Many survival games have the concept of an "airdrop". This is a mechanic where a very visible, very desirable object slowly enters the world (say, by being dropped from an airplane) within vision of multiple players. The players are incentivized to converge on the objective to try to claim it before anyone else. Inevitably, this sparks PvP encounters where multiple groups stumble across each other and try to make off with the contents alive, creating an exciting risk vs. reward scenario. I present this Rogue Asteroid Event as an example of how this staple mechanic could be adapted to and contextualized within Starbase for fun and profit.
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The Signal
- At periodic intervals (rare enough to make this event special), the game intelligently selects the event point for the Rogue Asteroid Event.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The event point is selected so as to be some minimum travel distance from any station.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The event point is selected so as to be near some players of different affiliations that could reach the point within a reasonable travel time.
- Once the event point is selected, a distinct visual effect spawns on that point (some bright flash/glow) with a large render range.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The effect should draw attention to it, give a strong indication of where it is, and include an audio cue of some sort.
The Rogue Asteroid
- The Rogue Asteroid is spawned at the event point alongside the signal effect.
- The Rogue Asteroid is a large, very dense asteroid containing some rare and desirable raw contents within.
- The Rogue Asteroid has an especially thick shell that requires considerable time to pierce through for its raw contents.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- This is intended to stall/delay early arrivals and give latecomers a chance to contest the objective.
The Raw Contents
- The exact nature of the asteroid's contents are left to future design, but it should be unique to Rogue Asteroids and be worth a great deal of risk.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- One suggestion could be rare and limited-use pigments for ship paint colors with unique appearances, like glittering gold or chromatic effects.
- The raw contents of a Rogue Asteroid are useless on their own and must be processed or refined in a station to be of use to a player.
- When recovered from the Rogue Asteroid, the raw contents must be stored in a crate or Cargo Lock Frame for transport, not in player inventory.
- The raw contents are not large or heavy, and do not require special equipment or durability considerations to be carried by a ship.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- It is unreasonable to expect players to have a specialized ship ready at all times for this rare, spontaneous, and time-critical event.
The Pursuit
- The raw contents emit an interference field that reduces the effectiveness of nearby thrusters. This slows any ship carrying the raw contents.
- The raw contents are highly, but not harmfully, radioactive, and emit a strong signal that can be picked up by receivers on a well-known frequency.
- This signal can be used to pinpoint the location of the raw contents, whether they are still in the Rogue Asteroid, or are being carried on a ship.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- This is intended to create a chase scenario where the party recovering the raw contents must fight off competitors tracking them for ambush.
- The raw contents are exceptionally durable, and can withstand the damage of even generator explosions (so blowing up the target is okay).
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- It should not be possible for "sore losers" to destroy the raw contents to intentionally deny other players when defeated.
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My intent with this feature skeleton is to create a situation where multiple adventurous players are informed of a desirable thing in the world, converge upon it, chance fighting one another for it, and then experience the rush of desperately bringing the reward back to a station knowing that they have a target painted on their head. I think this is a good way to emergently provide content for PvP-oriented players that is fully opt-in (non-PvP oriented players can simply ignore it), and creates lots of opportunities for unique and thrilling gameplay experiences. Of course, this should be one of many possible day-to-day PvP objectives (among others like piracy and faction wars), but having this tool in the toolbox is a good way to keep the fun going when players aren't always around to make content fully on their own.
--
The Signal
- At periodic intervals (rare enough to make this event special), the game intelligently selects the event point for the Rogue Asteroid Event.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The event point is selected so as to be some minimum travel distance from any station.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The event point is selected so as to be near some players of different affiliations that could reach the point within a reasonable travel time.
- Once the event point is selected, a distinct visual effect spawns on that point (some bright flash/glow) with a large render range.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- The effect should draw attention to it, give a strong indication of where it is, and include an audio cue of some sort.
The Rogue Asteroid
- The Rogue Asteroid is spawned at the event point alongside the signal effect.
- The Rogue Asteroid is a large, very dense asteroid containing some rare and desirable raw contents within.
- The Rogue Asteroid has an especially thick shell that requires considerable time to pierce through for its raw contents.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- This is intended to stall/delay early arrivals and give latecomers a chance to contest the objective.
The Raw Contents
- The exact nature of the asteroid's contents are left to future design, but it should be unique to Rogue Asteroids and be worth a great deal of risk.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- One suggestion could be rare and limited-use pigments for ship paint colors with unique appearances, like glittering gold or chromatic effects.
- The raw contents of a Rogue Asteroid are useless on their own and must be processed or refined in a station to be of use to a player.
- When recovered from the Rogue Asteroid, the raw contents must be stored in a crate or Cargo Lock Frame for transport, not in player inventory.
- The raw contents are not large or heavy, and do not require special equipment or durability considerations to be carried by a ship.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- It is unreasonable to expect players to have a specialized ship ready at all times for this rare, spontaneous, and time-critical event.
The Pursuit
- The raw contents emit an interference field that reduces the effectiveness of nearby thrusters. This slows any ship carrying the raw contents.
- The raw contents are highly, but not harmfully, radioactive, and emit a strong signal that can be picked up by receivers on a well-known frequency.
- This signal can be used to pinpoint the location of the raw contents, whether they are still in the Rogue Asteroid, or are being carried on a ship.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- This is intended to create a chase scenario where the party recovering the raw contents must fight off competitors tracking them for ambush.
- The raw contents are exceptionally durable, and can withstand the damage of even generator explosions (so blowing up the target is okay).
ﾠﾠﾠﾠ- It should not be possible for "sore losers" to destroy the raw contents to intentionally deny other players when defeated.
--
My intent with this feature skeleton is to create a situation where multiple adventurous players are informed of a desirable thing in the world, converge upon it, chance fighting one another for it, and then experience the rush of desperately bringing the reward back to a station knowing that they have a target painted on their head. I think this is a good way to emergently provide content for PvP-oriented players that is fully opt-in (non-PvP oriented players can simply ignore it), and creates lots of opportunities for unique and thrilling gameplay experiences. Of course, this should be one of many possible day-to-day PvP objectives (among others like piracy and faction wars), but having this tool in the toolbox is a good way to keep the fun going when players aren't always around to make content fully on their own.
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