In Progress What's Next? - Open Discussion

[Rabid]

I've said this before, but the relaunch was booming - 60+ for two weeks - until Gary's LOA and leads started flaking. If those two things can be avoided, I don't see this doing worse. The main hurdle is convincing people it won't go that route again.

I think what people need to keep in mind is that Gmod isn't Neb's future anymore, and this server costs nothing to keep up in the grand scheme of things. Do I see the city booming vs Outlands? Honestly, no. The city is probably going to suffer, but it provides a much-needed springboard that can keep an OL setting alive.

OL in a vaccum has failed so many times because there's not enough for people to do without constant input. This way you can have half of the setting that can self-regulate and be touched up, while OL can get a tailored experience.

 

[MaXenzie]

city is a nice way to get cash then book it to the outlands (where i will be waiting for u), it resolves the problem of passive income in an outland server, gives new players a grounded place to start in and branch out, and gives rebels a location to recruit people into the outlands

thats assuming players join, though...

god i was fucking talking to @alex about his idea of having 4 servers

2 cities and 1 outlands, 1 event

since he has several server slots that are just unused with his current payments

imagine actually having 2 cities with an outlands between them, and you can generally only travel through the cities by paying for transit (a more safe, loyalist-esque route) or by cutting through the outlands, dealing with conscripts, patrols, xenian life, etc, along the way

a lawless wasteland with 2 diametrically opposed cities on either end, with political tensions brewing between them

who the fuck said that wasn't a good idea

 

[Roosebud]

god i was fucking talking to @alex about his idea of having 4 servers

2 cities and 1 outlands, 1 event

since he has several server slots that are just unused with his current payments

imagine actually having 2 cities with an outlands between them, and you can generally only travel through the cities by paying for transit (a more safe, loyalist-esque route) or by cutting through the outlands, dealing with conscripts, patrols, xenian life, etc, along the way

a lawless wasteland with 2 diametrically opposed cities on either end, with political tensions brewing between them

who the fuck said that wasn't a good idea

A very, very early draft of the Stasiland concept involved something like two more-or-less symmetrical cities on either side of a border between NATO and PACT in an uneasy peace setting. With espionage, sabotage and escaping back-and-forth until it'd eventually turn to a state of open conflict with incursions into either side's territory.

But like with anything that sorta concept really only works if you already have a sizable playerbase fully invested in it, as it'd quickly lose its charm if there's too few people to effectively spread between them.

 

[MaXenzie]

A very, very early draft of the Stasiland concept involved something like two more-or-less symmetrical cities on either side of a border between NATO and PACT in an uneasy peace setting. With espionage, sabotage and escaping back-and-forth until it'd eventually turn to a state of open conflict with incursions into either side's territory.

But like with anything that sorta concept really only works if you already have a sizable playerbase fully invested in it, as it'd quickly lose its charm if there's too few people to effectively spread between them.

Neverwinter Nights servers get away with having 10 mini-servers full of players where you can zone-hop between them

like one continent is a single server, and the entire Underdark is another server, and then hell itself is another server

Neverwinter Nights is a fucking niche game in comparison to gmod

 

[GustavasSve]

Mysterious zone with like 10 servers. 1 for each stalker map

 

[Numbers]

idk lol just seems like the best of both worlds giving city & outlands? whatever outlands can't do, city can

rebels can stage city bombings etc as well as go to outlands to fight combine there

could set up an outlands exclusive combine faction, to allow ota to be used more frequently with less bullshit stats (i had an idea for this)

the city server will probably rot and be used as a platform to jump into outlands, but i dont mind that because it lets the community freely swap between their phases of wanting ol/city themes

 

[MaXenzie]

idk lol just seems like the best of both worlds giving city & outlands? whatever outlands can't do, city can

rebels can stage city bombings etc as well as go to outlands to fight combine there

could set up an outlands exclusive combine faction, to allow ota to be used more frequently with less bullshit stats (i had an idea for this)

the city server will probably rot and be used as a platform to jump into outlands, but i dont mind that because it lets the community freely swap between their phases of wanting ol/city themes

we need to add reliance on both for vice versa

it needs to be very difficult for someone to remain in the outlands indefinitely unassisted

and the city must be forced to interact with the outlands in some manner

otherwise you'll get two separate, relatively unrelated servers with little to no crossover

 

