Hey,
First of all, you've got to love the trem.
Having said that, I wanted to throw in my 2 cents about an improvement I think would make the game better. Right now, a player's score is just how many kills they have. However, the point of the game is to win, and killing more enemies does not always contribute to your team's success. For example, if I get a luci cannon and start blasting tons of dretches far away from my base, I'll get lots of kills, but those players will just re-spawn as dretches and my team won't really have gained anything. Furthermore, if I get 20 kills, but feed 50 times, that's worse than 10 kills and no feeds. As such, I propose a new score system (to replace the kills column on the player screen), that weights better toward things that benefit the team:
- killing an evolved alien or a human with equipment is more valuable than a dretch/nude
- killing an enemy during stages 1 or 2 is worth more than stage 3, because it helps your team get to the next stage
- feeding is bad, negative points for that
- destroying enemy structures is good, points for that, too
With this change, I think people would be motivated to do things that benefit the team, rather than just rushing out and feeding, with the hopes of getting a kill or two.
Here's my proposal (there are a lot of details, but the general idea is simple):
Each kill has a base of 10 points (exception: dretches are 5 points). Kills in stage 1 or 2 have an additional 10 points.
For humans, the base points are added to the value of the equipment on the person, divided by 10. e.g. a human with helmet, armour and shotgun spent 310 credits, so killing one in stage 2 would give you 10+10+310/10=51 points.
For aliens, the base points are added to the number of evos needed to upgrade times 20. So, killing an adv. goon in stage 3 would give you 10+4*20=90 points.
Destroying structures also gives points according to the following scheme:
medi = 10 points
turret/tesla = 20 points
node = 50 points
armory = 50 points
dc = 50 points
reactor = 100 points
booster = 10 points
hovel = 10 points
acid tube/hive = 20 points
trapper = 20 points
egg = 40 points
overmind = 100 points
Repairing structures gives you the points that structure is worth, in proportion to its damage. So if a turret loses 30% of its health, and human1 repairs it, she is awarded 30% of 20 = 6 points.
Details:
If multiple people contributed towards a kill, the points are divided according to the damage done (excluding damage that was regenerated/healed). So e.g. player1 does 40HP damage to a human, who uses his medkit. After it has restored 20HP, player2 kills him. So, player1 did 40-20=20HP of the final damage, and player2 did 80HP, so player1 gets 20% of the points for that kill.
Each feed reduces your score by 10 points, and another 10 points if the enemy is in stage 1 or 2. You do not lose points for equipment lost, since losing the use of that equipment is enough punishment.
With regards to turrets, acid tubes, etc., common sense applies. If a turret does 60% of the damage and human 40%, the human gets 40% of the score, the rest goes to no one. If a turret and human share a kill but the turret dealt the final blow, in stage 1 or 2, the total score for the kill does not include the extra 10 points for stage advancement.
Pure suicide does not change your score. However, if a suicide occurs after taking damage, the score is the same as if a turret had done the suicide damage (percentage of health lost to suicide goes to no one, but suiciding player loses 10 points).
When a teammate contributes to the damage of a kill, s/he is awarded the points as if s/he were an enemy, but the points are subtracted, instead of added. If a teammate deals the final blow in stage 1 or 2, the 10 points for stage advancement in stages 1 and 2 is not part of the score. The score of person killed entirely by a teammate is not changed. For example, in stage 1, human1 does 180 damage to a goon, alien1. On his way back to base, another goon, alien2 pounces him and kills him. The value for the kill is 10+3*20 = 70. Human1 is awarded 90% of 70 = 63 points. Alien2 loses 10% of 70 = 7 points. Alien1 loses 10 points.
Structure points are split amongst players the same way as the above, including friendly damage. If a structure is deconned after it has taken some damage, no points are awarded. This does not include deconning a human structure after it has lost all HP (to prevent an explosion).
Repairing a structure only awards points if the damage was done by an enemy. Therefore, dealing friendly damage, then repairing it does not result in any points gained.
Notes:
Note that while building a good base is an invaluable contribution to the team effort, I couldn't think of a good way to award points for building that wouldn't open up opportunities to exploit it. One idea is that at the end of the game, each standing structure's value (times some factor, e.g. 0.25) is given to the player who built it. That would promote building good bases, since the bad ones would result in no points, except a person can decon someone else's structure, then rebuild it, giving them the points...
I haven't tested that the values are balanced. If anyone has any suggestions of changes in values, feel free to chime in.
I think having a better scoring system would act as a deterrent to play in a way that hurts your team. If you feed a lot, the score will reflect it, even if you're getting a fair bit of kills, too. If you didn't kill a lot of enemies but you destroyed half their base, the score will reflect that too.
What do people think?
