APVES

[sunsvortex 599]

So the title is a bit of a question mark - I had no good title for it so I used an acronym. It stands for Advanced Player Versus Environment Server. Since it looks promising that we are going to be able to throw out very large severs in the future, I got to thinking about the size of these things and how spread out everyone would be if multiples were opened in the future. I have also always considered PVE in Wurm to be a foundation, upon which nearly anything could be built /designed. So with that in mind and enough of the backstory of where this is coming from, I thought I would throw this out here just to see what everyone thinks of it.Since the suggestion /concept is somewhat large, im going to try a different approach and just use a scenario /story line so that its a bit easier to see where I am coming from.

The Basic Suggestion /Concept

Add one of the new shiny large servers

Allow a mechanic, where mobs, such as trolls, goblins, even spiders, can build a camp or town, or in the case of spiders and such, large nests that have multiple  spider holes/hovels/whatever you want to call them.

Expand the reputation system a bit so that you can have a reputation with mobs

Build a two way stipend system where players can negotiate with mob camps.

An older player can go over to the server,drop a deed and build a fort/keep/temple/ whatever construct you want to call it.

Once the toon drops the deed, it becomes an area of interest to the surrounding mob camps/towns/nests and they will seek to destroy it ---En Masse--ie. every so often a horde of mobs will come crashing into your nice shiny new walls and begin to try and breach them. If you dont have walls, they can go straight to your buildings. They will destroy cropland, buildings, fences, and most importantly -  you.

Now to keep the threat of such an invasion down one could have 3 basic options.

1. Build High QL structures and fences

2. Attempt to apply your diplomatic skills to build a Non Agression Pact (NAP) (more on this in the scenario)

3. Attack and destroy as much as possible of the camp/ town/ hovel/ hole.

Once can utilize all three options and probably should, because youll be dealing with multiple camps of hostiles.

 Now The Scenario /Story line

lets say you get there, setup your deed, and grab the attention of a troll camp and a goblin camp. You attempt negotiations with both camps - You fail with the trolls but have succeeded with the goblins. The goblins tell you for a shipment of weapons and armor every week /month/ whatever, they will not attack your village and if you throw in an allotment of say Iron (as thier site does not have any) they will give you x amount of thier warriors to help defend your village. You agree to thier terms and send in everything they ask for and upon the first shipment of iron they send you say for example 10 goblin warriors that are non hostile and will attack any hostile creature /person ect - just like a spirit templar.

The trolls didnt like you, but they hate the goblins worse and now that you have made friends with the goblins your chances of any future negotiations with the trolls has diminished.

So now you have the burden of a stipend that you must pay, and lets say every month you need to have 100 short swords, 20 sets of armor (leather) 10 sets of Chain Armor and 3 sets of plate armor. along with say 1000 Iron lumps of 20 QL or better. Its a big order but nothing anyone couldnt handle in a months time. So in that month you put together your stipend to pay the goblins to retain your goblin troops and good relations. Off you go with your wagon loaded and head to the goblin encampment, but the road to thier encampment is long and arduous, so you elect to take a small group of your goblins with you.

(Add in a mechanic that essentially allows you to have multiple pets, say 5 and they will auto follow you wherever you go.) So you select your finest 5 goblin troops to go with you and assist on the long road ahead. As you trundle along your spotted by a troll who yells for his buddies, 3 more of them,(insert good mechanic for AOE aggro) all come running for you and allthough you narrowly escape, all your guards are slaughtered. Thier mangled carcasses strewn about the roadway. Finally after making it to your destination you hand off the goods to the goblin leader.

Well now your short a few of the goblin warriors., but youll have to wait till the next stipend payment to receive more of them. So now you have 4 trolls on the road awaiting your return trip with no fodder to throw at them. But you have good fighting skills and a good sense of strategy and figure out a plan and head back home. Sure as you predicted the trolls are lying in wait for you,,,, but you lead them off one at a time and eviscerate each of them while healing in between each of the battles.

