Far better if one could link several fleets on the same trade route to the protecting war fleet : a 'Convoy' : which makes sense as many traders do run the same route and fleets do tend to clump together eventually : as long as all the fleets depart/arrive same port at same time, they should fall under the escorts protection.

The guard ship would automatically protect the owners fleets : option to also protect guild-mates would be interesting, and again from there, to protect any own-flagged fleets ; that option could then allow a National Treasury subsidy/reward to be given.

this then brings in another feature that the guard fleet could undertake :

Blockade: this could be set to deny entry to a port to enemy flagged fleets in time of war, or in a dispute between nations. ( how 'war' gets defined or set is also an issue for 'corruption' in the banking features) : the other side could act to break such blockades to allow trade to continue by sending in a power fleet to defeat the guard ship.

[Cdv]

This is a great feature. When is it coming? (Suggested in Jan 2012? )

I also agree with Danik on having the escort protect all ships on a trade route.

[Francois le Clerc]

This is a great feature. When is it coming? (Suggested in Jan 2012? )

I also agree with Danik on having the escort protect all ships on a trade route.

booh booh


we pirates would suffer except we can have escort/guard.

hey Jack can we?

if no nahda not a good idea...

[Mr. Rothschild]

Not sure I agree with this fully. There would need to be a chance modifier to determines a "chance" the guard or escort catches engages the attacker.

Reasoning is many pirates play their role as in real life. One small fast ship, which would otherwise be unable to plunder any merchant should this feature be added. Pirates would need to have a fully equiped powerhouse fleet, say mostly ships of the line to stand a chance at their game. This is otherwise unrealistic.

Or perhaps make it so the guard/escort when engaging an attacker requires turns and more than normal attacks, say 10 turns. This would limit a players choice when determining the amount of times they want their guard fleet to engage.

Another option would be having each guard or escort engagement cost some amount of gold from a players treasury acting as payment for the protection services.

[PhoenixKnight]

Bump