Tweak the Win Conditions

[DrHurts]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):

* MARINE MAJOR VICTORY: All Xenomorphs dead.
* MARINE MINOR VICTORY: One or more humans alive & uninfected on the planet at a pre-selected time (15:30?).
* ALIEN MINOR VICTORY: All humans removed from the planet or infected - at the Queen's option.
* ALIEN MAJOR VICTORY: All humans dead or infected.


Benefits & Details (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):

I haven't played this game for long, but I've played a ton of hex-and-counter wargames. I'm very familiar with victory conditions. I think the CM conditions would benefit from a bit of a tweak. Right now, I count three "stalemate lines" in the game:

FIRST STALEMATE: When the Xenos are all north of the river and the Marines are all south of the river. No one wants to be the first to attack and die, but this usually works itself out because the server has lots of impatient players. It causes some problems with meta-rushing, but nothing horrible.

SECOND STALEMATE: When the Xenos have conquered the planet and the Marines have retreated to the ship. Imagine a building with two rooms. One is full of Xenos. One is full of Marines. There are two closed doors between the rooms. Whoever charges in feels like they're likely to lose. This is a "stalemate line". The Marines are safe on the ship and don't have any real incentive to push back down, even though they can't get a victory like that. The Queen is fat and happy where she is, but the Xenos can't get a victory if they stay on the planet. This puts the Queen in an awkward position: Either prolong the round and sit tight, or take the ship up without knowing exactly what's up there.

The developers recently tried to fix this by adding the Queen Mother report. I find this somewhat artificial and forced. It also doesn't address the underlying problem: The Queen is meta-pushed to take the shuttle because there's no incentive for the Xenos to stay on the ground and defend. There's no victory in defending the planet and it's anticlimactic for the players.

A solution might be to offer the Xenos a Minor Victory after they've chased all humans from the planet. The Queen - and only the Queen - should have the option to claim the Minor Victory. This creates a fun choice for the Queen - whether to accept the Minor Victory, or push on to try and kill all humans for a Major Victory. The key here is that it's actually got nothing to do with the Xenos; the point is that it correctly puts the pressure on the Marines to take the planet and not retreat. The Marines need an in-game incentive to match the lore. First, any self-respecting Marine wouldn't retreat. I feel like it's pretty sissy when the Marines fall back at the first opportunity. Second, the mission orders shouldn't allow them to retreat. The point is to figure out what's going on with the colony, clear the planet if possible, or at least not let it go. Third, the W-Y corporation is going to be awfully unhappy if they find out the Marines leave the planet. The Marines may have saved their own butts, but nuking the planet is a loss and there will be consequences from the powers that be. The victory conditions should force the Marines to try and stay on the planet. I feel like this would create appropriate tension in all the right directions.

One trick is that this condition can't be automatic, because if it automatically triggered, it would prevent the Queen from going for a Major Victory. I've brainstormed two options:

* The first option is to add a button to both dropship consoles marked "Initiate Self-Destruct". These buttons can only be accessed from inside each dropship. Obviously, the Queen is the only Xeno that can do it. When this button is pressed, it will destroy the dropship (or just render it a big brick) after a few minutes - maybe 5? This process can be reversed (by Marine or Queen) - just like in the movies - by accessing the same console and pressing the "Cancel Self-Destruct" button. If the Queen self-destructs both dropships, it's an Alien Minor Victory. She's effectively defended the planet and closed the doors to the Marines coming down. Could the Marines do it? Sure! They'll stop an Alien Major Victory, but at the cost of an Alien Minor Victory. Still, this might be a good idea in some situations.

* The second option is to just create a new command/button for the Queen, but it's only available when there's no humans left on the planet. A message pops up for the Queen when the planet is clear. She's got a few minutes - maybe 5 - to press the button and accept the Minor Victory. If she refuses it, then the only remaining option is to go for a Major Victory.

THIRD STALEMATE: When the round starts to drag out past the 14:30 mark or on to 15:00 and 16:00, there's only a few Xenos and Marines left. I've been a part of several of these games and the admins will come down and gib the leftover aliens. This is pretty unsatisfying. The easy fix for this is to automatically give the Marines a Minor Victory at a pre-determined time - as long as there are still humans on the planet's surface. I haven't been a part of enough games to know when the right time would be (and it could be randomized in some way from a minimum and maximum so no one knows exactly when it will end), but I imagine it's somewhere between 15:00 and 16:00. I feel like this correctly puts the pressure on the Xenos to get on with it. The Marines, as long as they're still on the planet, should correctly have the luxury of defending. They should be aware that if they hold out long enough, Command or the W-Y corporation will send adequate reinforcements of some kind. But it also gives them the choice to try and sweep the planet clean of Xenos for a Major Victory. I think it fits the lore. It also takes the pressure off administrators to artificially decide when a round is effectively "over" and prevents any disappointment of having it ended by gibbing from above.

Imagine this: There are a few Marines left on the planet near LZ1. The time limit is approaching. The Marines know they can't leave. The Xenos know they can't delay. It sets up an epic, cinematic climax for the heart and soul of the planet. The way things are set up now, the "stalemate lines" are somewhat awkward for everybody. I feel like this could be tweaked pretty easily.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it):

Three of these require virtually no changes. The Alien Minor Victory condition would require some coding, but it doesn't sound that difficult. I'm not a coder, so I'm not sure how to do it.

[Biolock]

+1, this is really quite brilliant imo

[kastion]

Oh god I would love having the option to take a minor victory as the Queen after taking the planet. I would do it every single time to punish marines for turtling on the sulaco and waiting to nade spam aliens to death. Once they stopped doing that then I would quit taking minor victories every time.

[Kerek]

+1, many stalemates that go back and forth because 1 larva escapes or because no one actually wants to die or loose. Or 2 spitters running around trying to kill marines without eggs. Perhaps add another marine minor -- Xeno's without a queen for 20 minutes. -- Marine Minor

[Snypehunter007]

Old. No support.

Locking.