New feature discussion: Search and Expose

[Captain Jack]

In our perpetual efford in making the game more interesting, we have yet another discussion to open regarding a possible new feature.

The feature is called Search and Expose
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1. New Fleet action: Search
Fleet action cost: 2 turns
Fleets will be able to "Search" ports for targets
For an extra cost of 2 turns, a player will be able to specifically search by:
-Fleet ID or Nation or Player or Guild

The fleet will then try to find relative fleets at the port that is currently docked.
ONLY FLEETS BELONGING TO PLAYERS WITH 10 SHIPS OR LESS WILL BE TRACEABLE
Newcomers fleets are not traceable
If there are such fleets, the fleet will find one of them (randomly) and it will return the following data:
-Owner Details
-Fleet name (#Fleet ID)
-Ships in the fleets (Ship Types, Ship Levels and Ship IDs)

The fleet will then be added in a special list called "Located fleets" which will be available to you and ALL your guild mates. This list will store the data of the fleet found and will also provide a special link for a new fleet action called Expose.

2.New Fleet Action: Expose
Fleet action cost: 2 turns
Can only be used against a fleet that exists in the Located Fleets page.
Target fleet gains 18 Danger and is removed from Located Fleets page

We could consider for a side affect for the fleet conducting the Expose, such as +3 Danger. Even +1 Danger could do. This is something on the table.


Objectives we want to achieve with this new feature:
-Allow farming of inactive players who have 10 ships or less. There are plenty of such players and currently it does not worth to use Fugitive of Justice cards on such players.
-It directly harasses active players who run with less than 10 ships forcing them to use more ships (thus having something more to lose in Wars).
-It gives turns a further meaning.
-It encourages guild cooperation.
-Nation missions will become easier overall.
-It adds yet another way to attack.
-Danger system is used which means that it will increase battles overall.
-It has good synergy with the new proposed plunder rules.

[Roberts]

+1

[Gunder]

Will the located fleet list be updated? If I locate a fleet, and it moves, will I see the new port or still the old port?

*EDIT* +1

[Captain Jack]

Will the located fleet list be updated? If I locate a fleet, and it moves, will I see the new port or still the old port?

Good Question. I am not sure. We can hear your suggestions, certainly.
We should also determine the life of such a search event for fleets that are not exposed.

Perhaps we could make it relevant to this.
For fleets that do not move at all (inactive players), we can have a time window before removing them automatically.
This should be large, to encourage long term planning for guilds (so they can have a large pool of possible targets at every given time).

[Gunder]

Will the located fleet list be updated? If I locate a fleet, and it moves, will I see the new port or still the old port?

Good Question. I am not sure. We can hear your suggestions, certainly.
We should also determine the life of such a search event for fleets that are not exposed.

Perhaps we could make it relevant to this.
For fleets that do not move at all (inactive players), we can have a time window before removing them automatically.
This should be large, to encourage long term planning for guilds (so they can have a large pool of possible targets at every given time).

Exactly my point. If it stays there permanently until exposed, it would be horrible if the fleets keep getting tracked. On the other hand, if you can't see movement, you are back to square one and can't plan at all.

My suggestion would be to not put a time-limit, but a movement-limit. Let's say 3 port movements. When the player has moved for a 3rd time since the search was put in place, the search would be "lost" and had to be redone. The limit could be 1, 2, 10 or 20, not sure would would make the most sense. This would also give some realism, the more you move, the harder you will be to track. If you track somebody who is known to move around a lot, you have to hit quickly or do a new search.

*EDIT* Likewise, if you keep some of your fleets stationary, never moving, you would be visible on the searchboard permanently.

[Captain Jack]

Nice idea, let me try to enrich it.

Every fleet has a track life of 10.
-Every fleet movement reduces track life by 2.
-Every attack on the fleet reduces track life by 3.
-Only port info is updated. The rest remain the same but a warning will appear "Fleet name & composition at 12:43:56" (The time it was tracked)

As for those that do not move at all, permanent does not work for a game with many numbers and a database to maintain. We could use a 2 months time frame. It sounds more than enough.

EDIT: Tweaked penalties for track life; still debatable

[Gunder]

Nice idea, let me try to enrich it.

Every fleet has a track life of 10.
-Every fleet movement reduces track life by 2.
-Every attack on the fleet reduces track life by 3.
-Only port info is updated. The rest remain the same but a warning will appear "Fleet name & composition at 12:43:56" (The time it was tracked)

As for those that do not move at all, permanent does not work for a game with many numbers and a database to maintain. We could use a 2 months time frame. It sounds more than enough.

EDIT: Tweaked penalties for track life; still debatable

I like that a lot! That means 5 port movements, 4 attacks or a combination of both. And you are right, 2 months is more than enough, even 30 days would be good.

[Most Lee Harmless]

I think this has potential to be a very useful tool for guilds to get a more co-operative approach to targetting inactives, especially for newer members who may lack the cards or know-how to be chasing down prospective targets themselves.

I like it.

[Sebena]

if it is possible to put more targets than one then it has huge potential to co-operate in guild for deciding which target to ride and with how much people so that spoils of war are equally spread

[Roberts]

if it is possible to put more targets than one then it has huge potential to co-operate in guild for deciding which target to ride and with how much people so that spoils of war are equally spread

I thought you were family oriented at SSTG? Raid*