|
I think the idea for districts on Era isn't bad (see the previous ideas for a N S E W and Central Era), but I don't think the inclusion of districts calls for a larger GMAP. Honestly, we should expect that the highest peak in playercount Era will ever have to handle at once will be around 100. In my opinion, a GMAP half the size of our current one would be more than sufficient. The bottom half of the current GMAP (Ocean and SR) is hardly used, and the northern quarter of the GMAP hardly gets any use either. The same goes for the sewers GMAP which could be sized down significantly.
That being said, I think it might be neat to have the new Ear divided into two pieces by a waterway, giving us a north and south Era, or an east and west Era, or maybe even a downtown district on one side and a "projects" district on the other. Two gangs could be situated on either side. OSL could be a park area near the center of the map. I think two bridges crossing over the water way would be sufficient for passage between the districts, and having only two passageways restricts traffic flow to two points and provides parties with a fun place to set up ambushes. The sewer systems from both parts of Era could empty into the waterway, so players could also go throw the sewers, emerge on the GMAP and swim across the waterway, then enter a sewer passage on the other side. Industrial-type complexes could be located along the waterway, because water is an important resource in many industrial processes (like cooling hot machinery). Also, a toxic river due to industrial chemical dumping (HP drains slowly while in the water) would add a nice grunge element.
The beach is a pretty popular place, so the waterway could empty into a lake or ocean on one side of the map, and this could be the location of a fishing job. I do think mining is kind of a staple of Era, and an important source of industrial resources, so a mountainous mining region could be on the side of the map as the lake/ocean. Between the mountains could be a large dam, which is the origin of the waterway that partitions Era and also the source of electricity for the city.
-------------------------
On a different note, the discussion of guns has been popular. I think that guns should mainly be specialized with different attributes. One way to balance guns would be to have certain stat categories, and then limit the number of stat points each gun will be allocated. In this way guns with lots of spread and fast firing rates will have to trade off for more freeze and less damage. Although it adds complication to the balancing process, I don't think the number of guns available on Era should be reduced. Having lots of gun options makes the server for colorful, if there were just like 6 guns to choose from the server would be very bland. On the same note, god-guns like the SMGPK also make the server bland because that's all anyone (with enough wealth) will want to use. Emphasizing trade-offs in gun pros/cons allows for players to develop unique styles of play, makes combat less generic, and allows Gang/Party groups to be more versatile.
------------------------
I don't think NPC police forces are a good idea. For one, a lot of the lag on Era has been attributed to NPCs-- more NPCs won't help that problem. Secondly, the AI sucks and so battle encounters with NPCs are anything but smooth. Your bullets can appear to hit NPCs but not do any damage, and they can appear to miss them and do damage. Plus NPCs constantly get stuck, have no ability to dodge, and aren't fun to fight. In reality dealing with NPC opponents is just a matter of spraying bullets until the problem goes away. If we can't even find an artist to bring the tileset up to standard, an NPC cop system would surely be a disaster. |