Suggestion:20120919 Call Backup

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20120919 Call Backup

A Big F'ing Dog 18:20, 19 September 2012 (BST)

Suggestion type
Radio Operation Subskill

Suggestion scope
Survivors

Suggestion description
One thing the game lacks are epic sieges, like it once had. To counter that I'd like to see a skill that gives survivors a strong incentive to all gather and defend one location, so they're easy for hordes of zombies to find. My idea:

Call Backup

This skill allows players to broadcast on one channel otherwise off limits even to those with Radio Operation. The purpose of this channel is to call for a supply drop-off from the external military forces. A supply drop off can turn any building into a resource building, allowing first-aid kits and ammunition to be found there at the same rate as a hospital or PD. The search rates would not stack with existing search rates though, so for example turning a hospital into a drop-off location would let you find ammunition there but would leave FAK search rates the same as before. Malls and forts would not qualify for the bonus, since it's a bit redundant with what you can already find there, nor would Necrotech buildings as those are classified locations. Converting a building next door to a Necrotech center would be a very effective tactic though.

There's a catch though: the military has limited resources and can only assist one building at a time. Whichever building has had the largest number of players broadcast on that channel would receive the benefit. Only that building would be upgraded. The vote would be based on largest number of players transmitting, not most transmissions overall, so there's no benefit to each player broadcasting more than once. The bonus would move around the city, leaving one building and going to another, whenever a building's vote tally gets higher. A survivor can only vote for one building at a time, and broadcasting in a new location cancels their existing vote (if any) and gives it to the new location.

Ruining a building would reset the tally of votes there to 0, and votes could not be placed in an already ruined building. If the building with the bonus itself gets ruined then the bonus is removed from Malton entirely for 24-72 hours (randomly picked), after which the current vote leading building would receive the bonus.

This would give survivors a strong incentive to defend a specific location, and not to flee, or their precious resource bonus may be stolen away and placed somewhere far off in the city.

While a building has a bonus everyone in Malton would receive a message once a day letting them know which direction that building lies in:

You hear military supply helicopters flying overhead as they travel north.

Before long a very large crowd of humans and zombies should assemble, resulting in an epic battle like in the days of old. The nice thing about this suggestion is that now sieges could theoretically happen anywhere in the city, not just mostly confined to malls.

Voting Section

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Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

1. Keep - This is a survivor buff in much the same way that Set Safehouse was a survivor buff: using it is pretty much always a bad idea. That said, unlike Set Safehouse, this one has the ability to significantly increase the entertainment level in the game by creating siege points. On my zombie, nothing sucks more than finding suburb after suburb nearly empty because everyone has run from the horde, but with an incentive like this, we may actually see some action on a more regular basis. Plus, it creates a nice target for PKers, and could potentially create several new classes of groups who are dedicated to destroying/protecting these points of interest. I find that added dimension intriguing. —Aichon— 20:01, 19 September 2012 (BST)
2. Keep - Already pondering where I'll vote for ;) Bob Moncrief ^EBD•W! 20:05, 19 September 2012 (BST)
3. Keep although can we see what the ingame button/message to do this would be. --I'm not the Ross UDWiki needs, I'm the Ross it deserves. 20:39, 19 September 2012 (BST)

   • Reply There would be no special in game message or button when you vote. It would just behave like broadcasting on any other radio channel, and you could use it for regular communication too if you like. When the building receives the bonus there would be flavor text about helicopters air dropping supplies on the roof, and then the building description would get an extra sentence to indicate that there are added supplies there.--A Big F'ing Dog 02:23, 20 September 2012 (BST)

4. Keep - I've been pondering something similar, but with calling air strikes on someone else's stronghold. I guess that's the dick version. :) -- ™ & © Amazing, INC. All rights reserved. Replying constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. 02:36, 20 September 2012 (BST)
5. Keep - I'm not sure if it's hinted at already (read it at work and only now had chance to vote on it) but I'd strongly suggest flavour text for zombies indicating that a block is backed-up. Maybe even a different colour/indicator on the minimap as well so it's easier to find without visiting every single block. Other than that, I think this is a bloody excellent idea, well done. A ZOMBIE ANT 03:13, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   Reply A good idea. Maybe the daily alert message should become more specific the closer you are. So if you're a few suburbs away you just get a general direction, if you're within 5 spaces you get precise directions like a feeding groan. And before long the crowd of zombies itself would be a good indicator to which building it is.--A Big F'ing Dog 03:18, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   Certainly. I would recommend an actual visual indicator seeing as the fact that the survivors 'choose' the backup point, and zombies will later come, not vice versa, so there's a chance that there will be a point when zombies aren't at a backup point but may be interested (what I'm trying to say is I wouldn't recommend "lots of zombies" to be the indicator that the backup point has been chosen because it may not be the case). Something as easy as a green or blue border around the "button" that is the block on the minimap? That's a rough suggestion but you get the idea. Also another possible suggestion, maybe make it a minimum of a few days or a week for the backup to exist at one place after it's been 'declared' a backup point, so if a siege gets intense, the zombie, PKer or trouble-makers alts can't all pile into one place halfway across Malton and outnumber the survivors at the drop of a hat and take away their backup. Or maybe something simpler would be use of the anti-zerging IP measures (that are already present in UD) to nullify an alt of someone near the seige being able to get a backup somewhere else in the city (just omit them from the tally of overall survivors attempting a backup). Obviously that's a very, very unlikely occasion and I wouldn't expect most groups to actively attempt it, but where there's competition there are those willing to cheat or play dirty, and it would be a shame for a siege to be sabotaged by foul play like that. Just a minor concern though, might be irrelevant. Still think the suggestion is boss. A ZOMBIE ANT 05:31, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   Ooh, yeah. For some reason I thought this was a version of the suggestion that had the supply point locked in place until it was ruined. I thought that was a good mechanic, since it prevents stealing the supplies and encourages a siege to form better. —Aichon— 06:17, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   I allowed other survivors to steal the bonus so that PKing isn't the only option for other survivors to take it. It's one option, but you can also steal the bonus non-violently and democratically. --A Big F'ing Dog 08:15, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   Either of those options (aichons or f'in dog's) sound good to me, as long as they- both, preferably- make use of the IP-based anti-zerging measures that are already in place in the game. A ZOMBIE ANT 10:44, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   Yeah. Also worries about zerging is why I made Call Backup a subskill of Radio Operation, so you can't just make a horde of level 1 alts and vote. --A Big F'ing Dog 14:21, 20 September 2012 (BST)

   I missed that bit- my apologies, and a great call. A ZOMBIE ANT 14:28, 20 September 2012 (BST)

6. Keep - Love the idea, and you applied the earlier given input well. -- Thadeous Oakley Talk 11:37, 20 September 2012 (BST)
7. Keep - SIIIIIIEEEEEEEGEEEEESSSS!!!!! --Shortround }.{ My Contributions 14:55, 20 September 2012 (BST)
8. Keep Let a new era of epic sieges begin. --A Big F'ing Dog 22:51, 23 September 2012 (BST)

Kill Votes

1. I prefer a weekly call for a Supply Crate that doesn't turn a building into a resource point instead. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 21:00, 24 September 2012 (BST)

Spam/Dupe Votes