[Roosebud]

hell I guess if outlands itself turns out to be so great you'll notice the player concentrations mainly being there all the time that it's up. You then decide to do a big event nuking the city and turning to the outlands fulltime or whatever. I don't see much reason to puke out either of the two when you're given both. Let the natural course decide where it eventually sticks right?

unless it's combine vs rebels instead of ww3rp

 

[alex]

it needs to be very difficult for someone to remain in the outlands indefinitely unassisted

When dying there results in a complete gear loss, it's your risk to stay there

 

[Oxy[Morons]]

lot of da same views in this thread as fifteen years ago when ya’ll actually had players

 

[Numbers]

I don't see much reason to puke out either of the two when you're given both. Let the natural course decide where it eventually sticks right?

yeah, but the matter at hand is convincing players to trust this system and let it play out in the first place (by them dedicating time to play it and see how it goes)

that can be hard..

 

[MaXenzie]

When dying there results in a complete gear loss, it's your risk to stay there

aye but we've seen what happens when players can relatively safely hang about in outlands long-term without any incentive to return to the city

anyone with mega-huge stacks of loot that dies will just cause an uproar in PK appeals and there'll be a shit stir about how it was "all a setup" or it was "OOCly planned" etc

i think it'd be easier and more enjoyable if imports/exports were encouraged. outlands probably hasn't got much good farmland, so maybe rebels could cut a deal with the CWU for a few food crates to go "missing" during their transport into the city

similarly, guns are probably difficult to procure in the city without causing mass hysteria (shotcops), so city rebels can do some trades with the outlanders

 

[boots]

check this though: not everyone enjoys being a rebel stuck in a wasteland in the middle of nowhere with almost nothing to do.
that's just my take on outlands, that's what my experience with it has been and will continue to be.

outlands is only fun for a select few who like to voice their opinions the loudest.

I enjoy doing city stuff and making relationships with the cops and other union faction players. outlands caters only to a small handful of players.

we are getting outlands AND city, I don't see what the problem is

 

[PepicWalrus]

god i was fucking talking to @alex about his idea of having 4 servers

2 cities and 1 outlands, 1 event

since he has several server slots that are just unused with his current payments

imagine actually having 2 cities with an outlands between them, and you can generally only travel through the cities by paying for transit (a more safe, loyalist-esque route) or by cutting through the outlands, dealing with conscripts, patrols, xenian life, etc, along the way

a lawless wasteland with 2 diametrically opposed cities on either end, with political tensions brewing between them

who the fuck said that wasn't a good idea

I love the idea buit my only concern is splitting the player base super thin across these instances. 60-100 players is a lot on one server but split across 3+? Could get a bit thin in areas.

 

[Numbers]

will just cause an uproar in PK appeals

the thread states nlr no refund

 

[MaXenzie]

the thread states nlr no refund

i dont think that changes my point

instead of there being a PK appeal uproar they'll just get their mates to give them guns

 

[Rabid]

idk lol just seems like the best of both worlds giving city & outlands? whatever outlands can't do, city can

rebels can stage city bombings etc as well as go to outlands to fight combine there

could set up an outlands exclusive combine faction, to allow ota to be used more frequently with less bullshit stats (i had an idea for this)

the city server will probably rot and be used as a platform to jump into outlands, but i dont mind that because it lets the community freely swap between their phases of wanting ol/city themes

I think people forget that it doesn't matter how creative you are; the more you limit your options the less fallback you have when things stumble.

Cool, so you have an OL server. What happens when people realise there's basically only two factions there? How many times can you do conscripts or bandits or OTA or whatever? There's a reason why I have yet to see a successful OL server that didn't die in two weeks except DUST which spent 50-70% of its lifespan as a reskin of CityRP on an OL-esque map.

Outlands by itself only works if you can commit a different experience every time the server opens (to use the hypothetical weekend model) and there's a lot less options for players who want options, for how much more freedom you have.

 

[Goopy]

the mechanical changes are exciting and i believe a big step in the right direction but it just feels like the same tenth tried setting may let it down

 

[Numbers]

the mechanical changes are exciting and i believe a big step in the right direction but it just feels like the same tenth tried setting may let it down

maybe, but there are still existing chars rn who can immediately leap to outlands

they have to foster the dudes trapped in city tho lol

 

[PepicWalrus]

maybe, but there are still existing chars rn who can immediately leap to outlands

they have to foster the dudes trapped in city tho lol

Would be a fun rebel goal to establish a kind of underground railroad like the one seen in HL2.