Outposts provide special materials, catalysts to increase your experience gain (speeding up leveling) and flowers that can boost your statistics. The outpost has no direct maintenance cost, aside from the cost of defending it if a rival group attacks it. It seems that most of the issues surrounding outposts have to do with the fact that control of them and thus access to the resources they provide, are linked with player vs player system and thus would seem to exclude the pure pve players completely from this latest expansion. As with any system where there are winners and losers, there is much angst expressed on the forums. If you log in a play the game, however, this doesn't typically carry over into it.
Anyway, here are the 'nuts and bolts' of the outpost system:
Overview:
Each Chapter since Ryzom's launch has brought its set of new features; chapter III is no exception to the rule, as it will introduce the outposts. The concept behind the outposts is to give new tools to the guilds and some exciting challenges. They give new rewards, linked to each outpost, but their arrival also brings a new dimension to GvG (Guild versus Guild), as guilds will fight to gain control of the outposts. This feature opens a new path for PvP, with fights between armies of players.
Unique advantages
The outposts provide unique advantages. Each outpost gives a bonus to the guild that occupies it. The guild can also construct a few buildings on the outpost's territory to gain further advantages.
NPC controlled outposts
When an outpost is not owned by a guild, hostile NPCs or creatures may occupy it. The first challenge for a guild, which wants to get control of an outpost held by these NPCs, is to fight and defeat them.
Guild wars
The next challenge is to actually keep the control of the outpost. Other guilds can try to conquer it by launching an offensive. In case of conflict between two guilds, the zone around the outpost becomes a PvP area.
Hiring NPCs
The guilds can hire NPC soldiers to defend their outpost. They can choose between different types of NPCs and organize their defense.
Alliances
If the NPC soldiers and guild members don't suffice to fend off against another guild's offensive, the defending guild can call allied guilds for help. The attacking guild can also be helped by other guilds in its attempt to conquer an outpost. Diplomacy becomes all important !
Victory
To gain control over an outpost, the attacking guild needs to overcome the defenses set up by the defending guild. The new owner then has to quickly organize new defenses to prepare for a possible counter-attack.
Details on mechanics:
Summary
1. Declaring War
2. Attack battle
3. Defense battle
4. Minimum threshold
5. Buying squads
6. Squads management
7. Squads power
8. Conflict area
1. Declaring War (24 hours)
If a guild wants to take an outpost, it must first declare war to the current owner of that outpost. The war declaration takes 24 hours, to allow the two opponents to organize themselves, to give them a chance to be there when the true conflict occurs.
At the time the war is declared [Update], the attacking guild can choose a time when the attack battle will take place.
During the first 24 hours (declaration period) [Update] the defending guild a time where the defence battle will take place (see below).
Note: While only one guild at a time can declare war to a given outpost, temporary alliances are possible.
2. Attack battle (2 hours)
A battle is divided in several rounds, each of them lasting a given amount of time (Well start with
5 minutes [Update], for example, and modify that depending on the results and your comments).
As soon as a round starts, one or more NPC squads appear at the outpost to defend it. The goal of the attacker is to get rid of all the spawned squads before the end of the round. The goal of the defenders is, of course, to not let the attackers achieve their goal by making sure the squads stay alive.
Every round has a given level of difficulty. The outcome of each round decides if the level of the next round will be increased or decreased: if the attacker wins (all squads are killed), the level is increased, otherwise, it is decreased. The attackers must try to attain the highest level they can.
At level 1, only one squad is spawned. At level 2, a squad spawns at the beginning of the round and a second squad spawns at mid-round. At level 3, 2 squads spawn at the beginning and one more at mid-round. At level 4, 2 squads spawn at the beginning of the round, then one more after 3 minutes and one more after 6 minutes, and so on. Generally speaking, when the level is increased, the time it takes new squads to arrive shortens, and the number of simultaneous squads increases.
The squads are despawned at the end of each round and fresh squads are respawned for the next round.
At the end of the 2 hour period, the higher level attained by the attackers over the whole battle will be kept.
Then, there are two possibilities:
The attackers havent exceeded the minimum required level (the minimum threshold, cf. 4). In this case, war will come to an end, no defence period will start and the attackers have lost. The outpost will be kept by its current owners;Or: The attackers attained the minimum threshold. In that case, this level is the one the defenders will have to reach during the defence battle to keep ownership of their outpost.
