Moral System

Price

<div class="IPBDescription">needed for commander!</div>I play again ns1, its great but many times the marines lost, because the marines don't do the orders of the commander.
So my idea is:
What do you think about a moral bar.
Its going down if you get a order and you don't go to it (not to fast, because sometimes you can be in trouble <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" /> )
If its going down and is empty, your aim is a BIT (!) shaky and e.g. your gun fires sometimes or(!) you get a bit (!) blurred view or ...
Its just a example (!) what can happend, but i think something must be done with that egoists player who destroy everymatch because they don't do what the commander want.
<b>
Maybe moral bar is the wrong name, maybe you get a Bar with text "obedience" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" /></b>



(!) are for some people who don't understand the "idea" thing...

Doushibag

I think it's a bad idea to ever give one person effective control over another person like that. It's just not fun especially if it's too easy for one player to diminish another player's ability to the play the game. Opens up too many opportunities for harassment and for hate to build. They're your teammate for better or worse so you learn to work with what you've got. Some people are going to follow orders others aren't. It's your job as a commander to deal with that. If someone is really being a detriment to the game consistently than it's more at the discretion of the server if they want to do something about that player.

However the idea of assisting the commander in dealing with people that do well to listen or disobey is something I suggested in a post I made in the commander experience topic:
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=102260&view=findpost&p=1697619" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1697619</a>
Scroll down to 'A feedback system - '.

Basically it's a way for the commander to acknowledge people that do well and to make note of people who don't listen. Giving appropriate recognition and helping him to better use his current assets. The feedback system could show your personal rating for that person if you've done so for them and show how other commanders have rated them as well. It's like an accommodation system without giving any game altering effects so things remain fair and fun.

Bacillus

I'd also try to encourage flexible use of the orders more than just relying on the waypoints and preset orders. You can order units around in any RTS, but on NS you've got marines able to understand speech and indirect orders. It's often easier to tell a person to guard nodes on the area than to keep him circling around with waypoints.

spellman23

I would prefer that the commander rewards good marines, thus creating positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement may seem more effective in the short run, but it is poor in the long run.

Plus, how do you qualify the Marine following orders? If the waypoint is for a general get here eventually moment, then you might die a few times and while you're working towards it you will still get penalized because you didn't fulfill the requirement. Unless you're proposing the commander being able to directly remove "morale" or whatever, in which case this is extremely abusable and not a feature I would like to be in play.

juice

OP is on the right track for NS2 because the commander no longer decides who gets the toys, so there is less of a reason for a comm to know who to trust, aside from knowing when to expect an order will not be fulfilled. And more importantly there is less of a reason for a marine to follow the comm's orders.

Also, I prefer a reward system where there are no "gameplay bonuses" for simply following waypoints. It is often better left to human judgment what marines deserve merits for obedience or performance.

Harimau

An obedience bar that doesn't impact the game (directly). I like it. Just to add to it, I think the bar should cover a negative AND positive range. eg. a scale with -20 to 0 to +20.

StarClaws

Not a bad idea... But taken too far in terms of harming gameplay. Next to the players score... the simple moral score would be fine...

Then people could point and laugh at the rambos while the map changes(Left 4 Dead score cards at mapchange anyone?)

In terms of code... (Think of the Devs too) Not too hard to implement...

But it all boils down to... Does he understand what the comm is yelling in the mic. In most of my NS1 days I hated way points with a passion... would always rage at marines to do things over the mic and only resort to spamming way points constantly if really needed... Now I don't even bother with a mic lol

Now in regards of NS2 comms dont get to choose who they give the toys to anymore? Can I get a PM to a link about this so I can read up on it? And possibly some other links to things already decided for NS2?

Zek

There's no way for the game to know automatically whether or not a marine is following orders. Comms don't use waypoints for every little thing. The only way to have a discipline or reward system is to put it in the hands of the comm.