I’d like a Ready Room please.
I believe this interface model would work equally well for all the arenas including CT, would help retain new players, and it might help balance the arenas as well by making squads happier. This lists starts with the new user issue and moves on to address arena and squad ideas.
1. Supplement the current clipboard interface to the Online arenas with a 3D Ready Room.
2. This Ready Room would actually link to the Training Arena and show a partial window view from the tower at field A1 in the Training arena with some special sound and com links. Over this window is the title, “Welcome to the Training Arena”.
3. The window would use the default look forward Tower view and include vehicle sounds from the A1 Training arena tower. In the field of view, next to the window would be a modified clipboard interface with live buttons and some basic instructions would be written transparently over the current training terrain map. The instructions could include a description on Esc and / key use and an announcement that clicking on the boards’ buttons would enter the training arena and put you in a plane. On the opposite side of the window is the new user motd “board” with an additional button clearly marked “Help” which brings up the standard htc help site. All of this would be in the field of view and greet each player at startup the first time they install and enter the game. Exiting an arena returns the player to the Ready room where new players could still have friendly access to the help files button by the motd. The escape key still brings up the (slightly revised) startup clipboard interface.
4. In a back corner of the Ready room, are two boards, one on each wall. If you move to stand and look at one board, you can then look right or left to see the other. One board would be the “Squad roster” showing a scrollable list of online squad members, in which arena and their country icon. On the other board would be the “Arena summary” displaying information for each arena. The Arena board would display the following on each line:
Arena name
Maximum players
Current arena total players
Status light (See 6 below)
Terrain name
Players’ (you) country affiliation icon for that arena (See 5 below)
Current player counts for the 3 countries
Numbers in flight for each country
Base ownership numbers per country
5. If the player has no country affiliation in that arena, then the affiliation defaults to the smaller country population and saves the exit affiliation once the player has uses that arena.
6. Using the same red/green/yellow from auto pilot, the status lights would indicate an arena’s availability status, yellow indicating closure is imminent.
7. The Arena summary board should be a scrollable list to provide for scalability.
8. In another corner of the room would be a copy of the universal MA motd and a copy of the current BBS events calendar. (Hey, I am a CM after all.
) Other announcement boards for the SEA and AvA could be given room on the walls making it a pretty exciting place.
9. The revised startup clipboard would include the addition of two icons on each arena line, the players’ country affiliation icon and the arena’s status light for that arena, there’s room on the existing clipboard.
10. Squad text would transmit both ways to all the arenas while in the Ready room and between arenas. Squad vox on the other hand might also transmit both ways to all the arenas while in the Ready room but not between arenas. Numbered channels work within the Ready room and connect to the training arena but not between the ready room and other arenas.
11. Country text, Range vox and text would be off in the Ready room. This would keep the new users protected from less cordial old hands. New users and players willing to help them would continue to have vox set to the default channel, 101. Old hands would use the numbered channels for both text and vox which would transmit both within the room and the training arena.
12. Movement around the room would be with the with the familiar movement interface for the tower.
13. Head positions and location within the room would be saved so you could always start by looking at your squad roster or the arena summary board.
Anyway, some things to knock down or build on. The basic startup clipboard interface remains intact for quick access to your favorite arena, you gain more appropriate distribution of the player base and provide special events information in the form of announcements.
One last thing. An additional country numbers ratio based factor might be added for calculating perk points. My thought is that enough people will join a low numbered side in an arena to fight off a reset if they would pick up perk points faster killing the strat guys with better planes. One possible issue that might develop is similar to one we had a a while back, a situation with the current Env system where the Knights had overwhelming numbers trying to defend their last 7 or 8 bases without any troops, radar or bombs. There was a point where they couldn’t up anything under Env 27. I think that situation shouldn’t develop and wouldn’t want a perk modification that mirrored those consequences.