Safely on your way home as your riding to the gates of your deed, you hear them, the drums, they are louder now than when you left, thier beat is a bit faster now and the tone of them is unmistakeably that of trolls. The booming of the drums now echoes throughout the land as if calling others to thier aid. (Insert sound mechanic to give indications as to the hostility of any mob camp.) Your killing of the trolls has reached the leader of the troll horde and your reputation with them has lowered again.

Its clear, the trolls are going to be a problem. Looking around at your village you notice that you need to put some work into the walls. A random attack of trolls while you were away has left a couple sections of wall worse for the wear, and after your recent engagement along the road, your certain the frequency of those attacks will increase. While the goblins are good for keeping the area clear of smaller mobs, they simply are no match in small numbers against trolls. And you need to calm those damn drums. You decide that its best if you just go into the camp and knock it down a level or 2. If you can keep them weak they wont be so eager to attack you.

So after repairing the dmg to your walls and improving some sections of it, you head off into the wilds to scout out the troll camp to plan your attack. Your thinking you dont have time to wait on the next shipment of goblin warriors and that you need to act now and decisively to get things under control. As you are quietly making your way to the troll camp you happen to notice tracks...lots of them. You immediatley recognize them as hellhounds. Not good, you think to yourself, and you press on. Positioning yourself high on a mountain to look down on the camp you realize how bad things have gotten. The trolls have hellhounds now within thier ranks, and the number of trolls has increased.

Ok so...with your initial plan of solo attack a no go at this point, even with a full contingent of goblins, your just not going to be able to pull it off. Your going to need to take out a few of thier buildings and knock out a large number of them. So you think, "you know there is that guy down the coast. The spider guy, the one that has the good rep with the spiders in that overgrown, web infested forest. Maybe he could lend a hand."

So a few days later you sail down the coast and are able to catch him in local and talk him up to see if he would be in a position to help out. He agrees for a fee. He has been working with the spiders for a very long time and has excellent reputation with them, and to that end he has 50 available spiders he could lend. But it will not be cheap. Its going to cost you more than few silver coin but after checking the Credit Card and doing a bit of quick shopping at the Wurm store you agree to the price. So he gives you permission to team them and you both start taking 5 at a time to your deed.

You are lucky that you lost none of the spiders in the trip and they are finally ready. Even though you have nearly an army of spiders at your command you can only command 5 at a time, your new found alli can also command 5, so thats you and him with 10 spiders. Not enough you think. Time to speak to the goblin leader. You grab your fastest horse and off you go, ignoring the troll patrols and blasting past them to meet with the goblins. the goblins have heard the drums and have been suffering increasing attacks and allthough you cannot get more troops to use they agree to attack the trolls and tell you to wait till they begin thier attack.

Now you have a fighting chance you think to yourself and head back to your deed to assemble the troops. As you are rushing to get your commands together the event window lights up like a christmas tree...the goblins are attacking - 400 screaming goblins are charging the troll camp..Time for carnage.....You and your alli take to the camp and force your way through and attack the storehouses and guard shacks, you need to get that central shamans hut to get them under control. Without it they have a very hard time of organizing....It must fall....Its going too slow, the spiders are not enough so you release command of the spiders to kill everything in sight, grab your alli and head back to your deed where you have a catapult in waiting, your alli grabs a wagon load of ammo and another command of spiders and you head back to the battle. Your alli goes back into the fray with reinforcements, you setup the catapult taking aim on that shaman hut.

Wailing away with unmatched precision your certain its about to fall and then it happens. 100 trolls spawn as the shaman hut falls. Instantly they decimate the field, you see your alli fall and the last of the spiders crumble under foot of the horde of trolls, entrails spewing in a splash across the field.

He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day, better part of valor, better part of valor, your out of there!. You head back to your deed locking the gates and awaiting the onslaught. Your defense will bring the full brunt of the spiders to your aid as all will fight without command,anything hostile that enters your deed.

