Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-37305002-20181112144445

1) Introduction THIS IS JUST A SUGGESTION

This is probably a very controversial idea, but i think would make multiplayer more interesting. The idea is to add an upkeep for each banner, this would discourage mass bannering with no risk and would allow banners that have innactive owners to either remove stuff or claim them. For example, all the little builds (such as dirt huts) around the middle earht; that havent had a person in months or were forgotten by. These could be removed or improved by passer bys or the faction that controls the region. There are some concerns that I thought off.

2) Concerns

- Players who quit but want to come back might find themselves with nothing.

- People who can't play the game for various reasons lose their bannerd stuff.

- Difficult in finding which banners need paid.

- Factions without many members currently online but have lots of builds.

I tried thinking of all the bad things that might occur with this but those 3 were the only ones I could come up that were really importnat.

Addressing these concerns are important which i will here. The players that quit could give their land over to their faction for protection and safe keeping if not already done so. I think most factions already have something like this in place. But for the people in non factions, they either keep their stuff in a secret location, hope their stuff is still their, or just have to start over. They did quit after all.

The biggest concern to me is the people that are in no position to play the game, but they will come back later, might lose their bannered stuff. I think would relate to the response before; either hide the stuff or get the faction to protect it. And maybe, depending on the build could have an exemption from this rule. For example; a beautiful building that took a lot of work and effort to build but the owner is incapable of staying on. It would be shame for the building to be lost to potential griefing, or them losing all their work and effort. Depending on the server, they could get an admin or staff to make sure its taken care off. To not abuse this, the server could implement rules and stipulations when using this idea.

For factions that had a drop in members being online, they could have a guarentee of their core builds to be protected. I think this could also be implemented for all factions in some way. For example maybe a certain amount of waypoints are protected forever for that faction.

The last concern. It would be difficult in finding which banners would need paid as their are alot of them. I suggest that the banners glos a red color when their upkeep is imminent. There would also be an alert for the owner of where it is and how much longer it would take.

3) Reasons for an Upkeep

It would make it more difficult or at least would add a cost for claiming land, for large kingdoms to protect and take care of their stuff. Which I think would add sense, if  a faction rarely goes to a build anymore, it makes sense that another person or faction could take it over. The effects of which might have political ramifications.

Maybe a kingdom of Arnor forgot or didnt pay the upkeep on a outpost or build; and then a Gundabad  faction takes it over. Arnor may decide to escalate this, a diplomatic approach, or just not do anything about it.

Or how about an individual claims a build that was once owned by a faction. The faction may seek aggressive means against the player until they give it up, or they can't pay the upkeep.

It would also make a need for each faction to take in taxes of some way. There are penalties for being in a faction or being neutral. By forcing a faction to have to pay for the land they own, they would either have to foot the bill with a few people or have  a mandatory tax on its members. I think this might also encourage joining smaller factions with less members and land.

4) How would the upkeep be paid.

There are two forms of possible maintenance; either metal ingots or silver coins. There would be an additional page for each banner, upkeep. It would show how much longer the banner is protected for, when the next warning is, coordinates, and other various information. I would also propose if this idea is accepted, that the banners protect a larger area. This would make it more balanced and less would be needed. Currently there is a "soft" upkeep for banners it depends on how much gold, silver, or bronze blocks you have. Once you run out you can't claim anymore. But, if banners needed coins or metal to pay for them; there would need to be a way to balance the already large amount of banners place with upkeep. So that is why I think in increase of claimed area would be important. Maybe a 1.5x or 2.0x times the current amount. So a gold block would claim a 98 x 98 x 98 or a 130 x 130 x 130.

Maybe the banners could be paid in either metal ingots or nuggets and that would give allow the banner to work for a long period of time. Each faction would need to collect metal to pay for their land. The gold banners would be paid in gold, silver banners in silver, and bronze banners in bronze.

Another way is to pay in silver coins. This would allow there to be a more varied way of paying for it. A faction could spend its time killing enemies to pay for their stuff, do trading and selling to get the coins, or etc. The cost would scale with the amount of land protected.

5) Conclusion

I think by adding these changes large factions could be ballanced, border protection would be more necessary, and server economy can be improved. People would be punished for mass bannering land, people who havent played in months would lose their protections and stuff. There would be some rules and stipulations in place for any situation that is not a normal occurance. Such as a player not being able to play for a while but will once their situation improves. Adding these ideas would have a positive impact on server economics and politics.

Please discuss anything you are concerned about or just add what you think. But please be civil, insulting gets no one anywhere.  