Possible game mode: Capture the point

[Arturo Sanchez]

Seeing as co-op mode has the use of bases.

This mode came to mind. I noticed awhile ago there was a feature called cargo hook.

Goal: capture points (that holds a crate of cargo) via the cargo hook and bring it to your base.

Mechanics

point: the point is interact-able. It can bounce off rams and explosive shots and can be popped (it auto fixes/regens the dmg dealt over time) and it can be destroyed (if it cant rebuild its balloon fast enough it will get destroyed).

cargo hook: You must hover near the point so that a tether can attach itself on it (like capturing but much faster). The ship it connects to is the first ship that makes contact (just like how point captures are credited to first ship that begins and finishes the cap).

Drag: The heavier the ship the less drag caused by the point they are pulling along. So a galleon wont have any movement penalty at all. But a squid will get a severe punishment because of how light it is and how its barely able to move it.

Losing point: Point can be dropped if you either destroy the ship carrying it. While being carried it cannot be hurt but it can block arcs.

Point spawn: points are spawned every 100 seconds (of up to 3 at once) or 10 seconds after a point is taken to base or destroyed. It will appear in the resource point and float upwards into mid lvl. It becomes active when it lights up.

[MagKel]

We had a conversation about it where some good points of the possible problems this mode would entice were brought up.
All in one post:

Capture the flag seems a bit of a bad idea for this game, as you can just grab the Flag as a squid and moonshine half the way to your spawn. Literally nothing with stop you.

Capture the flag:
Two objects are located in the respective spawn points. In order to capture it, an opposing ship has to loiter near the "flag" for a certain amount of time. Once it is captured, the object has to be delivered to the team's spawn point.

Speaking of teamwork, it requires:
1. An adequate fleet setup, not only regarding the ships but down to the components.
2. Higher coordination between the captains that have to develop a strategy and a counter strategy in order to defend and capture at the same time.
3.A game mode just like king of the hill or crazy king that rewards tactical control and planning over enemy destruction.

CTF would have worked in 1.1. Not in current GOIO. But either way it would be a squid ruling gametype. I like the idea of CTF, don't get me wrong, its one of my favorite FPS gametypes. However given how slow the game is and how weak certain guns are, I know how the matches would turn out.

The idea for CTF is to employ to the full possibility every ship type and give an added purpose to the match.

Let me explain further:

A fleet comprised of
squid, junker, mobula, galleon and pyramidion

goes against a force of
goldfish, spire, spire, pyramidion and galleon

Squid, Goldfish and the two Pyramidions are offensive in nature, let's call them first line.

Junker and Spire are tasked to control and conquer the center toward the opposition, the second line.

Mobula and the other Spire are the first very mobile defense designed to push forward and retreat when needed.

The two Galleons are the last defense, using long and short range weapons to control the battlefield.

A game in my head would see the three lines moving in the beginning together, clashing at the center or the sides. it is important to spot early and understand the plan of the enemy while at the same time thinning their lines. if they lose the first, their attack is stalled, if you lose the second line a bottleneck for the returning squid or goldfish is created, a third line hole would mean the opposite defense wise. Each ship has a purpose, a fleet of metas is not a viable option anymore. With the first kills the upper hand switches fast between the reds and blues and decisions must be made: press the attack on the left or cover the right being overrun? Move the center to gain an advantage or to cover a loss? A ship locked into a 2v1 fight should immolate in order to let the others open a breach in the enemy lines or retreat? And while those two ships finish the job, who's defending? At some point attrition lets a team capture the flag, beginning a mad dash home with the enemy on tail. In order to win a point the fleet needs to hold steady because friendly ships are leaving their post trying to defend their runners, opening holes in the defense organization. You may have won a point but what if that brought you the enemy at your doorstep? The blue squid carries the point home but now the reds pyra and fish are within reach of the blue flag while the rest of the fleet hammers the displaced blues. 1 - 0 can rapidly go 1 - 1 if the fire is directed to the wrong ship and everything is to be repeated or maybe the blues can hold off the reds for the squid to rapidly go back and wait for the flag to spawn again while battling the galleon in an uneven match.