If you win

The trolls fall upon your walls like water upon the stone. Bashing and smashing,,,, your walls can barely hold this onslaught for long but its enough time for you to open the east and west gates allowing the spiders to pour forth in a flanking attack. You grab another catapult and begin mercilessly hammering them, over and over again. Finally your alli has returned and rejoins the battle, and he is pissed about dying, so he brought a surprise, 5 ven champ spiders. The trolls start to fall, one by one they fall, piling up against your walls. ....they have thinned now..too thin for catapult, you take to the field and assist in the final battle......down to a handfull left and they decide to break off and run for whats left of thier camp. its over and you have won the day. It will be a very long time before you need worry about them again 

If you loose

The trolls fall upon your walls like water upon the stone.Bashing and smashing..... your walls cannot take such an onslaught and the sounds of cracking fill the air as the first wall gives way..and then the next and then another. The spiders flood the newly made entrances to your deed as you retreat into the safety of a tower to rain down death with arrows. Your alli has mysteriously logged off for no reason and doesnt look to be coming to your aid anytime soon. Heh..so much for the new found friendship.....coward..... the spiders cannot take it, they are being destroyed and have only managed to slow the attack. One by one the trolls have surrounded your tower and are bashing it to the ground. the troll commander yells to you" be careful when hunting trolls as you are crunchy and good with catsup". and as he berates you one last time your tower comes down and you fall helpless to the ground, you try and run but its of no use, your hurt, your not going anywhere but to the grave. The trolls instantly kill you every time you respawn and finally manage to destroy your token......the deed is gone. Your lands overrun...Allthough you have retained the contents of your token such as banked items and coin, you have respawned on a different server and must regroup to recover your body and any items on it. the area you once called home is now overrun with trolls and is being looted of resources which makes the initial troll camp stronger and able to rebuild faster. Your next attempt at setting up here will be a great deal more difficult and perhaps not worth the effort. As well as your attack has put all other surrounding deeds at a greater risk for attack after the trolls regroup and rebuild.

 

A variant on this system could allow new players as well as mid level players to join in. Ill stick with new players in this example - Deed owners on the APVES can designate themselves  (after a rather lengthy and complete assesment by say GM's) a spawn point. New players may choose their village as their initial spawn point and there are no pre made spawn points. The only spawn points are those which are made by players.

 

Once a new player chooses the server they then pick a player made deed to start at. Once they have initially spawned they are automatically a villager of this deed. They can then help with creating items needed for making stipend payments or whatever needs to be done. Now we all know that after a while new people want to strike out on their own, but on this type of server they have 2 options. they can grab a settlement form and strike out on thier own...or...get a serf form (new item to be made) and plant a deed that directly adjoins the main deed they were part of. If they choose to do a serf form, they can establish thier own deed but retain the Main deeds reputation and NAP's as well as any other benifits from mob camp negotiations. If they do the traditional settlement form they are on their own and must start from scratch. A benifit to the mayor of the main deed is that for every serf he/she has attached to his main deed they get an auto stipend payment from the serf deed. the serf owner does not need to do anything ..the main deed owner does not need to do anything...they just get it..all in the form of raw materials /resources. Each serf deed could also add to the bargaining power of the main deed holder when working with mob camps as they are seen as a bit more powerful.

 

Yet another variant would allow a Hybrid PVE / PVP server - which allows players to wage war with each other based on using the mobs and not directly attack one another. While you could attack another players forces you would not be able to attack the player themselves. Only the mobs could do that.

 

All of it hinges though on being able to have large mob spawns and camps - which is the main suggestion /concept.

 

 

[Proximo 402]

Very impressive, I can see you put a LOT of thought into this.  As it would be an option server gametype, I certainly wouldn't have a problem with this.  Sounds fun and would certainly ward off getting burned out/bored

 

+1

[Thrrim 217]

I actually kind of like this idea, however i do believe we should get all major upstanding issues resolved, and the game should be put into a state of "Finish" as the dev team sees fit before adding this, i would quite enjoy this as a co-op or mass player sort of thing.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Thrrim

[Nomadikhan 2,196]

It sounds neat but it also sounds like it'd take quite a bit of time to work on.  I'd almost rather see coding time go to things that work on all servers.

[Chiqa 742]

while it sounds like allot of fun, also would be a major project.

[Martynas5 435]

+1

 

Would be fun to play.

[Jibberish 410]

I agree with Nomadikhan. It seems like a fun idea, but wurm has so much it could improve on first that I can't stand behind this idea.

[Archentar 20]

+1

Very interesting and unique idea , I would like to play on such a server.