3. Defence period (2 hours)
If attackers did reach the minimum threshold, then defenders will have to react. We can consider this second battle as the counter-attack. It occurs the same way as the attack phase, but roles are reversed: The appearing squads belong to attackers and defenders have to kill them. And, of course, attackers have to try to prevent them from doing it.
To keep the outpost, the defenders dont need to do better than attackers; they just have to reach the same level.
4. Minimum threshold
When a guild has succeeded in taking over an outpost, the battle level the guild reached to conquer it becomes the new minimum threshold for the outpost. It will be the level that any guild wanting to control that outpost will have to exceed.
This threshold decreases over time, offering some protection after the takeover, but it wont stay long. The threshold will be at its maximum during the first two days, then decrease by one battle level every two days.
5. Buying squads
Default squads are given to both sides; however, they are relatively weak. It is possible to buy new ones, about two times stronger. Also, their spawn order can be chosen.. When a squad is killed, if it was a paid one, it is lost forever. When there are no more paid squads, the default ones are used.
6. Squads management
Squads appear in two lists, sorted in the order they will be spawned. The first list allows to select the lists to be spawned at the beginning of the round, the second one the squads to be spawned during the round, thus allowing to setup strategies. A squad is paid when it spawns, and is reimbursed at the end of the round if at least one of its members is still alive. [Update]
Authorized persons among those owning the outpost can change this order in the list. Changes during a battle have no effect on the current round, but will be effective for the next round.
7. Squads power
Squads are considered as level 250, but with a level 50 defence, thus allowing a low-level character to attack them. However, their HP reserve will be larger than the one of a normal character and will depend on the level of the outpost. Also, in each squad, there is always a leader who has a defence corresponding to the outpost level. Thus, a high-level outpost couldnt be taken by only low-level characters.
8. Conflict area
The conflict area is limited to the outpost perimeter; when you leave the perimeter, you have to wait a few minutes before quitting the Outpost combat though. [Update]
Rewards:
Production : Outposts Rewards by Xavier Antoviaque
After the
explanation of the Outposts battle system and the
special edition of the Q&A, here is the third and last document on the Outposts feature, aka Chapter III, to be released next month.
Some of you have noticed that I had let two important questions unanswered in the Q&A: what will we gain in conquering an Outpost, and what will be the role of harvesters/crafters in regards to the Outposts? This document answers both questions at once, since crafters will be the ones benefiting directly from the Outposts: you'll be able to buy a forage building to gather new kind of raw materials.
[ Discuss it! ]
Overall Concept
When you conquer an Outpost, you won't directly get a reward or a bonus. You'll have to actually use the Outpost, by placing a forage building on the Outpost, which will allow you to dig more deeply into Atys' ground and reach new raw materials and consumable items. They will depend on the Outpost you are controlling.
New Raw Materials
Once the foraging building is available, new raw materials will be automatically and periodically gathered, and be available for your own crafters, or for distribution among your allies.
New Crafting Plans
You will also get new crafting plans (92 in total), to be used with the new raw materials. New weapons, tools and amplifiers - with new skins - will be made out of it.
New Tools
The new tools you will be able to craft using the new raw materials and crafting plans won't open a new crafting skill branch, but will help you to improve the charateristics of the items you will craft by using them.
Consumables
You will also get items of a new type, consumables, which will - for example - increase your character's characteristics temporarily.
XP Catalysers
XP catalysers are a special type of consumables, which increase your learning efficiency, and allow to earn more experience points from a given action (it doubles the amount).
There are 5 different levels of catalysers (50, 100, 150, 200, 250); a catalyser of a given type only improves your learning efficiency for a skill whose level is equal or below the catalyser level. 1 catalyser is consumed for every 100 XP added as a bonus.
Example:
- You activate a level 50 catalyser stack (quantity 34);
- You kill a mob which would normally earn you 2,500 XP with a skill level of 23;
- The catalyser works - you earn 5,000 XP, and the catalyser quantity decreases to 9;
- You kill the same kind of mob with the same skill, which would still earn you 2,500 XP without the catalyser effect;
- The catalyser works, but that time you only get a total of 3,400 XP (2,500 + 900 XP), since you have only 9 catalysers left.
