New exp system explained
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003 1:13 pm
This comming straight from a post on the official PS boards from SmokeJumperPS, a dev...
The system is pretty much like it was in Beta, but with a few variables changed in the equation.
Basically, there's a 25-minute window that's tracked. That window ends upon a successful hack occurring. (10 minutes before the hack occurs and the 15-minute window while the hack is happening.)
This is divided up into time slices (5-second windows). We track how many of those slices you are in the SOI. We also track how many enemies were in the SOI during each of those slices.
Slices where enemies are present are worth more than slices where enemies are not present. Various amounts of enemies affect the slices more heavily.
When a hack is successful (the building changes ownership), then everyone that was in the "winning" side gets xp for their slices.
If in a squad, all the slices are averaged together. This allows all squad members to benefit, even if they weren't all there at the same time. It does encourage squads to "stick together" rather than splitting up to various bases in order to "cap squat" (sneaking in right before the cap occurred in order to reap the rewards), which is what was happening with the old system.
Before anyone gets upset because this "leaves the support folks in the cold", it pretty much doesn't. If they are in the SOI (and SOIs are generally bigger than you think), then they'll wrack up xp also. ANT drivers contribute xp to the squad when they refill silos, so that shores up their absence. Galaxy pilots either a) aren't in the squad, or b) usually land/bail and fight along with the squad. Other support folks tend to hang with their squads (engineers, medics, hackers) and actually contribute points accordingly.
Resecuring is just like capturing, but the max xp is a bit lower (3000 instead of 5000) because the time window is only 15-minutes instead of 25-minutes. But "saving" a base in the nick of time, with enemies swarming on the base can net you very good xp now.
I hope this helps you understand the system better.
If you group together and attack/defend bases, you'll get great xp now...but only if there are enemies present. Find the risk and the xp is there waiting for you.
And a second note from SmokeJumperPS...
You do not need a squad member in the SOI at the time of capture or hack in order to get the reward for the time slices you accumulated.
If the capture (or resecure) is successful, then you get the points for your time slices. Period.
The system is pretty much like it was in Beta, but with a few variables changed in the equation.
Basically, there's a 25-minute window that's tracked. That window ends upon a successful hack occurring. (10 minutes before the hack occurs and the 15-minute window while the hack is happening.)
This is divided up into time slices (5-second windows). We track how many of those slices you are in the SOI. We also track how many enemies were in the SOI during each of those slices.
Slices where enemies are present are worth more than slices where enemies are not present. Various amounts of enemies affect the slices more heavily.
When a hack is successful (the building changes ownership), then everyone that was in the "winning" side gets xp for their slices.
If in a squad, all the slices are averaged together. This allows all squad members to benefit, even if they weren't all there at the same time. It does encourage squads to "stick together" rather than splitting up to various bases in order to "cap squat" (sneaking in right before the cap occurred in order to reap the rewards), which is what was happening with the old system.
Before anyone gets upset because this "leaves the support folks in the cold", it pretty much doesn't. If they are in the SOI (and SOIs are generally bigger than you think), then they'll wrack up xp also. ANT drivers contribute xp to the squad when they refill silos, so that shores up their absence. Galaxy pilots either a) aren't in the squad, or b) usually land/bail and fight along with the squad. Other support folks tend to hang with their squads (engineers, medics, hackers) and actually contribute points accordingly.
Resecuring is just like capturing, but the max xp is a bit lower (3000 instead of 5000) because the time window is only 15-minutes instead of 25-minutes. But "saving" a base in the nick of time, with enemies swarming on the base can net you very good xp now.
I hope this helps you understand the system better.
If you group together and attack/defend bases, you'll get great xp now...but only if there are enemies present. Find the risk and the xp is there waiting for you.
And a second note from SmokeJumperPS...
You do not need a squad member in the SOI at the time of capture or hack in order to get the reward for the time slices you accumulated.
If the capture (or resecure) is successful, then you get the points for your time slices. Period.