In short, everything from the fleet composition and the personality of the captains to the weapons loaded on each ship could define the game

Not trying to rain on ya but you are envisioning ideal situations. In actual play, you would not be seeing engagements going so orderly. Competitive level pilots would roll all over that. Simply because we've had to do this for a long time and we will exploit the hell out of people who try to bring order into engagements. You say metas wouldn't work but I say...Ryders, CK champions of Aerodrome 1 & 2. They'd pull it off. I could literally bet money on the Ryders doing it. You'd run an ideal ship mix against them, they'd run metamidions and 5-0 you.

On top of that consider maps to be used for this. Most maps have clouds or fog, many ways to approach. Galleons holding the D are not scary unless there is only 1 way to approach. If so, sniper boat ftw. Heck if your map is a big open football field sort of thing then you'll still have sniper battles happening. Which comes down to who has more mercs.

I love CTF modes of play but in GOIO, when you consider the competitive players, it just wouldn't work the way you think.

i really like the idea of capture the flag. i see some of you say that it would mostly be a squid dominated game type, but i don't think so. To keep that kind of game balanced i think it should use a similar system to the new co op mode that Muse is working on. In the new co op mode that they showed at Pax the players had to capture a balloon being towed by AI ships, and the bigger AI ships could tow the balloon faster then the smaller ones. On top of that i THINK that the ship with the balloon was slowed down, but i'm not completely sure on that. SO basically the smaller ships cant tow the flag as fast as the bigger ones. that would mean that the squid could get to the flag fastest but would be the slowest to return it, and the gallon would be the least affected.

[Arturo Sanchez]

lots of mention of squid domination.

it wont because of the cargo drag mechanic.

The lighter the ship, the more drag it gives. Making it really slow, hence light ships have other roles.

[Extirminator]

lots of mention of squid domination.

it wont because of the cargo drag mechanic.

The lighter the ship, the more drag it gives. Making it really slow, hence light ships have other roles.

They might be a little bit easier turned around and affected by it with their movement, but they are faster - and in the end, velocity has a higher influence than mass.

[Arturo Sanchez]

that being said the drag would still slow them severely enough.

I mean a squid with a captured point vs one without.
That point carrier is gonna get caught.

At best I see the squid flying as fast as a goldfish. Though realistically it would be moving as fast as either old pyra or junker.

And just to inb4 clarify. The drag only effects forward and backward thrust and vertical velocity.

[Extirminator]

that being said the drag would still slow them severely enough.

I mean a squid with a captured point vs one without.
That point carrier is gonna get caught.

At best I see the squid flying as fast as a goldfish. Though realistically it would be moving as fast as either old pyra or junker.

And just to inb4 clarify. The drag only effects forward and backward thrust and vertical velocity.

I would assume that if an airship would to go up, the cargo behind it will be pulled in an angle that has a component in the vertical axis - so vertical drag will be applied...

If you strap that cargo on a squid and a galleon, the galleon will be way behind the squid - same with any other ship. It has the best acceleration, and top speed. The thrust generated by the engines is a lot more dominant than the mass of the ship.
And of course that a squid with a cargo will be slower than a squid without one, because it adds weight to it. The point is, if you were to have a different ship carrying the cargo rather than a squid carrying it, it would be caught even faster by the chasing squid.
The only reason you would even consider taking a more slower ship with more mass is if it has better means of defending itself like more guns. So instead of running away as fast as possible - you will have a slow and steady journey but if someone attacks you, you take them down with superior fire-power.

[Arturo Sanchez]

As well as a possible base defender or blocker or even a resource point defender.

Naturally you might want your heaviest ships generally staying near key tactical points.
While your faster shifts harass these heavy ships from doing their job correctly.

I find that many complains I'm hearing is this delusion of dominant strategy syndrome, much of which can easily be nullified with decent map design.

I thought of the game mode as it is, as it provides a huuuuuuuuuuuge variety in tactics (the kind that was lost from crazy king). You can go full light ships. Or full heavy. Any is viable by design.

Tho naturally meta will eventually be found.

[ShadedExalt]

I REALLY like this idea.