ALERTS -> once they start, fighting them is pointless

I won't get into what I think of the changes here (even though I could write a wall of text). But I do want to point this out :


Once an alert has started;

1. The "alert faction" usually has a ton of points, wayyy above what they need (36%). So in the time of the alert, which is quite short actually (I think that isn't a bad thing), even if they lose base after base, even if they just sit down and role play and do nothing, in short, even if they do not defend any of their bases at all, they'd still win easy because there's that many bases needed to bring the points down to 36.



2. The real issue though, for me, is that no one cares. Once the alert has started

a) people just go to another continent

b) people keep fighting the faction that isn't on alert anyway.

(I've also seen lots of people make and build and defend and destroy HIVES even though there isn't any point in bothering about them at all but I don't mind that, people play like they want to).



Basically, because so many players choose not to attack the ALERT faction, it's basically mission impossible for the others that are trying, since they are always underpop.

Not to mention that bringing a faction from 52 to under 36 which already has a serious overpop (in most cases) in that short a time is just never going to happen.

Yeah, they do feel too short right now, probably due to the initiators having too much innate advantage to start with as you pointed out. I expect them to make adjustments pretty quickly though, since it's their "new baby" so to speak. Perhaps the point advantage should be shortened for the initiating faction upon the start of the alert to narrow the gap for starters.

But as for people's fears about faction hoppers, I'm not sure that will be a long-term problem as eventually people will still need to get a certain implant on their main faction. As much as I hated it at first, tempting players with ISO-4 is a pretty solid way to provide incentive now that the cert cost for fully upgrading a single implant has practically *doubled*(?) with this patch.

On one hand it's lame because it rewards all the tryhards who farmed implants ad nauseam when they came out and punishes those who spent certs on other things. On the other, it does provide incentive and new implants are being released anyway that people will still want to farm in the current patch.

It always takes awhile for the masses to grasp the "zen" of patch changes, I'm just going to give it a week or so and see how things progress.

I think the best solution is that they can't lose more than 10% of their territory after an alert starts, so another line would have to be drawn at that point once the alert begins. Or whatever number would be fitting, I just picked something.

If you want to win an alert, you have to fight for it BEFORE the timer appears.
If the enemy start the alert with 41% territorry, he will lose.
If he start with 60% territory it's pointless to fight them.

I have fought (and lost) two alerts now. I gained 136 ISO4 in total and had some of the best fights I've had for a long time. As I only play for the fights this is a good thing for me and the ISO is just a bonus. Logging in and finding an alert is imminent makes me stay on and play on, even when it is another faction defending their gains.

I think forcing a faction to fight the faction that is winning is stupid and pointless. Takes away the concept of all out war between all factions to lock the continent and become victorious. If factions choose not to fight each other then that is on them.

I've been enjoying the alerts so far, but I've not seen a turnaround yet, it usually is the case that whoever triggers the alert wins it.

I've got about 500 ISO-4 and a nice composite helmet so far. Oh and a decal.

I honestly think it's not worth the effort to leave and back out of a good fight so you can prevent the alert faction from winning when ************ them only gives you ISO-4 rather than an item from the imaginary lootbox. I mean, once they reach the territory and HIVE quota, it's pretty much crab mentality at that point for the non-alert factions. I'd rather have them actually win an item other than ISO-4 when they do manage to take out the alert faction.

And honestly from a personal POV, ISO-4/Implants are the most lackluster rewards

That's is the best option i think. It's not matter how much teritory you gain. Started with 50%? At the end you need to have 40%.


On the other hand I would make alerts last longer. At least 45 minutes, but...

In this case it should be way to cut the timer. And if you hold all biolabs or AMPs or Techplants on one of the continents, the timer would be shorter. You know - Normal alert 45 minutes, but if you have 3 BioLabs on Esamir (good luck) alert have only 40 minutes.

What about that idea planetmans?

I think short alerts are better, especially if they up the rewards for defeating the alert faction so the other two actually start teaming up to do so. I hope that soon we'll start seeing more defeats than we currently do. Plus you have to keep the time kind of short for casual players, especially if they have to take part for the majority of the alert to get rewards.

I saw my first defeat yesterday!

Does you or anyone else know if you get a reward for winning the defeat?


What I mean is :

NC launches alert but points go below 36%

TR has more than VS, so they "win" (you get a big message saying "TR IS VICTORIOUS".

So I'm wondering, did TR win anything at all ? Or is it only the big message on the screen?

The system is good, but the Alert duration is simply too short. I would like to see how a variable-duration alert system would play out (e.g. as many minutes to defend for as the percentage of territory the faction has at the beginning, so for a 50% territory, 50 minutes of defense is needed).

There is only rarely a turnaround now, we need more time.

I mentioned this in another post somewhere, but I would like to see the other 2 factions, that didn't start alert, be changed to allies so they HAVE to fight the winning faction. Right now I see the 2 factions, that are losing, continue to fight each other and not focus on winning and some even change continents, if you're lucky enough. Also, the 30 minutes to hold out is too short in my opinion, unless I happen to be on winning side. 30 minutes is enough time to, at the least, slow down the other 2 factions.

That'd be something.
A dramatic battle with allies forged for the last ditch attempt.
Sounds like a movie.

Yeah 30 minutes to remove 10-20% of land mass.. is a *****.

Make the percentage of territory the alert triggering faction must hold related to the percentage of territory it holds when they start the alert. If that math function exists already (I've always seen the target of 36% so I assume it doesn't) then change the formula--or extend alert time based on the alert faction territory percent.

Because yes, one faction (favorable warpgate) just banks territory before triggering an alert. 30 minutes is a useless timeline to react if reactions didn't occur before the alert.

But let's be honest, the design today (which is a huge improvement!!!) means people will:

1. Wait for the alert to trigger before reacting
2. Ignore the alert and just stay at whatever good fight is going on for the next 30 minutes.
3. Lock continent, rinse, repeat.

I know it looks bad but it's going to take a while. People want alerts to happen because they get rewarded but the only way to fight a alert is to already be playing to win from the start and actively try to delay a alert triggering.

30 minutes isnt enough time even as alerts stand now. It needs to change.

Players have already figured out how to rig alerts. Within a day. Heh.

You also have the problem of when a 2nd continent opens and it gets ghost capped by one faction.
Then an alert happens on it.

I have fought and won with 40% territory and lost with 60% territory out of the gate. They system is fine, the players are the issue. Half the time vanu is taking the game the NC and TR still expend all resources on each other and ignore them.

It seems that the alert should trigger on automatic on a point where the other two factions have the chance to get the territory back....let's say the that you could trigger the allert with:

50% Continent + 25000 Cortium refined

Or

70% Continent + 0 Cortium refined

Or

36% Continent (Minimum) + 100'000 Cortium refined